Government as the Provider of Services

Posted on May 2, 2010 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me that all legislation that makes the citizen get services from government are like poison ivy in our economic and legal gardens. It takes up space but produces nothing of value. It is intractable and very hard to eradicate. And whenever anyone brushes against it they sustain injury.

The faction in power in the USA today follow Machiavelli’s maxim that, “The wise Prince makes his people depend on him for everything and in every way, thus he will insure the loyalty of the people.” As the Elite make more and more people dependant on government they make more people dependant on their benefactors in government. The vote of a dependant is assured. The democratic system can and has been, (many times), undermined buy this very tactic. Many people have happily voted in their tyrants.

The legal system is under attack in such a case. Government does not allow itself to be sued unless the Elite have a political agenda and allow it. So if government does not deliver on planned services there is no legal recourse. Moreover if those that need the services that by legislation only government can provide, but government is not providing, have no recourse at all. Unless they find a political patron. Those that run afoul of bureaucracy find it increasingly stubborn as they place more pressure. There is simply no leveraging a bureaucrat. Except with a political patron.

The unwise politician who correctly sees the natural weaknesses in government delivered services, that dares threaten the gravy train, is always wounded… sometimes badly. All government programs set up current flows. Like water current these capital currents form a channel. It forms to the level of the capital and then simply moves funds along it‘s course. Trying to change the course of water… or largess, is difficult and dangerous.

Anytime any legislation that moves government in that direction is dangerous and should be though through very carefully. Stopped if possible. Especially under a government that has no NUMA. As we have mentioned above, when government delivers services, and they are delivered poorly or not at all, there is no recourse. Couple this with the fact that, like poison ivy, this type of legislation is very hard to get rid of, anyone who wants to spread this must be nuts.

The Healthcare legislation is the worst manifestation of this principle possible. It is nothing but two thousand pages of seeds to be planted in everyone’s backyard. They will have ten tears to sprout and grow before we will reap their real fruit.

Trying to get healthcare will be like mowing a lawn infested with poison ivy. The results will be similar. Elevated blood pressure. Elevated temperatures, Elevated pulse rate, a stinging rash and time spent with sticky ointments (bureaucrats).

The Elite keep trying to convince us that it will be great when the government runs our lives. Healthcare is the narrow end of the wedge. Let it in and there is a whole wedding party behind. The mess will be left for our children and grandchildren to clean up.

We need to ask ourselves… How much closer do we want to get to 1984? Or are we already there and just don’t know it?

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The Congenital Nature of Government

Posted on March 21, 2010 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me that the congenital nature of government is evil. But before we can consider that government is evil we must first consider what definition of evil we will use.

In this instance we are not arguing that government is demonic. Or that it is controlled by some supernatural malevolent force. In this instance we are using secular definitions of evil only. The malevolent force is human.

Hsun Ching argued the congenital nature of Man is evil. His definition of evil was that evil is chiefly characterized by profound selfishness and self centeredness. He went on in his logic to claim the goodness in us is a learned trait. His definition will work quite well for our usage. In the case of the congenital nature of government we will define evil as pure self centeredness. Without regard to others.

How is government born? Almost every government that has ever come into existence has done so by violent means. Non violent revolutions are very infrequent and often are short lived before some strong man takes over… violently. People not used to liberty quickly vote it away for mere baubles.

Government is born of violence and government exists by violence. That creational violence is always followed by reprisals for past violence. Government uses violence so much we don’t even notice. Every police action is violent at it’s soul. Government sponsored violence. Violence done to the individual for some perceived societal good. Seldom are other enticements offered by government. Violence is the main tool in government’s tool box.

What if you or I refuse to pay taxes? If we are adamant about it we will have our homes assaulted in the middle of the night by armed government agents. Like in New Hampshire. Violent means will be used on our person to extract money for government to use to some other evil end. Committing violence on some people on the other side of the world.

Even when government seems to be benign… it is evil. Government will “help” this or that group that the Elite want to garner political favor. How does government do this? By violently taking the property of one and giving it to another.

If it is wrong for an individual to put a gun in my face and force me to give money or property… why is it good for government to do worse? One black dot being seen as black but many black dots seen as white. Are our collective eyesights that bad?

Those that advocate for total government, progressives, communists and socialists, always want a draft. They love the idea of coerced servitude to government in the form of military service. They decry a volunteer force. Because a general requirement for military service gives them colossal powers. Power to defer politically connected sons and daughters from service (to political ends). Power to threaten anyone with forcing their son or daughter into military service if they don’t do as ordered. There is no end to the mischief that can be done when the Elite have a general draft.

Moreover I never understood and still don’t, how a person can have a pitifully low opinion of his fellow man. Such that they believe that he should not be trusted with arms. His free speech should be limited by a fairness doctrine, his decisions should be made for him by government, and that he is so corrupt he cannot be trusted in any way without government oversight… can possibly believe that people in government can be trusted at all? How does that jibe? If all people are corrupt, stupid and menacing, how can you believe that people can be trusted with unlimited power in government? These people always protect the caprice of power. They defend corruption in government but decry it in the private sector.

Government holds others to a much higher standard then it does itself… in every way. Not only in outright corruption but in personal behavior as well. Politicians daily get away with personal conduct that would land you or I in jail. Running a prostitution ring from one’s apartment for example. Ignorance is no excuse under the law… unless you write that law.

What is more selfish than holding others to a much higher standard than oneself? Therefore, what, is more evil?

Posted in Group Politics, Mercy, philosophy, polictics of class envy, Societal Myth | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ideas and Their Free Flow

Posted on March 17, 2010 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me the that, when someone has an idea and wills it forth, it can benefit Mankind or injure Mankind. The act of creation being crucial in the development of humanity. We advance and learn from the accumulated knowledge and inventions of those who have lived before us. The aggregate of their invention has raised our lot. There have been a few that have dramatically lowered the lot of Man but most have raised it.

Ideas and their offspring can be utile. Like a piece of furniture. A woodworker comes up with an idea for a new piece of furniture that will fill a need. Then he decides what wood to use, how it should be constructed and finished. (The utility f the item was decided when the person saw the need and answered it in his idea). Then he or she builds the piece. It may be effective at filling the need it was built for, it may be ineffective at filling the need it was built for or it may be found to be effective at filling some other need that was never envisioned. The idea is utile in that it fills a need that can be filled with a piece of furniture.

The utility of an idea may be in it’s entertainment value. Many people have become wealthy by filling people’s need for distraction. The need for distraction grows as free time grows. Movies, television, and any of a host of things fill this need.

Ideas may be utile only in their luster. Creating a new type or style of jewelry for example. Inventing a new setting for stones that is cheaper, stronger or better in some way than existing means of setting stones in jewelry.

Other utilities can be supposed. But in order to be beneficial to Mankind an idea and it’s outcome should be utile. If it is not utile market forces will quickly make it extinct. The market can be reliably counted on to be pragmatic. Let people assign a value to a creation and vie for market share. The market will deturmine it’s utility.

Unfortunately this is not the case. Market forces are not always used. In fact Government often undermines or warps outcomes to achieve some political end. (Some politically powerful group is benefited). Ideas are subject to increasing scrutiny as the person having it is lower on the societal scale.

I forget what philosopher said this, but, one of them said that; Appearances are more important than facts. Take a person giving a speech. Lets give him a lisp. Further lets make him very homely. A nice hump on his back and a nasally tone to his voice. Though he is a fountain of wisdom he will be ridiculed a fool. Derided as too stupid to walk among men. But take another person hansom and articulate. A tone to his voice that gives one shivers up his leg. And no matter the drivel he vomits he will be idolized and deemed a genius.

This explains why many great ideas have fallen by the wayside, While others that lower the lot of Man have been elevated. If an idea or invention helps the people but in some way damages the interests of the Elite it will be vilified and reviled by beautiful people. The person who can get just the right quiver in his voice will sway the masses… to their own injury. The unbiased media is complicit. They studiously avoid telling the whole story… About anything.

I am given hope by the rise of new media. New media has already caught unbiased reporters fabricating from whole cloth hit stories about politicians they dislike. There is nothing more destructive of liberty than a biased media that claims to be unbiased.

With “new” media creating supply (of content), demand has shown itself to follow Say’s Law… and grows. “Supply drives demand.” the old classical economist maxim. This new content (like you are reading now) opens the ocean of ideas to the valley of demand for them. Filling this valley will raise everyone’s boat. Even if it is a life vest.

Unfortunately the US and other government’s are looking to clamp down on the free flow of ideas that the internet represents. They see people being empowered as a threat. Rightly so. Tyrants that world over quiver at the thought of an informed populace. Look at the lengths China has gone to. I would bet if you typed in “International Capitalist Party” (without quotation marks) in a Chinese search engine you wouldn’t get a single link to this sight. (Like Bing).

As government puts the brakes on the flow of information through the internet the economies of the world will inevitably suffer. GDP will be lowered for generations. But really, isn’t that a small price to pay, so that the Elite can keep oppressing people?

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Poison Ivy in our Gardens

Posted on March 15, 2010 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me that all legislation that makes the citizen get services from government are like poison ivy in our economic and legal gardens. It takes up space but produces nothing of value. It is intractable and very hard to eradicate. And whenever anyone brushes against it they sustain injury.

The faction in power in the USA today follow Machiavelli’s maxim that, “The wise Prince makes his people depend on him for everything and in every way, thus he will insure the loyalty of the people.” As the Elite make more and more people dependant on government they make more people dependant on their benefactors in government. The vote of a dependant is assured. The democratic system can and has been, (many times), undermined buy this very tactic. Many people have happily voted in their tyrants.

The legal system is under attack in such a case. Government does not allow itself to be sued unless the Elite have a political agenda and allow it. So if government does not deliver on planned services there is no legal recourse. Moreover if those that need the services that by legislation only government can provide, but government is not providing, have no recourse at all. Unless they find a political patron. Those that run afoul of bureaucracy find it increasingly stubborn as they place more pressure. There is simply no leveraging a bureaucrat. Except with a political patron.

The unwise politician who correctly sees the natural weaknesses in government delivered services, that dares threaten the gravy train, is always wounded… sometimes badly. All government programs set up current flows. Like water current these capital currents form a channel. It forms to the level of the capital and then simply moves funds along it‘s course. Trying to change the course of water… or largess, is difficult and dangerous.

Anytime any legislation that moves government in that direction is dangerous and should be though through very carefully. Stopped if possible. Especially under a government that has no NUMA. As we have mentioned above, when government delivers services, and they are delivered poorly or not at all, there is no recourse. Couple this with the fact that, like poison ivy, this type of legislation is very hard to get rid of, anyone who wants to spread this must be nuts.

The Healthcare legislation is the worst manifestation of this principle possible. It is nothing but two thousand pages of seeds to be planted in everyone’s backyard. They will have ten tears to sprout and grow before we will reap their real fruit.

Trying to get healthcare will be like mowing a lawn infested with poison ivy. The results will be similar. Elevated blood pressure. Elevated temperatures, Elevated pulse rate, a stinging rash and time spent with sticky ointments (bureaucrats).

The Elite keep trying to convince us that it will be great when the government runs our lives. Healthcare is the narrow end of the wedge. Let it in and there is a whole wedding party behind. The mess will be left for our children and grandchildren to clean up.

We need to ask ourselves… How much closer do we want to get to 1984? Or are we already there and just don’t know it?

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Obama Care

Posted on March 10, 2010 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me, the two thousand page bill before congress, (that is to be passed without the usual vetting process of a sixty vote majority in the Senate), has to lower healthcare costs… After all, it not only creates more paperwork for doctors to do. It puts restraints on doctors ability to treat patients,. It lowers Medicare and Medicaid payments to doctors. It forces insurance companies to take on unparalleled adverse selection. While forcing insurance companies to submit to onerous regulation. At the same time forcing anyone who has opted not to get insurance to pay to get insurance else be fined… No perverse incentives there.

This healthcare debate has been hanging over the heads of the American people and business like a sword of Damocles. Held by one blond strand. No knows on who’s head it will fall on when it becomes law. We do know this administration has invested too much political capital to let it fail. So fall it must.

Insurance companies seem to be in the crosshairs but if you think about it for a minute we are the ones actually in the cross hairs.

When medicare and Medicaid is cut, but the rolls are enlarged, the extra costs will be born by those that have private insurance. Doctors will have to shift their extra costs of making out paperwork to prevent Medicare/Medicaid fraud. Their costs will necessarily go up. They must recoup them or go out of business. Insurance companies are the ones carrying that water today and it looks like they will be tomorrow too.

When insurance companies pick up the slack for government programs it is like a hidden tax on that industry. Taxes are costs and costs are passed to consumers. The same law that forces us all to be consumers will also force insurance companies to accept very sick people (adverse selection). Further driving up costs.

Moving them from government’s books to the private sector’s books. But the economy is like a pair of pants. No matter what pocket you take money from it must have been put there.

The people who do most of the putting in are the workers of society. Martialed into productive effort by capitalism. We are the workers. So all of us must necessarily pick up the costs government wants to obligate the insurance industry (us) to. Especially those of us who have opted, as self interested maximizes, not to buy insurance and to use the money, (in what they see) as more productive efforts. They will be forced to redirect their revenue stream into what they see as a less productive course or be subjected to fines. Their free will is overridden by the power of the State to compel action.

We, my friends, are they. Some us reading this have opted not to buy insurance. Partially because of the cost. Maybe because we are gamblers and are betting we will have good health. If this passes, we will not only be forced to buy insurance, but, insurance rates will necessarily go up. Our real disposable income will be greatly reduced. The stream of money flowing to the healthcare industry will turn into a torrent. This law will open all of our wallets to the vacuum of unrestrained spending.

But the administration, counter to popular opinion, has been cagey in debating healthcare instead of the economy. Because every thing they propose to restart the economy will choke it. (Especially this health care bill).The administration’s Keynesian economic policies are undermining the economic growth that would be necessary to provide the updraft to float this lead balloon. So any diversion from jobs and the economy helps this administration… politically. Us on the other hand…

When Obama, Biden, Pelosi, or Clinton go to Canada to have surgery I will have much more faith in government run healthcare. But as long as Stephen Harper keeps coming to the US for surgery…

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Education

Posted on March 7, 2010 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me that we should introduce our children to the capitalist system as soon as possible. Tying effort to earnings. The quickest and most easy way to do this is to pay for grades.

The cost is not as much as you might think. If the state paid children one dollar for every grade and for every “A” then a child in tenth grade who scored an A in every class would get forty dollars a week and one thousand six hundred dollars in a forty week school year.

This is not a great expense as far as school goes. The extra cost can easily be made up by increasing class size. As students get used to the idea that they will be tested weekly. A good test result will give immediate gratification in the form of money. Think about how this incentive will work.

Younger students, in the first grade, would be paid a dollar for every A. They could earn four dollars a week if they score all A’s. The cost would be far lower and the reduction in class size to make up the funding would be equally small.

Lower grades would get lower amounts. In First grade for example a B would get the student eighty cents and a C would garner fifty cents. A D or lower wouldn’t get rewarded. Students would try harder for the money alone. The result will be better educated children. With the added benefit that they have tied work and effort to earnings.

Tying effort to earnings makes a nation’s workforce much more efficient. That efficiency (productivity) translates into better pay. (Relative to the global economy). A nation’s people can have many attitudes to work. A negative attitude to work is corrosive to economies. A positive one makes a people wealthy.

With children motivated to learn, (or make money), class sizes will naturally be larger. A teacher will be better able to control a group of students that self control. Problems will be solved on the playground. Remember children are human beings. When there is money at stake human beings self regulate. Immediate positive motivators are most efficient to children.

The argument that children should “want to learn. After all they are the ones who will benefit.” Is totally sophist. Children have no concept of reality. They only just got here. There is no way they can deduce what will be in their best interest ten or twenty years from now. That is why God gave children parents. Society takes them (parents and morals) away.

Poor children will have the most inducement to excel. To a poor teenager forty dollars a week is a fair bit of money. Especially if all they have to do to get it is score well on tests. Every teenager wants money to blow on foolishness. Even if they use it to buy food at least they will have extra food. And the money to buy it.

There was an economic study done a few years ago comparing teacher productivity in 1971 to teacher productivity in 2002. During that timeframe American worker productivity rose much faster than the rest of the world. But American teacher productivity as measured in dollars spent per test score went down. The study figured a seventy one percent drop in teacher productivity. Measured in inflation adjusted dollars from 1971 to 2002. Clearly something is wrong.

The first time I heard of this idea I scoffed. ‘Paying for grades… another way someone else can spend my money.‘ Then I thought about it. Put into the context of incentives, perverse and efficient, the idea has real merit. The political forces that have reduced our schools efficiency are too heavy to move. So if we can convince some schools to enact this program as a pilot the results will speak for themselves. Costs will go down. Because teacher productivity will go up.

Student achievement will go up because students will will it. At a faster rate than before, a new rate, that will reset the curve…

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What they want to take away tell us who they are…

Posted on March 4, 2010 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me that There is no better example of talking out of both sides of your mouth than this example by Mayor Daly of Chicago; http://cbs2chicago.com/local/chicago.handgun.ban.2.1530231.html If what this article purports to be true is actually true…

Their own argument about the Constitution providing a “protection of doctor and patient communications,” only in one area of medicine, is undermined by their own argument to disarm the public. If some parts of the Constitution do not apply to the States then maybe this part does not. If only it were actually written in the Constitution we could more readily determine how it should apply to the States. The right to abortion has never been challenged in this way.

The progressives are trying to argue that the Second Amendment should not apply to the States? In what sane world does that make sense? If that turns out to be a valid argument… we can kiss every amendment goodbye. Even the amendment process itself will be undermined.

Because, once the Supreme Court has determined that a fundamental amendment (within the Bill of Rights) to the Constitution does not bind the States, any constitutional amendment need not bind the States. (Even the 10th Amendment). If selected parts of the constitution don’t apply to the States the progressives can use the States to pass whatever draconian legislation they want. No Constitutional amendment can stop them. (As long as they have the requisite five votes on the Court).

Cutting a hair this finely by our Elite is a slap in our collective faces. They will be telling us that the Constitution is no longer the law of the land…. They are. We have no recourse but to our newly elected oppressors. Of course they have been rubbing our noses in it for years…

Madison famously wrote against the Bill of Rights using this logic;

If the Constitution does not allow for government to regulate the playing jumping jacks then government cannot regulate jumping jacks. But if the Constitution expressly forbids government from regulating kick ball… does government then have the lawful right to regulate jumping jacks?

So where in the Constitution does it say that some parts of the Constitution do not apply to the States? The 10th Amendment. That Amendment says, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Basically if the Constitution doesn’t say the Federal government can regulate something it can’t. If the Constitution says the States cannot regulate something they cannot. Everything else is left to the States to regulate.

The 2nd Amendment in the Bill of Rights says that, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Clearly saying the Militia (All men above the age of consent) must have, not only the right, but the duty to keep and bear arms. No matter how settled the times there is always the possibility that the militia may have to be called up. An unarmed mob is of no use to protect our homes. A group of men and women that have and know how to use fire arms are. Yea… and they told Titus Livy (in 25ad) that Rome would never fall…

The side of the barn has been repainted a few times now, without negative consequences to the Elite, so we can expect to see more revision. Blatantly erasing the 2nd Amendment by another torturous argument would show extreme hubris. But I wouldn’t put it past today’s Elite. Because the progressives in both parties are at the helm. We know their destination… total government…

We have only to ask ourselves… Do we really want to go there?

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Macro Economy as a Capacitor

Posted on February 28, 2010 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me that the macro economy, in many ways, acts like distributed capacitance. Slowly ratcheting supply out of phase with demand. In the economy, once distributed capacitance in supply chains cause supply and demand to get too far out of phase, recession is the inevitable result. The lowered costs that the recession cause (to lower inventory) then drive the next boom cycle.

Whenever you transmit a wave form through a capacitor the wave form emerges ninety degrees out of phase. The voltage leads the amperage. A pair of wires is basically a capacitor. The longer the wires the greater the capacitance in Micro Farads. When we transmit signals through wires long distances we have to account for this distributed capacitance.

Since power is a factor of voltage times amperage power is reduced in the signal. Because when the voltage spikes in the waveform amperage is low. (Not in phase). When amperage is high voltage is low. Both dampen the signal.

The economy can be thought of similarly. As inputs move through the economy they are converted into outputs. Then some of the outputs are converted into more complex outputs, and so on. At each step in the process some inventory is held to form a buffer incase of a spike in demand or a temporary hiccup in some input. Labor is similar.

When a business is flush with increasing demand the firm is likely to hire a marginally cost effective worker because as the worker becomes more proficient demand will grow, creating a need for that worker, just as his efficiency peaks. This can be effective at keeping ahead of the demand curve. It also protects the quality of products.

All this angling, to protect against legitimate issues that may come up and to get the best advantage on our competitors in the demand cycle, makes business works like a capacitor. Storing up output and surplus workers on the bet they will be needed. At some point the macro supply gets too far out of phase with demand and a recession results. Selling backlogs of cheap inventory (and cheaper labor cost) starts the economy again.

History shows us that every economy goes through a boom bust cycle. This cycle was supposed to be stopped by enlightened Federal Reserve policies. These policies were supposed to at least lower the magnitude of future recessions. At best the Federal Reserve has been only marginally successful. Because it only controls a portion of the supply. Money.

Products, services and workers make up a far larger and more important part of the macro economy. A hiccup in the money supply can trip an economy into recession, (if supply and demand have grown out of phase enough), as it has in the recession we are now in. But the money supply is simply a means for the rest of the economy to do the real work. The ends, (output).

Money can be and has been used as a choke point to control an economy like the throttle to a car engine. This analogy quickly breaks down. Choking off money in the capacitive system that is the macro economy is more like lowering the amplitude of the waveform entering a distributed capacitor. The phases still get out of phase but it seems make the snap back smoother. It is only how it seems however. The real result of lowering the amplitude of the money supply is to lower the signal strength. In the case of the economy the total output and demand. (Equilibrium will be higher where money is not used this way).

Engineers use a different method to control the phases. Electrical engineers use inductors to balance the capacitive effect. In short an inductor is a coil that causes the opposite effect as a capacitor. It makes the amperage lead the voltage ninety degrees out of phase. When you place an inductor in parallel with distributed capacitance it puts the voltage and the amperage back in phase.

In a macro economic sense this would require many efficiency gains, like, real-time information on demand for output and availability of inputs for a given firm. Then just in time inventory would help alleviate some of the capacitive effect. Other means to lower the capacitive effect and raise the inductive effect in a macro economy would be the most effective means to slow or lower the amplitude of the economic boom bust cycle.

Wouldn’t it be something if Maxwell’s Equations can be applied to the macro economy?

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Japan’s Economy

Posted on February 26, 2010 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me that Japan has real economic problems. They rely far too much on large business. The model served them well in the age of behemoths but today Japan would be better served to open up the internal markets and help develop small entrepreneurial business.

The manufacturing model can be phased out with the lowering of the working population. The younger people, who are excellently educated, can move to management of the large industries their parents and grandparents built. Other more outside the box thinkers should be encouraged through harnessing a market for start up ventures. Deregulate startups and lower tax rates for startups. This would open the throttle to the Japanese economy.

Today Japan is mired in the policies that the US administration wants to take. Japan is ten years down the road. It doesn’t look good to me… Japan carries a debt load that sops up funds from the capital markets. Fortunately for Japan the Japanese people have always had an excellent savings rate. That has been a godsend to them today. It allows the Japanese government to borrow and borrow to try to prop up demand ala John Maynard Keynes.

Government demand always favors large well connected (politically) companies. As demand moves from private sector demand to “temporary” government demand, that never stops, industry moves to the paradigm that fits it’s customers needs. And that is large politically connected companies. Only these companies can fill out the necessary paperwork and spend the rescores to meet government criteria.

Japan is reaping the rewards of government keeping up demand. Supply has shaped demand. Large corporations dominate the Japanese economy. I would bet the ratio of the economy that makes up small business share to large business, is skewed to large business in Japan, against a world mean.

That coupled with government sopping up all available local capital. Diminishing capital markets of startup money is never a good means to an increasingly productive, vibrant economy. Helps keep Japan in the economic doldrums. Sleepy GDP growth year over year corrodes the Japanese standard of living.

I hope they will move into a better fitting paradigm. Like the one I have suggested. To do this however the government must put down the toys. Some Japanese government must have the guts to stop spending. Pay down it’s debt and reload the capital markets with money.

One of Confucius’s disciples asked him what must a kingdom have to be in order. Confucius replied, Adequate supplies of food, adequate supplies of munitions and the confidence of the people. Confucius was then asked, what if he had to go without one? Munitions was his answer. What about if he had to go without another? Food; For all through history death has come to all men (yet society survives). But people who have no confidence (in their rulers) are undone, was Confucius reply.

Government must have the confidence of the people. Ten years of stagnation is too much. Japan has shown Keynesian economics to have major flaws. Every time there is a recession people turn to government to “do something.” That always involves spending money. But as Japan shows, no matter how government spends money, it is not as effective as money spent by individuals.

Individuals buy from small business. That drives up demand for small business. That is exactly where Japan should go. To encouraging small business, moving from manufacturing to management, and funding entrepreneurs. The next Google or Microsoft could be from Japan… Or Moldova. It is only a matter of government policies not getting in the way. No matter how well intentioned.

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With Age, Wisdom… and bad skin.

Posted on February 25, 2010 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me that when we are young we lack wisdom. We may have great intelligence but we lack wisdom. Later, when we have gained life experience, we gain wisdom. Keeping this thought in mind, remember the old saw, “Those who are not liberals at seventeen have no heart. Those who are not conservative at fifty have no brains.”

Some people have a natural affinity for philosophical introspection. But no matter how well suited a person is to gain wisdom they must hone it with life experiences. It is the very things in life that vex and bore us that we extract wisdom from.

Children are a great source of wisdom for parents. Children demand a great deal of time and energy. Giving this much time and energy to rear a child gives us insight into many things that we may have never thought of before. When we lose a parent we have access to a font of wisdom. Great loss, and the grief that goes with it, give us insight into life and death. Something a child has no real notion of.

Books are another place to find wisdom. Socrates and Confucius were teachers of profound wisdom. They had such power in personality their philosophy was recorded for them. They have left us no records by their hands. Yet the wisdom they taught was so revered that others thought to record them for posterity. We have access to their great wisdom through these books.

Socrates and Confucius were also men of great age. Socrates was over seventy when he was ordered executed by the democratic process. Confucius was over eighty when he died. They didn’t really get underway philosophically until they were over fifty. Socrates said in the Phaedo that he as a youth liked the sciences. But as he grew older he grew to understand that the sciences could not be reasoned out in the year 500 BC. But if he followed a philosophy that asked, and tried to answer, the great questions of mankind, he had a better chance. They both had the benefit of many years of contemplation to hone their philosophies. A child, no matter the prodigy, doesn’t have that advantage.

The Nazi’s knew this. It was the youth they went after. College students were given propaganda films to watch. Films that would show people with profound mental and physical deformities. They would be shown as caricatures and with the correct music to set the mood.

Then the students would be asked, “would you want to be forced to live this way?” Upper middle class youth, who have never actually had a real hard time and enamored with appearances, all agreed, “Yes, I would rather die.” The result was the extermination of everyone in the asylums. Some people (children) were dragged out kicking and screaming then shot in the head. It is history. Read it.

Young people can be convinced of almost anything. Their gullibility is our undoing. When the youth of any nation or country mass and get behind a political movement it always ends badly for them and society. History gives us many examples of this. But none that confound. The Communists came to power or were largely backed in every case by the youth. The National Socialist movement was ushered in by angry youths that had been hopped up on patriotism. Mao, Che and Castro all praised the willingness of youth to do violence. The drug the would be dictator uses is not of consequence. The end is. Tyranny.

That is why when I see a political movement largely backed by upper middle class youth… I shudder. Today the PBS news cast of the McNeil Lehrer Hour had an item about the latest American generation. Gen Next was the appellation used. They are largely liberal according to a new poll. They were also credited with voting the present administration into office. The unbiased newscasters were positively giddy with the news.

What the unbiased newscasters failed to realize is that people, especially upper middle class youths, are intelligent, free willed, self maximizes. We all learn quickly. Gen nexters are no different. They will quickly become more conservative/ libertarian as they gain life experience. This is as inevitable as that young people always poll more liberal than older people. The question is only, when will a given person mature enough, to realize the truth…

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