tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25646979.post1742631252590027824..comments2024-01-01T15:35:12.954-07:00Comments on Simple Utah Mormon Politics: The Real Tipping Point: It's The Economy, StupidFrank Stahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01822334061980912687noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25646979.post-82358693653578312602010-03-20T20:59:53.009-06:002010-03-20T20:59:53.009-06:00The American economy is at a tipping point all rig...The American economy is at a tipping point all right. It's just that your diagnosis of the cause is wrong and your proposed solution will only make matters worse. The problem is not that the government still has some remaning vestiges of the social programs that we enacted after the Great Depression, the problem is that our government is run entirely for the benefit of the wealthiest Americans and the largest multi-national corporations. Privatization, de-regulation, and "trickle-down" tax cuts have robbed the government of its ability to function and robbed the American people of the ability to provide a better life for their children.<br /><br />We have an unemployment rate that is nearly 20% when the statistical gimmicks are removed, banks that aren't lending money because they can make so much more trading in unregulated financial instruments, thanks to de-regulation. Most of our manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas permanently, and our education system, health care system and infrastructure are falling apart. We cannot get back on the right track until businesses start hiring, and they won't do that until there is a market for their products and unemployed folks don't spend a lot at the store. The government is the only entity that has the ability to raise us out of the muck and get America moving again, but it doesn't have to be accomplished entirely on borrowed money. <br /><br />We can and should repeal the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy and the Reagan tax cuts as well and make those who have made a fortune out of impoverishing their fellow Americans pay the piper. We can and should stop the wasteful government spending on useless military hardware and imperial armies based around the world. We can and should stop paying corporations to act responsibly and simply order them to do so. There is a way out, but our "leaders" in Washington have been bought and paid for and aren't about to do anything useful (witness the ridiculous mess they made of health care reform), and half the country is so misinformed, they think the victims are the aggressors and the aggressors the victims.Charles Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02975241234146573609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25646979.post-59376397390394452442010-03-20T13:32:26.118-06:002010-03-20T13:32:26.118-06:00Jason: It seems when I hit a raw nerve about globa...Jason: It seems when I hit a raw nerve about global warming with you that you go apoplectic. But there REALLY ISN'T any evidence that we're at a tipping point. Here's the evidence that we have:<br /><br />1. CO2 in the atmosphere has been increasing at a VERY slow rate.<br />2. The earth may or may not have warmed slightly. <br /><br />I've written more <a href="http://economicspolitics.blogspot.com/2010/02/global-warming-is-very-likely-at.html" rel="nofollow">about that here</a>.<br /><br />How that equates to a tipping point is beyond me, but if you have evidence of it, then I will write an entire article retracting this one. Granted, we have some pretty heavy opinions on both sides, but there is NO EVIDENCE that I have seen.<br /><br />Now, if you can get past my first paragraph, I'd be curious if you think the American economy is at a tipping point. Or are we just fine? Because it doesn't really matter about the people think who are beholden to this or that cause (Exxon, Government, etc.) It matters what the people who are NOT beholden to causes think. It matters what the people who predicted things with uncanny accuracy the first time think. It matters what YOU think. Never simply choose the biggest side in a popularity contest.Frank Stahelihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01822334061980912687noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25646979.post-89801524000998880492010-03-20T13:19:55.091-06:002010-03-20T13:19:55.091-06:00Normally I enjoy your posts, Frank, but this one, ...Normally I enjoy your posts, Frank, but this one, I couldn't get past your first paragraph?<br /><br />"NO" evidence? Hardly. No "empirical" evidence, sure, but such a sweeping claim of "no" evidence just puts you on the "other" side of those who claim certainty of proof. Anyone claiming certainty of knowledge on the issue of climate change is difficult to take seriously.<br /><br />In fact, one could reasonably make the argument there is, in fact, MORE evidence we are near a tipping point on climate change than their is evidence we are at a tipping point economically (being that economic prognosticating is reliant just as much on "hypothetical" model building as climate projections are... and there being more visible consensus in climate science fields than there ever has been or will be in economic fields of study).<br /><br />Your argument in the first paragraph is a classic example of what happens when we choose a philosophy, and then seek to back it up. Doing so then subjects each subsequent argument to a lack of credibility.Jason Thehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15518866228386927143noreply@blogger.com