World Economic Forum

It did, but then he had to backpedal. I asked how capitalism prevents drug dealing and he told me to google. Not only does capitalism not prevent drug dealing, it encourages it. Lot's of money to be made there. Drug dealers are very good capitalists.

 

Gotta agree with you here. The black market is absolutely capitalism. The problem is half the stuff in it shouldn't be.

 

it isn't just rent. house prices. but then figure out the cost to replace and the numbers sort of make sense. construction costs coupled with land prices and impact fee increases add up on that cost to replace number.

 

Sure - I was just suggesting that impacts more people in the low wage earning demo, as high earners are more likely to be in a home already.

 

Hedge Funds want water rights and are acquiring them at a disturbing rate when they purchase agricultural land with grandfathered rights to water.

 

I see the Pubs have a new "boogie man"

 

A common Boogeyman is what's missing.

Sadly, we can't even agree on something as simple as Russia invading Europe as something to rally around.

 

Not sure a common enemy is a great organizing principle for a healthy society

 

That would incorrectly assume that all people with money are power hungry and abuse their status as wealthy people.

 

If you think that, then cry more I guess. Because nothing is going to stop the "bad" wealthy people if you want to give all wealthy people as a class the benefit of the doubt about their intentions. As I said earlier, its just howling into the wind. Get a hobby or something, it will be a more productive use of your time.

 

You like inventing strawman scenarios...

 

Hard disagree there. It's worked well for this country up til recently.

I suppose it's how you want to define healthy - which I'm guessing is your point. Does it make an idyllic society? No. Does it keep a factious society from tearing at each other's throats and instead finding commonality? Yes.

I'd take the latter right now

 

In what case has it 'worked well?' Anti-communism? The war on terror? I would say those things took us to some dark places, ruined and destroyed lives, stacked up bodies and are largely responsible for where we are at today. While we can say WWII was a necessary war, I'm not sure it was all that healthy for the nation, especially the manner in which we won - emphatically, untouched and with a weapon that could destroy the world. Whenever you have a common enemy, the state and citizens are always on the lookout for the enemy within, that is inevitable. Even WWII resulted in Japanese Americans in internment camps after all.

 

Yes. I'm well aware of our country's history; the good, the bad, and the ugly.

To me, the balance sheet has us listed as the good guys. You may disagree, and that's fine, but a common enemy has helped shape us and keep us as a nation. I'm not sure how long we'll last as a nation if we're our own enemy. It's contrary to the very definition.

 

If we need enemies to exist and thrive as a nation, we shouldn't exist as a nation. Seems like the things that bind as together should be affinities and common experience, not animus towards some other. As I said before, animus always results in the chickens coming home to roost, whether its McCarthism, the Patriot Act, militarized police beating protesters, you name it. Fascism is just around the corner, the Nazis had a great common enemy as a national unifying force after all.

 

That's a tall order for most any state on the globe.

What do you suggest we use as glue?

 

National unity isnt a preoccupation of mine (and I'm deeply suspicious of the people who pine for such a mythical thing), so I haven't given it much thought. If there arent any commonalities we have as Americans or a belief in the basic tenets of the American Revolution that hold us together, I don't think we need to cook up an enemy to fight wars with or to conjure some kind of jingoistic nationalism that will almost certainly have a militaristic, violent fervor. Its probably better for us and the world that we disagree and are indecisive about who to kill or hate, so we dont do anything about it.

 

Thankfully Biden corrected all of that.