I agree in principle that hyper-criticism represents an enormous waste of intellectual resources, but consider the object of the criticism--the U.S. government. The attacks are well-deserved.

THE_ANSWER, Corbett You both raise excellent points concerning our profligate spending in the areas of education, energy, defense, etc. What are your positions on streamlining the military without sacrificing their capabilities vis-a-vis the closure of military bases, reductions in waste, duplication, etc.? It seems to me that the Framers clearly embraced two ideas: 1. Establish an impressively lethal military (Peace through strength). 2. Promote international trade while remaining uninvolved in the domestic affairs of other countries (Peace through commerce). Thoughts?

VickyD4Liberty I have absolutely no idea what Romney will do...but I am VERY aware of what OBAMA! has already done.

ResistWeMuch Although, we never technically "own" land. Try missing a couple of payments on your property taxes and see if you still "own" it. ;-)

ResistWeMuch I am not a high-salary earner (yet), but if I were, I would precisely mirror your attitude toward the OBAMA!/progressive obsession with taking from the productive and giving to the unproductive.

Anominus Obviously, you failed to grasp the subtly nuanced point that the eminently sophisticated Mr. Hayes was endeavoring to make. ;-)

Hmm... I am REALLY uncomfortable calling Chris Hayes an American. Oxygen thief maybe...but American...not so much.

shubi_ Great points. I recently read an interesting article in Forbes that predicted Facebook and Google would become the next MySpace [read solvent but irrelevant] within 5 to 8 years. Who knows for sure, but Jackson makes some valid observations. http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2012/05/07/facebook-and-google-wont-fail-in-5-years-because-of-lack-of-money-or-low-iq-but-from-sociology-and-human-nature/

I agree in principle with Mr. Thomas' assertions and believe that his casino analogy is basically sound. However, Facebook/Morgan Stanley cannot knowingly and artificially raise the value of the stock offering vis-a-vis false earnings projections. If they did, then that would be akin to the house dealing from the bottom of the deck.

ericynot It doesn't matter the political stripe of the politician (the only real difference between parties is who they owe favors to), the point is that corporatism is destroying our country while free market capitalism could save it.