The Obsolete New York Model. Where a tax-eating majority votes itself a permanent income

City Journal ^ | July 16, 2009 | Myron Magnet

[Tolik]

Long, but very interesting!

This ping list is not author-specific for articles I'd like to share. Some for the perfect moral clarity, some for provocative thoughts; or simply interesting articles I'd hate to miss myself. (I don't have to agree with the author all 100% to feel the need to share an article.)

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[US Navy Vet]

Robert Moses was the one directly responsible for driving Walter O’Malley and the Brooklyn Dodgers from Flatbush. Robert Moses wanted (and got) Shea Stadium built in Queens. O’Malley finally in 1956 had had enough flipped off NYC and moved BOTH the Dodgers AND convinced the NY Giants owner to move west as well. SO NYC blame Moses and NOT O’Malley for the loss of 2 MLB teams. NYC is just as stupid as LA was for loosing 2 NFL teams.

[bestintxas]

There is no sanctity for public employees’ pensions just like there is no sanctity for my own Social Security.

The private sector is getting screwed royally.

The basis for government pensions needs review:

Let’s throw them in with Social Security so they will be equally protected.

[screaminsunshine]

To sum it all up. Simple. More taxtakers are voting than taxpayers. The cannibals will drain every last nickle out of the remaining capitalists. After that...Cuban style Comminism. Ain’t it grand.

[Alberta's Child]

Very interesting article, but I do take issue with one key point here:

A state of affairs so opposed to the Founders’ vision could never have come about all at once. It took shape in emergency spurts, sparked by upheavals like the Civil War, which prompted crisis measures like the first federal income tax (made legal retrospectively in 1913 by the Sixteenth Amendment).

I would make the case that "the Founders' vision" really didn't last very long at all here in the United States -- perhaps a few years. The events surrounding the Whiskey Rebellion in the early 1790s were the first sign that the new U.S. government wasn't going to be all that much different than the British after all.

[flowerplough]

Robert A. Heinlein’s “To Sail Beyond the Sunset” (1987):

The America of my time line is a laboratory example of what can happen to democracies, what has eventually happened to all perfect democracies throughout all histories. A perfect democracy, a “warm body” democracy in which every adult may vote and all votes count equally, has no internal feedback for self-correction....

[O]nce a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader — the barbarians enter Rome.

[rahbert]

come to Utah and bring your buisnesses with you to the beehive. No shortage of motivated workers here.

[frog in a pot]

“The cannibals will drain every last nickle out of the remaining capitalists. “

You beat me to it. I was thinking of the parasites devouring the host.

[Texas resident]

When the producers figure out that there is more to life than NYC and head out, the city will be in a hell of a mess. They ought to send a thank you card to the mayor with “hey thanks for waking me up to the fact that you are screwing me more and more and now I’m outta here. See ya. This is happening all over when the productive types figure out that they are mobile and don’t have to take this crap. That’s the reason kalifornistan is losing population despite the flood gates on the border being open.

[mewzilla]

There’s a reason why Upstate NY’s looking like a ghost town. Sigh.

[GOP_Lady]

I think Utah is the most beautiful state in the nation.

[petercooper]

Taxtakers- love it!

[screaminsunshine]

We pay They play. Pathetic.

[lady lawyer]

Shhh. Don’t tell anybody. We don’t want everybody to come here. When they get here, they look around and say, “What a great place. The education rates are high, and the workers are motivated. Crime rate is low. You can go to a large public gathering, and it’s full of normal, clean families and kids. It’s just like America in the 50’s.” Then they say, “This place would be perfect, if only we could get rid of those damn Mormons.” Of course, they never connect the fact that the things they like about Utah are a direct result of the lifestyles of us “damn Mormons.”

[Carry_Okie]

The events surrounding the Whiskey Rebellion in the early 1790s were the first sign that the new U.S. government wasn't going to be all that much different than the British after all.

It was evident before the ink on the Constitution was dry. For an excellent compilation of Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers, see: Chronology of the Pro- and Anti-Federalist Papers and how they related to one another and to key events.

[GOP_Lady]

:-) I’ll be at Bryce Canyon next month, and I can’t wait. ;-)

Utah has everything from the mountains, to the canyons, to the desert. That’s what makes it so wonderful. It’s a gift from God, that’s for sure.

[iopscusa]

Good post Tolik, I read this yesterday and had wanted to post here...thanks for doing so!

[lady lawyer]

We don’t have the ocean, and that would be nice.

But, you’re right, it is beautiful, and amazingly diverse. I can pull out of my driveway, and in two minutes be in a canyon with pine trees, waterfalls, and a beautiful river. I can drive half an hour to the south and be in aspens and maples, and even red rock, with panoramic views of two valleys. I can drive an hour to the West and be on the old pony express trail, with herds of antelope and wild horses.

But, I’m ten minutes from a major university, and 40 minutes from a large (enough) city.

It gets hot during the day, but we have almost no humidity. And, in the evening, the wind shifts, and the breezes come out of the canyons, cooling everything down. I can stand at the center of Salt Lake City and smell pine trees when the canyon breeze starts to blow.

We have loads of winter snow in the mountains, and great skiing, but in the valleys the winters are usually quite mild.

LOL. I love this place. Can you tell?

I was born and grew up in California, and it was lovely then. But I would never go back.

Enjoy Bryce. It’s amazing.

[Billthedrill]

Great article, and thanks for posting. Once a vote is considered an entitlement, the rest follows. BTT.