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Collectivism vs Freedom

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Re: Global Warming / Climate Change "Skepticism" is a Hoax

Unread postby Outcast_Searcher » Thu 23 Jul 2015, 11:25:42

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('americandream', '
')Well for one thing I would remove all scalping and hedging strategies and ensure that the market was representative of competency thus minimising the risk of crashes. As long as we have a commodfying economy we will need the exchanges. We can smooth the accumulation process and cut out the wild swings by getting people in there on an even playing field. Those who cannot cut the mustard would soon leave. This would return us to a more investment styled growth than one driven by speculation. This socialises participation as the market runs on longer more ethical I guess would be the word, timelines

I now turn the floor over to you to give me your understanding of how the markets would work in your view.

So you would remove a primary stabilizing mechanism used by prudent investors (hedging), and thus (by fiat) make the markets more "stable". You'd do this by "getting people in there on a more even playing field". Meaning what? Wealth confiscation/redistribution?

So how does this represent "competency"? Do you understand that "competence" doesn't mean stealing from the productive to give to the incompetent?

Babblespeak like your quote above demonstrates that you have no concept of how free markets work or WHY market mechanisms like pricing work in the long run. Markets work by the pricing mechanism rewarding good decisions over time. Since the ride can be very bumpy, hedges are an obvious tool to remove much of that risk.

Too bad markets don't work by socialist wishful thinking. If they did, you'd be an economic genius and outfits like Argentina, Greece, and Russia would be THE long term economic powerhouses instead of economic disaster zones. But wait, they're economic BASKET CASES. Funny how that works.
Given the track record of the perma-doomer blogs, I wouldn't bet a fast crash doomer's money on their predictions.
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby Ibon » Thu 23 Jul 2015, 11:53:58

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', '
')
The same way democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies. The more people there are the less one individual matters.


I have been marveling recently at a certain irony. At this moment of overpopulation when one individual matters less we have a global population with a very high percentage of narcissists.
Patiently awaiting the pathogens. Our resiliency resembles an invasive weed. We are the Kudzu Ape
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby PrestonSturges » Thu 23 Jul 2015, 13:00:25

The problem with "collectivism" is that "collectivism" is a favorite word of people in the bottom 20% range* of mental ability, that is to say people that aren't really smart enough to be conspiracy nuts. Strangely, a lot of them claim to be big church goers, because that doesn't count as collectivism. And they spend much of their time fantasizing about having absolute power, because that doesn't count either.

Anyway, ask the Greeks about who is taking all their stuff. It's the banks, not the socialists.

(* I would have used the word "quintile" but nobody that uses the word "collectivist" would know the word "quintile")
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby Subjectivist » Thu 23 Jul 2015, 13:38:08

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrestonSturges', 'T')he problem with "collectivism" is that "collectivism" is a favorite word of people in the bottom 20% range* of mental ability, that is to say people that aren't really smart enough to be conspiracy nuts. Strangely, a lot of them claim to be big church goers, because that doesn't count as collectivism. And they spend much of their time fantasizing about having absolute power, because that doesn't count either.

Anyway, ask the Greeks about who is taking all their stuff. It's the banks, not the socialists.

(* I would have used the word "quintile" but nobody that uses the word "collectivist" would know the word "quintile")


Funny I know what both words mean and I am a 'big church goer' as you put it. Snide superiority aside you are full of beans.

Faith based 'collectivism' is completely voluntary. I donate what money I can because I believe in what my church does with those funds. Typical collectivist so seek to tax people they do not like in a decidedly non voluntary fashion to accomplish the goals the collrctivist believe in reguardless of how the taxpayers feel about those goals.
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby Newfie » Thu 23 Jul 2015, 13:39:17

The two opinions, Russell and Azimov, are complementary not contradictory.

We have an excess of population. Not only to feed but for the work necessary. Thus we become individually less valuable. This is magnified by he use of fossils fuels.

Azimov notes the underlying trend, explains how we become worthless.

Russel observes how we artificially inflate our value through work and how little we really need to work, and how we deceive ourselves about our elf value through work.

Russel then suggests a solution, that we try to find value in other, less harmful outlets.

But wise men, ahead of their times, ignored.
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby Newfie » Thu 23 Jul 2015, 13:48:06

Russel's ideas make perfect sense but fail to catch on in spite of telling us, giving us permission to do as we wish without guilt. Why?

Because we are not individually emotionally free to do as we want.

We are bound to the collective (group, tribe, family, nation) to perform in service of that collective. We complain about the lack of freedom to work and say it is denied. The true dilemma is we deny our selves the ability to NOT work. We do not allow ourselves the freedom to be idle.

Thus we create a consumer driven, bureaucraticly and wastefully run society.

And ruin Earth and our children's future in the service thereof.
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby PrestonSturges » Thu 23 Jul 2015, 14:25:47

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Subjectivist', 'F')unny I know what both words mean and I am a 'big church goer' as you put it. Snide superiority aside you are full of beans.

Faith based 'collectivism' is completely voluntary. I donate what money I can because I believe in what my church does with those funds. Typical collectivist so seek to tax people they do not like in a decidedly non voluntary fashion to accomplish the goals the collrctivist believe in reguardless of how the taxpayers feel about those goals.

But probably your church has all sorts of ideas about how other people should live, possibly much more than the government does. These days many churches want to extend their political agenda into the lives of people who have no interest in that religion. And they avoid paying all sorts of taxes. So they get power and avoid taxes and often collect all sorts of government subsidies. They have all the "collectivist" instincts they claim to hate, and they won't pay for it either.
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby Timo » Thu 23 Jul 2015, 14:36:04

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', '
')
The same way democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people into the world, the value of life not only declines, it disappears. It doesn't matter if someone dies. The more people there are the less one individual matters.


I have been marveling recently at a certain irony. At this moment of overpopulation when one individual matters less we have a global population with a very high percentage of narcissists.

Are you talking to me????!!! :badgrin:
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby Subjectivist » Thu 23 Jul 2015, 14:54:15

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrestonSturges', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Subjectivist', 'F')unny I know what both words mean and I am a 'big church goer' as you put it. Snide superiority aside you are full of beans.

Faith based 'collectivism' is completely voluntary. I donate what money I can because I believe in what my church does with those funds. Typical collectivist so seek to tax people they do not like in a decidedly non voluntary fashion to accomplish the goals the collrctivist believe in reguardless of how the taxpayers feel about those goals.

But probably your church has all sorts of ideas about how other people should live, possibly much more than the government does. These days many churches want to extend their political agenda into the lives of people who have no interest in that religion. And they avoid paying all sorts of taxes. So they get power and avoid taxes and often collect all sorts of government subsidies. They have all the "collectivist" instincts they claim to hate, and they won't pay for it either.


Of course we have all sorts of ideas about how people should live, but we do our best to live those ways ourselves and lead by example. We don't for the most part try and force people to comply with everything we believe because we want people to choose our way of life. Government decisions are ultimately about force, if you fail to comply you will be coerced, taxed, thrown in prison or worse.
II Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby Outcast_Searcher » Thu 23 Jul 2015, 15:44:57

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrestonSturges', 'T')he problem with "collectivism" is that "collectivism" is a favorite word of people in the bottom 20% range* of mental ability, that is to say people that aren't really smart enough to be conspiracy nuts. Strangely, a lot of them claim to be big church goers, because that doesn't count as collectivism. And they spend much of their time fantasizing about having absolute power, because that doesn't count either.

Ah more "wisdom" (except it's not) from PS.

You are correct that the bottom 20% benefit a great deal from the efforts of the economic collectivists on the left.

(I am not a church goer, though I support peoples' right to practice religion that doesn't hurt other people) -- but your idea that going to church is collectivism is utter nonsense. Joining a group is NOT collectivism.

Ayn Rand, the opposite of the "dummy" mentality you associate with collectivism talked quite a bit about it.

As Ayn Rand pointed out, collectivism is about using a group to gain power over others or to exclude others. The main idea here is the dictionary definition as well.

Here, by my count, are 11 of the more popular Rand quotes on collectivism, from her writings. If Ayn Rand worshipped anything, it was the ability of the individual human mind. If she stood for anything, it was the right of the individual to use their mind and effort to create (vs. physical force or the threat of that, to suppress others (including confiscating their income, by the way)).

http://aynrandlexicon.com/lexicon/collectivism.html

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')Collectivism holds that the individual has no rights, that his life and work belong to the group . . . and that the group may sacrifice him at its own whim to its own interests. The only way to implement a doctrine of that kind is by means of brute force—and statism has always been the political corollary of collectivism.

If you want to do something productive, the power of the human mind counts for pretty much everything to do with productive achievement.
Given the track record of the perma-doomer blogs, I wouldn't bet a fast crash doomer's money on their predictions.
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby Cog » Thu 23 Jul 2015, 17:16:47

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ROCKMAN', '&')quot;...we can run the show more efficiently and with less perilous consequences..." Who is the "we" and where do I sign up? LOL. Everyone has a solution to all the problems we face. All they need to figure out is how to implement them. Easy-peazy. LOL

And of course, if they're from the government, they run things with money someone ELSE earned. "Evil" profits or "excess" profits are what the big government types tend to call it, even as they confiscate it, since they can't earn it in the free market by producing something people want to buy.


You can save your breathe. The pajama wearing liberals in this country and the Euro-Trash socialists know what is best for us. And they will kill us should we disagree. History will repeat itself again.

I'm just here for the crap-fest for when it begins. Should be quite entertaining.

Our opponent:
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Re: Global Warming / Climate Change "Skepticism" is a Hoax

Unread postby americandream » Thu 23 Jul 2015, 18:18:19

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('americandream', '
')Well for one thing I would remove all scalping and hedging strategies and ensure that the market was representative of competency thus minimising the risk of crashes. As long as we have a commodfying economy we will need the exchanges. We can smooth the accumulation process and cut out the wild swings by getting people in there on an even playing field. Those who cannot cut the mustard would soon leave. This would return us to a more investment styled growth than one driven by speculation. This socialises participation as the market runs on longer more ethical I guess would be the word, timelines

I now turn the floor over to you to give me your understanding of how the markets would work in your view.

So you would remove a primary stabilizing mechanism used by prudent investors (hedging),


Only prudent to the extent that they are gambling and cannot discover prices. As a consequence they distort the market with their panic and cause precisely the conditions of wild volatility that give capitalism a bad name. :lol: Its kinda ironic that I as a communist am advising you how best to run this system for the duration of its natural life.

Now Cog my friend

Seeing as it is you who alternately swings between hysterical alarmisms of blood and guts and noble expressions of a desire to be free to harrass other members of your nation, can you please explain capitalism to me....the nuts and bolts of the market and its forces. Seeing as you are generally clueless on social issue, I am curious to see whether you are this capitalist you purport to be.
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby Cog » Thu 23 Jul 2015, 19:54:34

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby PrestonSturges » Thu 23 Jul 2015, 20:20:02

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') say nothing of it's motives. They were founded in ignorance, not wickedness. God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all and always well-informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive..... Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon, and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

Jefferson was saying, specifically in the context of Shay's rebellion, that the rebels were a bunch of ignorant dumbfucks.

James Iredell picks up the theme of Shays' Rebellion, ignorance, and mercy
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')e have seen a happy instance of the good effect of such an exercise of mercy in the state of Massachusetts, where, very lately, there was so formidable an insurrection. I believe a great majority of the insurgents were drawn into it by false artifices. They at length saw their error, and were willing to disband. Government, by a wise exercise of lenity, after having shown its power, generally granted a pardon; and the whole party were dispersed. There is now as much peace in that country as in any state in the Union.
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby americandream » Thu 23 Jul 2015, 20:21:34

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'T')he tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson


No reply yet I see. Only more invocation of blood and guts for the liberty to harrass black Americans. Classic high subjectivity Cog but clearly you did not get the memo that we have a sentient brain, did ya?
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby Cog » Fri 24 Jul 2015, 03:14:30

I would have to review my itinerary but I do not recall harassing black people as something I've scheduled today, next week, or next month. I do intend on going to work, paying my taxes, and taking care of my family. Perhaps that is what you mean by harassing black people. :lol:
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby americandream » Fri 24 Jul 2015, 03:23:32

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'I') would have to review my itinerary but I do not recall harassing black people as something I've scheduled today, next week, or next month. I do intend on going to work, paying my taxes, and taking care of my family. Perhaps that is what you mean by harassing black people. :lol:


:) I guess amnesia is another of your cognitive issues.
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby Cog » Fri 24 Jul 2015, 04:45:18

I can order you a Confederate flag if you like.
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby PrestonSturges » Fri 24 Jul 2015, 13:44:53

Image
Here's my confederate flag. I did this about five years ago for the Glenn Beck rally. That's Krylon not Photoshop.
Last edited by PrestonSturges on Fri 24 Jul 2015, 14:32:33, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Collectivism vs Freedom

Unread postby Pops » Fri 24 Jul 2015, 14:28:53

use tinypic.com or something similar and set the resize to message board
The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves -- in their separate, and individual capacities.
-- Abraham Lincoln, Fragment on Government (July 1, 1854)
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