My favorite Bastiat to cite (even on an el gato malo Stack last month):
“If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?”
The latter. They are the omnipotent moral busybodies that CS Lewis warned against: "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.«
> these systems are not horrendously dysfunctional and broken, they are captured and that is a very different thing.
> they are not like this because those running them are stupid or know no better, they are like this because someone wants it this way.
VERY YES! One of my axioms for understanding politics is that, at least at the higher levels, nobody is stupid. If you think they're stupid, that's because they've tricked you so you don't realize they're actually very smart, and screwing you over somehow.
I assume by default that if a government program looks stupid, I am the stupid one for not understanding the scam
Well, it doesn't help that all of the math problems use units that are either not ones I ever use, but which might have been relevant to the students of the time, or are poorly defined even if still in common use. Though I likely couldn't pass the English Grammar portion either, and consider myself fairly adept in the language.
"did you think it was a coincidence that argentina vanished from the news without a trace amidst the massive success of ending rent control?"
Coincidence - I think not.
One can not help but notice, any program that works, anything, that actually begins to solve problems, is quietly, and usually promptly, discontinued, (and memory holed), as soon as the regulators discover it's success.
We were meant to have a federal government with limited and defined powers focused on the collective interests of the country like defense, promotion of trade, etc. and state governments were supposed to focus on the needs of their residents. Instead, we got a behemoth of a federal government that attempts to do everything, does nothing well, and has no accountability for anything. There's so much revenue coming into the national coffer it's literally impossible to account for it all.
We've got an unrepresentative professional political and bureaucrat class that acts like an American version of an aristocracy and they treat citizens like serfs and cash cows. No matter who gets elected - Republican or Democrat - nothing changes, spending stays out of control, the debt skyrockets, and taxes keep going up.
Our government doesn't exist to respond to the needs of ordinary citizens anymore. It serves the interests of the permanent political class.
Never forget, there's big money in big government. It's the key to understanding why things are the way they are.
It never existed to address legitimate limited matters. It was always designed to become a strong centralized state. The Federalists made that very clear from the start. Only the scope was hidden. Human nature and incentives did the rest.
The system is this way bc people play it. They spend and spend to fill a void instead of saving. Healthcare is a ex. Don’t realize a self pay policy is 1k a month. That’s 12k a year. 10 years is 120k saved. You could pay cash for open heart surgery. But alas you get raped with premiums. And when you choose your dr your first words are don’t accept my insurance. Well the system is changing regardless. Bc they aren’t paying the drs so the good ones are moving to a self pay model. Those that take your insurance are crap working to depend on volume to make ends meet. This is what you get. Cut out the insurance. And stop playing their game. Apply this to all other topics. Bc it’s a same. Stop playing their game
first, it's not health insurance. nobody insures your health, you do. How you eat, drink, exercise, sleep, matters. take care of yourself, it's your life, a gift, take care of it. second, if you get sick, go see your doc. find one who doesn't take "insurance" and doesn't have to pay five staff for each medical professional to simply file paperwork. third, blow up the tv, throw away the papers, move to the country, build you a home. have a lotta children, feed em on peaches. let em find Jesus on their own. and go back to the top....
Yes you basically restated what I said above and the life I’m already living. Except I don’t go to Drs, nor do I want to bring another slave child into
Agree. I've never understood people who think that insurance is some kind of magical ticket to health care. They pay through the nose to get it, spend it on every little medical thing available to get their money's worth, and then wonder why their insurance costs so much.
Properly, insurance is gambling. You're betting the house that something so bad is going to happen to you that you would never self inflict it, but if it does, you need the money. Over the population playing, the house has to win to remain solvent. Insurance is for unexpected catastrophes only. You only win if you lose your bet.
It’s used to be non for profit. But they changed that to have shareholders. Who now require a profit. Their profit. As chaos progresses it gets more desperate and sporadic. I think we are seeing this. It’s clear by now if you should ever want to be a multimillionaire/billionaire you won’t have the chance. Too many licenses insurance policies trusts and corporate labels are required to jump thru those hoops. Which drains you of your profits. The parasites are now like private equity firms attempting to squeeze every last drop of blood from people. Eliminating the middle class. They don’t want any competition. So it’s time to leave their system.
Just make it legal again to sell and buy catastrophic medical insurance. If trump did this, trillion$ would flow into a far wider spectrum of the economy over a decade, as that money wouldn’t be concentrated as it is today in the insurance monopoly. This would solve many problems.
⬇️I just saw this on Facebook today. These are the kind of people who criticize us for opposing bath mat giveaways.
"I am @#$%& BEGGING you all to understand that using tax money to fund programs that support the community is LITERALLY THE ENTIRE POINT OF HAVING A GOVERNMENT."
Anothet example of the unending line of ignorant dipshit inhabitants of this country. Utterly bereft of ANY concept of what it means to be American. That dipshit "thinking" aided and abetted the "COVID" terrorist operation --and that "mind" doesn't even know it.
I don't know if it's a 4th law, but a good proxy to the perverse incentives is realizing that lobbyists and regulators are socially and culturally one and the same; they're fungible.
Unfortunately, ive had to play their game for far too long...or I would've had to fold my cards 20 years ago.
Seeing it up close and having to "network" with these people makes me want to puke. But I've had no choice.
Lobbying is like gambling where the house always wins. Add some more perversity to the incentives and you've got pay-to-play extortion. Like gato says, government is mafia. When you realize you're being conned by organized crime families, a lot of things become clear, painfully so.
Yes. I’m forced to play the game, or my other choice is to be a serf or a slave. I sell products that people would be better off without. My accountant helps me play the games that rich people play. There’s no such thing anymore as just getting a job & paying the bills. I have to play the game.
It only makes sense that Newsom would follow up his infamous billion dollar face-diaper purchase from that Chinese EV company with this baby diaper grift for his wife's philanthro caste. More photo op fun for the first partnership!
It should be clear by now that Newsom is completely corrupt and he wants to continue his corruption at scale to the national level. Or, just hop aboard the Federal corruption train and continue to collect his fraudulent largesse.
Chris Bray had a great article on this a couple days ago, visiting a site Newsom claims was a hotbed of production and efficiency. I'll leave you in suspense as to what he found.
I've said it before: "If you want corporations and industries to stop buying politicians, then stop giving the politicians so much power that they're worth buying."
Giving? Government Takes. Power, money, agency and anything else it wants. Government self selects for the type of people least worthy of wielding power.
There's that too, but a great many of the usurpations over the last 250 years were performed to uproarious cheers and with the consent of much of the electorate. I'd say that We The People are fully guilty of *giving* the FedGov much of the power it now has.
Good point. But examine the governments mandated factory "educational" system that has processed generations of our children to produce docile/ignorant/incurious cogs for the corporate machines, and cannon fodder for the governments endless wars. How informed is their "consent"?
I agree, but "we" gave them *that* power too. (I mean, I think I was three years old when the Department of Education was formed. But there hasn't been a significant national movement to get rid of it either.) It wouldn't solve everything, but the best first step would be to eliminate the federal income tax. Yes, every state would need to then raise their *state* taxes to make up for the things that were previously being paid for with federal grant money, but then at least the people who need to be yelled at if they're being retards are a much shorter drive away.
Way back the "chosen" people of GOD wanted to have a king just like their neighbors instead of letting GOD be their leader. The prophet of GOD tried to tell them how bad it would be to have a king and the bad a king would do but they wouldn't listen, so GOD gave them Saul. Governments are like a king whether we admit it or not. Governments not a president..the government. Governments rule just like kings. Human hearts always turn toward evil. True from the beginning. Politicians,
> prevention measures like an $11 bath mat could save Americans tens of thousands of dollars
Rule of thumb: "This super inexpensive thing would be an amazing solution to this problem, the government should do it". Look, if this is such a big problem for Americans, every American has $11. The fact that they're using in on crack and shitty phone games instead of whatever the idea is, should speak volumes
> yes. if the state is the one to define it, i am. because what they push is not safety, it’s robbery and crony corporatism.
I have an idea for a business
It's an airline whose tickets are 2x as expensive as any other airline. However, on this airline, any passenger is empowered to throw any child under the age of 5 out the window.
My favorite Bastiat to cite (even on an el gato malo Stack last month):
“If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?”
― Frederic Bastiat, The Law
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/83241-if-the-natural-tendencies-of-mankind-are-so-bad-that
The latter. They are the omnipotent moral busybodies that CS Lewis warned against: "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.«
Yep. My favorite, too.
So good, so true!
> these systems are not horrendously dysfunctional and broken, they are captured and that is a very different thing.
> they are not like this because those running them are stupid or know no better, they are like this because someone wants it this way.
VERY YES! One of my axioms for understanding politics is that, at least at the higher levels, nobody is stupid. If you think they're stupid, that's because they've tricked you so you don't realize they're actually very smart, and screwing you over somehow.
I assume by default that if a government program looks stupid, I am the stupid one for not understanding the scam
"at least at the higher levels, nobody is stupid."
Ketanji Brown Jackson would like a word.
Ouch!
She’ll have to wait her turn
They think we’re stupid”
Well, it doesn't help that all of the math problems use units that are either not ones I ever use, but which might have been relevant to the students of the time, or are poorly defined even if still in common use. Though I likely couldn't pass the English Grammar portion either, and consider myself fairly adept in the language.
CON reminded me of PHEIC (fay-ick, fake): Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
"did you think it was a coincidence that argentina vanished from the news without a trace amidst the massive success of ending rent control?"
Coincidence - I think not.
One can not help but notice, any program that works, anything, that actually begins to solve problems, is quietly, and usually promptly, discontinued, (and memory holed), as soon as the regulators discover it's success.
And sadly, it has ever been thus.
We were meant to have a federal government with limited and defined powers focused on the collective interests of the country like defense, promotion of trade, etc. and state governments were supposed to focus on the needs of their residents. Instead, we got a behemoth of a federal government that attempts to do everything, does nothing well, and has no accountability for anything. There's so much revenue coming into the national coffer it's literally impossible to account for it all.
We've got an unrepresentative professional political and bureaucrat class that acts like an American version of an aristocracy and they treat citizens like serfs and cash cows. No matter who gets elected - Republican or Democrat - nothing changes, spending stays out of control, the debt skyrockets, and taxes keep going up.
Our government doesn't exist to respond to the needs of ordinary citizens anymore. It serves the interests of the permanent political class.
Never forget, there's big money in big government. It's the key to understanding why things are the way they are.
It never existed to address legitimate limited matters. It was always designed to become a strong centralized state. The Federalists made that very clear from the start. Only the scope was hidden. Human nature and incentives did the rest.
We should have listened to Brutus - he predicted all the corruption we know today.
The system is this way bc people play it. They spend and spend to fill a void instead of saving. Healthcare is a ex. Don’t realize a self pay policy is 1k a month. That’s 12k a year. 10 years is 120k saved. You could pay cash for open heart surgery. But alas you get raped with premiums. And when you choose your dr your first words are don’t accept my insurance. Well the system is changing regardless. Bc they aren’t paying the drs so the good ones are moving to a self pay model. Those that take your insurance are crap working to depend on volume to make ends meet. This is what you get. Cut out the insurance. And stop playing their game. Apply this to all other topics. Bc it’s a same. Stop playing their game
first, it's not health insurance. nobody insures your health, you do. How you eat, drink, exercise, sleep, matters. take care of yourself, it's your life, a gift, take care of it. second, if you get sick, go see your doc. find one who doesn't take "insurance" and doesn't have to pay five staff for each medical professional to simply file paperwork. third, blow up the tv, throw away the papers, move to the country, build you a home. have a lotta children, feed em on peaches. let em find Jesus on their own. and go back to the top....
Yes you basically restated what I said above and the life I’m already living. Except I don’t go to Drs, nor do I want to bring another slave child into
this slave planet toxic world
Insurance premium= protection money.
That gave me a big smile....
Agree. I've never understood people who think that insurance is some kind of magical ticket to health care. They pay through the nose to get it, spend it on every little medical thing available to get their money's worth, and then wonder why their insurance costs so much.
Properly, insurance is gambling. You're betting the house that something so bad is going to happen to you that you would never self inflict it, but if it does, you need the money. Over the population playing, the house has to win to remain solvent. Insurance is for unexpected catastrophes only. You only win if you lose your bet.
Medical insurance turned into a subscription service, instead of a way to pay for rare, catastrophic events.
It’s used to be non for profit. But they changed that to have shareholders. Who now require a profit. Their profit. As chaos progresses it gets more desperate and sporadic. I think we are seeing this. It’s clear by now if you should ever want to be a multimillionaire/billionaire you won’t have the chance. Too many licenses insurance policies trusts and corporate labels are required to jump thru those hoops. Which drains you of your profits. The parasites are now like private equity firms attempting to squeeze every last drop of blood from people. Eliminating the middle class. They don’t want any competition. So it’s time to leave their system.
Just make it legal again to sell and buy catastrophic medical insurance. If trump did this, trillion$ would flow into a far wider spectrum of the economy over a decade, as that money wouldn’t be concentrated as it is today in the insurance monopoly. This would solve many problems.
⬇️I just saw this on Facebook today. These are the kind of people who criticize us for opposing bath mat giveaways.
"I am @#$%& BEGGING you all to understand that using tax money to fund programs that support the community is LITERALLY THE ENTIRE POINT OF HAVING A GOVERNMENT."
Anothet example of the unending line of ignorant dipshit inhabitants of this country. Utterly bereft of ANY concept of what it means to be American. That dipshit "thinking" aided and abetted the "COVID" terrorist operation --and that "mind" doesn't even know it.
Yeah. Exactly.
I don't know if it's a 4th law, but a good proxy to the perverse incentives is realizing that lobbyists and regulators are socially and culturally one and the same; they're fungible.
Unfortunately, ive had to play their game for far too long...or I would've had to fold my cards 20 years ago.
Seeing it up close and having to "network" with these people makes me want to puke. But I've had no choice.
Lobbying is like gambling where the house always wins. Add some more perversity to the incentives and you've got pay-to-play extortion. Like gato says, government is mafia. When you realize you're being conned by organized crime families, a lot of things become clear, painfully so.
Yes. I’m forced to play the game, or my other choice is to be a serf or a slave. I sell products that people would be better off without. My accountant helps me play the games that rich people play. There’s no such thing anymore as just getting a job & paying the bills. I have to play the game.
It only makes sense that Newsom would follow up his infamous billion dollar face-diaper purchase from that Chinese EV company with this baby diaper grift for his wife's philanthro caste. More photo op fun for the first partnership!
But I wonder: Do they require the mothers to relinquish all pronouns upon acceptance of the Pampers? https://aynsrants.substack.com/p/the-newsom-first-partners-package
"philanthro caste"
That's great! 😆
Newsom: Billion Dollar Babyface
It should be clear by now that Newsom is completely corrupt and he wants to continue his corruption at scale to the national level. Or, just hop aboard the Federal corruption train and continue to collect his fraudulent largesse.
"corruption train"--should be the new name for his no-speed rail system.
The "long train of abuse" referred to in The Declaration.
Chris Bray had a great article on this a couple days ago, visiting a site Newsom claims was a hotbed of production and efficiency. I'll leave you in suspense as to what he found.
https://chrisbray.substack.com/p/potemkin-railhead-at-what-point-do
I've said it before: "If you want corporations and industries to stop buying politicians, then stop giving the politicians so much power that they're worth buying."
Giving? Government Takes. Power, money, agency and anything else it wants. Government self selects for the type of people least worthy of wielding power.
There's that too, but a great many of the usurpations over the last 250 years were performed to uproarious cheers and with the consent of much of the electorate. I'd say that We The People are fully guilty of *giving* the FedGov much of the power it now has.
Good point. But examine the governments mandated factory "educational" system that has processed generations of our children to produce docile/ignorant/incurious cogs for the corporate machines, and cannon fodder for the governments endless wars. How informed is their "consent"?
I agree, but "we" gave them *that* power too. (I mean, I think I was three years old when the Department of Education was formed. But there hasn't been a significant national movement to get rid of it either.) It wouldn't solve everything, but the best first step would be to eliminate the federal income tax. Yes, every state would need to then raise their *state* taxes to make up for the things that were previously being paid for with federal grant money, but then at least the people who need to be yelled at if they're being retards are a much shorter drive away.
First made as putty, then molded to order.
Saved
“ when you allow politicians to determine that which is bought and sold, the first things bought and sold will be politicians.”
Way back the "chosen" people of GOD wanted to have a king just like their neighbors instead of letting GOD be their leader. The prophet of GOD tried to tell them how bad it would be to have a king and the bad a king would do but they wouldn't listen, so GOD gave them Saul. Governments are like a king whether we admit it or not. Governments not a president..the government. Governments rule just like kings. Human hearts always turn toward evil. True from the beginning. Politicians,
Yeah tell me about it. One of my bosses was also a member of the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission. I seen everything in my time.
And yes--if I am so idiot of a boomer that I can't get my own nonslip tub mat I deserve to crack my idiot brains right open.
But Gavin is some master at this, ain't he? I wonder which one of his wives sucked the shame right out of the marrow of his bones.
He was raised to be morally deficit. A hollow shell sucked dry by that pesky evil side of immutable human nature.
Some kids, you might say they got dropped on their heads before they were even born.
> prevention measures like an $11 bath mat could save Americans tens of thousands of dollars
Rule of thumb: "This super inexpensive thing would be an amazing solution to this problem, the government should do it". Look, if this is such a big problem for Americans, every American has $11. The fact that they're using in on crack and shitty phone games instead of whatever the idea is, should speak volumes
> yes. if the state is the one to define it, i am. because what they push is not safety, it’s robbery and crony corporatism.
I have an idea for a business
It's an airline whose tickets are 2x as expensive as any other airline. However, on this airline, any passenger is empowered to throw any child under the age of 5 out the window.
Y'all wanna invest?