Posted on 05/30/2004 2:10:00 AM PDT by Remember_Salamis
BUMP!
An in-depth look at corporatism and the right-left reality from a constitutional conservative's point of view.
I've been arguing this point for some time. The one area I disagree with the author though, is that for all of their nominal complaints about it, most of the Left has *embraced* corporatism.
Intriguingly, even on FR you can run into those who refuse to believe either what our economic system has become or where said system finds its origins...
ping
Socialism has never opposed capitalism but opposes, rather, the free market. K. Marx's book Capital is about the "proper" uses of capital and it's formation and control, not about whether it should exist or not. Free Capitalism might be a better term for the economic system that built America.
This covers most of the domestic ramifications. Carrying it further, explains a considerable amount of problems we have trying to impose it on the rest of the world. The biggest fly in the ointment will be the depression that comes following the complete corporatism of the state. Capital formation is still required to feed the corporation and state. When it ceases, as it appears now, the corporaton and state both fail.
Then support HR 25 and S 1493, AKA the FairTax Act. The FairTax is a national retail sales tax (NRST) that would replace the income tax and repeal the 16th amendment.
The passage of the FairTax would seriously cripple American Corporatism by denying the FEDERAL Government of manipulating businesses by manipulating the tax code. There will be no income tax, there will be no corporate tax, there be no capital gains tax, there will be no corporate welfare, there will be no estate tax, there will be no federal taxes other than a 23% sales tax applied to every retail good purchased. Businesses will no longer pay taxes, yet they will no longer recieve corporate welfare as a political favor.
Of course, we'll still have the problem of corporatism in the form of:
(1) the Federal Reserve
(2) State and Local Governments
(3) federal spending programs
But the most egregious form of American Corporatism: the manipulation of american business through a "penalty and rewards" system of taxation and subsidies.
If you have any questions, ask me or anyone else on the [*taxreform] ping list.
Interesting article. Thanks for posting it.
I keep hearing about this #$%$## "social contract". I never signed or agreed to any social contract. It was forced on me at gun point. And that is considered an unconscionable contract. The problem is, the one force that negates unconscionable contracts (the government) is the one that forced me into it.
I strongly recommend to all true conservatives, those who wish to "conserve" the constitution and capitalism, those who oppose to corporatism, to take the time to read "Atlas Shrugged."
And remember, "Atlas Shrugged" was published in 1957. You will be shocked at the uncaning resemblance to the novels story line and the headlines today.
read later
I haven't read it yet, but have studied most of the key points in it. It's on my summer reading list though.
Yep. Ted Turner. Big media. Hollywood. Law practice.
Wow, he is good.
There are essentially three economic views in the West: Corporatists/Statists, the anti-corporatist right, and the anti-corporatist left.
The anti-corporatist Left is basically unreformed Marxists. They still believe that distribution of capital and goods by the state is still feasible.
The Corporatists have their leftists and rightists, but fundamental views differ little between a Bill Clinton and a Richard Nixon.
We are the anti-corporate Right. We yearn for a pre-1913 (Fed. Reserve, 16th Amenddment, 17th Amendment, etc.) American economy. We've been losing, but not as bad as the Marxists. Most of us are putting our hopes into Fundamental Tax Reform (FTR), most recently the FairTax and it's accompanying legislation. The rest of us are rigid in our ideology, unwilling to take one step back to take three steps forward, or have given up and are waiting for the collapse.
I can't find an article written by locke since early 2003. He stopped writing for FrontPageMag.com in February 03 and VDare.com in March 03. He's probably just taking time off or something.
You're right, he is simply amazing in his analysis and knowledge base. Try reading Lowell Ponte over at FrontPAgeMag.com as well. He writes a little bit more powerfully, but doesn't have Locke's depth.
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James Burnham essentially said all this 60 years ago in his 'The Managerial Revolution'.
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