Galt's Gulch

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  • Posted by $ blarman 9 years, 11 months ago
    Want to eliminate poverty? Make sure that everyone has the opportunity to produce their own capital (labor) and retain the fruits of its employ. It's only when some think that they have claim to someone else's capital - be it property or labor - that problems arise.
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    • Posted by freedomforall 9 years, 11 months ago
      Retain the fruits of its employ... sounds like a call for a gold standard instead of fiat. There are few fruits retained when production is constantly plundered by a cartel of pirates.
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  • Posted by edweaver 9 years, 11 months ago
    The solution to poverty is a combination of 2 simple things. Getting government out of the way and getting to work.
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    • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 11 months ago
      If only it were that easy, Ed. There will always be those who want the easy way, the ability to short-cut the system. Big gov't fosters that ability with all the convoluted regulations/laws. Reducing gov't certainly will help, but cannot eliminate human nature.
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      • Posted by edweaver 9 years, 11 months ago
        But nature could take care of the lazy human problem if government was not there with a hand out. Work or don't eat, I think most will work. Some will steal and may land in prison or be shot entering someone's property. But I know what you mean. Nothing is ever as simple as it could be.
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        • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 11 months ago
          But even those who are capable of working will expend more energy to try to find a short-cut than actually work. There are just some people who are wired that way.
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  • Posted by CTYankee 9 years, 11 months ago
    Perhaps Russell Hasan will contact me. He lives in my state ("Peoples State of Connecticut"), and I am the current vice-chairman of the Libertarian Party of Connecticut. But I'm also a bit of a technophile and I'd like to discuss the realities of six-Sigma with him...
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    • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 11 months ago
      PM me. I'm also a LSS practitioner. I have my doubts as to the utility of LSS in gov't for the reasons that I mention in my reply elsewhere in this thread.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 11 months ago
    One of the few times I can agree with The Nazarene: "There will be poor among us always." As we have seen, many times over, spreading the wealth doesn't make everyone richer, it just makes everyone poorer.
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  • Posted by Bryan 9 years, 11 months ago
    The world will never see the end of poverty. As long as there is loot, there will be looters. This is one of many flaws in the essay. There are looters at both ends of the economic spectrum. As long as there are poor people willing to accept what is handed them instead of working honestly to produce what they want and need, there will be people at the other end willing, even eager, to take from those who produce , by law or by coercion, to give to those who will not.
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  • Posted by woodlema 9 years, 11 months ago
    Owning something is NOT what ends poverty. What ends poverty is not having a handout. When you either work or starve, THEN you will end poverty because hunger in itself is a VERY strong motivator to DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE.

    Before you say that will lead to stealing, not really, when the prisons should be transformed into work camps where the work in prison is 10x harder and less fruitful than finding or creating your own measure of product be it farming, welding, or something more.

    Risk vs. Reward solves that problem.
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    • Posted by jpellone 9 years, 11 months ago
      I guess you could say that I get a handout because I receive half of my base pay for retiring from the Navy after 20 years. I sometimes feel like I am mooching off of the government. I also feel that I gave my all so I deserve it but I am torn... I do have privileges that others don't... But on the other hand I also feel that I gave my life for the privileges I do have... I am dedicated to the US Constitution even after retirement. It is what I fought for and swore allegiance to against all enemies foreign and domestic. I feel I have a service to provide right now!!!!
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      • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 11 months ago
        As Fred says, that is not mooching. That is a contract that was honored between you and your nation. No shame in that. Had you decided to depart service at 19 yrs, 11 mo's, you would have gotten nothing, as per your contract. Had you had to give the ultimate sacrifice, your heirs would have gotten a small stipend and that's it, per the contract. Completing a contract and then expecting the other party to fulfill their part of the contract is nothing to be ashamed of. I just hope that you will continue to receive what is owed, and that it won't become worthless.
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        • Posted by jpellone 9 years, 11 months ago
          Thank You. I have heard something about losing our retirement or at least more of it. First, Clinton cut it in half and now I think O is going to cut it again!!!
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      • Posted by airfredd22 9 years, 11 months ago
        Re: jpellone,
        Sir, first of all it's impossible to mooch off the government, moochers mooch off taxpayers. You however are receiving delayed pay for serving your country which usually doesn't pay very well. Any man or woman that served their country for 20 years can never be fully repaid for their sacrifices. You deserve every penny you get unlike most government employees and certainly unlike most politicians.

        Fred Speckmann
        commonsenseforamericans@yahoo.com
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  • Posted by j_IR1776wg 9 years, 11 months ago
    His quote “Socialists believe that no one should own anything; libertarians believe that everyone should own something.” is no basis for ending poverty. The sole basis for ending poverty is through the collective allowing the individual to own completely what he produces.
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  • Posted by Lucky 9 years, 11 months ago
    A poorly presented case. It may make a good speech with the emotional appeals of the punch lines about ownership but it contains little logical reasoning.
    The theme has merit, I'd like to see it argued properly.
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    • Posted by Temlakos 9 years, 11 months ago
      I noticed this: it made a general statement you could make in one paragraph. This took up the whole essay. It said what was wrong with government intervention, but failed to show why non-intervention works.
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  • Posted by term2 9 years, 11 months ago
    The article was a bit of fluffery- didnt say much really. The impact of the leftist thinking is simply that the people who can produce have less motivation to produce if they only get to keep a part of what they work for. Its pretty simple. Its why in Venezuela there is oil in the ground but no one wants to bring it up
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  • Posted by Robbie53024 9 years, 11 months ago
    Interesting essay. As one who practices in the area of continuous improvement, and Lean Six Sigma in particular, I think that implementing this methodology within gov't is problematic. 1) unlike in most systems where you can identify the critical factors to manipulate, politics is an animal that doesn't "play by the rules." Thus, you often have situations where the motivations/objectives are unclear and even counter to all rational expectations (look at the Dems pulling all funding from ML in Louisiana and basically giving the seat up, would anyone have thought such a thing possible 6 months ago?). and 2) the culture of most of gov't is one of entitlement. That culture isn't one that easily adopts reasoned and rational controls that call for change.

    I think that the author is correct that libertarianism, and capitalism in particular, are the only answer to allowing the most people to do the best that they can. But LSS isn't a tool that will help to do that in a political environment.
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    • Posted by term2 9 years, 11 months ago
      I suppose that the real thing that helps to improve the lot of people is the increased motivation of the individuals in the culture to do more effective work. And they only do that if they are the ones who gain. So to apply SixSigma thinking to the government, you start by simply cutting it back, since government by its nature has degenerated into controlling people and taking their money.
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  • Posted by Temlakos 9 years, 11 months ago
    Socialists do not want to end poverty. Even the best-meaning ones seek only to help people cope with it.

    "While Communism could help men cope with poverty, it could never get men out of that poverty." - Will Durant.
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