Ben Cohen - Ben and Jerry's co-founder - Oreo Speech

Doggtyred

Doggtyred

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I was watching a cable program last night about Ben and Jerry's, that spent a little time talking about their socially active business practices, and it took a moment to focus on Ben's "Oreo Speech" regarding some views regarding the Federal Budget.

I will readily admit that this guy is a true dyed in wool liberal (which I am not), but I also have to admit that his point is a valid one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sOIe5Ql0v8&feature=related is an 8 minute feature that talks about Federal discretionary spending, with graphic visual aids in the form of oreo cookies.

I am going to ask that regardless of your views - Dem, Rep, Lib or unengaged, that we keep this out of the spin zone.. as there are quite a few folks on here who's opinions and feedback I've come to respect, but those same folks do not venture into the spin zone, and I would be amiss of their feedback if this thread got "spinned"
 
Blah, blah, military spending/war bad, kids good, blah, blah.

How about we cut military spending AND those other programs? Why is it always just a redistribution of the current bloated government funds?
 
tdager said:
Blah, blah, military spending/war bad, kids good, blah, blah.

How about we cut military spending AND those other programs? Why is it always just a redistribution of the current bloated government funds?
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I used to support military spending years ago, but then it just became useless pork splurges. Lining the pockets of people "in the right" contact groups. Now we often keep projects alive the military no longer wants, and not because they're contractually obligated.

Finally, fark everyone. You want a war, you start paying for it. That means special war bonds, and special war taxes. Talk about sacrifice? You get a draft, with no exemptions.

I may not agree with libs, but when a person at the top end starts paying 90% taxes with no exemptions and the lowest bracket is paying 20% the same way wars won't last long. Toss in some nice price controls on business and they lose their incentive.

War is sacrifice, buck up for the suds.
 
JesseD said:
I used to support military spending years ago, but then it just became useless pork splurges. Lining the pockets of people "in the right" contact groups. Now we often keep projects alive the military no longer wants, and not because they're contractually obligated.

Finally, fark everyone. You want a war, you start paying for it. That means special war bonds, and special war taxes. Talk about sacrifice? You get a draft, with no exemptions.

I may not agree with libs, but when a person at the top end starts paying 90% taxes with no exemptions and the lowest bracket is paying 20% the same way wars won't last long. Toss in some nice price controls on business and they lose their incentive.

War is sacrifice, buck up for the suds.
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Okay, but drop the pretense about the US being a free country first.
 
Although I agree that defense spending must be reduced, the video is far too simplistic.
 
AuntPeggy said:
Although I agree that defense spending must be reduced, the video is far too simplistic.
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Agreed.

In reforming government spending (a desperate and crushing need), no element of the budget should be exempted.
 
Simplistic arguments don't work too well when government budgeting and socioeconomic tinkering are inexorably intertwined.
 
alaskaflyer said:
Simplistic arguments don't work too well when government budgeting and socioeconomic tinkering are inexorably intertwined.
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Yes, simplistic explanations pretty much don't work for anything in today's highly complicated world. But simplistic explanations are all you ever hear from the media and from every politician

One might say that a simple explanation is better than no explanation, but I'm not so sure. Take minimum wages, for example. Almost every economist knows that they accomplish something very different than what 99.9% of the population believe. But explaining that correctly requires a lot of economic background, so we get simplistic explanations instead. Those are usually wrong, so I'd prefer no explanation - at least the public wouldn't be mislead into thinking they understand the issue.

This presentation is similar.... :(
 
AuntPeggy said:
Although I agree that defense spending must be reduced, the video is far too simplistic.
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True... and I think the biggest gotcha is... how many private sector manufacturing and service jobs are tied to that Pentagon budget.... Thats a lot of trickle down...
 
sba55 said:
Yes, simplistic explanations pretty much don't work for anything in today's highly complicated world. But simplistic explanations are all you ever hear from the media and from every politician
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What frustrates me is simplistic sound bites comparing government spending to grandma's budget.

"If I ever ran my budget like the government I would go to jail!" is a popular mantra.

Thing is, you aren't the government, and the government isn't you. So while that nice little joke might be true, it doesn't mean anything.

And even individuals and small businesses can spend themselves out of a personal recession if they are wise about it ;)
 
alaskaflyer said:
What frustrates me is simplistic sound bites comparing government spending to grandma's budget.

"If I ever ran my budget like the government I would go to jail!" is a popular mantra.

Thing is, you aren't the government, and the government isn't you. So while that nice little joke might be true, it doesn't mean anything.

And even individuals and small businesses can spend themselves out of a personal recession if they are wise about it ;)
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Absolutely. That's just yet another one of those simplified - yet completely incorrect - analogies. But it's a difficult topic. There's so much fundamental economic theory that is required if one were to explain this topic correctly that I really don't know how the public is supposed to have an informed discussion about this topic :(
 
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