Ah, another ‘where will we get the money’ austerity fool weighs in.
The never-ending spending of cash by government isn’t the problem. The never-ending source of monied interest cash buying politicians is. And Musk is exhibit A.
"Ah, another ‘where will we get the money’ austerity fool weighs in."
I take it that you pay the minimum on your maxed-out credit card every month. What alternative uses could you find for all that interest you are paying? And what happens when your creditors refuse to front you any more money?
Oh - and why do you expect your kids to pay off YOUR debt??
Oh, and my kids won’t need to pay off debt, though the bloodsucking corporate financial parasites will surely try to make them think so, as they did me when my parents passed.
"Corporate greed" is why you have a computer to post your comments here, not to mention the chair you sat on to post them, your home, and everything in it, including the clothes on your back.
No, Mary, corporate greed is why the CEO of United ‘Health’ ‘Care’ caught three bullets in the back in NYC yesterday.
I don’t have a computer, I wasn’t posting in a chair, and to insinuate that my entire existence is a function of corporate success is to be as stupid as Mitt Romney.
There’s a reason every law professor addressing his students in an introductory corporate law class begins with the same sentence: A corporation is a legal fiction.
You said you have an iPad. An iPad is a computer used primarily for social interaction and commercial purchases. So you just lied to me.
"I wasn't posting in a chair..."
So you were standing up while typing on your computer? I find that hard to believe.
"...to insinuate that my entire existence is a function of corporate success is to be as stupid as Mitt Romney."
I didn't say or insinuate that your existence is a function of corporate success. What I said was that pretty much all the comforts you enjoy today are the result of capitalism.
You don't have to grow all your own food, harvest it and preserve it, because you can buy any food you choose at a store.
You don't have to grow cotton and herd sheep for wool, harvest the cotton or shear the sheep, spin it, weave it and sew it into clothing, because you can pay others, directly or indirectly, to do that for you.
You didn't have to come up with the idea of a computer and how to engineer and build it. Someone else did that for you.
You didn't have to chop down trees, trim the branches to make timber, make your own nails and hammers, and build yourself a house, because you paid other people, directly or indirectly, to do that for you.
Those are just FOUR examples of how capitalism has made your life easier than that of someone living 2000 years ago. Frankly, you ought to be grateful.
An IPad is a tablet. A phone is a phone. I can make calls on my tablet; I don’t call it a phone. You don’t pick up your phone to do a search and think, let me check my computer.
I was sitting on my bed when I was typing. But I made the dining room table and bench I often do my writing/reading on. I believe you are a fool.
As to ‘pretty much all the comforts you enjoy today are the result of capitalism’, you are still the aforementioned fool. I get comfort from friends, family, my dogs, my garden, reading…. none of which would qualify as comfort from stuff.
Speaking of my garden, I have two freezers, full of food I ‘grew, harvested, and preserved’, in addition to shelves of food (preserves, okra pickles, etc) I canned for pantry storage.
I’m a clothing minimalist, so contribute little to the fashion capitalistas. You are right, I didn’t fell the trees for my house, but did do a large percentage of the construction.
I like indoor plumbing as much as you do. You will get no argument from me that capitalism brought many people in this world more creature comforts. So did slavery. So did feudalism. Both of the latter died as the primary economic system, though remnants of both remain. The same fate awaits capitalism; otherwise we face extinction as a species.
There are not enough natural resources on the earth to give your current ‘comfortable’ lifestyle to everyone, and the current cancerous capitalist (we must have ever increasing growth/profit) paradigm does nothing but drive inequality and a climate crisis, both of which will lead to mass migration and social chaos.
Did you personally make the bed frame, the mattress and boxspring, and all the bedding? No? Then you benefitted from capitalism.
“I get comfort from friends, family, my dogs, my garden, reading…. none of which would qualify as comfort from stuff.”
Where did the seeds come from for your garden? The fertilizer or manure? Your gardening tools? How about your books? (Hint: you bought them, hence you benefitted from capitalism.)
“Speaking of my garden, I have two freezers, full of food I ‘grew, harvested, and preserved’, in addition to shelves of food (preserves, okra pickles, etc) I canned for pantry storage.”
That’s wonderful. I can too. Where did your canner, the sugar or vinegar you used, your stove, your canning jars, your freezers, and the shelves come from? (You bought them. Capitalism.)
“I’m a clothing minimalist, so contribute little to the fashion capitalistas.”
Where did your underwear, shoes, socks, clothing, belts come from? (You bought them. Capitalism.)
“Both of [slavery and feudalism] died as the primary economic system, though remnants of both remain. The same fate awaits capitalism; otherwise we face extinction as a species.”
That is a bold statement with absolutely nothing to back it up. Capitalism has lifted billions of people out of poverty. Socialism grinds them into the dirt.
“There are not enough natural resources on the earth to give your current ‘comfortable’ lifestyle to everyone, …”
Proof?
“…and the current cancerous capitalist (we must have ever increasing growth/profit) paradigm does nothing but drive inequality and a climate crisis, …”
There is no climate crisis, and as I said before, capitalism has lifted billions of people out of poverty. The poorest in the US are still rich beyond the imaginations of people living in the 1870s.
“… both of which will lead to mass migration and social chaos.”
No, what leads to social chaos are the envy and greed of people who think they are owed what other people have worked for. As for mass migration, for many that is also driven by greed and envy.
If you conflate enlightenment with comfort, you might have a case. But the fact that you included Bezos in your list blows your pithy analysis all to hell.
I try to avoid addictions. Too many people addicted to credit cards and cell phones, and I could easily fall into either category. I can do just fine with a debit card and an iPad.
"Just another private sector grifter fool who thinks running the gubmit like a bidness is gonna make America great."
Running the gubmint like a never-ending source of cash certainly isn't working.
Ah, another ‘where will we get the money’ austerity fool weighs in.
The never-ending spending of cash by government isn’t the problem. The never-ending source of monied interest cash buying politicians is. And Musk is exhibit A.
"Ah, another ‘where will we get the money’ austerity fool weighs in."
I take it that you pay the minimum on your maxed-out credit card every month. What alternative uses could you find for all that interest you are paying? And what happens when your creditors refuse to front you any more money?
Oh - and why do you expect your kids to pay off YOUR debt??
I don’t have a credit card, nor a cell phone.
Oh, and my kids won’t need to pay off debt, though the bloodsucking corporate financial parasites will surely try to make them think so, as they did me when my parents passed.
Stop being a simp for private sector greed - https://www.propublica.org/article/unitedhealth-healthcare-insurance-denial-ulcerative-colitis
"Corporate greed" is why you have a computer to post your comments here, not to mention the chair you sat on to post them, your home, and everything in it, including the clothes on your back.
No, Mary, corporate greed is why the CEO of United ‘Health’ ‘Care’ caught three bullets in the back in NYC yesterday.
I don’t have a computer, I wasn’t posting in a chair, and to insinuate that my entire existence is a function of corporate success is to be as stupid as Mitt Romney.
There’s a reason every law professor addressing his students in an introductory corporate law class begins with the same sentence: A corporation is a legal fiction.
MoveToAmend.org
"I don’t have a computer..."
You said you have an iPad. An iPad is a computer used primarily for social interaction and commercial purchases. So you just lied to me.
"I wasn't posting in a chair..."
So you were standing up while typing on your computer? I find that hard to believe.
"...to insinuate that my entire existence is a function of corporate success is to be as stupid as Mitt Romney."
I didn't say or insinuate that your existence is a function of corporate success. What I said was that pretty much all the comforts you enjoy today are the result of capitalism.
You don't have to grow all your own food, harvest it and preserve it, because you can buy any food you choose at a store.
You don't have to grow cotton and herd sheep for wool, harvest the cotton or shear the sheep, spin it, weave it and sew it into clothing, because you can pay others, directly or indirectly, to do that for you.
You didn't have to come up with the idea of a computer and how to engineer and build it. Someone else did that for you.
You didn't have to chop down trees, trim the branches to make timber, make your own nails and hammers, and build yourself a house, because you paid other people, directly or indirectly, to do that for you.
Those are just FOUR examples of how capitalism has made your life easier than that of someone living 2000 years ago. Frankly, you ought to be grateful.
An IPad is a tablet. A phone is a phone. I can make calls on my tablet; I don’t call it a phone. You don’t pick up your phone to do a search and think, let me check my computer.
I was sitting on my bed when I was typing. But I made the dining room table and bench I often do my writing/reading on. I believe you are a fool.
As to ‘pretty much all the comforts you enjoy today are the result of capitalism’, you are still the aforementioned fool. I get comfort from friends, family, my dogs, my garden, reading…. none of which would qualify as comfort from stuff.
Speaking of my garden, I have two freezers, full of food I ‘grew, harvested, and preserved’, in addition to shelves of food (preserves, okra pickles, etc) I canned for pantry storage.
I’m a clothing minimalist, so contribute little to the fashion capitalistas. You are right, I didn’t fell the trees for my house, but did do a large percentage of the construction.
I like indoor plumbing as much as you do. You will get no argument from me that capitalism brought many people in this world more creature comforts. So did slavery. So did feudalism. Both of the latter died as the primary economic system, though remnants of both remain. The same fate awaits capitalism; otherwise we face extinction as a species.
There are not enough natural resources on the earth to give your current ‘comfortable’ lifestyle to everyone, and the current cancerous capitalist (we must have ever increasing growth/profit) paradigm does nothing but drive inequality and a climate crisis, both of which will lead to mass migration and social chaos.
You are lying to yourself.
“An iPad is a tablet.”
And a tablet is a computer.
“I was sitting on my bed…”
Did you personally make the bed frame, the mattress and boxspring, and all the bedding? No? Then you benefitted from capitalism.
“I get comfort from friends, family, my dogs, my garden, reading…. none of which would qualify as comfort from stuff.”
Where did the seeds come from for your garden? The fertilizer or manure? Your gardening tools? How about your books? (Hint: you bought them, hence you benefitted from capitalism.)
“Speaking of my garden, I have two freezers, full of food I ‘grew, harvested, and preserved’, in addition to shelves of food (preserves, okra pickles, etc) I canned for pantry storage.”
That’s wonderful. I can too. Where did your canner, the sugar or vinegar you used, your stove, your canning jars, your freezers, and the shelves come from? (You bought them. Capitalism.)
“I’m a clothing minimalist, so contribute little to the fashion capitalistas.”
Where did your underwear, shoes, socks, clothing, belts come from? (You bought them. Capitalism.)
“Both of [slavery and feudalism] died as the primary economic system, though remnants of both remain. The same fate awaits capitalism; otherwise we face extinction as a species.”
That is a bold statement with absolutely nothing to back it up. Capitalism has lifted billions of people out of poverty. Socialism grinds them into the dirt.
“There are not enough natural resources on the earth to give your current ‘comfortable’ lifestyle to everyone, …”
Proof?
“…and the current cancerous capitalist (we must have ever increasing growth/profit) paradigm does nothing but drive inequality and a climate crisis, …”
There is no climate crisis, and as I said before, capitalism has lifted billions of people out of poverty. The poorest in the US are still rich beyond the imaginations of people living in the 1870s.
“… both of which will lead to mass migration and social chaos.”
No, what leads to social chaos are the envy and greed of people who think they are owed what other people have worked for. As for mass migration, for many that is also driven by greed and envy.
There is no climate crisis. Migration is driven by greed and envy.
Stop digging, fool. You’re embarrassing yourself.
Your resorting to ad hominems is your admission that you have lost the argument.
People like Gutenberg, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Carnegie, and Jeff Bezos would definitely say books represent “comfort from stuff”
If you conflate enlightenment with comfort, you might have a case. But the fact that you included Bezos in your list blows your pithy analysis all to hell.
You don't have a cell phone or credit card but openly post on social media?
Hmmm...
Nothing Hmmm about it.
I try to avoid addictions. Too many people addicted to credit cards and cell phones, and I could easily fall into either category. I can do just fine with a debit card and an iPad.
Completely wrong. What 33t in debt is not enough?
Didn’t you get the Cheney memo? Debt don’t matter.