Ahead of the Davos economic summit this week in Switzerland, the UK based anti-poverty charity ‘Oxfam’ has published their perfunctory call to legislative arms. Citing income inequality, the group has called for globalized taxes, maximum wage laws and regulation of shareholder profits.
At the heart of their plea is the claim that “80% of the world’s wealth goes to the top 1% while the bottom half gets nothing.” This is being intellectually dishonest, as it ignores two basic items: the standards of living and the economic activity created by the accumulation of wealth. The ‘poor’ in first world countries are fed, live in well-built homes, have televisions and cell phones. The sustenance farmer in India and Nigeria has gone from living in mud huts to frame houses and purchasing consumer goods. Furthermore, wealth accumulated by the 1% is not hoarded in a giant vault a la Scrooge McDuck, it is invested in jobs, production, and modernization.
Capitalism is currently most effective means of creating economic justice and has brought more people out of poverty worldwide than all government programs combined. You won’t hear this from some supposed leaders or the press, you see; as they know people can be easily manipulated through the politics of fear and mistrust. Is it optimal that some billionaire businessman pulled in more profit than your entire state? No. Is it useless or ill-gotten gains? Also, no.
People are introduced to this falsehood from a young age because it wins votes. It feeds into our mistrust of wealth and power while satiating our emotional perceptions of fairness. In a recent poll, the American public believes companies pull in 36% profit on a yearly basis. It is actually closer to 6%. Typical progressive bugaboos, such as WalMart and Exxon-Mobil, have even thinner margins.
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The current decay of Western Europe is a direct result of the welfare state – and things are getting much worse quickly thanks to the Islamic invasion. This idea that there is an inexhaustible supply of “wealth created by government” is about as destructive an idea as possible. Government doesn’t create wealth, it moves it around for political purposes.
That’s the Soviet line: Western Europe — allies of the US — is decaying and suffering from an invasion that justifies restricting freedom, closing borders and acting like Communists who control their citizenry and reduce their freedoms accordingly. This information attack is designed to weaken the West, and is supported by planted, divisive fake news.
BTW, government does create wealth. It generates rights, such as rights to property, that generate wealth. Absent property rights much wealth is illusory and quickly disappears. The New Property, from the Yale Law Journal in 1964, by Charles Reich, began a revolution of prosperity in the Western world by making clear there are elements of previously unrecognized property rights that government could — and did — create through legislation and recognition.
I wonder, it this the Soviet line? You seem to be stuck on it so how about this from a German father:
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I am one of them. A concerned citizen. Now go ahead, ridicule me.
Thilo Schneider
I have a 19-year-old daughter. She is, in my opinion, a pretty and ambitious girl, funny and sensitive. Back then, 36 months ago, I did not care if she went to town or to a club, on her own or with a friend. I thought it was cool when she and her girlfriends took the train to visit other major German towns, maybe party. She is young, full of life, it is her bloody right to explore the world.
These times are over. I am worried. I have lost faith in the state protecting her and her girlfriends when I’m not there. I lost trust that the people she will meet will respect her dignity and her integrity. I am worried for her. I don’t want to constrain her, but I lose sleep when she’s not home. We did not read for her at bedtime, and we did not do math homework with her, so that some asshole from some weird country gropes her because, in his eyes, she is an “unbeliever slut” and “worthless”. And I don’t trust that anyone will help her if she is in duress. After all, she is “only” a “German”.
I am aware that there are also filthy pigs among those “who have been living here for a bit longer” [Merkel’s recent expression to avoid the word “Germans”], who can’t keep their hands off others, but in my opinion, this is not an argument to invite people in, sort of as a “compensation”, who have a – let’s say “conservative” – view of women, and where our state isn’t even interested in who they are, how old they are, and what they are up to.
I am sorry that she can’t grow up in the same free country that I grew up in. I am sorry that she can’t go to a swimming pool without taking care, without constantly being on the lookout for whether trouble is imminent, and without keeping “an arm’s length distance”. As if anyone whose entrance ticket I subsidize with my tax money would care. Thank you to those who opened the flood gates without examining who is coming in. I imagine that neither I, nor my children deserved this.
Perfect target for “the new arrivals”
My son was beaten up by Russians. Just because. Because they could. He did not fight back, to prevent worse. He was right. There is no point in resisting. Our children were not raised in, and for, violence. This makes them, when the state fails, perfect targets for the “new arrivals”. The “integration industry”, which battens itself at the public trough, does not even watch in indifference. They watch as appeasers, insulting and downplaying, spitting on the victims of the collateral damage of their protégés who allegedly “seek refuge”.
We spend Christmas behind concrete barriers, the controls at concerts are stricter than at the airport. And, yes: some districts with predominantly newly arrived inhabitants are now filthy and dirty and not a good place to live. Because it is the people living there who lack any consideration and respect for other people’s property, because they have completely different challenges and desires.
They have no obligation to the greater common good outside their own family and clan. And those zones are under the rule of the relevant clans. And they behave accordingly. They hate me, and the country that reached out to them when they were in need. They still like to take our monthly welfare cheques.
And I am getting older and wondering where I can find affordable living, where I won’t have to dwell under threat for life and limb. Yes, I am concerned. I am a concerned citizen. Now go ahead and ridicule me.
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It wasn’t the Soviets that opened up Western Europe to invasion. It was the leadership of the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, etc all aided by the EU. The Russians ought to be scared to death of what is happening because there are a lot of nuclear weapons in the EU countries, and if they fall into the hands of the muslim invaders, Russia will be among the first to experience fire and fury. At this point, only the Visagrad countries stand between the disaster that is Western Europe and the Russian people.
Russians fear open borders like those between the states in the US. Schenghen agreement is an example of movement towards a federalization of Europe.
You cannot condemn the federalization of Europe without simultaneously arguing the US states would benefit from closing borders to one another, and that is absurd.
You serve the Soviet interest when you parrot their fake news claims of discord in the West. Sweden is a clear example and you have specifically repeated fake news Soviet claims about Sweden.
It’s a shame you are so gullible. Did you ever get the AR-15 you coughed up cash for on the promise you’d get it to deal with HRC? Where’s that earthquake you were predicting?
I noticed you totally ignored the concern expressed by the German father that his country was no longer recognizable and you clumsily tried to switch subjects. I guess the over 1,000 women sexually assaulted on New Year’s Eve 2015 was the result of Russian propaganda too, right?
Why would I address an anecdotal report translated loosely from an unverified source? Besides, I take it on faith that there are plenty of right-wing xeonphobes in Germany who share the viewpoint of Warmac9999.
I trust almost nothing from Warmac999. He often parrots Soviet disinformation. He claims he felt he needed an AR-15 to deal with HRC, then gave cash to people who apparently ripped him off. He’s been predicting an earthquake that never happened, an unrealized market crash for retailer Target that he claims forced perversion upon him. We could go on a long list here of reasons he has no credibility whatsoever, but that’s all in the eye of the beholder.
He reprints other people’s words without permission, even passing them off as his own without acknowledging the source: This one was lifted from the Gates of Vienna without attribution. He took another post from The Guardian and used the words as if they were his own.
Do I think he does these things maliciously? Actually, no. I simply choose not to give much if any credit to what he offers here.
Oh. So you are saying that the New Year’s Eve Mass Grab Ass did not take place?
I’m surprised you want to raise the topic of pussy grabbing, but it’s a bit besides the point. I don’t think immigrants have any sort of monopoly on groping and grabbing. Why our Commander-in-Chief boasted about this during the campaign.
I am not wasting any more time with you..
Excellent. The readers of this site benefit from your wise decision. Still, I had hoped for more from you, something substantial, something more than grab ass and anecdotal stories from Germans that we could match one for one.
A very wise response.
You are dealing with a provocateur. He is not interested in a debate just the opportunity to annoy. If you look at his comments here, most take a slice of a larger comment out of context. He tries to use logic to prop up the illogical, and reason to prop up irrationality. There is no opportunity to debate because debate is not desired.
I assume you were staring in the mirror while typing this.
Yes I did – and saw that you have two left feet. Must be tough getting a pair of shoes. A few years ago, there was a store in NOVA specifically for lefties. It went out of business. Who knows? Maybe it is back somewhere. Try one of those pussy hatters, or is it haters, they probably can help you.
it wasn’t just ass grabbing, it was violent physical and sexual assault on young women by a large group of muslims. The police in Cologne were totally unprepared for it and didn’t really know the scope of the problem until a week later when women in large numbers started reporting their experiences. Olson tries to diminish the situation, and that is really part of his game. He leaves out the fact that such mass assault is not only condoned by islam but encouraged because the “infidel women” were not modestly dressed in a full Burka.
Also: The piece from Gates of Vienna:
http://gatesofvienna.net/category/domestic-terrorism/
Traces to a Russian blog named after the original name of Vlad the Impaler:
https://vladtepesblog.com/
And that blog carries the typical Russian view that immigration and the free movement of people is ruining Europe and the world, which was my point in the first place: No credibility, parrots the Soviet line that freedom leads to trouble and only firm borders preserve national identity.
Think we should erect borders between American states? Vlad Tepes Blog is for you!
Wy bother with facts. They are just so constraining.
Leading member of far-right AfD in Brandenburg converts to Islam
24 January 2018
The Alternative for Germany is known for its mantra that “Islam doesn’t belong in Germany.” Now a senior member of the party in Brandenburg has caused a mini-sensation by converting to Islam.
Arthur Wagner, who until recently sat on the AfD state legislative committee in Brandenburg, told Tagesspiegel that his conversion to Islam was “a private matter”, refusing to comment further.
The conversion seems particularly peculiar, since only last summer Wagner was accusing Angela Merkel of making a “huge mistake” by opening Germany’s borders to refugees.
“Germany is mutating into a different country,” he said at the time, according to Tagesspiegel.
At the same time, Wagner is known in his hometown of Falkensee for being engaged in voluntary work to help refugees integrate into German society.
In line with the stance taken by the AfD across Germany, the party in Brandenburg claims that the spread of Islam in Germany poses a danger to societal peace.
On its homepage, the AfD Brandenburg writes that “Islam doesn’t belong in Germany. We see the ideology of multiculturalism as a serious threat to societal peace and cultural unity.”
On the record though, the party is saying that it has no problem with the fact that Wagner has become a Muslim.
“Religion is a private issue. We believe in religious freedom as stated in the constitution,” party spokesperson, Daniel Friese, told the Berliner Zeitung.
However, the party also confirmed that Wagner was no longer a member of the executive committee.
According to Friese, Wagner recently stepped down from the committee “for personal reasons.”
https://www.thelocal.de/20180124/leading-member-of-far-right-afd-in-brandenburg-converts-to-islam
Facts constraining? There has been no deliberate mis-correlation of Europe’s history with that of America. Has little to do with history and everything to do with the economic and political value of freedom. Yes, the free movement of people and goods is a powerful force that propels commerce and policy. Shame on you for suggesting freedom’s price is too high to pay. It is a shameful position for a so-called conservative.
Mark: Your will notice a constant reference to you being part of a Russian plot. I happened to hear about 5 minutes of Hannity today and he discussed the fact that he was getting similar Russian messages accusing him of being a Russian supporter. Apparently, this entire Russia, Russia, Russia story used by Olson is really part of the left wing trying to create a story out of nothing. Not just fake news but fake opinion.
Fantasy. Did I ever reference Jawsz as parroting the Russian information campaign to divide and conquer the West? Of course not. I write Russia, Russia when you write bad things about our allies and their work to federalize and promote freedom of movement, goods and people.
And here is a German woman who is a model and journalist. Obviously, she is a Russian plant:
“Interview with a German journalist: ‘Like many other women in Germany, I no longer feel safe,’” Voice of Europe, January 24, 2018:
We interviewed German journalist and model Anabel Schunke. She studied political science and history and is one of Germany’s most well-known criticasters of the country’s migration policy. This interview is part one of two. Anabel is active on Twitter and Facebook
How did the admission of so many migrants change your country?
Germany is no longer the same country compared with before 2015. There’s now only one topic: The migration crisis. Of course this is also connected with the discussion about Islam and its “excesses” that we have been experiencing for years in this country through Muslim migrants and those that will come in the future.
This leads to a fatal consequence: We are no longer talking about topics appropriate for a civilised Western society. For example, I’m watching the news and see a report on China and the latest technical and digital innovations which they want to compete with Silicon Valley, and so on.
Meanwhile, in Germany we are discussing wearing headscarves, banning pork in canteens, and Islamic studies in schools. We are clearly missing out on the connection to the top of the world and let us drag ourselves from the migration of mostly deeply backward Islamic countries into the abyss. This should not be allowed by a country whose resources are education, German diligence, recognition abroad and the technical innovations of companies like Siemens.
For Germany, migration is an absolute “backward business”. It divides the country; it shifts the social discourse of the future into the medieval past. The question is no longer: How do we want to live here as Germans in the future and defend our position in the world, but how can we make it as comfortable as possible for Muslims in the name of tolerance? Not to mention the daily attacks, the increase of violent and sexual offenses.
According to German media there were fewer women on the streets of Hamburg during NYE. Is that an effect of migrant (sex) crimes?
Of course, that is an immediate effect of the massive increase in sexual offenses against German women. You know, after each terrorist attack, a mantra is repeated that we will not let our way of life be taken away from us, that we should not be afraid.
The truth is that the majority of the population does not want to admit that they are afraid and that they don’t do certain things out of fear. The fear of being called a racist is still greater than admitting that you are avoiding these people and certain events.
It’s the same with terror and the massive sexual assaults since 2015 by migrants. You read the news and, especially for us women, the many reports about violent and sexual offenses have a certain influence. More and more women have unpleasant experiences with male migrants. You have to imagine that, according to statistics, of the over 1.5 million migrants 80% are men. During a walk in the city, it doesn’t matter where or when, you will encounter them.
The effects of immigration are now shaping many cityscapes. Almost every woman now experiences how different the looks at them are and the feelings that result from it. It’s like being a piece of cattle.
In addition, there are actual attacks. Of course, there have always been rapes in every country, but the quality and quantity of the attacks have changed completely. It makes no difference to the victim whether she is raped at home by an acquaintance or in public in broad daylight by a migrant stranger, but for society and women’s overall thinking in this country, it has its effects.
There are no more “safe spaces”. It can happen to you anytime, anywhere, even if you celebrate New Year’s Eve in a large group. The risk of becoming a victim of a sexual offense has become too big and many women have simply withdrawn from public space in order to avoid these risky situations….
It is cruel to see how women keep silent and are unnoticed by the majority of society, while much of the media attention disappears as well. It is in a weakened form what happened in many Islamic countries after the revitalization of conservative Islam.
The woman becomes invisible. Cologne was the point at which I became really aware of what this particular kind of immigration means, especially for us women, but also for society as a whole. I mean, apart from sexual assaults on women, there was a situation in which the state totally lost control in Cologne for hours….
You have it absolutely backwards when it comes to rights. The Bill of Rights was for men, not for government. The founders did everything they could to limit government interference in the lives of men – that is why the rule of law is so important. Obviously, you believe they have failed.
Wrong. An example: Without government, there is no copyright, patents, trademarks. Govt is empowered to give them or take them. Govt maintenance of copyright, patents, trademarks creates wealth and unquestionably so.
Likewise govt manages professional certification. Without question the extension of a medical or law license generates wealth for the recipient and society generally.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.
Just one example of my point: Article I Section 8. Clause 8 – Patent and Copyright Clause of the Constitution.
[The Congress shall have power] “To promote the progress of science and
useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the
exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.”
This creates value where otherwise there is none. Plenty of additional examples that disprove your false claim.
No, government doesn’t create wealth..not trying to be argumentative, but it’s true. Property is what you earn with work or treasure. Creating things to sell as property. People create wealth. People are in government yet government is not the people. Government has proven time and time again to be an encapsulation of elitism and meddling self importance that, despite its best intentions, fails to serve the best interest of the people.
It seems you are unfamiliar with intellectual property, a creature uniquely the province of government, which along decides how to allocate rewards for copyrights, patents and trademarks.
Our US Consitution vests in our Congress exclusively the right to make or take away intellectual property rights, a key element in our economy today.
There are other examples, such as professional certificates, which themselves become a kind of property. Doubt that? If you have a law or medical degree, watch its value get divided if ever you are divorced.
A good reference:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/794645
That’s a link to The Yale Law Journal article “The New Property” by Charles Reich.
Yet the left cannot appreciate this argument. To them you cannot create wealth without government.