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| Instapundit: America has a nobility problem, and it means our leaders don't pay for their failures |
| 2018-07-17 |
| Our Constitution forbids the creation of "titles of nobility." The Framers thought it was important enough that the prohibition appears twice, once forbidding the federal government from doing it, and elsewhere extending the ban to the states. And Americans, to the extent that they give the question any thought at all, probably think that the ban works: After all, nobody’s squiring about the United States, sporting titles like Duke of Pennsylvania or Earl of Internal Revenue. But now I’m wondering if we don’t have a problem. First, Charles C.W. Cooke, a Brit who just recently became an American citizen, noted the practice of calling former government officials by their former titles and called it "grotesque." It’s something he discussed in a recent book. "By custom, we allow our politicians to retain their titles for life. Throughout the 2012 election, Mitt Romney was referred to as 'Governor Romney,' though he had not been in public office for six years," Cooke wrote. "One can only ask, 'Why?' America being a nation of laws and not men, political power is not held in perpetuity, and there is supposed to be no permanent political class. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #8 Cheap labor is a form of slavery. Business Round Table, Chamber of Commerce, Koch Bros., Ryan and the dems seem very comfortable with it. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2018-07-17 12:02 |
| #7 They have been floating the idea of a mandatory labor draft for decades... 'They' being the Donks who've never given up their love of the plantation. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2018-07-17 11:55 |
| #6 I don't mind the idea of college loan deadbeats going on a WPA adventure... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2018-07-17 11:00 |
| #5 When the armed might of the State gets involved in the economy then 'cheap labor' becomes corvée labor and then flat-out slave labor. The money to pay for projects will inevitably run out and then the lash will be employed. They have been floating the idea of a mandatory labor draft for decades... |
| Posted by: magpie 2018-07-17 10:48 |
| #4 America also has a cult problem: Silly Con Valley and Elon Musk. "Elon" called the head of the Thai cave rescue operation a pedophile yesterday. Will instapundit denounce that or offer to handle "Elon's" slander suit pro bono? Schnatter got the career death penalty for saying the N word in a training call. Will "Elon's" board flush him or play "Lizzy Holmes wait-n-see?" Inquiring minds want to know... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2018-07-17 09:42 |
| #3 Cheap labour (below average wage typically) always means taxpayer subsidized labour. The other benefit of the above is that non-citizen migrants pay their way (they don't get a dividend but pay the taxes) and thus have to be in actual demand not just a cheaper replacement. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2018-07-17 06:33 |
| #2 Ref #1: The search for 'cheap labor' has historically proven to be problematic, but who today examines history ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2018-07-17 05:47 |
| #1 I would say that America has a problem with rent-seeking, and the political system has a failure mode around this. Whereas marxism is straight extortion to the state, rent-seeking is west's Achilles heel. Of course progressive policies on taxation and min wages tends to magnify these problems but the cause is basically government giving out title for free. This sounds capitalist but title is the government's main product! The capitalist thing to do is actually charge a market rate for this (not that easy to do admittedly). My preference is for this huge amount to be disbursed as a adult citizens dividend (and replace failure reward benefits), then the states charge a fixed fee for everyone. This effectively sets the average rent = 0, it also tends to prevent land speculation which sucks capital out of the productive economy and causes banking crashes on a cycle. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2018-07-17 05:42 |