How Badly Does Modern Collectivism Hurt You?

Posted by CircuitGuy 11 years, 5 months ago to Culture
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How bad is collectivism today? Clearly the US is not Galt's Gulch or Stalin's USSR. We're somewhere in between.

I'm writing down some negative ways collectivism could affect individuals, from most innocuous to worst.

A) Collectivism is an annoyance at present. I usually find good ways to work around it.
B) If it weren't for poor gov't policies and collectivism, we might have fantastical things like a cure for cancer, affordable space travel, robots than can do most human tasks.
C) Collectivism keeps me from my dreams. (e.g. “A union or affirmative action is keeping me for being promoted out of turn, and there are no other options for me to do the work I love.” “A personal passion of mine is illegal.” “I can't get funding for my organization because of a sweetheart network around gov't, financial institutions, and my industry.”)
D) One or more Gail Wynands, Ellsworth Tooheys, or Wesley Mouchs are out to sabotage my life and are having some impact on me. We all agree these types exist. This item says your name personally is on their “list” of enemies or people to sabotage.
E) My business or career is failing because of collectivism and poor gov't policy (e.g. regulation, taxes, monetary policy).
F) We are on the cusp of totalitarianism and/or severe economic collapse similar to in Atlas Shrugged.

This is not an exclusive list, just the first six things that came to mind.

I'm curious which of these things are happening to Gulch members. Is it we're at A and B and just mindful of preventing the more severe items? Or we over halfway through a real-life Atlas Shrugged?

Note: I expect it varies depending on location, industry, interests, experiences, etc. Also, it could be a mix, say A and F but not B-E; they don't necessarily happen in order.


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  • Posted by airfredd22 11 years, 5 months ago
    You are 100% correct in your analysis regarding Sarbanes-Oxley.

    Your post reminds me of the time former Senator McGovern of North Dakota after he retired and opened up a small Inn much like Bob Newhart's on TV. "I wish I had known more firsthand about the concerns and problems of American businesspeople while I was a U.S. senator and later a presidential nominee. That knowledge would have made me a better legislator and a more worthy aspirant to the White House." It should be required to be memorized by all elected officials.
    I would also remind you that despite the moochers who make life difficult for us, never blame others, look inward and figure out how to solve the problem.

    Fred Speckmann
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  • Posted by 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The most bizarre thing is at the bottom how many people say they prefer "socialism". Maybe that means the word doesn't have a clear meaning. If it means what I think it means, no private ownership of the means of production, I hope many fewer people would support it.
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  • Posted by j_IR1776wg 11 years, 5 months ago
    It's not just today, the Socialists have an ongoing program best summed up in Norman Thomas's quote "The American people would never knowingly vote for Socialism, but that under the name of liberalism, they would adopt every fragment of the socialist program.". This from Wiki at the following link.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of...

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  • Posted by LetsShrug 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Kathywiso owns her own restaurant...self employed... the gov regs/taxes/fees are sucking the life out of her. It's coming from ALL angles and the vise is getting tighter.
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  • Posted by 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    What does necrophilia have to do with Rand? What does any of it have to do with how collectivism and gov't have personally hurt people?
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  • Posted by $ rockymountainpirate 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I think you're exactly right on this. Most of us have no idea what wonderful things were stopped by the company not being able to raise capital unless we happen to know someone in that start up.
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  • Posted by ShruginArgentina 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    The link to the thread is in my comment. I started this thread expecting a lot of flack. I was not disappointed. Now you can see how I spend some of my time (on line) in Argentina. The user name of the member that said Boy Rand-fans appear to be necrophiliacs is ajoknoblauch. He clearly does not admire Rand ...or me.
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  • Posted by khalling 11 years, 5 months ago
    I choose all but the one about personal sabotage. But the problem I have with your survey is people often don't know that policies are negatively affecting them. For example, ask technology start up entrepreneurs if Sarbanes Oxley is affecting their ability to get funded. Most won't even know about the regulatory policy but it is most certainly affecting their ability to get funded. what potential opportunities or wealth have been lost due to government intervention or economic downturn? Most people do not calculate the hidden opportunity costs in such an exercise.
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