30
Jun
2010
Carlin and Hicks
Whoa I’ve never heard this particular Hicks routine. Some kids at the Des Moines C4L event know that after I get two drinks in me, my views are quite similar. (Careful some naughty words sprinkled throughout this. HT2 LRC.)
This is socialist propaganda. You did get that, right?
The anti-rich people part, right? I’m assuming it’s not just socialists who are against assassinations.
I thought it was obvious to everyone that Carlin was basically an economic ignoramus. I think it’s safe to say that when he’s ranting against the “rich”, he’s thinking fixed pie and the rich take 95% of it.
Yuk! Normally I love Carlin but didn’t like this at all. BTW, what was Carlin’s net worth?
I think you guys are misunderstanding him. He is talking about super rich people who game the system and don’t pay taxes–like the newspaper article featuring Geithner when the clip played.
David let’s assume for the sake of argument that some super rich families were totally fine with the imposition of the income tax in 1913, because they knew it would solidify their dominance. E.g. it’s hard for other families to catch up to yours, if you have a billion dollars in 1913 and now there’s a 50% estate tax.
That’s what I think Carlin is talking about. Yes, he is ranting against “the rich” but I don’t think he has in mind Michael Jordan. I think he has in mind literally criminal corporate owners who own politicians and then exempt themselves from the onerous taxes they impose on people much poorer than themselves.
(BTW I’m not saying Geithner is super rich, I’m saying he is a wealthy, powerful person who doesn’t play by the rules he literally enforces on the serfs.)
Those evil consipiring capitalists! We will need more governement to rein in their free marketeering!
What are you talking about? I think if Carlin listed 100 specific things that he thinks “evil rich people” do, you’d condemn 90 of them too.
Bob,
Perhaps, but it’s the 10 out of the 100 that separate the libertarian ancap from the libertarian socialist. And what a difference it is.
If you find me a clip where Carlin says something clearly socialist I’ll agree with you. I think he was a misanthrope and railed against consumerism etc., but I can’t remember him saying the world would be a better place if the government owned everything.
No, I don’t think he advocated for the state. I think he was more of the Noam Chomsky type socialist.
Hicks said it during his newly elected president scenario (and I’m sure we’re both well aware of Hicks’ socialist bent)…big difference between evil rich people and capitalists. I especially liked your anecdote in PIG capitalism about Rockefeller (or was it Vanderbilt?) gladly moving stuff out of a new hire’s office.
Carlin constantly ranted about the vices of consumerism and big business. He merely brushed aside politicians as bunch of puppets, and America being bought and run by the S&P 500.
“We are the proud parents of a child who has resisted his teachers’ attempts to break his spirit and bend him to the will of his corporate masters.”
That’s certainly not what Tom Woods would say about government schools.