Well, I take "plunder" as being the forcible removal of people's private property, including their own legally entitled money, by a few who pretend to distribute it to their cronies but who also cream off a good slice for themselves.
As fine a description of socialism as I can think of at the minute. And one of which, incidentally, I suspect that Bastiat would have approved. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw you quoting him. Good grief, man, you'll be extolling Adam Smith next!
I don't understand you right-wingers. It's fine by you if income is redistributed to the rich, but horrible if any of it is redistributed to workers or the poor.
Slight error there, Ted. You see, by and large the rich get rich by offering things that people want and *inviting* them to give their money in exchange for the goodies they want. (See: Ford, Henry, passim.)
Socialists on the other hand don't *invite* anyone to do anything, they just use the full might and power of the state to, er, "plunder" people's money and then give it out, less their cut, of course, to their favourites.
Of course, they don't put it like that because like all great conmen they have a 'spiel', and they can always rely on the mugs who get the hand-outs to shout loudest on their behalf. What a racket!
Nice try. But the rich don't make anything. They just sell what workers make. And workers should be adequately compensated for that work. Hell, a lot of the rich don't even sell what people want. They inherited their money from Daddy. I'm not saying the rich who do sell what people want don't deserve to be compensated for that -- just that the workers who actually make those things deserve to be adequately compensated also. Capital is no more important than labor.
Capitalism is just a new name for Feudalism. Corporations and Plutocrats use the Awesome Power of Government to etract rent form Working Class people and shackle them with the chains of Corporate Bondage.
Ted, it's because the only true measures of a person are wealth and power. Sympathy, caring for one's family, friend, and community, helping the weakest, in short, human values are just weaknesses to be overcome or crushed.
History has shown that workers and the poor (peasants, serfs, whatever) eventually reach a point where they feel they no longer have anything to lose. At that point, they react against those oppressing them and that reaction has never turned out well for those who are rich or serve as their lackeys. Unfortunately, I believe we will only see things continue to worsen in our lifetime, that we're heading into a new dark age, but one day history will repeat itself with workers and the poor rising up against the oppression.
Right-wingers, like our resident troll, come across as some combination of selfish, self-centered, arrogant, immoral, amoral, condescending, sociopathic, with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement, and a lack of empathy and sympathy for those who have to struggle to live. (I could go on but you get the picture.) None of them are christian in any way that truly reflects what Jesus preached and taught. Their real gods are power and wealth, and those gods are never satisfied.
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You mean, like socialism?
ReplyDeleteDon't be silly David. Socialism protects the people. It is capitalism, especially corporate capitalism, that favors the few.
ReplyDeleteWell, I take "plunder" as being the forcible removal of people's private property, including their own legally entitled money, by a few who pretend to distribute it to their cronies but who also cream off a good slice for themselves.
ReplyDeleteAs fine a description of socialism as I can think of at the minute. And one of which, incidentally, I suspect that Bastiat would have approved. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw you quoting him. Good grief, man, you'll be extolling Adam Smith next!
I don't understand you right-wingers. It's fine by you if income is redistributed to the rich, but horrible if any of it is redistributed to workers or the poor.
ReplyDeleteSlight error there, Ted. You see, by and large the rich get rich by offering things that people want and *inviting* them to give their money in exchange for the goodies they want. (See: Ford, Henry, passim.)
ReplyDeleteSocialists on the other hand don't *invite* anyone to do anything, they just use the full might and power of the state to, er, "plunder" people's money and then give it out, less their cut, of course, to their favourites.
Of course, they don't put it like that because like all great conmen they have a 'spiel', and they can always rely on the mugs who get the hand-outs to shout loudest on their behalf. What a racket!
Nice try. But the rich don't make anything. They just sell what workers make. And workers should be adequately compensated for that work. Hell, a lot of the rich don't even sell what people want. They inherited their money from Daddy. I'm not saying the rich who do sell what people want don't deserve to be compensated for that -- just that the workers who actually make those things deserve to be adequately compensated also. Capital is no more important than labor.
DeleteCapitalism is just a new name for Feudalism. Corporations and Plutocrats use the Awesome Power of Government to etract rent form Working Class people and shackle them with the chains of Corporate Bondage.
ReplyDeleteTed, it's because the only true measures of a person are wealth and power. Sympathy, caring for one's family, friend, and community, helping the weakest, in short, human values are just weaknesses to be overcome or crushed.
ReplyDeleteHistory has shown that workers and the poor (peasants, serfs, whatever) eventually reach a point where they feel they no longer have anything to lose. At that point, they react against those oppressing them and that reaction has never turned out well for those who are rich or serve as their lackeys. Unfortunately, I believe we will only see things continue to worsen in our lifetime, that we're heading into a new dark age, but one day history will repeat itself with workers and the poor rising up against the oppression.
Right-wingers, like our resident troll, come across as some combination of selfish, self-centered, arrogant, immoral, amoral, condescending, sociopathic, with an overdeveloped sense of entitlement, and a lack of empathy and sympathy for those who have to struggle to live. (I could go on but you get the picture.) None of them are christian in any way that truly reflects what Jesus preached and taught. Their real gods are power and wealth, and those gods are never satisfied.