Posts by Justin James10

brightpilot6 said:The myth of the elite technician, the high-society academician, the staunch communist, state control, the old comrades, the Warsaw Pact, privatization, liberalization.

It sounds remarkably like a campaign platform from a midwestern Republican strategist.

Oh sure, if we're pairing conservatism with liberalization, then anything goes! 👏

Come on, tell us more about Scandinavian socialism—that favorite little leftist myth of yours! 🍿

brightpilot6 said:It seems someone has been reading "How to be an American liberal for Dummies."

I find myself missing the term "statism"; doesn't it carry a certain scientific weight?

I love it when you all get so worked up over specific keywords!☕

ruggedjackal46 said:You're basically fighting ghosts in your own head.

I assume you mean class enemies? 🙂

ruggedjackal46 said:What "liberal circles" are we even talking about here? And what "mantras"? Look, Poland is a Catholic state, plain and simple. You can't just obsess over a country's GDP while they're actively moving toward banning abortion entirely—including cases where the fetus has severe abnormalities. It doesn't quite add up, does it?

If Americans want such laws, then where is the issue, friends? 🤷 Why shouldn't the forces of some massive international alliance step in to prevent these kinds of ideological shifts? 🤷

Oh sure, let's ignore the GDP and instead focus on... what? Some vague, intangible feeling of leftist influence? 🤷

Can you actually teach leftists how democracy works? 🕺

Look, we all know exactly who was behind the blast, and yet the media still refuses to address the reality here in America: journalists getting caught up in explosions just a few hundred yards from the heart of the government, and somehow, it goes completely unpunished. Why does the full truth of that case remain buried?

Lately, it seems like the trendy thing to do in liberal circles is to constantly harp on about how backwards and Catholic Poland is. Sure, they say it's "stuck in the past," but how can they claim that when a country like Poland is actually leading the way in so many areas compared to us? 🙏

brightpilot6 said:The point isn't about celebrating the violence against reporters over there, but rather acknowledging that the public consciousness is actually sharp enough to drive massive protests into the streets. Is it really all just a pattern, or are we ignoring the fact that people are finally standing up?

So, are we the shining beacon of liberty while they represent a total empire of darkness?🤔

ruggedjackal46 said:Look, I’m not some kind of idiot who’s going to sit here and gloat over a journalist being killed in any country just because we're having a debate on a forum. But I find it hard to believe a nation is doing fine when 45,000 people take to the streets demanding the resignation of the administration over a reporter's death. There is something fundamentally broken under the surface there.

So, which journalist was killed in the States? If it's truly "business as usual," why don't you give me a few names.

Pukanić and Franić were blown up by a bomb right in the heart of the capital city.😉

They’re calling for resignations because it was such a massive shock to them, whereas here, nobody even gives it a second thought. That said, investigative journalism in the States has practically vanished. Who would actually want to go up against our local organized crime syndicates?

ruggedjackal46 said:Compared to Poland and Canada? Sure, maybe. But even in Slovakia, you had about 45,000 people out in the streets just a few days ago demanding the government step down over the murder of a journalist. Are you actually following what’s happening in those countries? Have Estonia and Slovakia gone through any massive liberal shifts, and if so, what kind of results are they actually seeing? Or are you just cherry-picking nations that happen to sound a bit more polished than the US?

Oh, I’m watching, believe me—and by comparison, we look like a developing nation. Seriously, compared to them, we’re practically stuck in the dark ages regarding infrastructure!

All this "it's just how things are in Eastern Europe" talk—claiming that because journalists get killed and organized crime runs rampant in places like Slovakia, it makes us equal? What have you been sleeping through for the last twenty-plus years? 👏 In our neck of the woods, nobody even bats an eye when stuff like that happens because, unfortunately, it’s become the status quo.

What are the population counts for Estonia and Slovakia? 🍿

Honestly, it feels like Poland is basically turning into a fourth Reich, while we remain this incredible oasis of freedom and democracy. 🙏

I find it honestly fascinating how everyone else seems to have figured it out—the Poles, the Estonians, the Irish, the Slovaks, the Romanians... just about everybody but us! 🙏 🙏 🙏

But hey, whatever. As long as we can still enjoy a good life here, who cares what the cost is? We’ve got our family heirlooms and everything we need right here at home. 👋

Honestly, we need to take these greedy corporate vultures out back and shoot them all! ☕

Comrades, it’s high time we embraced collectivization and nationalization. Just look at the mess we're in—can't you see how much damage the selfish interests and pure greed of these capitalists have caused us? 🧐

That’s exactly my point when I talk about shell companies. Nobody actually cares about turning a profit in these scenarios. The whole objective is just a massive shell game—usually to serve some political agenda, no matter what you call it—and to buy social stability by creating jobs. At its core, it functions more like a government welfare program than actual business.

It’s the same story in American agriculture, where billions of dollars vanish into those infamous federal subsidies. Sure, production numbers look huge, but all they’ve really done is create an entire class of people dependent on that specific type of handout (alongside a tiny inner circle of elites who are busy skimming off the top). Does anyone actually care about the market logic behind these "subsidies"? Not really; the main goal is simply to drain the federal treasury dry.

wiredfalcon2 said:So what, we gotta sit around waiting for aliens to drop in and run a legit privatization process for us?

Haha, very funny!

Honestly, even standard privatization would be plenty. We don't need government guarantees, direct orders without any bidding process, or those shady ownership structures. Take a company like General Motors—it isn't truly privatized in the way people think, you know?

brightpilot6 said:I have to agree; there is absolutely no point in having these kinds of debates without at least half a bottle of wine in your system, leaning over a singed tablecloth to stare someone right in the eye and shouting nicotine-stained spit into their face while asking if they’ve actually bothered to look at the homeless population in the US ☕

Because that is usually how he ends up dragging you and every other leftist straight into the gutter.

Well, there’s no substitute for barroom philosophy, is there? 🙏

He’d probably just swap the wine for whiskey anyway. ☕

The big shipyards were basically "privatized" just to satisfy some bureaucratic red tape from overseas regulators, nothing more than a way to keep the higher-ups happy. In reality, they’re still living off government guarantees. If you look at the situation in places like Savannah or Mobile, things are supposedly heading toward privatization, though the leadership there keeps whining about state subsidies and cutting deals behind closed doors—I know plenty of engineers who work for them, including some former colleagues of mine. As for the major yards out East, those are first-class scams. It’s like one yard swallowed another and then claimed it was a private takeover. Who actually owns these companies? The whole thing is incredibly murky. It looks like most of the ownership sits with certain players who used shell companies to siphon off the very funds the government was pumping in, using that cash to buy up the majority stake. At the end of the day, they’re all just living off the taxpayers. That is how you handle shipyard privatization the American way.

wiredfalcon2 said:Alright, fine. But how exactly do you think a weak government is supposed to take down some billionaire who’s basically doing whatever the hell he wants?

To be more precise, we should call it a "minimalist" state. After all, legal certainty is one of the absolute pillars of capitalism, isn't it? And that level of stability requires an efficient government—if not a strong one, at least!

I’m not necessarily calling for a massive, overreaching government; I just believe it should focus on its actual purpose rather than trying to run a fertilizer plant.

ruggedjackal46 said:Look, politicians sell themselves through election campaigns just like anyone else. The fact that the biggest winners are usually the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, the Bridge, or Live Wall—and that the most successful talking points revolve around stuff like historical revisionism, old-school partisans, LGBTQ+ rights, or gender ideology—really tells you everything you need to know about the kind of "market" we’re dealing with here. Why is it that political success is seen as proof that the public is just a mindless herd, yet market success is treated as evidence of some kind of superhuman entrepreneurial genius?

I honestly don't get what you're driving at... Is it the implication that America is successful, or are you actually trying to compare Elon Musk's measurable global achievements to the constant bickering of Americans every four years? What on earth is the point?

ruggedjackal46 said:The eternal issue in America is that nobody ever builds massive wealth purely through talent in a fair market. I mean, credit where credit is due to the young Tesla visionary, but let’s be real: his entrepreneurial success wouldn't exist without the massive initial capital provided by an older Tesla figure.

Then there's the bigger question: why do we act like "market skills" are somehow more virtuous than "ballot box skills"? At the end of the day, both involve the same group of people making the calls—the only difference is one group is dropping cash while the other is dropping votes.

Wtf 🤣

Are you seriously suggesting that voting is just another way of exercising market power? 😲

Paul Sanders5 said:Look, the government actually has enough cash to fund the stuff that keeps this country running smoothly. They’re sitting on a mountain of money.

Instead of dumping $33 per person—and I'm just making that number up—into the pockets of Amtrak, they should be pouring it into healthcare, schools, the police, or firefighters. Honestly, just give it to whoever makes the country actually function. I’m not out here begging for a tax cut just so I can pocket an extra few bucks; if that money goes toward essential services, fine by me. But spending it on railroads, massive fuel subsidies, or pro athletes? Give me a break. Let them automate the toll booths on the interstate instead of having some guy sitting there collecting pennies all shift, and so on and so forth.

But since we all know they aren't going to fix any of that, they might as well just leave $33 to me. I'll drink it, eat it, smoke it, whatever. It's mine, and I'll do what I want with it.

Listen, my friend, let’s get one thing straight: that isn't your money—it belongs to all of us! 🧐

How on earth is someone like Stipe—who was essentially handed his position by his dad, Luka—supposed to maintain his lifestyle at a bottomless money pit like Amtrak if the government isn't busy lining his pockets? $33How exactly is Stipe’s little boy going to manage? 🙂