Thinking Big & Strong Towns

[TheOneOnly2]

Your thoughts of thinking big businesses should be the norm when it has been proven that big businesses with no check and balances will become Marxist. If we only had small businesses as the norm then the income gap would disappear and we all would have a fair economic system.

I clearly state that I believe that the solution is for government "acting as overseer and regulator". I am a fascist. The mediator between the head and the hands must be the heart..

You American conservatives really need to stop calling everything you disagree with Marxist because its obvious that most of you know very little about Marxism so you do not sound intelligent - you sound like hysterical lunatics. And now you are to the point that you call capitalism Marxism. Unbelievable.

Two of your biggest corporations are McDonalds and KFC. I suppose you small business loving libertarian loons would have preferred they stayed in the hands of the gay couple and Colonel Sanders and never got big. It took an individual or individuals that were thinking big and had the capital or access to it to make those businesses into the multinational corporations that they are today. Thats capitalism not Marxism. Capitalism wants business to succeed not stay small. Capitalism wants the individual or individuals to succeed. If a small business is good enough then it will become big business under capitalism and that is what we should all want. But having the product/idea is not enough - the idea needs capitalist heroes behind the good products and business ideas - and McDonalds and KFC are proof positive of that. The gay men behind McDonalds and Colonel Sanders with his Kentucky fried chicken may have had a good product and model but if the businesses had stayed in their hands I would not be able to walk from where I am right now in a small town in Australia and buy myself some McDonalds or KFC. Would that make you happy? America! Capitalism! You call it Marxism? Jesus Christ.

And its big business that can employ the most people. Its big business that can offer the lowest prices. All business is out to make as much profit from the consumer as they can. My father runs a small business - he has a garage in a small town that sells fuel/gas and oil, batteries and tyres. He hates Bob Jane. He always tells me that Bob Jane is a %$%$. He hates Bob Jane because Bob Jane is a corporation that sells tyres and since they are so big they have the capital to buy tyres in bulk and get them at a low price and then sell them at a low price while still making a decent profit. My dad on the other hand has to sell at a much lower profit margin due to the small volume of tyres he is buying/selling. Bob Jane represents the best combinations. Big business represents the best combinations not small business. If we all had to rely on small business then we would be paying a lot more for our products and services or we would be driving around on cheap Chinese tyres that my dad likes to try to sell to people so he can make some profit. Ha. Do you really want Cheng Shin tyres? Small business owners that cry about big business and want to 'bust the trusts' are just like the Machine Breakers in the Iron Heel chapter I posted above. And consumers that are anti-big business are modern day luddites. And as much as surveys tell us that consumers have a positive opinion of small business and a low opinion of big business it doesnt seem to stop them from shopping at Walmart or buying from Amazon does it? Or Bob Jane. Ha. If not for the low prices that Bob Jane can offer my dad would be charging a lot more for tyres.. Big business offering low prices puts pressure on small business to do the same.

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Fascism is the answer you are looking for.

[Chris]

I live in a small town. And I did mention that Marx spoke of the idiocy of rural life and that I agree. In Australia it is difficult to attract professionals to rural areas like where I live. To encourage doctors the government will offer free accommodation and extra pay which I don't particularly agree with. For specialists though you are likely going to have to travel or wait until you can get an appointment with one that visits periodically. Often someone suffering serious health problem's will have to be helicoptered to a place that has bigger hospital and specialists in emergency. That's one example of the idiocy of rural life. With air travel - and I would encourage the west to invest in bullet trains its not as idiotic to live in small towns as when Marx was around but it still has its problems. It may suit some but it won't suit most.

And I don't understand what exactly you are suggestion. Like I said - its all a bunch of nonsense. What powers do you want local government to have exactly and how will this lead to strong small business in towns? What are you even talking about?

You say you don't understand but you still call "it" nonsense.

[TheOneOnly2]

You say you don't understand but you still call "it" nonsense.

This is exactly like reply in liberalism thread.

[carolina73]

It's not a back-to-the-future proposal, that is, not a proposal to go back in time politically, economically, technologically. You can't do that. It would be a slow, gradual process of returning control to local communities but not reverse technological trends. Everything your second paragraph says.

I get it. I like the idea. I think everyone should live around something green and have a garden. They should live in a community that they feel like they need to contribute personally to instead of the city environment which provides everything from an anonymous source. I know my mayor and have met most of the people on the town council. That's the way it should be for everyone. I grew up in the opposite and it is toxic and anonymous. People voted based on what they saw on commercials.

[Chris]

I get it. I like the idea. I think everyone should live around something green and have a garden. They should live in a community that they feel like they need to contribute personally to instead of the city environment which provides everything from an anonymous source. I know my mayor and have met most of the people on the town council. That's the way it should be for everyone. I grew up in the opposite and it is toxic and anonymous. People voted based on what they saw on commercials.

It need not be a garden, could be a business, just that the business, as a part of the community, would have to answer to that community for its contributions.

[Chris]

This is exactly like reply in liberalism thread.

Sorry, you just don't make much sense to me. You say you don't understand but rather than asking questions you rush off on irrelevant tangents.

[carolina73]

I clearly state that I believe that the solution is for government "acting as overseer and regulator". I am a fascist. The mediator between the head and the hands must be the heart..

Your statement is to vague. It sounds like something a politician would say.

Overseer and regulator can mean anything from assuring public safety (which almost everyone is for) to a socialist style of government control of business.

Manufacturing in Australia was hurt by too much influence of the government in the past. It gave manufacturers more reason to shut down and import as the alternative. We were doing the same in the USA under Biden/Obama.

In terms of McDonalds and KFC examples - Has that really benefited society? People were still going to eat fried chicken and hamburgers and the Mom & Pop stores would hire more people as a group than the chain with the automated bakery. I believe you had the other beef patty plant before China in Australia for McDonalds. I met the plant manager on a flight out of Brazil where the second plant was located. He basically said the threw a cattle in the back, dressed it and then hamburgers popped out the other end with very few humans in the plant.
Are cheap prices the trade off for higher taxes to support the unemployed neighbors?

So I agree that we cannot go back to raising your own cattle but is McDonalds/KFC really a great idea for society?

[TheOneOnly2]

Sorry, you just don't make much sense to me. You say you don't understand but rather than asking questions you rush off on irrelevant tangents.

I asked you what powers you want local government to have. And everything I said was relevant.

[Chris]

I asked you what powers you want local government to have. And everything I said was relevant.

Must've missed that in all the other word salad you posted.

It's not so much power in a government, local or not, but putting power back into society, the family, the church, the neighborhood, the various groups you belong to. That way everyone participates directly in politics atuned to the needs and wants specific to your community.

That doesn't mean communities won't work together for mutual interests. The state and nation wouldn't go away. But government higher up in the hierarchy would be dependent on those institution, organizations, communities and group under them. Power would be inverted.

[TheOneOnly2]

Your statement is to vague. It sounds like something a politician would say.

Overseer and regulator can mean anything from assuring public safety (which almost everyone is for) to a socialist style of government control of business.

Manufacturing in Australia was hurt by too much influence of the government in the past. It gave manufacturers more reason to shut down and import as the alternative. We were doing the same in the USA under Biden/Obama.

In terms of McDonalds and KFC examples - Has that really benefited society? People were still going to eat fried chicken and hamburgers and the Mom & Pop stores would hire more people as a group than the chain with the automated bakery. I believe you had the other beef patty plant before China in Australia for McDonalds. I met the plant manager on a flight out of Brazil where the second plant was located. He basically said the threw a cattle in the back, dressed it and then hamburgers popped out the other end with very few humans in the plant.
Are cheap prices the trade off for higher taxes to support the unemployed neighbors?

So I agree that we cannot go back to raising your own cattle but is McDonalds/KFC really a great idea for society?

Well not everyone is I'm favour of regulation - Elon Musk for example pushes hard for business to be able to self regulate. He wants Tesla and Space X to be able to self regulate. That's why its interesting that Pfizer etc are pushing for government to share responsibility on vaccine safety/accountability. Government regulation is not only in the interest of the consumer but also the public. When Elon Musk has a Space Z rocket explode during a private space flight its best if its not all on him right. Especially since he is carrying all the eggs.

McDonald's and KFC represent progress. In Australia we have touch screens to order at pretty much all McDonald's restaurants which means less staff. This may mean less jobs but it also means progress. The goal should be for machines to be out slaves not unskilled workers. What McDonalds is doing is helping us reach the point that we can reduce the hours in a full-time working week - this is already happening in parts of Europe. But even though big business is using technology that requires less workers they still employ more people - and progress may make some jobs obsolete but it also creates new types of employment opportunities.

Manufacturing in Australia died because Paul Keating removed tarrifs on imports. That is main reason. Government interference is corporate welfare like paying Holden millions each year to keep a few thousand jobs in country? One World Currency and One World Government ensuring equal awards is solution to off shoring and because of capitalist progress we are moving in that direction. My battery is running out.

Edit - Oh yeah - yes cheap prices are trade off - at some point we will not only have reduced working week but we will need to pay dome type of living wage. Its up to someone to convince capitalists that this is in their best interest. Best way is to give them the credit.