The distate that Barack Obama, the community organizer who spent a year "behind enemy lines" in the private sector, feels for the corporate world is obvious. It has also become clear that he has no concept of the dynamics of capitalism:
"Layoffs too often became permanent, not part of the business cycle. And these changes didn't just affect blue collar workers. If you were a bank teller or a phone operator or a travel agent, you saw many in your profession replaced by ATMs and the internet," President Obama said at a campaign event in Kansas.
Most technological innovations that come along displace some workers but ultimately create more jobs than are destroyed. The Internet that is distressing so many industries (including -- curses! -- the newspaper business) will be no different than other innovations that have come along to challenge us to learn new skills for new jobs, and also allow us to have better lives.
In case you haven't seen it or don't remember it, check out this scene from "Other People's Money" in which the character played by Danny DeVito gives one of the most rousing defenses of capitalism's creative destruction ever put in the movies.
You know, at one time there must have been dozens of companies making buggy whips. And I'll bet the last company around was the one that made the best goddamn buggy whip you ever saw.
Now, how would you have liked to have been a stockholder in that company?
You invested in a business, and this business is dead. Let's have the intelligence--let's have the decency--to sign the death certificate, collect the insurance, and invest in something with a future.
Comments
Funny, I feel the same way about people who poke fun at alternative energy. I'm sure the last gasoline-burning car will be a real doozy (well, not really - I'm aware of the source of the word).
It's time to forget fossil fuels and concentrate on renewables, for exactly the reasons you mentioned. And yet I get nothing but grief here for endorsing efficient light bulbs and hybrid cars. Go ahead, Tim, I've got my crash helmet on.
Maybe we can use this buggywhip on Obama? He is certainly a "horse-of-a-different-color" (and I don't mean "black").
I hate political correctness, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't, even jokingly, suggest the use of a whip on our black president. Just a thought.
If you run the comments of President "Present" through the liberal obfuscation translator machine what you get is "I have not the inclination nor the desire to do anything to help any of you, save my usual pointing of fingers and passing blame. My actual goal is to make everyone poor "fairly" except of course for a small ruling hierarchy consisting of myself and my team which are all former Goldman Sachs
1%' ers."
Littlejohn, as for all the grief you and the rest of the Magic Skittle Shi**ing Unicorn Followers receive, it is unfortunately all well deserved, especially in regard to the lightbulbs from Hell. It's hard to justify paying 5 times more for a light bulb that lights poorly, burns out just as fast, and requires a freaking haz-mat team to dispose of when broken, creating a far greater cost to the consumer now and especially in the future. Wait until the inevitable first lawsuit over the mercury hazards, then sit back and think about the inevitable landfill problem (mercury) 20 to 30 years down the road and the gazillions it will cost to remediate.
And we don't give you grief about "hybrids" at all, hybrids are fine, (except for that awful "smugness" they create in their drivers) it's the electric cars like the Volt we find positively hilarious.
It's sad, but liberals have not the ability, nor the willingness to see any of the ramifications of all of their ridiculous "feel good" proposals, even when the failures are legion.
"Magic Skittle Shi**ing Unicorn"
I'm honestly not sure if that's solely an Obama reference or if it refers to others also. Boogiemen of the GOP in general?
I do know that the CFL bulbs I've been using last a lot longer than the old kind I had and light things up just fine. I'm also aware that the tiny amount of mercury involved isn't going to kill me.
And WTH, John B. Kalb. If you don't mean "black," what do you mean?
"I
"Don't be alarmed; these steps are only precautions that reflect best practices for cleaning up a broken CFL. Keep in mind that CFLs contain a very small amount of mercury -- less than 1/100th of the amount in a mercury thermometer."
IE, these steps are for worry warts and alarmists, and if you break a thermometer with mercury in it you're really screwed I guess.
"However, if you are concerned about the risk to your health from a potential exposure to mercury, consult your physician."
Translates to "go bother your doctor about it to tell you essentially the same thing if you don't believe us."
I don't doubt that there could be mercury presence forms at some point... I do doubt it would be for a good, valid reason.
The word "doozy" was around in 1903, predating the car. They suggest it comes from Eleonora Duse, a popular Italian actress.
I think it funny when people claim government can't create jobs, and then talk about rich folk as "job creators". The big corporations rich folks buy into actually destroy jobs; they only grow by buying other companies.
Some jobs are created by regulation (for instance, laws mandating annual vehicle inspections) but most jobs are created AT new small companies - by people who demand goods and services.