Luck be with you…

Posted on April 26, 2009 by john

Dear Reader,

It seems to me that saying “I think he’s got luck.” Is very similar to the term “I think God is with him.” Banking on some supernatural “force” to get us through dangerous paths that we didn’t have to be on in the first place is inane. For a person supposedly as enlightened as Chris Mathews to say this on his Sunday morning show is amazing. I wonder if a reputation would be damaged if another had said they thought that President Bush had God with him.

Chris was replying to a statement, that with Obama taking on this much, something is bound to spin out of control. Lets give Chris his premise and say that “Luck” is with Obama. Does it follow that individual “Luck” would translate into societal, good fortune? Wouldn’t an individual who has “Luck” on his side more likely than not lower the lot of man?

Confucius said that a fool takes a dangerous path. The government taking on the Banking sector, the healthcare sector, and the automobile industry is taking a very dangerous path. No person or group of people are smart enough to do all this without negative repercussions. This is the definition of taking a dangerous path…

But with the modern version of the unbiased media this is the level of discourse we have come to expect. I would say; about fifth grade level. Real points are responded to with ad hominym attacks, or sophist retorts like “I think he has luck…”

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Conservative Ideas; If Only We Enacted Them…

Posted on April 19, 2009 by john

Dear Friends,

Lately I’ve been wondering how conservative policy ideas would have fared had they been enacted given the economic situation…

Take the idea to not tax dividend income. Or not to tax, from firms, money paid as dividends to shareholders. Were this idea enacted a stream of revenue for the government to spend in it’s profound wisdom on things like; $900.00 toilet seats, $500.00 hammers, and such important knowledge as how many points on a maple leaf, would be cut off. Lets face it, firms would spend that money on foolishness, like upgrading their manufacturing process to make themselves more competitive in the global environment. Or heaven forbid, paying more dividends to their shareholders. It goes without saying the waste that the people would put that money to. Food, clothing, shelter, and maybe even going out to eat! We all acknowledge with the socialists that government spends our money far better than us…

Kidding aside, This would be a great incentive for firms to pay more money in dividends. No mater if the firm receives the tax break or the shareholder gets the tax break. The incentive will be for more corporate earnings to be paid out as dividends instead of executive bonuses.

With more firms paying dividends more money would be invested in the stock market long term. Seeking safe and steady earnings growth with dividends. This would naturally give the markets more momentum and less volatility. Less volatility would mean less sudden drops and surges. Investors would feel safer if the stocks they held were paying dividends, especially tax free dividends, and they would be less inclined to pull out in a sudden loss of stock value. (They are looking for dividends not stock upswings). If investors were more interested in dividend income and less interested in stock value growth the markets would be far more stable…

Another idea of the conservative economists was Social Security Reform. The third rail of politics. Conservatives keep touching it over and over. Because something must be done. The more dangerous is Medicare/Medicaid this beast is projected to grow into a behemoth in a few years. Never the less Social Security is an opportunity that could improve the economy, actually protect the interests of retired people, and be solvent into the foreseeable future.

Allow people at their discretion to invest a part of their FICA withholdings into the markets. Have a few preselected funds that are available based on sound, well diversified portfolios, available to the people and let the free market work. Couple this with ending the double taxation on dividends and the stock market would have exponentially greater strength to weather a storm like the one we find ourselves in.

You have probably read our idea for Capitalist Social Security;
http://incapp.org/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1237724030

Our idea would not only protect the people of the present but would build wealth within the societal structure. This loam spread out among the many fields would ensure better harvests in good times and bad…

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Drive Home

Posted on April 15, 2009 by john

Dear Reader,

As I was driving home I was listening to Terri Gross on the NPR show Fresh Air. Today (April 15,2009) Terri was interviewing an MIT Economics professor and former head economist of the IMF.

He said that US national debt as a percentage of GDP would go from 30% today, (18-25% has been the norm from 1960 to 2007), to 80-90% as a percentage of GDP when this economic crisis is over. That means the national debt, in I suppose four years, ( I hope they don’t expect this crisis to last longer than that!), will be 80 to 90% of every dollar earned. That doesn’t include what the government will cost to run! OH MY GOD! The thing that blows my mind is the calmness and offhanded way he said it.

This guy is from the Keynesian school of Economics. He is firmly in the same philosophical corner as the Obama administration. He said “ I am on the side of the government.“ That makes me believe that the administration is aware of these numbers and they are comfortable with this level of national debt.

What the hell are we to do in five years when national debt is 80-90% of GDP? We have another two lumps going through the system. The social security lump, and the Medicare/Medicaid lump. They are expected to balloon the national debt in ten to thirty years. We are getting close to the transition time when the income to the Social Security administration will be outstripped by the cost. At that time either FICA taxes go up or the money must come from the “lock box.” The “Lock Box” that is full of IOUs. The money has to come from somewhere and the only font is the taxpayer. Taxes must necessarily go up. (For the social security and Medicare/Medicaid lumps).

President Obama claimed that all economist of every school are behind him in government spending. I beg to differ. The term all ‘is not subject to gradation’ therefore as he cannot know the minds of every economist the statement cannot logically stand. I would also like to point out that science is not a democratic enterprise, (as many would have us believe with terms like “consensus” and such). The “ consensus of scientists in Galileo’s day was that the sun revolved around the Earth. But that didn’t make it true…

I was also amazed that he was arguing that Goldman Sachs paying off it’s TARP money early is a bad thing. Ten billion dollars, that is how much Goldman Sachs is coughing up. The only reason , according to this economist, is to be able to pay their executives better. I don’t disagree that this is probably a factor. But, It would be stupid to stop there and not think further. I would expect the heavy hand of government is also a factor, (among others). The Obama administration has all but nationalized the banking system; With Goldman Sachs trying to get out of it’s Faustian bargain with the government. The government is rightfully worried that others will do the same. Leading to the un nationalizing of the banking system. The Elite might loose some of their hard earned power…

But now we are projected to have 80-90% of GDP as debt!? In only four years?! Now is the time to stop this insanity! At the height of WWII costs, 1948, national debt as a percent of GDP was 110%. That is after the US fought the second world war. We produced millions of planes, tanks, howitzers, guns, ammunition, clothed millions of soldiers around the world provided trucks and armaments of free via Archangel to Russia, lost half a million men, etc… For that national debt. Much of what was produced from the war was later used for industrial purposes. But the money spent today is going down a rabbit hole. The beneficiaries are the corrupt Elite. Especially those in bed with the government…

Well at least our Great Great Great Great Grand children will have our foolishness to look back on. They will say, “What idiots! To think they could spend their way out of debt…”

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It Is Against My Conscience to…

Posted on April 12, 2009 by john

Dear Reader,

I recently heard that the Obama administration is seeking to rescind the “conscience clause” from the abortion decree of the Supreme Court. That is if a person in the health care industry, finds abortion abhorrent and a mortal stain on one’s soul, they wouldn’t be forced to do abortions or administer them.

The hubris of government to do this is beyond reason. How can a government that was founded on the premise of individual liberty do such a thing?

Imagine a government deciding, by court order, that it is necessary for white people to spit in the face of every black person they meet. The Black person being required to accept it gracefully. Then compelling even people who find this behavior obnoxious, to do it, at risk of their job? Most people can easily see the hubris and overstepping of this evil dictate. How can it be possible that forcing a person to do something they find to be far worse, at the risk of their job, less tyrannical?

Is there anything more tyrannical for a government to do, than to force an individual to do something they believe will lead to their being condemned to hell, for eternity? Think of the magnitude of that. How can any government compel that level of loyalty? In what universe does that make any sense? What could government possibly offer in return? If the odds against there being a God, were a trillion to one, it would be a bad bet…

Regardless of whether or not God exists the question is valid. We are talking about government compelling action that an individual finds abhorrent. Action that the individual believes is mortal sin. No matter if sin is actual or supposed, the individual is still compelled to do that he or she finds to be sin, by the government.

So if even a person as blind as I can easily see the error in rescinding the conscience clause of the court dictate on abortion . I wonder why those that are far more intelligent than I, the Elite that run our society, cannot…

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Double Standard

Posted on April 7, 2009 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me that the conviction of Alberto Fujimori is both distressing and uplifting.

See an article in the WSJ here;

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123911472912796989.html

It is distressing in the true double standard that exists in the world media, and the public’s opinion, that is shaped by it. As well as the real double standard in the judicial systems of the world. Can you imagine, in any universe, Fidel Castro being convicted and sentenced to twenty five years in jail for crimes against humanity? No honest person could even compare the crimes of Fidel to those of Fujimori. It is like comparing a nematode and a tyrannosaurus rex. When Fidel came to power he rounded up FIFTY THOUSAND (50,000) people, and by Fidel Castro’s order, they were shot. That is only one of thousands of crimes against humanity that is widely known about Fidel. Can you picture any country in the world treating Fidel Castro as was Pinochet? Castro was philosophically in line and helped fund the Shining Path.

Some of the atrocities of the Shining Path are documented here;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3985659.stm

On the other hand it gives me hope that people are starting to catch on about government corruption. The President of Peru now is Alan Garcia. He is almost certainly far more corrupt than Fujimori. In fact I believe that this is a politically motivated trial and conviction. But that said, Garcia is establishing a precedent. One that will almost certainly come back to bite him… And (let’s pray) other tyrants…

It is a hopeful sign that some corrupt leaders are being held to task. I would like to see some of the truly evil leaders that have profoundly lowered the lot of man put on trial. But unfortunately that will not happen soon. The left controls the apparatus of International Law.

Posted in Mercy | Leave a comment

Mountain Top Mining

Posted on April 5, 2009 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me that the coal industry has some defending and spin control to do. The environmentalists keep pummeling them in the face. And they have yet to put up their fists.

Mountain top mining is an example. It has been vilified through out the unbiased media. The mantra goes on, “They shear off the top of mountains and put the debris in the rivers…” Spinning the facts to the environmentalists advantage. The coal industry should emphasize the end result of the process.

Making farmland from mountains. That should be the mantra of mountain top mining. The coal industry (if it is wise) should design on, and deliver, that plan. Level the land and use the machine and techniques for making top soil that are being developed in Upstate NY. If the coal industry turned over formerly hill top mined land to farmers to grow bio fuel crops it would be a propaganda advantage for the industry.

Anything less than restoring the land to agricultural use would be an example of what we call Stupid Capitalism in the manifesto. It would undermine (pun intended) the firm’s interests, their ability to conduct business in the future, draw undue regulation from the government, and do a disservice to the shareholders…

Coal is the cheapest and most abundant energy resource in North America. Coal can be gasified and liquefied into a motor vehicle fuel. The technology is from WWII. It could be implemented within five years to start replacing foreign sources of motor fuel. Even using waste piles of tailings from old operations in Pennsylvania say. (Doing the environment a favor). The environmentalists despise coal however. But not for the reasons they state. They rightfully see it as a source of energy that is both cheap and available to improve the lot of man. That cannot be abided… We must be forced to do with less…

So if the coal industry wants to actually become a real alternative to foreign oil it must start advertising on TV where the average Joe, (you and I) watch. They need to educate the public. Before our electric bills triple and quadruple in only a few years…

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Constitution

Posted on April 3, 2009 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me that regardless of where you stand on abortion, when the Supreme Court enacted Roe v Wade they broke the Constitution. Just like a sufficiently strong force breaking the foundation of a house. No matter how small the break the ramifications are profound. Some more clever person may find an earlier break than 1973 but this seems to me to be the event.

Nonetheless, the Constitution, is broken. By broken I mean that the Constitution means nothing today. Because it means whatever the hell five unelected Lawyers say it means. It was changed outside the proscribed means. They now have the freedom to change it willy nilly. Allow it to “grow” like a “Living breathing document.“ All they need to do, is make up of whole cloth, some new meaning. One that every honest person knows the founding fathers would have been aghast at. Remember the barn wall in Animal Farm?

The problem with a break in a foundation to a house is that as time goes by it always gets worse. Water starts to seep in and the floors are always wet. Soon the crack gets wider. Dirt and bugs are next. After awhile if the crack is not sufficiently fixed one or the other wall will cave in and the foundation will not be usable anymore. The house will collapse. (If a house needs a lot of outside shoring it is a good sign the foundation is bad). No amount of spin can hide that reality. It happened in Rome and it will eventually happen to us. The time table is all we can control.

Now the Courts are ordering the Executive and the Legislative branches around. No one balks at the overarching power the Supreme Court has taken on. Even the other Branches are ceding more power to it. The Supreme Court is no longer the protector of the Constitution, it is now the protector, and rewriters of it. That should make us all scared.

No matter how much you agree with how they are changing it today…
you may not like how they rewrite it tomorrow…
But they were already given the power…
Regardless the ills to follow…

Posted in Law | Leave a comment

Religion or Atheism

Posted on March 29, 2009 by john

Dear Friends,

It seems to me that the modern societal myth is to question all things religious. We are encouraged to question the tenets and the doctrine. We are told in detail the atrocities that our respective religions have visited upon the world. We are expected to believe that it is the religion that promulgates the atrocities. Not the men who actually perpetrated them.

All the worlds great religions have in common the human hearted belief that we must be good neighbors. That we must act righteously. (Which is simply that we must not hurt other people). We must be mindful of God, no matter his name.

What religions also have in common is the denunciation of war and violence. While Jesus was making the second covenant he said to a murderous mob “ Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” I think what he meant was, we all sin, yet hold others to a higher level of personal conduct than we hold ourselves. We are willing to stone to death someone whom we are no better than. Yet do it with no remorse. After all she was a harlot…

Mencius denounced war and chastised Barons that engaged in it. Buddha was a pacifist and in the Bagavaad Gita Arjuna laments the spilling of blood. An overriding theme of organized religion is that we must be as good a people as we can. That is a helpful message.

All people have an innate need for spirituality. We all have that need whether we acknowledge it or not. If that need is suppressed it manifests itself as something we make up. That is often a way to some negative outcome for ourselves and society. Wise people know and acknowledge this innate need and express it in some organized religion. Foolish people disregard this innate need and claim that they are enlightened. Then use Prozac and all manner of pharmaceuticals, hypnotists, physiologists, faith healers, and all other means to fill the hole that is within them.

Problems arise when someone from one religion believes that he or she must change the world to his or her religion. That if force is necessary then force will be used. When this happens, people, not religions are the bad actors. That bad people twist doctrine to fit their personal ambitions is not new or out of character for human beings. Especially those that crave power over others.

That these people exist is not in question but that innocent people are led astray by them is extremely disturbing. Innocent people that are convinced that the way to heaven is to commit some heinous crime are as much victims as those that are the aim of the crime. But most appalling to me is that the people who pull the trigger put their immortal soul at risk. In hopes of going to heaven. So that some evil person can then lower the lot of humanity to satiate his lust for power over others. That is true evil. To put someone’s ambition to improve the lot of man and serve the will of God to nefarious use.

I wonder why we are never asked to question the outcome or the atrocities that have been perpetrated by the unreligious. Communists and Socialists by name. They are atheists. Atheism is one of their tenets. It is written clearly in the Communist Manifesto. So when we are told in detail about some atrocity that was done by Catholics to Protestants four hundred years ago it might be interesting to point out that Communist atheists killed one hundred million people in the twentieth century. And that National Socialist atheists killed around sixty million people. Not all that long ago. So who is the real threat to the well being of Man? Those that wish to do good in the world or those that wish to do evil in the world, religious or not…

Posted in Societal Myth | Leave a comment

God King

Posted on March 26, 2009 by john

Dear Friends,

I recoil at the thought of government having the power to “Take over” any company that it sees as a “threat to the economy”. Who decides what constitutes a threat to the economy? Presumably… the President.

It boggles my mind that people who hold their fellow man in such low regard, (that we the people are so inept that we need the government to “help” us), they would invest such power in the hands of one man. If we need the government to decide what temperature to keep our homes. We must be pretty inept. But, if we are all such buffoons, who is capable of running all of our lives? Only a god could be so omnipotent to competently run all of our lives…

That is power that will no sooner be given then it will be abused. People are people. Any man or woman given too much power with too little oversight will abuse the power. In this case, a cabal of three men, can control any firm they want? The real power is in the threat of using this power.

Say some firm was adamantly supporting a political question against the President. All the President would have to say is that the company is engaged in some fictitious nefarious affair… The firm would have to give in. Companies that answer to shareholders must be pragmatic.

To say that some person is above such use of such power is to call him or her inhuman. I think I, wouldn’t abuse such power… I am sure most people consciously think the same. But you know in your heart that someday, under the right circumstances, you and I and everyone else, would abuse the power… So what is the real argument?

If even this short treatise shows the utter insanity of the notion of this power being given to the President, pragmatically, why even debate it? Because the President is a cult of personality. He has the charisma and the political clout to get the power… To hope that he or any other president wouldn’t in some way abuse such power is to hope he is inhuman. To hope he is inhuman is to think him a god. That is the path to the god king…

Posted in Mercy | Leave a comment

Future?

Posted on March 23, 2009 by john

Dear Reader,

It seems to me that the government is no so much sliding down a slippery slope but is more running down it. As soon as it (government) looses it’s footing for even a second it will start sliding. Where we will end up is to be know to those who are still here when we stop.

The government is now committed to it’s strategy to keep pouring money into the black hole that is opening up. They are Keynesian in heart and soul. They seem to believe, (judging by their actions to date), that government can simply step in and fill the spending vacuumed when the private sector is breathing in. Without rehashing my doubts about Keynesian economics, this is a path to slavery. Slavery to; inflation, foreign debt, and/or taxation. No matter the path or paths, the destination is the same, Slavery.

The US government is being overly Pollyannaish in it’s dealings with tyrannies. It appears that President Obama believes that tyrants are more reliable to other Heads of State than they are to their own people…

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) is at the point of possibly being a last ditch chance at stopping an incoming nuclear missile from impacting Europe, Western Russia, and/or North America. Judging by President Obama’s rhetoric, that last ditch chance will be squandered in some Faustian bargain that only the US will live up to. I wonder the eventual cost in human lives if that were to happen…

To recap, we have a spiraling debt and much slower economic rebound then there otherwise would be, possible even stopping one in it’s tracks. Thus weakening ourselves. We are empowering tyrants to arm themselves with nuclear weapons. And we are frittering away the only defense we would have, given a rogue State, making a insane attack…

Sounds like the lead up to a hell of a war movie…

Posted in International Power | 1 Comment