tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post757584407301212938..comments2024-03-28T18:32:05.933-04:00Comments on bensozia: Budget Politics in KansasJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-33198002014838919842015-08-11T14:09:08.813-04:002015-08-11T14:09:08.813-04:00"Against this Democrats advocate the philosop...<i>"Against this Democrats advocate the philosophy best put by Bill Clinton, who said the system should work better for people who just "work hard and play by the rules." What's wrong with just holding a job anyway?"</i><br /><br />I imagine to many people, such thinking is dangerously close to "Communism" or "Socialism", and we simply can't have that, now can we? It's not really Capitalism unless you're living in a cutthroat culture of greed,and are playing fast and loose with the excitement of risk!<br /><br />And even if your gamble doesn't pay off, that's okay! You can always foist your losses off onto the poor and powerless! Downsize your company! Outsource your labor! File for bankruptcy and get bailed out! Take home a massive paycheck and severance package, then get hired to a different company and do it all over again! That's the magic of Capitalism! If you have enough money, you always get more, and nothing you do has any consequences! (For you, at least!)G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-15735770048683891252015-08-11T13:14:25.601-04:002015-08-11T13:14:25.601-04:00The "Marchers" and their admitted unfair...The "Marchers" and their admitted unfairness are certainly a problem. But I've also always been troubled by the philosophy that "Equal = Fair" put on display by the "Do-Overs", because that's absolute nonsense.<br /><br />Something being equal for everyone is not fair, because people aren't equal. If you earn several millions dollars yearly then a $10,000 traffic ticket is pocket change, while the same ticket would utterly ruin the lives of many millions of poor Americans who can barely pay their rent as it is.<br /><br />Here's a great example - in at least some part of Florida, there is a fine for cutting down endangered mangrove trees. But it's a flat amount per tree. I've personally met local retirees who got hit with steep fines they could barely pay because they unwittingky cleared a tree or two from their own backyards that turned out to be mangroves. Meanwhile, major real estate developers will knowingly bulldoze entire groves and simply foot the bill as the cost of doing business, because they stand to make millions on their condominium projects and the like.<br /><br />You'd think a fine for cutting down endangered mangroves would be a good thing, right? But in the end, the poor get harshly punished out of all proportion, the rich barely even get inconvenienced, and the mangroves get cut down en masse despite the fine ostensibly being there to protect them. It's a law that sounds like it should serve the interests of nature and the common man, but it harms both of them while it lets the rich make themselves richer.<br /><br />Equality is not fairness. Proportionality is fairness.G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.com