They proved this by showing that if you drugged a Conservative so he wasn’t able to think, he’d come to the same conclusion as Liberals. So basically, if a Conservative can’t think, he ends up like a Liberal…

that if you drugged a Conservative

John M - not crap but the truth. Can't your 'feel' it?

We have to reduce the regulatory cost of hiring, and doing business, period. Corporate and payroll taxes must be more competitive, and while I don't advocate lowering pollution controls, I think we need to make some value judgements (personally I think we should tax gasoline a lot more to control pollution). The tort system must be overhauled, right now it is too much of a lottery system that is completely out of sync with real damages. Unions have to be tamed also, their cronyism with the Democrats has done as much damage as the Republican's cronyism with corporations. If you don't believe that go visit Detroit.

Your terminology confuses me. How do you define capital? What do you consider the factors of production, and how would you compensate them?

Capital is money or a financial asset invested for the purpose of making more money

Well part of the answer is because a whole lot of people have an entitlement mentality where they just sit around and expect to be provided for

This is drivel.

Many companies employ thousands of people, but never make a profit. I am not sure what "obverse" means, but CEOs are workers also, and they are paid for the work they do. Your argument is also pervaded with the false notion that there is a fixed amount of capital, and one's gain is another's loss. This is usually dispelled in the first 5 minutes of Econ 101.

As far as being entitled to the fruit of your labor, there is no such guarantee under capitalism.

You might have better luck with Socialism (hint: I don't think you will!). Under capitalism, success is a tautology. The successful tend to accumulate the most capital. Why are they successful? Because they accumulate the most capital. Is it fair? Not always. Deal with it or move to Cuba where you can all share in the fruits of your labors (bananas, if you don't get shot picking one).

Yes you're right, Henry Ford creating the middlee class has done irreparable damage to the repub party.

And Detroit can't compete for the same reason that no US business - the cost of health care. Health care reform is the #1 economic imperative. By far the most expensive component of any US-made car is the cost of the health care for the people who manufacture it - something like $5000 per car. That's the union's fault? In repub fantasy world, I suppose it is...

Your solution? Vote repub, so CA can be a failed Red State too!

If not, why is a greater value seemingly placed on fraud and paper shuffling nowadays?

Union membership, as a percentage of the workforce, is at the lowest levels in our lifetimes. The "unions destroyed the economy" canard is completely ridiculous, based on asolutely nothing, and reveals those who parrot that line as uninformed, partisan shills.

The simple fact is, the avg worker's real inflation adjusted income is down since 1973, while the avg CEOs salary is about 4x higher than in that same period.

And in the example John gave, who would think the secretary is justified in feeling resentful that John might have made astronomically more than she did. Was she willing to go to law school? Was she willing to work and slave to build a business? Was she willing to be a grunt as an associate in a law firm and work 80 hours a week to save money to open a solo practice? Unless she IS willing to and has done all the things he has, she has no right resenting what her boss makes.

This is why I can't understand your argument. How does labor produce capital unless the laborer saves? In that case, is the labor producing capital, or is the act of saving producing capital?

And in the example John gave, who would think the secretary is justified in feeling resentful that John might have made astronomically more than she did. Was she willing to go to law school? Was she willing to work and slave to build a business? Was she willing to be a grunt as an associate in a law firm and work 80 hours a week to save money to open a solo practice? Unless she IS willing to and has done all the things he has, she has no right resenting what her boss makes.