No Time for Utopian Anti-Interventionism

[Guest]

Re: No Time for Utopian Anti-Interventionism

Hey Bruce - as our country is going through a financial heart attack brought on entirely due to gross financial speculative mismanagement, massive public delusion and folly about get rich quick schemes, not to speak of world class fraud worthy of an unscrupulous riverboat gambler, perpetrated by our investment banks expressly upon banks and savers/investors in the rest of the world, it seems we are no longer in a position to comfortably point out the socio-political limitations of other countries - e.g. "rule of law", and "respect for property", "incorruptible public servants" and "stable civic institutions", etc.

When you factor in all of the above warts upon the US's public image these days, it requires a bit of chutzpah on our part to offer any advice to other nations about the basic pre-requisites for the status of "advanced economy", no? We may have some of those attributes still, but they are looking really shabby at this time, and they are attributes we inherited from an earlier generation, and have largely pissed away in deluded "get something for nothing" follies. I am not any "hair shirt" kind of guy at all, but I would feel uncomfortable about "offering advice" to any other nation at this time.

Before any of this can be accomplished, they first need.

1. A system of laws that are enforced properly and fairly
2. A no-tolerance policy for corruption
3. Economic freedom and guaranteed enforcement of property rights.
4. Democratic principles so a government denying either of the above 3 things can be removed and replaced.

... We don't openly tolerate cops taking bribes to enforce your rights. We don't tolerate (for now) government seizing industries because they're "too important" not to. We don't tolerate being disarmed to the degree we are easily bullied. If we hear about a corrupt official taking bribes we demand his imprisonment, not ask "hey, how much does he want for me to get a business license" ? It's a matter of values. You have crummy ones you get a crummy country.

[Chris Coles]

Re: No Time for Utopian Anti-Interventionism

Hey Bruce - as our country is going through a financial heart attack brought on entirely due to gross financial speculative mismanagement, massive public delusion and folly about get rich quick schemes, not to speak of world class fraud worthy of an unscrupulous riverboat gambler, perpetrated by our investment banks expressly upon banks and savers/investors in the rest of the world, it seems we are no longer in a position to comfortably point out the socio-political limitations of other countries - e.g. "rule of law", and "respect for property", "incorruptible public servants" and "stable civic institutions", etc.

When you factor in all of the above warts upon the US's public image these days, it requires a bit of chutzpah on our part to offer any advice to other nations about the basic pre-requisites for the status of "advanced economy", no? We may have some of those attributes still, but they are looking really shabby at this time, and they are attributes we inherited from an earlier generation, and have largely pissed away in deluded "get something for nothing" follies. I am not any "hair shirt" kind of guy at all, but I would feel uncomfortable about "offering advice" to any other nation at this time.

Well said.