Originally posted by kkrattiger
Originally posted by NoHierarchy
reply to post by WiZKiD111
In the REAL WORLD such as ours, if you follow someone like Ron Paul down the path he wants to go, it may seem all well for a little while... but sooner or later you're going to feel serious pains of economic tyranny by the hands of private business.
"Private business" meaning NOT the government and NOT publicly-traded companies? Can you give an example of a tyrannical private business causing "serious pains of economic tyranny" (or No, because it has not happened yet)?
I do not agree or disagree with Ron Paul's economic positions; have not researched the matter. Rather, I am attempting to understand what exactly NoHierarchy supposes will happen if Ron Paul's economic stance is applied, while poking at the bombastic, ill-supported opinions in the post at large, here posited as support for specific claims of likely outcomes of following such a "path."
Did I not already lay this out? Is it not already obvious?
When a business mistreats workers, consumers, ecosystems, the air/land/water, or causes undue harm to anyone/anything in serving selfish drives for profit, that is economic tyranny. When the few hold unjustifiable amounts of wealth over and above the many, that is economic tyranny. When the wealthy have everything easier as well as a larger say in what is supposed to be a Democratic/representative political process, that is economic tyranny. When we work jobs we hate so we can buy crap we don't need, that is economic tyranny. When resources/land is effectively stolen (whether illegally or not) by private businesses from people who live on/near or require it, that is economic tyranny. The list goes on and on.
And being publicly traded has no realistic bearing on whether it's economic tyranny or not, I'm referring to private businesses not in the sense of whether or not they're publicly traded but rather a privatized/for-profit/market entity.
Here are Ron Paul's stances on Energy:
* Remove restrictions on drilling, so companies can tap into the vast amount of oil we have here at home.
* Repeal the federal tax on gasoline. Eliminating the federal gas tax would result in an 18 cents savings per gallon for American consumers.
* Lift government roadblocks to the use of coal and nuclear power.
* Eliminate the ineffective EPA. Polluters should answer directly to property owners in court for the damages they create – not to Washington.
These are more or less RIDICULOUS propositions that would create serious/unacceptable consequences, and it would not work itself out like Ron Paul (and other free marketers) think that it would. This would open the floodgates to mass environmental exploitation/destruction and the dismantling of CONSUMER protections and CITIZEN protections that WE have put in place to prevent large corporations from screwing us over. Does Ron Paul SERIOUSLY BELIEVE that the average person has the time/money to hire lawyers to sue every single corporation that screws them over?? It's completely childish and out of touch for him to believe that that's a feasible option. He just doesn't understand the consequences of his economic policies.
His stances on "right to work" laws are ridiculous. Yes, there is corruption within unions that could be corrected by making them more horizontal/transparent, but FOR THE WORKERS. Unions are GOOD for workers when they're properly organized. The way Ron Paul (and other right-wingers) paint them is that they're this evil burden on workers, when at the end of the day they pay farrrr better than private sector jobs and actively fight to maintain workers' rights, and at the LEAST give workers a guaranteed collective voice where they have essentially NONE as individuals under the thumb of a private boss/business-owner/exec. Right to Work is just a race to the bottom.
A couple of Ron Paul's stances on the economy:
* Driving down gas prices by allowing offshore drilling, abolishing highway motor fuel taxes, increasing the mileage reimbursement rates, and offering tax credits to individuals and businesses for the use and production of natural gas vehicles.
* Eliminating the income, capital gains, and death taxes to ensure you keep more of your hard-earned money and are able to pass on your legacy to your family without government interference.
Allowing offshore drilling??? IS HE CRAZY? No, just no.
Natural gas vehicles??? THAT is his genius alternative?? Sounds like the gas industry got their hands on him, period.
As for his talk about eliminating those taxes... that's just feel-good euphemistic crap for eliminating the, already historically low, taxes on the wealthy. THAT is all it'll amount to. Regular workers are not burdened by taxes nearly as much as they are by LOW WAGES coupled with INFLATION/INEQUALITY.
edit on 8-1-2012 by NoHierarchy because: (no reason given)
