Prickly City by Scott Stantis for December 23, 2012

Oh god, Stantis what plane of reality do you live on?

I don’t get it…

It isn’t really that hard. Carmen represents conservatives and Winslow liberals. Carmen is overwhelmed by the defeat of the Republican candidate and the the seeming defeat of the remaining Republicans on the “Fiscal Cliff” issue. Liberals on the other hand, think they have a mandate to turn the country into the socialist utopia they have been threatening to do for the last 50 years. GO GET THEM CARMEN!

Yeah, like the Scandinavian countries and Switzerland. All of which have a far higher standard of living than we in the US do.

And at the same time they have an excellent private industry that makes and sells many good things, and that is even called capitalism. Fancy that…..

@John Robillard—Yup; higher standard of living, better healthcare at a lesser % of GDP, more education, smaller infant mortality rate, longer life expectancy—who would want to live in a socialist hell like that???

So, John R. and Andy, please discuss Greece. (I’ll let you off the hook on the USSR, for now.)

@John R and jfb. I like utopia’s period.

You “Utopia” lovers better lay off the “roll yer owns”.

Scott typically can be quite thoughtful even when we might not agree. This, however, is pure stupid.

interestingly enough, Scandinavian countries are also very homogenous unlike our diverse set of ethnic backgrounds. Easier to do when everyone is on the same page and from same background.

@cecee re: GreeceThe biggest problem Greece faces is that their currency is controlled in Berlin and Paris. But understanding what that has to do with debt crises would entail knowing things about fiscal/monetary policy, the tools available to central banks to control fiscal policy, and fiat money. These are complex subjects beyond the scope of a message board post. And the deficit hawks deliberately lie about the subjects to create artificial crises to forward their agendas. So they are hard subjects to research and gain an understanding of, as there is a lot of disinformation out there. Greece’s other big problem is lack of ability to collect the taxes owed. Another issue beyond the scope of this forum.

That said, Stanis is, again, and as usual, distorting the position of those on the US left to demonize his political enemies. This is called the Straw Man Fallacy, and is one of the classics of dishonest argumentation.

Sweden’s corporate income tax rate is significantly lower than the US’.

@CeCee—in Greece you have a case of MASSIVE national tax avoidance and virtually NO enforcement. They keep clashing with Germany—EXPECTED to bail them out—without conceding that anything has to change. Hmmm; national tax avoidance with virtually NO enforcement…what does THAT remind me of?