Originally Posted by qprogeny79

without delving too far into politics yet again . . . coercive monopolies can only occur under a system that allows government regulation. one company might have a de facto monopoly under laissez-faire at any given time, but that does not preclude companies who make a better product or have a more effective marketing strategy from coming in and gaining market share even with a behemoth as competition. on the other hand, with the force of the government behind it a corporation can essentially do whatever it wants to bully competitors out of business -- all it would need to do is appeal to congress to, er, regulate its competitors out of any chance of profitability. and the only way it can do that is to pour a zillion dollars into congressional campaign funds . . . see below.

the only companies that would want government favors under laissez-faire are the ones that are having the shite beaten out of them by the competition. if we didn't allow that the mediocre companies would fail (as the market says they should) and we would be left only with the successful companies, who again would have no reason to pour funds into the coffers of politicos so long as they didn't negatively interfere with their affairs by . . . er, regulating their business.

so yeah, different strokes.

Originally Posted by qprogeny79

no prob -- now go wrench your hands off in the zinc before you go in the ambalants to the hawspil in anarunnel. jeet? nojew? ok, i'll make you some aigs and wooder, or maybe we can go to litlitlee, but first i have to warsh up in the shar.

Originally Posted by SpectralJulianIsNotDead

True, but allowing business to line congressional pockets with money is a laissez-faire attitude in itself.

As I recall, before good ol' TR the economic system of the US was very laissez faire and it had a ton of problems. The train, oil, and steel industries were disgusting, and progressivism alleviated that. The problem was that progressivists didn't know when to stop and ended up hurting those industries a lot.

Originally Posted by qprogeny79

but it was also just about the greatest period of economic expansion in human history. the major industrialists such as carnegie and rockefeller almost singlehandedly pulling us out of an agrarian, slave-based hierarchy and into an industrial society from whom millions profited (financially and/or through enormous leaps and bounds in the quality of life) has to count for something.

Originally Posted by SpectralJulianIsNotDead

And in the process called in some pinkertons to slaughter underpaid protesting workers.

Originally Posted by qprogeny79

eh? when? maybe they fired them for walking out when they needed them, but no one has a right to a job in the first place. seriously, i'm curious to know if that ever happened. even if murder did occur it would be the fault of a few nutjobs who should have been met with the full force of the law, not with the capitalistic system itself.

Originally Posted by qprogeny79

no prob -- now go wrench your hands off in the zinc before you go in the ambalants to the hawspil in anarunnel. jeet? nojew? ok, i'll make you some aigs and wooder, or maybe we can go to litlitlee, but first i have to warsh up in the shar.

Originally Posted by acousticrock87

For a second there I began to seriously doubt my vocabulary...

Originally Posted by SpectralJulianIsNotDead

These are pickup lines that I have used, guaranteed not to work.

• (in response to "I like your velvet underground t-shirt") Yeah, they are ok.
• .

Originally Posted by umjammer atomsk

My friend recently told me that the mallcore kid's favorite store (hot topic) has started carrying VU merchandise. Time for it go the way of the ramones I suppose.