What is the greatest economic system? A fight to the... unsatisfying stalemate where no minds are changed.
...The forum does better with an area to discuss politics for the same reason a city does better with a sewer.
And tysmith, thank you; your example of thinking about what pros/cons exist with both sides' approaches is the type of eyes-wide-open thinking we need. I call the BS flag on those tho think privatized services are intrinsically more free from corruption and I also call the BS flag on those complacent about performance of existing public services/systems. The concept of "we need good, competent managers" is an apolitical concept.
And tysmith, thank you; your example of thinking about what pros/cons exist with both sides' approaches is the type of eyes-wide-open thinking we need. I call the BS flag on those tho think privatized services are intrinsically more free from corruption and I also call the BS flag on those complacent about performance of existing public services/systems. The concept of "we need good, competent managers" is an apolitical concept.
Every political and economic action we take, either as individuals or as a society, is ultimately a matter of trade offs. If we all keep this in mind when debating our ideas, things should (hopefully) be less acrimonious.
The internet and cable news has made confirmation bias worse. Too many news organizations, and most politicians for that matter, tell people what they want to hear without having any real conversations.
The US public is also very bad at discerning what is reliable information. It doesn't help that the major news organizations are losing some of their credibility by trying to compete with social media and blogs by giving out information as fast as possible. But I think too many people are seeking out the information that they want to hear rather then actually understanding and coming to independent conclusions about regarding the issues.
The internet has eroded the barrier to entry for the media. As a result extremely biased sources (brietbart) have gained prominence. You could also talk about social media, but I won't even go into that. It doesn't help that the president has a loose association with the truth and dumbs down issues to their lowest common denominator with the public.
“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered.”
Our nation has a 20+Trillion dollar national Debt
Federal Govt runs a 735 Billion dollar budget deficit
Unfunded Liabs are at least 115+Trillion owed to seniors.
The United States Govt is the #1 Employer in our country.
You call this FREEDOM?
If somebody threatens this machine you will be taken out.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
This is not a free country anymore. You have limited choices with unlimited
bureaucracies.
Take a ride through this country----and you will see a different America.
Most parts are very Poor.
America is turning into a 3rd world nation. (income inequality)
The internet and cable news has made confirmation bias worse. Too many news organizations, and most politicians for that matter, tell people what they want to hear without having any real conversations.
The US public is also very bad at discerning what is reliable information. It doesn't help that the major news organizations are losing some of their credibility by trying to compete with social media and blogs by giving out information as fast as possible. But I think too many people are seeking out the information that they want to hear rather then actually understanding and coming to independent conclusions about regarding the issues.
The internet has eroded the barrier to entry for the media. As a result extremely biased sources (brietbart) have gained prominence. You could also talk about social media, but I won't even go into that. It doesn't help that the president has a loose association with the truth and dumbs down issues to their lowest common denominator with the public.
Your post is unrelated to what I wrote and is a not well though out alarmist rant that you've continuously repeated over and over again on this site.
You can have an educated talk about capitalism, privatization versus government run services, and what the extend of government regulation or control should be. Or you can continue to rant about DEBT.
The government is the biggest employer in basically every country. Now here's a graph of the percentage of public sector employment among wealthy countries, that might be an interesting discussion to have. I'm not sure how they classify government contractors or employers like Keolis, i'm assuming that it would be considered private sector but that's a blurry line.
I disagree with the particulars of your post, though less so with the broad presmise. I’d say that the lowered barriers to entry are not as much of a problem as some would suggest, and that we had many of these same issues with bias in earlier eras, but there were so fewer sources that the bias was harder to detect. I’d actually say that the situation is similar to how je news is always full of stories about crime, even as crime rates fall. Similarly, the more media we consume, the more aware we are of its biases, but they’ve always been there.
Since you said the Internet has eroded the barrier I just wanted to state the overall data points for where I get my factual information.
If you notice the media never talks about America debt situation. I actually believe NYC took down the billboard with the National Debt figures.
Money controls and drives most families lives and determines everything on why people get up in the morning, feed their families.
look at the data I just posted. I know the private sector doesn't run their companies like this or they would be bankrupt and out of business.
Of course US politics were less polarized from WW2 until the 21st century. We were in the Cold War. There was just as much vitriol and hatred, but it was not neatly organized along party lines. I ask if you’d take the hyper partisanship of today over the 1960s and all of the assassinations that went with that decade.