JimJimmyJames
Big Time Feeder Driver
Excellent article concerning the future of Detroit, and in turn, America.
Excellent article concerning the future of Detroit, and in turn, America.
- Thread starter JimJimmyJames
- Start date
wkmac
Well-Known Member
Jim,
An article you might find of interest can be found here. It's a review of Hans-Hermann Hoppe's book, "Democracy:The God that Failed" and it challenges you to think or even rethink certain ideas held. Hope you enjoy the provacative thought!
Also at Taki's, Justin Raimondo wrote a nice piece dedicated to Burt Blument who passed away just recently. It's about Burt but Justin shares a funny story relating to himself and Burt when Justin spoke before a National Review forum several years ago.
I'm a big fan of Justin's and Antiwar.com and Justin also links the piece at the end of his "Suicide of the West" op-ed.
An article you might find of interest can be found here. It's a review of Hans-Hermann Hoppe's book, "Democracy:The God that Failed" and it challenges you to think or even rethink certain ideas held. Hope you enjoy the provacative thought!
Also at Taki's, Justin Raimondo wrote a nice piece dedicated to Burt Blument who passed away just recently. It's about Burt but Justin shares a funny story relating to himself and Burt when Justin spoke before a National Review forum several years ago.
I'm a big fan of Justin's and Antiwar.com and Justin also links the piece at the end of his "Suicide of the West" op-ed.
JimJimmyJames
Big Time Feeder Driver
I read somewhere once that a benevolent dictatorship might actually be the best form of government. Hoppe's views on the failings of democracy certainly make a case for this.
Personally, I would rather fix our republican form of government than turn to either extreme of pure democracy or monarchy. How do we do that? I would say by embracing what our founding father's created, rather than the perversions of their ideals that we now live under.
Justin's "Suicide of the West", provides an interesting counter-point to Tom Piatek's article on the apparent decline of the U.S. While I support Justin's fight against the "war party" (I have even donated financially to antiwar.com), and while I do have a libertarian streak in me as it pertains to social issues, I am, for lack of a better description, a paleo-conservative when it comes to economic matters. Therefore, I find myself in agreement with Pat Buchanan on trade issues, to give an example of a pundit that shares my mindset.
That is not to say that I am against trade, far from it. I own plenty of foreign made goods, some by choice, some because, unfortunately, there are no more choices. But I base my choices on quality of product, which to me should be the defining factor of why someone would choose a foriegn made product over an American made one.
Unfortunately, American businesses in collusion with our government have embraced the short term gains they have acquired rather than the long term returns that should be their goals (one of which is, how does the native population afford the goods they need to buy when they no longer produce those goods).
Which kind of brings us back full circle to Hoppe's argument that a king need not overly worry about such short term gains because he is in it for the long term: he wouldn't sell himself out for a quick buck because that could devalue his assets.
This in turn reminds me of the original addage of Life, liberty, and property. Ownership. Can we have liberty without property, don't we have to have something to lose in order to value it? Ok, I am rambling now
, I'll stop here.
Personally, I would rather fix our republican form of government than turn to either extreme of pure democracy or monarchy. How do we do that? I would say by embracing what our founding father's created, rather than the perversions of their ideals that we now live under.
Justin's "Suicide of the West", provides an interesting counter-point to Tom Piatek's article on the apparent decline of the U.S. While I support Justin's fight against the "war party" (I have even donated financially to antiwar.com), and while I do have a libertarian streak in me as it pertains to social issues, I am, for lack of a better description, a paleo-conservative when it comes to economic matters. Therefore, I find myself in agreement with Pat Buchanan on trade issues, to give an example of a pundit that shares my mindset.
That is not to say that I am against trade, far from it. I own plenty of foreign made goods, some by choice, some because, unfortunately, there are no more choices. But I base my choices on quality of product, which to me should be the defining factor of why someone would choose a foriegn made product over an American made one.
Unfortunately, American businesses in collusion with our government have embraced the short term gains they have acquired rather than the long term returns that should be their goals (one of which is, how does the native population afford the goods they need to buy when they no longer produce those goods).
Which kind of brings us back full circle to Hoppe's argument that a king need not overly worry about such short term gains because he is in it for the long term: he wouldn't sell himself out for a quick buck because that could devalue his assets.
This in turn reminds me of the original addage of Life, liberty, and property. Ownership. Can we have liberty without property, don't we have to have something to lose in order to value it? Ok, I am rambling now
, I'll stop here.
JimJimmyJames
Big Time Feeder Driver
Try it again because I just clicked it and it worked.
brett636
Well-Known Member
I read the article and I both agree and disagree with it. When it comes to GM I want nothing more than to see them succeed. My grandfather is a retired GM salary employee and if GM goes under who is to say what will happen with his pension and medical benefits.
GM has really put itself into the mess that its in. Its not just the unions or the management, but in some part both played a role in putting the company where its at today. The workers can only produce what management decides to build, and in my honest opinion the management at GM has not put out many quality vehicles that I can remember within my 27 year lifetime. In 1988 my parents purchased a new Oldsmobile Calais for my mother to drive. Ten years later the rear wheel wells had rusted out, the engine vibrated screws loose on the interior, both the heat and A/C barely worked, and overall the car was barely worthy of a junkyard when they finally got rid of it. My dad purchased a 1987 Chevy Nova(used and well beaten) which was a re badged Corolla and he sold that thing with over 250k miles on it still running strong with working A/C. What is interesting to note is out of the last 5 new vehicles purchased within my immediate and slightly extended family only one was a GM. The others included 3 toyotas and a honda. If someone handed me $25k and told me to buy a new car my first choice would be a VW Jetta TDI. I just don't see any GM vehicles(their trucks being the only exception) meeting the quality standards which have sadly been set by their foreign rivals. Some of Ford's new lineup has caught my attention, and Chrysler has some awesome cars (300M, Charger, Challenger) but none that are practical for me. Just chanting buy American does not do it for me, I want to purchase something because I believe it is superior to its market competition, not just because it was made (partially) in a plant somewhere within the U.S.
