tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4202612581281976313.post8093386864874022750..comments2023-08-08T06:16:24.306-07:00Comments on Super Vidoqo: Democracy: Sold to the Highest Bidder!Vidoqohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15752427467116421393noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4202612581281976313.post-11943137922420418282010-01-22T09:43:06.557-08:002010-01-22T09:43:06.557-08:00America's current lack of prosperity has littl...America's current lack of prosperity has little to do with an emphasis on community interests. It has everything to do with a complete lack of a check on those who would threaten community interests. The great recession was not created by higher taxes, social programs, or regulation. Those who would point to Fanny/Freddy are ignoring the fact that this represented only a portion of the risk. <br /><br />The larger problem was the deregulation of leveraging mortgage-backed securities, much of which did not represent any community-driven impulse to increase home-ownership but were instead profiting from individuals refinancing based on the false assumption that housing would increase forever. This was the perfect storm of everything that can go wrong with individualist free-enterprise, where everyone wants to make a buck at the expense of someone else, while no one is really creating wealth and the hold thing finally tumbles down like a house of cards.<br /><br />"Sharing the booty" is an apt description of liberal philosophy. Putting aside for a moment the moral argument it makes based on assumptions of socialized behavior, it make two propositions: that every citizen has a basic right to access social equity, and redistribution toward this end is an investment that increases overall economic growth and stability.<br /><br />On the first, we place an emphasis on education that would any child from any background a reasonable opportunity to reach adulthood with the human capital sufficient to have a chance at achieving a reasonable amount of success. Currently our social structure heavily favors class privilege, demonstrated by demographic statistics on life success. Largely to remedy the effects of this structure, we then advocate the provision of services that lessen and hopefully correct the its burdensome effects in the form of criminality, drug abuse, limited access to health care, etc.<br /><br />On the second, that provision of redistributive social investment leads to growth and stability, we maintain that to the degree that these investments limit the social costs of dysfunction, they represent a sum gain in resources and productivity. What is more, having social safety nets in place lessens the impact of circumstances that would be over-burdensome to the individual and by spreading the social costs over society - much in the same way insurance works - we accelerate the pace of getting people back to productivity. Thus through programs like unemployment compensation or health insurance, we avoid the hardships of bankruptcy and put the individual back on track to productivity, in a sense lubricating the forces of friction inherent in any market.<br /><br />In all of this, what is argued for is neither communism or libertarianism. It is a mixed-economy that properly appreciates the positive and negative realities of both the market and government. By realizing a balance between the two, a system is employed that, while imperfect, is the best humanity has yet found that allows men relatively equitable access to success and freedom.Vidoqohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15752427467116421393noreply@blogger.com