Not all at once. You can’t use state lingo ( such as “Byrd” or “We” or “5 year plan” or “improved”), can’t recycle tired state excuses or premises , nor can you deploy pyrotechnics — not` even numbers !.
It should just be YOUR words and YOUR ideas — necessary and sufficient.
Just as one would tackle the concepts of ‘marriage’, ‘friendship’, ‘hatred’, ‘family’.
Sometimes it is better not to look at the two hole cards in poker, and sometimes it’s better not to look at fancy books or rely on experts — especially if there are shenanigans going on anywhere.
OK, back to basics. Let’s try some ‘group think’, shall we ?
Let’s take back our language and concepts from the state. They don’t need them and they have abused them.
They rest their actions on the pillars of force, fraud and faith.
Everone gets a chance to work on “what is business” and “what is an economy” ?
1. It’s something that involves more than one person.
2. It’s something that people do.
OK, now everyone join in and tinker with this.
And, just like in school : everyone get’s credit and everyone gets blame and we all have to take nresponsibity to get the assignment done.
“horse farms where there can never be a horse farm”
[SIGH]
Hey,
You all forgot to talk about “Arch Moore”, “World War Two and the greatest generation”, “illegal immigrant problem in West Virginia”,”price of gas going up”, “complicated tax forms”, and …Uh…Oh,yeah, “Arch Moore”, oh, no forget that…I just got excited and carried away by the moment…I meant to continue with ” food stamps”, “the short growing season in WV”..and, Uh, …”cost of vehicle inspections” and “new”car taxes”..and “God”
Did I miss any ?
Can we now figure out how to assemble a description of Business” ?
People in this state (just like in this country) won’t allow people to think outside the box. We are being strangled by the same old ideas and SPECIAL INTERESTS.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston spoke at West Virginia State University. He said that we have a highly visible welfare program but a hidden welfare program for the rich. We believe the ‘cultural myth’ that some how the
wealthy are taking care of the rest of us.
Reality is that the tax structures such as subsidies for the retail industry mean that 90 percent of society is paying the way for the wealthiest. (Cabellas and Wal-Mart) These tax dollars are going to them instead of infrastructure, schools, and parks.
TIF districts can give large corporations an advantage against local businesses that operate without subsidies and who have the best interests of the community in mind.
I suggest some of the leaders in this state read his book:
“Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (And Stick You with the Bill)”……but then that would mean the fat cats would have to get off the gravy train.
Virginia got this business to locate in Tazwell county because the state would assist them more than West Virginia would. This is not capitalism, and anybody who confuses it…just flat out did not read the article. Dont let others tell you whats going on.
If the proposal ( OK, OK, let’s call it “economic development” just for discussions sake — although it is the opposite ) was going to be profitable ( i.e. desired by others in the market ) , then the businessman would have already had his money in earlier –by himself !
What we are missing is the ‘unseen’ :
Where does the money come from and what else could it be doing.
The money, of course, comes from other people in Virginia. To be clear : from tax payers. To be even clearer : forcefully taken from people from all over Virginia who had their own ideas about what should be done with that same money that they had earned in the market — money that was not result of state action. Taxpayers who couldn’t find Tazwell county on the map if their life depended on it. Imagine that ! “”Tazwell county, or rather the people connected to the state and its “economic planning” may get some slight and temporary boost to their wealth, but it will always fail. And no one in the rest of Virgina wants it — no one was asked !!
This is the unseen. Virginia would not be as prosperous if more, or all, of their economic planning — and the capitalization of such — were done by the state. Even if some politically connected businessmen were able to make a few quick bucks. The state, in all it’s incarnations and variations and partnerships destroys wealth. The taxpayers are left footing the bill — and finding something to do with the plastic lifesize brontosauruses, doll museums, bridges to nowhere, and……”industrial parks”. Think about all the billions that RCB has brought back to WV and promptly turned to tarmac or statues or buildings — FOR STATE GOVERNMENT WORKERS!!
How about if he just emptied the bag of money on the floor and return it quickly to the people who generated it !!
I am not super-rich. Not anywhere close. But, I would rather have people who have demonstrably succeeded in the freemarket continue to keep their money. Then they wouldn’t have any need for state tax loopholes or corporate welfare. Why should the state take their money and give it to me or anyone else. Let their money and ideas circulate in the market and generate more wonderful desired goods and services. Even if they spend all their money on expensive stuff to fill up their pockets and Bentleys and yachts, well, that will make it all the more likely that this great newly developed stuff will be more available for the rest of us down the road. Oh, like the way computers and cell phones and GPS devices trickled down to the rest of us — but not possible without the superwealthy So, stop with the envy thing — we absolutely need superrich people. So instead, I would propose that we have a negative tax in West Virginia: a tax that drops as your income rises. Stop bashing the superrich ; keep your powder dry for the state.
Where is the envy at Simon? Where did the super rich come in to the argument? Can we keep this in context? My argument is dont use state money to assist with locating of a free market business..What the hell does that have to with bashing the super rich? Keep your never ending supply of parables in context.
You mention that …”David Johnston’s book is really good”.
I’ll take you at your word that this is your opinion.
But, his writing is thinly directed invective at the super-rich, and he mentions, on his website :
“The rapidly widening gulf between the super-rich and everyone else is an American tragedy”.
Wow !
Tragedy ?
I thought ‘tragedy’ refers to an unexpected and avoidable death. How is it tragic for Bill Gates to make 50 billion dollars. How did that damage me or anyone else for that matter. Did someone die ? Someone — or many people — voluntarily gave him this money for computer goods. Same with all the other entrepreneurs.
Me thinks that someone is tugging at heart strings and emotions here. Emotions and economics don’t mix too well — and state activists use this to their advantage. The term ‘jealousy’ is not an unreasonable emotion– wanting what someone else has — and it is natural and maybe healthy….as long as it is short lived and doesn’t take control of the person and turn to ‘envy’. Envy is when people start wanting to tear down subject, at any cost. They start becoming irrational This subterfuge has been used by all kinds of state activists to attract the masses and promote ‘change’, especially economic ‘change’.
Let’s agree to throw the book at the state.
Granted the state shook carrots and sticks at some companies, but I think it is a mistake to conflate “getting rich” with “state action”.The two have to be distinguished and differentiated. When the state forces you to dance to a strange soundtrack, well you dance and try not to trip over you shoe laces or step on the state’s toes. Can’t blame them for dancing well. Can’t blame the super-rich for wanting to avoid getting hit by an undercooked carrot or splintered stick — but Johnston derides this in his book.
Think of this Simon, what the book is really about is….Imagine its 1980 all over again. Bill Gates has his idea and is trying to capitalize off it. IBM says he is a crackpot and the future is in hardware not software. Bill Gates says the future is in software. Bill gets some investors to back him and begins working 24/7 for a long time…which is what happened. Now, a competitor who has no idea of Bill Gates and his project has also decided the future is in software. The competetor’s idea is not as good as Bill’s, but the competetor is friends with a senator, and has some connections in the state he lives in. He begins instead of a little R and D, working on tax exemptions, government grants, getting Harrison County to build his office, and train his employees. Since the state has build his infrastructure and trained his employees, the competitor now has a huge advantage on Gates. Even though his software is not as good (nobody would know this at the time, because the technology is still so young)…Gates looses his investors to his competitor and does not get that initial contract that puts him on the map. Now, we as a society do not get to reep the benefits of Bill Gates’ knowledge, because the state decided his competitor was superior…That my friend is socialism….Right Wing Socialism…the really bad kind….aka…Fascism. Simon…Are you hiding your true beliefs???? I think the self proclaimed Libertarian is in fact a Fascist. Let me get this straight, you do believe in the redistribution of wealth….as long as you know what dance steps to make, and you have the resources, and its all good since the Prom is immoral and unjustified. Tell you what, write Warren Buffett a check for $100, and ask him if he will allow you to be his pet or better yet see if he will employ you or your neighbor. At least that will cut out the middle man and all the red tape. The gap between the rich and the poor is growing…sorry for saying that…..
All yeah, Jesse Owens called and he wants to come out play…Can he?
Be wary of both state generated statistics and specific anecdotes and observations made public by the state. The state has a nasty habit of mixing their metaphors for public consumption.
But, I do support your idea to sweep emotionally laden anecdotes and statistics off the table and deal with moral matters : liberty and property rights. And just as state fascocorporatism promotes the wealth of the super-rich — as long as they play along — the state also suppresses the poor from becoming wealthier by even more invidious ways. The case can be made that the lower economic classes are prevented from climbing the economic ladder and that this has greater impact on the ‘Great Wealth Divide’.
But, all classes would be wealthier without the state : poor and rich and super-rich alike. Just ask Bill Gates after he was dragged through the mud by competitors in collusion with the 50 states’ attorneys general over allegations re: antitrust, price fixing, price gouging, anticompetitive practices and monopolization allegations. He’d be worth way more — as would Microsoft stockholders — without this kind of ‘business tax’ to continue operating. He didn’t dance too well — they dragged him onto the dance floor and he wasn’t even aware there was any soundtrack. Nothing like a head on a pike — that’ll teach any other selfmade super-rich types out there to be stubbornly independent and not pay homage to Caesar. And, subsequently, it’s clear he’s learned his lesson, and now pays lobbyists and consultants handsomely to keep him in the good graces of the state. But, the intellectual bodyguards of the state do not waste their barrel of ink on this “tragic” aspect, specifically : paying off the state to keep your wealth.
But, the real ‘tragedy’, loosely applied, that more completely explains the larger part of the widening chasm : the entrapment in the lower economic quintiles through occupational licensure, erosion of wealth by the Fed’s inflationary printing presses, sales taxes on necessities, various and sundry socioeconomic engineering schemes by the state, costly business regulations drafted by business incumbents that burden and prevent low cost upstarts from entering a sector, etc.
This is moreso a ‘tragedy’. But, no one writes about this kind of class cannibalism ; it doesn’t work well for the state. It doesn’t fit with their story line. The state needs scapegoats — domestic and foreign. There are a hell of a lot more people below the rung of the super-rich — and they’ve been well trained to suspect the rich to be criminals and immoral, uncaring degenerates by the obsequious media, state schools and state agents….and they vote in huge numbers !!
It’s clear that there is a role for everyone in the state anthill held together with dollops of force and fraud and faith. The state knows they need the brain of the few truly intellectual entrepreneurs and the brawn of the masses for the parasitic state queen to survive.
First Rule of any parasite : don’t kill the host.
Second Rule of a state parasite : make the host think it needs the parasite.
Third Rule of the perfectly evolved state parasite : make the host believe it is now the parasite, and the parasite is to be seen as the host.
Fourth Rule of the ultimate state parasite : remind the masses, in society, at every opportunity, about the Third Rule
Let’s not fall for this class warfare crap — I mean who really benefits ? Cui bono ? I think everyone ( except the state ) would get wealthier if the state got out of the business of choosing which voluntary social and economic activities were to be favored or punished. If society and the state both stuck to the business of respecting and protecting individual liberty and property rights , all these statistical assassinations and retaliatory class warfare would be moot.
I dont know the answer to your questions, but there are answers…and like I said we have land grant institution 34 miles north of here, and at least two other Universities that do a horrid job of researching it. I would love to spend the other 32 hours a week that I am not sleeping or working…on researching this stuff…but I can’t…Simon, your arguments are always going to be swayed heavily to the side of how the state is to blame, or how the government is to blame…and I think that answers some of our problems, but not all of them. I know you are not the type of person to come up with the diagnosis, and then tries to prove it….are you? Or do you disect the symptons and work to a diagnosis?
Ah yes :” the land grant institution 34 miles north of here”. Yes, they do plenty of “research” ( “numbers, data, numbers, input, numbers, calculations, numbers, graphs — we must have more numbers or else the state sponsored system comes to grinding halt ! Intellectual bodyguards : Give us research!” )
That facility constantly comes out with vague, incoherent, mushy interpretations of data — and then spit out equally useless recommendations that are unworkable or just simply ignored or cherry-picked by the state. And they get paid handsomely to do it. They’ve been looking at data for years at WVU, with all kinds of expensive computer modelling, and WV is still dead last. Well, ‘number’ ( get it ? Numb–er ) is certainly an ironic apropos term in this case, no ? But, I guess ‘bread and circuses’ can’t be used — someone might remember the Romans used these to placate and distract the citizens as their empire collapsed. I suppose if Charleston were able to, they would start printing up their own economic stimulus cheques.
We don’t need more reports or consultants. We don’t need to look at this as a pie-in-the-sky perfect equation, which always seems just beyond our comprehension or fingertips here in WV, or a ‘disease’ — although the state would dearly like that as well — but moreso simply a man-made condition. A condition that, ultimately, we have chosen. We have chosen to give life to the state and delegate matters to it. Everything out there related to our economy has been chosen by everyone in the economy. I guess we have to step up to the plate and admit that much atleast. Scientific “economic” research — even by the smartest Marxist economist professors in the state-run faculty of economics — cannot find, or take, all information instantaneously and tell us what the future portends if this-that-or-the-other decision is made. But, there is another reason to avoid pseudoscientific management of the economy by the state and its’ intellectual guards : it doesn’t tell you what outcomes that you, the individual, should want. It doesn’t care. Which is more important to you : your environment; your health; your education; your safety; your pleasure. Who can be sure at any moment. There is always shifting scarcities for society to deal with, and shifting priorities for each individual. There is a natural tension here. Only a free market with free individuals exchanging goods and services, constantly, incessantly, in a mutually beneficial fashion, can the tension be resolved. But the state will not, or cannot, recognize or acknowledge real scarcity. They are not part of society. And ‘individual priority’ or ‘value’ is not in their lexicon either. But, individuals adroitly communicate about scarcities and priorities through blunt prices and adjusting their priorities and thus choices ; they know they change with time as the situation and consequences become clearer. And individuals are prepared for this.The state is not so nearly idiosyncratic or careful– or humble. The state puts itself first and only pays lipservice to individuals, to the extent that individuals can be forced or faked into following the state. It depends on one’s values at that point, and that is anathema to the state : the state cringes at the idea of the individual, his liberty, his values and morality. The economy should be seen as organic entity ; changing in the same way a body can change, and be changed, over time and in space. Its development is constrained — at the floor level — by reality, but optimal outcomes — at the ceiling –are then limited only by creative selfish choices modified by compassion towards others. Do I want to eat alot and become a Sumo wrestler or slim down and win 8 medals in the pool ? Oh, and you want to get your body pierced and tattooed. ooooh, way cool.
My contention is that as long as people don’t hit the floor or the ceiling, and remember morality and values in between, they’re going to be just fine — much more prosperous economically, safe and humane. In fact, everyone will be just fine.
So, Bobby, what do you want ? Who should be in charge of your ideas, your values, your goals, your heart, your hands, your relationships and your property ? It’s really simple and it comes down to either you or the state. But, the state discourages compassion, choice and reality — it only deals with force, fraud and faith.
The only “economic equation” — if I could hold my nose long enough to borrow a term from the state’s Praetorian guard agents in the media and higher education — that I can apply, is thus framed simply :
The courageous individual + ( liberty and reason and reality ) – ( force and fraud and faith ) = maximal economic prosperity.
The only other piece of economic advice I have that would immediately improve the WV economy, would be for all the state actors and cheerleaders to agree to receive their tax funded salaries and benefits on the condition that they stay on an aircraft carrier — don’t bother coming ashore. Go govern yourselves out at sea. Here’s some dramamine. Leave us alone.
Now, shut off all those infernal computers doing economic calculations. Us hard working West Virginians need our rest to be productive in the morning. We want to be # 1….right ?
….Oh, yeah and if you decide to climb onto the aircraft carrier, don’t forget to take alll your laws, statutes, regulations, tax schedules, department vehicles, office furniture, answering machines, photocopiers,badges, clipboards, name tags, filing cabinets, economic computer models, equations and paperclips with you. Yeah, you guys and gals will get along just fine with each other. Perfect. Call us when you get wet, cold or hungry…and when you want join a voluntary, productive society.
Government can not create business but it can sure stifle it. West Virginia has not brought its Tax Structure upon to what was needed for the 1970’s let alone for the 21st century. Our infrastructure lags behind the national average. Our one Party Political System stifles open discussion of the states problems. By returning the same old tired faces to our legislature, how can we get any better results. We don’t get out of the box thinking that way. We need to throw out the rascals who have kept West Virginia at the bottom of most national statistics and get some new faces in government. We need to wean ourselves off coal and expand our energy base.
So, who knows what “business” is ?
And then : “business friendly climate” ?
Not all at once. You can’t use state lingo ( such as “Byrd” or “We” or “5 year plan” or “improved”), can’t recycle tired state excuses or premises , nor can you deploy pyrotechnics — not` even numbers !.
It should just be YOUR words and YOUR ideas — necessary and sufficient.
Just as one would tackle the concepts of ‘marriage’, ‘friendship’, ‘hatred’, ‘family’.
Sometimes it is better not to look at the two hole cards in poker, and sometimes it’s better not to look at fancy books or rely on experts — especially if there are shenanigans going on anywhere.
OK, back to basics. Let’s try some ‘group think’, shall we ?
Let’s take back our language and concepts from the state. They don’t need them and they have abused them.
They rest their actions on the pillars of force, fraud and faith.
Everone gets a chance to work on “what is business” and “what is an economy” ?
1. It’s something that involves more than one person.
2. It’s something that people do.
OK, now everyone join in and tinker with this.
And, just like in school : everyone get’s credit and everyone gets blame and we all have to take nresponsibity to get the assignment done.
( pant, pant, pant)
“our past advantages”
“transportation…networks” “built this state”
( pant, pant, pant )
“Cabellas…minimum wage jobs”
“horse farms where there can never be a horse farm”
[SIGH]
Hey,
You all forgot to talk about “Arch Moore”, “World War Two and the greatest generation”, “illegal immigrant problem in West Virginia”,”price of gas going up”, “complicated tax forms”, and …Uh…Oh,yeah, “Arch Moore”, oh, no forget that…I just got excited and carried away by the moment…I meant to continue with ” food stamps”, “the short growing season in WV”..and, Uh, …”cost of vehicle inspections” and “new”car taxes”..and “God”
Did I miss any ?
Can we now figure out how to assemble a description of Business” ?
3. mutually beneficial
Come on ; in the water’s fine.
People in this state (just like in this country) won’t allow people to think outside the box. We are being strangled by the same old ideas and SPECIAL INTERESTS.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston spoke at West Virginia State University. He said that we have a highly visible welfare program but a hidden welfare program for the rich. We believe the ‘cultural myth’ that some how the
wealthy are taking care of the rest of us.
Reality is that the tax structures such as subsidies for the retail industry mean that 90 percent of society is paying the way for the wealthiest. (Cabellas and Wal-Mart) These tax dollars are going to them instead of infrastructure, schools, and parks.
TIF districts can give large corporations an advantage against local businesses that operate without subsidies and who have the best interests of the community in mind.
I suggest some of the leaders in this state read his book:
“Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (And Stick You with the Bill)”……but then that would mean the fat cats would have to get off the gravy train.
Gee, I thought the “Open for Business” sign would turn it all around for us.
Anonynmous is right,
Virginia got this business to locate in Tazwell county because the state would assist them more than West Virginia would. This is not capitalism, and anybody who confuses it…just flat out did not read the article. Dont let others tell you whats going on.
oh yah and David Johnston’s book is really good.
Bobby,
let’s look at this Tazwell thing.
If the proposal ( OK, OK, let’s call it “economic development” just for discussions sake — although it is the opposite ) was going to be profitable ( i.e. desired by others in the market ) , then the businessman would have already had his money in earlier –by himself !
What we are missing is the ‘unseen’ :
Where does the money come from and what else could it be doing.
The money, of course, comes from other people in Virginia. To be clear : from tax payers. To be even clearer : forcefully taken from people from all over Virginia who had their own ideas about what should be done with that same money that they had earned in the market — money that was not result of state action. Taxpayers who couldn’t find Tazwell county on the map if their life depended on it. Imagine that ! “”Tazwell county, or rather the people connected to the state and its “economic planning” may get some slight and temporary boost to their wealth, but it will always fail. And no one in the rest of Virgina wants it — no one was asked !!
This is the unseen. Virginia would not be as prosperous if more, or all, of their economic planning — and the capitalization of such — were done by the state. Even if some politically connected businessmen were able to make a few quick bucks. The state, in all it’s incarnations and variations and partnerships destroys wealth. The taxpayers are left footing the bill — and finding something to do with the plastic lifesize brontosauruses, doll museums, bridges to nowhere, and……”industrial parks”. Think about all the billions that RCB has brought back to WV and promptly turned to tarmac or statues or buildings — FOR STATE GOVERNMENT WORKERS!!
How about if he just emptied the bag of money on the floor and return it quickly to the people who generated it !!
I am not super-rich. Not anywhere close. But, I would rather have people who have demonstrably succeeded in the freemarket continue to keep their money. Then they wouldn’t have any need for state tax loopholes or corporate welfare. Why should the state take their money and give it to me or anyone else. Let their money and ideas circulate in the market and generate more wonderful desired goods and services. Even if they spend all their money on expensive stuff to fill up their pockets and Bentleys and yachts, well, that will make it all the more likely that this great newly developed stuff will be more available for the rest of us down the road. Oh, like the way computers and cell phones and GPS devices trickled down to the rest of us — but not possible without the superwealthy So, stop with the envy thing — we absolutely need superrich people. So instead, I would propose that we have a negative tax in West Virginia: a tax that drops as your income rises. Stop bashing the superrich ; keep your powder dry for the state.
Where is the envy at Simon? Where did the super rich come in to the argument? Can we keep this in context? My argument is dont use state money to assist with locating of a free market business..What the hell does that have to with bashing the super rich? Keep your never ending supply of parables in context.
Bobby,
You mention that …”David Johnston’s book is really good”.
I’ll take you at your word that this is your opinion.
But, his writing is thinly directed invective at the super-rich, and he mentions, on his website :
“The rapidly widening gulf between the super-rich and everyone else is an American tragedy”.
Wow !
Tragedy ?
I thought ‘tragedy’ refers to an unexpected and avoidable death. How is it tragic for Bill Gates to make 50 billion dollars. How did that damage me or anyone else for that matter. Did someone die ? Someone — or many people — voluntarily gave him this money for computer goods. Same with all the other entrepreneurs.
Me thinks that someone is tugging at heart strings and emotions here. Emotions and economics don’t mix too well — and state activists use this to their advantage. The term ‘jealousy’ is not an unreasonable emotion– wanting what someone else has — and it is natural and maybe healthy….as long as it is short lived and doesn’t take control of the person and turn to ‘envy’. Envy is when people start wanting to tear down subject, at any cost. They start becoming irrational This subterfuge has been used by all kinds of state activists to attract the masses and promote ‘change’, especially economic ‘change’.
Let’s agree to throw the book at the state.
Granted the state shook carrots and sticks at some companies, but I think it is a mistake to conflate “getting rich” with “state action”.The two have to be distinguished and differentiated. When the state forces you to dance to a strange soundtrack, well you dance and try not to trip over you shoe laces or step on the state’s toes. Can’t blame them for dancing well. Can’t blame the super-rich for wanting to avoid getting hit by an undercooked carrot or splintered stick — but Johnston derides this in his book.
Think of this Simon, what the book is really about is….Imagine its 1980 all over again. Bill Gates has his idea and is trying to capitalize off it. IBM says he is a crackpot and the future is in hardware not software. Bill Gates says the future is in software. Bill gets some investors to back him and begins working 24/7 for a long time…which is what happened. Now, a competitor who has no idea of Bill Gates and his project has also decided the future is in software. The competetor’s idea is not as good as Bill’s, but the competetor is friends with a senator, and has some connections in the state he lives in. He begins instead of a little R and D, working on tax exemptions, government grants, getting Harrison County to build his office, and train his employees. Since the state has build his infrastructure and trained his employees, the competitor now has a huge advantage on Gates. Even though his software is not as good (nobody would know this at the time, because the technology is still so young)…Gates looses his investors to his competitor and does not get that initial contract that puts him on the map. Now, we as a society do not get to reep the benefits of Bill Gates’ knowledge, because the state decided his competitor was superior…That my friend is socialism….Right Wing Socialism…the really bad kind….aka…Fascism. Simon…Are you hiding your true beliefs???? I think the self proclaimed Libertarian is in fact a Fascist. Let me get this straight, you do believe in the redistribution of wealth….as long as you know what dance steps to make, and you have the resources, and its all good since the Prom is immoral and unjustified. Tell you what, write Warren Buffett a check for $100, and ask him if he will allow you to be his pet or better yet see if he will employ you or your neighbor. At least that will cut out the middle man and all the red tape. The gap between the rich and the poor is growing…sorry for saying that…..
All yeah, Jesse Owens called and he wants to come out play…Can he?
Pax Bobby,
Be wary of both state generated statistics and specific anecdotes and observations made public by the state. The state has a nasty habit of mixing their metaphors for public consumption.
But, I do support your idea to sweep emotionally laden anecdotes and statistics off the table and deal with moral matters : liberty and property rights. And just as state fascocorporatism promotes the wealth of the super-rich — as long as they play along — the state also suppresses the poor from becoming wealthier by even more invidious ways. The case can be made that the lower economic classes are prevented from climbing the economic ladder and that this has greater impact on the ‘Great Wealth Divide’.
But, all classes would be wealthier without the state : poor and rich and super-rich alike. Just ask Bill Gates after he was dragged through the mud by competitors in collusion with the 50 states’ attorneys general over allegations re: antitrust, price fixing, price gouging, anticompetitive practices and monopolization allegations. He’d be worth way more — as would Microsoft stockholders — without this kind of ‘business tax’ to continue operating. He didn’t dance too well — they dragged him onto the dance floor and he wasn’t even aware there was any soundtrack. Nothing like a head on a pike — that’ll teach any other selfmade super-rich types out there to be stubbornly independent and not pay homage to Caesar. And, subsequently, it’s clear he’s learned his lesson, and now pays lobbyists and consultants handsomely to keep him in the good graces of the state. But, the intellectual bodyguards of the state do not waste their barrel of ink on this “tragic” aspect, specifically : paying off the state to keep your wealth.
But, the real ‘tragedy’, loosely applied, that more completely explains the larger part of the widening chasm : the entrapment in the lower economic quintiles through occupational licensure, erosion of wealth by the Fed’s inflationary printing presses, sales taxes on necessities, various and sundry socioeconomic engineering schemes by the state, costly business regulations drafted by business incumbents that burden and prevent low cost upstarts from entering a sector, etc.
This is moreso a ‘tragedy’. But, no one writes about this kind of class cannibalism ; it doesn’t work well for the state. It doesn’t fit with their story line. The state needs scapegoats — domestic and foreign. There are a hell of a lot more people below the rung of the super-rich — and they’ve been well trained to suspect the rich to be criminals and immoral, uncaring degenerates by the obsequious media, state schools and state agents….and they vote in huge numbers !!
It’s clear that there is a role for everyone in the state anthill held together with dollops of force and fraud and faith. The state knows they need the brain of the few truly intellectual entrepreneurs and the brawn of the masses for the parasitic state queen to survive.
First Rule of any parasite : don’t kill the host.
Second Rule of a state parasite : make the host think it needs the parasite.
Third Rule of the perfectly evolved state parasite : make the host believe it is now the parasite, and the parasite is to be seen as the host.
Fourth Rule of the ultimate state parasite : remind the masses, in society, at every opportunity, about the Third Rule
Let’s not fall for this class warfare crap — I mean who really benefits ? Cui bono ? I think everyone ( except the state ) would get wealthier if the state got out of the business of choosing which voluntary social and economic activities were to be favored or punished. If society and the state both stuck to the business of respecting and protecting individual liberty and property rights , all these statistical assassinations and retaliatory class warfare would be moot.
Cui bono ?
I dont know the answer to your questions, but there are answers…and like I said we have land grant institution 34 miles north of here, and at least two other Universities that do a horrid job of researching it. I would love to spend the other 32 hours a week that I am not sleeping or working…on researching this stuff…but I can’t…Simon, your arguments are always going to be swayed heavily to the side of how the state is to blame, or how the government is to blame…and I think that answers some of our problems, but not all of them. I know you are not the type of person to come up with the diagnosis, and then tries to prove it….are you? Or do you disect the symptons and work to a diagnosis?
Ah yes :” the land grant institution 34 miles north of here”. Yes, they do plenty of “research” ( “numbers, data, numbers, input, numbers, calculations, numbers, graphs — we must have more numbers or else the state sponsored system comes to grinding halt ! Intellectual bodyguards : Give us research!” )
That facility constantly comes out with vague, incoherent, mushy interpretations of data — and then spit out equally useless recommendations that are unworkable or just simply ignored or cherry-picked by the state. And they get paid handsomely to do it. They’ve been looking at data for years at WVU, with all kinds of expensive computer modelling, and WV is still dead last. Well, ‘number’ ( get it ? Numb–er ) is certainly an ironic apropos term in this case, no ? But, I guess ‘bread and circuses’ can’t be used — someone might remember the Romans used these to placate and distract the citizens as their empire collapsed. I suppose if Charleston were able to, they would start printing up their own economic stimulus cheques.
We don’t need more reports or consultants. We don’t need to look at this as a pie-in-the-sky perfect equation, which always seems just beyond our comprehension or fingertips here in WV, or a ‘disease’ — although the state would dearly like that as well — but moreso simply a man-made condition. A condition that, ultimately, we have chosen. We have chosen to give life to the state and delegate matters to it. Everything out there related to our economy has been chosen by everyone in the economy. I guess we have to step up to the plate and admit that much atleast. Scientific “economic” research — even by the smartest Marxist economist professors in the state-run faculty of economics — cannot find, or take, all information instantaneously and tell us what the future portends if this-that-or-the-other decision is made. But, there is another reason to avoid pseudoscientific management of the economy by the state and its’ intellectual guards : it doesn’t tell you what outcomes that you, the individual, should want. It doesn’t care. Which is more important to you : your environment; your health; your education; your safety; your pleasure. Who can be sure at any moment. There is always shifting scarcities for society to deal with, and shifting priorities for each individual. There is a natural tension here. Only a free market with free individuals exchanging goods and services, constantly, incessantly, in a mutually beneficial fashion, can the tension be resolved. But the state will not, or cannot, recognize or acknowledge real scarcity. They are not part of society. And ‘individual priority’ or ‘value’ is not in their lexicon either. But, individuals adroitly communicate about scarcities and priorities through blunt prices and adjusting their priorities and thus choices ; they know they change with time as the situation and consequences become clearer. And individuals are prepared for this.The state is not so nearly idiosyncratic or careful– or humble. The state puts itself first and only pays lipservice to individuals, to the extent that individuals can be forced or faked into following the state. It depends on one’s values at that point, and that is anathema to the state : the state cringes at the idea of the individual, his liberty, his values and morality. The economy should be seen as organic entity ; changing in the same way a body can change, and be changed, over time and in space. Its development is constrained — at the floor level — by reality, but optimal outcomes — at the ceiling –are then limited only by creative selfish choices modified by compassion towards others. Do I want to eat alot and become a Sumo wrestler or slim down and win 8 medals in the pool ? Oh, and you want to get your body pierced and tattooed. ooooh, way cool.
My contention is that as long as people don’t hit the floor or the ceiling, and remember morality and values in between, they’re going to be just fine — much more prosperous economically, safe and humane. In fact, everyone will be just fine.
So, Bobby, what do you want ? Who should be in charge of your ideas, your values, your goals, your heart, your hands, your relationships and your property ? It’s really simple and it comes down to either you or the state. But, the state discourages compassion, choice and reality — it only deals with force, fraud and faith.
The only “economic equation” — if I could hold my nose long enough to borrow a term from the state’s Praetorian guard agents in the media and higher education — that I can apply, is thus framed simply :
The courageous individual + ( liberty and reason and reality ) – ( force and fraud and faith ) = maximal economic prosperity.
The only other piece of economic advice I have that would immediately improve the WV economy, would be for all the state actors and cheerleaders to agree to receive their tax funded salaries and benefits on the condition that they stay on an aircraft carrier — don’t bother coming ashore. Go govern yourselves out at sea. Here’s some dramamine. Leave us alone.
Now, shut off all those infernal computers doing economic calculations. Us hard working West Virginians need our rest to be productive in the morning. We want to be # 1….right ?
….Oh, yeah and if you decide to climb onto the aircraft carrier, don’t forget to take alll your laws, statutes, regulations, tax schedules, department vehicles, office furniture, answering machines, photocopiers,badges, clipboards, name tags, filing cabinets, economic computer models, equations and paperclips with you. Yeah, you guys and gals will get along just fine with each other. Perfect. Call us when you get wet, cold or hungry…and when you want join a voluntary, productive society.
Government can not create business but it can sure stifle it. West Virginia has not brought its Tax Structure upon to what was needed for the 1970’s let alone for the 21st century. Our infrastructure lags behind the national average. Our one Party Political System stifles open discussion of the states problems. By returning the same old tired faces to our legislature, how can we get any better results. We don’t get out of the box thinking that way. We need to throw out the rascals who have kept West Virginia at the bottom of most national statistics and get some new faces in government. We need to wean ourselves off coal and expand our energy base.