Is it even worth it?

[Anthony Butler]

Everything in this thread comes down to whether you believe in Socialism or Capitalism....one will have to lose....

Possibly the most idiotic statement on this entire thread... and from a guy who occupies about 50% of the top 10 in that category...

Here's what a prominent Kenyan "Socialist' had to say on this subject:

The free market is the greatest generator of wealth in history. I'm a firm believer in the free market, and the capacity of Americans to start a business, pursue their dreams and strike it rich. But when you look at the history of how we became an economic superpower, that rugged individualism and private-sector dynamism was always coupled with government creating a platform so that everybody could succeed, so that consumers weren't taken advantage of, so that the byproducts of capitalism, like pollution or worker injuries, were regulated. Creating that social safety net has not made us weaker – it's made us stronger. It liberated people to say, "I can move to another state, but if I don't find a job right away, my kids aren't going to go hungry. I can start a business, but if it doesn't work out, I'm going to be able to land on my feet." Making those kinds of commitments to each other – to create safety nets, to invest in infrastructure and schools and basic research – is just like our collective investment in national security or fire departments or police. It has facilitated the kind of risk-taking that has made our economy so dynamic. This is what it means for us to live in a thriving, modern democracy.


Wow...  Practically sounds like Trotsky. Although all that ' encouraging risk' stuff sounds suspiciously like Pat Mucci.

[Lester George]

VK,

Now, after taliking for 90 minutes, TEPaul inspires you with confidence?  Interesting.  Sounds like you have a lot to learn about people, which I maintain you could have done in the first place by finding his contact info and calling him to begin with.  I'm just saying...

Lester

[Kalen Braley]

This thread really encapsulates why I have little faith in the future of America.

If it was just the money thing, and we were at least on good talking terms in a compromising manner, I would have heart.  But given all the factions and sides of each of the two parties are so far apart idealogically, I hold out little hope this country will get back on track.  The few rich/privileged will continue to grow and consume more and more at the expense of everyone else, until utter collapse.

Then again, perhaps I expect too much.  Every great empire in the past has had its rise and eventual fall...why should America be any different!

[V. Kmetz]

RJD,

I'm at the college writing lab, but you get the idea



cheers

vk

[V. Kmetz]

Or maybe this should have gone in the "Best Logo" Thread?

[JR Potts]

VK isn't a phanotm.

If I remember correctly it was he that bailed/failed to show on a round of pre-arranged golf at one of the finest courses in America after being told that he would have to pay a large greens fee.

Again, don't have the time or care enough to perform the search for the actual post.

And to respond to the esteemed Bob Huntley - if anyone is really taking any of this personally, they need to get a real hobby.  I can't imagine anyone is.  The DMs, I can see those being taken personally, but the rest of this is just bluster....which is very common on this site....and quite enjoyable to read if you elect to read it you ask me.  One can always not click on the thread.

[Jud_T]

Kalen,

The really disheartening thing is not one party vs. the other.  It's that half of what each party stands for is complete crap, therefore neither works.  

[Terry Lavin]

This thread really encapsulates why I have little faith in the future of America.

If it was just the money thing, and we were at least on good talking terms in a compromising manner, I would have heart.  But given all the factions and sides of each of the two parties are so far apart idealogically, I hold out little hope this country will get back on track.  The few rich/privileged will continue to grow and consume more and more at the expense of everyone else, until utter collapse.

Then again, perhaps I expect too much.  Every great empire in the past has had its rise and eventual fall...why should America be any different!

Sorry to hear of your pessimism.  If you're thinking of heading elsewhere, you might want to hurry if you're thinking Italy, Greece, Spain or France, just to mention the more prominent teetering economies.  They're serving the dessert course about now.

[JR Potts]

I hear China is telling us that they are still on the upswing.  That could be a place to go?

[RJ_Daley]

VK, I have a wingfoot hat somewhere in my closet, and I've never set foot on the grounds...  

I hope you got some sleep after your last post at 2PM date, now that you are back 8 hours later.  Burning that midnight oil in pursuit of the fine literary arts is so very admirable.  BTW, that looks like a Koch Brothers internet troll room, or maybe a smallish boiler room financial services prospectors hut.  Maybe try a bag over your head and a snapshot w/current newspaper, in front of your most famous university iconic building.

Get some sleep man, you are wearing yourself to a scribes frazzle.  

BTW, if this were a crime and a competent investigator were trying to get to the bottom of it, you know your internet profile and presents along with devices would get a thorough scrubbing, don't you?

[RJ_Daley]

JR, he isn't a phantom, because he didn't show up?  Thanks but I'll believe it when "I" see it, or him!

[V. Kmetz]

RJD



cheers

vk

[Peter Pallotta]

Kalen, Terry - you reminded me of what a long long time hollywood produer said recently. In complaining about how the buiness of film was getting harder and harder, he noted that: "In the old days it was all about greed, which was okay because you could satisfy greed -- you just threw more money at it.  Today it's about greed and EGO, and that's the problem -- you can still satisfy greed, but there's absolutely no satisfying ego!".  Evidence of that is all over this thread....

Peter

[V. Kmetz]

RJD,

I'm with ya man..this is my Master's Thesis on the right, and my other "Master's" thesis  on the left ;)finished last night, submitted tomorrow



and JRP;

it was Fisher's, when they wanted $300 (?) $500 (?) b/c one member of the playing crowd wasn't an "industry" guy - which we could have lied about.  We played a few holes on Hay Harbor (no one there) and beat it off the island

cheers

vk

[Kalen Braley]

Its interesting that the PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain) get mentioned most of the time bad economies are discussed and how "socialism" must have caused it. Yet Capitalism is strangely not to blame for the woes that Japan and the US have had.

I agree with you in large part Peter...the egos and the brainwashing/rhetoric in spite of evidence to the contrary seem to be at epic high levels at the moment.

[Dan Kelly]

Has anyone read this yet?

http://library.wcsu.edu/dspace/bitstream/0/432/1/SPRING+THESIS+for+BRIGGS.pdf

So far, I have taken Mr. Lavin's NFW to heart! But I'm wavering....

[V. Kmetz]

DK,

Yeah that was bandied about yesterday morning...the undergrad thesis from four years ago

RJD

What?  Not even a guffaw?

cheers

vk

[RJ_Daley]

Vinnie, my good fellow, you should be receiving a hand delivered message shortly.  Use the phone numberon the message to call me, if you wish.  Reverse the charges.  I have a writing proposal for you!!! 

[RJ_Daley]

Hey GCA gang, just so you all know, I just had my invited phone conversation with Vinnie.  He is the real deal!!!  I am in deed the proverbial old retired fart copper, deeply suspicious of this and that (perhaps to a flaw) but stilll willing to admit my suspicions of the conspiracy of a literary foil or agent provocateur were unfounded... this time.   

Vinnie and I are now agreed that we are going to meet up at the east coast conference of Young Socialists Legislative Exchange Council this coming month to exchange plans to re-write various State statues and propose legislative initiatives in several vulnerable states to overthrow capitalism as we have known it these recent decades...

See how great this whole networking on GCA.com works out to unite workers of the world!   

This was much more fun of a goose chase than that other hoax played on me at the tour d'Strantz some years ago, with the fictitious invite to Yeaman's Hall.   

[George Pazin]

Its interesting that the PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain) get mentioned most of the time bad economies are discussed and how "socialism" must have caused it. Yet Capitalism is strangely not to blame for the woes that Japan and the US have had.

I agree with you in large part Peter...the egos and the brainwashing/rhetoric in spite of evidence to the contrary seem to be at epic high levels at the moment.

Japan's and the US's problems were not caused by capitalism.

[Dan Kelly]

Hey GCA gang, just so you all know, I just had my invited phone conversation with Vinnie.  He is the real deal!!!

How do we know you're the real deal?

All of this retired cop stuff -- hah! Where's the evidence?

[RJ_Daley]

Holy cripers Dan, now you got me pinching and spanking myself and asking: Is this real, is that real? 

Should I send a similar hand delivered message like I arranged for Vinnie to you too, that fast, to demonstrate the "long arm of the law"?    <---  Sorry for the emoticons you so dislike Dan, but you know we Italian-Irish can't not be overly demonstrative with our emotes, hands or blarney, due to a lack of great grammar!

[Phil McDade]

Hey GCA gang, just so you all know, I just had my invited phone conversation with Vinnie.  He is the real deal!!!

How do we know you're the real deal?

All of this retired cop stuff -- hah! Where's the evidence?

See this (seventh paragraph):

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-26-wisconsin-officers_N.htm

[Peter Pallotta]

Hey GCA gang, just so you all know, I just had my invited phone conversation with Vinnie.  He is the real deal!!!

How do we know you're the real deal?

All of this retired cop stuff -- hah! Where's the evidence?

Indeed!! And for that matter, how about Tom Doak?  Has anyone ever seen him and Clark Kent in the same room together?! And what about you, "Dan"?  I see very little of the "midwest" in you; or how about the so-called "George Pazin", who says he's from Pittsburg and is much beloved there and yet has never called anyone with an offer to play Oakmont!  I know for sure that I'm ME, and that a dollar saved is a dollar earned, and that people who truly care about the downtrodden don't spend all their free hours entertaining the troops here at gca.com...but besides that i know nothing!!

[V. Kmetz]

DK,

I think you're on to something...first questions RJD asked me was whether or not I actually won $65 million dollars, and would I be interested in a round at Yeaman's if I did. He was real unhappy when I showed him my real photo as it turns out we had met before:




  A man was walking down the street when he was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless man who asked him for a couple of dollars for dinner.
 
The man took out his wallet, extracted ten dollars and asked, "If I give you this money, will you buy some beer with it instead of dinner?"
 
"No, I had to stop drinking years ago," the homeless man replied.
 
"Will you spend this on green fees at a golf course instead of food?" the man asked.
 
"Are you NUTS!" replied the homeless man. "I haven't played golf in 20 years!"
 
"Well," said the man, "I'm not going to give you money. Instead, I'm going to take you home for a shower and a terrific dinner cooked by my wife"
 
The homeless man was astounded.  "Won't your wife be furious with you for doing that?
 
The man replied, "That's okay.  It's important for her to see what a man looks like after he has given up drinking and golf."


cheers

vk