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a pencil
Big Pencil
Okay, boys and girls, so you wanna have the government regulate pencils? You wanna have some agency — say, the PPPP (People Pencil Protection Program), known by those in-the-know as “4P” or “Quad-P” — keep us safe from Big Pencil. You don’t want some guy — undoubtedly a guy — who’s out to make money — you know, profit (which the President calls “excess profits”) — for himself deciding how many of those little yellow thingies to foist on us and a price that gouges us, driving up the costs of education and the arts.
Let that happen and you just know that Big Pencil will merge with Big Pen, monopolistically cornering the market and controlling how and with what we write and draw. And you’re thinking just how long can it be before that conglomerate buys out Big Crayon. America will in a flash become corporate-controlled, they the masters and We the People the slaves.
You’ve heard of “free markets”, of “capitalism”, and of “economic liberty”, but as President Obama has said, we’ve tried that and it didn’t work. So, I ask but 3 and 2/3rd minutes of your time and attention. Who knows, you might just learn something.
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The last thing that I want to do is to lecture someone,
so that probably matches up pretty well with what you want. That said, you might wanna think — I suggest thinking rather than feeling, though that was probably a bit lecturey — about what actually works.
You just might, for example, wanna think how during the 20th century Big Ag — the farmers and ranchers of America — farmer-by-farmer, crop-by-crop, season-by-season — along with the co-ops, the truckers, the wholesalers, the feed and fertilizer places, and the retailers lowered the prices — inflation adjusted — of everything we eat while producing much more food and reducing the labor required to do that by about 4,000%.
You might also wanna consider whether that productivity increase — output per cost — would have been even greater had not the federal government brought to life the Department of Agriculture, which thought it wise to pay farmers to grow what they didn’t want to, pay farmers to not grow, pay non-farmers — say, residents of New York City — to not grow, disallow retailers from allowing customers to choose which chicken they wished to purchase, interfere with market-pricing, and much much more.
You might wanna contrast what farmers and ranchers did during the 20th century with what, say, the United States Postal Service did. The number of employees has increased while the volume of mail decreased. Some of those employees rotate to just sitting in a quiet room doing nothing while be paid. The price of a first-class stamp has increased from 2 cents to 45 cents.
If you’re not old enough to remember, ask your parents how much it cost them to get a calculator which would add, subtract, multiply and divide. Texas Instruments first made one in 1971, handheld and with a microchip. In 1972 the MSRP was $149.95. Today, you can get the same capability on a $9.95 wristwatch at no extra charge, so less than the price of a circa 1900 postal stamp and about the same as a 2012 . . . pencil.
I am a libertarian so I don’t want government telling me to do or not to do just about everything including what to buy, what to eat, drink, smoke, own, etc.
I hate progressive/socialism/communism/ ideology.
Mr. Fraud Obama should take a look in the mirror and see how well his “progressive” polices have worked. Zilch, Zero.
It is the usual hypocrisy and lying he does. I won’t even listen to him any longer I’m so deathly sick of the war on everyone and his war on free enterprise. He makes me sick to my stomach.
I think, pepp, that when the President looks in the mirror, he sees someone who has accomplished much . . . And I agree with him.
I think you make a good analogy of what is going on in the USA. It may sound ridiculous that the government would control a pencil, pen, or crayon – but with Obama in charge it is not that far fetch. We are moving in that direction.
Not a stretch at all. Automobiles, oil, gas, banks, student loans, physicians, insurance, energy, etc., etc.
Let’s face it; the track record of the government’s successes rivals only that of Arthur Pewty. In the end it loses all that is good and gets crushed. Remember the old saying, Liberty is when government fears it’s people, Tyranny is when the people fear the government
Great to hear from you, Jim. The Arthur Pewty reference is a tad obscure. If the President is Pewty, who is the marriage counselor?
I had a barbecue recently and my wife’s best friend from childhood to present was talking political policy with my mildly femi-nazi sister-in-law (affectionately described) as we enjoyed afternoon cocktails. The subject of economic conditions — rising costs from fuel to food — was brought up (not by me, I try my best not to get into such discussions when enjoying the day) and then the issue high tax rates affecting the economy led my wife’s friend to say that she’d “be happy to pay a 50% income tax rate if it meant everyone would have a better life like they do in Sweden.”
I didn’t know where to begin. I started with the fact that Sweden, in order to survive the failure of progressive Utopian policies that have befallen all European Union members, actually eliminated some taxes and lowered rates on others to boost their economy. They eliminated “wealth taxes” and inheritance taxes and cut the tax on labor (our income tax) to 50%. Unfortunately their economy is still faltering. I added “that’s what happens when a government starts to run out of other people’s money.” I explained that in spite of the inefficiencies of the progressive Swedish government with its high tax rates and social policies, it was actually Capitalism with Big corporate industries like Saab and Ikea that led to their once phenomenal prosperity. And that by the same token only Capitalism will save them absent the socialist Utopian policies that are weighing them down.
Understandably since my wife’s life-long friend is also a social case worker for County government — helping “clients” to bilk the private sector — her eyes glazed over and there was a definite vibe in the room that perhaps I should stick to barbecuing our dinner, not the dinner guests. Soooo — I stopped that little rant right there, then went out to start the grill.
You clearly miss the Bigger Picture.
Big Pencil and Big Pen are both ecologically damaging. They’re enemies of the environment. Their products lead to climate change, which will doom this entire planet. They manufacture their products using environmentally-unsafe plastics (in the case of pens) and trees (in the case of pencils) that are endangered and necessary to maintain our ecological balance.
Both should be banned.
We should return to the days of the quill pen.
End of discussion.
Well to true progressive believers BrianR, any enterprise greater in prosperity and influence than BIG GOVERNMENT is too BIG. If a BIG BOX corporation benefits consumers wildly all across the economic landscape, it’s not only gonna be a danger to the environment it’s gonna be dangerous to anyone receiving welfare or food stamps. Why? because it demonstrates that government action is NOT the controlling factor in lowering prices, creating jobs and spurring economic growth. Consumers especially the so called “poor” are able to see that with a little effort, a good job can afford average welfare recipients far more than government provides.
The problem is that a significant number of said “gimme” recipients are plainly and simply lazy thus feeling entitled to more whether they work or not. Those fools will never escape self imposed “poverty” nor do they want to. In other words, poverty under American standards ain’t all that bad, hence my wife’s friend hopes the government giveaway will never end lest her overpaid job might, and so any argument — especially environmental arguments — put forth to destroy large corporations and the employment they bring fall right in line with progressive liberal think.
Of course. That’s socialism at work, right there.
Does Big Pencil, BrianR, have a big carbon HAND print?
LOL!
Like sasquatch!
Oh my gawhhd! Bic pens use petroleum distillates in their ink and add carbon to manufacture black ink. Oh sure, a guy could fashion a pencil by burning the end of a twig, but a BIC pen? NO WAY dude, that takes an entire space program, man into space and all that stuff. Oh my gawhhd! BIG pencil, BIG pen and by extension BIG newspaper, BIG space and all such BIG subsidiaries are just tools of BIG oil, BIG lumber, and BIG mining — strip or shaft — as they suck the excrement from somewhere under Gaya’s gown just so they can choke her to death with it! This is diabolically BIG! Really very very BIG. No wonder we need a BIG government!
Not to be crude or anything, but the first thing that came to mind was a phrase I learned from my husband person (in his cop days) — prime example of a RCF.
I guaran-darn-tee, Mrs. AL, that Jim and AfterShock and BrianR and Pat and I all know exactly what those initials mean.
I know … that’s why I didn’t even think about spelling it out — hehe