america before ther nanny state

Discussion in 'Economics' started by zdreg, Nov 19, 2011.

was america a better place to live before the nanny state?

  1. yes it was

    31 vote(s)
    75.6%
  2. no it was not

    5 vote(s)
    12.2%
  3. not sure

    5 vote(s)
    12.2%
  1. You brought up a great point. We should definitely get rid of national defense as well, since that is probably one of our biggest "nanny state" programs.

    How much did Iraq cost again? Man, what a waste.

    In fact, "Nanny State" is probably being a bit conservative. I'd coin some sort of mental condition instead.

    $1 trillion+ could have been saved and put in our piggy bank.
     
    #11     Nov 19, 2011
  2. Probably one of the best points of the article.

    Exactly. What in the world is a color TV doing in their living room? Apparently they didn't get the memo that they could just finance it and default on the payments instead. Similar to what the "rich" did when we gave them the $700 billion bailout.

    This is why I don't argue about this shit. Yet idiots like the OP chose to do it because they don't know any better. There's always a guilty party somewhere so it's probably good to just keep your mouth shut.
     
    #12     Nov 19, 2011
  3. color TVs serve the essential function of mass control
     
    #13     Nov 19, 2011
  4. It's nice to be one of the privileged and actually have a choice.
     
    #14     Nov 19, 2011
  5. Most of the shows on TV nowadays are crap. I cancelled my cable 6 months ago, and just rent shows and movies on Netflix. Can't beat the old shows like All in the Family and Three's Company.
     
    #15     Nov 19, 2011
  6. zdreg

    zdreg

    thanks. there is no need for me to be part of the masses. I will take my B & W TV out of the closet.
     
    #17     Nov 20, 2011
  7. Since the FED live expectancy has basically doubled.

    :)
     
    #18     Nov 20, 2011
  8. Funny. The usual nostalgia for a past golden age that never actually existed, except of course in the mind of the person doing the writing.
    Just to take one for instance: polio was eradicated only in the fifties. There are still a few people walking around (kind of) today who were disabled by the last polio epidemic.
    The administering of the vaccine to eradicate it was mandated by that horrible nanny state.
    I could multiply examples forever, but really all you have to do is go take a look at the actuarial tables to see the effects of things like early vaccinations, mandatory schooling, anti-child labor and sweatshop laws, housing codes, and all the other things people just take for granted, as if it were as natural as the Sun rising in the East that most children born today would make it to their fifth birthday intact and in good health.
    Except that didn't just happen. It happened because someone thought to make it happen, and then did, mostly by getting the state to step in and stop the diseases (whenever the advance of medical science made it possible) or the practices that would otherwise have kept us attending the funerals of children more frequently than we do those of people who died old.
     
    #19     Nov 20, 2011
  9. the Red Cross shows up to help at almost every disaster worldwide. With everybody talking about cuts in medicare and social security, why are they not also talking about cutting the Red Cross? It must cost a fortune to do all they do.
     
    #20     Nov 20, 2011