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TABOO BROKEN

“I am about to break the last of the universal taboos,” writes George Monbiot. Such boldness! Such convention-shattering fearlessness! Yet George declines to join his mother and daughter in a fatal voodoo-fuelled threesome, instead wishing only for an economic downturn:

I hope that the recession now being forecast by some economists materialises.

Whoa! Taboo breaker! I bet nobody - besides every sour, misery-baked, lemon-weaned leftoid on earth - has ever hoped for this.

I recognise that recession causes hardship. Like everyone I am aware that it would cause some people to lose their jobs and homes.

Any chance you’ll lose your car, George?

I do not dismiss these impacts or the harm they inflict, though I would argue that they are the avoidable results of an economy designed to maximise growth rather than welfare. What I would like you to recognise is something much less discussed: that, beyond a certain point, hardship is also caused by economic growth.

Economic growth rarely causes people to lose their jobs and homes. Aaron at Freewill deals at greater length with undergrowth George of the Fungal.

Posted by Tim B. on 10/09/2007 at 11:39 AM
  1. “I hope that the recession now being forecast by some economists materialises.”


    And some assholes brave souls root for hurricanes.

    Posted by ErnieG on 2007 10 09 at 11:58 AM • permalink

  2. “Without conscious irony, the FT article was illustrated with a photograph of a coffin. It turned out to be a replica of Lord Nelson’s coffin, carved from wood taken from the ship on which he died, and yours for a fortune in a new, hyper-luxury department of Selfridges. Sacrificing your health and your happiness to earn the money to buy this junk looks like a sign of advanced mental illness.”

    But a willingness to sacrifice a higher standard of living for everybody in order to reduce the number of noisy jet skis is perfectly sane, eh George? Not to mention cutting the props out from under the global economy by advocating environmental regulations that would insure that people would be spending their evenings quietly, indeed, perhaps drawing pictures of animals on the inside of their caves with chalk, for want of the modern conveniences?

    The worst sort of economic excess produced in free societies is not the occasional rich man who wants to buy some exotic antique, but the entire class of dog-in-the-manger socialists who infest our universities and news media, and who are willfully blind to the whole goose/golden egg relationship.

    Posted by paco on 2007 10 09 at 12:00 PM • permalink

  3. The massive improvements in human welfare - better housing, better nutrition, better sanitation and better medicine - over the past 200 years are the result of economic growth and the learning, spending, innovation and political empowerment it has permitted. But at what point should it stop?

    It should stop at the point where it starts inconviencing the Moanbot. Ask me a hard one next time.

    Posted by Paul Zrimsek on 2007 10 09 at 12:04 PM • permalink

  4. He could quit his, and lead the way.

    Posted by MarkD on 2007 10 09 at 12:10 PM • permalink

  5. “I am about to break the last of the universal taboos,”

    For a moment I wondered if Moany had become a Conservative.

    He inadvertently makes the perfect argument for cutting third-world immigration—since they will consume a lot more once they reach Europe or No. America than they would at home.

    Posted by Harry Bergeron on 2007 10 09 at 12:16 PM • permalink

  6. that, beyond a certain point, hardship is also caused by economic growth.

    When did economic non-growth cure hardship?

    Do you remember Florida’s butterfly ballots? They were deemed too difficult for many voters. What system could be simple enough for the people stupid enough to vote for this guy?

    Posted by Retread on 2007 10 09 at 12:19 PM • permalink

  7. I do not dismiss these impacts or the harm they inflict, though I would argue that they are the avoidable results of an economy designed to maximise growth rather than welfare.

    ...

    On Sunday I visited the only biosphere reserve in Wales: the Dyfi estuary. As is usual at weekends, several hundred people had come to enjoy its beauty and tranquillity and, as is usual, two or three people on jet skis were spoiling it for everyone else.

    So basically Moonbat is saying that people should be forced to out of their homes and cars because of a recession he wants so that people can’t afford to have jetskis?

    He’s still a self-centered nut, isn’t he?

    Though I have to admire his talent for tying a few people on jet skis, noise pollution, climate change, a recession, economic growth, welfare, and advertising all into one little article.

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 10 09 at 12:25 PM • permalink

  8. “I am about to break the last of the universal taboos,”

    Hell, boy, I hear tell they been breakin’ that one up in the remoter parts of Appalachia for years.

    Posted by paco on 2007 10 09 at 12:26 PM • permalink

  9. Leftism is a mental illness.

    Posted by rick mcginnis on 2007 10 09 at 12:33 PM • permalink

  10. #8 Damn! paco,

    Earl Grey all over my keyboard. ;-)

    Posted by Pogria on 2007 10 09 at 12:39 PM • permalink

  11. Yes! A recession is the answer! It will be the broom that sweeps away all the greed, selfishness and gaia-abuse!

    I vote we brook no delay and bring this about NOW! If enough of us group together and quit our jobs simultaneously it’s bound to speed this much-needed cleanup on its way.

    Geooooorge?

    Geooooooooooooooooooooooooorge?


    George?

    Posted by ThinAndBritish on 2007 10 09 at 12:47 PM • permalink

  12. Monbiot is a small-minded, envious, human-hating little jackass.  Of course he doesn’t mind a recession that would put other people out of work, because it isn’t going to affect him in the slightest.  He hates the jet-skis because they spoil his view and harsh his mellow (shades of Ted Kennedy).  Why on earth does anybody give this ignorant, self-centered twit any ink?

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2007 10 09 at 12:49 PM • permalink

  13. Does Monbiot have kids?

    If so, is he raising them to be just like him? *shudders*

    Posted by Ash_ on 2007 10 09 at 12:53 PM • permalink

  14. I vaguely recall George taking money from Saddam. Has he volunteered to give it to the people of Iraq to set an example for us all? No, wait, that would put the people of Iraq in the risky position of experiencing growth, we can’t have that under George’s plan. Hmmm, how the hell do we get rid of the nasty stuff without causing hurt to somebody else, George?

    Posted by Retread on 2007 10 09 at 01:04 PM • permalink

  15. Retread - I think you’re thinking of George Galloway, an asshole of a different order, though no less appalling.

    Posted by rick mcginnis on 2007 10 09 at 01:08 PM • permalink

  16. Moonbat is just being honest.  Economic hardship is what EVERY leftist so fervently desires.  Socialism is incapable of generating wealth so now the left has declared wealth to be a crime. If there is economic hardship then there will be immediately demands to distribute the hardship equally and the left will tell us that only socialism can accomplish that end. Moonbat in his wet dream envisages being part of an elite that commands the masses what they will eat, where and how they will live, how many children they will have, where and what their employment will be and what form of government they will be permitted…all for the good of the environment.  Socialists and their elites are nothing but modern day vampires.  Like all evil, to thrive it must masquerade as something good.  Global warming is just the latest disguise.

    Posted by Mark Razak on 2007 10 09 at 01:08 PM • permalink

  17. These idiot Leftists (really, is there any other kinc?) would much prefer that everyone except them live a life of drudgery and hardship and thus be more equal than that everyone be reasonably well off but some have rather more than others.  There is not a circle of Hell low enough for their likes.

    Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2007 10 09 at 01:14 PM • permalink

  18. The difference between Libertarians and Leftards:

    Libertarians wish all an equal liberty.
    Leftards wish all an equal punishment.

    Posted by Harry Bergeron on 2007 10 09 at 01:52 PM • permalink

  19. “...I would argue that they are the avoidable results of an economy designed to maximise growth rather than welfare.”

    What the hell does he think pays for the welfare? Without economic growth there isn’t any way to pay for anything. Even I understand that and I went to Arizona State.

    Posted by DanG on 2007 10 09 at 02:10 PM • permalink

  20. Moonbats don’t realize that a free market system brings more prosperity to more people than any system ever conceived or tried. Get a clue, Georgie boy: An economic downturn is not going to bring about your socialist paradise. People are not as stupid as you are or as you think they are.

    Posted by Latino on 2007 10 09 at 02:24 PM • permalink

  21. Just remeber, George is not the original Barking Moonbat.

    Cheers

    Posted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2007 10 09 at 03:15 PM • permalink

  22. #21: Good link, Captain. I think that may be the first time I saw a reference to the etymology of “moonbat”.

    Posted by paco on 2007 10 09 at 03:42 PM • permalink

  23. Personally I hope the coming depression/recession is
    a)short.
    b)Not worsened by idiotic actions (see FDRs economic idiocies)
    c) removes as many entities as possible who got risk/reward wrong.
    d) is not made inflationary (and thus much worse by Government fiscal stupidity)

    Basically
    1 Get people to quickly pay off debts or go bankrupt
    2 Get affordability right i.e. lower land pricing.
    3 Remove rent seeking bubble companies.
    4 Make sure people who are sacked can quickly redeploy to new roles.
    5 Lower barriers to employment.
    6 Reinforce the currency.
    7 Cut transfer-taxes to create jobs.

    Posted by Rob Read on 2007 10 09 at 04:10 PM • permalink

  24. Blue Crab Boulevard has a list of the specific items from An Inconvenient Truth that were ruled to be falsehoods by a UK court.

    Perhaps Gore can issue a correction when he gives his Nobel prize speech.

    Posted by paco on 2007 10 09 at 04:33 PM • permalink

  25. Let me see if I have this right.

    In a recession those reliant on the public purse (ie. on the dole), are not affected. I don’t know this for sure, I was working during the ‘recession we had to have’.

    Posted by kae on 2007 10 09 at 05:36 PM • permalink

  26. Marx never said anything about creating wealth. He said capitalists create wealth and his kind would steal it.

    I suppose Moonbat missed that part during his moral superiority indoctination, she here’s a lttle experiment he could try:

    Make half the people where he lives stop working. No incomes, no bank accounts, no nuthin’. The other half of town works and buys all the stuff it can afford.

    Now, George, how long do you think it’ll take for the half that’s broke and starving to plunder the other half?

    Posted by Gary from Jersey on 2007 10 09 at 05:41 PM • permalink

  27. Anti-growth commentators never see the logical extension of their argument ie, they don’t realise that their cushy job as a writer, artist etc was only made possible by the wealth generated by growth. A simple look at the proportion of the workforce that used to be involved in manufacturing (usually dirty, boring, dangerous jobs) should reveal the obvious to them. Now imagine if Monbiot’s grandfather had said the same thing and succesfully argued to stop our standard of living in the early 20th century.

    Posted by Francis H on 2007 10 09 at 05:49 PM • permalink

  28. #8, I’ve been told that West Virginia is the Tasmania of the United States.  An encounter with some West Virginians during a tour of Jefferson’s home ‘Monticello’ confirmed paco’s comment.

    Posted by craigo on 2007 10 09 at 06:20 PM • permalink

  29. every sour, misery-baked, lemon-weaned leftoid on earth

    Nice!

    Posted by Dave S. on 2007 10 09 at 07:32 PM • permalink

  30. I am about to break the last of the universal taboos

    You’re going to rape your father?

    Posted by Dave S. on 2007 10 09 at 07:35 PM • permalink

  31. Remember when Krugman was predicting a “W” shaped recession back before the last presidential election? Tell Moonbat that the US Stock exchange recovered from its little setback and just closed at another record high.

    Posted by moptop on 2007 10 09 at 07:40 PM • permalink

  32. One of the funniest jokes I ever heard involves Tasmanians. I think I will break a taboo and tell it.

    How does a Tasmanian know his mother is having her period?

    His brother’s dick tastes funny.

    Posted by moptop on 2007 10 09 at 07:43 PM • permalink

  33. Oh dear, I’ve created a monster! A Tasmanian jokes thread.

    Posted by craigo on 2007 10 09 at 07:48 PM • permalink

  34. The world Georgie boy is striving for.
    a perfect socalist society?

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 10 09 at 08:05 PM • permalink

  35. Georges last taboo right here.

    Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 10 09 at 08:36 PM • permalink

  36. In next Tuesday’s Guardian Monbiot hopes for ethnic cleansing in Iraq. His logic.. “look how quiet it is in Rwanda these days”.

    Posted by Arty on 2007 10 09 at 08:44 PM • permalink

  37. #28: An encounter with some West Virginians during a tour of Jefferson’s home ‘Monticello’ confirmed paco’s comment.

    Oh, lord, they weren’t using the soup tureens as chamber pots again, were they?

    Posted by paco on 2007 10 09 at 09:53 PM • permalink

  38. Oh, lord, they weren’t using the soup tureens as chamber pots again, were they?

    Or vice-versa.

    Posted by Dave S. on 2007 10 10 at 12:15 AM • permalink

  39. I recognise that recession causes hardship.  Like everyone I am aware that it would cause some people to lose their jobs and homes.

    Translation:
    But, of course, you have to break eggs to make an omelet.  If you people won’t see the evil of capitalism, if people are too self-satisfied in their jobs and homes to see that I have the right to expropriate your earnings for whatever I deem necessary to feed my ego, then I can only hope that your life is shattered to the point where you no longer have the financial or emotional wherewithal to stop me.

    Posted by saltydog on 2007 10 10 at 12:32 AM • permalink

  40. Paco and Dave S, it was a bit more mundane - a series of really stupid questions that made the tour guide roll her eyes on a regular basis.  It did show however that there was a bit of in-breeding in them thar hills.  As an Aussie tourist, I noticed interesting reactions from everyone in the group at the start of the tour when they announced in loud hillbilly voices that they were from West Virginia - it was a clear “..and you’re admitting it?” look.

    At the end of the tour I was looking at an exhibit of items found during an archaeological dig at Jefferson’s father’s property and the West Virginians asked me who Peter Jefferson was because “I thought Thomas Jefferson only had daughters”.  I answered “he was Jefferson’s father” and they couldn’t understand my accent until I repeated myself slowly.  I thought it was amusing that they learned a little bit more of their history from an Australian.

    Posted by craigo on 2007 10 10 at 12:44 AM • permalink

  41. George Monbiot: Shocked Disbelief
    at His Own Incredible Awesomeness

    This dainty hand flushed down the loo
    The last universal taboo;
    Aung San Su Ki
    and Hirsi Ali
    Wish they had the courage I do.

    Posted by lyle on 2007 10 10 at 02:09 AM • permalink

  42. George Monbiot: It’s All About Me

    They’re all having fun, it’s not right;
    I would, in their anguish, delight.
    My little heart burns
    With petty concerns;
    I write what I write out of spite.

    Posted by lyle on 2007 10 10 at 02:32 AM • permalink

  43. Doesn’t Georgie Moonbat recall that following the last major Marxist revolution (Cambodia), “unproductive” city-dwellers such as His Awesomeness were trucked out to the countryside and forced to work the rice paddies until they dropped dead from exhaustion?

    Oh, but that wouldn’t happen to him, he’s too “important”. I suspect he imagines his bad self as a beret-wearing Ché, signing papers sending his “enemies” to the re-education camp. Or to the firing squad.

    Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 10 10 at 03:39 AM • permalink

  44. #3

    At what point should it stop?

    asks moonbat.

    Just when he’s comfortably ensconsed in a house, mortgage paid off and a car. Then let the suffering begin!

    Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 10 10 at 09:41 AM • permalink

  45. #30 Dave S, isn’t it eat one’s children

    Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2007 10 10 at 09:48 AM • permalink

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