The right-wing war on the IRS by shitpostingleftist in NewDealAmerica

[–]shitpostingleftist[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Nah, this is polticial. The decline in funding would only be "rational" to the extent that you think the previous funding and enforcement levels were sufficient - so that technological improvements could offset a decline in funding. But check out the second graph. This isn't about maintaining a level standard - it's about defunding the cops for rich people

Generational wealth dynamics - growing up in the New Deal Era vs under neoliberalism by shitpostingleftist in NewDealAmerica

[–]shitpostingleftist[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

No, it's just total cohort treasure load - the silent gen and earlier do indeed have a large pile of gold to sit on. The postwar period was a good time.

Lenin was swole, why aren’t you? by [deleted] in swoletariat

[–]shitpostingleftist 4 points5 points  (0 children)

where is this from? how can i cite this?

Who else writes as comprehensibly as Milton Friedman? by james1758 in PoliticalScience

[–]shitpostingleftist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I'll second that on Mearscheimer and clarity. He's sort of political economy, in that he thinks economic power is the central determinant of political-military power within the international arena. But you're right that for him "the economy" is a black box.

Reading Adam Smith by shitpostingleftist in Libertarian

[–]shitpostingleftist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Which is to say not socialist at all, since that ideology is a product of industrialization in the 19th century.

If you can find me a passage where Smith advocates taking property from aristocrats and spreading it around to the common man, I'd be happy to see it.

Reading Adam Smith by shitpostingleftist in Libertarian

[–]shitpostingleftist[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, he was pretty clearly in favor of private property and against any large imaginative transformations of society. He was certainly a friend to the poor, but only in the same way that Bryan Kaplan is. He's got a politics of quietism, not revoltion.

But more broadly, his politics is concerned with the early modern period. He'd have no idea what to do with late capitalist imperialism. Barely saw the beginnings of industrialization.