Downton’s Class System — and Ours: We have a ruling class that despises the free market and does...

American Spectator ^ | May 2013 | TOM BETHELL

[JohnBovenmyer]

Some in Europe are afraid their manufacturing is going to be lost to the US because we have the cheapest energy prices in the world whereas their green policies have given them the most expensive ones. Cheaper labor costs aren't the only determinant on where manufacturing locates. Admittedly Obama wants to 'fix' this by bringing our prices up to their green levels. But he's not being very successful with that. If conservatives can take over power in the next two elections we could fairly quickly frack our natural advantages into some big pluses. There is lots to be done, but hope is not lost. Ending national, and red state, green subsidies and unshackling modern carbon and nuclear energy at the nuclear and red state levels should produce quickly noticeable improvements, some of which will also percolate to blue states. That would provide additional political capital for reform conservatives; and cutting green subsidies removes funds from the left. That should let conservatives do more on our lengthy to do list, at least some of which should produce positive political feedback.

[SeminoleCounty]

Had that cute redhead Lavinia was with a lower class me and not the limp (in many ways) Crawley boy....she might have survived the Spanish flu

Class warfare and Downton Abbey in one swoop

[familyop]

America’s Ruling Class — And the Perils of Revolution
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/07/16/americas-ruling-class-and-the/print

The Fragmenting of the New Class Elites, or, Downward Mobility
http://volokh.com/2011/10/31/the-fragmenting-of-the-new-class-elites-or-downward-mobility/

Environmentalism and the Leisure Class
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2835601/posts

The New Upper Class and the Real Reason We Dislike Them
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2843575/posts

Are you a member of the political class?
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/are_you_a_member_of_the_politi.html

[familyop]

Yeah! When bipartisan, socialist owners of American-based manufacturing on foreign soil send their environmentalist, lesbian daughters to outlaw manufacturing on American soil, that’s called “competition.”

[DannyTN]

"We need to make things in America."

Couldn't agree more.

[DannyTN]

"It’s called “competition” and it’s good for both the producer and the consumer. Where did you learn economics, in a comic book?"

No, that's not competition. It's called 23% unemployment. It's called an out of business strategy. It's not good for producers, they get run out of business by products made by communist slave labor rates. It's only good for consumers in the short run. In the long run, they cease to be consumers and join the other 23% in the unemployment line.

It's not good for this country. As Thomas Jefferson eventually learned, you need a strong manufacturing base to defend a free state. He had advocated letting American remain primarily agricultural and was happing to obtain manufacturing goods through trade. That was until the "unthinkable happened" (Jefferson's words) and Europe cut us off from manufactured goods.

[DannyTN]

Here's an example of what happens when you leave international trade policy to individuals who act only in their own shortrun best interest ignoring the long run. The prisoner's delimma applied to international trade

[Lurker]

Like I said, no one on this forum has ever experienced free trade.

[DannyTN]

"China is a slavocracy. We will crash and burn if cheap chinese goods are withdrawn from our economy. We needs Chinese slaves to get through the day."

How's that working out for the 23% of Americans that are now unemployed?

We can use cheap foreign labor as long as we are at full employment. But when we let foreigners decimate our industries, when we open our markets to competition from countries with closed markets, When we allow unrestricted trade with countries that have large excess labor even as our own unemployment skyrockets, we are destroying our own country. And yes China is closed because their taxes equate to 90% of their GNP. Government collects the profits so there is very little return trade.

[DannyTN]

"It would be nice to actually experience a free market for once."

Try Somalia. I hear there is no government regulations there.

[SeminoleCounty]

What you just described is the current EU....and there are people on here who think the US should have an economy like the EU....free trade, high income tax, and no jobs. And they call that a free market solution

[OneWingedShark]

It’s called “competition” and it’s good for both the producer and the consumer. Where did you learn economics, in a comic book?

Hey! Comic-books are a good illustration of economics... just look at the price for Action Comics #1, or Amazing Spider-Man #121.
(Respectively the first appearance of Superman and the comic where Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker's first main girl-friend, dies.)
A perfect illustration of Supply and Demand.

[x_plus_one]

Our economy is built on the quicksand of chinese slavery and is fed by invisible dollars created by the federal reserve. 90 million unemployed Americans are uncounted by the media but have food stamps and the promise of free health care. Most Americans are unaware that they have lost the freedoms gained by the blood of their forefathers but vote democrat to keep their cash flow.

If you think about the situation long enough, you can see the weak spots where the dam might break first.

History challenged, pro-moslem socialists have stolen our government without outcry from the Republicans. Worldwide - the baby-boomer nomenclatura support the war plan called Islam and ignore the Christian revolution exploding in Asia, Africa and the old Soviet Union. The umbrella of civilization is not held by Islam, social justice christians or the new world order no matter what we are told.

With so many nukes ready to fly, it is statistically likely that there is a need to prepare for long term radiological poisoning of the air, land and water.

[DannyTN]

I have potassium iodide tablets.

[1010RD]

This is a psychological issue. Ego and high IQ, in differing proportions, make an individual believe they're superior to other. Nothing makes an elite angrier than some ‘dunce’ making it big.

They believe in a ‘natural’ order of things and are willing to use the power of the state to undo any naturally occurring successes.

[1010RD]

LOL are you too young to know what a broken record is?

At what point do you realize you’re wrong?

[1010RD]

It’s the lefty bums that cause all the trouble and keep the Lear Jet Leftists in power. They’re losers made winners by the power of the state.

[bert]

No, it is not.

We must tell you over and over that China is.

The emerging China is not the China of Mao you fixate on. You prefer to support an enemy that is the liberalism of a state industrialized economy. The wet dream of a return to making our own paint brushes and screwdrivers is not ever going to be reality. The prounion mindset is daily diminishing and further degrades your dream.