Galt's Gulch
12

Free Gulliver, by Robert Gore

Posted by straightlinelogic 7 years, 11 months ago to Government
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It’s claimed that true innovation is dead, except for innovation directed by bureaucrats and funded by governments. Or there’s going to be so much innovation—automation and artificial intelligence—that there’ll be no work left for humans to do. Then government will have to confiscate the increased wealth flowing from those innovations and dole it out to the unemployed legions. Or soon it will take more energy to produce fossils fuels than the energy derived, so government must push us towards its chosen alternative energies. You get the idea: humanity faces a grim future and only governments can make it less grim.

This is an excerpt. For the complete article, please click the above link.
SOURCE URL: https://straightlinelogic.com/2017/01/27/free-gulliver-by-robert-gore/

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  • Posted by dbhalling 7 years, 10 months ago
    Unfortunately, I fear any good Trump does, will easily be undone. For instance, Reagan cut regulations but he did not repeal the source of those regulations. This implicitly accepts the philosophical basis for the regulations and therefore any relief is temporary.

    Conservatives are not for free markets (cutting strings) they just want to make government work more efficiently
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  • Posted by chad 7 years, 10 months ago
    Well said Robert. I fear that we are at such a point where if even a few of the strings are cut there will be many more added. Trump has stated that he wants to cut 75% of the regulations and as you stated much closer to 100% need to be cut. However the Lilliputians are busy tying on more and have no intention of listening to their boss. They only way Trump might be able to cut them would be to eliminate the bureau entirely. Call the head of one of the alphabet (DEA, Dept of Energy, Dept of Education; etc.) and tell him that his office is closed, his people fired and that GAO has put up their buildings for sale. Anything short of that will result in nothing but resistance and Trumps attempts will be futile.
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  • Posted by Seer 7 years, 11 months ago
    I read your article, Robert, and as usual it is excellent and thought-provoking. About 8 years ago I was asked if I thought any government agency had ever come up with innovative ideas (because I had said big government, especially in a Socialist economic system, stifles creativity), so I thought long and hard and finally came up with a couple: Tang and teflon.
    And those were only by-products!
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    • Posted by chad 7 years, 10 months ago
      I don't think the government invented either of those, they indicated they needed something and someone else invented it and supplied them.
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      • Posted by Seer 7 years, 10 months ago
        I think you're probably right, chad. No government bureaucratic "worker" could come up with either Tang or teflon.
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  • Posted by lrshultis 7 years, 10 months ago
    What increased wealth? Just turning out more stuff cheaper without a market for it does not make it wealth. It is only wealth to those who consider it to have relative value. It is not wealth to those who can not buy it. There is no need for government to step in. If it gets out of the way, those who are no longer needed in an industry can create other work or be hired by other industries. If all work was automated with machines creating everything including themselves and their jobs with, of course, the directive to supply all human needs, including all medical services, then it would have to occur with the goal of maximum leisure for everyone. Little likelihood of that happening without leaving the ability to get more than your neighbor.
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 7 years, 10 months ago
    When government being considered as a religion was touched upon in the article, half Scandinavian me dino thought, "Aha! We have Loki! We need Odin back."
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  • Posted by Seer 7 years, 11 months ago
    I have yet to read your newest article, Robert. But I wanted to post this while it was still fresh in my mind (those horrid senior moments, you knw):

    I think Swift was familiar with Bible passages, because he wrote this chapter on "tying down the strong man".
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