No Love for LEFTYS (the First)

    
      The Economy. As your reading this you have already shuddered. This is not an easy subject to just dive into, although it is everywhere on the news and newspapers. However, it is a subject that has so many dynamics, so many various subsets that the topic impacts.

     Let us ask this question, is the problem with the economy the policy, does it cater to the elite and ruling class, or can we place any blame on individuals? From the beginning of Obama’s presidential term there has been an overweening attitude that the current policies support only the elite. In addition to the idea that ones current finical status has nothing to do with the choices made individually. Author and professor David Harvey also share this attitude.

     Harvey wrote the book “Neoliberalism”*, where he has chosen to express his extreme leftist opinions within 208 pages. His views are one that many people today agree with. He supports greater dependence on government to provide for those in need (the 47% as Romney said). Furthermore he strongly opposes free market capitalism in support of public ownership of assets. Moreover, his common tagline is in harmony with the present administrations, “redistribution of wealth”. In conjunction to this he rejects the idea of personal responsibility. He states,

“While personal and individual freedoms in the market place is guaranteed, each individual is held responsible and accountable for his or her actions and well-being. This principle extends into the realms of welfare, education, health care, and even pensions. Individual successes of failure are interpreted in terms of entrepreneurial virtues or personal failings rather than being attributed to any systemic property (such as the class exclusions usually attributed to capitalism).

     His point is this; your problems are not your fault. The system in which you live is designed to enable the rich to gain and the poor to be exploited. The idea of a rising tide floats all boats is not a sufficient argument for Harvey. Furthermore, the system does not provide enough for those that need it. It is the idea that the 1% of the world has exploited those whom fall into the 99% (which is what the Occupy Movement had decided to battle against).

     Without quoting the whole book, his ideology resembles that of a Marxist/Socialist, which in turn mirrors the subversive policies of Obama. Harvey’s ostentatious attack on neoliberalism negates many truths that would appear axiomatic.

     With out having to engender a massive amount of evidence I can easily refute Harvey’s position (which is the position of many Americans currently). I believe Milton Friedman makes the best rebuttal in his book “Free to Choose”. He states

“In every society, however it is organized, there is always dissatisfaction with the distribution of income. All of us find it hard to understand why we should receive less than others who seem no more deserving-or why we should be receiving more than so many others whose needs seem as great and whose deserts seem no less. The farther fields away always look greener-so we blame the existing system. In command system envy and dissatisfaction are directed at the rulers. In a free market system they are directed at the market.”

IF your income will be the same whether you work hard or not, why should you work hard? Why should you make the effort to search out the buyer who values most highly what you have to sell if you will not get any benefit from doing so? If there is not reward for accumulating capital, why should anyone postpone to a later date what he could enjoy now? Why Save?

If everybody owns something, nobody owns it, and nobody has a direct interest in maintaining or improving its condition. That is why buildings in the Soviet Union- like public housing in the United States- look decrepit within two years of construction.

     How much more needs to be said. Take responsibility for your actions and stop blaming the rich. Capitalism supports producers, not moochers. Times are tough right now, yet if your looking for someone to blame you need only to look in the mirror. In the immortal words of Pogo, “We have met the enemy and they is us”.

     One more thing before we close, you do have a choice. If a corporation engages in activates you object to, you can vote with your feet. Get your products from somewhere else or seek alternatives. However, that requires one to be much more proactive.