Humanities & Culture
PhilosophyBy RyanFaulk
2 months ago
Boycotting and War as regulation against abuse on a free market.
Boycott - a movement and/or agreement among individuals and/or institutions to not purchase or sell to a specific supplier or suppliers of a good or service. Example: boycotting the use of animal furs in clothing or chlorofluorocarbons in aerosol sprays.
Abuse - activity which incites a boycott.
War - use of force in an attempt to stop perceived abuse.
First, let us look at a firm. On a free market, accounting profit and economic profit tends toward zero. If a firm engages in any kind of abusive behavior (paying workers "below a living wage", environmental damage, physical assault against individuals, etc.), they will be boycotted by someone.
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World AffairsPolitics & OpinionsBy Eddie
3 months ago
Let’s convince everyone that unemployment is due to fat cat bankers stubbornly refusing to lend money to small business, and also that their deliberately excessive lending is what caused the financial crisis – that and the policies of the Bush Administration. That seems to be part of Obama’s economic strategy. They’ve succeeded in getting many people to think that “fat cat bankers” are the main problem:
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World AffairsPolitics & OpinionsBy Robehren
8 months ago
I have decided to take some time to cover the 28 principles outlined in W. Cleon Skousen’s book “The 5000 Year Leap”. The founders believed these principles to be necessary to establish and maintain the form of government that has made this country the greatest bastion of freedom in the world. In each post we will dissect one of the principles and apply it to problems faced by our country. I hope you will take the time to read “The 5000 Year Leap” and accompany me on this journey of exploration.
The fourteenth principle: The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free-market economy and a minimum of government regulations
O how far have we drifted from the intent of the founders…?
The United States was the first to try structuring an entire national economy on natural law and Adam Smith’s free-market concept. The concept called for the following:
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World AffairsPolitics & OpinionsBy jmalmberg
8 months ago
 Study after study shows that obesity is a problem here in the United States. And many a researcher has chosen to make junk food the villain. Recently, one mother in New York has been crusading to ban all junk food from schools and she wants to force parents to hand out permission slips and get the authorization of other parents before they can serve things like birthday cake. She is concerned because she comes from a family that has a problem with obesity. While I understand her concern, why is it up to everyone else to help her raise her family? MeMe Roth has been on a crusade to stop what she calls “special occasion” junk food. In an interview with the Guardian, she compared junk food to rape by saying, "The defense has been made in the case of sex criminals that there is pleasure on the part of the victim. The same is true with what we're doing with food. We may abuse our bodies with food, but it's incredibly pleasurable". As offensive as you may find her statement, she apparently believes it. In an interview that I saw with her on Good Morning America, the show pointed out that at the local YMCA she threw out all of the ice cream toppings from their free ice cream bar. Apparently, she thought that it posed too much of a temptation for her kids. But what about the kids of other people? |
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World AffairsPolitics & OpinionsBy Jonathan
10 months ago
I am a strong believer in the separation of church and state. There is little overlap between religion's interests and Uncle Sam's interests, and there is no reason to try to force an alignment of those interests.
Marriage is one of the few institutions that today straddles the line between being a civil matter and a religious matter. The sacrament of marriage has long been a cornerstone of virtually every religion. In addition to the historical precedent, there is also widespread strong attachment to the religious nature of marriage. The image of a wedding couple - with bride wearing a flowing white dress and veil - saying their vows before a congregation of their family and friends is much more powerful than the image of the couple signing a computerized form at the local registrar.
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World AffairsBusiness & FinanceBy InvestaMania
11 months ago
Here is another politics of finance post. Moving beyond the point that we need to regulate [through new regulation OR ENFORCEMENT of current regulations that failed].... The question is: Who's to blame for the current crisis? Or, is there even anyone to blame? If you're talking to a regular everyday person, they'll probably say it was the banks for making wrong bets and generating excessive risk and the mortgage lenders for making loans they knew people would eventually default on it. If you talk to someone from Wall Street, they'll say it was the homeowners who bought houses they could not afford. I think both of them are partly responsible for the mess; however, I believe that Wall Street and the financial institutions have a much bigger part of the blame. |
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World AffairsBusiness & FinanceBy InvestaMania
11 months ago
Regulation creates inefficiencies! Don't regulate the free markets! Don't interfere with innovation! Don't distort incentives!
I have to say that this is the biggest piece of bull I hear everywhere. From TV networks, to blogs to other respectable sources. [Even here at Blogger's Base]
RegulationSo, what's the point of regulation? Let us first start with a simple definition of financial regulation: Financial regulations are a form of regulation or supervision, which subjects financial institutions to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, aiming to maintain the integrity of the financial system. This may be handled by either a government or non-government organization. Source: Wiki
In general, the purpose of regulation is to create a check and balances system against human behavior. These behaviors can range from following misplaced incentives to falsifying accounting data to overtly legal but destructive actions such as putting people into loans they knew were likely to default. In general, regulation serves the purpose of protecting us against innate human behaviors that usually causes problems.
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