J. Stiglitz: The American Dream has become a myth

Skybird · 04-01-13, 06:11 PM

"The right to regulate the use of wealth in the public interest is universally admitted."

That is not the American Dream. That is communism. And it leads to social degeneration and cultural collapse, for it discourages everything that is of value and is noble and creative and proud and strong in man, and it motivates what is of laziness, apathy, parasitic greed and envy, anti-social nature, and denial of responsibility.

The American Dream is more about to grant protection of private property without allowing the majority vote to regulate how the private owner may or may not use that wealth of his, by that he is owner and master of what is his and he can use it the way he wants, voluntarily, as long as he does not use it in any way that limits the right of somebody else to own and use his property.

What that is all about? It is about freedom. The freedom to own what nobody else has claimed and thus is claimed first by yourself. The freedom to produce on the basis of this originally owned property. The freedom to trade either the original property or the newly produced goods by conditions bilaterally negotiated and agreed upon by the two partners, without any state interfering, and without any anonymous majority demanding to have a word in that. The freedom to be your own fate's creator.

That is the American dream. Public regulations of an ever growing bureaucracy, socialist redistribution in the name of the canaille and political opportunists, taking more and more rights of owners of something of value away and giving the majority the right to claim it for itself instead - that is freedom NOT, that is the American Dream NOT.

There are excesses by the ultra-rich, no doubt, and they did and do a lot of damage, absolutely. But that they are given the chance to run these excesses and to abuse society and the institutions of the state has different and much much more profound and basic reasons than just lacking regulation of wealth - and that there is a strong central state and government is one of these very reasons. What they do, is an abuse of freedom. Destroying freedom even more in order to reduce the abuse of freedom is like killing the patient in order to cure his disease.

04-01-13, 06:11 PM	#9
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 42,710 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	"The right to regulate the use of wealth in the public interest is universally admitted." That is not the American Dream. That is communism. And it leads to social degeneration and cultural collapse, for it discourages everything that is of value and is noble and creative and proud and strong in man, and it motivates what is of laziness, apathy, parasitic greed and envy, anti-social nature, and denial of responsibility. The American Dream is more about to grant protection of private property without allowing the majority vote to regulate how the private owner may or may not use that wealth of his, by that he is owner and master of what is his and he can use it the way he wants, voluntarily, as long as he does not use it in any way that limits the right of somebody else to own and use his property. What that is all about? It is about freedom. The freedom to own what nobody else has claimed and thus is claimed first by yourself. The freedom to produce on the basis of this originally owned property. The freedom to trade either the original property or the newly produced goods by conditions bilaterally negotiated and agreed upon by the two partners, without any state interfering, and without any anonymous majority demanding to have a word in that. The freedom to be your own fate's creator. That is the American dream. Public regulations of an ever growing bureaucracy, socialist redistribution in the name of the canaille and political opportunists, taking more and more rights of owners of something of value away and giving the majority the right to claim it for itself instead - that is freedom NOT, that is the American Dream NOT. There are excesses by the ultra-rich, no doubt, and they did and do a lot of damage, absolutely. But that they are given the chance to run these excesses and to abuse society and the institutions of the state has different and much much more profound and basic reasons than just lacking regulation of wealth - and that there is a strong central state and government is one of these very reasons. What they do, is an abuse of freedom. Destroying freedom even more in order to reduce the abuse of freedom is like killing the patient in order to cure his disease. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.