Liberal Forum

Cannonpointer » 25 Jul 2014 11:40 am » wrote: I was unaware that you, gooey and glory hole were economists.

Oh wait. Is this one of those global warming things, where you just SAY that all the experts are with you, and pretend the poll happened on my day off?

Y'know, I gotta tell ya, I might need some help from YOU on plumbing the motives of economists - even granting that your unsourced claim is accurate.

Let us say that it is - that the overwhelming majority of economists agree on Singapore being capitalist - and ignoring that I have already conceded the issue, many times, happily crediting capitalism with Singapore's every virtue and flaw. Tell me, would these be the SAME economists who look upon the federal reserve bank and see, rather than a naked emperor, a regal being in splendid attire?

I think that it would - which rather puts their reliability into question, doncha think?

Now, as to Heritage: Heritage is paid to create narratives favorable to the interests of their sponsors. It's called a "think tank," but the employees are not paid so much for "thinking" as they are for producing thoughts that steer the public narrative in the way their sponsors want.

Now, since the peasants in Singapore have not pooled their resources and hired Heritage, their circumstances don't figure in Heritage's rankings. But me and you - we value freedom and human dignity - right? So how the average guy gets treated by government - that matters to US, even if Heritage doesn't take it into account, right?

Now, if your position is - as mine - that laissez faire capitalism leads to violent exploitation and enormous underclasses, then I can see why it's important to you that I fully acknowledge Singapore's status as a purely (or very nearly purely) CAPITALIST nation.

Rest assured that I do, kid. I truly do agree that Singapore is the second purest laissez faire capitalist nation on earth.