“It was you that got us into this mess, (no, Obama responsible for less than 20% of total federal debt; debt ceilings are typically raised with no political attachments) and it was you who wanted a $2.4 trillion dollar blank check (Not a blank check — he can only spend money that Congress — that place you go to work, Michelle, appropriates) to get you through the election (it doesn’t do that, because he’s got to certify another increase before the elction). Everywhere I travel across the country, Americans want less spending (on defense, which you’re opposed to cutting, not on Medicare and Social Security, which you’re for cutting), lower taxes (except the 70% of Americans who are OK with raising taxes on those who make over $250k)  to create jobs (please show me the link between taxes lower than these and jobs — and if this is about jobs, did you stop to think that spending cuts may cost jobs), and they don’t want us to raise the debt ceiling.”

But, over the past century or so, new regulatory initiatives have inevitably been greeted with predictions of doom from the very businesses they eventually helped. Meatpackers hated the Meat Inspection Act of 1906, but it rescued the industry from the aftereffects of the publication of “The Jungle.” Wall Street said that the creation of the S.E.C. would demolish stock trading, but the commission helped make the U.S. the world’s most liquid and trusted stock market. And bankers thought that the F.D.I.C. would sabotage their industry, but it transformed it by effectively ending bank runs. History suggests that business doesn’t always know what’s good for it. And, at a time when Americans profoundly distrust the financial industry, a Warren-led C.F.P.B. could turn out to be the friend that the banks never knew they needed.

I bolded the key line above. Yes, businesses are often driven by smart, innovative, industrious  people who create value by their wit and work. But, more often than not, successful business people underestimate the role of luck, of being in the right place at the right time on their success.

Tort reform as a GOP issue actually has nothing to do with controlling health care costs. It has everything to do with removing money from malpractice attorneys, who are large benefactors of Democratic candidates. To a lesser extent, its also about keeping people from using the legal system to hold more powerful people and institutions accountable.

“I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for  mine.”

Bible:

“Those who love  their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will  keep it for eternal life.”

More here.

My line? Libertarianism is selfishness dressed up as a principle.