@blankfist I know I've told you numerous times about market externalities. Mostly I mention them when we're talking about taxing negative ones, like pollution, but in the case of R&D subsidy, we're talking about subsidizing a positive externality.

R&D doesn't just benefit the company that does the research, it makes us all wealthier, and as such, there should be some sort of offset for a portion of the price.

As for the rest, you're welcome to go start your own country somewhere, but where you live now already has a social contract on how things work. If liberal democracy sounds like tyranny to you, I'm sure you could get asylum in some other more freedom-loving nation. Somalia, say.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. Still, I know myself well enough to know that I would make a bad leader. I'm unstable.

In reply to this comment by Sniper007:
Dude, start your own country. Seriously. You just need a whole lot of self control, since their won't be anyone else to control you. After all, that's what freedom is. Check this site out for some information on the nature of Land (as opposed to the property within the Land).

www.teamlaw.org

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
I'm not in the chorus line of people who usually say "cops are never held accountable," but I am in the chorus line of people who say "cops are rarely held accountable." I stand by that.

I have little faith in our government. All three branches are broken. And Obama is proving himself to be more and more a typical politician these days. So it should be no surprise that law enforcement (a part of the government) would also be broken.

I'm not an anarchist. I'm not a minarchist. I'm not a libertarian. I'm just a pissed-off liberal. Most Americans have gotten lazy, across the entire political spectrum, not watching the government as closely as we should. And we've allowed corporate interests to control the government. But that really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Our vaunted Founding Fathers created our representative democracy, which was designed that way primarily so that the wealthy would have more control than the rabble, so it's basically been that way since the beginning. It only got worse over time, especially when corporations were granted the status of legal personhood by the Supreme Court.

So here we are. Sure, cops get prosecuted for wrongdoing some of the time. Gotta throw the public a bone every once in a while. But the remainder of the time police abuse is allowed to slip through the cracks, just like most cases of white collar crime aren't even investigated, just like most cases of political corruption never see the light of day. Yet we'll send some kid to the big house for possessing a nickel bag. It's all part of the same crippled, disfigured beast.

Can we fix this fucking mess, or is it a hopeless case? I don't know for sure. I want a decent country for my son. Maybe the best thing I can do for him is emigrate, but a lot of other countries are fucked too. (Thank you, Canada, for letting us know that your cops aren't any better than ours.) I still vote, and I still throw a little green at a few political figures and causes I believe in. (Sorry Obama, but don't count on my contribution in 2012.) Still it seems like I'm shoveling shit against the tide, but I feel like I gotta try something. Anything.

So I'm a cycnical bastard. But I think I've got a right to be.>> ^NetRunner:

I'm waiting for the chorus line of people who usually say "cops are never held accountable" to show up and explain to us that they're certain the cops still won't face any punishment for what they did...
Because, by their logic, if the video clip doesn't show Obama personally beheading all six officers, you know nothing will happen because the justice system never, ever works right. Ever.

Dude, start your own country. Seriously. You just need a whole lot of self control, since their won't be anyone else to control you. After all, that's what freedom is. Check this site out for some information on the nature of Land (as opposed to the property within the Land).

www.teamlaw.org

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
I'm not in the chorus line of people who usually say "cops are never held accountable," but I am in the chorus line of people who say "cops are rarely held accountable." I stand by that.

I have little faith in our government. All three branches are broken. And Obama is proving himself to be more and more a typical politician these days. So it should be no surprise that law enforcement (a part of the government) would also be broken.

I'm not an anarchist. I'm not a minarchist. I'm not a libertarian. I'm just a pissed-off liberal. Most Americans have gotten lazy, across the entire political spectrum, not watching the government as closely as we should. And we've allowed corporate interests to control the government. But that really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Our vaunted Founding Fathers created our representative democracy, which was designed that way primarily so that the wealthy would have more control than the rabble, so it's basically been that way since the beginning. It only got worse over time, especially when corporations were granted the status of legal personhood by the Supreme Court.

So here we are. Sure, cops get prosecuted for wrongdoing some of the time. Gotta throw the public a bone every once in a while. But the remainder of the time police abuse is allowed to slip through the cracks, just like most cases of white collar crime aren't even investigated, just like most cases of political corruption never see the light of day. Yet we'll send some kid to the big house for possessing a nickel bag. It's all part of the same crippled, disfigured beast.

Can we fix this fucking mess, or is it a hopeless case? I don't know for sure. I want a decent country for my son. Maybe the best thing I can do for him is emigrate, but a lot of other countries are fucked too. (Thank you, Canada, for letting us know that your cops aren't any better than ours.) I still vote, and I still throw a little green at a few political figures and causes I believe in. (Sorry Obama, but don't count on my contribution in 2012.) Still it seems like I'm shoveling shit against the tide, but I feel like I gotta try something. Anything.

So I'm a cycnical bastard. But I think I've got a right to be.>> ^NetRunner:

I'm waiting for the chorus line of people who usually say "cops are never held accountable" to show up and explain to us that they're certain the cops still won't face any punishment for what they did...
Because, by their logic, if the video clip doesn't show Obama personally beheading all six officers, you know nothing will happen because the justice system never, ever works right. Ever.