Regulation creates monopolies. Mega-Corporations regularly lobby for tighter controls on the market that benefit them over the competition. Whichever corportation can shell out enough dough for a congressman to vote their way has the upperhand. If anything should be regulated or outright banned, it's lobbying. It has turned this country into a corporatist oligarchy.

Thank goodness. More and more people are finally seeing the light.

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Though I don't follow politics at all, not even comedy central.  The only political thing I watch/listen to whatsoever was that libertarian girl on youtube (google says this is Julie Borowoski), generally because she's weird and her videos are funny but I admit she's really good at explaining her viewpoint.

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Only in the current (American) system. In a system where the people are still sufficiently and elections are not determined by the size of the candidates' campaign fund regulation still serves it's original purpose. 

 

So your saying regulation in England, Germany, Greece, and most of the rest of the European Union hasn't caused a near financial melt down of the EU?

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So your saying regulation in England, Germany, Greece, and most of the rest of the European Union hasn't caused a near financial melt down of the EU?

There's a lot of reasons why the Euro Crisis happened, regulation wasn't one. Improper or absent enforcement of regulation probably did. And neither Germany nor England had anything close financial problems. If you want to see how lack of regulation can cause serious trouble, look at the sub-prime mortgage crisis and everything that resulted from it.

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There's a belief among libertarians that the market will correct everything but that only works if the companies and corporations in the market don't rig the game in their favor and always play by the rules. The idea that a large corporations won't use it's power and size to simply remove better competitors from the market is farcical and downright delusional at best. 

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There's a lot of reasons why the Euro Crisis happened, regulation wasn't one. Improper or absent enforcement of regulation probably did. And neither Germany nor England had anything close financial problems. If you want to see how lack of regulation can cause serious trouble, look at the sub-prime mortgage crisis and everything that resulted from it.

You can thank Bill Clinton for that one.  He signed into law the repeal of 2 provisions in the Glass-Steagall Act that allowed less regulation over the banking industry that ultimately contributed heavily to the sub-prime mortgage crisis. 

 

What's funny is that was the trigger for the economic meltdown, and that collapse is almost entirely blamed on Bush despite the fact that his administration went before congress multiple times practically begging them for more regulations because they saw trouble on the horizon, and in every instance, they were rebuffed by luminaries like Barney Frank who said repeatedly that there was nothing to be concerned about and no action was needed. 

 

Subsequently, we've seen the current administration blaming Bush for pretty much everything bad in the world.  From my perspective, the Bush administration wasn't much better than the current one.  They created a lot of problems we're still not beyond, but in the end, whatever mess they created was accelerated by the current bunch. 

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

There's a belief among libertarians that the market will correct everything but that only works if the companies and corporations in the market don't rig the game in their favor and always play by the rules. The idea that a large corporations won't use it's power and size to simply remove better competitors from the market is farcical and downright delusional at best. 

Even the most ardent libertarian will agree that you need some governmental involvement to assure that we don't wind up with monopolies running the corporate world.  Beyond that, they want as little government intervention in pretty much every aspect of life as possible.  I agree with many libertarian viewpoints, but not all.  In the end, we'd certainly be in a better place today with the weakest libertarian candidate in charge than we are with Obama. 

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

You can thank Bill Clinton for that one. He signed into law the repeal of 2 provisions in the Glass-Steagall Act that allowed less regulation over the banking industry that ultimately contributed heavily to the sub-prime mortgage crisis.


What's funny is that was the trigger for the economic meltdown, and that collapse is almost entirely blamed on Bush despite the fact that his administration went before congress multiple times practically begging them for more regulations because they saw trouble on the horizon, and in every instance, they were rebuffed by luminaries like Barney Frank who said repeatedly that there was nothing to be concerned about and no action was needed.


Subsequently, we've seen the current administration blaming Bush for pretty much everything bad in the world. From my perspective, the Bush administration wasn't much better than the current one. They created a lot of problems we're still not beyond, but in the end, whatever mess they created was accelerated by the current bunch.

No.

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So your saying regulation in England, Germany, Greece, and most of the rest of the European Union hasn't caused a near financial melt down of the EU?

I think of the nations you've listed, Germany is the only one that's been able to weather the storm in Europe relatively speaking.  They've been one of the primary sources of funding in bailouts that were handed out in Spain, Greece, and Ireland in tandem with the IMF and the World Bank, both of which are some scary organizations in their own right. 

 

I think there is a lot more to the collapse of these countries than regulation.  In fact, I'd say there's probably been a little bit of manipulation going on as well. 

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

No.

Okay.

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

I think of the nations you've listed, Germany is the only one that's been able to weather the storm in Europe relatively speaking. They've been one of the primary sources of funding in bailouts that were handed out in Spain, Greece, and Ireland in tandem with the IMF and the World Bank, both of which are some scary organizations in their own right.


I think there is a lot more to the collapse of these countries than regulation. In fact, I'd say there's probably been a little bit of manipulation going on as well.

Germany has had to bailout the EU several times because their economy is so intertwined to the euro. While better off than Greece none of the euro nations are in good shape the euro is a ticking time bomb just like the dollar.

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There's a belief among libertarians that the market will correct everything but that only works if the companies and corporations in the market don't rig the game in their favor and always play by the rules. The idea that a large corporations won't use it's power and size to simply remove better competitors from the market is farcical and downright delusional at best.

And that's the point without a powerful government corporations Can't rig the game. big government and heavy regulation doesn't prevent corruption it creates it.

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Even the most ardent libertarian will agree that you need some governmental involvement to assure that we don't wind up with monopolies running the corporate world. Beyond that, they want as little government intervention in pretty much every aspect of life as possible. I agree with many libertarian viewpoints, but not all. In the end, we'd certainly be in a better place today with the weakest libertarian candidate in charge than we are with Obama.

Government at the most basic form should only protect life and property and that can be done at an extremely reduced level.


As a libertarian I am for private funding of all forms of commerce from transportation to education.

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Government at the most basic form should only protect life and property and that can be done at an extremely reduced level.


As a libertarian I am for private funding of all forms of commerce from transportation to education.

I'm not saying Germany was in great shape. I'm simply pointing out that they became the banker for the bailout because their economy was healthier than most.  It's still a domino game over there if economies continue to struggle.  Germany won't be immune. 

 

There's a lot of speculation that we're about to see a pretty significant market correction, and if that happens, look for all hell to break loose in Europe AND here at home. 

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Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

I'm not saying Germany was in great shape. I'm simply pointing out that they became the banker for the bailout because their economy was healthier than most.  It's still a domino game over there if economies continue to struggle.  Germany won't be immune. 

 

There's a lot of speculation that we're about to see a pretty significant market correction, and if that happens, look for all hell to break loose in Europe AND here at home. 

There's also a lot of people predicting that the European Union won't even be around in the next 10-15 years. And keep in mind that these aren't all just doomsday sayers, but accredited Politicians, Economists, Businessmen, and Intellectuals.

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No.

Hail Obama

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Government at the most basic form should only protect life and property and that can be done at an extremely reduced level.


As a libertarian I am for private funding of all forms of commerce from transportation to education.

Its impossible to have government that limited. Yes, our country started that way, but power corrupts. Its human nature.

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Its impossible to have government that limited. Yes, our country started that way, but power corrupts. Its human nature.

Not impossible but unlikely to happen at this point. once government ceases power it hardly if ever relinquishes said power.


That's why I always advocate against using government to fix anything.

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Not impossible but unlikely to happen at this point. once government ceases power it hardly if ever relinquishes said power.


That's why I always advocate against using government to fix anything.

 

Chile is a good example of a government entity relinquishing power, actually. They are doing pretty well off IIRC, but lately have been falling into the same trap other western civilizations are facing. It is extremely rare though it seems.

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I am a registered Independent.  I lean heavily libertarian.  However, I believe in some broad regulations on the federal level.  Someone always wins in capitalism, hence the importance of anti trust laws.  I don't remember the exact numbers, but I read not too long ago where there were something like 50 or 60 media companies that owned 90% of the market share like 25 years ago.  Today there are, I believe, 5 or 6.  Competition breeds innovation.  

 

The Civil Rights Act thing is an age old question that trips up many libertarians.  On one side, I am torn... I mean, how can one be in favor of freedom of speech, regardless of how reprehensible it may be, but be for the Civil Rights Act?  I think the correct way of thinking for the party would be that by allowing companies to discriminate, you are restricting the liberties of the discriminated.  In this case, your right to liberty trumps another's right to deny you of your liberty.

 

I have no issues with the federal government using funds to build/maintain interstates and other infrastructure that the nation as a whole may use.

 

The Department of Education needs to be abolished.  I don't know how people could possibly think the federal government is doing a good job in this area.  We are, or were, the richest nation on the planet with the highest standard of living, but we were middle of the pack in education... And I feel like that's generous.  Let the private sector educate and bring back trade schools.  Let parents/children be educated in what they feel is important and what caters best to the child's needs and not up to some standardized test which tests how well you test. 

 

The EPA, in its current state, needs to be abolished.  It's turned into a fascist oligarchy.  There should be a few environmental regulations, but the EPA has gone mad.  Arresting people and seizing their land because they were collecting rain water - really?

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