Econ 101

 

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

 

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

 

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

 

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

 

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my friend is the beginning of the end of any society.

New Deal or Raw Deal?

President Obama's agenda and modus operandi looks much the same as FDR's.

Burton Folsom Jr. is an economic historian and the author of New Deal or Raw Deal?: How FDR's Economic Legacy Has Damaged America.  


      
       By Burton Folsom, Jr.

The idyllic legend of Franklin D. Roosevelt is a myth of epic proportions. With questionable moral character and a vendetta against the business elite, Roosevelt created New Deal programs marked by inconsistent planning, wasteful spending, and opportunity for political gain -- ultimately elevating public opinion of his administration but falling flat in achieving the economic revitalization that America so desperately needed from the Great Depression. This book takes a critical, revisionist look at Roosevelt's presidency, his economic policies, and his personal life.

Elected in 1932 on a buoyant tide of promises to balance the increasingly uncontrollable national budget and reduce the catastrophic unemployment rate, the charismatic thirty-second president not only neglected to pursue those goals, he made dramatic changes to federal programming that directly contradicted his campaign promises. Price fixing, court packing, regressive taxes, and patronism were all hidden inside the alphabet soup of his popular New Deal, putting a financial strain on the already suffering lower classes and discouraging the upper classes from taking business risks that potentially could have jostled national cash flow from dormancy. Many government programs that are widely used today have their seeds in the New Deal. Farm subsidies, minimum wage, and welfare, among others, all stifle economic growth--encouraging decreased productivity and exacerbating unemployment.

Roosevelt's imperious approach to the presidency changed American politics forever, and as he manipulated public opinion, American citizens became unwitting accomplices to the stilted economic growth of the 1930s. More than sixty years after FDR died in office, we still struggle with the damaging repercussions of his legacy.

Truth

One of many differences between the typical liberal and the typical conservative is their understanding of what is "truth."   To the liberal mind (as far as any sane person can perceive the liberal mind), truth is relative and changing.  There is no absolute truth because, to the liberal, truth is pretty much what an individual thinks it is.  It is almost as if liberals live in a parallel universe where perception and opinion are reality.  This mindset explains the liberal view of our Constitution as a "living, breathing document,"  and where that precious document can be interpreted to mean anything a liberal judge or liberal Supreme Court Justice says it means according to the current fashion of the day.   Right now, we have four out of nine Supreme Court Justices who subscribe to this heresy along with four who do not and one swing vote, Justice Kennedy, who can go either way as the spirit moves him. 
In other words, we are just one vote from a majority liberal Supreme Court that most certainly would repeal several laws that they do not like, such as the Constitutionally-protected right of individuals to own and use firearms.   If only one conservative Justice is replaced by Obama, the judicial mischief that would result would take generations to fix, if ever. 
The current debate over the national debt is serious and has long-range ramifications but pales in comparison to the problems our republic faces should the Supreme Court become majority liberal.  This is, in my view, the #1 reason Obama must never be re-elected.

It's All Bush's Fault

The Washington Post recently babbled  about Obama inheriting a huge deficit from Bush. Amazingly enough, a lot of people swallow this nonsense. So once more, a short civics lesson . 

Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party. 

The Democrats controlled the budget process for FY 2008 and FY 2009 as well as FY 2010 and FY 2011 . 

In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases. 

For FY 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely , passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets. 

And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete FY 2009.

If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the FY 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets.. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets. 

In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is I inherited a deficit that I voted for And then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th .

Another Bright Idea

Thomas Edison must be rolling over in his grave.

In 2005, Congress passed a law banning outdoor mercury vapor streetlights – two years before it banned indoor incandescent light bulbs in favor of mercury vapor compact florescent bulbs.

Here is a classic case of the government working at cross purposes. Washington is forcing residents across the country to install mercury lighting inside their homes while phasing out mercury lighting outside homes to protect the environment.

  
We're removing mercury from outside the home while adding it inside.  

What we should get rid of is liberalism that fosters such nonsense.  

Terror in Norway

Does anyone remember back in November, 2009, when a US Army Major Nidal Hasan went on a rampage and killed 13 fellow soldiers and wounded 30 others?   As he fired on unarmed soldiers he yelled the traditional Islamic, "Allahu Akbar!"   Major Hasan was an Islamic terrorist in every sense of the word, yet the mainstream media, Attorney General Holder, President Obama, and even the Pentagon went out of their way to insist that he was not a terrorist, just a misguided lone wolf.   It was forbidden even to mention that he was a Muslim.
Fast forward to July 22, 2012..........
Yesterday, a deranged Norwegian went on a rampage shooting 80 or so people at a youth camp.  The first thing I heard on the radio this morning was a description that he was a "fundamentalist Christian."
Anyone care to comment on this obvious double standard?

Not enough taxes or too much spending?

The current stalemate over the budget issue demonstrates the fundamental difference between liberals and conservatives.    Liberals want an all-powerful government who takes care of everyone... income redistribution, equal outcomes instead of equal opportunity, less military and more "social justice."  It is a philosophy that once entrenched is almost impossible to dislodge.   Never mind the historical failure of liberalism every time and everywhere it is tried.  Is the grand experiment of representative government doomed to fail?   We have perhaps one and only one small window of opportunity to reverse the insidious trends we now see in the United States.   For lovers of freedom and liberty the national elections of 2012 will determine the direction our nation will take FOREVER.   We stand at the intersection of the Yellow Brick Road.