Book TV: Claire Berlinski, "There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters"

[dojunmarn2]

Bullshit. In the long term Thatcher did NOT help Britain except on its road to self-destruction. Britain has always been Socialist, what it has become today is the same hyper-Capitalist Liberal cesspool that the US has become, which is to say ... truly Communist. Not National Communist like post-war USSR. I think the name BerlinSKI, says all we need to know.

[ptucker48]

@dojunmarn2 Ad hominem

[JPTill]

I like reading Claire. Like her father, she's a brilliant thinker. Also like her father, when speaking---no matter what affect she deploys---she cannot conceal how very taken with herself she is. And why wouldn't she be?

[reaguirre]

WOW - She's b e a u t i f u l !!!

wish all women were as good looking and intelligent as Claire Berlinski :-)

[epilp88]

Thank you for mentioning the moral case for free markets. But the U.S. not facing inflation? Give it time, sweetheart.

[martintod2006]

She also managed to depress real wages in the UK while allowing the top ten per cent of the country to increase thier wealth exponetially. Economic freedom? When our economy is controlled by undemocratic, unregulated NGO'S and central banks. Please bitch.

[pfizzbones]

@martintod2006 Wow, even after all of this in the world. Even after history proves time and time again, you still don't get it.

[23discordians]

@pfizzbones

What exactly has history shown time and time again? That neliberal (including thatcherist) policies lead to increasing economic inequality and instability? That these policies create an underclass, both in our own countries and globally, damage the democratic process, and only really serve to help the corporate elite? That's what history shows. Berlinski knows this, she is just showing some class solidarity.

[ErikMartin81]

@23discordians People who try to initiate 'class warfare' tend to be incompetent little individuals, petty and consumed with envy, who cannot stand to see other people be free and successful. Poor people are happier, and better off, to the degree that they are living in countries with free economies. Socialists have no concern for the poor; they are only motivated by pulling down the wealthy and industrious.

[23discordians]

@ErikMartin81

What the fuck are you blathering on about? My comment was hardly an "inition of class warfare." If incompetence is the sign of a socialist I guess you must have "keep the red flag flying" on a constant loop in your head. Do you have any evidence that poor people are better off in countries which adopt the neoliberal economic paradigm? Were the poor of Chile better off when Pinochet opened up their economy? Despite what most right wingers seem to think, it is an empirical question.

[ErikMartin81]

@23discordians Poor people from around the world immigrated to the U.S. when it had no welfare state, thereby coining the terms 'the land of opportunity' and 'the american dream'. Poor people still risk their lives immigrating to the U.S. The 'lower class' in the U.S. tend to own a house, a car, a TV and computer with Internet access, and enough food to grow fat. Look at countries ranked by economic liberty, and compare it to those ranked by happiness and GDP per capita. Full corrolation.

[LibertaerUeberAlles]

@ErikMartin81

I don't think owning a house is a sign of prosperity, especially not the US version of it (i.e., renting from the bank). And the necessity for car ownership is one of America's worst attributes; a sign that the infrastructure is piss-poor and ill-conceived. Contrast to Europe, where not only cars roads are common, but also bike roads, pedestrian paths and many other transit options.

But aside from that, we're all enslaved: America since 1913; Europe since 1945.

[ErikMartin81]

@LibertaerUeberAlles Good point. Due to the influence of Keynesian economics, people are encouraged to loan and spend money they do not have. They are especially encouraged to take up large loans in order to purchase houses, in part because it "stimulates" the economy. These are loans which will "enslave" them to their creditors throughout most of their lives, and it's certainly not prosperity. Still though, poor people are generally far better off in the western world compared to elsewhere.

[ErikMartin81]

@23discordians Chile is indeed one of the very best examples of the tremendous prosperity generated under economic liberty, for all citizens, across the board. I'm surprised you would bring it up.