Joe Biden on Fairness
By Robert Ringer - Sunday, October 9, 2011
When David Gregory, the uber-left host of “Meet the Press,” asked Joe Biden why the economy is getting worse, Biden replied, “The core is, the bargain has been breached with the American people. The core is [that] the American people do not think the system is fair or on the level.”
Technically speaking, Biden is actually right about one thing — the system is not fair. But that’s not because of the system. It’s because life itself is not fair. That’s something most of us learned at a young age. And with good reason. It’s almost impossible for anyone to succeed in life if he doesn’t accept the reality that life is unfair — and make it a habit to move forward in spite of that reality.
Those who dwell on the unfairness of life are stuck in a self-delusive Woodstock world, a world far removed from reality. Worse, they rarely, if ever, are successful in their efforts to bring about major change, which almost always results in anger and further retreat into the unreal world they harbor in the deep recesses of their gray matter.
The reason it’s virtually impossible to bring about major change (short of violent revolution) is that the unfairness of life stems mostly from the thoughts and actions of human beings, a species that is supremely flawed. To the chagrin of the progressive, human beings are not programmed to act altruistically, yet altruism is at the heart of his agenda.
In fairness, I think many progressives sincerely want to help those whom they believe to be in need. Which would be fine, except for the fact that they believe the best way to achieve their noble goals is to violate the rights of others whom they believe to be too well off. Thus, their solutions almost always involve the use of force, which in turn results in more harm than good.
Having said this, I should point out that while Biden is partially right when he says the system isn’t fair, in a more general sense he’s also wrong. Capitalism, like everything else in our world, is not perfect, but it is by far the fairest (and most moral) economic system known to man. Not fair, but fairest. Again, there is no perfection in life.
To be sure, there are dishonest capitalists, just as there are dishonest priests, journalists, doctors, and plumbers, but that doesn’t make the system itself dishonest or unfair. The system works when people do not stifle it by defrauding others or getting the government to use force to help them gain an advantage in the marketplace.
Finally, when Joe Biden said, “…the bargain has been breached with the American people,” he was basing his words on the false premise that there is some sort of “social compact” that has been agreed upon by everyone in our society. I know of no such agreement.
Did banks make a “bargain” with some specific group of people? Not that I know of. How about “corporate America?” Any bargain there? The only bargain I know of is the one in which corporations offer wages to those they want to hire, and every individual has a right to accept or reject such an offer. Beyond that, there is no bargain.
The truth is that Biden, like all progressives, was talking in abstracts — the same strange language that has brought us such head-scratchers as “social justice,” “shared prosperity,” “the common good,” and “collective salvation.”
If you find this kind of abstract babble hard to listen to, best you go into hibernation over the next thirteen months, because it’s going to be coming at us at a fast and furious pace as the political campaigns heat up. Fast and furious … hmm … where have I heard that phrase before?
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Copyright © 2012 Robert Ringer
ROBERT RINGER is a New York Times #1 bestselling author and host of the highly acclaimed Liberty Education Interview Series, which features interviews with top political, economic, and social leaders. He has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business, The Tonight Show, Today, The Dennis Miller Show, Good Morning America, The Lars Larson Show, ABC Nightline, and The Charlie Rose Show, and has been the subject of feature articles in such major publications as Time, People, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Barron's, and The New York Times.
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32 Responses to “Joe Biden on Fairness”
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So if society is in agreement something is collectivelly unfair, that is fair, (whether based on fact or fiction) under your definition. It, therefore maybe unfair to some that they act to alleviate the perceived unfairness; however as you say we must accept that life is unfair.
Unfairness is not just limited to the middleclass by birthright.
In reality and spiritually we must accept life is not fair but we must work to ensure society does not activelly seek unfairness for pecuniary gain.
“societies” don’t agree. individuals do, or don’t. those that do can agree to play with each other, or not, but they have no moral authority to force those who disagree to play with them.
“society” is a can of spray paint that do-gooders, world-improvers, deface private property with, and who call their trespasses “art”.
It’s true the left constantly whines about “fairness.” The translation of fair by their definition is “you work; then I help spend what you earn.” The latest joke going around by email is “Know how to starve an Obama supporter? Hide his food stamps under his work boots.”
But I have to disagree with your statement that “In fairness, I think many progressives sincerely want to help those whom they believe to be in need.” Liberal Progressives want to be perceived as wanting to help, but they want to accomplish that objective by using someone else’s money; never their own money. The term Limousine-Liberal didn’t just magically appear out of thin air.
The left has pulled-off the mask and let their true colors show these past 3 years with the continuous bail outs of the failures while simultaneously penalizing the productive. Someone truly interested in helping others in need would not behave in that manner.
“To the chagrin of the progressive, human beings are not programmed to act altruistically…”
So if altruism is not “enforced” to some degree through taxes, what then?
Can a totally capitalistic society with minimal government survive when it depends on the goodwill of “human beings [who] are not programmed to act altruistically” to prevent it from imploding?
I’m not convinced that flawed human beings would allow capitalism to regulate the marketplace even somewhat fairly.
Sounds like another route to class warfare… or enslavement of the poor, rather than enablement. And it’s likely to be worse for more people this way. i.e the elimination of the “middle class” as they descend into poverty.
“Again, there is no perfection in life.”
To be sure.
free markets “enforce”. even to the extent of tar & feathers, sometimes…..but mostly,
“it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.”
adam smith
to your post more generally,
“it is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a ‘dismal science.’ but it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.
murray rothbard
“to your post more generally,
“it is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a ‘dismal science.’ but it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.
murray rothbard”
Sigh. Are you talking about loud as in… “I held a blow-horn in one hand and an air horn in another—-loved it.”
’cause I don’t know what “loud and vociferous opinion” you’re alluding to…
did I allude? your misunderstanding of econ, specifically capitalism, described fearfulness, trepidation, reticence, and while not all caps bullhorn, not muted, either.
and the point is that econ is no more about opinion, whatever the volume, than is bridge building (something that econ subsumes). am whispering, myself, since nothing draws attention better…lol
you can learn and know and propagate, pass along, learning. in fact, there is a moral obligation to know, to banish ignorance as excuse for trespass, and to warn would-be trespassers, “don’t” .
so, here’s a bridge, for free, not for sale, a most excellent bridge to the subject of the master social science, which everyone would profit by being familiar with:
lewrockwell dot com and mises dot org
there are very competent, non-sociopathic people in the world…and there’s no excuse anymore, with the internet, to remain at mercy of uni profs & nobel laureate ny times columnists (for whom the world is indeed flat, and the keynesian cargo cult is official state religion…).
Thank you.
Polarized articles are useful and I am reading, but they are obviously not helping me get up to speed quickly enough so I can engage knowledgeable folks without too quickly displaying my ignorance.
I’d love to fathom the depths of what I do not know in order to focus on learning exactly what I need to but I cannot trust any particular side to present a fair and balanced argument – each one is pushing a hardcore sales message.
What may help the “ignorant” more and speed up the learning curve are debates between truly “competent” thought leaders from different ideologies where arguments are met point for point.
Can you point me to any such recorded debates? Unless your thought leaders have no equals on the opposing benches.
Or maybe they do not have the inclination to engage in respectful debate for the common good?
My apologies if such debates are on the suggested sites, but I have not come across any in my quick scan thus far.
gGood point, otf. it is a process, very analogous to panning for gold – a whole lot of sediment & gravel to process for each speck of glint, and on your knees, stooped, or standing in freezing water, it can seem like.. maybe no getting around that, but internet does make it easier than it used to be. i started in the 70’s. because that particular inflationary period was very difficult for my family (lots of families).
“polarized”. my suggestion is that you ponder where truth typically is found…not in the middle…not on the fence. but it is out there – and from the middle, it can seem WAY out there; it is what it is, wherever it is. and it is usually logical, too; golden eras populated with philosopher sages, etc, that do not accord with your own experience, understanding, should be seen for what they are (untrue – just another conveniently revealed – for the revealers – argument from authority religion).
I can point you to one strenuously attempted debate. Robert Murphy, an Austrian economist, bent over backwards, brilliantly, to egg paul krugman to debate: no dice so far (and I know why, and so does krugman)…..the vid in second link is hilarious…… (spaces added to assure addys print – you’ll need to remove spaces)
http:// wiki.mises.org /wiki/ Murphy-Krugman_debate
http:// http://www.lewrockwell.com /blog/lewrw/ archives/67683.html
As for education beyond books, essays on web, mises is providing tremendous service with a growing roster of online courses, like this one:
http:// academy.mises.org /courses/ keynes-krugman-and-the-crisis/
Capitalism survived here for 235 years.
Only now, with such a “fairness-minded” Liberal leaning government has it really begun to fail….spectacularly I might add.
When one pre-supposes that they should “make” it fair it becomes tyranny.
here lies capitalism;
bridged divides,then died in schism.
r.i.p.
april 9, 1865
appomattox courthouse
A progressive liberal is someone who will give you the shirt off his back…as long as he doesn’t have to take it off.
The Wall Street protesters are coming to Toronto next, and one young Torontonian male who was interviwed says he wants “fairness” in the system…and that means a guaranteed good paying job for everyone as well as a tuition-free college education. The guy was serious!!! How did we manage to raise such a bunch of “entitlement as a right” couch potato losers over the past 20 to 30 years?
yes, it is nonsense. but it is also merely emulation. the little crook would be a larger crook. these people are copycats, not innovators…….
I believe Biden is correct…but not in the same sense. The “system” isn’t fair because politicians (of all stripes) have rigged the government in favor of a few select people/corporations. It is mostly liberals who have socialized risks (think bailouts, stimulus, and loan guarantees) while privatizing profits.
I agree with you, Mr. Ringer, that capitalism is the fairest system created. However, we don’t practice true capitalism here in the U.S. In fact, few countries practice it now which is part of our “collective” problem…
As is typical of most liberals, Biden rails against the system of crony capitalism that he and his ilk have created. That is why this next election is so critical.
if you cock your head, squint, you’ll see that govs are not “rigged”; they are rigging.
… reunion, Sir; you’re PRICELESS!!!
THREE-little letters, and subject-matter connotation is changed from a neighborhood park, to the magnificence of a Disney World!!!
thanks, hal.
gulliver said, “that’s just thread”. lol…..
“Fair” is only a perception. What is fair for one is unfair for someone else. One person cannot win without another losing. That’s life and that’s what encourages improvement.
We have gotten where we are by the actions of the mouth-breathers who advocate such things as “No Child Left Behind.” Not everyone can be a winner, always succeed or get a pat on the head for “trying.” To do so only encourages the belief that all one need do is want something and, if it’s not given, it’s unfair.
Statistics show that the wealthier slices of society are the most benevolent, when it comes to charitable giving. I see no reason for that to change, if the government would only get out of the charity business. Welfare, entitlements, FEMA, are nothing but government run charities not authorized by the Constitution.
I am quite generous when it comes to giving praise, goods, money or any other thing I have control over, when I feel someone deserves it. I give only what is mine to give, unlike the government who takes from others to give to whom they deem worthy. To me, that is the gravest form of how the “system” shows its unfairness.
etherealizing property into a “perception” may be the false premise that the “fairness” superstructure is built upon.
that’s how you get a pisa tower……
Liberals acting under the guise of altruism is nothing new. Altruism is the height of evil and this fact is just beginning to be understood because it goes opposite of what we have always been taught and what we thought we knew.
One poster mentioned that there are always winners and losers and when one individual wins, it is at the expense of the losers. in the small frame, your statement is true but I would suggest that we take a broader view. In my experience, having been on both sides of winning and losing, I know that a loss today may be exactly the motivation I need to find a way to win tomorrow.
Natural law is all about balance. Life is all about balance. Capitalism is all about balance. There simply must be a yin for every yang. They both exist and they both need each other to exist. In nature, life, and Capitalism, it is when the balance is artificially manipulated that things really start to tip the wrong way. For me, understanding this has been a guiding force in my life and has led directly to my successes.
yes. the zero sum aspect of each hand is contextual, just as you say. this is not a problem, in a free actor context, no matter how confused some may be about it.
the problem is politicization (coerced & coercive actors), which is plunder-ization.
the small fry have seen how it’s done, and are copying the sharks and barracudas. copying trespass against property. hiding it – just as the big predators do – within orwellianisms like “social justice” (“the war on terror“).
fairness issues? no, division of loot issues…..
biden wasn’t ascribing unfairness to capitalism. couldn’t have been – since capitalism is not “the system”. and, in fact, “capitalism” is bandied about at least as often, and in the same empty ways as “the constitution” is. scapegoats, or idols, made of straw. the elvi, both of them, have left the building.
biden was referring to the political system. which is to say the plunder system. plunder, and fairness, are quite antagonistic to each other, whether the loot is ostensibly for the calibrating of outcomes as the “progressives” would have it, or as the “conservatives” would have it. “ostensibly” is the key word. fair criminality? hello?
what’s with the “progressive” mantra, anyway? is it that the progs have always been in charge, every election cycle? haven’t all of them, both wings, been in charge, “one or the other or ’gridlock’” forever? so, how is this scapegoat distinction being made, exactly?
it’s a false distinction. like the crips and the bloods is a false distinction.
“To be sure, there are dishonest capitalists, [yes, to be very sure i.e. dishonest capitalism not laissez-faire] just as there are dishonest priests, journalists, doctors, and plumbers, but that doesn’t make the system itself dishonest or unfair.”………
………Excuse me, first-off, we don’t have a “system” in amerika that even resembles capitalism, because state and corporate powers have merged, i.e. fascism. And as an aside: amerika is crawling with dishonest and/or ignorant journlists, etc, etc, etc.
“The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire capitalism. In a system of full capitalism, there should be (but, historically, has not yet been) a complete separation of state and economics.”…… Ayn Rand
Thank you Ayn for pointing out the fact that we don’t have free-market capitalism in amerika. Thank you, too, F.A. Hayek for also pointing this out. And you, too, Ludwig von Mises.
What we have in amerika is a welfare-warfare state that’s financed by Keynesianism and advanced by financial centralization and military hegemony.—that’s reality.
What we have in amerika is a neocon-neolib political class, a left-right paradigm, who/which ensnares the dimwitted into class warfare/welfare and deflects attention off of the Kleptocracy.
What we have in amerika is the Joe Biden/Herman Cain- type agitators, who provoke class warfare by fostering an us against them “system” for the sole purpose of political gain.
“To protest Wall Street and the bankers is basically saying you’re anti-capitalism.” ……..Herman Cain
Really?
Message to Kansas Federal Reserve chairman Herman Cain: You’re nothing more than an anti-capitalist pimp. You’re record and words bear this out. We know that you’re an insider phony for the financial-self-service industry. We know that you’re a lobbyist shill for the oligarchy and the other lovers of fiat money. We know that you’re a propagandist for the phony capitalists, who love government intervention in the market place, and then some.
how was jail? was it only pepper spray?
reunion,
Just catching up on your posts, good stuff.
No jail, no dogs and no pepper-spray (I actually had some productive conversations with law enforcement and the news media).
I held a blow-horn in one hand and an air horn in another—-loved it. I banded together with a group of protesters. We made up a large sign with a photo of Ludwig von Mises which read:
No More Ponzi Economics.
End The Fed.
Ron Paul 2012.
good that you aren’t now residing in one of the fema-villes that dot the fatherland….(is that a “progressive” thing, too?)
……..Yes, and then some
Message to the ignorant (not stupid) populous: Educate yourselves on the subject of economics unless you want to be pimped by individuals like bankster-godfather Herman Cain or Joe Blow Biden. Federal Reserve banking has nothing to do with laissez-faire capitalism, nor does the ponzi economics of wall street.. Nothing!
Federal Reserve banking and ponzi economics are only a means of bottom-up wealth transfer which ultimately results in class warfare—and revolution. It centralizes power which is the opposite of what free markets do using an invisible hand. Free-market capitalism results in a more “fair,” egalitarian system than any other known to man.
Don’t be fooled by free-market impostors.
< that’s reality
he seeked, he sought, he scored (found)……
Mr. Ringer,
You are in agreement with GOD.
‘The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it.”
Is the issue the specific environmental problems with the XL pipeline; or is the issue that we don’t want to import oil from Canada due to the very dirty nature of the way oil shale is extracted in Alberta and that it will increase carbon in the air overall?