Patrick Liberty

Reason. Liberty. Self reliance. Capitalism.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

And let's not forget that since we went off the gold standard in the '70s, many things now cost 10x what they did before. So a "billionaire" is really just 100M. Inflation is just another of the many problems large corrupt, wasteful government are guilty of. What $$ they can't tax, they print.

[Rock Chartrand @RockChartrand]

"Without billionaires people would still build, design, teach, produce, sell, and buy things."

True. Just as people produced things before factories, engines, and computers.

The question is whether they would produce nearly as much abundance.

Billionaires didn't create human productivity, but many became billionaires by organizing capital, assuming risks, creating products, and building companies that dramatically increased human productivity.

Amazon didn't eliminate shopping. Apple didn't invent communication. Microsoft didn't invent writing.

They made these things vastly more efficient and accessible.

Wealth is often concentrated because value creation is concentrated, not because a billionaire personally forced millions of people to buy from them.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

Reducing government to the bare minimum is how we prevent fraud and corruption in the first place. The government is not meant to fix problems, grant favors, or influence the economy. Its only purpose should be to protect individual rights: the police to protect citizens' rights, the military to defend us from foreign invaders who would violate our rights, and civil courts to provide recourse against our neighbors without resorting to violence. That is all the government should do. Everything else is a violation of rights.

This would lead to a much smaller government, eliminate most of the power that corrupt politicians crave, and unleash an incredible wave of wealth creation, innovation, and economic prosperity. Sadly, most people lack the imagination to see this.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

And once again Capitalism takes the blame for government intervention into the economy. Govt. rules force companies to offer insurance while royally f'ing up the medical and insurance industry by more and more idiotic rules and regulations. A free market would solve the insurance, and medical industry problems, not more government regulations and rules. Why do people always think the government is here to fix your problems. The primary benefit of western society is to make it easier for individuals to specialize and trade -- nothing more. NO ONE OWES YOU ANYTHING. You are free to ACT to pursue the goals of your life. If you fail to act, you die. Freedom does not mean free handouts from your betters.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

@RealJamesWoods Ayn Rand identified that the cause is the purposeful destruction of the mind by the school system (and culture deteriorates as a result). The public school system is a concrete bound mess where people do not learn how to think using a proper conceptual, hierarchical method.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

Correct. Most people put the cart before the horse and fail to look at cause and effect or have it reversed. Abject poverty was the norm for all humans until just a few hundred years ago. Children worked (and starved) on a farm, and if lucky, could work in a factory. Life was hard. It was freedom for the individual, and Capitalism (the cause) rose the masses out of poverty (the effect).

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

Hey Rathbone. Bezos owes you nothing. Bezos owes me nothing. Bezos owes society nothing. Government should not be able to distribute ANY of our money. Bezos' money is invested (making wealth) which makes the lives of the small minded people like you much better. Who makes the yachts? Who runs them? Who supplies them? Who repairs them? It is all is part of a large network of wealth creation available ONLY with Capitalism. Individuals working toward their OWN ends. That is the nature of man. At the end of the day, all Jeff can do is eat food slightly better than yours, sleep in a bed slightly more comfortable, access the same world of knowledge just like you, and otherwise, die just the same as you. The difference is that people like him have provided all this wealth to the common man. You live like a king with very little effort because of men like Jeff. His legacy is one of process improvement, innovation, and wealth creation on a massive scale that will benefit mankind (as a happy accident) for the foreseeable future. This is true of Elon Musk and any other billionaire that clearly are the BEST AT CREATING WEALTH which helps everyone. They did not steal the money. People handed it over to them happily! Open up your tiny mind to the possibility that you have it wrong. You agree with your commie professors... How original. Stop hurting your country. Jeff is a far better man than you.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

Sadly, childlike would be much better... Children understand self interest. The dingbats you're speaking of have been brainwashed by the school system, which in turn leads to leftist media, Hollywood etc. They were never taught to think conceptually, only in small isolated concretes. Read "Teaching Johnny to Think" https://t.co/rNEJWGl3LA will explain how bad our educational system is, and what a proper education would look like.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

How did Americans vote for and allow politicians to defraud us, waste our money, print more of it until it's worth almost nothing and then genius here think it's the corporations fault? Why don't you open a pizza stand next door and charge $5? Why? Because you can't or you would be out of business in a week. The reason the price doubled is because they doubled the money supply. That is the definition of inflation.

The reason prices are high is because we left the gold standard over 50 years ago and government wastes or steals about half of what we are forced to pay in taxes, and prints the rest (which is why they wanted to go off the gold standard)... Government intervention into the economy is ALWAYS the reason.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

James, you may help that guy if you want to. Leave me out of it. Jeff, and the millions working for Amazon, have improved the lives of you and me—and hundreds of millions of people—often multiple times per year, for decades. What has that homeless guy done? Probably nothing, and will no doubt have an avoidable sob story to explain his condition.

I reject your premise that I owe him anything.

Civilization exists to allow for specialization and trade that benefit rights respecting individuals. As a happy accident, Capitalism raises the standard of living for everyone, even the poorest.

Knocking billionaires down knocks all of us down.

Spend your own money and time if you wish to help. I suspect all you've ever done is talk, and you really just want others to do it. This way you can pat yourself on the back and tell yourself you are “good” for “caring” about the poor, all while misunderstanding what good actually is.

In addition, most (probably more than half) of our tax money is wasted on fraud and waste... If we had a proper government (about a tenth the size), we would all have so much extra money that churches, mutual aid societies, and other charities would EASILY cover all truly "needy" cases.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

And Ayn Rand had it clearer in 1957. Read Atlas Shrugged.

[Gad Saad @GadSaad]

Dr. Sowell got it a long time ago.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

Most people have no imagination so they can't understand the huge tax burden (most is waste and fraud), the huge welfare program (much is admin, fraud and waste), and the huge debt interest (all of which should never have occurred with a balanced budget), and the huge deficit is a huge hidden tax on everything purchased (probably over 30%). It's no wonder why people are struggling. Capitalisms is not to blame. The government and our many of our power hungry, corrupt, reckless leaders are.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

@AidanSimardone This guy should be in a work camp paying the company off for the REST OF HIS LIFE, and not be allowed to use toilet paper.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

@CherokeeOwl She should be punished, but how about murderers that walk free because they are unfit to stand trial. Our judges are compromised. Corruption is everywhere.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

@MattWalshBlog Gavin is certainly a fool, but the principle here is regulation. Regulation is wrong. Period. That's what holds up everything. People are presumed guilty. This is an evil notion.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

@PolicyAndP0wer @elonmusk I laugh at all these small minded fools. Once insurance rates plummet for cars that are self driving (and increase for human driven cars), all the Johnny six packs of the world might then consider changing their minds.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

@elonmusk Any my guess is that most of the Tesla accidents are other human drivers causing the crash or unsafe conditions.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

While I normally agree with you Matt, "WE" have no right to dictate what other individuals do or use as long as it does not violate the rights of anyone else. I'm not sure how using AI violates any other individuals rights. What you are suggesting seems very collectivist/leftist to me. I agree that it could be bad, but so is alcohol, or heroine, or eating too much sugar. But sans me being forced to take care of people who abuse themselves, what right do I have to stop them? I'm not saying using AI in all it's forms is moral in the sense of whether it's right or wrong for an individual, and I do agree with you there (I think it can be harmful in a number of ways) but it's not for "us" to stop it.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

@MrPitbull07 If you start it, you pay the price. He deserved it. Initiation of force is EVIL. Retaliation is the good.

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

@SecWar Thank you Pete. Great job!

[Patrick Liberty @BaconMats]

@elonmusk I've heard of wag the dog, but isn't this a bit on the nose?