From: heller@deepsoft.com   
      
   At Tue, 22 Jul 2014 07:01:45 -0700 (PDT) hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:   
      
   >   
   > On Monday, July 21, 2014 10:34:36 PM UTC-4, Glen Labah wrote:   
   >   
   > > If you can find some other reason why the Koch Brothers behave as they=20   
   > > do, I would love to hear it.   
   >   
   > Generally speaking, folks who oppose Amtrak and transit do so for ideology,=   
   >  greed, and power.  Not logic nor facts.   
   >   
   > These folks have got the notion locked in their heads that rail public tran=   
   > sit--local and Amtrak--is somehow evil and must be eliminated.  They believ=   
   > e it represents an enormous drain on the Federal deficit (people used to co=   
   > me to this newsgroup and say so).  Ironically, they have no problem with th=   
   > e evil guvmint operating highways, toll facilities, or airports--no call to=   
   >  sell off and privatize any of those operations.   
   >   
   > As another example, in Pennsylvania, liquor/wine stores are run by the stat=   
   > e, a legacy of the depression.  The state makes a profit off of their sales=   
   >  which goes into the state treasury.  The anti-government crowd desperately=   
   >  wants to sell off the stores, and make all sorts of FALSE claims about the=   
   >  situation.  The actual bottom line is that the state would end up losing m=   
   > oney--after all, store profits now kept by the state would then be kept by =   
   > private businesses.   
   >   
   >   
   > Another aspect is greed and power.  You would think if someone builds up a =   
   > $1 million fortune they'd be happy.  But no, they then want $10 million, th=   
   > en $100 million.  They begin to see their wealth as an _entitlement_ that t=   
   > hey deserve, and they vehemently object to anything that gets in their way,=   
   >  or that they disagree with.   
   >   
   > It's scary--these folks want to turn the clock back to the robber barron er=   
   > a 100 years ago, which they think was good for the country.   
      
   Right, the robber barron era ultimately resulted in the 1929 stock market   
   crash, followed by the Great Depression. Which in turn was 'fixed' with the1   
   New Deal: a progressive Income Tax, Social Security, etc. And *that* led to a   
   great prosperity, which pretty much ended with Regan & the neo-cons who cut   
   various taxes and undid various banking regulations put in place to prevent   
   another 1929-style stock market crash.   
      
   The only reason we didn't have *another* 1929-style stock market crash +   
   *second* Great Depression, was because some of the New Deal reforms are still   
   in effect (including Social Security). But otherwise, the economy is is in a   
   bad way, and will *continue* to be in a bad way, probably until there is   
   another "New Deal" OR there is a second American Revolution or Civil War. The   
   Koch Brothers and their ilk are not making things better, they are making   
   things worse.   
      
   >   
   >   
      
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