POLITICAL: The cost of “public educstion”

Thursday, March 11, 2010

http://centraljersey.com/articles/2010/03/04/opinions/doc4b902460b6719996011467.txt#blogcomments

EDITORIAL: Governor balancing books on students’ backs
Thursday, March 4, 2010 4:22 PM EST

*** begin quote ***

   Gov. Chris Christie has made a point of saying he plans to tackle the state’s budget crisis head on. Gone, he says, are the days of kicking the proverbial can (i.e., the state’s recurring deficit) down the road and hoping someone else will pick it up.

   But that’s exactly what he’s doing, withholding aid from school districts for this year’s budget and forcing them to make up the shortfall with money many districts had planned to use in 2010-2011.

*** end quote ***

Unfortunately, “We, The People” can’t afford “public education” anymore. A new solution will hae to be found. “Public Education” is inefficient and ineffective. Also it’s dumbing down and indoctrinating the next generation of voters to look to big gooferment as the “solution” to every problem. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that the reality. Too expensive, too “one size fits all”, too corrupt.

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POLITICAL: Too many parks; Socialism’s economic calculation problem

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2010/03/ill-gladly-pay-you-tuesday-for.html

Monday, March 08, 2010

‘I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today’

*** begin quote ***

I am not the only New Jersey columnist who believes the state needs to rethink how its local governments are organized. Alfred Doblin, editorial page editor for The Record, takes on the sacred cow of home rule in his column today (http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/doblin_030810.html):

“What is more important: Quality education or a local school district? Is the firefighter less competent because he or she answers to a regional supervisor instead of a local chief? Does it matter if the municipality, county or an independent contractor removes snow as long as the snow is removed?”

He likens the state’s fiscal crisis to the Chicago fire that destroyed that city in the late 19th Century, saying New Jersey has “burned down” and adding that “We should not build it like it was.” As he says of the sacred cow of “Home rule” — a “very big cow”: “it’s time it either produced a beverage or became an entrée.”

“The fiscal reality is bleak. But there are ways of providing many of the services we expect while still spending less. We don’t have too many teachers. We don’t have too many parks. We don’t have too many roads. We have too many districts. We have too many municipalities. We have too many departments that essentially duplicate other departments.”

*** end quote ***

“We don’t have too many …”

How can any one possibly say that?

One of the problems that Austrian Economics points out is that socialism has no way of making these economic calculations.

In a free economy, the price mechanism determines how many of anything we have. (Evil) (business) people risk their own capital to “test” if something is needed. Then the economy efficiently allocates capital to the things that people want. And they “vote” for the things they want by spending their scarce dollars. Profit is the message that the invisible hand of the economy uses to attract more capital to a needed area. That’s if we had a “free” economy.

Now we have a semi-free economy. The gooferment at many levels intrude and distort the market signals. For example, the FED by distorting the core interest rate for capital encourages “malinvestment”. The Austrians fault malinvestments for the boom and bust we see in the economy. That one distortion alone has catastrophic implication on what risks people take. Bubbles would not be as big or as hurtful without the “money” distortion. Commodity money, or at least the repeal of “legal tender” laws, would allow the free market to adjust the interest rate. And, limit the ability of the gooferment to spend.

Now, when we have NO profit or price mechanism, the gooferment can’t do anything. Because EVERY decision becomes a “political” decision. Only at the very grossest level can we opine on government spending. Suppose that a park was a for profit operation, like Disney World, and it had to carry its costs. This is the specific argument that I have with the South Brunswick “Public Library”. They take money from property taxes and “fund raising” that they do. People in and around South Brunswick didn’t support a movie theater; it went out of business. How can the “Public Library” go out of business? It can’t. The State Gooferment “legislates” that there be one for every Municipal Gooferment. It’s politics; not economics.

You have to laugh at the Census advertisement saying that everyone should fill it out so that “the Gooferment can figure out how many schools we need”. That is the economic calculation problem. We never hear anything about how many McDonalds we need. Because some uncompensated person has risked their capital to fulfill what they perceive as a need. See if we left education to parents, as we do food, clothing, and a myriad of other things, then we would know EXACTLY how many “schools are needed”. Of course, the Gooferment with its “zoning regulations” still interferes. That’s why we have a McDonalds on Sand Hill and Route 1 where a jug handle should be.

In closing, I know that I’ll get the usual carping about “libertarian looniness”. But it is a real political and economic problem. It’s wasteful to have politicians and bureaucrats making what should be economic decisions.

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POLITICAL: Time to dump DC!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

201003081726.jpg

http://dumpdc.wordpress.com/

*** begin quote ***

Here at DumpDC, we are dedicated to following the fast-growing secessionist movement in the united States of America.

Notice how I wrote “united States of America.” This is how Thomas Jefferson referred to the proposed new nation in the Declaration of Independence. He declared the states to be sovereign nations first, anticipating a loose confederation of the several states to follow.

I won’t take the time in this introduction to chronicle the complete history of secession in North America. It’s obvious that the English colonies seceded from England in 1776. The Confederate States of America tried to secede in 1861, and failed. So, secession’s batting average in America is .500.

Still pretty good.

Secession is on the lips of many Americans today. When they look at a Federal Government that is spinning wildly out of control, state secession begins to have an allure as a remedy. American has gone from a nation of sovereign states with a carefully defined Federal Government to a nation where states are but subservient territories of a rapacious, tyrannical ruling entity that entirely ignores any restrictions on its power.

*** end quote ***

Grab your pitchfork and torch!

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POLITICAL: One baffling thing about congress critter tax cheat

Monday, March 8, 2010

http://www.rollcall.com/news/43910-1.html

Levin Repays Property Tax Credit
By Jennifer Yachnin
Roll Call Staff
March 5, 2010, 8:49 p.m.

*** begin quote ***

Newly anointed House Ways and Means Chairman Sander Levin (D-Mich.) repaid a Maryland property-tax credit Friday that he should not have received, his office confirmed.

*** end quote ***

Well, that didn’t take long.

In the tradition of little Timmy “turbo tax is too complicated”, yet another tax cheat is uncovered.

I’m shocked — as in “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” [Captain Renault as a croupier hands Renault a pile of money, in Casablanca] — that there is tax trouble in the District of Corruption!

There oughtta be a law. Oh, yeah, there is!

Argh!

The baffling thing: why? Did he need another 700$?

If you or I do it, we get slammed with fines or jail!

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POLITICAL: Taxachusett’s Tax Revolt still alive

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=001cHaZO6NvI
5XHSG7SWAU_e59U6hggXi352yc5JXaKqLeeU5vnUGQY70Zfd4
jkOmU2tu8iZPwb_0YvEUThaNVktjReGxuZdmYm-Ewe5vK80-I%3D

Is the 3rd Time the Charm — for Rolling Back Taxes?
By Michael Cloud and Carla Howell

*** begin quote ***

Our Ballot Initiative to Roll Back the Sales Tax is ahead in the polls.

*** end quote ***

The Massachusetts revolt continues.

Hope they can pull this off.

They have more lives that a cat and better patriots than here in the Pepuls Republik of Nu Jerzee!

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POLITICAL: OBH44 forces the USA to kick out the political elite?

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

201003030832.jpg

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704625004575089362731862750.html

REVIEW & OUTLOOK
MARCH 3, 2010
Abuse of Power
‘An undemocratic disservice to our people and to the Senate’s institutional role.’
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A16

*** begin quote ***

In other words, he’s volunteering Democrats in Congress to march into the fixed bayonets so he can claim an LBJ-level legacy like the Great Society that will be nearly impossible to repeal. This would be an unprecedented act of partisan arrogance that would further mark Democrats as the party of liberal extremism. If they think political passions are bitter now, wait until they pass ObamaCare.

*** end quote ***

Or, in passing this, does it cement the doom of the Democrats in 2010 and 2012? Does it kick start a Tea Party revolution that drags the Political Elite from the Chambers of Congress and the Executive to “the metaphorical guillotines of a new French Revolution”. Is Sarah Palin the new Madame Defarge? Ron Paul the Robespierre?

The French Revolution which is a prime example of Gresham’s law of political morality: the bad drives out the good as everyone becomes corrupted while political life becomes not unlike the Hobbesian war of all against all in “a perpetual and restless desire for power, that ceaseth only in death.”

Do we usher in a new political reality where congress critters dare not over-spend? Is this how the USA recovers from the excess spending that rang up terrible deficits and a national debt that impoverishes us all.

One can only hope!

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POLITICAL: Dead Old White Guys were smart!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2010/02/more-senate-disfunction.html

Friday, February 26, 2010
More Senate disfunction
Hank Kalet

*** begin quote ***

Amending the U.S. Constitution to reconstitute the Senate would likely be impossible, however, because the compromise enshrined small-state power in the amendment process. But the Senate cannot continue to (mal)function the way it has.

*** end quote ***

The Dead Old White Guys were afraid of the “mob”. They tried to throw road blocks into the “road to serfdom”, the path to perdition, or the fast lane to tyranny.

We mess with their grand design at our own peril. Their “weak president” has become a near dictator waging foreign wars of aggression at will without a declaration and expanding welfare by corruption with inter-generational theft. The direct election of senators has allowed unfunded federal mandates. The creation of the FED, a banking monopoly cartel, has allowed the budget deficit / national debt to explode. The “income tax” amendment has allowed the federal government to steal our wealth with ease. “Social security” has damaged the civil society in numerous ways — not the least of which was to create a slush fund for spending and stick the bill to future generations!

Argh, we need to go back to the ORIGINAL constitution and cut the gooferment down to a reasonable size to protect us from force or fraud and Nothing else. imho!

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POLITICAL: School; gooferment’s disaster

Sunday, February 28, 2010

http://reason.com/archives/2010/02/18/education-is-too-important-for

Education Is Too Important for a Government Monopoly
It’s time to let parents choose
John Stossel | February 18, 2010

*** begin quote ***

Since 1980, government spending on education, adjusted for inflation, has nearly doubled. But test scores have been flat for decades.

Today we spend a stunning $11,000 a year per student—more than $200,000 per classroom. It’s not working. So when will we permit competition and choice, which works great with everything else? I’ll explore those questions on my Fox Business program tonight night at 8 and 11 p.m. Eastern time (and again Friday at 10 p.m.).

The people who test students internationally told us that two factors predict a country’s educational success: Do the schools have the autonomy to experiment, and do parents have a choice?

*** end quote ***

① The gooferment running “education” is in effective (i.e., students don’t learn).

② The gooferment spends way to much to give us uneducated students (i.e., the taxpayers are going broke).

③ “Public education” was designed by the Prussians to make cannon fodder and factory workers who could be led by an “elite”. That is not what we want or need in America.

④ “Public education” unions are corrupt and corrupt politicians.

⑤ The taxpayer doesn’t feed, clothe, or house children; so why do we have to pay to educate them?

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POLITICAL: Classified to protect the interests of whom? Not you and me, for sure!

Sunday, February 28, 2010

http://campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=625

02/20/10
Hushing Up “Conspiracy Theories”
by Jeff Riggenbach

*** begin quote ***

When Cass Sunstein and others seem most worried about is historical narratives that undermine the government.

*** end quote ***

“Classified information” is classified to protect the interests of Big Gooferment and the ruling elite; not us serfs. Why isn’t everything automatically declassified after say 50 years?

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POLITICAL: Right to Life

Friday, February 26, 2010

“The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception; and therefore from the same moment his or her rights as a person must be recognised, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.”

— Dignitas Personae

# – # – #

*** begin quote ***

The Instruction Dignitas Personae on Certain Bioethical Questions was released by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in December 2008. This new Vatican document about in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and embryo experimentation is an update of a document written twenty years ago, Donum Vitae (1987), and seeks to address the questions raised by recent developments in biomedical research.

*** and ***

This is a document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). The CDF exists to support the Pope in providing clear teaching on Church doctrine. The Pope has explicitly approved the document and therefore it shares his ordinary teaching authority. This kind of instruction does not have quite the same status as a Papal encyclical or a Church council, but it carries great weight. It is possible to criticise the way in which the CDF might express itself, or the wisdom of speaking on a particular issue at a particular time, but very strong reason is needed to dissent from the teaching itself. Dignitas Personae gives the most up-to-date official Catholic view on bioethical questions.

*** end quote ***

# – # – #

Regardless of whether one is “Catholic” or not, Saint or Sinner, “believer” or atheist, it is hard not to consider the opinions of learned religious leaders.

As pro-life or pro-choice, it’s easy to forget that we are dealing with the essence of our humanity. To forget that is to risk sliding down the road to eugenics and breeding men like cattle.

There are various opinions about when “rights” imbue to men. When they can fight for them. When they can take them. When they can survive on their own. When they are born. When they are conceived.

“All men are created equal. And, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Among these … “

Seems to answer the “when” question.

So to, this “instruction” seems to answer “what’s a person” question.

While everyone debates, one thing that is per se obvious, this issue is badly served by putting the government in charge. On its BEST day, it can’t handle easy problems. Giving it complex social and personal issue isn’t fair. It’s not designed to handle these. It can’t handle them without “breakage”. Leave it to the people directly involved in. Support them with laws that make it their free choice. Government’s sole role is to protect the people. Even the one’s that are “unpopular”.

My greatest fear is that we will kill “the Golden Child”. In Will Crowther’s Colossal Cave Adventure game, if you killed the bird in Cave #7, you never could proceed past the snake in Cave #11. (Although it was funny to see smart engineers trying “stuff” when it was impossible to proceed.) What if the potential person that’s killed is the next Salk who will cure cancer, the next Hawkings who will explain the Universe, or the next Mother Teresa who will comfort untold number of sufferers?

“The cemetery of the victims of human cruelty in our century is extended to include yet another vast cemetery, that of the unborn.” Pope John Paul II

The Holocaust pales in comparison to the self-inflicted genocide of abortion.

We are fools, messing with what we don’t understand at our own peril.

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POLITICAL: Reconcilliation may come back to haunt the D’s

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

http://www.lifenews.com/nat6022.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed
&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LifeNewsHeadlines+%28LifeNews.com+Pro-Life+Headlines%29

White House May Unveil Pro-Abortion Health Care Proposal Before Summit
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 18, 2010

*** begin quote ***

The idea behind reconciliation is for the House to approve the Senate bill, which contains massive abortion funding and other pro-abortion problems. Then, both the Senate and House would approve a “corrections” bill that would make change…s to the Senate bill (but not revoking the abortion funding) so members of the House are more likely to vote for the Senate bill.

*** end quote ***

Just like when the R’s shot themselves in the foot with the “Two Term” amendment to prevent FDR from running again (He died anyway before he could run again!), the D’s — if they use reconciliation — will load the gun and aim it at their own foot. Eventually the R’s will have the “controls” and will use reconcilliation again to “rahm” something through!

Turn about is “fair play”. The worm always turns! And, the taxpayer always gets screwed. Sheeple!

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POLITICAL: Answer the Census; question 1 only!

Monday, February 22, 2010

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=125279

My 1-question census form
Posted: February 17, 2010
Walter E. Williams

*** begin quote ***

Americans need to stand up to Washington’s intrusion into our private lives. What business of government is the number of times a citizen has been married or what he paid for electricity last month? For those who find such intrusion acceptable, I’d ask them whether they’d also find questions about their sex lives or their marriage fidelity equally acceptable.

What to do? Unless a census taker can show me a constitutional requirement, the only information I plan to give are the number and names of the people in my household. The census taker might say, “It’s the law.” Thomas Jefferson said, “Whensoever the General Government (Washington) assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force.”

*** end quote ***

Prof Williams challenges us to fight for our rights.

You have only the rights you are willing to fight for.

Buzz off!

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POLITICAL: Shrinking the gooferment

Saturday, February 20, 2010

http://www.lewrockwell.com/crovelli/crovelli42.1.html

What Has ‘The Union’ Ever Done for Colorado?

by Mark R. Crovelli

*** begin quote ***

Enough time has passed, and enough Coloradoan blood has been spilled on foreign soil, for Coloradoans to realize that the federal government has not, and never will, protect Colorado from foreign threats. For, the tragic history of the relationship between Coloradoans and the federal government reveals no foreign threats to Colorado except those provoked or imagined by the federal government. The historical record reveals, in other words, a federal government that is itself bathed in the blood of Coloradoans.

*** end quote ***

You could insert ANY state in this paragraph. Including Hawaii. FDR engineered that attack.

We need to pare the Federal gooferment down to size. One way to do it is state by state.

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POLITICAL: Don’t cut back; eliminate!

Monday, February 15, 2010

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_14361726

Lawmakers discuss early high school graduation

By Lisa Schencker

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 02/09/2010 09:53:52 AM MST

*** begin quote ***

Sen. Chris Buttars isn’t talking about dropping 12th grade any more.

Now, he’s talking about making 12th grade optional for those students who finish their required credits early — and some lawmakers are listening to the idea with interest.

*** end quote ***

When will the legislators have the stones to eliminate gooferment education entirely?

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POLITICAL: Marines on Okinawa, why stay?

Thursday, February 11, 2010

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=123846

Bring our Marines home
Pat Buchanan

*** begin quote ***

Indeed, why are we still defending Japan? She is no longer the ruined nation of 1945, but the second-largest economy on earth and among the most technologically advanced.

*** end quote ***

Seems like a good place to start!

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POLITICAL: China dictates American policy

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6183KG20100209

China PLA officers urge economic punch against U.S.
Chris Buckley
BEIJING
Tue Feb 9, 2010 12:00pm EST

*** begin quote ***

BEIJING (Reuters) – Senior Chinese military officers have proposed that their country boost defense spending, adjust PLA deployments, and possibly sell some U.S. bonds to punish Washington for its latest round of arms sales to Taiwan.

*** end quote ***

Doesn’t anyone find this dangerous?

(1) Immediately balance the budget. Nuke functions. Lower taxes (i.e., the Laffer curve will increase revenue).

(2) Create a debt-reduction plan (i.e., whatever reasonable interval to pay it off — fifty years? a hundred years?).

(3) Adopt something with teeth that can keep this from happening again!

Argh!

Your gooferment at work!

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POLITICAL: Palin, Tea Party, and how to put the pig on a diet

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

http://firedoglake.com/2010/02/08/palin-drives-libertarians-out-of-tea-party/

Palin Drives Libertarians out of Tea Party
By: Jane Hamsher
Monday February 8, 2010 8:00 am

*** begin quote ***

There was a lot of pushback because of the price of the Palin tickets, and many of the rank-and-file tea party activists see her as a symbol of the establishment GOP’s attempt to co-opt their nascent movement.

Palin evidently thought she could endorse Rand Paul and they’d all throw flowers at her feet. Instead they’re having a melt down over her speech, trying to figure out how to keep the neocons out of future conventions.

Rather than navigating the gulf between the tea party activists and the GOP, Palin drove a wedge between them.

Well, at least she had the good sense not to mention her Bridge to Nowhere. But you have to wonder why they invited her there in the first place.

*** end quote ***

I correctly called Palin as McCain’s VP 3 months before the decision.

I liked Palin when she made “her” speech/

I thought that she was improperly prepared for the Katie’s ambush.

I do know that the neocons are not libertarians.

I KNOW that the Tea Party people are the “new kids” on the block.

BUT, if they succumb to EITHER party then they will just put BHO44 back in the White House. They need to pick and chose who to endorse base of track records. They need to align with some of the folks that have been fighting these battles for years! They need to back those initiatives that will cut the problems down to size (i.e., Read The Bills Act; One Subject At Time; Audit the FED; Free Competition in Currency Act)/

You have to start cutting this “pig” down to size; not putting lipstick on it.

How about a law DECREASING the debt ceiling a 100M$ every year until it’s ZERO?

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POLITICAL: Green Police: Audi Super Bowl Ad

Monday, February 8, 2010

Green Police: Audi Super Bowl Ad

Absolutely hits too close to home. Even the non-political types who were watching the game were upset by the commercial. It may have started a small “tea party” on its own.

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POLITICAL: Who’s “manning the walls” in the Obama administration?

Sunday, February 7, 2010

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/specialengagements/moviespeechafewgoodmencodered.html

American Rhetoric: Movie Speech
“A Few Good Men” (1992)
written by Aaron Sorkin

Colonel Nathan R. Jessep Addresses the Court on “Code Red”

*** begin quote ***

You can’t handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives…You don’t want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty…we use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use ’em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I’d rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you’re entitled to!

*** end quote ***

This rings true more today that ever.

Who’s “manning the walls” in the Obama administration?

Sorry, but the Department of Defense and the National Guard should be deployed here at home. Like the Coast Guard should NOT be off gallivanting.

We have bases in reportedly 170 countries. Time for a base closing commission of taxpayers.

Did you know that the Constitution only authorizes a permanent Navy. The Army is only allowed for two years. Guess the Dead Old White guys understood about the dangers of a permanent army. What do you think they’d have thought about the alphabet agencies: FBI, DEA, BATF, CIA, NSA, yada, yada, and yada?

Argh!

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POLITICS: OBH44 and his economic illiterates

Thursday, February 4, 2010

http://kudlow.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NjU0MWQ0OWQ3OTI2OTgzMmUwMGM2NTUxMGRhMDcyYzY=

Wednesday, February 03, 2010
$2 Trillion in Tax Hikes Is Good for the Economy?   
Larry Kudlow

*** begin quote ***

Why not put more money into private pockets to spur growth — the free-market capitalist way? Why slam businesses, banks, and hedge funds to the tune of nearly $500 billion?

Once again, it takes liquidity from the private sector, reduces economic growth and the incentive effect, and gives money to the government.

Here’s the key point. All of these fat-cat, class-warfare, soak-the-(alleged)-rich tax-hike proposals actually reduce investment and capital formation so much so that jobs and wages will ultimately falter on Main Street. That’s what Team Obama is missing.

Taxing businesses and so-called “rich” people hurts ordinary working folks. That’s a fact. And that’s why this is a misbegotten policy. We’re not talking class warfare here; we’re talking growth. My way is the growth way. So far, the Team Obama way is a social policy on the left that has nothing to do with spurring jobs and economic growth.

*** end quote ***

Can’t drum it in to economic illiterates.

  • Companies don’t pay taxes; only real people do.
  • The government spends OUR money; it doesn’t EARN any. It does NOT create wealth.
  • A dollar taken by the gooferment is not available for other productive uses.
  • A dollar is not a store of value when the gooferment runs the printing press.
  • The political process is corrupt. It’s not a democracy; nor is it “representative”!

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POLITICAL: Energy independence; absent leadership

Monday, February 1, 2010

http://www.keywestlou.com/2010/02/sunday-is-supposedly-day-of-rest.html

My Life in Key West

Monday, February 1, 2010

*** begin quote ***

The article contained an observation that sticks with me. The United States has depended on the Middle East for years for its power supply, to wit: oil. That if the United States did not get into the manufacture of renewable energy quickly and in big time, our energy dependency in the future would move to the Far East. China!

And we would have replaced one less than friendly peoples for another in satisfying our energy needs.

All very interesting. Thought provoking. Part of Obama’s State of the Union speech.

Talk is one thing. Action another. Obama has to move us in the direction of manufacture and use of renewable energy dramatically. Now, not tomorrow. And everyone, Democrat and Republican alike, should support him in this endeavor. This is not a No issue.

*** end quote ***

(1) Unfortunately for us, OBH44 is an inexperienced “talker”; not a “do-er”. We need a “leader”; not a “community organizer”. Every politician lectures us about “energy independence”. Little gets done. If we still funded the Federal Government on tariffs and duties like the Dead Old White Guys wanted us to do, then the gooferment would be a lot smaller and less intrusive. AND, we’d have energy independence. because solutions here would be cheaper than imported oil from there. Maybe we might have a car industry too, instead of having sent allt he jobs overseas. Too late, we get smart. It might be way too late.

(2) With all the secession talk, maybe Mike and Tina can do some stuff for real. When the S hits the fan, maybe we can replace the FED’s “dollar” with a Constitutional gold and silver money. The we’d be once again the envy of the world with “honest money”. Maybe then we could get working on the national debt so that we don’t condemn the children to Haiti-like poverty. Inter-generational theft will be how we are remembered as the progeny try to pay off the Chinese.

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POLITICS: A spending freeze? Is he kidding me?

Thursday, January 28, 2010

reinkefj has left a new comment on the post “A spending freeze? Is he kidding me?”:

Amazing when the wacko left and the wacko right agree, a spending freeze is just dumb. What he needs to do is what he promised in the campaign. Sit down with the Federal budget and a red pen.

Freezing spending at current levels is just enshrining the past mistakes.

imho, for example, milk and sugar price supports. We pay money so that people have to pay higher prices?

imho, minimum wage, that puts minority youths out of work. If there is a marginal worker, he’s out as opposed to making a few bucks. And, it cost the taxpayers in all sorts of ways.

imho, military bases in 170 countries. Let have some base closings in strange places.

That’s the way to “freeze” spending.

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It merely “freezes” the increased spending of the past decade. Argh!

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POLITICS: My SOTUA!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/01/27/a-10-point-libertarian-sotu-address/

A 10-Point, Libertarian, SOTU Address

Posted by Jeffrey A. Miron

*** begin quote ***

1. Abandon Obamacare

2. Forget Cap and Trade

3. Reject the Card Check Bill

4. Withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan

5. Legalize Drugs

6. Scrap the tax code and replace with a flat tax

7. Expand free trade and immigration

8. Stop the bailouts

9. Cut spending

10. Cut spending

BONUS – Cut spending

*** end quote ***

1. End the war. Bring the troops home. Close foreign bases. Department of Defense is NOW in charge of national defense. All national defense.

2. Income tax is over. A drastically reduced Federal budget will be funded on import duties and excise taxes.

3. The drug war is now OVER. All non-violent drug offenders are granted a Presidential pardon. All violent drug offenders MAY apply for clemency.

4. The death penalty IS cruel and unusual punishment. All death row inmates are commuted to life without parole.

5. All welfare (including corporate welfare) will be phased out. All immigration rules will be phased out.

6. The Federal Reserve is to be audited. Legal tender laws are NOW unconstitutional.

7. Social Security and government pensions will be securitized by bonds. National assets will be pledged as collateral for these recognition bonds.

8. All “government entities” are suspended effective immediately. All especially the IRS, BATF, etc. etc. etc. will be shutting down. If States wish to fund an entity like the FBI with funding based on population.

9. All bailouts are to be recalled. Automakers will be spun out to the citizens.

10. All “health care” and “health insurance” rules are to be phased out.

That’s my LIBERTARIAN SOTUA (State Of The Union Address)!

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POLITICAL: Obama’s health agenda

Thursday, January 21, 2010

WITH APOLOGIES TO ONE OF MY FACEBOOK FRIENDS:

*** begin quote ***

Coakley took the hit, but Obama can’t let one vote derail his agenda and his Presidency. Seat Brown, then have the House pass the Senate bill as is and sign it before the State of the Union address.

*** end quote ***

It’s NOT just one vote.

This bill is a DISASTER. Both personally and for the country. It’s not about “heath”, “health care”, or even “health care insurance”. It’s about putting the gooferment in charge of people’s decisions about their lives.

Personally, my wife needs her doctors to work hard on her case; not playing games to satisfy some gooferment bureaucrat deciding what care she will get.

Nationally, we can’t afford this monstrosity. The gooferment already “runs” Medicare (broke!), Medicaid (breaking Fed and States), the VA (hated by most vets and underfunded), and Indian Health System (hated and goes broke every June). Let them “fix” one of those and then revisit the issue.

As a little L libertarian, I’d prefer that they just leaves us alone. If they can’t do that, how about some things that EVERYONE can agree on: (1) interstate competition; (2) eliminate the unfavorable tax treatment on self-purchased health care insurance; and (3) some limits on malpractice awards?

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POLITICAL: Sic transit gloria mundi

Thursday, January 21, 2010

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,673192,00.html

01/21/2010
The World from Berlin
The World Bids Farewell to Obama

*** begin quote ***

Center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung writes on Thursday:

“Obama made a serious misjudgement. Right at the beginning of his first year in office, he saved the banks, rescued the automobile industry from collapse and passed a huge economic stimulus package. He had hoped that these enormous deeds would give him the space to address those issues which are dearest to him: health care reform, climate change and investment in education.”

“Those issues, however, are clearly not priorities for people in the US at the moment. Scott Brown campaigned on two promises, both of which apparently struck a nerve with the electorate. He wants to block health care reform and he wants to find ways to reduce the enormous budget deficit. It is here where the roots of dissatisfaction with Obama are to be found. His reform agenda, in its current form, is highly suspect to Americans. And they have the impression that, if he continues piling up debt, he will be gambling away the country’s future.”

*** end quote ***

He’s misjudged the meaning of his election. And, for all the talk of tough Chicago style politics, he wasn’t so tough. He caved to Wall Street. He should have said to little Timmy, Helicopter Ben, the Labor Unions, the Trial lawyers, Nancy, and Harry: “Howdy, now get lost!”. They sunk him. Along with Big Sis, and all the hangers on weighing him down. I believe he missed one key factor. Wall Street has a unique survival mechanism. Self-preservation. If he had zipped the public purse form the bail outs — all of them — magic would have happened. All these folks with “no way to survive” would have figured it out WITHOUT a bail out. And, after the first one was rejected, there would have been NO QUEUE for more “worthy contenders”.

He should have focused on the message of Bill Clinton. Like Kennedy, he could have had the Obama tax cut to small business. Figure out a complicated formula to ensure it went only to the little guys. They make the jobs any way. Then go after the sugar and milk price supports to bring down prices to the people. Then, repeal the minimum wage and put youngsters back to work. Minorities would have been helped. He could have gone after the absurd “war on some drugs” and emptied the prisons of non-violent drug offenders.

Then, maybe he could have done all sorts of good things. He went for the big brass ring and fell off the ride. He should have, in consultant speak, gone after the low hanging fruit. Quick easy wins that score big points.

Sad.

All glory fades.

Seeking to be a JFK, he winds up a Carter. At least, he not a joke like Clinton. “Democratic” President don’t seem to work out too well.

(It is interesting how the UK, German, and International press is so much better than the US counterparts.)

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POLITICAL: The View on healthcare

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Whoopi: “I want what all the guys and girls in Congress have. Gimme what you got! Why do you get better than me?”

AGREED! Why should the employees have better than the poor people paying the bills.

Joy on preexisting conditions.

DISAGREE! Hey that’s why the call it “pre-existing”. And, it’s insurance. Otherwise it’s welfare. You can’t buy fire insurance when your house is burning down. Or as some Californians discovered, when the neighborhood it threatened by wildfires. Why should you be able to buy “insurance” AFTER your diagnosed with the condition. The problem is the way the gooferment has mucked up insurance coverage in this country. If you bought “health” insurance like you buy car insurance, life insurance, dental insurance, pet insurance! The problem occurs when health insurance is connected with your employment. Lose your job; lose your insurance. You don’t lose your car insurance. Argh! You could buy a high deductible policy (i.e., 5, 10, or 25k) even today and never ever hear about pre-existing conditions. Argh!

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