Me no am sure what that make me think say.

Oh, come on! You hacked into Townhall.com and planted that story just so you could make fun of it! There’s no way anything that side-splittingly hilarious could have been actually written by Ben Shapiro. Cool Hand Luke, for fuck’s sake!

And I kept waiting for Bill, his dream of owning his own business dashed by Herman’s price-fixing, and forced to take a lower paying job at Bob’s Walmart, to buy a machine gun and mow down Herman and all his customers at the fruit stand.

By the way, I started laughing uncontrollably at

‘Employment’ plays a ‘role’ in the ‘economy’? And here we thought ‘government make jobs programs’ was is good make thing, but not: make fact true is really make: all worlds is stage and all hobos and bums makely players.

and didn’t stop until I reached the end. Bravo, sir. I go to bed a happy man.

See there magic in pryvit sector jobz. Much ju-ju, plenty good. Bill and Herman be friends and fix prices so fruit now $3.

Wow, they’ll really publish just about anything over there, huh?

First he says that everyone supports the part of the bill that creates road construction jobs but in his last stupid example, he says that it’s wrong to create road constuction jobs because no one actually supports creating roads.

Someone should explain to him that free government roads allow Mr Walton to get his foreign made products to market cheaper – allowing him to undercut his Mom & Pop competition and put them out of business. I’m sure that will make him change his mind.

Now, certain people in New York may benefit from the new road. But they would rather have spent their cash on a new car, or a new computer, or a new business.

Seriously. Because what people want is to drive their brand new car for 20km across a muddy field to get to the computer shop, where the computer will cost approximately 4x what it does now because shipping costs went up ever since they stopped building roads. The computer will be used to set up a new business whose employees won’t be able to get to work (no roads, and presumably no public transport) and whose clients won’t be able to visit the office. It’s a courageous vision of the future.

Ben’s writing has sure gone downhill ever since he started getting one night of passionless sex a month.

Now, certain people in New York may benefit from the new road. But they would rather have spent their cash on a new car, or a new computer, or a new business.

There’s a connection here, I know it. I just can’t articulate what it is. Road, car. Car, road…

No, wait, I lost it. Oh well.

In Soviet Russia, job finds you.

Magan McArdle makes an idiot of herself on bloggingheads on the same subject, apparently convinced that no one who works for the gov’t. has a “job.”

The question here: How does she still have a job?

…pork barrel social welfare spending…
It took me a good paragraph to get my eyebrows back down where they belong after reading that. Yup, keeping the general populace from dying of curable disease or starvation, preventing the need for new Hoovervilles throughout the former manufacturing centers of the country, that sure would be a pointless waste of money. Goddamn, I hate this mindset.

Hey, whut jist hoppen?

Did the intarwebs explode? Or just my head?

“Now, certain people in New York may benefit from the new road. But they would rather have spent their cash on a new car, or a new computer, or a new business.”

Unhappily, they are unable to drive the car, no customers can reach their new business or have their computer delivered because they forgot they needed to pay for the fucking road.

Is conservative movement ideology based on the central principle that no one should ever think more than one step ahead?

Shorter Ben Shapiro: Just because the prime rate is zero and there is still no money to borrow and unemployment is skyrocketing. a tiny, tiny faction of people called “all elected officials” believe the free market won’t solve this problem by itself. Well, brother, let me quote you the infallible authority that is am the voices in my head…

aw hey, I liked his economics lesson for retarded 5 year olds.

B.S. also misses the part where, after running Bill out of business, Herman raises the price to $4 a pound- which he can do now, because he no longer faces competition from Bill, who will never be able to restart his business on the crap wages Bob pays. But Herman’s little triumph won’t last, because Walmart then moves in and drives both Herman and Bob out of business with a combination of corporate volume buying power and state subsidies (tax abatement, for instance) and all three of B.S.s straw men wind up bankrupt serfs, at best pulling down minimum wage with no benefits, part time. They all three either drink themselves to death, or go on shooting sprees, murdering other serf losers, thus providing entertainment for such entitled fucks as l’il Ben.
And yes, Mr. Higgins, that is it precisely- “No one could have imagined” etc. The only remaining question is, are the masterminds of the right really that stupid, or do they foresee and desire the evil consequences of their ideology?

If the infrastructure I travel on is anything like the bridges in Minnesota, I’d like more than “revamping” done on it.

⟨milo⟩

Heres the magic of private sector jobs. Imagine Bill owns a fruit stand. He sells his fruit for $2 per pound. Herman sees that Bill is doing well, and decides to open a fruit stand of his own. He figures he can undercut Bill and live on less of a profit margin, so he sells his fruit at $1 per pound. Pretty soon, Herman runs Bill out of business. Its tough for Bill. But meanwhile, customers are spending $1 less for their fruit than they were. Theyre spending that extra money at Bobs clothing store, keeping Bob employed — and Bob can now hire Bill. The bottom line is this: The power of free enterprise creates competition that raises production, lowers prices, and makes lives better for consumers and producers. And thats true even if employment declines in the fruit stand business

And everybody gets a share!
⟨/milo⟩

In the real free-market world, didn’t the fruit stands get rolled up into Collateralized Date Obligations?

I’m sure that this fruit-stand metaphor can be extended to the world of high-finance whose complete disregard for society or the future has brought the whole house down around our fucking ears. I for one am extremely excited that the free-market has punished these fiscal psychopaths by foreclosing mortgages on houses held by people they will never have to meet or even acknowledge. Way to go Mr Invisible Hand.

Capitalism:
The psychologist next door to me raises his per-session fee to $200, you goddamned betcha I’m going to raise my fees to 200 bucks.

Fucking free-market morons.

Holy shit, did he just say that hiring a contractor to repair a bridge and thus putting ten $50K construction workers to work isn’t as good for the economy as taking the same money and giving it to BofA so they can hire one $500K analyst? Because I think that’s what he just said.

He should tour with Joe the Plumber, that one. That’s a message Peoria needs to hear.

Bob owes me fucking $20.

The only remaining question is, are the masterminds of the right really that stupid, or do they foresee and desire the evil consequences of their ideology?

The only remaining answer is “yes!”

Benno really thinks that the economy works like this. There’s apple stalls all over the country with cheerful folks on subsistence wages all happily competing for his custom. If anyone fixes a road they will all go out of business and he will be put in a gulag.

Shorter Post-Virginal Ben: Gee i wish i had me one of them wealth-producin’ valuable jobs instead of this… uh… well…uh… hmm, maybe I could go into government..

(And having his road built for those New Yawk you-know-who libs is a nice touch of red meat for the yahoos–especially since it’s the lopsided tax revenue from blue states like NY and CA that build the roads in Yahooville.)

At least McArdle has the eggs to say what the rest of the wingnuts are thinking: that jobs she doesn’t like shouldn’t count as jobs. I don’t know if that’s brutal honesty or just her patented total lack of introspection, though.

(And having his road built for those New Yawk you-know-who libs is a nice touch of red meat for the yahoos–especially since it’s the lopsided tax revenue from blue states like NY and CA that build the roads in Yahooville.)

Not only that, but in Benland either you spend all your money on yourself, or all your money is confiscated to build the Latte-sipper Turnpike, with nothing in between.

So in Bens magical world – high unemployment leads to an increase in the standard of living. Why? Because fuck you, that’s why.

Consider the torrid threesome of Bill, Bob and Herman. The magic of Bens Free Market magicality means that Bill has gone from successful businessman to some guy working retail. What do you think has happened to Bills Standard of Living? Herman is now the proud owner of the fruit business. Although hes charging half the going rate for his product. I wonder what the standard of living is for businesspersons who sell there goods at half market value is? I suspect that its not so high. Finally we have Bob. Bob owns the sweatshop outlet that now employs Bill. As an employer, high unemployment means he can stiff his workies as much as he wants since they got nowhere else to go. His standard of living probably has improved.

Bens take-home message? Small business owners and employees can go fuck themselves. Only executives of large corporations that do their best to fuck over their employees count when you’re talking about “Standard of Living”.

PS I understand the desire to show solidarity with the de-apostrophied Marie Jon, but dammit – I needs me some apostraphes. Wheres the free-market solution to the apostrophe shortage?

He gets paid to write this, doesn’t he.

The goal of a thriving economy isnt full employment — its raising the standard of living for worthless little silver-spoon fuckholes like me, Ben Shapiro.

This has been another edition of Posts That Say What You Meant Them To Say.

Valuable jobs provide products and services that enrich quality of life, making it cheaper to live better; useless jobs provide products and services that have minor impact on quality of life.

Dear Ben, who writes on an internet site. I guess the people working at government jobs who developed the intertubes were doing useless work then? The product/service that is the internet has only made a minor impact on the quality of your life?

BTW … military jobs are gummint jobs too. Way to hate on the troops, chickenhawk virgin Ben.

What? No mention of France or Sweden? Ben must be going off the wingnut rez…

Imagine Cool Hand Luke works for the government as a menial laborer. He builds roads in New York. People dont choose to pay Cool Hand Luke — the government forces them to pay his salary. Now, certain people in New York may benefit from the new road. But they would rather have spent their cash on a new car, or a new computer, or a new business.

And Cool Hand Luke (honestly? goddammit.) will never ever ever ever use his ill-gotten salary to purchase things like food or clothing. Oh what FOOLS we’ve all been!

In other news, Pajamas Media will not be receiving any bailout money.

Good to see ClownHall keeping up its high standards for column submissions.

The public relations backbone of this bill — government spending on our nations crumbling infrastructure — is misguided.

This, along with Ace’s “Shut up, that’s why” and Malkin’s “Why the hell should Republicans include ‘doing stuff’ in their list of wants?,” comprises the essence of wingnut thinking today. Really. Ben just said fuck it to spending $$$ on rebuilding our old roads, crumbling bridges, etc. Well done.

Didn’t Ben forget the part when Bob takes a loan out on the sweatshop to buy a hot tub, puts all his profits into Bernie Madoff’s investments, finds out he’s lost it all, has the loan called in on the factory and fires Bill? Then Bob has to go work at Wal-Mart as a greeter.

Now, certain people in New York may benefit from the new road. But they would rather have spent their cash on a new car, or a new computer, or a new business.

Yep. Instead of that damned interstate, we could have kept our dirt two-lane up here in Hooterville, and I could have opened my Hummer dealership!

we could have kept our dirt two-lane up here in Hooterville

LUXURY

All we have for roads in Hooverville is log across the swamp, and we’re happy to have it!

Also consider – Uncle Sammy the Moocher is taking a sum of money away from the average taxpayer equivalent to the cost of a new computer. Let’s say they would have gotten a crappy eMachine for $500 and there are 160,000,000 of them. That’s EIGHTY BILLION DOLLARS. Thats a lot of road. Hell, we could probably build a new four-lane jobber to the mothballed apostraphe factory and het it running again. So nuts to Ben – that eighty billion dollar road is gonna stimulate the economy plenty – even if its only in the badly misused punctuation sector.

What if instead, were talking about enough moolah to buy a new car? Or a new business? Forget apostrophes, were talking cash bucks enough to provide scare quotes to every American citizen!

Yep. Instead of that damned interstate, we could have kept our dirt two-lane up here in Hooterville, and I could have opened my Hummer dealership!

Hummer’s are more fun in a single-lane road scenario. Eat massive oncoming bumper, ya pansy French liberals in your silly Japanese cars and your arugula!

Though I confess that the juxtaposition of “Hooterville” and “Hummer” do not immediately bring *cars* to mind…

I dunno. It’s been kind of fun watching the second- and third-string wingnuts grab onto the concrete water wings of Michael Steele’s “not real jobs” shtick and take ’em out for a swim.

Ugh, that Megan…

Is she really employed as an economist?

That 4:20 really made me dumber…

Well, the real jobs like writing whiny right wing opinion columns are all filled, so I guess the rest of America will have to settle for fake jobs like fixing the ruined infrastructure of the fucking country after years of Republican neglect, Benny boy. Them’s the breaks.

Shorter Ben:

I can haz Ph.D. in Economics nao?

Maybe Virgin Ben was talking to these folks, whose unfortunate position of having to govern in the real world has weakened their faith in bullshit economic theory.

But these big, huge, expanded social programs thats not right, thats not fair.

Um…

The goal of a thriving economy isnt full employment — its raising the standard of living.

So he supports straight check-cutting welfare over workfare?

useless jobs provide products and services the free market would not support.

Screw this infrastructure-building, research science-funding, consumer safety ensuring, nation defending crap, the government should get in the Ponzi business.

English professor to Ben Shapiro:

If I give you a passing grade will you just go away?

I can see one of those worthless government projects right outside my window:

A dam on the Mississippi built in the 30’s so the barges could haul our corn out and bring in coal. Wonder what free enterprise would have been able to do that in the 30s.

And I love teh notion that a New Yorker would rather spend his money on a CAR than on a ROAD. Does this dipshit even think about what he just wrote?

Is there a technical term for “running off at the mouth without engaging the thought processes”?

Outside my office, there is a little bridge that separates a business district from a residential area. There were some city workers out there an hour ago clearing away some old growth, filling some pot holes, and repairing a trafic signal and some street lights. How stupid does one have to be NOT to see the quality of life benefit in having a cleaner, safer route between people’s homes and the area in which they go to spend money?

When politicians embrace government make jobs programs

That’s not a column, it’s the instruction manual from some Japanese electronics.

Well, infrastructure has a liberal bias…

I would love for VBen to sit down and ponder what would have happened in World War II if FDR hadn’t created all those make-work jobs like, say, building the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River.

The Coulee Dam provided enough electricity to the Seattle area so that Boeing could ramp up production of the fighters and bombers that carpeted Germany and Japan with enough bombs to bring them to their knees, rather than run roughshod over the Allies.

So maybe VBen should thank Obama for making sure that none of his grandchildren…if his penis actually works…will speak Farsi.

But hey, government jobs aren’t really jobs, right?

That has to be the stupidest column I think I’ve ever seen. Right now, Doughy Jonah is saying, “Damn, at least I haven’t fallen that far yet…”

Hey, stop picking on Ben for not using apostrophes. Why, back in the Great Depression, so many apostrophes jumped out the windows that we had to thrust commas upward. That is, until FDR instituted his N’ew D’eal. And even then, Republicans were pre-colon-ialism.

The fact is, communism killed 100 million people. Don’t debate me on this, its a fact and I read more than you. The fact is, Obama’s socialism is putting us on the same road toward poverty and destruction. The free market should not be interfered with.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Shit! That is one of the funniest things I have EVER read.

That is exactly how I imagine Townhall readers (and writers) respond to this crap.

Lovely, lovely.

I’m not gonna debate you, Gary.

There is some dead loss from taxation, and under ideal circumstances, it is more preferable to let people keep their money than to take it, cycle it through the government, and redistribute it to other projects.

However, when people (or businesses) are not reinvesting their money into the economy (either through spending, literal investment, or saving [allowing the banks to ideally use it in investment]) the dead loss to those people might be outweighed by the net benefit to the rest of the economy.

Whether or not that will be the case with the stimulus can be debated. But it’s not touched upon. It’s “Government job is always bad” or “Socialism!”

Again, as if Bush and Paulson’s throwing more tax dollars into banks and investment firms than what they are really worth is “Free market” in any sense of the word.

Poor wee Ben… I went over there and left him a comment. I also left him a lot of apostrophes for him to use…

“mothballing the apostrophe factory”

Band name? No. Album (whatever that means today) name? Oh yes.

All we have for roads in Hooverville is log across the swamp, and we’re happy to have it!

BAH!

In our Hooverville, we have to tie children end to end and make them lie down in the swamp to get the Hummers across!

The fact is, communism killed 100 million people. Don’t debate me on this, its a fact and I read more than you.

This is true! I too have read this- on a Protest Warrior sign. They used this line of reasoning as a, um, defense of the Iraq War, because, er, thingy.

The fact is, Obama’s socialism is putting us on the same road toward poverty and destruction. The free market should not be interfered with.

Well, shoot. Guess you should get back in the flying Gary Ruppert DeLorean and go back to tell this to President Whoshisface…you know, that guy who used to be president but wasn’t really a conservative or somethin or other.

I’m working up a pitch to the cable networks for a new reality show. We’ll find us a hard-right, free market libertarian who’s never had a real job…any ideas? anyone?…and pay off his boss to can him. Have him escorted out with his few little pictures in a cardboard box. Likewise his landlord.

Then we’ll follow him around with a camera for…oh I dunno…six or seven hours until he’s a quivering, sobbing heap in the middle of the sidewalk with winos digging through his pockets looking for mints.

Investors? Any takers?

“Imagine Cool Hand Luke works for the government as a menial laborer. He builds roads in New York. People dont choose to pay Cool Hand Luke — the government forces them to pay his salary.”

He’s not a menial laborer. He’s a prisoner on a chain gang. He doesn’t “work for the government.” He’s IN JAIL. The government doesn’t “force” people “to pay his salary.” The government taxes people (by force, if necessary) to (among other things) imprison criminals so they don’t harm “people”.

People…like you, Ben.

Quaker,

That would work as a short, maybe a commercial. I don’t think you’d get any interest.

Now, what we COULD do is take a plane load of them and drop them off on some ranch somewhere…I dunno, hear one’s available in Crawford…and make them work for their airfare back.

Jindal’s got Obama just where he wants him!

oh, to be you, actor! in OUR Hooverville we have to get out the 4WD Hummer to cross the swamp cuz the children are off at band camp.

Imagine Cool Hand Luke works for the government as a menial laborer. He builds roads in New York. People dont choose to pay Cool Hand Luke — the government forces them to pay his salary.

That’s awful! What an Act of Rape! Why doesn’t the government just force Cool Hand to build roads for free? After all, he’s only a menial!

Is VBen sort of missing the part where having a job (paid for by the government or otherwise) lets Cool Hand Luke pay for his place to live and the food he eats and the clothes he wears and whatever he does for fun in his off-hours? Or is VBen actually espousing the basically Communist position that the only person who really reaps any economic benefit from employment is the employer? (I mean, I knew the original neocons were all disaffected Trots, but give me a break.)

Or do I just have a really bad case of Teh Dum today?

oh, to be you, actor! in OUR Hooverville we have to get out the 4WD Hummer to cross the swamp cuz the children are off at band camp.

You poor soul. Care to share my bowl of warm snot?

Imagine One-eyed Sue has a fruit stand in the middle of a field, no roads in sight. How’s her bottom line look?

Imagine One-eyed Sue has a fruit stand in the middle of a field, no roads in sight. How’s her bottom line look?

Not sure… I guess it would depend on whether you were a butt man or not.

Our Hooverville just changed its name to Obamaville.

It was a unanimous vote.

Jindal’s got Obama just where he wants him!

He’ll take it. Bobby turns that money down, he kisses his political future goodbye.

Bobby turns that money down, he kisses his political future goodbye.

He’s just gotta exorcise the demoncrat out of it and it’ll be fine.

He’s just gotta exorcise the demoncrat out of it and it’ll be fine.

What part does Diaper Dave Vitter play in all that?

What part does Diaper Dave Vitter play in all that?

You gotta have the authority of The Poop backing you.

useless jobs provide products and services the free market would not support.

Oh, Ben. The irony.

Yes, instead of paying for those silly roads, Mr. Luvsmesumfreemarket could buy a car which he can’t drive because there are no roads, also an issue in that lack of roads affects the ability of said new car to be delivered to the dealersip. Or he could buy a computer which he can’t get because the lack of roads means it can’t be delivered…

I recall an episode of This Old House where in a young yuppie lady, I’ll call her Bride of Virgin Ben, was informed by Rich Threthewy (sp?) that the house would need about $3000 in furnace upgrades. She was heartbroken that all that money would be spent on something that would be hidden behind the walls when it would feel so much more rewarding to spend it on antiques. Rich informed her that the antiques would look very nice covered in soot from the old furnace, or would probably be filling rooms that were shut off to conserve heat. Responsible adults understand and accept both delayed gratification and practical priorities. I’m sure a five-year-old, given the choice, would buy Cocoa Pebbles instead of broccoli.

You may be assured that I, a person not five but fifty-five, would buy Cocoa Pebbles instead of broccoli or Brussels sprouts.

I liked his economics lesson for retarded 5 year olds.
If it came from the other Ben, I’d suspect that the original came from a 1958 edition of Readers’ Digest.

Not sure… I guess it would depend on whether you were a butt man or not.

It’s hard to tell. Her lack of depth perception makes her dress very oddly.

Dude’s got a serious case of aversion to apostrophes, in addition to the running morons. He should stay in bed.

If it came from the other Ben, I’d suspect that the original came from a 1958 edition of Readers’ Digest.

“I am Ben’s Prefrontal Lobe”

Did someone say Brussels sprouts?

Every. Damn. One. of these libertarian conservative types who’s very concerned with FREEDOM~!11 and aggravated at the parasites sucking at the tender vulnerable flesh of honest productive types… Does. Nothing. Productive. It never fucking fails.

thats some Weapons Grade Stupid right there

Every. Damn. One. of these libertarian conservative types … Does. Nothing. Productive. It never fucking fails.

For some reason I was listening to the speech from The Fountainhead the other day: is Ben a parasite as Roarke defines it?

“I Was Ben’s Prefrontal Lobe”

I was once part of Ben’s brain, but then in a drunken rage one night, Ben drove an ice pick in with a ballpeen hammer and separated me from the rest of his prefrontal cortex.

Now, he weaves baskets and designs trendy new potholders made out of limp fettucine while plotting his first sexual conquest with a sheep.

I know the average conservative has no sense of irony, but does this guy actually even read what he writes before hitting the send button? Sheesh.

It’s worse than listening to my aging relative who, after military service, went to college on the GI Bill, taught in the public schools, bought his house with a VA loan, and now lives in modestly comfortable retirement on Social Security and his state (defined benefits) pension, railing against socialism. I should mention that his mother lived in Title 9 housing (I think that’s the right program) for the last 20 or so years of her life. (To be fair, he’s actually an honest, hard-working guy who did a good job raising his family, has always lived within his means, has contributed to his community, and has always been more than generous to me. But, he just doesn’t get it that what he has achieved is not due EXCLUSIVELY to his own hard work, and that he was given a huge helping hand by government programs.)

Don’t feed the sproutroll.

For some reason I was listening to the speech from The Fountainhead the other day

Have you ever had that happen at a party? The moment when you say something like that is the one moment when all the conversations have fallen silent at the same time, and everyone hears you, and the silence drags on while they turn and stare at you? Me neither.

Ce n’est pas un parti-poop.

Holy crap RB, I only managed 3:32 of that clip – and when no one ran out and cock-punched Roark screaming about not being a Slave to the wishes of others – I had to stop. Please tell me that at the end of his speech, someone cock-punches that motherfucker.

Shorter Roark: Fuck all you all. You see, some of us are Ubermenschen and it is the duty of you worthless parasites to suck our cocks. That’s because you are all greedy selfish whores – learn some humility and get to fluffing my Massivel Cockified source of all that is good and right in Civilization

I have to confess, I clicked on the link. Even funnier than B.S.’s appalling lack of grammar and coherent thought was this comment by B2slim:

Pristine water to flush your free toilet
ONLY in the USA :it is mandatory to have pristine water to flush your JOHN

Pure. Comedy. Gold.

I also have to confess… I think McArdle’s hot. She’s kinda like Janeanne Garofalo’s dumb little sister. Sure, her comments on bloggingheads were vapid as hell, but she looks totally nerdlicious.

I actually enjoy that movie: the bullshit in it is mostly much funnier and it was put together by pros with talent. But the speech is sheer pain, forced on the director by Rand herself. And yes: Rand requires an army of Willy Lomans for each, er, Not-Willy-Loman.

Meaning The Fountainhead of course…

Well, I made it through the other 2:26 of that godawful speech, in hopes of a much deserved cock-punching. Sadly, I was disappointed. The way Roark would stick his hands in his pockets, thrust out his pelvis and rock back on his heels – fucking cock-punch that fucker. I’m just stating this Man’s personal Truth – I’m merely expressing – for all Individualist Thinkers – the desperate need that Roark has of a FUCKING MASSIVE PUNCH TO THE COCK.

But the framing and cinematography was pretty good – at least as far as I can tell with my screaming COCK-PUNCH at the screen the entire time.

Apostrophes are the Zyklon-B of Liberal Fascism!!11!one!

The goal of a thriving economy isnt full employment — its raising the standard of living.

Economies, thriving or otherwise, don’t have goals – they’re artificial organic systems to meet the needs of their members (in theory). If an economy meets that “goal” it hasn’t “won” anything & it doesn’t then stop. Closest you can get to a “goal” in a capitalist system is maximum profit – & if that means making lots of Soylent Green Slurpees, then it’s into the Happy Ending vans & off to the Mulching Works for the downtrodden, & SCREW anyone’s standard of living. The US economy in 1933 was thriving, at least for the plutocrats who now had their sights set on gobs of foreclosed dirt-cheap land & defaulted industrial infrastructure, & had sold out at the top of the market-spike & thus had the capital to get it.

The usual means by which large economies have “thrived” in modern history is by ruining competing economies &/or butchering the inhabitants of some distant hinterland & looting their depopulated lands of goodies – via public-funded armies no less. Empires & cartels also merrily enforce brutal tariffs to beat down their peers, praising protectionism as a virtuous & patriotic necessity – then promptly decry tariffs as the moral equivalent of raping kittens once they’ve accomplished the goal of establishing a monopoly.

TL;DR – If Shapiro fucks the way he punctuates, his wife has my pity.

Herman runs Bill out of business.
But, but, but I was reliably informed that the difference between Govt. jobs and real jobs is that the former are only short-term, whereas the latter endure.

Robert Douglas in particular is awesome as Ellsworth Toohey, delivering ridiculous lines with the exact smugness wingnuts imagine but never receive. Must require lube and kleenex for the more bottomy crowd.

Oh.
My.
Head.

Is anyone really this stupid?

Yes, mr opie_jeanne’s husband has a useless job so just get rid of him. You neo-cons can dig wells in your own goddamn backyards and backflush them to keep the ocean water out. Too bad if you live in an area where the aquifer is contaminated. You can also pave your own streets and deal with your own sewage and trash.

*grumble*

Ellsworth Toohey: Artistic value is achieved collectively by each man subordinating himself to the standards of the majority.

or

Ellsworth Toohey: There’s the building that should have been yours. There are buildings going up all over the city which are great chances refused and given to incompetent fools. You’re walking the streets while they’re doing the work that you love but cannot obtain. This city is closed to you. It is I who have done it! Don’t you want to know my motive?
Howard Roark: No!
Ellsworth Toohey: I’m fighting you and shall fight you in every way I can.
Howard Roark: You’re free to do what you please!
Ellsworth Toohey: Mr. Roark, we’re alone here. Why don’t you tell me what you think of me in any words you wish.
Howard Roark: But I don’t think of you!
[Roark walks away and Toohey’s head slumps down]

I just read some reviews for The Fountainhead. Apparently everyone is allupons about this masterwork of cinema – except that Gary Cooper plays Roark the way you would expect Gary Cooper too. Like Gary Cooper, only as an architect. I’ve got a brilliant plan – to digitally remove Gary Cooper from the movie and replace him with Kevin James. The Blartainhead will be raking in the moolah hand over fist. I’ll be swimming in filthy lucre. Someone get ILM on the line and see how much work this would take.

Added bonus – with Kevin James as the main character, we could put in all the cock-punching I could possibly dream of!

Gary Cooper is actually a great choice: he lumbers around and delivers lines like some retarded Star Trek robot. If, after seeing it, you can say that the Roark character is the way humans should be you’re pretty obviously some sort of freak.

Ben Shapiro obviously graduated magnum cum loudly from the George W. Bush School of Applied Econometricals.

If Shapiro fucks the way he punctuates, his wife has my pity has learned to fake an apostrophe.
Fixeled.
But her colon is strictly off- SHUT UP SMUT

Um, not so laut.

Atlas Cockpunched

Is there a technical term for “running off at the mouth without engaging the thought processes”?

Logorrhoea

Pristine water to flush your free toilet
ONLY in the USA :it is mandatory to have pristine water to flush your JOHN

S’cuz it’s the same water that goes to your sinks and showers, thus it must all be drinkable. Unless this guy is seriously suggesting that every building have separate sets of pipes for different functions serviced by different pipe lines, which would double or triple the.. you get the idea.

What a fucking maroon.

I will always think of him as the Virgule Ben.
Send him to the guillemet!

Well, Townhall is certainly “shovel-ready” isn’t it?

I will always think of him as the Virgule Ben.
Send him to the guillemet!

Libruls can’t wait tilde conservative diesis.

mothballing the apostrophe factory was a mistake

— Most noble machinery of naphthalene, how can I sing thy praises?
— WTF?
— I’m apostrophising the mothball factory.
— ur doin it rong.

The apostrophe factory has not been mothballed it has been repositioned to Changsha Province near Tibet. There are, of course, some teething problems but a cheaper apostrophe should be on the market in 2011. Until then ,perhaps your could use aerial commas?

Even George Bush could tell Ben he “misunderestimates” the role of employment in the economy.

Retooling the apostrophe factory to the 32-bit picometer process node will drive punctuation sales in our traditional market segments of alphabetical and numerical retail grammar outlets.

There are considerable labour cost savings to be made in the new re-tooled process. Many of the Changsa workers do not require health benefits of any kind and most are very pleased to receive food instead of monetary remuneration. Similarly the 30 GSD rating of the new furnace combined with a less intrusive radiation shielding regulatory process will result in shorter melt times in the main casting floor.

One foresees an apostrophe catastrophe.

Lawyers! What we need os more jobs for lawyers! Especially for recent law school grads who couldn’t cut it at a major firm…

For some reason I was listening to the speech from The Fountainhead the other day

It’s either insanity or masochism. Or maybe insane masochism? Masochistic insanity?

We were supposed to guess, right?

One of the funniest things about The Fountainhead is when Roark quits the architecture firm and immediately becomes a master stone mason without any training or experience, and all the other workmen like him and think he’s a great guy. What a joke. As a construction professional (read “carpenter”) for 18 years, I can tell you that the idea of an architect being inherently able to lay stone would send real construction workers into paroxysms of sarcastic laughter.
Oh, and the workers on road crews are employed by private companies. All of the roads, bridges, etc. in this country have been government-funded but bid and built by private contractors for the past hundred years or so. So by Ben’s estimation, nobody working for Boeing or Northrop on defense contact has a real job.

“ONLY in the USA :it is mandatory to have pristine water to flush your JOHN”

Not true, but it is cheaper to build a structure with one water supply instead of two. And municipalities and even private water companies find, for a number of reasons, that it is more economical to supply water that is potable, instead of disease ridden grey water.
Ben is free to alter his plumbing to use rainwater or recycled grey water to flush his toilet, but he is required by the building code to insure that his non-potable water not contaminate any potable water supply. He might also want to segregate his kitchen sink from the grey water, but hey, it’s a free country.

We were supposed to guess, right?

Here’s the answer: I was flipping through the radio stations in the car and heard Gary Cooper and recognized the speech and decided to listen to the end. Some nitwit radio host was playing it out to his audience of worthless parasites who promptly called in and congratulated him for doing so even after the last four months of news.

If only we had listened to the wisdom of Ayn Rand all of us supermen would all be rich because we’re all unique and special! Jonah Goldberg over in that other thread forgot the feelings of the brain-damaged Randians and their own politically correct belief that they are the supermen and not the useless insects the supermen crush on the way to success.

Is conservative movement ideology based on the central principle that no one should ever think more than one step ahead?

Yes.

This has been another edition of simple answers to simple questions.

california sort of has a budget now, i guess…but in the event that my beloved and awesome state job falls through, my new fallback plan is to try to convince clownhall to establish a proofreading department. headed up by me.

”””””””””””””””’!