"We Did ‘Build That,’ and Our Government Helped" By Jonathan Alter at Bloomberg

[applegrove]

We Did ‘Build That,’ and Our Government Helped

By Jonathan Alter at Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-26/we-did-build-that-and-our-government-helped.html

"SNIP..............................

We all should know that business can’t thrive without an educated workforce and the fair application of the rule of law. Even regulation -- the bogeyman of conservative business interests -- is a necessary condition of a stable business culture. The countries with the least regulation have the most corruption, and vice versa.

.....................................

Republicans in Congress have moved repeatedly to strip away the underpinnings of a productive business environment: When it comes to education, they favor slashing student loans and research funding for higher education; on infrastructure, they oppose many construction and transportation projects that many conservatives supported until recently; on immigration, they oppose comprehensive reform that business backs as essential to a dynamic workforce, and on transparency, they oppose the Disclose Act, which would help expose the kind of crony capitalism that rots society.

The Republican agenda is essentially a down payment on a libertarian America in all areas except defense and national security. (Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, whose budget is the party’s tax-and-spending blueprint, is a longtime devotee of Ayn Rand). Anyone who doubts this should read the Ryan plan, which guts social programs for the poor to pay for another 20 percent tax cut for the rich and does nothing to balance the budget. It passed the House twice and could become law if Romney wins the White House and the Senate goes Republican.

Romney said the president’s gaffes reflected his “strange” views, and supporters such as former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu said such beliefs were “un-American.” In fact, it’s the DIY libertarians -- who deny our 223-year nexus between government and business -- who are out of sync with U.S. history.

................................SNIP"

[tk2kewl]

1. another bookmark to pull out for my wingnut contingent when the time is right

k&r

[Gregorian]

2. I always thought regulation was not to control things, but to keep things from going out of control

I also think that regulations mostly affect conservatives, since they're most likely ones to be out of control.