May 17th, 2012
Dear Friends,
It seems to me the governments of the World have declared war on retirees and savers. With World interest rates at or near zero the return on investment income is negative. This is a strong disincentive to save money and puts a strain on people who rely on fixed incomes. The unremitting printing of new money to buy sovereign debt is one of the primary driver of this. The disincentive to save foreshadows a bleak economic future for us and our children.
Those that save money are extremely important to the economy. It is our combined capital that provides the money for companies to upgrade their plant and equipment. The savings of the people are an intrinsic part of the money flow in an economy. Firms demand capital to upgrade their equipment or expand their operations, the workers that are hired buy the products of the market and save some money for the future, the banks aggregate the savings and lend to the firms. The circle is simple and fundamental to a market economy.
I say they have declared war because the policies of our leaders are destroying the economic well being of our seniors. Not only them but of us, and more importantly, our children. The equities markets have not advanced for a decade so they are not producing income for savers. The bond market is in a bubble due to excessive risk avoidance and national bank purchases of sovereign bonds, so is returning a negative rate of return. Lets look at the bond market for US treasuries. First if you buy a US bond you are competing with the FED. They simply print the money they need to buy as much as they see fit driving down interest rates. The Fed has purchased sixty percent of the bonds issued by the US government in the last three years, to try to balance the other disincentives Obama’s regulation, healthcare and tax policies, have created.
The interest rate you will get is, lately, under two percent. Even the under reported rate of inflation is over two percent, therefore, people who are buying bonds are realizing a negative rate of return. This is exacerbated by the printing of money to buy the bonds, because every dollar printed, steals a little piece of the dollars, savers have saved. This lowers the purchasing power of money saved and is a further disincentive to eschew immediate gratification. The result is, that the Fed is using savers own money to lower the rate of return on savings, or in other words is a double whammy to the savers.
If a saver looses his or her money in the equities market the money is lost. If a saver invests in bonds the rate of return is negative, but the, (less than two percent interest), is taxed as capital gains, further lowering the rate of return. The saver is placed in a loose loose situation, because of government policies to counter the other negative incentives the government is creating, with it’s regulation, healthcare and tax policies.
For those people who have done the right thing, went without that vacation, bought a smaller more affordable home, saved for their children’s education, drove more fuel efficient cars and all the other things the working class have to do to save money, are being punished for their virtuous actions. While those that have not saved, have spent every dime on luxury vacations, lived large in giant homes that are now in foreclosure, tossed their children on the State for their educations, and basically lived decadent lives, are being rewarded by government policies.
As negative behaviors are rewarded and positive ones are punished by government policies, we can expect more decadence, and less virtue in our societies. This can only lead to an increase in crime, increasing unemployment, more crony capitalism, more dependence on government, and a lower material standard of living for everyone… except the Elite. The old saying is; reward that which you want more of and punish that which you want less of… Apparently our leaders want more bad and less good. Judging by their policies and actions.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
Tags: bonds, corruption, decadence, economy, education, elite, fed policy, government, government policies, government policy, incentive, interest rate, International Capitalist Party, investments, meritocracy, negative return, politicians, recession, redistribution, regulation, return on investments, savers, savings bonds, sovereign bonds, sovereign debt, virtue
Posted in economy, International Power, Law, media, philosophy | No Comments »
May 14th, 2012
Dear Friends,
It seems to me, the harder it is to do business in any country, the lower economic output will be. When politicians come into power, they all want to increase the power of government, because it serves their egos. Therefore the politician must claim that more regulation will improve this or that aspect of economic output or minimize some negative aspect of human nature. In this, they all have the same agenda… to increase the power and wealth of the State and politicians, at the expense of the prosperity and liberty of the individual.
Have you ever noticed that the power of the State never goes down it only goes up? Politicians who espouse lowering the power of the State are uniformly vilified in the unbiased press. The press who has a dog in the race so to speak. They get to rub elbows with the statist politicians and celebrities, by backing their efforts. This is one motivating factor for the unbiased press to take the wrong side in the debate about Mankind’s freedom. Another is, the statist politician has no qualms about using the power of the State, to destroy annoying press people. In some countries, as in Russia, the State murders those media people who the egoist statist finds vexing. Therefore we cannot expect the press to paint an accurate picture of reality.
It would seem a self evident fact that as regulation goes up economic activity must go down. Like the see saw of State power versus individual power. As one rises the other necessarially goes down. The same paradigm holds true in economics. As regulation goes up economic output necessarially goes down. The opposite is true as well. As regulation goes down economic output goes up. The egoist has a personal interest in not only denying this reality, but must actively cover this truth, with lies and personal attacks. This has worked for thousands of years of recorded human history, and has resulted in a human history, lubricated with the tears of the oppressed.
A truly unbiased observer of history cannot but come to this conclusion… Every time the power of the State has increased, often for what appears from the outside to be for a benefit, the power of the individual and economic output are lowered. Every time the power of the State has been lowered the power of the individual has been raised. Franklin Roosevelt set the American standard for raising the power of the State. He even went so far as, to get the Supreme Court to find, that a person cannot grow his or her own food on their own land… because it effects interstate commerce! Never has a more pernicious law been held to be acceptable!
Obama and European politicians have enacted the very same statist policies as FDR and we have the exact same results. Stagnation in the economy, destroying the sovereignty of the individual, and widespread disheartening of the people. The examples of the power of the State being lowered, have uniformly resulted in the empowering of the individual, a dramatic rise in economic output, and the happiness of the people expanded. The dishonest politician, that argues that some negative aspect of human nature requires greater regulation, is engaging in self serving sophistry. What is set by culture should be corrected by culture not politics.
Unfortunately today, especially in Europe, the people have only one choice… the statist. Every political party, from both side of the political spectrum, stands for more power to the State. The racist right and the suicidal left all believe that more power, in the hands of ever less regulated politicians, is the answer. Nothing could be further from the truth. This sophist argumentation has resulted in the Nazi and Communist parties getting back into power in Europe. This can only lead to bloodshed, since the Nazis and the Communists are violent by their natures, and recruit from the same segment of the population.
The people of the World are only given spurious logic to mull over, while reality is hidden, with political wrangling and rhetoric. We are poorly served by our media, politicians, and especially our intellectuals, who all know better, but eschew truth for power. Until there is a real alternative in the World from the egoist statist politicians we will be forever burdened. The lot of Mankind, by every measure, will be lowered and lowered. The first step to breaking this pernicious cycle is to recognize the problem and create a viable alternative to the statist. In America the Tea Party is that alternative and in Europe there is a nascent Tea Party forming. Lets pray that it is not too late. For our children’s and grandchildren’s sake.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
Tags: anti capitalist, capitalism, capitalist, celebrity, celebrity media, communist in europe, constitution, distributive justice by political favor, economics, economy, education, ego, egoist, european politics, filburt, incentive, International Capitalist Party, jobs, killing of reporters, Law, Liberty, lowered economic output, market system, media, meritocracy, neo nazi, politician, politics, poverty, rational maximiser, redistribution, regulation, reporters killed, russia, see saw of power, Sophistry, state power, statist, tyranny, unbiased media, Wickard v. Filburn
Posted in economy, Group Politics, Law, media, philosophy, polictics of class envy, Societal Myth | No Comments »
May 10th, 2012
Dear Friends,
It seems to me that, in every human endeavor, incentives count, but no place more than in the field of economics. Government sets the incentives both obviously and not so obviously. Society and culture also create incentives and disincentives. Incentives are far more important than animal spirits or demand to an economy’s well being. The set of incentives that government creates by it’s actions, laws, regulation, taxation and rhetoric, can devastate an economy, or create the environment for rapid economic expansion. If a person wants to understand why a given economy is faltering or succeeding they need only look at the incentives that government has in place. Your family’s economic well being are subject to this natural law.
The most obvious is the societal attitude to wealth creation. In a society that holds wealth to be a bad thing, there will be few wealthy people, and they will almost certainly be the people who run the government. Under this type of incentives the government will usually be some form of autocracy or plutocracy. Monarchy and aristocracy are most often cited but tyranny and oligarchy are never far away under this set of societal attitudes. The Dark Age in Europe is an example of this societal attitude to wealth creation, with the Renaissance being the watershed moment, that changed the mind set of the people… to embracing wealth creation.
Every parent knows that you punish that which you want less of and reward that which you want more of. Only an idiot would knowingly reward acting out, stealing, lying or any of the other bad behaviors we civilize out of our children. We know this as parents, but amazingly some of us seem to forget this, when it comes to the economy. When government takes the position of a bad parent the economy suffers and the people suffer.
Taxation is most often thought of when talking about the incentives that effect an economy. Taxing something creates negative incentives to that action. Look at the great lengths, companies and individuals go to, to avoid taxes. They invest their money foolishly to get some tax write off. Look at GE in the last few years. They have paid no income tax because they play ball with the government. They buy the electric cars that don’t work, they invest in “green” technologies that cost more, to produce less, etc… This will eventually put GE at a disadvantage to their competitors in the future but today it makes them seem more profitable. Taxing income is an obvious form of discouragement to wealth creation.
When government places more and more regulation on an industry it creates bars to new companies entering that industry. Older more established firms have a regulatory step up, in that they have grown their business around the existing regulation, and can better cope with new regulation as a result. New firms have to research the laws and regulations and have less interaction with the regulators of that industry. Regulatory capture also creates a bar to entry for new firms, because older firms have built a rapport with their regulators, who may not like seeing there “friends” being out competed, so they may look more closely at the actions and business model of a new entry into the market. This is highly pernicious due to it’s undermining the very nature of a competitive marketplace and smothers new ideas. The very definition of Schumpeter’s law.
No matter how much demand there is for a product or service, regulation, taxation, attitudinal incentives and cultural moors have the ability, alone or as a group, to destroy any industry. Incentives can make an economy vibrant or stagnant. When government punishes wealth creation, no matter how, wealth creation slows and can be brought to a complete stop. When this happens we see economic stagnation and depressions. If you think about it a moment, the level of economic activity, as measured by the creation of firms, and how close to perfect competition there is in a country’s economy, is a metric of the incentives to wealth creation and vibrancy, of markets in that country. When we apply this measure to the American economy, since Obama took the Presidency, we see that the incentives his administration have set up… are uniformly negative to wealth creation. We can clearly see that the rhetoric of class warfare is a form of attitudinal negative incentive to wealth creation as well. Under this set of incentives we can expect a continuing lowering of the material standard of living in the USA, and since America is still the engine of the World’s economy, the material standard of living of the people of the World will also suffer.
Even if this concept is completely lost on the Obama administration it is obvious to the American citizenry. Perhaps that is why the Tea Party is ascendant today. They understand incentives…
Sincerely,
John Pepin
Tags: capitalism, demand side, disincentives, economics, economy, education, government, government spending, incentive, incentives, International Capitalist Party, jobs, market system, meritocracy, perfect competition, rational maximiser, redistribution, regulation, schumpeter, Sophistry, supply side, taxations, taxes, wealth creation
Posted in economy, media, philosophy, polictics of class envy, Societal Myth | No Comments »
May 7th, 2012
Dear Friends,
It seems to me, when an immigrant to the United States comes here illegally, it is stealing what others have worked for. Those that come to the US legally, have had to make sacrifices… and in some cases have waited for years. It seems unlikely that those who have struggled for years and went without, so they could give their children a better life, would appreciate someone else stealing, what they have worked years for. This is among the most spurious arguments we are hearing in this election year. If the American voter falls into this trap, the progressives have laid, it will ensure that illegal immigration and all the ills that go along with it, are entrenched into American society and culture forever.
Most people don’t appreciate someone stealing what they have worked for. Lets say, for example, that a person steals a car from a showroom lot. That person needs the car. The car will make his or her life better, in that it will provide for them transportation, which is in itself a form of freedom. Now, the argument that the progressive make, is that the car dealership has many cars and the loss of one is not an undue burden for them. So, since the person who stole the car needs it, and the person who owns the the car doesn’t, the car should just be given to the thief. Anyone with half a brain can see the sophistry there. But illegal immigration is steeped in such emotional rhetoric that logical thought is almost impossible. Those that engage in logic are vilified as hateful people when the really hateful are those that seek an underclass.
Illegal immigrants are not a valid voting bloc. Those that are illegal immigrants have no legal ability to vote. That the Presidential election is said to hinge on the candidates stand on illegal immigration, IE. The one that promotes it the most will win the Hispanic vote, is insanity. It is premised that those who have struggled, waited years, worked keeping their paperwork up to date and then taken the freeman’s oath and become US citizens, will will vote for the candidate that most encourages further theft of what they have worked for, even as those who have been virtuous, wait to bring their family here legally. This seems absurd to me. Do you want the person who steals a car, to keep it, even though you had to work for yours? What are the incentives there?
People who come to America illegally, put themselves at risk, and endanger the civil society of America. Most people who come to America simply want to be Americans and participate in the American way of life. They want the liberty that the American Constitution provides, they seek economic opportunity that capitalism creates, and for their children to be Americans. There are those, however, that don’t come here wanting these things. Those people seek to destroy what America stands for. Be it for philosophical reasons, communists who despise the market system, and understand that for the oppression of Marxism to ever last, there must be no examples of capitalism to exist… no shining city on a hill. Some seek America’s destruction for religious purposes, and others are simply criminals, looking for a more wealthy victim. Illegal immigration allows these evil people to come here, and work their diabolical plans… in the dark.
Promoting illegal immigration is tantamount to endorsing second class citizenship. Those people who actually want a better life for their children are poorly served when they come here illegally. They have no real rights and by definition live on the boundaries of society. They must work for less, and therefore, lower the prevailing wage, for people who are here legally. People who are illegal, are subject to deprivations, the victimizer would immediately meet with a long jail sentence… if they were visited on legals or citizens. But more perniciously, when illegal immigration is encouraged by our government, it opens the door to more of it. Making more and more people subject to these types of oppression, tantamount to modern slavery.
The answer is to allow unlimited legal immigration, to those who honestly seek to come here, and participate in the American experiment. No matter if they are from Guatemala, Nigeria, Slovakia or Thailand. Especially to the oppressed around the World. People who want to be Americans must be legal. Those that seek to undermine our civilization must be barred. Opening legal immigration, and closing illegal immigration, would achieve these results. That our elected politicians argue and act otherwise, is clear evidence, they seek the civil strife and underclass, that illegal immigration results in. The US is a place, where there should never be an underclass, ever! Equality under the law is impossible if some people are illegal… BY DEFINITION!
So, if a politician, or unbiased media person, claims that the Hispanic vote will turn on the candidates stand on promoting illegal immigration, they are engaging in sophistry in it’s purest form. They seek to lower the lot of Mankind, and undermine the very essence of America… Equality for all under the law. But then again, not everyone who hates capitalism and freedom are illegal immigrants… some hold high elected office, along with all those who hold the title of tzar…
Sincerely,
John Pepin
Tags: anti capitalist, capitalism, capitalist, communist, constitution, corruption, dream act, government, government spending, hateful rhetoric, human hearted immigration, Human Heartedness, illegal immigration, immigration, incentive, International Capitalist Party, legal citizen, legal immigration, market system, modern slavery, path to citizenship, politics, presidential election, progressive, Sophistry, unbiased, underclass
Posted in Group Politics, International Power, Law, media, Mercy, philosophy, polictics of class envy | No Comments »
May 3rd, 2012
Dear Friends,
It seems to me, the Chinese government has proven it is evil incarnate, along with the diabolical actions of the Obama administration. The blind Chinese dissident Chen is such a threat, that the Chinese government threatened they would have to beat Chen’s wife to death, if he escaped to the US. The black eye Chen gave the Chinese government pales against the one the Chinese government gave itself. This is very concerning, due to the fact that the whole affair breaks with American tradition and morals and shows a total disregard for human rights, in both China and this administration.
Chen was under illegal house arrest, (under the Chinese Constitution), because he had the nerve to speak up against forced abortions and forced sterilizations. It is self evident that to force an abortion on a woman is evil. It is also self evident that to compel a person to be sterilized against his or her will is evil as well. That the US government would not even acknowledge these atrocities, or even feign to protect that asylum seeker, is damming to the Obama administration.
Traditionally the United States has offered asylum to people who are oppressed and seek it. The Obama administration has taken a new tact. They favor the oppressors and relay threats to dissidents to terrorize them into submission. One of the recent reports says, the diplomatic snafu would have messed up Hillary Clinton’s trip to China, for a joint meeting. Apparently, if it takes a person being beaten to death to make it happen, that is the price the Obama administration is willing for that person to pay, for Hilary’s photo op. A human death for a photo op is a very high price… too high for civilized people, apparently, not for the Obama administration.
The Obama administration has proven over and over it is not a friend of those that seek good in the World. Those that seek to oppress their people are Obama’s friends. He is a friend of any would be tyrant, like the Muslim Brotherhood, and enemy to all those who seek to improve the lot of Mankind in the World. This incident is only the most recent example. Taken singularly it is a smudge on the history of the United States. Taken as a part of a whole it shows a disregard for human rights by this administration.
The lies coming from the Obama administration are staggering. Hillary claims Chen said he wanted to kiss her, but, Chen’s wife says he said he wanted to visit her. The administration claims it never told Chen that the Chinese government was threatening to beat his wife to death, but, he says otherwise. The Obama administration is way out on a limb on this one.
The Chinese government has sunk to a low as well. They are so afraid of a blind man that they threaten to beat a woman to death to keep him close? They routinely force women to get abortions against their will? They force people to be sterilized? The involuntary murder of the most innocent, and coerced sterilizations, are truly Orwellian. This is the American equivalent of the progressive eugenics program, in the US, under the Woodrow Wilson administration. To threaten to beat an innocent woman to death to coerce action, is Machiavellian at best, evil incarnate at worse. But, it seems the World is blind to evil, as long as the oppressor is wealthy and powerful. In this case the blind man sees better than the sighted.
I am amazed that, an administration that came to power claiming it would be the friend to the oppressed, would act this way. This fact, coupled with the obvious lies to the public, show a total disdain for the American people, traditions and public opinion. This egregious affair is in direct opposition to two hundred years of American jurisprudence and Constitutional law. We know that to the progressive, abortion is a sacrament, and John Holdren wants to put sterilants in American drinking water. Michel Obama said that we would have to change our conversation, traditions and history. Apparently they agree with the Chinese government in this. Think about the magnitude of evil this is. How would you feel if you were sterilized against your will… or were forced into an abortion? Your children may find out. Empathy is an emotion lost on this group of people. It is only a political tool… Human rights by political favor, what a pathetic excuse for humanity!
Sincerely,
John Pepin
Tags: american traditions, asylum, asylum seekers, blind chinese, blind man, chen, China, chinese dissident, Chinese government, communist, corruption, evil, evil incarnate, forced abortion, forced sterilization, government, Hillary Clinton's trip to China, human rights, human rights by political favor, humanity, International Capitalist Party, John Holdren, one child policy, political favor, politics, sterilents in american water
Posted in International Power, Law, media, Mercy, philosophy | No Comments »
April 29th, 2012
Dear Friends,
It seems to me our leaders have absolutely no concept of how the market system works or the implications of destroying it. Obama’s executive order the other day is a prime example of this. In his speech he said, “The sad truth is that there are people out there who are less interested in helping our men and women in uniform get ahead and more interested in making a buck,” This is the most ignorant statement I have ever heard a politician say (other than a few of Obama’s other speeches). If our President is really this stupid then we are deep trouble my friends.
In his book, The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith says that it is not out of a sense of charity that the butcher provides us meat, it is out of his self interest. When we get heating oil delivered, we don’t apply to the oil man’s sense of charity, we apply to his sense of self interest. He doesn’t go through the endless paperwork, red tape, and financial risk, to get a well drilled, out of a sense of charity… it is for profit that he does it. Self interest is the motivating factor in our market system. To vilify self interest while applauding envy is not only ignorant but perniciously stupid.
Envy doesn’t elevate or create it destroys. Envy is the motivating factor in socialism, communism and progressivism. The envy of the wealth of others, is no different than a powerful drug addiction, like to Oxycontin. Those addicted have no ability to see themselves with any kind of perspective. They instead use logic to justify their addiction and not to discern right action. This is the paradigm Obama uses. He is addicted to envy and he uses logic to justify his envy instead of finding truth.
Obama ordered the GI Bill program, through executive, order to eschew the market system in favor of the broken collegiate system. You know, the one that leaves their students with over a hundred thousand dollars in debt, and no job prospects to pay it back. The one that intentionally limits enrollment to raise their brand, thus increasing the profit, for those that work in those colleges. The ones that regard knowledge as perspective dependent not objective reality and the ones that graduate students that still cannot read. These are the educational institutions that Obama favors with executive order.
It is obvious to everyone, except the President and his progressive friends who esteem Mao, that there is profit in the non profit colleges. Non Profit University Presidents all make over one hundred thousand dollars, Professors all live in the lap of luxury while having sex with their students. Even a fool can see that these are negative forms of profit. Every “nonprofit” university is awash in endowment money. So much so that they have to constantly build structures to hide the money. Some of the most expensive colleges have so large an endowment, that they could give up charging tuition forever, and fund themselves entirely from the interest on their endowments. The collegiate system, is as corrupt a system as has ever been created by Man…. because all the incentives are pernicious.
Yet, our President sees fit to exclude the boys and girls who have risked their lives and limbs serving our country, from the open doors that a college degree offers. He believes that the gate to wealth should be tightly controlled by an envious Elite. Since there are limited openings in the “nonprofit” collegiate system, there will necessarily be GIs that are left out, under Obama’s executive order, but this is the price Obama is willing, for them to pay, for his political career.
This level of ignorance, if is it ignorance, is very dangerous to our standard of living. If The President has his way, we will all be applying, not only to the meat cutter’s sense of charity for our sustenance, but to the oil delivery man and the car salesman as well. When that is the case, we will be hungry, cold and dependent. Do you suppose it is out of a sense of charity that Obama sought the Presidency or out of self interest. If it was self interest, then we can rightfully say… Obama is the worst kind of hypocrite.
Sincerely
John Pepin
Tags: Adam Smith, collegiate system, envy, executive order, for profit, nonprofit, Obama, self interest, universities, wealth of nations
Posted in philosophy, polictics of class envy, Societal Myth | No Comments »
April 26th, 2012
Dear Friends,
It seems to me we are living in historic times. We are witnessing the suicide of Western culture and Western values. The human race will find herself thrust into another thousand year dark ages as a result. It is an amazing thing to behold, the most prosperous people the Earth has ever seen, turning their collective backs on the source of their prosperity, and towards systems, that have shown time and time again that they produce nothing but famine and oppression. I guess envy is a stronger emotion than love of one’s children.
Livy witnessed such times and warned his people as well. His warnings didn’t land on deaf ears, as much as they met the scorn, of all those who heard. Rome would never fall it had lasted a thousand years. But fall it did, to the barbarians that surrounded it, and to the amazement of those that were there. The death was complete, of the thousand years culture and system of government, even their language died out. The most prosperous people the Earth had ever produced till then. Such historic times should be acknowledged, when they happen, they are so rare.
There was an economist who lived in the 19th century. His name was Thorstein Veblen. He put forth a theory, of why the American people were so unlikely to rise up and kill the rich, or even so much as resent them. Thorstein said, it is because, in his or her heart, every American knows that some day… he or she may become rich themselves. This was ingrained into the Psyche of every person born and raised in America… until recently. Today the Elite themselves are ginning up hatred for the rich. The Elite are doing everything possible to create envy and vilify anyone who makes money. Prosperity itself is questioned. This is the antithesis of the “American Way.” And is Russian roulette to the American economy.
The entire continent of Europe is on fire. Their economy is disintegrating in front of their eyes. What are they doing about it? They are throwing sand into the few gears that still mesh. France will be absolutely destitute in a few years allowing the socialists to institute famine as a political tool. Germany and the other northern European nations will be sucked under by the down tow. Even those that somehow weather the economic collapse will succumb to the Islamisation of Europe. Sharia law is absolutely incompatible with a productive economy. No where has it worked ever in history. Unless there is a wealthy group to rob nearby. After the economic collapse there will be no wealth nearby to steal. Only starving and destitute people fighting to the death for a crumb of unleavened bread.
China and Russia think they are in the catbird’s seat. They are not blind to what is going on. Russia has all too close memories of this very thing happening to them. They know very well what happens when government spends far outside it’s ability. They are only now climbing out of the fiscal morass visited on them by the USSR. Twenty years later and they didn’t have to be engaged in an existential war. They are laughing now but when the US is taken out the laughing will quickly stop.
Their economies will go into a tailspin. China is absolutely dependent on exports to fuel it’s economy and economic growth. The moment America collapses China will have to shutter its factories. There will be no place to sell the tsunami of goods that flows from China. That tsunami will wash the factory cities of China, like a real one… erasing decades of economic prosperity in a single swipe. Russia is dependent on Europe for most of it’s economy and Europe is racing to oblivion at double the speed of America.
But, to look on the bright side, once there is universal poverty and oppression, there will no longer be a shining city on the hill. People will have no example of a system that works, no prospect of escaping their daily horrors, and will have no ability to achieve greatness, only just survive. Once that state of affairs is the norm, people will labor like ants… never knowing more and so never wanting more. The perfect society for the Elite to rule and a poison pill for our posterity.
Do you think they will call us smart or wise?
Sincerely,
John Pepin
Tags: economy, education, egoist, elite, envy, famine, government, government spending, incentive, International Capitalist Party, Liberty, poverty, prosperity, rational maximiser, redistribution, regulation, socialist values, suicide solution, western culture, western values
Posted in economy, Group Politics, International Power, media, philosophy, polictics of class envy, Societal Myth | No Comments »
April 23rd, 2012
Dear Friends,
It seems to me, the reason so many people around the World seek a better life, even to the point of revolution, but find nothing but tyranny… is because they are confused about what means would get them what they truly seek. Revolutionaries throw the word “democracy” around like it is the be all end all. But democracy is not an end it is a means to an end. When ends are confused with means ultimate goals are never met. Moreover, when a sophist means is confused with an end, it is disastrous for society.
What is really sought, is civilization, because it is civilization that is the source of all the goods we all want to see in our societies and in our lives. We all want prosperity for ourselves and our children, almost all of us want to live our lives in peace and to be free of crime, most of us want to be free of coercion even from government and a few want to be free to express our opinions without threat. All these goods come from civilization not democracy. Democracy itself cannot provide any of these goods. It is a means to determine a small part of the whole that is civilization.
No matter how well democratized a government is it can not instill civilization in a people. Religion, culture, capitalism, laws and experience with them… instil civilization in a people. That we are made civilized and not born that way is a self evident fact. This point made by many philosophers over the ages. It is our exposure to civilized behavior, over time, that civilizes us. Pure democracy is, at it’s nature, an uncivilizing endeavor.
Democracy is a good thing, when it is applied to a civilized people, but it can lead to disastrous results, when applied to people who are not civilized. Where a culture, historic government, or system of law is set up for a childish Elite, to have the goods of society distributed to them by political favor, over the merits of their production, that people are not civilized… and will suffer immensely if given suffrage while in this state. They instead should seek a civilized model to adopt first. When the people have become accustomed to civilized behavior, or in other words become rational maximizers, they can be given the suffrage and society can benefit from it.
We see that the calls for democracy, by self described liberators, are never accompanied with a call for civilization… but of the vilification of civilization. How many tin pot dictators have been installed after some coop or other who immediately eliminated the right to vote, either overtly or subvertly, after he was elected? The list is endless. This then, is why civilization is vilified and democracy is called for, it is so the next oppressor can get voted in. The system is a complex one that has the emergent feature of a closed loop. One oppressor is overthrown, by the next oppressor, who calls for an election, is legitimized by the election, and gets to the business of oppressing.
This complex system’s emergent phenomenon of a closed loop, has interdependencies that rely on the people being urged to be egotistical, instead of self interested rightly understood. This tendency of people, who are taught to be egoists, to vote for a pleasant sounding tyrant… is well documented in our history books, but not well understood by the masses in most countries. The call for democracy being the crucial link in the system. If a people were to call for civilization instead, in short order they would start experiencing the benefits that flow from civilization, like a spring producing clean water.
France will be voting today, the outcome will determine if the people of France, are rational maximizers… or egoists. The total break from civilization in France is at hand, if the masses reach a critical mass, of egoism. With a total break from civilization and the unloosing of their collective ids, the spring that is civilization in France will turn to a sewage pipe, leading to the ill health that Greece, Spain and Italy, are suffering. The leaders will blame the egoist people, who are merely a reflection of themselves, for the catastrophes. The people will shout for democracy, and the cycle will begin anew, reset to a lower standard of living for all… Thus proving our assertion.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
Tags: civilization, Democracy, economy, ends and means, ends confused with means, International Capitalist Party, meritocracy, prosperity, rational maximizer, self interested rightly understood, Sophistry
Posted in economy, Group Politics, Law, media, Mercy, philosophy, polictics of class envy, Societal Myth | No Comments »
April 19th, 2012
Dear Friends,
It seems to me, one important measure of the civilization of a people, is the courtesy they show each other and to visitors. Courtesy, as a measure, is empirically testable. It is indicative of a whole host of other attributes, that allow a market system to function, as well as to have an ordered society… with a strong ladle of freedom. Societies that are not courteous, have more societal problems, have less liberty and more dysfunctional markets, than societies that are more courteous. This is a critical point, if you want the society you live in to be prosperous, because it can truly be said; courtesy begets prosperity.
We must qualify our statement with a definition of courtesy. While smiling at strangers, shaking hands and holding the door for the next person, are all measures and aspects of courtesy, the nut we are going for is… truthfulness, follow through and intolerance of evil. These are the core attributes of a truly courteous society and culture. The outer manifestations, like smiling and door holding are reflections of the inner state of being, that is courtesy.
If these outward manifestations of courtesy are motivated out of fear, then they are not reflections of inner feelings and motives, but of the external threat of violence. This is patently not a courteous society and will not reap the benefits of passing manifestations of courtesy. In this type of society people are forced to tolerate evil as a matter of daily life. This can never be a truly courteous society.
When the outward and inward attributes of courtesy are present in a society and practiced regularly… that people will be prosperous. We see this in history as well as around us. Since the rise of the market system and the modern age of economics, those societies that have been most courteous, have been the ones who benefited the most from capitalism. The material benefits penetrating to the very core of their societies, while the benefits elude those rude nations… who believe they deserve it more.
As with everything the leaders in society lead, and the masses follow… where we are led. The Elite then are responsible if society under their watch becomes more or less courteous. As the leaders in society become less and less courteous the people will follow and become less and less courteous. The outward manifestations will drop first, but the inward feelings and motives, will drop, eventually. This inevitably lowers the material standard of living of a people.
A lowering standard of living makes people more prone to fall into a trap. The trap, of thinking the government can redistribute wealth… without consequence. This is the snare many have been taken by… Wiemar Germany, Argentina, the USSR, Rome, and many others. As the material wealth of the people was drained away, the people became less and less courteous, and more and more demanding. This set up a feedback loop that led to the total collapse of their societies economies. Today, in Argentina, the pawn shops are still full of the former wealth of the former Argentinian middle class.
But, in a society that has the benefit of a liberal education including history and logic, and who have suffrage, should be able to understand this paradigm. A people schooled in a human hearted, religious doctrine, Christian, Jewish or Buddhist for example, will be able to maintain their courteous ways, in the face of a rude Elite. If the religion can be sufficiently undermined, however, any people can be led to their own destruction. The key, is for society to cling to our religion and our guns, and weather the temporary rule of a rude and self destructive Elite, and get past, without us becoming like them.
Else we join that illustrious group of examples of what not to do…
Sincerely,
John Pepin
Tags: courteous society, courtesy, courtesy in society, economic well being, economy, education, elite, evil, good, government, government spending, incentive, International Capitalist Party, market system, material standard of living, rational maximiser, redistribution
Posted in economy, Group Politics, philosophy, polictics of class envy, Societal Myth | No Comments »
April 15th, 2012
Dear Friends,
It seems to me, the worst thing that can happen to an organization, is success. Because success means the irrelevance of that organization. To an organization irrelevance is the death knell. No one, who has spent time and energy putting together a group of people, who ultimately succeed, wants to see it disintegrate. This is a fundamental fact of organizations. This is why we see so many that exist as ghosts, they still have a small cadre of devoted followers, but the reason the group was started, has long been rendered moot. However, some are not as much ghosts… as lichs, vicious and evil, trying desperately to reignite the societal problems that begot them, thus making them relevant again.
Most organizations start as a noble enterprise, one devoted to righting some societal or cultural wrong. They work often in the name of God to see that the lot of Mankind is raised. In their birth they understand that, it is only when all are served… are all served. Groups that arise from this type of virtuous founding are often successful.
Success breeds political power. Political power is a magnet to the sociopath who seeks to lord over his or her fellow man. As the organization evolves and matures, the less virtuous attributes of the founders get passed on, instead of the more virtuous ones, because the next to come on are those who are attracted to the power instead of the cause.
As power takes the place of the cause in an organization, it becomes more dedicated to it’s own longevity, than the reason it was founded. If society outruns this group’s reason to exist, it will point to nonexistent injustices, as a reason for it’s continued political relevance. Some, who have really strayed outside the ranch so to speak, will actually try to recreate the conditions, usually of violence, that begot them in the first place.
This is truly a sad state of affairs because it sullies the honorable names of the founders of those organizations. The crass Elite that take over every group of human beings, are immune to the cries of the suffering, in fact, they play the weeping like an instrument of politics.
The misery is only the resonating strings, society’s heart, the resonator. We, with our short memories, are prone to remember the latest leaders, not the virtuous founders. The Elite play their instrument for their audience and it brings tears to to eyes of the beholders. The founders my be spinning in his or her graves… but the new Elite, mesmerize the multitude with suffering, they instigated.
It is unfortunate, it is not in the fundamental nature of groups and organizations, to recognize when they have become redundant… and announce their happy end. Society would be better served and our culture would be less cluttered, with various dated grievances. Stumbling on the arguments of the past, and not moving forward, hinders our ability to grapple with the problems of today, and predict the issues of tomorrow. It would be a great benefit to society if people in charge of organizations acted in this enlightened way.
If those groups that are redundant let go of their members, those members would have the time and energy to join new groups, that are dedicated to tackling today’s problems, or tomorrows troubles. This is how the market system works through the creative destruction of firms. This dynamic, that comes into play in the capitalist system, is not active in the charitable, religious or justice oriented spheres. This is one reason the market system is so much more efficient, at meeting human needs and why the Elite in those other spheres of human operations, hate the market. We all hate when our failures are highlighted by success.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
Tags: all are served when all are served, charitable groups, chartable organizations, creative destruction, cultural problems, elite, evolution of organizations, group, incentive, International Capitalist Party, market system, politics, poverty, redistribution, societal problems
Posted in Group Politics, Mercy, philosophy, Societal Myth | No Comments »