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But I'm in Portland... The '90s never died here.
The place where young people go to retire.
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But I'm in Portland... The '90s never died here.
You guys should go try that somewhere on a small scale and get back to us in a few decades on how it went. My prediction is: Corporatocracy would reign in short order and "might" would "make right". I looked over the Libertarian platform you folks seem to be preaching from and frankly it looks like a chaotic disaster to me. A lot of it sounds great if you picture a mercantile economy of small shops and craftsmen but that's not reality now is it? I see nothing there at all that puts any brakes on monopoly and corporate abuse of power, you just gonna take them to court and claim they did you harm when they poison the air? You against their wheelbarrows of cash and phalanx of legal counsel... good luck with that. Much of the thinking seems routed in J.S. Mill's "harm" concept of liberty but even Mill recognized the difficultly of trying to put this into practice in any remotely pure form..... and he was writing a century and a half ago. Take a look at chapter 5 of "On Liberty" if you don't believe me.
You have no faith in your fellow man, you feel the government is the parent of the people. I know that when people realize that there is no free ride from the people that work for their money those freeriders will start working and will actually live better more fullfilling lives than they do now waiting around for the free crumbs from their government sponsored lives.
Socialism brings society down and does harm in the long run. The problem with people that think like you is they, you, think that people are worthless as a whole and you need the government as a parent to tell you what to do. I on the other hand know that humans are capable of great things and with proper values and a sense of responsibility humans are capable of doing the right thing. Socialism has destroyed values and responsibility, it is the problem not the answer
Isn't part of the profit motive to keep customers happy and provide good service?
Question: Why doesn't the USPS simply raise their rates to stay, at least, cost neutral? (for reference- <broken link removed> ) I think I know the answer, but would like to hear other opinions.
Where is the conscience of my postal carrier when he puts my box of checks in someone elses community mail box? Where is the conscience of the postal worker that I talk to on the phone about my mail getting wet every time it rains and their response is "I don't know if we own that and can't help you with your problem" with what I can only describe as a spacey and careless attitude? My neighbors and I regularly re-sort our mail, and nobody at the local P.O. seems to care much. Fed-Ex and UPS don't treat me nearly this bad. Anecdotal, or a microcosm?
I've had good and bad experiences with both USPS and UPS, think that's going off on a tangent anyhow.
What I was getting at is that when a corporation is faced with a choice between protecting the environment and making money... they will choose to make money. This is correct and proper behavior for a corporation. It is the job of the government to set the ground-rules for the conduct of business and in my opinion restricting pollutants is a legitimate exercise of that power.
LOL, what ground rules. Are you telling me sycophants like GE abide by the same rules as small businesses or other companies that refuse to pay-to-play? Here's an example of the government *not* giving a crap about the environment: have you noticed winter gas didn't kick in the last couple years? Big surprise, the EPA quietly removed the requirement because Obambi wants to get re-elected... can't have high gas prices get in the way. Oh they care sooooo much about the environment indeed.
By the way, corporations still have to deal with shareholders and customers who might object to environmental damage, unelected bureaucrats couldn't care less. The real reason the EPA exists is to use its illegitimate power to profit by peddling off the quotas to the highest bidder.
That's why I keep saying we need to reclaim our government and restore "rule of law".
I know you'd rather just kill it... I think that creates more problems than it solves.... We are just going to have to disagree on that.