Iraq?

I think it is a bit of a strawman to say that I am advocating for a total absence of labor laws. Do I think a $15 minimum wage is a terrible idea? Yes, I would certainly be against that. Do I think unions like United Auto Workers need to be scaled back and regulated more? Yes. I don't want an absence of unions, though. I don't think an absence of workplace regulations is a good idea, either.

You would get more of a say in your school and healthcare if you were a consumer instead.

Are you in favor of school vouchers so there is school choice, or do you think public schools should expect money and students without having an incentive to improve?

Not entire economic central planning. Medicare for all is centrally-planned healthcare. 

So companies should just have to wait 50 years to make their money back (by which time their drug is generic)?~10 years and millions of dollars go into developing drugs.

We agree there need to be rules. I just think there should be less than you. That is generally how this discussion works, as we aren't communists or anarcho-capitalists.

if billionaires have no way of giving money to politicians without going to jail, then it is alot harder to buy off politicians. 

That's never going to happen. Every schoolyard kid knows how to get access to cigarettes and vapes without getting any punishment. And the government has the judicial system stacked in their favor so nobody really goes to jail. 

The only way to clean up the government is to take the power away so the rich have nothing to purchase.

lol, that is an even sillier idea. Basically you are advocating taking power away from politicians who could be bribed, and just handing that power directly to the rich people who were bribing them. You just want to cut out the middle man and put the rich directly in charge of your life. I can't imagine a worse idea.

Not at all. The rich don't have any power over me. As long as the government is the only one that can tax me, I am all for stripping that power down.

When the rich have the power to tax me and send people with guns to my house, then I will start to worry.

I'm not advocating a transfer of power. That is a false choice you are presenting. I am advocating for a reduction of that power and giving it back to the voters instead of powerful politicians with favors to buy.

Companies are already abusing workers and poor people with the laws we have right now. Any crack in the law, any loophole they can get around is exploited to the greatest extent they can. Any relaxing of labor laws, environmental laws etc would be a terrible idea. If anything these need strengthening. 

Why? Do I get a vote on what the drug prices are for medication I need? of course not. Companies decide how they can make a profit and only reign it in if it catches headlines for being particularly egregious. Without government regulation they would be free to gouge as hard as they can. 

I would need to see the details of such a plan. But i'm pretty sure it would work out terribly. 

This argument is bullshit. Drug research is a small fraction of drug company's expenditures. most drug research is heavily subsidized by the government. Drug companies spend like 3 or 4 times as much on marketing their drugs than they do trying to make or improve them.

companies and executives are trustworthy and/or can be controlled by "market forces".

Governments on the other hand are beholden to their people. If the government treats people in a way they don't like, the people can get rid of them. I would MUCH rather power be in the hands of devil I have some level of control over than the devil I have no control over at all. 

 Who decides how much you will pay for drugs,

what goes into the food you eat,

how much pollution is going into the air you breath or the water you drink?

The rich do.

The only limitation on their power over you is the laws the government passes that prevents them from doing these things. If you take that power away, then corporations can do whatever they want to you and there is nothing you can do about it. 

It is unreasonable to suggest taking that government power away would give then give rich people the power to tax and subsidize themselves.

Which laws do you think need strengthening? I saw GM lose about $100 million every day during that strike. Seems like they don't have a whole lot of power, now does it?

Well, if you would actually allow for competition, you would get your choice of medical provider who would actually work to get you a good deal.

Would you get a vote for drug prices? Let me rephrase that- would you get the right to coerce a company to sell a drug for whatever you want, essentially saying you have the right to someone else's property? No, and I don't think you should, either.

What would be wrong with giving parents a voucher that will allow them to choose which school their child can attend instead of sending them to whatever the closest public school is. I know it is cliche, but.... WHY SHOULD A ZIP CODE DETERMINE A CHILD'S FUTURE?!

If what you say about the government doing most of the work/subsidizing MOST of the work is true, then please provide a link''

Not necessarily trustworthy inherently. Their main objective is to make money. Competition, if present, has the power to be a "market force", however. If a company engages in false advertisement, but their competitor doesn't, naturally the "untrustworthy" company will most likely fail. That is a market force that keeps them somewhat trustworthy because they need to maintain a positive brand image.

Not from what I have seen. People have an illusion of power. They certainly vote for people, but nothing ever changes.

On the other hand, you see companies like General Electric with a plan called "ecomagination" in which they are planning to invest in more renewable options for their product line.

 Who decides how much you will pay for drugs,

I do. It's called "shopping"

what goes into the food you eat,

I do, it's called "educating yourself."

I do, by choosing to buy products like a car that causes pollution.

The rich do.

no

Tell that to the buggy whip manufacturers. They were rich once too and had the government bought and paid for.

People just stopped buying horses and buggies.

Not when they have patents you don't. They hold the patent on the drug you need to live. You can pay the price they decide, or you can die. 

And if the entire industry they want to use certain sub-standard products? What if they decide to just not tell you what is in their food? Or if they just lie on the label about what is in it?

Oh, so you are choosing that a factory near you puts poison into the air or into your water? It kind of seems like you have no control over that. 

I have no idea what this means. People stopped buying buggies because a better product came out that replaced them. 

The alternative is to put people into slave camps and create the drugs you demand for a price only you can agree upon.

I'll prefer option A.

Tort law has been around long before the crony governmental regulation and subsidy complex

Sure I do. People can choose to not buy those goods if they don't want to deal with the pollution. Personally, I am fine with the current air quality and the convenience of my car and plastic straws. The majority of America agrees with me.

No, the alternative is having a single-payer system where the consumers actually have some power to negotiate rather than the free for all gouging America currently suffers from. 

You are aware that tort law is still determined by the government right? They pass laws which govern tort law. 

But if the factories are all in one region, then they are only poisoning a small group. The rest of the market doesn't give a shit because they aren't affected. You are fine with the air quality while there are strict laws controlling pollution. If you weakened the power of the government, this would dramatically decrease causing a huge upsurge in preventable health problems (which they would, of course, gouge you to treat).

People have no power to negotiate because people like you voted the government to have enough power to destroy competition for medical payment services. Some states only license a single insurance company to do business there.

Which was in place long before the government had the power to manipulate the economy with subsidies and competition busting regulations.

There is no reason we can't step back and go back to the way it was pre FDR nonsense.

lol, I will never understand why right wing people think that establish rules that all companies have to abide by is "competition busting". That's like saying that having a rule where hockey players can't hit each other in the face with their stick is just destroying completion. It is complete and utter nonsense. 

That's a fake argument. The government can make regulations that help while also making ones that do not solely for the purpose of destroying competition to ensure big businesses contribute to their warchests.

The most idiotic of them is requiring a license to sell lemonade

destroying charter schools 

 or destroying Uber with regulations to appease the cab driver monopoly.

There is no reason why the people cannot reclaim the powers they gave to the government Post FDR, as the government has shown it cannot be trusted with that power.

Charter schools are a bad thing. They get all the benefits of public funding without any of the accountability. 

The answer isn't to tie the governments hands so that billionaires can do whatever they want. The answer is to get the rich people's money out of politician's pockets and clean up government. 

Or they are trying to enforce safety and quality assurance rules that uber is trying very hard not to have to comply with. 

The answer isn't to tie the governments hands so that billionaires can do whatever they want. The answer is to get the rich people's money out of politician's pockets and clean up government. 

No, the answer is to tie both hands and give the power back to the people, and only a sycophant would argue anything else.

What kind of a bullshit argument is this? Hello, reality check, have you seen the condition of the exteriors of licensed cabs lately?

 torching the entire country by handing power to the rich. 

Hyperboles are not arguments.

hey let's make a list of all the poor and middle class people in the senate, congress etc.....um, ok, how about we list the NON millionaires, um wait no, oh forget it.  

Funny when people think the rich don't run the government.