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 Hiraghm 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Suddenly I have a picture of this tourist from Iowa on a cruise ship somewhere off the coast of Madagascar grabbing the tiller and criticizing the pilot's navigational skills...
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  • Posted by Boborobdos 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Please be specific about how Obamacare has impacted any business except to show what a rip off some policies were.
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  • Posted by Boborobdos 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I don't work for the government.

    "local taxes on business (which often happen overnight and cannot be budgeted for)"

    Really???? Can you give us one example?
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  • Posted by khalling 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    the cost to comply with the Health Department, Alcohol Authorities, local taxes on business (which often happen overnight and cannot be budgeted for), OSHA requirements, EPA requirements, unemployment taxes, 8 or more different insurances, for starters. Under such burdens, people walk away from their businesses more and more frequently today. let's not get started on Obabmacare....
    bobo do you work for the government? are you here to help us? lol
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  • Posted by khalling 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    SOX is about making criminals out of decent business people. Compliance to the government for a company wanting to go public should not cost the company 50M. period. That is not capitalism and it is killing industries and jobs. SOX creates nothing, except wealth transfer to accountants and allows the Fed to pick and choose winners in the economy.
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  • Posted by $ Hiraghm 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Clue: Religious organizations have a much better record of educating children than has the Dept of Education. Some of the worlds greatest scientists and philosophers were deeply religious.

    Clue: Abstinence works everywhere it's tried.
    Clue: So you say.
    Clue: the ultimate minority is the individual. Forcing the diverse individuals who came to the U.S. to accept its anglo-saxon value system (in particular those aspects of an objectivist nature) did make the nation strong.
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  • Posted by $ Hiraghm 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It worked out swell for the *communists*.

    Nice try, but communism was never, ever related to any nation. I warned when the Soviet Onion fell that the communists would simply find another sanctuary. It turns out that sanctuary was already prepared for them... in Washington DC.
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  • Posted by Hiraghm 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    No it doesn't. O'Brien wasn't speaking of Big Brother as an individual (who doesn't exist).
    We haven't had a President outside the progressive power structure since Reagan.
    Before him, you have to go back to Calvin Coolidge.
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  • Posted by Boborobdos 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Tells please...

    What can't you do this week you weren't able to do last week? The week before? A year ago? Ten years ago?
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  • Posted by Boborobdos 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Religious organizations have been doing that for a long time.
    Clue: Abstinence doesn't work.
    Clue: The world is more than 6,000 years old.
    Clue: Bashing different minorities isn't the melting pot that made America strong.
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  • Posted by Boborobdos 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Let's see... She has to keep her place clean. She has to keep up with taxes. She has to keep her place safe.

    Just what is a specific impediment? Please give us a concrete example.
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  • Posted by Boborobdos 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    "Give it a few years and it will be government health care..."

    As opposed to corporate care administered through corporations...

    Quite frankly after watching Kodak deny their retired folks health care I don't trust corporations anymore.
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  • Posted by Hiraghm 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    No, it can put those convicted of violating the given law in jail. Not the same thing
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  • Posted by Hiraghm 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    On the History channel I caught a little bit of a ridiculous documentary on Caesar's execution, and the idiots asserted that the cause of his execution might have been jealousy over his public popularity on the part of the aristocracy that ruled Rome for 5 centuries... except that totally ignores the history of Rome's first five centuries, and excuses Caesar's excesses, violation of Roman law, and attempted grab at total power.
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  • Posted by $ Hiraghm 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Reread the thread; I'm claiming nothing. I asked two questions you failed to answer.

    You have not defined "cheating", nor have you defined "honestly raised".

    Until you do so, you're arguments have no basis.

    Laws and rules have *nothing* to do with honesty. See the tobacco sign quote above. The sign pretends that legality is more significant than morality.
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  • Posted by Boborobdos 11 years, 5 months ago in reply to this comment.
    So, let's get back to why does the new law that holds those accountable discourage investment?
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