How hard is it to make you interviews into mp3 files. I walk a couple of hours a day listening to economics and liberty propaganda. I can't sit here staring at a screen for 42 minutes.
1) Poor people do support the welfare state more than the middle class.
People who receive government expenditures (teachers, etc) are to the left of those that don't controlling for other factors.
The old famously are sensitive to any cuts in Medicare/SS. Even when they vote GOP they make it clear they will punish them if they actually did something about those programs, which is why nothing gets done.
So I don't think "people don't vote in their rational self interest" is quite true. I'd say it's an important factor amongst many.
Does anyone think that say 90% of black people vote Democrat because they think doing so is best for society? It's pretty clear they view it as good for black people.
2) Since the thing that is actually going to bankrupt entitlements is Medical care, fiddling with the CPI measurement isn't going to change that. Medicine has risen faster than CPI for a long time. Efforts to backdoor cut the growth rate, say by chaining the CMS trend rate on Medicare Advantage, are attacked the same as any other proposed cut in benefits.
3) The proper response to the fact that entitlements are going to blow everything up is accept it. Funnel as many resources you can towards ends you believe will benefit the future while you can (say, child tax credits) so that they are available when the reset happens.
Bryan - I note your use of the word “pride” to describe why you do what you do. I’m somewhat neutral on that word in the way that you’ve used it. Actually, I tend not to use it because pride has a negative connotation in some circles. Pride is sometimes seen as self-centered, stubborn and arrogant. For example, “Pride gets in the way” or “Those with too much pride would benefit by being more humble.”
Pride
1. A sense of one's own proper dignity or value; self-respect.
2. Pleasure or satisfaction taken in an achievement, possession, or association.
"parental pride."
3. Arrogant or disdainful conduct or treatment; haughtiness.
Obviously one could point to the dictionary definition and say “I’m using definition 1 and 2, and not definition 3.”
But my feeling is that pride tends to conflate definition 1, 2 and 3, automatically. Thoughts on this?
Alternatives words to pride might be duty (to oneself and others), enlightenment, edification, and responsibility (to oneself and others).
The great thing about pride is that it’s a simple, one syllable word.
Other alternatives to pride might be: generosity, leadership, self-regard, being a person worthy of respect, fulfillment, charity, gratification, learning, growth, self-respect, flourishing, education and religion.
It might be hard for you to use education or religion, but I would encourage you to try because the First Amendment uses that word—“religion.” “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”
If you start using the word religion in a positive or neutral sense, rather than the negative sense that you almost always use it is, then you would be fighting against state funding for secular religions like DEI, climate alarmism, progressivism that have invaded your community.
You might consider using education in a positive sense too, rather than making the case against it.
If your goal is more freedom, especially more educational freedom I would suggest revising your definition of religion in the context of the First Amendment.
How hard is it to make you interviews into mp3 files. I walk a couple of hours a day listening to economics and liberty propaganda. I can't sit here staring at a screen for 42 minutes.
1) Poor people do support the welfare state more than the middle class.
People who receive government expenditures (teachers, etc) are to the left of those that don't controlling for other factors.
The old famously are sensitive to any cuts in Medicare/SS. Even when they vote GOP they make it clear they will punish them if they actually did something about those programs, which is why nothing gets done.
So I don't think "people don't vote in their rational self interest" is quite true. I'd say it's an important factor amongst many.
Does anyone think that say 90% of black people vote Democrat because they think doing so is best for society? It's pretty clear they view it as good for black people.
2) Since the thing that is actually going to bankrupt entitlements is Medical care, fiddling with the CPI measurement isn't going to change that. Medicine has risen faster than CPI for a long time. Efforts to backdoor cut the growth rate, say by chaining the CMS trend rate on Medicare Advantage, are attacked the same as any other proposed cut in benefits.
3) The proper response to the fact that entitlements are going to blow everything up is accept it. Funnel as many resources you can towards ends you believe will benefit the future while you can (say, child tax credits) so that they are available when the reset happens.
Bryan - I note your use of the word “pride” to describe why you do what you do. I’m somewhat neutral on that word in the way that you’ve used it. Actually, I tend not to use it because pride has a negative connotation in some circles. Pride is sometimes seen as self-centered, stubborn and arrogant. For example, “Pride gets in the way” or “Those with too much pride would benefit by being more humble.”
Pride
1. A sense of one's own proper dignity or value; self-respect.
2. Pleasure or satisfaction taken in an achievement, possession, or association.
"parental pride."
3. Arrogant or disdainful conduct or treatment; haughtiness.
Obviously one could point to the dictionary definition and say “I’m using definition 1 and 2, and not definition 3.”
But my feeling is that pride tends to conflate definition 1, 2 and 3, automatically. Thoughts on this?
Alternatives words to pride might be duty (to oneself and others), enlightenment, edification, and responsibility (to oneself and others).
The great thing about pride is that it’s a simple, one syllable word.
Other alternatives to pride might be: generosity, leadership, self-regard, being a person worthy of respect, fulfillment, charity, gratification, learning, growth, self-respect, flourishing, education and religion.
It might be hard for you to use education or religion, but I would encourage you to try because the First Amendment uses that word—“religion.” “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”
If you start using the word religion in a positive or neutral sense, rather than the negative sense that you almost always use it is, then you would be fighting against state funding for secular religions like DEI, climate alarmism, progressivism that have invaded your community.
You might consider using education in a positive sense too, rather than making the case against it.
If your goal is more freedom, especially more educational freedom I would suggest revising your definition of religion in the context of the First Amendment.
https://open.substack.com/pub/scottgibb/p/religion-education-and-identity?r=nb3bl&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Or in the words of Milton Friedman.
https://open.substack.com/pub/scottgibb/p/the-wisdom-of-the-first-amendment?r=nb3bl&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Or Martin Luther King, Jr.
https://open.substack.com/pub/scottgibb/p/mlk-jrs-perspective-on-religion?r=nb3bl&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Or Thomas Sowell and statistics lingo.
https://open.substack.com/pub/scottgibb/p/type-i-and-type-ii-errors-of-the?r=nb3bl&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post