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The Real Problem With America: Morality
December 11th, 2012 | 
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When you get down to it, the fiscal cliff, along with most of the rest of the political “problems” we face in this nation, come down to one thing: willful and intentional misconduct.
That’s a morality problem folks.
Let’s put the record on the table, shall we?
In 1980 total Federal Health Spending was $55.3 billion.
In 1990 it was $155.8 billion.
That’s about an 11% annualized increase.
At that rate what is US Federal Spending for a 65 year old 30 years hence when he dies?
$3,567 billion, or three times the size of the entire Federal Government in 1990.
Possible? No.
Known in 1990? Yes.
So what did the government do after that? It started talking about and ultimately passed Medicare Part “D”, which dramatically increased future entitlement promises.
Who’s responsible for this? Both Democrats and Republicans. We have had both administrations and both parties in control of Congress.
Is the underlying problem simply that government is paying too much? No, it is monopoly practices which took hold during the 1980s.
But was it just the 1980s? Why no. In 1970 the US Federal Government spent $12.1 billion on Health Care. Remember, this was not long after Medicare was put in place. Just 10 years later in 1980 the government spent more than four times as much.
Morals? Where? The fact that the medical industry would “eat” the government and ultimately destroy our society was known 30 years ago. You were lied to by both parties and both parties continue to lie to you today.
They lie because you let them.
You let them because many of you are lying too.
Who are the people lying to? Themselves.
Can you live beyond your means? No. So why do we allow it? Why do we remove from personal responsibility the consequence of having children, for example?
EBT cards are one example. It used to be that if you were hungry you could go to a soup kitchen and stand in line for a bowl of soup and some donated (and usually stale) bread. It didn’t taste all that good, but it was reasonably nutritious; it usually contained beans or some similar source of protein, and occasionally some small pieces of meat, all donated.
But you had to stand in line before the church or other place running the kitchen, effectively announcing “I’m poor.”
We decided as a society that your self-esteem is more important, and thus we started issuing “food coupons.” That (partially) hid your poverty. But even that was visible, so now it’s done via what looks like an ordinary credit card — but isn’t.
Why?
Because we’re dishonest. We think it’s perfectly fine for people to hide that they’re sponging off everyone else. We claim that self-esteem (in the negative sense) is not a motivator, even though we know that failure does motivate people (to not fail again!) We further claim that you won’t get more of whatever you subsidize, even though we know you will, and that you won’t get less of whatever you tax.
These are all lies. They’re lies that you tell yourself. You tell your neighbors, friends and acquaintances those same lies.
Worse, you lie to your children, and tell them they’ll have a better tomorrow, and a better future, even though you know damn well that what you’re doing and demanding is destructive and mathematically impossible.
The worst offenders are school teachers, administrators and politicians of all stripes. I have particular disdain for those political types that claim to be “for the people” or even worse, “for liberty”, because they’re not only lying they’re either doing so from positions of power or trying to achieve power through lies. Teachers lying to students are particularly mendacious; those who use students for political protest (and there are many) or who selectively teach that collectivism is somehow superior and will “work” (even though history shows it never has) and then argue that they are somehow “special” and should have “retirements” that are guaranteed at a level that nobody else can achieve in private industry are in fact trying to defend the right to financially rape their students!
Want an example? How about right here:
Two Michigan school districts closed Tuesday after hundreds of teachers called out, likely so they could participate in union protests tied to the expected passage of “right-to-work” legislation this week in the state capital.
FoxNews.com confirmed that the Warren school district had to close Tuesday after so many teachers called out absent; WDIV in Detroit reported that the Taylor school district had to do the same. A statement from the Warren system said that by 8 a.m. local time, 750 staff members had called out.
A Michigan Education Association (MEA) member teacher who can’t seem to be able to spell our governor’s name. Pssst, it’s S-N-Y-D-E-R.
If you associate with any of these teachers in any way, shape or form or worse, are one, you are a pig. You are a feral rat, a snake, a pile of used dogfood. You deserve to rot under a bridge and your remains should be despoiled by wild fox and whizzed on by all who pass. No parent should permit their child to remain in your classroom and any that does should be charged with felony child abuse.
Is my opinion clear enough or need I state it more-strongly?
We will never address what ails our nation until we cut this crap out. It begins with you, I, and everyone else. It begins with we the people demanding that those who we choose to associate with and those who we elect to office hold a higher moral standard and when they fail if they are in a position of powerthey be immediately removed and replaced by someone else. If they are an associate then we must cease association until their behavior changes.
A nation and her people are only as moral and ethical as those who reside within it demand of those who lead, and especially those who instruct our youth.
Our founders were wiser than we, in the main. John Adams comes particularly to mind, who said, among many other things:
“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
Indeed they are.
“While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence. But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation, while it is practising iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candour, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world. Because we have no government, armed with power, capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge and licentiousness would break the strongest cords of our Constitution, as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
The responsibility begins and ends with us folks.
So your charge today, dear reader, is to do exactly that.
To accept that our government cannot fund that which we will not pay for in the present tense.
To demand that our government put a stop to the medical monopolies right now throughout the system, without exception, fear or favor.
To return poverty “assistance” programs to their former status which places your acceptance of such aid in public view; if “society” is paying for it then we have a right to see it, for good or bad, in all its splendor, and be able to count it, as this not only is a check and balance on people claiming that which they don’t really need, it also prevents hiding the scope of problems when they’re real.
Finally, I challenge you to look at your own personal associations in your daily life, and to decide. This is not just a matter of your personal way of life, although it may appear that way. We are, as a nation, governed by liars and thieves, yet arithmetic does not know politics nor will it sit still for them. It just is, and if our conduct does not change in the immediate future the outcome as dictated by arithmetic will come and your weal — or woe — will be determined not just by your own conduct but also by the conduct of those who you choose to associate with.
Choose wisely, for the time remaining to choose at all is coming to a close.
Posted in #OCW, #TCOT, Central Planning, Corruption, Debt, Deficit Spending, Deficits, Economic Crisis, Economy, Entitlements, Fraud, Government, health care, Michigan, Money, Right To Work, spending, unions | 
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Separation of Energy and State
When asked what socialism was, Lenin responded, “The power of the Soviet State and electrification of the country.” Apparently, the leaders of North Korea haven’t made it to that page in the Little Red Book yet.
<— If you believe that the only way a country can have a properly running infrastructure to include roads and energy is through a big, giant government that controls everything… explain this!
In the simplest terms, socialism is defined as “State ownership of the means of production” where every economic action is centrally planned and centrally controlled by the government. In comparison, capitalism is defined as “private ownership of the means of production” where every economic action is controlled by the business owner responding to the demands of the market and not the government.
The US economy is currently a mixed economy of capitalism and socialism that would best be described as fascism, or the marriage of corporations and government. Mussolini said, “This should properly be called corporatism.”
The state of Michigan has determined that it is time to “put all of its chips on green” with a new energy mandate declaring that by the year 2025, 25% of the state’s energy must come from renewable or green energy sources. There are a multitude of reasons ranging from providing clean energy to creating jobs. For an understanding of job creation through government stimulus, read the first part of this article. click here
The politicians constantly tell the uneducated serfs that the government knows what is best and that we should just listen to their wisdom. We are constantly told that only a government can provide all of these things that could never come about in a market economy. There is just no way! The whole lie is glossed over with Newspeak terms such as Public-Private Partnerships (remember fascism from above) or Government Investment. When was the last time one of these investments sent the people a dividend check? It’s all bull.
As far as government being an investment firm, I would like to withdraw all of my funds and close my account. The Public-Private partnerships are nothing more that the public picking up the tab with the profits remaining private. Considering that so many subsidized firms go bankrupt, the government is the worst investment firm in the world as evidenced here by the number of green energy companies that have gone belly-up and the money that has been flushed down the drain with them. Solyndra is not an isolated incident.
This malinvestment is not restricted to the 20th and 21st centuries. In the 1800’s, the common belief was that the only way for railroads to exist was with the full force of the government throwing money at it. James J. Hill built the Great Northern Railroad without a single tax dollar – it was privately financed. Instead of having the army “clear the land,” Hill negotiated rights of way with the Indians and other inhabitants. Hill was able to provide such a great service that his rates were lower than his subsidized (tax eater) competitors. When the subsidized firms were going bankrupt, Hill turned a profit while charging lower rates. The difference between Hill and the others was that he was a market entrepreneur where the others were political entrepreneurs. Hill did the things that the competition was either unwilling or unable to do. They got their financing by sucking up to and cutting deals with their political patrons. Most of them would have been more suited to running dress shops in Boston rather than running railroads. For more on Hill and other market entrepreneurs, click here
Why does the government invest in these companies? Because no investors in their right mind would! Think of a company such as Apple or Microsoft looking for capital investment. Based upon their successes they could probably self-finance, but if they did seek outside funds, they would not have too much of a problem because of their successful track records. The investor would of course do his/her due diligence to make sure that the investment was safe to ensure that the investment was profitable. In order to survive, private investors cannot take many losses. They will go out of business quickly… or seek a government bailout.
The government does not operate on the profit motive. The government operates on the public opinion and vote purchasing motives. The government does not need to show any results… only the appearance of results. This can easily be done by shifting money around, showing neat graphs, juking statistics, and an endless media onslaught of horizontal enforcement telling us, “The government is doing the right thing.”
The solution
It’s time to take the government out of the equation. It’s time to abandon the idea of central planning and central control of the means of production. It’s time to end the political favoritism granted to political entrepreneurs which is malinvestment at best and money laundering at worst.
Stop the mandates. If something is such a good idea and will be profitable, it does not require a mandate. Mandates and laws can never create an outcome that was not already possible. “If the world is round, can the king declare it to be flat? And if it is flat, can the parliament pass a law that makes it round?” ~St. Thomas More
Stop the social engineering. The purpose of energy companies is to provide energy and turn a profit, not to create jobs. The jobs will come as a byproduct of this economic activity. Let the different types of energy compete on the open market. The best form(s) will win out and provide the best value. It could be coal, solar, natural gas, industrial hemp, or something that has not even been discovered yet. Without an energy source proving itself, we will never really know. Why would we put so much hope into something that is unproven?
Licensing, permits, and regulations must go. The idea that these things protect the consumer and provide safety is nothing but a myth. People can be protected from harm by fully enforcing property rights. If a company contaminates a person’s land, that company should be held liable and make restitution for the loss to the actual victim. Regulations have actually been used by the political entrepreneurs for their own benefit. That’s why they hired the lobbyists to write the regulations and get them passed. Licensing, permits, and regulations serve only one purpose – to keep new actors from entering the market protecting the politically connected existing firms.
There are two ways to make money in the market. 1. Offer a product that people will voluntarily exchange money for, or 2. Use your political connections to cripple your competition with regulations. This was done against Hill in the form of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 which enforced minimum pricing regulation, in other words… price fixing.
“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought
and sold will be legislators.” ~P J O’Rourke
Intellectual Property laws, meaning patents need to go. Patents are nothing more than a government granted monopoly to engage in commerce and a strict prohibition against everybody else from engaging in the same commerce. An idea is not a physical thing and cannot be considered real property. For a really good explanation of IP laws, see this article.
Stop the exclusivity of markets. Yes, multiple firms can service the same city. It works with every other type of industry. It can and has worked with utility companies in the past. This restriction of the market has eliminated competition and the value that competition brings to the consumer. If monopolies are bad, why do people support them for certain industries? The Myth of Natural Monopoly
Stop the subsidies, stop the government malinvestment, and stop the looting of the taxpayers. The history of subsidies has been horrible at best. The price for some things may be lower at the cash register but the difference is made up from your paycheck. By propping up these dinosaurs, the creativity of the market has been stifled. If these new energy sources are worth their salt, they will distinguish themselves as so. If something is viable, private investors will flock to it. And no, the greedy capitalists that would sell their own mothers for a profit are not keeping new technology off the market to protect Big Oil. If something new came along that was more profitable, those greedy capitalists would sell out the existing firms… for the profits. Greed is good.
The most important thing is for the people to stop believing in The Myth of the State. These politicians are not wise and all-knowing. Most of them are idiots and have little understanding of economics or energy. They do understand lobbyist money, vote purchasing, and appealing to the emotions of the masses. They do not have your best interests at heart.
“How can we blame the free market when we haven’t even tried it yet?”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
A couple of years ago, Spain “put their chips on Green.” They have a 25% unemployment rate. Is that the real meaning of 25 by 25?
Lou – Freedom Feens
Posted in Central Planning, Competition, Consumers, Crony Capitalism, Cronyism, Economic Crisis, Economy, Energy, Fraud, Government, Green Jobs, Incompetence, Industry, Money, Socialism |
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