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The Market Works... Yeah, Right...
May. 3rd, 2010 10:59 amMany regular readers will know of my many and varied problems with Rand Simberg. One of the things I really have a problem with are his vehemently pro-market views - for example, he just called anybody who thinks that government investment can help the economy to be an "economic dolt"
Not liking that description, I feel I must snark at this post.
I've noticed that some of the most aggressively pro-market people on the internet don't actually appear to be all that successful when it comes to making good use of the market. While I admire their resilience at believing something that so patently isn't working for them, I have to wonder at the thought processes that drive them there.
It's certainly a factor I've seen in other libertarians that they don't like taxation because they feel that they're paying too much, and I've seen them getting really narked at the comments by billionaires that they probably should pay more tax. There's a good chance, if Rand is anything to go by, he is paying a lot of tax relative to his income. He probably struggles with his healthcare too. That doesn't mean that taxation is wrong, nor that some people can afford to pay a lot more, nor that its a problem for the rest of us to help pick up his healthcare tab.
I might think the guys online persona is wonderfully vile, but that doesn't mean I don't feel compassion for him as a human being.
Naturally, there are limits to my compassion. It's not good that he's struggling with his space business and consulting work. But that doesn't make him any less of a hypocrite toad for the amount of money he has made contracting for businesses that make buckets of government money.
If you are going to impose your politics on me, the very very very least you could do is live by your own standards. Except, government money appears to be fine when it's your family you want to feed...
Not liking that description, I feel I must snark at this post.
I've noticed that some of the most aggressively pro-market people on the internet don't actually appear to be all that successful when it comes to making good use of the market. While I admire their resilience at believing something that so patently isn't working for them, I have to wonder at the thought processes that drive them there.
It's certainly a factor I've seen in other libertarians that they don't like taxation because they feel that they're paying too much, and I've seen them getting really narked at the comments by billionaires that they probably should pay more tax. There's a good chance, if Rand is anything to go by, he is paying a lot of tax relative to his income. He probably struggles with his healthcare too. That doesn't mean that taxation is wrong, nor that some people can afford to pay a lot more, nor that its a problem for the rest of us to help pick up his healthcare tab.
I might think the guys online persona is wonderfully vile, but that doesn't mean I don't feel compassion for him as a human being.
Naturally, there are limits to my compassion. It's not good that he's struggling with his space business and consulting work. But that doesn't make him any less of a hypocrite toad for the amount of money he has made contracting for businesses that make buckets of government money.
If you are going to impose your politics on me, the very very very least you could do is live by your own standards. Except, government money appears to be fine when it's your family you want to feed...
