9 comments/ 17865 views/ 0 favorites Economic Growth Via Lie Propagation By: Toxico Lies are constantly perpetuated by organizations and believed by enough voting citizens to create illogical laws that cripple and disable our society. Because the United States is a pure capitalist society, most of the ongoing problems American citizens face can be directly or indirectly attributed to private and public organizations' desire to increase income. The logical, thinking person can easily come to the conclusion that many of our laws and forms of justice are based on irrational ideas. There are various detrimental aspects of our society that are needlessly perpetuated to maintain monetary flow to organizations. The first, and most discordant of these would be the racial tension that abounds in America. The seeming different ways of life and methods of living that various cultures have, and the lack of understanding or acceptance of those cultures form racial tension. When two or more groups of people are separated from one another due to a supposed lack of cultural understanding or due to "cultural racism" a rift occurs that allows opportunities for financial gain. In the United States, it is supposed that the White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP) is in control of anything of importance. If this is true, it is only due to a lack of willingness of other races, religions or cultures to fight hard enough to take their rightful place. Humans are humans and the same pitfalls that affect one group affect another. Drugs, alcohol, lack of motivation affect all groups equally. What makes the difference is the personal decision to embrace or reject the problem. In the world today, we have "black music" and baggy pants and various other forms of expression that are to appeal to a certain group. When people are divided as such, the opportunity for more business and money flow is created. One group listens to one type of music; one group is expected to wear a certain style of clothes. This isn't limited to racial boundaries, however, as companies market different brands based on preference in sport, age, sex and religion. Of all these, racial lines are the most noticeable. Capital punishment or rather, the lack of capital punishment creates a lot of money for a lot of people. Logically answer this question: Which costs more: To put a convicted murderer to death or to keep him in prison for the rest of his life? The answer is evident. The money made from keeping someone incarcerated for decades benefits the prison building contractors, the food and laundry contractors, the lawyers and the guards. More jobs and more money are produced by sentencing someone to life in prison than spending forty-seven cents for a bullet to end the problem once and for all. The idea of capital punishment is a great deterrent as demonstrated by the Arab nations, which chop off the hand of a thief, or castrate a rapist or stone a murderer to death. If there were fewer criminals, there would be fewer police, fewer lawyers, fewer security system companies, fewer insurance agencies and definitely lower premiums. A law abiding, calm society brings in less money than a society full of rowdy criminals. Criminal activity is good for business; therefore criminal activity is good for a capitalist society. Especially in our society, the police force needs to concentrate more on investigating and ending criminal activity than on traffic enforcement. The United States tends to ignore tried and proven methods for problem solving, possibly because it is the "Greatest Nation on Earth". Pride will not allow us to use the ideas of other countries, even if they're older. Germany has an excellent and highly effective method of speed enforcement that has been in use for close to two decades. Portable speed traps consisting of laser-tripped cameras can be set up anywhere in a matter of minutes, do not need manning and provide unequivocal photographic proof of the vehicle (German license plates are placed on the front as well as back of the vehicle) as well as the driver. The health care system in the United States is broken, as vocalized by Bill and Hillary Clinton. A higher healthcare tax would provide lifetime enjoyment of the best medical support available without the encumbrance of pharmaceutical companies influencing drug distribution. Although socialized medicine is not conducive to unequal money making, it does allow the patient to get the best medical care that can be provided by the doctors, as they would be paid by the government and not influenced by possible company kickbacks. This opens up the possibilities of natural medicine, physical therapy, therapeutic message or whatever is needed by the patient to fix his condition, not to temporarily alleviate it. Once again, the European countries have had nationalized health-care programs in place for decades, but the United States of America can't seem to come up with such a plan. Certain companies would decrease their extreme profits if it did. There would be no profit in seeing that the patients continued to suffer, but healing the patient would bring more money over a longer life span. A better, safer, more equitable United States would be based on logic produced laws and norms versus the desire to maintain straight capitalism. Competition and growth is healthy and natural, but not when it comes at the expense of the health and well being of a nation's citizens. Logic can see this, and logic can come to each of the conclusions drawn above. So why are our laws based on lies? Is money more important to us now than our well-being? Economic Growth Via Lie Propagation After reading Toxico's essay I felt it needed a response of far more than what one could squeeze into the comments sections. The essay seems filled with misconceptions about America. Let us start with racial issue. Does racism exist in America? Yes, it does but so does it most everywhere. Look at the riots in France by Muslim youths over their treatment by French society as a whole. How about the violence against Turkish immigrants in Germany? On a related issue anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe. I have spent a lot of time overseas including living in three different countries for a year or more and I can honestly say some of the most prejudice nations I have ever been in were Japan and Korea. The U.S. has over 120 different ethnic and racial groupings according to the US census. That we get along with each other as well as we do particularly compared to the more homogenously populated European nations is a tribute to our tolerance. The old Soviet Union only managed to keep its widely diverse population together with an oppressive police state. Crime and traffic enforcement. Yes, our law enforcement might spend too much time enforcing traffic laws but speed trap and red light cameras are not unknown here. They face a lot opposition by the public. Part of it is that Americans don't like a lot of government cameras watching us regardless of the reason. Another is our right to face our accuser in court. How do you cross-examine a traffic camera in court? Making it a civil penalty rather than criminal one does not set well with us either because then it becomes not a tool for law enforcement but a revenue stream for government. The US also spends more time on traffic law enforcement because we drive more and have more cars than Europe. In The US and Europe Law enforcement spend more time reacting to crimes than preventing them it is the nature of the beast in free societies. The problem I have with capital punishment is that juries sometimes get it wrong and once a person is dead there is no do over. We constantly hear of wrongly convicted people being released from jail after DNA evidence that was not available at their trial clears them. Health care: Why persist in the stupid idea that because forms of socialized health care works (Well sort of works-see Chaoulli vs. Quebec June 9, 2005) in Europe or Canada it will work in the US? The United States is a nation of over 300 million people spread out over 3 million square miles. They consist of over 120 different ethnic and racial groupings and their economics and cultural difference are as diverse as the topography they live in. A one size fits all program imposed by Washington is not the most efficient answer to our heath care problems never mind the lack of constitutional authority. Europe does not even have a single type of health care system Switzerland's for example, is far different from the United Kingdom's The Health care needs of the people of Wyoming are certainly different than those of Connecticut. It makes more sense with regards to economics, efficiency and certainly constitutionally to let each state decide how to take care of the heath care issue as Massachusetts. Vermont and Hawaii have done. A state can even elect not to take care of it. In 2002 the voters Oregon rejected a state wide universal healthcare plan. It would take a perverse, even criminal interpretation of the commerce or general welfare clauses to suggest that the Federal government has the right to impose such a plan on the people of Oregon. "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation and foreign commerce. ... The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives and liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement and prosperity of the State." ~~James Madison, Federalist No. 45 Also let us consider some lies about US heath care. One of which is that Europeans live longer. If you look at the standardized mean for life expectancy Americans live longer than in any other OECD country. The standardize mean eliminates non-health care related factors such as auto accidents (Americans drive more so we have more auto accidents) violent crime etc. We also have a better survival rates for most forms of cancer than Europe Infant mortality. Some say the Cuba has a better infant mortality rate than the US. What they don't tell you is the Cuba doe s not count any child that dies who is less than a year old in its numbers. Other countries fudge the numbers in a similar manner. Spending . Yes the U.S. spends more heath care but included in those numbers are the fact that we spend more on medical research than any other country. Capitalism. The US has not had a pure capitalistic system since the 1930s as anybody who tries to start and run a business here will tell you. The downturns in the system have more to do with government being a sleep at the wheel (SEC regulators too busy surfing the net and watching born) or engaging in the very activity is condemns business for doing (Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac). The supposedly more regulated and supposedly more equitable European systems have not been able to avoid their own downturns. Even with high taxes and relatively low defense spending they have had to introduce austerity measures as population demographics and economics make their overly generous social welfare programs untenable as we are finding out here. The US is not perfect but the rational because it works elsewhere ignores the fact that we are so very, very different from everybody else.