Occupy Wallstreet

[Dylflon]

Originally Posted by Professor S

I'm not sure my contribution will meet your guidelines, but I think the issue at hand is as much a philosophical problem as a policy problem. We lay our futures at the feet of others expecting all our problems to be swept away in a cleansing wave of altruism. In reality, we have provided those that would rig the system for their own interests with the means to do so.

The greatest myth we need to overcome is the myth that our collective future is somehow controllable by a select few elected officials. The greatest and most productive social and economic systems known to man simply come into existence without some grand plan. See: Spontaneous Orders



Now even though this is a free-market principle, and I am not a 100% free marketer, but I think can see what happens when we layer thousands of pages of tax law and regulations (or unequal deregulation*) on top of the marketplace: Rampant corruption (government and industry) and a severely uneven playing field.

Currently taxes and regulations are constructed in a way that prevents new personal wealth (progressive taxes, estate taxes, etc.), upward mobility, and consolidates power.

But the great lie is that we can somehow wave a magic wand of regulations and new taxes to fix our problems. These ideas are how we GOT HERE. If bashing your skull with a hammer is giving you a headache, you can fix it by hitting yourself HARDER.

At first I thought our main problem was arrogance, but looking harder I think our main problem is a feeling of impotence and lack of self-esteem; that we can't possibly control our own lives and culture. We are too stupid and weak. That we need to select others to control these processes for us. Meanwhile, these select few only beat us down more, and we seem to respond "thank you sir... may I have another?"

What we complain about in society are the spontaneous orders that have grown BECAUSE to our rejection of personal responsibility and collective self-loathing. There is no grand conspiracy; no shadow government or unknowable force or evil political party oppressing us. We have gotten exactly what we asked for.

How to fix it? Until we start asking for responsibility, instead of giving it away, I don't imagine anything will change (we'll still have good economies and bad economies, but the imbalance will remain).


*Many blame the current economic crisis on a lack of regulation over the mortgage and financial industry, but the truth is this industry was a remains one of the most highly regulated in the country. What no one asks is WHAT sectors were over-regulated, what sectors were deregulated, and what sectors WEREN'T REGULATED AT ALL. Example: Many hedge funds were allowed to run without any government oversight at all during the 90's and much of the 00's (maybe still today). They brought in record profits, and record investment. This is an uneven playing field and an unnatural imbalance consolidating massive amounts of investment $. IMO, unnatural economic systems are deadly whether through selective regulation, or selective deregulation.

Great post, strongly agree.