James has posted on liberty recently - an issue that underlies and will outlast all the economic turmoil of the recent and soon to come years. The prophets foretold this a century and more ago - the langorous and progressively enfolding embrace of the octopus...
Would it even be possible to hold the American revolution today? The Boston Tea Party? Imagine if George III had been able to sit in his palace across the ocean, look at the security-camera footage, press a button, and freeze the bank accounts of everyone there. Oh, well, we won’t be needing another revolt, will we? But the consequence of funding the metastasization of government through the confiscation of the fruits of the citizen’s labor is the remorseless shriveling of liberty.
Read more from the excellent and usually sharply funny Mark Steyn.
10 comments:
many thanks for the Steyn link, Sackers
it always strikes me that the authors of the determined Euro-federast programme, which is portrayed so well therein, must think themselves truly benign. All this, with so little coercion !
how wrong they are
Oh, pullleeze! I feel sorry for anyone who thinks those so-called "Teabaggers" are anything but fools....
What "Teabaggers", those people who wanted to create a spectacle on Income Tax Day, April 15th, because they were outraged at taxpayer money going to the banking system and banks turning the money into profits, don't understand that with such profits, banks pay income taxes back to the American people by way of their elected government.
"Teabaggers" don't understand that with such profits, banks are able to create jobs for the American people, who in turn spend, invest, etc which result in even more jobs which result in more taxes back to the American people by way of their elected government.
Etc, etc...
Plus, such "Teabaggers" will never understand the importance of the concept of fractional reserve banking, in that it is the most effective way to stimulate an economy, because of the multiplier effect. That is, for every dollar which is inserted into the banking system, it results in about ten dollars or so inserted into the economy.
Plus, what such "Teabaggers" also don't understand is that any recent failings of such system can be addressed with improved regulation. Greed and panic are always at odds with capitalism, and regulation will always be in need of adjustment.
Plus, even with the recent failing, it still created the greatest economic boom in the history of the planet - record low unemployment and reduction of poverty from about 12% to 9% in the 90's in the US while also fostering a lifting of about 300,000,000 Chinese out of poverty, fostering a massive global boom even helped by the dot.com/communications bubble collapse which allowed India to buy up a communications/broadband infrastructure and make them a big player in the world economy - creating even more jobs, etc.
It's called investment!
I really really hope, for the sake of the United States, that Joseph Oppenheim has zero power over US economic policy. A more misguided analysis would be harder to find. Unfortunately the actual US government seems determined to enact such views. The US people will suffer the consequences. We in the UK are determined to follow, and will suffer also.
Interestingly, I've been sent today through the email an article on the possibility of an English Revolution. Haven't read it yet.
Really, you shouldn't believe much of the fantasy that Yanks pass off as their history. "The Boston Tea Party" was staged by tea-smugglers who were unhappy that the import duty on tea had been reduced to almost nil, meaning that they could no longer compete with the legit importer.
I'm sure that most history is shot through with myth and misunderstanding, DM, but in breoad terms the American revolt was clearly a fight against arbitrary and overweening power.
the American revolt was clearly a fight against arbitrary and overweening power.<<<<<
Yes, Sackerson, that was the crux, however, any rational person would understand they were phonies in that regard. Ask Native Americans or Blacks. Seems that our erstwhile "Teabaggers" didn't mind genocide or slavery for Americans they considered beneath them. Likewise, current day "Teabaggers" are complete phonies, as my original post in this thread shows. Yeah, certainly don't bother borrowing money to keep teachers employed to have smaller class sizes and school arts, music, etc programs around or public health programs for poor kids, after all American kids aren't that important. Imagine if they had the right to vote.
By the way, Britain was able to abolish slavery without a war. I do think America has come a long way, think Obama, but it still has several nasty remnants from the past, like the "teabagger" mentality.
You're trailing too many coats for me to respond fully, JO!
On your last one, yes, we Brits worked hard to abolish slavery - much gold and naval blood - but it may have been easier for us in some ways as the slaves weren't working on the British mainland.
"in breoad terms the American revolt was clearly a fight against arbitrary and overweening power": I'm not sure it was - I find it very hard to work out just what on earth it was about.
Georgie was a meddler and micro-manager, I seem to recall; like...
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