Oops! As soon as you showed your holier than thou attitude I quit reading. Maybe you should read up on that.
Interesting discussions here and I wonder if the rest of you see what is going on in our society currently. It has been a long time coming but I think it is here in full bloom at this point. People are not human anymore, we are commodities moved around like pieces on a chessboard. I have been on a break for work for the summer and watching a little TV now and then all I see are commercials for insurance, prescription drugs, alcohol and fast food. Yes there are others that come on now and then but the vast majority are covered in those categories. Are we commodities or what? I am saddened by the assassination/murder of the healthcare CEO last year but not surprised or shocked at all. Was the guy who committed the act some crazy whacko? Some might like to think that but I don’t think he was so much. I understood his reasoning. I don’t accept it because I believe human life is more important but I also recognize that, as commodities and not human beings, many more lives were likely lost as a result of the decisions of that health care company. Ultimately it comes down to a decision of the bottom line and keeping investors and wall street happy. SG won’t acknowledge or admit to it but it’s true. He is of the belief that capitalism is the “best” way so forge ahead, at all costs, to get gain. In my opinion that’s messed up but it is what we have become in this country and contributes significantly to the process of “rotting from within” which is what will likely take this country down ultimately. We don’t need to concern ourselves with Russia or China, we should be concerned about what is inside our borders, not what can get here from outside.
On another note, our former civil engineering business was sued a grand total of ONCE during it’s entire 35+ years of existence. We were not guilty of doing what the HOA said we did in being negligent in the design of a seawall. Neither was the contractor who built the wall (he has been a bishop and stake patriarch) so we both challenged the lawsuit instead of settling out of court. We won the case eventually but had to pay our own attorney fees, which ended up being more than the amount of the settlement we would have paid. It was a game but it doesn’t pay to be honest. This was 30 years ago!
I have more but not going to post it.
Lastly, can SG and Floyd please refrain from the back and forth arguing all the time?
My point Tom, was that you need to verify information and not spread rumors or assumptions…
Point taken, and you did a good job making that clear. I just wanted to emphasize d to our readers that my close friend in a very senior position with clear and full knowledge of all this stuff and in a position to “make those type of calls” would NEVER hide the ball and compromise BYU’s standards or mission.
Unlike ND (sorry, couldn’t resist) 
JCoug. I had to look back and see if it was really you requesting this. I like your back and forth with h/sg too. Entertainment and provides me some exercise as I smh at nearly every response h/sg posts.
It’s summer and nothing going on except the Big Beautiful Bill! Ya for capitalism!
Hmmm…Yes, the “KILLER” was a crazy wacko! One has to be insane or mentally ill at some level. He was no different than the killer of the 4 students in Idaho. Sociopath. I give him no reason to do what he did. He cut a man short of his life and forever damaged his family.
No, we are not commodities. We are targets for businesses attempting to sell their products and services. Nothing has changed since the dawn of human existence. You come up with something I want or need and I’ll trade you something for it. Today, mostly money. You have something to build for me as an engineer and I’ll trade your time and effort for money so you can buy the things you need. And, I get what I need to make more money or whatever it’s for. Capitalism. If the Government decides to take away your freedom to service what I need, and controls you and your price, then we have socialism. The more regulations and control, the closer we fall into Communism. And, when you need more money to expand your mom and pop store, you can sell me some ownership of your store for a price. I now have a share (stock) in your store. As your store grows, so does my net worth grow. But, what if the Government says you can’t sell any part of your store in the form of stock? Now, you have fascism. Which is better? Neither. Capitalism always is better. It creates the desire for one to improve themselves. It gives opportunity for others to work as you grow. Of course, you have to make sure that your store now can support itself and doesn’t have to go to the bank or government and get a loan to keep your business going. But, that happens a lot.
The history in insurance is interesting and has been in some ancient civilizations. A few hundred years ago, in rural areas, people began to pool their money together in the form of death insurance. The money, very small at the time, would be used to bury the dead and help a bit with the surviving family. Someone has to run it so a corporation was formed. And, insurance developed. The purpose of insurance is to stop a loss. Of course, the company has to remain solvent or all the money clients pay into it can be lost. 35 years ago, there were about 2000 life insurance companies. Now, about 700 are still in existence. Same with other forms as well like health insurance. The things people are covered for with health insurance is spelled out in a complex contract that the clients sign. Most don’t really know what it covers. If there is a challenge with a decision, arbitration is one thing and court is another. Either one is much better than killing the head of the company who most likely didn’t make the decision at the client level. Would there be any difference in a socialist system? Would the reason for the guy killing him be different? Nope. The Government owned insurance companies or business also has to make tough decisions as well to stay afloat. In any event, more people are out of poverty because of capitalism than any other system. More people are healthier too. You live in other socialist style countries and you may have to wait a very long time to see a doctor and get some help.
I have read the book. Have you? There are many other books and stuff on the cheating in college sports. Good grief.
Yes, I must keep it going in order to maintain my sanity. SG puts the opportunities out on a platter and I seize them when I can. I don’t think Floyd will ever get anywhere with SG Hopper so I make the suggestion even though I know it will continue.
SG defends his ideas about capitalism without recognizing that it is failing in this country currently… mostly because of rampant dishonesty, something that has always been present but not as prevalent as today. Corruption is so much a part of everything today that we can’t go back. The rich get richer and the greater majority of the population in this country gets poorer. Something is very wrong and SG, like he does so often, walks along with blinders because he is completely sold that it is the only way. A good friend of mine, who was the CEO of a healthcare organization, told me that healthcare needs to be private or public, not both. That is the main reason it is failing today. He was open to the idea of government health care even though he was making lots of money in the private healthcare industry. That is because he has the right perspective and understanding from many different places. That is all I am saying… there are other ways to make things work, it doesn’t have to be capitalism all the time.
So, now capitalism is failing? No, it is not. Capitalism and freedom go hand in hand. And Socialism and tyranny go hand in hand. We have a big swell in America that occurred during Obama and then again Biden the last 4 years of socialism and attempted tyranny. The Democrat attack on capitalism is what has hurt capitalism. The fact is during Trump’s first term, jobs and income were up for the middle class and lower classes. Inflation and interest rates were down. Trump deregulated which helped capitalism work better. “Regulations” is a way to create tyranny. So was taking advantage of a so-called pandemic by controlling our every freedoms including speech, religious freedom, right to move around outside, forcing masks and vaccines. Trump is beginning the comeback of capitalism and the Democrats hate losing their tyranny.
I haven’t looked recently, but The 3 Richest Americans Hold More Wealth Than Bottom 50% Of The Country, Study Finds…the last I looked closely, (yes more recently than 2017 but that article popped up easily), if you exclude Mr. Amazon, Mr. Microsoft, and the Wizard of Omaha the American mean of wealth and income was positive compared to most any decade in the past…including those three and claiming reality for all American’s seems a bit..dubious to me.
This is not to say that American democracy or capitalism, doesn’t have its problems but it doesn’t seem nearly as bad as the worst of our Cassandras like to make out..
Nixon’s life support for the American Empire, (taking us off the gold standard allowed for the US government to essentially tax the entire world’s population as long as the dollar was the international currency), is coming to an end. Every President since GWB has had a say in how it comes about. Clinton/Gingrich and their joint plan to end the American government debt was the only time in my lifetime that actually postponed the end of American economic dominance…yes GATT, NAFTA, and WTO had/have problems too but the underlying structure of the international system has relied on the American dollar…
And this is the point of MAGA. In 5 months, Trump has turned things around back to being the dominant economic country of the world. Partly by reminding the world with true leadership that they not poke the bear. NATO increasing to 5% of their GDP going to their military build up was done by the dominant country with a true leader as our President. How long this will last will depend on the ability of Conservative media to reach the majority of voting Americans.
I’m glad you point out that the lower and middle class has grown economically. Although we had 4 unfortunate years of Bidenomics and socialism attempts, Trump was able to turn this around and already those two groups are doing much better.
Some of this is smoke and mirrors; meaning just redefining what they are already spending as defence spending…
Much of their increased defensive spending is because of the war in Ukraine…turns out when the Russian bear keeps attacking one’s neighbor upping military spending seems like a good idea…
On a slightly different note, after a more than hour long conversation with Putin, Trump said: “I’m very disappointed with the conversation I had today with President Putin, because I don’t think he’s there. I don’t think he’s there, and I’m very disappointed.”
He added: “I’m just saying, I don’t think he’s looking to stop, and that’s too bad.”
What world is he living in that he ever thought Putin was looking to end the war is the fundamental question; and will the realists who have his ear finally get him to do anything about the fundamental fact of life in Europe?
We aren’t flies on a wall listening to his conversations with world leaders. So, we don’t know how Putin was responding to earlier conversations with Trump other than what was reported. What was reported sounded like Putin was willing at one point to stop. But, like most Communists, he won’t until he’s dead.
The numbers that NATO countries are spending per GDP is known and most are around 2%. So, because Trump has openly said he doesn’t want to be involved if possible in wars over there, he absolutely was responsible for getting them to agree on all of them to 5%. Nothing to argue about why NATO is doing this.
Capitalism is still the best of all man made economic systems and its issues are due to the unrighteousness and greed of men. Still vastly superior to socialism which generally makes everybody poor with the exception of those
in power running the system. Capitalism is still the best system outside the United Order.
We are in decline due to wickedness.
The only system that will work perfectly is a theocracy with Christ at the head with a complete implementation of the law of consecration living under the United Order.
I hope somebody does not say what I occasionally hear from misguided church members that the United Order is communism. It absolutely is not. Communism is an invention of Satan to mimic the United Order. It ultimately creates a two class society of the poor and a few rich at the top. Capitalism is good when a majority are righteous. Our system of government is good is when a majority are righteous. Our economic and political systems will fail because of wickedness not because the systems aren’t better than other man made systems.
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True that…but if you wait a bit for them to recalculate with their newly adopted definition of what counts for defensive spending you will see that it is noticeably higher already even though they are not spending a dime more.
And oh by the way reality does have a way of convincing people, even the “we haven’t spent more than 1% of our GDP for defence since the end of the Cold-War” leaders of Western Europe .
You want to chalk it all up to your dearly beloved Trump, go ahead…but Putin said a lot with his weapons of war and rhetoric about reclaiming Eastern Europe for his backwards looking vision of the future. European leaders have heard loud and clear how unreliable Trump, and the American support of NATO will be…with a real threat staring them eye to eye for the first time in decades.
Trump didn’t say he would not back NATO. He clearly place conditions upon NATO to have the military readiness to support NATO countries including Ukraine. Evidence of this just happened. Trump is now going to clear the skies of Russian attacks. That’s because of yesterday’s phone call with Putin. And, NATO countries are increasing their funding of their militaries. If they try to manipulate their numbers you can bet Trump will be all over them again. They won’t fool him like the fool before him, Biden.
Wish I could find any evidence of what you are saying…more people are dying in Kyiv right now on a daily basis than most months of the war…and all the latest news I can see specifically regarding US military aid to Ukraine, is that it is being cut, unexpectedly soon and deeper than expected…
Watch Fox News and you would hear Trump say it.