Thanks Patricia - and Tara. I enjoy subtlety, and I love when people catch it. 8-D

Dear Margo, I am sure she does love her country - I’m just not sure what her idea of “country” is. Some say that the Alaskan mindset is independent of the country as a whole. She frequently refered to the rest of the country as the “lower 48” - does she know that Hawaii joined the Union? Does she respect that liberals and moderates are legal citizens too? Somehow, I do not see “her” America including all of America.

PS - for all the fact checking going on, I have not heard much about what in her book is actually true. Do you have any feel for how much is true and how much is pointing fingers and making excuses?

Moderate??? In what way is she moderate? She was brought in to appeal to the far right because McCain did not.

I am no socialist, True Git, that’s just the prejudice talking. I have never taken a penny from the government that I have not earned (such as tax refunds) and less than I have been entitled to. I have always paid my way without public assistance. I am a registered Republican who stuck to my principles when control of the party shifted to the far right and made it totalitarian and theocratic. I understand your need to demonize those you disagree with, it is easier and more satisfying than self-reflection.

Much as I prefer capitalism, I still remember that it is an economic model - not a form of government. Under capitalism, businesses bear no responsibility to society or loyalty to country that is not expressly required by law. Here in Minnesota we have a law banning the sale of imported American flags. How pathetic is a country that cannot be troubled to manufacture it’s own symbols of patriotism because domestically produced ones are not cheap enough? What would happen to our national security if businesses were allowed to sell our best military technology to anyone? There is no intrinsic patriotism in capitalism.

A country is more than it’s economic model, and capitalism cannot supply, or be trusted with, or even address, all the needs of a country - nor is it expected to (except by the far right).

Consider Hawaii. In a pure free market, native Hawaiians could not afford to compete with mainland millionaires for real estate. As affordable housing disappeared, so would the workers. No hotel workers, no restaurants, no bus drivers, no airport workers, no port workers, no police, no fire, no tourism, no pineapples, no sugar cane, no state. Complete failure.

Now consider NYC without rent control. Consider Alaska without taxes on oil revenues. The entire state would not be economically viable.

Now let’s try a scenario that is not so hypothetical. Medical students are graduating with enormous debt. They are moving toward specialist and large metro practices because that is where the money is. Individually, not a problem. Overall, it heralds the decline of rural medicine and the family practice. Rural communities have already had to go to considerable effort to attract doctors, but eventually the cost will become prohibitive. How long will rural America last without proper health care? How long could this country last without the rural community?

Capitalism has it’s limitations, and only a fool would ignore them.

“Its just a matter of time before the insurance companies start sending us abroad for cheaper medical procedures.”

Try searching for “Medical tourism” - there is already an entire industry for this.

Your eldest son knows what he is talking about.

When did your son join the millinery?

So, Dear, how long have you known the Mad Hatter?

Two Different Morals!

OLD VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, trying to build his house and lay up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and cuts ant salaries, forecloses on ant houses and ships ant jobs overseas - all for the sake of profits.

Come winter, the grasshopper is warm and well fed.

The ant has no food or shelter or health care, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Being responsible for yourself is not enough! Beware the GrasshOPper!

MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, trying to build his house and lay up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and cuts ant salaries, forecloses on ant houses and ships ant jobs overseas.

Come winter, the grasshopper, who has made mistakes that have cost both ants and grasshoppers, calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and fed while their profits fall.

FOX News shows up to provide pictures of the panicky grasshopper next to a staged video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Limbaugh appears on Beck to represent the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing: “It’s Not Easy Being Rich.”

TeaBaggers stage a demonstration in front of the ant’s house where the news stations film the group singing, “We shall overcome.” Rev. Limbaugh then has the group curse ants for the grasshopper’s sake.

The New York Times and Liz Peek claim that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate salary cut on the ant to make him sacrifice his fair share.

Finally, the grasshopper sabotages the “Employee Free Choice Act” to make sure that the ant remain at the hypothetical mercy of the grasshopper.

The ant is forced to bail out the grasshoppers who fail to hire the ants they expect to sell to. Having nothing left to pay his bills, his home is confiscated by the predatory grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the business-owned ant house, which just happens to be the ant’s old house, crumbles around him because grasshoppers are slumlords.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead because there were no more ants to prey upon and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010.

I forgot nothing, True Git. I rewrote a fiction to expose the prejudices within by reversing them. My purpose was to get people to see that there is more than one perspective, and that the truth lies somewhere between them. By reinforcing the original prejudice, you have clearly foregone seeking the truth.

Every system breaks down when taken to an extreme. The republican party has broken down because it has become a party of extremism. They claim to welcome moderates even while rejecting moderate candidates and turning against those willing to work with the opposition. From “RINO” to “socialist” they prefer to demonize, rather than deal with, those they do not agree with. The country is being torn apart by right-wing extremism. The Democrat party has it’s extremists too, but it bogs down because the party is so inclusive that it is functionally multi-partisan all by itself - it has built-in checks and balances that the GOP does not.

Capitalism is breaking down because it is asocial by nature and has acquired too much power. Their globalization policies are trying to separate the working segment of society from the consumer segment, even though workers are the most important part of the consumer sector. It is stupid and destructive, but it is “good business” for individual companies. All this right-wing anti-worker rhetoric is an attack on one of the fundamentals of the economy that the GOP so incorrectly proclaimed as “sound”, yet is indispensable to economic stability let alone recovery. No business is responsible for the health of the economy, but republicans are determined to leave it in their hands anyway.

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise — with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

Annual Message to Congress — Abraham Lincoln
Concluding Remarks
Washington, D.C.
December 1, 1862

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein

It seemed appropriate. ;-)

Two Different Morals!

OLD VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, trying to build his house and lay up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and cuts ant salaries, forecloses on ant houses and ships ant jobs overseas - all for the sake of profits.

Come winter, the grasshopper is warm and well fed.

The ant has no food or shelter or health care, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Being responsible for yourself is not enough! Beware the GrasshOPper!

MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, trying to build his house and lay up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and cuts ant salaries, forecloses on ant houses and ships ant jobs overseas.

Come winter, the grasshopper, who has made mistakes that have cost both ants and grasshoppers, calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and fed while their profits fall.

FOX News shows up to provide pictures of the panicky grasshopper next to a staged video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Limbaugh appears on Beck to represent the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing: ‘It’s Not Easy Being Rich.’

TeaBaggers stage a demonstration in front of the ant’s house where the news stations film the group singing, ‘We shall overcome.’ Rev. Limbaugh then has the group curse ants for the grasshopper’s sake.

The New York Times and Liz Peek claim that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate salary cut on the ant to make him sacrifice his fair share.

Finally, the grasshopper sabotages the “Employee Free Choice Act” to make sure that the ant remain at the hypothetical mercy of the grasshopper.

The ant is forced to bail out the grasshoppers who fail to hire the ants they expect to sell to. Having nothing left to pay his bills, his home is confiscated by the predatory grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the business-owned ant house, which just happens to be the ant’s old house, crumbles around him because grasshoppers are slumlords.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead because there were no more ants to prey upon and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010.

Did you even read my post?

In general, actual wages for the individual employee go up with the size of the business. You’re just counting paychecks, and not their purchasing power.

Example, using the statistics in your link:
Businesses with less than 500 employees account for 69.23% of jobs, but only 63.68% of payroll.

Granted, it is more than half in both cases, but the phrase “diminishing returns” comes to mind.

Two words: “Magic Wand”
Two more words: “Voodoo Economics”
Last two words: “Wishful Thinking”

Blue skies smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies do I see
Blue birds singing a song
Nothing but blue skies from now on.

Never saw the sun shining so bright
Never saw things going so “right”
Noticing the days hurryin’ by
When you drink kool-aid, my how they fly

Blue states, all of them gone
Nothing but blue skies from now on.

deber, try going back to your statistics and calculate salaries by business size. You will find that smaller businesses consistently pay lower wages. Trading higher paying jobs for lower paying jobs is not a formula for recovery or prosperity - just low-level stability at best. Underemployment is underproductive.

You also need to consider how much of the economy small businesses can realistically support. How many industries have a minimum buy-in or a critical-mass requirement? Economy of scale is not a small business strength.

The big question is: How much of the economy can small business support?

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