The state is a tool, true, but more of a machine. Its sole purpose is the exploitation of one class by another, and to secure its interests from insurrection from within and without. It doesn’t matter who wields it or pulls its levers, it goes on doing what it always has, in fact, what all states were created to do. If you were to man the state with a flock of honorable men, what exactly would change? Extortion, robbery, exploitation, coercion, mendacity, hypocrisy, rent-seeking, corruption—all of it would go on, simply because no state was formed for any other purpose.

If anyone other than the government acted like the government, took wealth as they did, they’d be rightfully called a criminall. That’s why it’s difficult to distinguish the government from any other criminal class.

Thanks for the explanation.

I don’t care who it’s for. It’s done because others have given them the power to do it.

I’m not an economist. I have no theory as to what caused the Great Depression.

Who knows? It’s out of control. It’s amazing how fast an institution can spend other people’s money.

Yeah, $7 trillion/ten-year defense budges will do that to you. Anyway, no matter how high inflation gets, do you think we will ever pay true cost for anything? Wouldn't that be nice.

There is so much government intervention in the way that no one could ever know.

Speaking of neoliberalism, the debt-ridden, big government policies that led to it are now occurring once again. Stagflation?

Inflation jumped 6.2% in October, biggest monthly rise in 30 years

Sure, it arrived at a time when people were nervous about having to pay the just penalty of their collective ignorance and greed. There is no better way to absolve man of his failings than to devise a state program to cover for him.

On the contrary. A Democrat with balls saying the truth. And of course, why wouldn't Truman be for the New Deal? Odd if he would be against it. Tells actually also a lot about the Democrats, in fact.

He was equating a massive transfer of wealth and power with “every advance the people have made in the last 20 years”. As is common, he confuses the state’s aggrandizement with that of their subjects. Insofar as socialism routinely pretends that state ownership is social ownership, his critics are not far off the mark.

It’s a regretful quote. “Socialism” fits better than “progress”.

And neoliberalism.

DPRK, not PDRK.

Oh ok, so just what you think are in the best interests of society as a whole, then.

Maybe adding another emoji will help you out.

In the interests of society as a whole. It’s the best you can do and the best you have done, isn’t that so?

So he loved the policies and programs that dominated the "Golden Age of Capitalism"? Greatest growth in the 20th century. Etc.

Compare to the last 40 years of neoliberal Reaganite policies. You'll find the real fascism there.

Fascists hated liberalism. Another swing and a miss.

“Freedom therefore is due to the citizen and to classes on condition that they exercise it in the interest of society as a whole and within the limits set by social exigencies, liberty being, like any other individual right, a concession of the state.”

- The Doctrine of Fascism

Yet you aggrandize the state at the expense of your own freedom, just like a fascist would do. Funny stuff.

That’s why you don’t know what fascism is. Mussolini loved the New Deal and Keynesianism. Not-so-odd bedfellows, then.

I’m not so sure about that.

“You want to know what fascism is like? It is like your New Deal!”

- Benito Mussolini

The best we can do is allow the state to monopolize the “common good”. I guess it’s not as common or as good as we make it out to be.

That’s hilarious. Apparently Camilla couldn’t stop talking about it.

Camilla Parker Bowles can’t stop talking about Joe Biden’s ‘long fart’

House of Windsor meets the house of wind.

"The common good before the individual good. (Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz)"

"The Nazi 25-point Programme," Hitler's speech on party's program (February 24, 1920) in Munich, Germany. Nazi Ideology Before 1933: A Documentation, Barbara Miller Lane, ‎Leila J. Rupp, introduction and translation, Manchester University Press (1978) p. 43.

You did do all of that. You enslaved human beings, committed genocide, transferred their wealth to yourself, and used the funds to consolidate your power and spread war.

The claim is that your wages have been negotiated with the expectation that some portion of them will be paid to the government, hence that portion does not belong to you by contractual agreement (it doesn't belong to you ethically, nor legally either, but those are other arguments addressed separately).

The fact that you expect or assume a portion of my wage will (or should) be payed to the government is question-begging. Your expectations, assumptions, and other mental furniture do not factor into any contract unless it is written or stated explicitly and agreed upon. If there are such explicit expectations then maybe you can furnish an example.

While it is true that employment contracts often contain a note that a salary is subject to deductions and taxes, this is to inform the employee of what will happen to a portion of his salary, not to declare any right or property of the government. Employers deduct from an employee’s compensation because they face fine and punishment if they do not, not because that compensation is in fact the government’s property. And the question as to whose compensation they are deducting from is a silly one.

It doesn’t matter what “everyone involved knows you will take home in compensation for your labour” unless it is explicitly stated in the contract or agreement. Again, your assumptions, expectations, and what you think you know is merely question begging. The “gross wage” is what is agreed upon as the compensation. The “net wage” is what’s left over after the government has its way with it. If you and your employer negotiate $100,000 a year, that is the gross salary, the total from which taxes are deducted. It doesn’t mean you tacitly agreed to a less amount.

At any rate, payroll deductions and taxes are calculated after the wage is determined, as the determined wage is required to calculate the cost of deductions in the first place. These deductions are determined by the government, are enforced by coercion, in most cases extorted by fine or other penalties.

So if all parties agree to the wage, the wage is then payed for services rendered, the money will exchange hands from employer to employee, and what was once the employer’s property is now the employee’s property. Finally, the government takes the employee’s property.

Did you fall for all this stuff?

All this talk about misinformation, election meddling, and Kremlin troll farms around the 2016 election was so much humbug. Meanwhile, attorney Michael Sussman, another Clinton crony indicted for lying, was submitting false allegations of secret communication channels between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

The FBI had, in fact, initiated an investigation of these allegations in response to a
meeting that MICHAEL A. SUSSMANN, the defendant herein- a lawyer at a major international law firm ("Law Firm-I") - requested and held with the FBI General Counsel on or about September 19, 2016 at FBI Headquarters in the District of Columbia. SUSSMANN provided to the FBI General Counsel three "white papers" along with data files allegedly containing evidence supporting the existence ofthis purported secret communications channel.

During the meeting, SUSSMANN lied about the capacity m which he was providing the allegations to the FBI. Specifically, SUSSMANN stated falsely that he was not doing his work on the aforementioned allegations "for any client," which led the FBI General Counsel to understand that SUSSMANN was acting as a good citizen merely passing along information, not as a paid advocate or political operative. In fact, and as alleged in further detail below, this statement was intentionally false and misleading because, in assembling and conveying these allegations, SUSSMANN acted on behalf of specific clients, namely, (i) a U.S. technology industry executive ("Tech Executive-I") at a U.S. Internet company ("Internet Company-I"), and (ii) the Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign (the "Clinton Campaign").

https://www.justice.gov/sco/press-release/file/1433511/download

People worldwide had to bear 4 years of these lies and propaganda. The damage is already done.

A former prosecutor, a former marine, a former cop… wow, you’ve done it all.

Nah, the US Justice system is utterly corrupt. Anyone who lies to the DOJ gets a pat on the back, in my book.

Another not charged with insurrection? That must sting a bit, given the narrative.

Ouch. It looks like those who spread the disinfo about Russia, duping millions of true believers, are finally getting pinched.

NYT - Authorities Arrest Analyst Who Contributed to Steele Dossier

I'd rather not see the guy arrested, but it's at least a good thrust to the legacy media and their devotees, who it turns out were the useful idiots of grifters and party propagandists. This scandal was spread worldwide, and though its dismantling will sound as a whimper in comparison to the fevered reporting of the big lie, the truth is nonetheless prevailing in the end.

I don’t think in those terms.

I plan to act as I always have. In other words, no plan at all. No suggestions, no advice, no plan, no secret way. Got it now?

I’m sure there are more words you can think of. Look how easy it was to list off the words you’ll affix to others as you murder them.

You did misunderstand. I don’t suggest anything. I don’t have advice. I don’t have words of encouragement. You’re asking the wrong guy.

“The common good” is a phrase collectivists and utilitarians break out now and again to justify their schemes. You pretend to know it is, how to attain it, and then stack bodies to reach it.

I don’t suggest anything when it comes to global warming. Never have, never will. I’ll let you lot stress out about that.

Discussion? More like inquisition. You were unable to provide anything but snarky questions, in a thread about Joe Biden, no less.

Since you asked how I propose it is established which activities hurt the environment, I answered that it is established by tastes, learning and experience. One can develop a conscience and through it direct his actions in a manner that suits it. In English, the pronoun "one" is supposed to serve as indication that I am speaking of no one in particular, including the "polluting neighbor". So I was speaking generally.

I suppose it is established by tastes, learning and experience. One can develop a conscience and through it direct his actions in a manner that suits it.

It’s true. Individuals cooperate quite well. But if individuals in a team sacrifice one of their members for the team, they refute themselves, and go against both the individual and the team.

Your friends, your family, your team, and your community are composed of individuals. No balance is required.

My plan is the same as it always has been: to direct my own activities in a way that will not hurt the environment.