Comments by "Nicholas Conder" (@nicholasconder4703) on "Friedrich Kellner - A Social Democrat Living in the Third Reich" video.

  1. I must say your grandfather must have had a lot of really trustworthy friends not to have been turned over to the Gestapo for anti-Nazi sentiment. It is good to hear of people who endeavoured to resist the Nazi regime, even if it was in a small way.
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  2. I agree with you that TIK dislikes anything that smacks of Socialism. I think TIK does tend to ignore that some "socialist policies" are actually Christian in nature, "Love they neighbour as yourself" and "Do unto others as you would have done to you" (e.g., universal health care, old age pensions, support for the unemployed or impoverished). However, he is right in saying that nationalizing (or socializing) industry is a BAD idea (as many countries have discovered to their chagrin). Industry needs to be regulated so the general public and environment do not get harmed by unscrupulous or indifferent owners, but not run by government. Same with agriculture. You sometimes need controls to prevent farmers over-producing their product and lowering the market value to the point they go can't make ends meet and go bankrupt. You then either end up with lower production of a commodity or, in the worst case, large corporations buying up the farms and putting small land holders out of work. This happened to an oyster fishery - there were two good years where there was a surfeit of natural oysters, so the bulk of the farmers went collecting the natural oysters. Guess what happened. The natural oyster population crashed after 2 years, leaving the oyster farmers not only without natural oysters, but without their oyster beds or oyster farming equipment (because they had neglected them). So the industry almost completely collapsed. Or you can get over-exploitation of the resource, and destroy your own industry (the Atlantic cod fishery is a good example of this). Regarding regular farming, I remember seeing an item on the US news where Wisconsin dairy farmers thought the Canadian Dairy Marketing Board was a good idea because it helped stabilize milk prices and prevented over-production and lost revenue that resulted in increasing the dairy farmers' debt. So, it really depends on the degree with which these policies are implemented, the individuals who are trying to implement the policies, and the motives behind them. Like anything else, these things need to be researched, realistic goals or targets set, tried, analyzed, mistakes recognized, and the system modified until the kinks are ironed out. Some control is good, but like anything else, in excess, it can be downright toxic. Both the Nazis and Communists (even Britain under the Labor Government) showed us how badly the wheels fall off your economy and society when you try socializing everything.
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  3.  snowy the snowman  You do realize that the taxes on gas and diesel pay for the roads and bridges, do you? In fact, unlike the railroads, roads and highways in North America have been almost completely paid for by the government since Eisenhower (who saw Hitler's autobahns) created the interstates. It's one of the major reasons that railroads are constantly struggling to stay afloat - they cannot compete with an almost completely government subsidized transportation network. So, you want to be driving everywhere on heavily rutted dirt tracks and gravel roads? Using leaded gasoline with lower than 85.5 octane? While we are at it, taxes also pay for your water and sewer. Should every house in the towns and cities use septic fields? That would be a REAL mess. The issue is not whether the State should interfere in supply and demand, but how much. It is a fine balancing act between regulating and ensuring essential services are maintained, or falling either into totalitarianism or a laissez-faire bullfighting arena-style economy. Both the latter options are bad: the first leads to Naziism and Communism, while the latter leads to an economy that is perpetually in boom-bust cycles because of human greed and lack of restraint. Put another way, at the unstable extremes are black and white, the issue is how light or dark a gray you need to balance your economy while providing the services you want or require.
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