Greater Equality: How Equality Effectively Determines a Nation's Social Aspects

We don't live in a capitalist society asshole. The reason so many ppl lost their homes is because gov programs fucked up the free market. Are you REALLY that stupid?
 
I'm done with all you tools in this thread with worthless majors. Can't cut it in math class? Then don't complain about not becoming rich. You are motherfucking inferior. Live with it.
 
so the US markets are not capitalist? not even the closest thing to true capitalism? ok, right.

i know that democrats had this program to give every american a home. which is a good cause i think.

but free mortgage agents and free risk loving banks then did their part to produce these fucked up derivatives that noone understands anymore. sold it to other people who had no clue as well but were told by free rating agencies that everything is safe.

i hate fucking around on terminology, so if you wanna go split some hairs, i bet this post is right for you. but if you have half a brain, you understand my points.

 
i will be a banking & finance master just for your information. but if you classify people like that youre probably a little too simple for this discussion anyways.
 
All the shit that is wrong with our economy is a result of government programs. So no we are not even close to true capitalism. Look at Singapore if you want an example of capitalism.

You say the gov programs which have caused the housing bubble and therefore the reason so many people are getting moved out of their homes is a good thing because it had GOOD INTENTIONS? Haha. This is a perfect example of how gov programs with good intentions Always make things worse and why we obviously don't live in a capitalist society when gov can fuck up the economy this well
 
comon man, why do you give the market mechanisms a pass?

oh no, government just passes a minor law, our complete banking system has now no choice but to hand out unsecured loans. banks were either dumb or deceptive, showing that you cant let them alone.

you are mistaken if you think that the government programs LED to the banking crisis. it was more like a catalyst for it. a fast and very effective one, yes, but nothing more.

the gov didnt tell the banks to create CDS's, CDOs, CDO^2, CDO^3, ABS's and all this shit. free banks and free rating agencies made a shitton of money (others obviously lost a lot; goldman sachs vs AIG for example) during that time and THIS accelerated all these greedy and deceitful practices who otherwise.

blablabla, youre one of these free market fuckheads. please go on with your silly opinion how the government fucks up everything.
 
please tell me more about your knowledge regarding the average earning potential of banking & master graduates in western austria and southern germany.

i would really appreciate any info, i mean you obviously know it all. some links?
 
The government programs created the housing bubble. Dress it up whichever way you want it doesn't matter. Blame the financial institutions all you want. Also your major is the worst major you could possibly have in our current economy and is on the fringe of the social sciences with barely any true math ability required. Good luck with that u fucking tool
 
Wow my post went right over your head. I'll try to explain this in simple terms just for you.InFlames was talking about a concept known as social darwinism, or the idea that Darwin's biological ideals can be applied to a society. For example when he said that social/ economic competition drives human evolution he was repeating a tenet of social darwinism. Social darwinism is not a scientific theory, such as evolution, and is considered by most modern anthropologists/ biologists to be completely inaccurate.

I was calling him out for confusing social darwinism with the actual theory of evolution when they are actually very different. I wasn't saying that competition isn't ONE of the driving factors in evolution, I was saying that social competition of the kind inflames was talking about doesn't drive evolution.

I'm finishing up my bachelors with a double major in biological anthropology and genetics and about to go on to graduate school. I'm willing to bet that I knew more about Darwin at the end of my freshmen year than you will in your life.

You should stick to politics, its harder for people to prove how little you know about that topic.
 
Haha. You know more about evolution. Are u sure? Are you really sure? I wouldn't be so sure if I were you. Wouldn't be so sure. Ill give you a shot to prove yourself. Would you consider a virus to be alive? Give me a definition of the word alive, according to you. Do you consider corrosion alive?

Strut your stuff big man. I guarantee my background on evolution and genetics crushes yours you fucking pompous toolbox
 
You know more about evolution? Then why during our little repartee on Atlas Shrugged did you not respond to my mentioning of EO Wilson?

I just don't get it Dolan. If you're so intelligent why do you resort to such base and asshole behavior? I'm genuinely curious. Or are you just laughing at your computer while you flex your troll muscles?
 
The willful ignorance shown by some people in this thread is a form of passive aggressiveness. It would be like if I calmly reiterated that gw bush did great things for the economy. It's not true and I know it, but I say it as if it were fact. I can't stand when people on the left do this
 
This brings me back to the days of trying to debate Rockshead. Dolan just became the new stupidest member.

people like him are why I was hoping the C and S words wouldn't get dropped.
 
seriously what the fuck are you talking about?

you must be trolling because just about everything in this thread that you have posted has been either an ideologically misguided representation of the facts or outright untrue. greece and nigeria have equality of personal GDP? horseshit. the government is solely to blame for the great recession? horseshit. obama is virtually a socialist? horseshit. poor people or people who are bad at math are inferior? well that's an opinion but its very social Darwinist for my taste. socialist economies always fail? well i guess China is in for a surprise. and don't you even think of trying to make the argument that china isn't socialist but somehow obama is.

we have finance, econ, and political science majors in here and somehow its you, a self proclaimed engineering major, who is informed on the empirical causes and effects of policy and economics on society. get off your fucking high horse you ignorant trash. believe it or not those academic fields require diligent research and prudent peer review

you literally haven't used a single source, are using petty name calling in most of your posts, and can't communicate beyond angry conservative rhetoric. you are the equivalent of people arguing with a physicist that the earth is flat because the church said so and it looks flat from where you're standing.

now before you respond to this and point out my petty name calling, this is one post, directed at one, particularly obnoxious member, not the bulk of people in the thread. so come at me douchebag, go ahead and assume that i'm ignorant and full of shit because my name is karl marx and i don't agree with you. better yet, go ahead and assume that you know where i actually stand on different policies. but before you do, consider this: orthodox marxists favor deregulation of the market
 
U rustled? Actually china is parting from its former hardcore communist position. During that time, most Chinese didn't even have a fucking bicycle. Now that china has deregulated, people are doing a million times better. Nice try tho Einstein. And who needs sources when what I'm spewing is 100 percent truth. Are u upset I talked shit about your worthless major? Seems like it u tool
 
actually i just went back to school after finishing my poly sci degree with a minor in econ and am now studying biology, good try though. and yea, since 1978 china has opened its borders substantially and initiated a lot of neoliberal policies and their gdp has grown at about a 7.8% yearly rate since then. make no mistake though, the communist party still very much controls significant portions of the economy, and has absolute decision making power over everything that happens there. if i were a mod i would delete you, so congratz troll, you have now wasted hours on the internet doing nothing but making people angry, i hope you feel fulfilled. go kill yourself you twat.
 
Pol sci huh? You rustled, you worthless cunt?

If I were a pol sci major I would Albigensian you and kill myself. But I'm not. You are. We're mommy and daddy proud of your major? Are you happy you took mommy and daddy's money and spent it on the most useless major known to man? Get a life you fucking bum. China operates as a capitalist economy now. You just got schooled don't be mad about it. Maybe your bio studies will land you a nursing job. Mommy and daddy will be so proud. You should be banned on the basis of being another worthless pol sci major. Don't kill yourself tho. Suicide is never the answer
 
I was referring specifically to Evolution and Ethics by Sir Arthur Keith. You know, one of the greatest anthropologists of the 20th century?

Co operation and unity give strength to a team or tribe; but why did neighboring tribes refuse so stubbornly to amalgamate? If united, they would have got rid of competition and struggle. Why do human tribes instinctively repel every thought of amalgamation, and prize above all things independence, the control of their destiny, their sovereignty? Here we have to look beneath the surface of things and formulate a theory to explain tribal behavior. How does a tribe fulfill an evolutionary purpose? A tribe is a "corporate body," which Nature has entrusted with an assortment of human seed or genes, the assortment differing in some degree from that entrusted to every other tribe. If the genes are to work out their evolutionary effects, then it is necessary that the tribe or corporation should maintain its integrity through an infinity of generations.

If a tribe loses its integrity by a slackening of social bonds, or by disintegration of the parental instincts, or by lack of courage or of skill to defend itself from the aggression of neighboring tribes, or by free interbreeding with neighbors and thus scattering its genes, then that tribe as an evolutionary venture has come to an untimely end. For evolutionary purposes it has proved a failure. I shall use a simile to illustrate my meaning. In modern times members of a wealthy family tend to intermarry, and thus prevent the disintegration of family property. Ancient and modern tribes did, and do, the same thing to conserve the potentialities of their genes.

So how about you shut the fuck up and eat my asshole.
 
Did I mention your worthless? Just another talking head who did pol sci because you were math illiterate? Did you favorite high school teacher tell your parents you were smart even tho you sucked at math? Guess what? HE LIED. You are inferior plain and simple. Get over it. Don't get frustrated that not only do u have no clue but are incapable of having a clue what makes your smart fone work so you lash out against people superior to you who tend to be richer than you by getting a screen name as obnoxious as Karl Marx and go around believing your pol sci degree is worth shit. Your a social science tool who thought being able to talk and write eloquently made up for your shortcomings in math and that meant you were smart in your own way. Guess what? You're not. You are inferior. Get used to it, your world will make a lot more sense if you embrace the truth.
 
i definitely think it's an injustice and shouldn't have been passed, but to use it as proof that the american government is secretly tryrannical and trying to oppress the american people seems to be taking it a bit far.
 
Hahahaha really? You're basing your arguments on Arthur Keith? Jesus man I can't tell if you're stupid or a really smart troll. You're right he was a notable anthropologist in the early 1900s but his ideas are no longer considered valid. In fact about all he's remembered for in the anthropological world now is his involvement in the pitdown man hoax and his description of early hominid fossils. You read an outdated book by a semi- discredited anthropologist who was involved in anthropology in the early 1900s when a lot of the field was pretty much a joke (especially the sociology side) and you believed everything he said? That says a lot about the rest of your arguments and your ability to think logically and actually check that the sources that you are getting your information from.

"If the genes are to work out their evolutionary effects, then it is necessary that the tribe or corporation should maintain its integrity through an infinity of generations."

I don't care enough to go through and argue every point you've made but this is actually hilarious. I feel bad for you if you are ignorant enough to believe the wall of bullshit you just posted, even if it is based on the work of the great Sir Arthur Keith.

Well I'm done shitting so I think I'll go have a few more beers and pass out, have to get up early tomorrows going to be a powder day! You have fun arguing some more on the internet, I'm out.
 
omg, youre a complete joke. i know youre a genius in whatever you think you are, but youre debating finance with finance majors, biology with biology majors and still think youre sitting atop of it all? do you even know what banking and finance means? its a part of what americans would call "business studies" i guess. so i dont really get your point, but thats fine, because you will tell me anyways once again some horseshit rebuttal.

business? not to mention that i had 3 years of that before specifying? econ? oh, that was just probably 1/4-1/3 of my bachelor.

you dont know horseshit about what youre talking about. seriously you dont.
 
I'm glad you read his wikipedia article and surmised his life achievements from the highlights. You're coming off as a pompous ass.

Evolution and Ethics was written in 43, around the same Polanyi and Sahlins were doing their mad stupid shit. People still refer to their works, but not Keith's. You know why? He was too right, he didn't buy into the trend of universalism and realized that people of vastly different ethnic backgrounds generally cannot coexist peacefully.

He was too right, and history has forgotten him because of it. Go be an elitist prick somewhere else :)
 
This is un-fucking-believable.

Thanks to anyone who just schooled Dolan, although that isn't very hard to do. Especially the one who called out all the bullshit.

Dolan: Do you value the arts at all? Do you think everyone should should pursue "productive" majors they probably hate?

I'm good at math and by the looks of things everything else when compared to you, but I'm going to be a Pol Sci Major because I fucking want to be. Simple as that.

 
Ur not that good at math, because ur a poly sci ( not a science ) major. Ur inferior, but you portray yourself well through elegant writing. Don't be fooled tho. An auto mechanic has a better understanding of the world around him than you do. The fact that I can point out ppl with worthless majors like you is funny. Ur inferior Bro. Get over it.
 
You're making yourself sound like an enormous douche. I'm good at math. That doesn't mean I like it. There is a difference.
 
Yeah you don't like math cuz you are inferior in it. Don't take it personally bro. If the world was full of ppl like you it would look like the Stone Age, but everyone would eloquently talk to each other about equality. Chill man. You are inferior. Don't sweat it
 
Why don't you scrap that poly sci major and actually learn something that will help you improve society as opposed to just bitching about it. You weren't good in math ( you say u just didn't like it- aka it was hard for you) and I'm telling you that means you are an inferior member of society. The only thing you can contribute to society is words. You can't make a smart fone, you can't build a house, you can't save someone's life. You're inferior. Why is this so hard for you to understand?
 
I'm good at math. In school I kept a 90+ average in every math class without paying attention most of the time. You lose. Being good at something=/=liking to do it. Why is this so hard for you to understand?
 
An interesting misconception many people have about the capitalist mode of production is that crises are when capitalism "is not working" or are "unnatural." It's actually the opposite, capitalist crises are capitalism's attempt to equalize profits and restore an equilibrium in the market by devaluing or destroying living capital. A study of the history of the capitalist mode of production will reveal that economic crises are crises of "overproduction" or more properly "overaccumulation."

To the people saying that socialism doesn't work, on what grounds do you base that conclusion? Were it not for Stalinist industrialization of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Russia would have been overrun by Nazi Germany and its allies. The Soviets transformed their country from an extremely poor/agricultural economy and victim of western imperialism to a country that made it first to space, improved living standards to the level of the capitalist west and as a superpower could counter western imperialism in the Third World and aid its proletarian comrades and brethren in National Liberation and Communist Revolution.

The former Communist states did not collapse due to some deficiency inherent in the theory and practice of actually existing socialism. They were overthrown by neo-nazi, fascist, and other counterrevolutionary forces in collusion with the imperialist west and other capitalist restorationists.
 
Dolan should read this. I know it's from addictinginfo, but it really is a good article.

Explaining Socialism To A Republican









I was talking recently with a new friend who I’m just getting to

know. She tends to be somewhat conservative, while I lean more toward

the progressive side.

When our conversation drifted to politics, somehow the dreaded word

“socialism” came up. My friend seemed totally shocked when I said “All

socialism isn’t bad”. She became very serious and replied “So you want

to take money away from the rich and give to the poor?” I smiled and

said “No, not at all. Why do you think socialism means taking money

from the rich and giving to the poor?

“Well it is, isn’t it?” was her reply.

I explained to her that I rather liked something called Democratic

Socialism, just as Senator Bernie Sanders, talk show host Thom Hartman,

and many other people do. Democratic Socialism consists of a democratic

form of government with a mix of socialism and capitalism. I proceeded

to explain to her the actual meaning terms “democracy” and “socialism”.

Democracy is a form of government in which all citizens take part. It is government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Socialism is where we all put our resources together

and work for the common good of us all and not just for our own

benefit. In this sense, we are sharing the wealth within society.

Of course when people hear that term, “Share the wealth” they start screaming, “OMG you want to rob from the rich and give it all to the poor!” But that is NOT what Democratic Socialism means.

To a Democratic Socialist, sharing the wealth means pooling tax money

together to design social programs that benefit ALL citizens of that

country, city, state, etc.

The fire and police departments are both excellent examples of

Democratic Socialism in America. Rather than leaving each individual

responsible for protecting their own home from fire, everyone pools

their money together, through taxes, to maintain a fire and police

department. It’s operated under a non-profit status, and yes, your tax

dollars pay for putting out other people’s fires. It would almost seem

absurd to think of some corporation profiting from putting out fires.

But it’s more efficient and far less expensive to have government run

fire departments funded by tax dollars.

Similarly, public education is another social program in the USA. It

benefits all of us to have a taxpayer supported, publicly run education

system. Unfortunately, in America, the public education system ends with

high school. Most of Europe now provides low cost or free college

education for their citizens. This is because their citizens understand

that an educated society is a safer, more productive and more prosperous

society. Living in such a society, everyone benefits from public

education.

When an American graduates from college, they usually hold burdensome

debt in the form of student loans that may take 10 to even 30 years to

pay off. Instead of being able to start a business or invest in their

career, the college graduate has to send off monthly payments for years

on end.

On the other hand, a new college graduate from a European country

begins without the burdensome debt that an American is forced to take

on. The young man or woman is freer to start up businesses, take an

economic risk on a new venture, or invest more money in the economy,

instead of spending their money paying off student loans to for-profit

financial institutions. Of course this does not benefit wealthy

corporations, but it does greatly benefit everyone in that society.

EXAMPLE American style capitalistic program for college:

If you pay (average) $20,000 annually for four years of college, that

will total $80,000 + interest for student loans. The interest you would

owe could easily total or exceed the $80,000 you originally borrowed,

which means your degree could cost in excess of $100,000.

EXAMPLE European style social program for college:

Your college classes are paid for through government taxes. When you

graduate from that college and begin your career, you also start paying

an extra tax for fellow citizens to attend college.

Question - You might be thinking how is

that fair? If you’re no longer attending college, why would you want to

help everyone else pay for their college degree?

Answer - Every working citizen pays a tax

that is equivalent to say, $20 monthly. If you work for 40 years and

then retire, you will have paid $9,600 into the Social college program.

So you could say that your degree ends up costing only $9,600. When

everyone pools their money together and the program is non-profit, the

price goes down tremendously. This allows you to keep more of your hard

earned cash!

Health care is another example: If your

employer does not provide health insurance, you must purchase a policy

independently. The cost will be thousands of dollars annually, in

addition to deductible and co-pays.

In Holland, an individual will pay around $35 monthly, period.

Everyone pays into the system and this helps reduce the price for

everyone, so they get to keep more of their hard earned cash.

In the United States we are told and frequently reminded that

anything run by the government is bad and that everything should be

operated by for-profit companies. Of course, with for-profit

entities the cost to the consumer is much higher because they have

corporate executives who expect compensation packages of tens of

millions of dollars and shareholders who expect to be paid dividends,

and so on.

This (and more) pushes up the price of everything, with much more

money going to the already rich and powerful, which in turn, leaves the

middle class with less spending money and creates greater class

separation.

This economic framework makes it much more difficult for average Joes

to ”lift themselves up by their bootstraps” and raise themselves to a

higher economic standing.

So next time you hear the word “socialism” and “spreading the wealth”

in the same breath, understand that this is a serious misconception.

Social programs require tax money and your taxes may be higher. But

as you can see everyone benefits because other costs go down and, in the

long run, you get to keep more of your hard earned cash!

Democratic Socialism does NOT mean taking from the rich and giving to

the poor. It works to benefit everyone so the rich can no longer take

advantage of the poor and middle class.
 
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