The future of capitalism will not look like its past
Last December, the Pew Research Center released a poll in which it attempted to gauge American perceptions of capitalism and socialism. Here’s what it found, broken down by age group:
The generational differences reflected in those numbers are stark. Americans aged 18-29 are deeply ambivalent about capitalism, while a slight plurality is supportive of socialism. Their grandparents, on the other hand, offer a mirror-image reversal, reporting an overwhelmingly negative view of socialism and a generally positive attitude toward capitalism.
There are many ways to interpret numbers like that, the most obvious being the Churchillian observation that people tend to grow more conservative as they get older. There’s no doubt some truth to that, in part because as people get older, they acquire more wealth and want to protect it. Like older Russians who mourned the collapse of the Soviet Union, older Americans also become emotionally invested in the system in which they’ve lived all their lives.
However, I suspect there’s also something deeper at work in those poll numbers, something that reflects the different historical experience of the age groups in question. And that difference will influence public policy debates in this country in profound ways over the next three decades.
Today, younger Americans have no cultural memory of the Cold War, an era in which American capitalism was in existential conflict with Soviet communism and its softer, more rational cousin, socialism. Unlike older Americans, they were not raised in a world that divided itself along that particular fault line. Framed in a more conservative way, younger Americans have little direct, first-hand experience with socialism. They are, you might say, naive about its drawbacks.
The dividing line between those worlds would of course be 1989, when the Berlin Wall collapsed. Today, Americans who are 40 or younger have lived all of their adult lives in a world in which communism was no longer a grave threat to capitalism. And that’s important, because the basic insight of capitalism — competition is good because it drives people and organizations to do better — applies to political ideologies just as well as it applies to football teams or individuals.
In this case, as long as communism existed as a realistic alternative, capitalism and its defenders had to mute its harsher aspects to make it more appealing. They had to “deliver the goods” of a broad middle class, with a division of the economic pie that would be judged by both insiders and outsiders as fair and just. Otherwise, they would be handing ammunition to their ideological enemies, who depicted capitalism as a brutish, winner-take-all system.
But after 1989, with its competitor vanquished, capitalism in effect began to exert its monopoly power. It became rougher, less paternal and more aggressive. If income for the already wealthy soared while the pay of working class Americans stagnated or even declined, well, too bad. It was justified as Darwinian justice, a form of justice much different from the concept of economic justice that had been in effect prior to 1989.
Today, when younger Americans think of capitalism, this is the system that comes to mind. Their parents and grandparents experienced it as a system that produces great prosperity; in their own lives, they have seen capitalism produce something much less appealing. The fact that the collapse of 2008 was driven largely by Wall Street excess, and that most of those who engaged in that excess have escaped serious consequence, only compounds the image problem.
I’m not trying to argue that we’re now entering some kind of post-capitalist era, because whatever its disadvantages, capitalism still beats every other system known to man. But it will have to be a form of capitalism that fits the needs of its time, and it will be molded by generations that have different expectations and understandings. Capitalism is not a static concept; it must live by its own rules, which means that it will adapt or it will fall.
– Jay Bookman
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527 comments Add your comment
stands for decibels
November 19th, 2012
7:48 pm
Some encouraging polling numbers, yep. I figured sooner or later I’d live to see a day when right-wingers weren’t going to be able to get away with conflating socialism with Stalinism; looks like we’re getting closer.
Kramer
November 19th, 2012
7:49 pm
Brosephus, you are kidding right? Here son, let me do this again, ACCOUNTABILITY. Look it up and read the definition. I will bet you will still not be able to use the word in a sentence.
josef
November 19th, 2012
7:50 pm
KRAMER
“Jamvet, been on here many times. Where you been?”
Besides here?
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
November 19th, 2012
7:50 pm
Breitbart idiots now calling out slanted reporting at The Onion. Yes. the Onion.
Teh stoopid, it burns.
Oi!
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
November 19th, 2012
7:51 pm
Headline: “Israel assassinates nearly 40 Hamas militants in six-day bombardment.”
Now THAT’S what you call “fire superiority” !!!
P.S.
Notice how the liberal news media likes to print that Israel “assassinates” but Obama “kills”.
They BOTH suck
November 19th, 2012
7:52 pm
moonbat
Look up the German union wages and benefits vs the US.
Keep swinging but you whiffed on that one.
stands for decibels
November 19th, 2012
7:55 pm
speaking of those Teutonix–I’m not sure why I didn’t realize this until now, but the Germans actually manufacturer a different Passat for us fatass ‘Mericans than the one they sell to the rest of the civilized world.
Brosephus™
November 19th, 2012
7:55 pm
fitzgerald: At some point and time, more than half of your money will be taken from you in just income taxes to fund the socialist programs that are running rampant in our country.
Do you consider 401k’s to be a socialist program?
Investors should realize [they] don’t get the market return. In a 9 percent market, we all share 9 percent before we pay the cost of financial intermediation, and after we pay those costs, which are about 2.5 percent a year, we get 6.5 percent on a 9 percent market.
[So if I do your average, what percentage of my net growth is going to fees in a 401(k) plan?]
Well, it’s awesome. Let me give you a little longer-term example: … an individual who is 20 years old today starting to accumulate for retirement. That person has about 45 years to go before retirement — 20 to 65 — and then, if you believe the actuarial tables, another 20 years to go before death mercifully brings his or her life to a close. So that’s 65 years of investing. If you invest $1,000 at the beginning of that time and earn 8 percent, that $1,000 will grow … to around $140,000.
Now, the financial system — the mutual fund system in this case — will take about two and a half percentage points out of that return, so you will have … a net return of 5.5 percent, and your $1,000 will grow to approximately $30,000. One hundred ten thousand dollars goes to the financial system and $30,000 to you, the investor. Think about that. That means the financial system put up zero percent of the capital and took zero percent of the risk and got almost 80 percent of the return, and you, the investor in this long time period, an investment lifetime, put up 100 percent of the capital, took 100 percent of the risk, and got only a little bit over 20 percent of the return. That is a financial system that is failing investors because of those costs of financial advice and brokerage, some hidden, some out in plain sight, that investors face today. So the system has to be fixed.
[I've got to unscramble what you just said. You said that in the case of the $1,000 invested for 65 years, the financial system is taking 80 percent of the money. But most of us aren't doing that. In the first place, at 20 we're out spending it; we're not putting it away. But set that aside. We're really talking about people who are probably saving from 35 or 40 or 45 at best for retirement at 55, 60 or 65. and they are plunking the money away into 401(k)s. I'm just asking you, in that system, roughly what chunk of it are people getting back themselves out of their gains, and what chunk of that is going to go to the financial system for managing their money?]
Well, in the long run, it’s 80 percent to the financial system, 20 percent to you. In a given year, it’s about 80 percent to you and 20 percent to the financial system, so if you look at 10 years or 15 years, you’re probably talking about 60 percent to you and 40 percent to the financial system maybe over 20 years, something like that. But the longer the period, the greater the impact of that tyranny of compounding costs is.
The system is rigged, and Americans are willingly being screwed over and over by the 1%.
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
November 19th, 2012
7:56 pm
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
November 19th, 2012
7:31 pm
Absolutely the union participation is higher in Germany but these unions are not remotely confrontational…as race to the bottom as it were…the german unions can strike but rarely if ever do so as the culture of the unions is such that they are collaborative…US union labor culture combined with the lack of domestic protections for imports of competitors, are problematic…union rules here
Union rules and collective bargaining (etc) create perverse incentives and not only allow, but mandate waste and inefficiency this is a key reason why most of the us manufactured BMW’s etcetera give the US unions the finger…
Welcome to the Occupation
November 19th, 2012
7:57 pm
cmac: “socialism has worked so well in europe …. so let’s bring it here!!!”
The irony of this statement is staggering. Buggers the mind.
David: you’re definitely right about that, my analysis was hardly rigorous, or really meant to be, tossed off under the constraints of the medium.
As for conspiracy, well, see above.
Hard to really argue that one on a forum like this. It’s shall we say, quite controversial and difficult to argue.
Let’s just say, there are many types of possible conspiracies, one of them is that particular ‘dispersed’ type of conspiracy that is that of the bankers, the big capitalists, and their servants in the government (see Geithner, Summers, et al).
HamiltonAZ
November 19th, 2012
7:58 pm
The future of the American experiment is as de Tocqueville described it as a young 20 something almost 200 years ago. Essentially, he said our success depended upon the continuing struggle between individual freedom and social equality. The ultimate advantage of either will place the republic as we know it at risk. This is why a strong, vibrant 2 party system is needed. If one or the other gains too much of an advantage, the essential struggle will falter to one side or the other.
This struggle is safer when the viewpoints are closer in thought. The recent polarization of the two has left a vacuum in the center.
They BOTH suck
November 19th, 2012
7:59 pm
SR
Actually part of the reason that they are not unionized is because they build plants in right to work states with little union power.
I have never been part of a union and do have mixed feelings about them, but to say you were putting it in perspective would be slightly off from the truth.
Mick
November 19th, 2012
8:00 pm
**Anyone want to guess the PERCENTAGE of “white and male” of all the soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen who have fought and died in all of our nation’s wars ?**
I think thats the wrong question, they died for ALL americans, what a concept…
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
November 19th, 2012
8:00 pm
BRO,
Does Kramers use of the word “son” mean that he is your father? If so it is shocking that he is suggesting you can’t use a simple word in a sentence…
Or perhaps he more resembles in spirit and intellect the Kramer on Seinfeld..
Brosephus™
November 19th, 2012
8:00 pm
Brosephus, you are kidding right?
Kidding about what? You’re the one who claimed that Obama had both houses in 2004. Therefore, the accountability of owning up to that ignorant assed statement belongs to you. Why would I be kidding about something when I wasn’t the one who allowed ignorance to flow like the waters from a mighty stream from my mouth (keyboard)?
By the way, SON, I am someone’s son, but you damned sure don’t have the intelligence necessary to produce a male offspring like me.
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
November 19th, 2012
8:02 pm
BOTH
Granted but why on earth would they want the US form of dysfunctional union (which is a big reason why union participation is at record lows)? US unions are a drain on culture and have incentives against the rowing of the collective oars…
They BOTH suck
November 19th, 2012
8:02 pm
SR
And not to count states with lower average wages. I am not begrudging BMW or any company from doing what they think they have to do, but what I wont do is sugar coat the reason.
Brosephus™
November 19th, 2012
8:02 pm
Stevie Ray
Kramer’s use of son shows his inability to think beyond 3 and 4 letter words.
kayaker 71
November 19th, 2012
8:03 pm
Do you really think that the bubble butt welfare queens and the illegal latinos actually care what the system is called? They could care less. Probably wouldn’t know the meaning of capitalism or socialism nor care what either of them stood for. It’s the government check, baby. Nothing else matters. Tis the season to be jolly. Noel, noel…. and all of that stuff. Just keep the money coming and we’ll vote for you even if you have two heads and molest little children.
JamVet
November 19th, 2012
8:03 pm
(which is a big reason why union participation is at record lows)
WRONG.
Try again.
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
November 19th, 2012
8:03 pm
WELCOME
If it was you who suggested earlier that Roosevelt/Obama concept…brilliant..
They BOTH suck
November 19th, 2012
8:05 pm
SR
We will just agree to disagree. Again, I have mixed feelings but as usually you make lots of statements that are not put into perspective.
Do you think the decline of unions has anything to do with the stagnation of wages over the last 40 yrs or is that just a pure coincidence?
Personally I would say it has played a major factor but still one of many variables.
They BOTH suck
November 19th, 2012
8:07 pm
as usual, not “as usually”
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
November 19th, 2012
8:07 pm
BRO
I guess Kramer is small in stature…figuratively at least..he surrendered pretty quick..
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
November 19th, 2012
8:08 pm
” …………….they died for ALL americans, what a concept… ”
Yes, even the ones too ignorant, flippant and arrogant to appreciate it.
Brosephus™
November 19th, 2012
8:09 pm
US unions are a drain on culture and have incentives against the rowing of the collective oars…
Dude, it takes two to tango. Unions here are no different than unions in Germany. The big difference is that, in Germany, the management and unions both work together as they realize that rowing in the same direction moves the company forward with less effort. Here, in the US, management cares more about stock holders and their own pockets and see workers as nothing more than a cost on a spreadsheet that can be replaced at any time.
linda
November 19th, 2012
8:10 pm
RC –
“I know I’m in my 60s and I still hope to be a millionaire. I only got about $989,000 to go and I’ll be there.”
HAR! LOL.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
November 19th, 2012
8:11 pm
Anyone who comes to my house in peace is welcome…
Great! Tell me where you live, josef, and I’ll drop by and drink some beer with you.
kayaker 71
November 19th, 2012
8:11 pm
Soon, the takers will outnumber the producers. It won’t be long before the incentive to produce will wane and those with ideas and solutions for future success will fade into oblivion. Why produce when you are forced at gun point to give a substantial portion of it away to some lazy dolt who doesn’t know the meaning of self reliance? And this is the new America?….. the new standard that we live by? All fostered by liberals who think that they have won something. They have won nothing but a fast demise of this once great country. And they don’t even have the sense to realize it.
Welcome to the Occupation
November 19th, 2012
8:14 pm
Stevie Ray: “Granted but why on earth would they want the US form of dysfunctional union (which is a big reason why union participation is at record lows)?”
This is actually very true, right on point. US unions are disastrously dysfunctional, corrupt, utterly crippled by their narrowness and their outdated organizational models, based as they are on an ever more narrow-minded selling of privilege to secure entry into a fiefdom of sinecures, jobs, a creaky top-down structure of favoritism, etc. It’s very sad. And it’s no wonder they are so unpopular.
josef
November 19th, 2012
8:15 pm
Du-k-sha-nee
First, you’ll have to convince me you come in peace…maybe a first meeting on neutral ground, say a county line juke joint…if your shtick plays there, then maybe…
F. Sinkwich
November 19th, 2012
8:16 pm
“Why produce when you are forced at gun point to give a substantial portion of it away to some lazy dolt who doesn’t know the meaning of self reliance? And this is the new America?”
Yep. Just ask Jammie.
Brosephus™
November 19th, 2012
8:17 pm
Soon, the takers will outnumber the producers. It won’t be long before the incentive to produce will wane and those with ideas and solutions for future success will fade into oblivion.
Oh my freaking God!!!!! Will we be subjected to this crap for four more years???
I don’t know of anybody who ever wished for destruction of the world, but if we’re gonna hear this for four more years, I think it’s time to start cheering for the Mayans….
josef
November 19th, 2012
8:18 pm
Just my take, but the German unions had the opportunity to remake themselves in the reconstruction of the social structure following WWII. So did German capital. They, it seems, took advantage of that “opportunity” to learn from and correct the disastrous mistakes of the past.
kayaker 71
November 19th, 2012
8:18 pm
Welcome, 8:14,
“It’s no wonder they are so unpopular”…….. They don’t seem to be too unpopular to the Democratic politicians. SEIU good for 28M to get Bozo back into the WH. I imagine that they are quite popular with him.
Old Goober
November 19th, 2012
8:19 pm
US unions are disastrously dysfunctional, corrupt, utterly crippled by their narrowness and their outdated organizational models, based as they are on an ever more narrow-minded selling of privilege to secure entry into a fiefdom of sinecures, jobs, a creaky top-down structure of favoritism, etc. It’s very sad. And it’s no wonder they are so unpopular.
Show me an organization with a union and I’ll show you an organization with disastrously bad management. After all, union organizers don’t waste their time with companies in which workers feel that they’re getting a fair shake.
JamVet
November 19th, 2012
8:20 pm
71, excellent strategy!
Use the exact same BS and made up nonsense that got you clobbered two weeks ago!
Americans are stupid, lazy takers! And the USA sucks and is going down the toilet.
Throw in a little slut, prostitute and Feminazis who want their birth control for free crappola and voila!
The winning recipe for 2016!
They BOTH suck
November 19th, 2012
8:22 pm
Bro @ 8:17
To those who came on the blog right after the election, who took a few days before venturing back and those under other names or scared to come back the theme is certainly going to be…….
“BACK and BITTER then EVER”
Get Real
November 19th, 2012
8:22 pm
Correct Jay the country is changing, the electorate just re-elected a western European type socialist for a second term. No need to do any further analysis….
Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (aka "Knuckle-Dragger")
November 19th, 2012
8:23 pm
Younger folks may think like that, but it is only because they have been indoctrinated in our nation’s public school systems over the past few decades – that’s why you won the election, that’s why you oppose charter schools, school vouchers, private schools and home schooling.
Socialism leads to declining freedom and productivity. I asked my son his one main impression of Europe after his semester abroad last summer. He answered immediately, “Nobody works but the Germans.” Missionaries in Cuba will tell you the main physical problem there is clean water – nobody is incentivized enough to create any, which creates problems for all, but especially newborns.
I believe it was T. Jefferson that said, “Those that would trade liberty for security will get neither.”
JamVet
November 19th, 2012
8:24 pm
Bro, they’ve been stuck on stupid.
Now they are stuck on losing.
And I love it.
Oh and I also love their criminal-friendly “forced at gunpoint” meme, too.
Remember when Republicans didn’t detest law enforcement and they weren’t soft on crime?
I do…
Brosephus™
November 19th, 2012
8:26 pm
They BOTH
This country didn’t collapse after 2000, 2004, or 2008. I don’t see any difference between then and now, other than the party doing the “Dance of the Sour Grapes Fairy”.
guy
November 19th, 2012
8:26 pm
indigo, move your arse to europe and don’t let your shirt tail hit your arse on the way out. while you are at it there are millions you need to take with you. PLEASE ASAP!
Doggone/GA
November 19th, 2012
8:26 pm
“Show me an organization with a union and I’ll show you an organization with disastrously bad management”
Don’t know much about AT&T do you?
They BOTH suck
November 19th, 2012
8:27 pm
Jam
Dems are not much better and in some cases not any better, but considering the alternative and a percentage of those who express that alternative on this blog, the electorate made the right choice.
Look before I leap...
November 19th, 2012
8:27 pm
@Kramer
You keep speaking to ACCOUNTABILITY, but I posit that is not the issue (nor was it ever).
The issue is how to move forward.
Obama has an opportunity to lead now that he does not have to worry about re-election.
His challenge is that all the members of the House and 1/3 of the Senate DO have to worry about re-election in 2 years and sadly, they are already in campaign mode.
Obama should (IMHO) tell the fringe lunatics on both sides of the aisle to either grow up or stick a sock in it and sit this one out and let the adults handle the problems.
It is all about setting goals and then crafting coalitions on the Hill to meet them. Compromise is a must, neither side gets everything they want. But the hysterics on either side need to stop thinking that compromise is a dirty word.
Obamacare is here to stay, just as is Social Security and Medicare – it may get tweaked and twiddled as the years go by just as SS and MC have. But it does accomplish some good. It provides access to health insurance to 15% of the population who otherwise would not have it.
I am not sure how anyone can argue that is a BAD thing.
HGW
November 19th, 2012
8:27 pm
Paul, you are clueless regarding the real issues here. Confiscate every dime of the rich and you won’t make a dent into the deficit. The economic collapse is directly attributable to the Community Reinvestment Act. There are numerous C-Span videos detailing the Congressional hesrings. If you, want to know the truth, do a Google search. Capitalism has provided us the world’s best. Visit socialist countries and compare. Why envy those that are economically successful?
josef
November 19th, 2012
8:28 pm
OLD GOOBER
I know of one company which matches or exceeds the union contracts. The logic? They can attract and keep the best and most loyal employees since these employees aren’t having to pay out union dues, answering to a union hierarchy, etc.
Doggone/GA
November 19th, 2012
8:30 pm
“Confiscate every dime of the rich and you won’t make a dent into the deficit. ”
And just who, exactly, has even proposed any such nonsense?
They BOTH suck
November 19th, 2012
8:30 pm
Bro
I’m with you. The “woe is me”, end of the earth, apocalypse crowd is coming mentality has just changed parties for the time being.
Majority of them will be alright despite the crying, whining, wailing and gnashing of teeth.
HGW
November 19th, 2012
8:32 pm
My medical insurance increased $2500.00 last year? Why should I have to pay for others who have failed to be successful? We are going to see medical care rationed? Georgia is already projected to be short several thousand doctors circa 2020. As financial rewards decrease for medical professionals the more capable will find something else to pursue. Now, what will this do to the quality?
They BOTH suck
November 19th, 2012
8:34 pm
HGW
Did medical school applications, to include the state of GA, go up or down last year?
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
November 19th, 2012
8:35 pm
The economic collapse is directly attributable to the Community Reinvestment Act.
Yawn.
Debunked here countless times.
Smarter trolls please.
moonbat betty
November 19th, 2012
8:36 pm
Quote of the day ladies and gentlemen:
Finn; 4:07:
“barter is better!”
Soothsayer
November 19th, 2012
8:38 pm
If you would like to see how bad things can really get, watch Channel 8 right now.
HGW
November 19th, 2012
8:39 pm
Enter your comments here
Did you miss the statement about the rich, straight out of the talking points? This is precisely the problem. If you knew the content of the posts, then you wouldn’t say this. This is what happens in the campaigns. People are either intellectual challenged and can’t analyze or they don’t bother and then go vote.
Jake 6304
November 19th, 2012
8:40 pm
Bookman, you are stupid i only wish i could live long enough to see your stupid aaaas suffer
HGW
November 19th, 2012
8:41 pm
Just go view the congressional videos. Debunked?. How, when the Congressional videos show clearly the issue. Do your homework!!!!
moonbat betty
November 19th, 2012
8:43 pm
You got that right, Sooth.
I bet JamVet lived through the “Dust Bowl”. j/k JV.
Hard Times…
Doggone/GA
November 19th, 2012
8:44 pm
“Why should I have to pay for others who have failed to be successful?”
Better get rid of ALL your insurance then…because that’s what insurance IS. It doesn’t pay out to the successful, it pays out to the unfortunate, those who “fail to be successful”
Look before I leap...
November 19th, 2012
8:46 pm
“I know of one company which matches or exceeds the union contracts. The logic?”
My wife works for just such a company.
Think local and with wings…
The company spent enormous effort (and money) to keep her particular division from unionizing.
The result was better wages, work rules and benefits than seen by persons holding similar positions in competing companies. And a lot more harmonious working relationship. The company may or may not have saved any money by voluntarily matching union wages, but it was just easier.
She took it on the chin when the company had to go Chapter 11 a few years ago, but everybody did and the company emerged stronger and better for the process and she still has a job she loves.
I joke she will need to to work until 72, but the image of her moving down the aisle in a walker is worth the dirty looks I get.
HGW
November 19th, 2012
8:46 pm
I bet you’ve never bother end to view Congressional tapings that show the asinine behavior of some members of Congress. They were actually told wheat was going to happen. Those in power refused to act and exactly what they predicted did happen. Try all you want to spread garbage about debunking, this is the truth of the matter. Don’t take my word for it, it is a public record. One may not like it, but this is precisely what happened. I have viewed several hours of these tapings. So, spread the debunking myth on those that don’t bother to learn what really happened.
The GOV
November 19th, 2012
8:47 pm
All I want for Christmas is a “Feminazi”.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
November 19th, 2012
8:47 pm
Federal Reserve Board data show that:
More than 84 percent of the subprime mortgages in 2006 were issued by private lending institutions.
Private firms made nearly 83 percent of the subprime loans to low- and moderate-income borrowers that year.
Only one of the top 25 subprime lenders in 2006 was directly subject to the housing law that’s being lambasted by conservative critics.
[...]
Fannie and Freddie, however, didn’t pressure lenders to sell them more loans; they struggled to keep pace with their private sector competitors. In fact, their regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, imposed new restrictions in 2006 that led to Fannie and Freddie losing even more market share in the booming subprime market.
What’s more, only commercial banks and thrifts must follow CRA rules. The investment banks don’t, nor did the now-bankrupt non-bank lenders such as New Century Financial Corp. and Ameriquest that underwrote most of the subprime loans.
These private non-bank lenders enjoyed a regulatory gap, allowing them to be regulated by 50 different state banking supervisors instead of the federal government. And mortgage brokers, who also weren’t subject to federal regulation or the CRA, originated most of the subprime loans.
To recap:
Private mortgages companies made most of the subprime loans.
Private mortgage companies are not subject to CRA.
Class dismissed.
Look before I leap...
November 19th, 2012
8:48 pm
” i only wish i could live long enough to see your stupid aaaas suffer”
Death panel check on Jake 6304!
The GOV
November 19th, 2012
8:49 pm
What’s Channel 8 on AT&T?
JKL2
November 19th, 2012
8:50 pm
-Americans aged 18-29 are deeply ambivalent about capitalism, while a slight plurality is supportive of socialism.
Today’s lazy kids want to live off the government and the sweat of others. Wow, never saw that one coming…
I guess the Democrat propoganda machine and indoctrination programs are working. The party of handouts wins again!
Look before I leap...
November 19th, 2012
8:52 pm
“Georgia is already projected to be short several thousand doctors circa 2020″
That is a problem.
And our state GOP leaders just spent a whole day being tutored on Agenda 21.
Makes you wanna go hmmmm…..
The GOV
November 19th, 2012
8:52 pm
Currently farmers are not practicing proper crop rotation and erosion control? Geez, I thought we figured that out?
Brosephus™
November 19th, 2012
8:53 pm
HGW: My medical insurance increased $2500.00 last year? Why should I have to pay for others who have failed to be successful?
I think you said it best right here… “Capitalism has provided us the world’s best.” Your costs going up is the free market at work. Are you suggesting that we should do away with the free market medical insurance model and go to a socialistic model, something like single payer?
The GOV
November 19th, 2012
8:54 pm
It is worse than i thunk
Look before I leap...
November 19th, 2012
8:54 pm
“Today’s lazy kids want to live off the government …”
If today’s kids are lazy, who exactly is to blame for that?
JamVet
November 19th, 2012
8:57 pm
No need to do any further analysis….
Nope, not when you are flailing around in the shallow end of the gene pool!
Excellent, JKL2!
Keep up the good work. Maybe you should run for the RNC chair!
But whatever, just keep on losing elections, OK?
betty, I just missed it! LOL.
I did watch that awesome PBS program last night though. I grew up near there and I know a thing or three about hard working, resilient Americans…
josef
November 19th, 2012
8:58 pm
Sooth, moonbat
Caught the first installment last night, going in now to catch the conclusion…ipad now, so we ought to get some good “corrections!”
JKL2
November 19th, 2012
9:04 pm
kayaker- Soon, the takers will outnumber the producers
To fit into the Demwit utopian “new world order”, Americans are going to have to reduce their household income down to $14.4k. They forgot to tell all their welfare queens that compared with the rest of the world, They are actually the evil rich that need to start paying their fare share.
Bring on the pain.
Welcome to the Occupation
November 19th, 2012
9:08 pm
kayaker: ““It’s no wonder they are so unpopular”…….. They don’t seem to be too unpopular to the Democratic politicians. SEIU good for 28M to get Bozo back into the WH. I imagine that they are quite popular with him”
The irony, of course, is that the unions remain the most faithful group in the Democratic coalition, absolutely indispensable for Obama’s re-election effort, and all for providing very little to the actual rank and file of its memberships in the real benefits that should come from such loyalty: actual wage protection, enforcement of labor laws, etc.
The union leadership continue to milk their privileged positions based on their ties to the Democratic party elite, all the while exploiting the fear of their membership of the evil Republicans come election time, all the while delivering less and less to those members in real tangible benefits.
JKL2
November 19th, 2012
9:10 pm
look- Obama has an opportunity to lead now that he does not have to worry about re-election.
If you’re in the golf course industry you’re in luck. The rest of the country, not somuch…
JamVet
November 19th, 2012
9:13 pm
Bring on the pain.
Looks like it is already in full swing in Neocon City.
Enjoy!
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
November 19th, 2012
9:13 pm
If you’re in the golf course industry you’re in luck.
“Now, Watch This Drive!”
moonbat betty
November 19th, 2012
9:13 pm
Sooth, josef,
Goes to show how “soft” we have become.
getalife
November 19th, 2012
9:15 pm
Did you cons say something?
moonbat betty
November 19th, 2012
9:15 pm
Kam, if Obama tried to drive a ball after that, he would have whiffed.
JKL2
November 19th, 2012
9:15 pm
look- If today’s kids are lazy, who exactly is to blame for that?
I like to go with a lack of morals and single parents households.
Let the racist comments fly….
getalife
November 19th, 2012
9:17 pm
What?
Welcome to the Occupation
November 19th, 2012
9:20 pm
Josef, Stevie Ray; German unions have actual rights of co-determination in German corporate structure, actual rights, this being enshrined in corporate governance law in that country. Every corporation over 500 workers must have labor representation on the company’s board.
Sounds amazing, doesn’t it, compared to the US situation.
Brosephus™
November 19th, 2012
9:23 pm
like to go with a lack of morals and single parents households.
Damn you Murphy Brown!!!!!!!
————–
Welcome
That’s why Germany’s unionized workers fare better than the US. Labor there has ACTUAL representation.
getalife
November 19th, 2012
9:23 pm
This is what I hear when a con speaks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss2hULhXf04
barking frog
November 19th, 2012
9:27 pm
Good management will use a union to improve productivity and provide
supervision paid for by the employees and increase worker satisfaction.
moonbat betty
November 19th, 2012
9:28 pm
getalife, how about when a con slaps you up side the head?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI6LYzWZYcc
Look before I leap...
November 19th, 2012
9:32 pm
“I like to go with a lack of morals and single parents households.”
I don’t see that as a racist comment.
Actually would not have even entered my mind.
Funny how YOU brought it up though.
BUT…
The original comment I was responding to generalized that all kids were lazy..made no distinction about single vs multiple parent households.
And as one who was brought up in a single parent household, I can tell you that life as a kid was anything but easy street and laziness. There were chores, sibling oversight and all my brothers and I had and held jobs before we were 12.
Brosephus™
November 19th, 2012
9:33 pm
I think Lindsey Graham was really onto something. The GOP might be wise to take his statement about running out of angry old White men for what it’s worth…
http://www.hispanicvoters2012.com/
More than 6 out of every 10 Hispanics in America were born in the U.S.
[...]
This is America’s Changing Electorate. Every month for the next two decades, 50,000 Hispanics will turn 18.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xIQmFk1ok0
Chuck
November 19th, 2012
9:33 pm
Yea, its goimg to look a lot like Communism when Obummer gets through.
Look before I leap...
November 19th, 2012
9:35 pm
Oh an in addition…SCHOOL
B’s acceptable but not met with applause, C”s with outright disdain.
A’s got us cupcakes.
td
November 19th, 2012
9:37 pm
Jay,
IMO: this is one of the very best blogs you have written. Thank you for putting this information out in a clear manner. I would love to see what the stats would have said 30 years ago.
getalife
November 19th, 2012
9:38 pm
moonbat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEL_UWbeNX0
Look before I leap...
November 19th, 2012
9:39 pm
@Chuck
Trolls like you could have Lenin glued to your @ss and until Rush Limburger told you he was a communist, you would just think he was a wad of chaw in your hip pocket.
JamVet
November 19th, 2012
9:40 pm
Now don’t go all postal on us, GOPers.
It’s not the country’s fault that you chose a candidate who was wholly unfit to lead.
Fortunately the citizens of this country are smart enough to realize that (ROCK ON USA!) and sent him back to the Cayman Islands or wherever it is that he hides his money.
Watching George Macaca Allen go down in flames was just an added bonus…
Look before I leap...
November 19th, 2012
9:43 pm
“Watching George Macaca Allen go down in flames was just an added bonus…”
So was Allen West…
A shame we did not get the hat trick though and see Bachmann sent packing.
YouLibs
November 19th, 2012
9:43 pm
kayaker
“Do you really think that the bubble butt welfare queens and the illegal latinos actually care what the system is called? They could care less. Probably wouldn’t know the meaning of capitalism or socialism nor care what either of them stood for. It’s the government check, baby. Nothing else matters. Tis the season to be jolly. Noel, noel…. and all of that stuff. Just keep the money coming and we’ll vote for you even if you have two heads and molest little children.”
If I’ve ever seen a more bigoted statement on these boards, I can’t remember it.
That’s saying a lot.
Welcome to the Occupation
November 19th, 2012
9:45 pm
barking frog: “Good management will use a union to improve productivity and provide
supervision paid for by the employees and increase worker satisfaction”
Yeah that was the basis of the consensus that roughly held from WWII up to about the mid-1970s (with some important exceptions). But, alas, it broke down, and is now only getting much much worse.