How Capitalism Saved America and How Government is Destroying It | Thomas J. DiLorenzo

[knoxvillehill]

typical neocon tripe.

bloated, glutenous putrid revisionist liar.

always deflect, always distort, never take responsibility....

[jeanniemason822]

@knoxvillehill Neocon? knoxvillehill, you need to learn your definitions. People like Bush are neocons, as they've distorted traditional conservatism, ideals such as fiscal responsibility and non-interventionism

In fact, Neoconservatism is rooted from a branch of liberals who had some communistic (or fascist) ideals but also were disillusioned with Soviet Russia's ideology. Here... have a link to a neocon timeline.

w w w .historycommons . org/context . jsp?item=a30s50sneoconideology

[TehOrtiz]

All I am saying is that the lack of proper governmental regulation is the majority of the reason. People need to stop thinking of government as a separate entity. People live their daily lives in this capitalist (free market) society and forget about the consequences. Government reflects OUR neglection, and it knocks on our door saying "hey man, you forgot to pay your bills."

[TehOrtiz]

I don’t have a problem with privatization, but capitalism has shown its flaws. There needs to be certain regulations. When you get Wal-Marts, Starbucks, McDonalds, etc. coming in with faster and cheaper products, your local businesses go out. Our financial crisis today is due to these top beneficiaries of capitalism paying themselves large bonuses, a lack of enforced regulation; then the government is relied on to fix the mess.

[TehOrtiz]

@TehOrtiz I know that was off topic, but he is making government seem way too devil. I agree its destructive, but is needed. Doesn't he mention how lucky capitalism was to have a brand new "world" to take off on? Think of all the new and unused resources that there were. And yes monopolies CAN EXIST without a government. It ultimately comes to how cheap production is and how much profit... which has lead to US jobs going over seas.

[shamgar001]

@TehOrtiz First off, companies like McDonalds become big because they use their resources most efficiently. When you try to prevent them from doing that, we become poorer as a society.

Second, the financial crisis is because of the Federal Reserve and government whoring itself out to banks, not large corporations.

[TehOrtiz]

@shamgar001 They use their resources most efficiently? They provide FASTER production with CHEAPER prices, at the cost of QUALITY. That's a universal understanding. We prevent this when these companies (in the search for cheaper production) take LOWER LEVEL jobs OVERSEAS. Think of car companies. When they were HAND produced, the products were of high quality. However, competition and search for larger profits have drastically changed this.

[TehOrtiz]

@shamgar001 To your second point, the financial crisis is do to MUCH more than your Alex Jones conspiracy theories. There is the War on Drugs, Reagans environmental policies (deregulations for businesses), War in the Middle East, loss of jobs to over seas markets (cheaper labor overseas), heads of companies paying themselves big bonuses, and a HUUUUUUUUUUUGE fault with not enough regulation on corporations. The large majority of Federal Reserve money is not even American, it is FOREIGN INVESTORS

[shamgar001]

@TehOrtiz So the consumers have decided they'd rather have lower costs than higher quality. That's their choice, not yours.

I don't listen to Alex Jones. The War on Drugs is bad and wastes a lot of money, but it can't cause a financial crash; same with the wars. The housing bubble burst because it shouldn't have inflated in the first place. Cheap credit from the Fed creates bubbles. Regulations have only increased over the past few decades, so deregulation has nothing to do with it.

[TehOrtiz]

@shamgar001 my point being the financial crisis is not ONLY from the housing bubble and banks. It was a build up from the past.

[shamgar001]

@TehOrtiz Would you please expound upon that?

[mmamolina]

@facing42 what does it matter if someone I'd a"good"person. Nobody is all good or all bad it's various shades of gray. Good people often do bad things and bad people sometimes do good things too.

[mmamolina]

@facing42: people pay off the state and government to do what they want today, but having a coercive monopoly like the state makes corruption much easier.

[KagarBeardtooth]

I love that carpenter union story at the end! Hypocrites and blowhards, all of them!

[Fermion5]

This speech makes me want to relearn more of US history.

[facing42]

I'm halfway through so please tell me this guy doesn't think Rockefeller was a good person? The guy was a freaking psychotic sociopath like his children are now. Teh argument that if there was no government to corrupt then the business would do what the people want.....which people? The majority? Oh you mean the majority that would function as a government? Which business gets their vote? Probably one that the business lobbies. Come on people...this is ridiculous.

[tmarsha4]

@facing42 Rockefeller donated about $500 million to private charities. Lowered the price of oil, and just about single-handedly saved the whales (Not kidding... before he found a use for oil and made it mainstream, hunters would kill whales for the whale oil.)

[facing42]

@tmarsha4 He also donated 2 million dollars to the womens christian coalition to help stop 'the alcohol trade'. Why? Because alcohol was his competition. Cars ran off of the alcohol produced by local farmers. Make it illegal....no competition from that market.

Rockefeller, was far from being a 'good' person. To say otherwise is ignorance, a fabrication of history, and poor research on whomever is postulating the contrary.

[kevinjoubert]

@facing42 Who cares?? He wasn't a criminal either, and that's the issue here. Monopolies can NOT exist without the assistance of the state. Fact. Rockefeller could have been a horrible person... that's irrelevant. What's important is that the traditional historical interpretation that the govt saved us from being ravaged by monopolies run by devils, is a complete and utter fabrication for propaganda purposes.

[facing42]

@kevinjoubert I appreciate your comments. I am new to Austrian economics so I am doing my best to catch up on the concepts. Some initial comments would be, that corruption occurs as all levels whether there is an 'official' government or not. How does aboloshing government (which may work) stop corruption? How is it that a monopoly couldn't exist without the state? Pay enough people off....and you can do anything.

[PanzerDivisionBOM]

@UBSCARED

Maybe you should look up the words "corporation" and "corporatism" before I make any further response to your statement. You'll laugh almost as much as I am right now. : )

[TheObamican]

This guy obviously hates workers, children, and homeless people.

[stater68]

@TheObamican obviously you hate freedom

[CBound]

@stater68

Sarcasm I'm sure.

[Sivels]

@TheObamican lol, you're funny, great sarcasm!

[PanzerDivisionBOM]

@AmadCatal1

The problem isn't the abuse of power. It's the power to abuse.

Again, without having state power conferred onto them, businesses could not be corporations, and they could not bribe politicos for cartel protections and asymmetrical spending privileges, and their self-interests would be intimately tied to the satisfaction of their customers. But without business to corrupt the state, politicos could still steal, bribe and murder at least as much as they do now; see Socialism.

[RMMHS4RP]

RE: What he said about moving bad teachers up to management positions, here's a gem from C. S. Lewis' The Silver Chair -

"In the inquiry all sorts of things about Experiment House came out, and about ten people got expelled. After that, the Head's friends saw that the Head was no use as a Head, so they got her made an Inspector to interfere with other Heads. And when they found she wasn't much good even at that, they got her into Parliament where she lived happily ever after."

[pro404]

@RMMHS4RP i read the Chronicles of Narnia a number of times as a child; it'll be interesting to go back and see that there is more going on in those books than i initially realized.... That being said, i always thought the Silver Chair was the most boring of the series, i was always partial to the Horse and His Boy. i don't think i've read any of them in 10 years though.

[RMMHS4RP]

@pro404 Yeah, they're not just stories for children. They're actually very much informed by Lewis' considerable dislike of the modern state, a strain in his thought that is nicely summarized by David Theroux in his article "C. S. Lewis on Mere Liberty and the Evils of Statism." You can easily find it by doing a Google search.

[Houshalter]

@AmadCatal1 and I'm santa clause

[Moragauth]

@zombiefitnezz Are you being sarcastic or are you just ignorant of the metrics you're trotting about?

[wreagfe]

@AmadCatal1 Your view on businesses is like when one black person steals all blacks steal and when one jew swindles you all jews are swindlers. It doesn't follow. Most businesses are big and/or bad b/c they're in bed with the govt. (either domestic or abroad) which is a result of social democracy and an illustration of corporatism. When the people are set aside of checking and balancing business, you get what you describe. So... What other half do you mean?

[thomaserossi]

@AmadCatal1 -  You need to clean that Leftist garbage out of your head. Without Big Corporations there would be no modern world. I find it funny that's you're so indoctrinated you cannot understand that you're posting on YouTube (Corporation), with your PC or MAC (Corporation), drive a car to work (Corporation), and eating your meals (Corporation). Remove all of that and you'll be living in a cave with your pal Osama.

[wreagfe]

@thomaserossi To AmadCatal1's defense, I think Osama Bin Laden is not against corporations per se but more against US's big empire especially in the Middle-east and Saudi Arabia where the US put and keeps a fascist monarchy in place. So that's where your analogy/conclusion fails.

[thomaserossi]

@zombiefitnezz - Clearly inflation benefits the average worker and increases real output."

And you were doing so well until you tried to stand up for Inflation are a valiant program for the working class. If Inflation was useful then we wouldn't be talking about Inflation and the Weimar as a bad thing. Just a modicum of intelligence will tell you inflation devalues the dollar making real wages drop. Furthermore, those who receive the inflated dollars last (workers) suffer most.

[mike6459]

government broke up standard oil and the rockerfeller's have run the goverment since

[n66178]

Always a pleasure to hear Professor Di Lorenzo. Thanks for posting.

[tylerwylie]

As a person who studies Austrian economics and a bass player this video gets thumbs up.

[pretorious700]

@tylerwylie I'm both, but also curious to whom this is directed?

[pretorious700]

@tylerwylie never mind, I'm a bass player and a dumbass

[tylerwylie]

@pretorious700 Yea was that intro music haha.

[bluemeeni1658]

The FED is not the government, or maybe it is?

[thomaserossi]

@bluemeeni1658 - The Fed is the government in that it's a protected institution where the Chairman is chosen by the president and approved by Congress. The Fed is a socialist enterprise. Karl Marx spoke glowingly about Central Banking and the Fed mirrors Mussolini's definition of corporatism perfectly. Socialists agree that the Fed is necessary.

[reapfreak]

Why does it seem Youtube refuses to update the my front page when Mises or Stefbot update with a new video?

[Buffalo122333]

@reapfreak

I always get Stefbot uploads but miss others, I don't think it's censorship just bad programing.

[zalida100]

Great talk - Thanks very much Mr & Mrs Misesmedia

Top quality stuff.

[PanzerDivisionBOM]

@AmadCatal1

When a politico is caught in bed with a big business, you should place the lion's share of the blame with the politico.

Without the politico to confer cartel privileges, the big business would either be serving consumer preference, or not be a business at all.

Without the big business to help him get reelected, the politico would still have to steal and bribe to win elections, or not be a politico at all.

Business qua business is productive. Politico qua politico is destructive.

[Slipknotyk06]

oh god that last example of unions paying homeless people below minimum wage to protest construction supposedly low wages... that's priceless!

[asalade]

@AmadCatal1 I call that government. A bought politician is still a politician.

[furyofbongos]

Tom DiLorenzo strikes again!