Comments by "blunty gagnon" (@megagagnon1) on "The Flaw in Libertarian Theology" video.

  1. Thom isn't talking about libertarians, he's talking about what's happening right now - West Texas blowing up, banksters not being prosecuted, etc. Thom, get it through your head, libertarians aren't in charge right now. He's grossly mischaracterizing libertarians.
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  2. Hey pal, what you were referring to is common knowledge and irrelevant. You don't understand or even care to understand the point of most federal regulations. Most of those regulations are at the behest of the Big Boys - banksters and multinationals. The banking deregulations you're talking were major changes that sowed the seeds for the meltdown, sure, but that doesn't change the fact that even more regs were piled on - to cripple the small fish. You know nothing, you're just a partisan snipe.
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  3. I'm saying there's a reasonable amount of regulations. The reality right now is that there's an unreasonable amount of regulation and government, and it's crippling the economy. Scaling back on regulations and size of government is not the same as getting rid of it altogether. To be able to argue about this topic, it's important to have a good idea of what's actually happening on the ground, to learn the specifics. Stossels videos are a starting point.
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  4. In 1998, the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), the official listing of all regulations in effect, contained a total of 134,723 pages in 201 volumes that claimed 19 feet of shelf space. The General Accountability Office (GAO) reports that in the four fiscal years from 1996 to 1999, a total of 15,286 new federal regulations went into effect. Of these, 222 were classified as "major" rules, each one having an annual effect on the economy of at least $100 million. <<< Deregulation?
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  5. The idea that corporations will always do the right thing is about as ludicrous as the idea that government will always do the right thing. The difference is government is unaccountable.
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  6. Huh? You believe at some point the number of federal regulations decreased? Never happened. Federal regulations got piled on top on regulations. Rarely did anything get repealed (glass-steagall got repealed at the behest of the banksters). The pile of federal regulations is a heck of a lot taller than you are, and every year it gets taller. I can see where this is going - endless argument. I'm not willing to discuss govt regs with someone who hasn't bothered to look at the nuts and bolts.
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  7. Federal regulations increase every single year and continue to do so. Even the banking industry, which had some regs repealed, hasn't been "deregulated" by any stretch of the imagination. The financial services industry has never had more regs. What's the point of debating you? Like i've said, you're unwilling to learn about what the govt actually does, the nuts and bolts, how piles of regs directly affect people and businesses. You just want to spew out partisan talking points.
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  8. Yes, Big Business is unaccountable in the crony capitalist system we have, and that's the direct result of giving the government such overarching power over everyone. In a freer market, Big Business would have to compete more directly with small business. They couldn't pay the government too cripple their small business competitors, which is what they do now.
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  9. No, the mountains of regulations are not necessary. The EPA did a good job in the beginning, and did manage to get our air and water cleaner. But nowadays, the EPA is literally destroying wealth - bankrupting businesses and individuals. It adds billions in compliance costs for a tiny fraction of a fraction decrease in pollutants. Watch some Stossel youtube videos on this topic or read his most recent book "No They Can't".
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  10. I'm not an anarcho-libertarian. Libertarians of my stripe believe in small government - especially on the federal level. It's called a sentinel duty government - they don't micromanage with a mountain of regulations. But when a company does damage or cheat, it's not just a matter of a fine, it's criminal charges and jail time. I should mention that you've probably confused libertarians with anachists.
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  11. Libertarians believe in small government, not no government. Even with the monsterously large EPA we have now, those same sorts of contamination and offshore oil spills happen. Big Government actually makes those sort of spills and contamination more likely because of its cozy relationship with Big Business.
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  12. In a libertarian free market, "corporations" wouldn't exist in the form they do now. They wouldn't have the artificial protections - so if a mess of toxic waste was dumped, the people responsible would end up in prison.
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