Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] The G.W. Bush Presidential Library

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Thu, 10 Jul 2008, Rick wrote:

>> You might say that we can now stop giving money to Bechtel because they 
>> have shown themselves to be unworthy.  I would strongly agree except 
>> for several problems.  First, Bechtel started screwing us many decades 
>> ago and they are still at it, so it seems unlikely that we will stop 
>> paying them. Second, what would stop the Bechtel leadership from 
>> reforming a new corporation with a new name to get back on the gov't 
>> gravy train? Nothing, I suppose.  I'm sure that the leadership at 
>> Bechtel and Halliburton agree strongly with your idea that private 
>> contracts are more efficient, that government is wasteful, and that we 
>> need smaller governmnent and more contracts for private companies. 
>> This is where they idea comes from and why it is promoted -- rich 
>> manipulators want more government money for themselves and they want 
>> you to be their unwitting pawn.  You won't believe this, of course, but 
>> you should think about it.
>
>
> Again, this has a lot more to do with the gov't agency/agents making the 
> decision than the corporation taking the money. This isn't going away 
> and, quite to the contrary, the more power you give to the gov't, the 
> more this is going to occur.

I think it is because the government is weak and the corporations are 
strong.  That is why the government is losing massive amounts of money and 
the corporations are taking it in.  Politicians run the governmnet, but 
they can only do so if elected and they can only be elected, they seem to 
believe, if they are approved by powerful corporations.  Otherwise they 
will be crushed by a massive negative advertisement campaign.


>> The problems are not caused by a difference between government and 
>> private industry.  The problems are caused by incentive structures that 
>> make corruption possible.  The next question is what can we do to 
>> create and maintain desirable incentive structures?  It is a 
>> complicated and difficult problem but it has to be solved.  It will be 
>> hard to design a good system, but much harder to get it implemented 
>> because it will mean vastly reducing the power of certain powerful 
>> people who will adamantly oppose it.
>
> You are partially correct. First, we allowed the federal gov't to take 
> that power (that it was not entitled to have), *then* we allow them to 
> take advantage of us time and time again. We are pigs:
>
> How to Catch a Wild Pig
> First you find out where the wild pigs are roaming and feeding. You then
> put some corn out in an open field. Soon the pigs will come to eat the
> free corn. You keep putting out this free corn everyday. More wild pigs
> will come. After the pigs get used to your free corn, you put up a
> length of fence along one side of the open field. Soon the pigs will get
> accustomed to the fence. You keep giving them the free corn. Later you
> put up another section of fence at right angles to the first. You keep
> giving them the free corn. The pigs get used to the second fence. After
> awhile you put up a third section of fence at right angles to the second
> section. You now have a U-shaped fenced open area. You keep giving them
> free corn. Then you put another section of fence with a gate in it,
> making a closed area except for the gate. You keep giving them free
> corn. Now, the pigs are no longer out in the woods, working to find
> their own food. They get accustomed to the fenced area with the open
> gate. Then, one day you slam shut the gate trapping the wild pigs
> inside. They quickly lose their ability to find their wild food and
> become totally dependent on your free corn. They can not survive without
> you.
>
> This is how communism and socialism works. They give you "free corn" 
> until you are dependent on them. Until you lose your ability to support 
> yourself. They rob you of your free spirit and your self respect. You 
> become their domesticated worker pigs.

From what I've seen, the major socialist/communist revolutions as in 
Russia, China and Cambodia have been very violent and murdered millions of 
people.  Many citizens of these nations continue to want to overthrow 
their communist dictators and they keep working at it for decades until 
they succeed.

Mike

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