The Default State of economics…

Many years and countless hours of studying Socialist countries has presented me with two absolute and demonstrable facts.
First, Socialism never works no matter how much your local Socialist wants or wishes it too.  Or for that matter, tells themselves it does.
Second, Free Market Capitalism is the default state of economics.

Without fail, once established and entrenched, a socialized economy gives birth to a separate and “unequal” system of trade.

A system of trade that is not controlled by the state. It has many names such a black, grey, underground and illegal… but those in charge never call it “free” which is exactly what it is.  (In Russia there was a simple rule everyone lived by… if you see a line get in it.  They knew that whatever was at the other end, whether they wanted it or not, could be traded for something they did want.)

The Socialists have attempted every imaginable idea to stop Capitalism in its tracks but  have succeeded only in slowing it down and creating distortions which they then blame on the very free market they distorted.

They stare dumbfounded at a system of trade that does not require their genius, planning or input, to be successful.

So, Throughout history the Free Market has ruled unmatched in it’s success and durability as the premier economic system.
(An aside: I’ve encountered a school of liberalism (a poorly educated one) that has labeled Free Market trade as “Smithian Capitalism”. I would remind these Elitist Know Nothings that Smith was simply an observer and recorded what had been evident for millennia. Just because he was the first to organize it on paper does not make him the architect of voluntary trade.)
Free trade has flourished under monarchies and Marxism alike.

It cannot be stopped… but that seems to be one of the tenets of our present day, home-grown Socialists. There is an ongoing effort to slow Capitalism down with policy issues like global warming which then lead to ideas like cap-and-trade etc. Ironically it is the resistance from the rest of the socialized world which stands in the way of these ill-founded ideas… the Communist Chinese understand the value of free market trade which is why Hong Kong has been left alone.  But they also recognize the inability to control a population enjoying a Free-Market, which is why they have not officially adopted the economic system for China proper.
But the point is, when the superiority of Free Market Capitalism is recognized even by those who wish to see it go away, you have to ask yourself why are we still fighting with these same types of people at home?
I have and will continue to offer it is about Power and Control… it is about a mindset that see themselves so superior to you that the concept of not making your decisions for you is unthinkable. In their minds, It is about keeping you from always making the wrong choice because you’re too stupid to know better.
We finally have a single country, in the United States of America, founded on the beneficial evidence of  individual rights, voluntary trade and property rights.  And the Left can’t leave it alone.

I’m tired of placating these people and their oppressive ideas coated with a candy glaze of “fairness”.  Simply being born in a country doesn’t make it “yours”. If we are not racists then we should surely not be “Geographists” either. We should organize ourselves according to ideas on  Individual Freedom and Liberty.  Those who do not believe in how this country was founded need only find a country where their ideas fit in.

Socialists already own most of the planet… how is that working out for them?  Surely the EU could use the brilliance of our modern day Left to help them put their Socialist Utopia back in order.

(042812)

“If you destroy a free market; you create a black market.” – Winston Churchill

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We Need Herpes!

Imagine…

…A world where Everyone had Herpes.

I learned from a friend of mine, who has this disease (“Disease” is such a derogatory term…), about a very close-knit, and intimate, community.  They communicate via the internet and have social functions, outdoor activities, share business leads, etc. etc.  It sounded charming…  Then something wonderful occurred to me.

If all of us had Herpes these folks could come out of the shadows, and we could live in a world of free love and unity!  Think about it… you cannot “run the risk” (such hateful words) of catching it when we all already have it.  In fact, we would make it a rite of passage to seek it out and embrace it, so to speak.  The inherent fairness makes my heart sing sweet wisdom.

We could do away with “treatments” as the stigma would be gone forever.  We all would understand each other because we would share a common experience every 30 days or so…  we would all be equal.  Beautiful!

So bring on the herpes for everyone!  Let true joy and equality reign!

Demand it!  Roll out the chants!

“We wont go… until We All can’t go!”

It’s gonna be Viral!

 

Sound stupid?  Then why do we act this way regarding Socialism?

And just like herpes, once you get it you can never get rid of it.

The only upside is Herpes has not killed over 100 Million Innocent people and counting… while oppressing and enslaving Hundreds of Millions more.

Bipartisanshitt

There is an urban myth out there that needs to be addressed.

“Binge drinking is bad.”  No, wait.  Wrong one.

“Compromise is good.”

If you’re a product of the public schools (like I am) it should be expected you believe we should all get along.  You probably think our elected representatives should be having dinner together, holding hands and making out in the back of dark movie theaters.  You might even think it is GOOD when they all get together and create legislation effecting the rest of us.

In other words, you might believe passing lots of bills is a terrific way to judge their productivity.  You think the government should “do something”… You might have been taught that the founders of this country wanted our leaders to strip down and embrace each other every time they met so they could create lots of really cool law.  If any of this rings true for you, what you “know” is wrong.  You should demand a refund on that free public education.

Here’s the truth, our system of government was designed specifically to be slow, cumbersome and rarely produce laws.  It was created to make sure no single branch could run rampant over the others with this purpose in mind.  It was designed for a fight… over everything… in the hopes that whatever came out was only what was absolutely necessary.  Less was more.  Nothing getting done was fine, if not preferred.  (I’ve floated this idea around the house but have not had much traction.)

We have come a long way from that original intent.  Over the last 100 years we have entitled our politicians to do whatever they want.  They have learned to routinely create law outside of the Constitution because they know that the odds are no-one will challenge it.  And, if their law does get challenged it will take too long and the American people will lose interest, or more often think they are owed whatever the law might “give” them.

These same politicians also know they can slow down the process of any legal challenge by appointing judges who also don’t care what limitations the Constitution puts in place.  Such judges then present their rulings utilizing previous unconstitutional rulings they or their fellow travelers passed down earlier.  Amazingly, they are also not above using foreign law for validation… which I’m very sure the Founding Fathers did not intend.  The fact that we revel in our lack of understanding and promote such behavior in our leaders should be frightening.  It has brought us to a very scary place.  Haven’t you wondered why alcohol sales are up? We’re frightened, but too uninformed to know why.  It’s like a horror movie where the person about to get killed runs around the house and turns all the lights… off.

There has been a determined movement over the last 80 years to position the U.S. Constitution as too restrictive.  (Our current president is on the record promoting this very idea.)  But you will most often find it repeated by the “open-minded” who have not taken the 5 minutes needed to read it, let alone try to discuss and understand it. (They don’t need to read it… their hearts tell them what they need to know… what’s scary about that is they vote…)   These are also the people who think we should all give each other big wet sloppy kisses… all the time.  To them, getting along to “help the country” sounds so nice it requires no further exploration on their part.

To make things worse, there are too many people who want to be led and then insist you must be led as well.  These people have found a home on both sides of the aisle.  The Founders were aware this would always be a reality. The defense they gave us against such people was an extremely well-defined and very restrictive document, that could be changed, in other words amended, if needed… but it would take an act of congress. (Yes, that’s where the phrase came from.)

What it comes down to is that you have two sides to choose from.  One side subscribes to individual freedom and one does not.  What makes one side somewhat sinister is that it wants to control you with “the best of intentions”.  Bear in mind, those who believe the sheep need to be led never seem to count themselves among the sheep….

So there must always be a war between those who know you are too stupid to make decisions for yourself  (Statists/Socialists) and those of us who think you are the only person who knows what’s best for you. (Free-market Capitalists)   If you give it a moment of thought, does it  make sense that a person who subscribes to individual freedom be buddies with a person who believes in the soft slavery of statism?  It’s really as simple as that.  The line in the sand is Force.

In conclusion, we are not supposed to get along.  We are not supposed to compromise our individual freedoms.  Ever.

If you need proof, compromise with Socialists is what got us here today… bankrupt, having our e-mail and phones call tapped, “intelligence agents” looking at our daughters cell phone pictures and Facebook pages while your grandmother is getting molested at the airport.  And the useful idiots continue begging for more Bipartisanshitt…

(Originally Posted 012012.  Reposted yet again because it needs to be.)

F#@!

I make every effort to foster a ‘safe place’ for all types of discussion.  There are no topics I consider off-limits.  For that matter, most language is tolerated if it’s within context.  However there is one word that’s absolutely forbidden.

The four-letter “F” word.

I find the “F” word so offensive that I’ve had to post signs during get-togethers reminding my friends that it’s not to be used within the walls of my home.  At first they laugh, but then I remind them I’ve asked people to leave because they refused to stop using it.

I have to admit there is a longer list of words that I find disgusting, crude and distasteful.  These words can cause me to flinch visibly when uttered in my presence.  These are the kinds of words that if your kid comes in the room and employs them in a sentence, your face squishes up like you just bit into a lemon.  But that one word, that single most offensive word, is the one that earns them a slap across the face.  Possibly two.

I’m regularly appalled, as I’m sure you are, by how common the “F” word is used in public.  I’m even beginning to hear it on television!  It is commonly used in movies and music… and astonishingly, no one appears to care! It seems to easily slip off the tongue of young people and adults alike.  Protesters waive it around on signs, even politicians employ it with ease and often loudly.

Just writing about this is making me feel dirty.

It’s disgusting.

But we all know we can never fix that which we refuse to recognize.

So, for those of you easily offended, please cover your eyes… now.

“Fair”.

There!  I said it.

(I apologize for typing it out loud.  I need to go was my hands, and find a random kid to slap a couple times… just because.)

“Fair” is the most horrific and misused word in any language.

“Fair” is a word used to divide.

“Fair” a tool used to destroy reason.

“Fair” is as undefinable as it is unachievable.

Each of us has a different definition of its meaning making it the perfect escape for those whose arguments are too weak to defend and have no other option but to imply any disagreement they encounter is malevolent.

It’s only use is to justify theft, oppression, discrimination, death and destruction.

It’s a word that above all others should be permanently removed from our lexicon.

 

Bipartisanshitt

There is an urban myth out there that needs to be addressed.

“Binge drinking is bad.”  No, wait.  Wrong one.

“Compromise is good.”

If you’re a product of the public schools (like I am) it should be expected you believe we should all get along.  You probably think our elected representatives should be having dinner together, holding hands and making out in the back of dark movie theaters.  You might even think it is GOOD when they all get together and create legislation effecting the rest of us.

In other words, passing lots of bills is a terrific way to judge their productivity.  You think the government should “do something”… You might have been taught that the founders of this country wanted our leaders to strip down and embrace each other every time they met so they could create lots of really cool law.  If any of this rings true for you, what you “know” is wrong.  You should demand a refund on that free public education.

Here’s the truth, our system of government was designed specifically to be slow, cumbersome and rarely produce laws.  It was created to make sure no single branch could run rampant over the others with this purpose in mind.  It was designed for a fight… over everything… in the hopes that whatever came out was only what was absolutely necessary.  Less was more.  Nothing getting done was fine, if not preferred.  (I’ve floated this idea around the house but have not had much traction.)

We have come a long way from that original intent.  Over the last 100 years we have entitled our politicians to do whatever they want.  They have learned to routinely create law outside of the Constitution because they know that the odds are no-one will challenge it.  And, if their law does get challenged it will take too long and the American people will lose interest, or more often think they are owed whatever the law might “give” them.

These same politicians also know they can slow down the process of any legal challenge by appointing judges who also don’t care what limitations the Constitution puts in place.  Such judges then present their rulings utilizing previous unconstitutional rulings they or their fellow travelers passed down earlier.  Amazingly, they are also not above using foreign law for validation… which I’m very sure the Founding Fathers did not intend.  The fact that we revel in our lack of understanding and promote such behavior in our leaders should be frightening.  It has brought us to a very scary place.  Haven’t you wondered why alcohol sales are up? We’re frightened, but too uninformed to know why.  It’s like a horror movie where the person about to get killed runs around the house and turns all the lights… off.

There has been a determined movement over the last 80 years to position the U.S. Constitution as too restrictive.  (Our current president is on the record promoting this very idea.)  But you will most often find it repeated by the “open-minded” who have not taken the 5 minutes needed to read it, let alone try to discuss and understand it. (They don’t need to read it… their hearts tell them what they need to know… what’s scary about that is they vote…)   These are also the people who think we should all give each other big wet sloppy kisses… all the time.  To them, getting along to “help the country” sounds so nice it requires no further exploration on their part.

To make things worse, there are too many people who want to be led and then insist you must be led as well.  These people have found a home on both sides of the aisle.  The Founders were aware this would always be a reality. The defense they gave us against such people was an extremely well-defined and very restrictive document, that could be changed, in other words amended, if needed… but it would take an act of congress. (Yes, that’s where the phrase came from.)

What it comes down to is that you have two sides to choose from.  One side subscribes to individual freedom and one does not.  What makes one side somewhat sinister is that it wants to control you with “the best of intentions”.  Bear in mind, those who believe the sheep need to be led never seem to count themselves among the sheep….

So there must always be a war between those who know you are too stupid to make decisions for yourself  (Statists/Socialists) and those of us who think you are the only person who knows what’s best for you. (Free-market Capitalists)   If you give it a moment of thought, does it  make sense that a person who subscribes to individual freedom be buddies with a person who believes in the soft slavery of statism?  It’s really as simple as that.  The line in the sand is Force.

In conclusion, we are not supposed to get along.  We are not supposed to compromise our individual freedoms.  Ever.

If you need proof, compromise with Socialists is what got us here today… bankrupt, having our e-mail and phones call tapped, “intelligence agents” looking at our daughters cell phone pictures and Facebook pages while your grandmother is getting molested at the airport.  And the useful idiots continue begging for more Bipartisanshitt…

(Originally Posted 012012.  Reposted yet again because it needs to be.)

Can’t we all just get along?

No.  We can’t.

Is it Ever Worth the Life of a Child?

Yes.  Many.

And apparently you all agree…

So… we are all OK with killing kids…

No?

You lie… when it comes to the Wheel.

Not only do we not seem to care, we Promote and Celebrate the use of  the Wheel as milestones in our children’s lives.  For example… Little Johnny’s first bike, and then getting that first car after getting a driver’s license.  Both of which We teach them how to operate!

We intentionally expose them to this danger when we put them in the Stroller, the Car, or put them on the School bus.

So, given that we are willing to trade our children’s lives without much thought at all, why do we give so much weight to the argument “Is it worth the life of a child?”  (And other intentionally stupid conversation killers like “Who are you to judge?” and “You need to have an open mind.”)

Almost without exception our response is “NO!  Nothing, Nothing, Nothing is worth the life of a child!”  Then we throw the kids in the car and drive off… while talking on the phone, eating sandwich.  (We’re Busy People Dammit!)

But that’s just one of myriad examples…

It’s strange the disconnects we make, the mental gymnastics we perform, in order not appear mean or heartless while behaving in an exactly opposite manner.

Fundamentally, my problem is not with the serious and sometimes life threatening trade-offs we make in life, but with the Rhetorical Devices we use so we don’t have to make an effort thinking about what we are saying.

More importantly my problem is exacerbated when we allow others to influence us using such devices…

I wouldn’t have an issue if these devices weren’t intentionally used to stifle sound, reasonable, discussions regarding the trade-offs we make everyday in order to live the lives we desire… imagine for a moment a life without the wheel and you will get my point.

We should all watch for rhetorical devices (read ridiculous statements) used to stifle rational debate.  Those who say such things are people who have either no argument or a very poor one.  Trying to stop the discussion is their only avenue of “winning”  while attempting to make any opposition appear “mean-spirited” or ‘ignorant’.

Let’s pledge to stop using such inane conversation killers.  More importantly, confront with vigor those who do.

These people are the destroyers of discourse.

We allow them to make us dumb.

Now go take the kids for a bike ride.

(Originally posted 011512.  Repost inspired by X.)

Healthcare is a human right!

There is no debate.  Healthcare is a human right.

I’m not sure how there can be any misunderstanding here.  Each of us has the right.  We are endowed by our creator certain inalienable rights. (sound familiar?)  And one of those is healthcare.

Everyday, every minute, every second we make decisions that are beneficial or detrimental to our health.  It’s our right being free individuals in a currently free society.

For example;

I have the right to buy bigger bottles of scotch.

I also have the right to put the cheeseburgers down and push away from the table.

Clearly you can see the difference between the two… buying bigger bottles of scotch means more of it when I want it thus it being beneficial, and putting down the cheeseburger being detrimental because cheeseburgers are yummy.

What I do not have is the right to force you to subsidize my scotch consumption through a scheme where the Federal government, via regulation, raises your insurance rates to cover my cheeseburger and scotch habit.

And here is where it gets good…  If you want to lose your human right to healthcare as described above then keep pushing the implementation of Socialized Medicine.  Once fully up and running you will have people like me deciding everything from how big your scotch bottle can be to how cheesy your burger should be.  Assuming, of course, that I allow you to have a burger in the first place… I hear that veggie burgers are better for your health – you with me here?

This speaks to the most basic of our “inalienable rights”.  It’s all about freedom.  The freedom to make the wrong decision even when we know what the right one is.

There is nothing wrong with the health system as it currently exists.  It’s not perfect, but its the only system that doesn’t allow me to put a mortgage on your life to keep me drinking scotch out of ever bigger bottles.  And while not perfect, it’s a darn sight closer to perfect than any of its nearest competitors in other countries.

There is a rush to implement socialized medicine in the U.S. for several reasons.  First is the most basic for leftists, and that’s the power of control over you given to government.  Second is the need to convince you its brilliant before the other Socialist healthcare systems drive their countries into bankruptcy.  (Unless you’re Cuba who has simply stopped supporting any of its other infrastructure in order to prop up its mediocre military and mediocre health care system.) And finally, and possibly the most sinister, is the rush to get people hooked on the access and view it as an entitlement.  In other words, get the needle in their arm… pun intended.

So to sum it up, our health care system could use some scrutiny.  No doubt.  But we need to understand why “private” is a must.

OR

We all need to get bumper stickers reading “It wont be fair until we all have crappy health care” and “I can’t wait to tell you what you can eat.”

(originally posted 011512)

Update:

It’s also important to understand that profits organize markets.  In other words, once something becomes a “right” then profit must be removed.  I just had this conversation last evening… and morning… with a friend and her husband.  Both doctors.  She believes Health Care is a Human Right.  And, Insurance Companies should not be making money from it.  I said ‘f*ir enough’, You should work for free too.

This prompted her to change direction quickly and offer there should be a ‘balance’.  I asked her who should be in charge of determining what that balance might be… she began to tell me what the balance should be in today’s dollar amounts.  I asked her why it should be her who determines the ‘balance’?  She couldn’t answer me… she’s not stupid, she knew where I was going.  I simply said “Thank you for illustrating my point.”

Thus the repost.  It was on my mind.  And it’s valuable to recognize that we will be revisiting the same arguments over… and over… and over…

The Pessimist

I’m tired of people making excuses for their behavior.

It’s not out of our control… I’m fat because I eat more than I need to.  I’m sober because I don’t drink enough.  I’m not as cool as “occupy” protesters because I bathe.  My representative is an idiot but I vote for him every time because I refuse to pay attention to what he actually does versus what he says he does.

I’m in control… and what I decide to do matters.

See how easy that is?

It’s time to simply be honest first with ourselves, then with others. This brings me to a brief conversation I had with a friend.
We, of course, were talking about politics.  His position was that it didn’t matter who we voted for because they are all corrupt, or will be, and that’s just the way it is. I have heard this referred to as being cynical… which has always bothered me at some level. It was then that I realized why.

The above attitude is Pessimistic, not Cynical.

I’m cynical and happily so. I revel in my cynicism.  I subscribe to all definitions of the word. I am not, however, pessimistic.

The Pessimist uses his title to know nothing. The Pessimist seeks to appear informed while making no effort to be informed. It is an attempt to position himself above the conversation while not actually having to participate in it.  It is also this belief that allows the grifters in government to get away with exactly the behavior the Pessimist thinks is unavoidable.

My friend then followed up that statement with the fact that he see’s voting as his “duty”.  I almost fell out of my chair.  I should not have been surprised.

This is what we are teaching our entire population. The Left loves this because it gives people a pass to vote for the “coolest” candidate rather than calmly exploring what they stand for. The Left certainly does not want educated voters… they get to continue their march to Statism as long as enough voters look at it as if it is a game show.

This is a frustrating situation as these are exactly the people we need to reach out to and educate. While I would prefer that they embrace limited government, if all I can get is an educated Socialist then fine. At the very least, be the best Statist you can be. But if you’re ignorant regarding the different philosophies and you can find a shred of intellectual honesty then be true to yourself and admit you are not prepared to vote.

In fact, please don’t vote.

Instead make an effort to get educated and join the conversation. Then and only then should you consider it your “duty” to vote. There is nothing “cool” about screwing up life for the rest of us because you want to “rock the vote” or because the person you want to have sex with thinks they have an “enlightened” opinion so you vote the way they do. It’s also not your “duty” to vote the way your parents do.

Spare us the electoral static that you bring to the table with your inane actions!

Try being a Cynic and educating yourself.

I have faith you will for your own good.

But I suspect you wont.

(012512)

The Fourth Horseman

What is there to really be afraid of?

Three of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have been here in U.S. for decades wreaking their destruction on our Free-Market Economy.

Our politicians work very hard to not to talk about them.  Instead the focus is placed on social issues or “jobs” or any other myriad topics that serve as a distraction from our impending doom.  However, the three are simply waiting patiently for the fourth.  And he is here.

Those of you who know where I’m going have already identified Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.  These three Socialist programs have made the U.S. very sick indeed.  The destruction of wealth via the debt created to support these schemes, and the fiscal insolvency the U.S. is a breath away from, is obvious to most reasonable people… unless they are elected to public office.

Suddenly we were told the problems associated with the finest health system in the world (demonstrated by those socialists with enough money to come here for medical attention doing so)  can only be fixed through government control.  A communal approach where the “state” will be the provider of health care to those less fortunate.  Nevermind that those less fortunate regularly receive better care in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world.  Stop thinking!  It’s caring that counts and if you oppose big government controlling your life your mean-spirited.  This has been a dream of the Socialist Party since Woodrow Wilson,  Norman Thomas and FDR.

With the addition of Socialized Medicine to the other three Progressive Utopian programs, the incremental Socialists will have won the war.  And they know it.  This is why the Left has rallied every effort to drag out, slow down or ignore any opposition to a single payer system… while we dither it grows.  Implementation is the key to this rider’s success.  All of the debates, all the equivocations; this part is “good”, this part is “bad” is simply allowing for the building of greater dependency and ultimate “entitlement” status.  From this grand scheme born out of “the best of intentions” will come the final push over the cliff of fiscal insolvency leaving the U.S. to be rebuilt by the very social engineers promoting it.   And, free market capitalism is not in the plans.

In my opinion, to deny this is to deny that we are in trouble.  It is a hard argument to offer that we are not… but many for various reasons still try.  If you recognize the situation for what it is and then refuse to acknowledge the incredible inefficiency associated with everything government does, the waste, fraud and incompetence which go hand in hand with statist programs then you’re naive or you must intend to mislead the American people.  There are many politicians currently in office resembling the latter.

Government controlled medicine is being pushed vigorously by two kinds of the above mentioned politicians; those true believers that capitalism needs to be destroyed and/or those that think they will be long gone by the time it all comes crashing down.  Both think you will continue to vote for them while being dumb enough to believe them when they apologize saying they were “just trying to do the right thing.”  Unfortunately for the rest of us experience has taught them they’re correct.

(Most of us don’t want to assign ill intent… But let me ask you, how do you come to any conclusion other than it is intentional?  How can you think that the people driving us over the cliff don’t intend to do so when politicians unconstitutionally “invest” your social security money, with the best of intentions,  in companies doomed to fail?  Or, just spend it to buy votes… period.  I can hear you saying “Grow up, they all lie, it’s just politics!”  For you, let me point out that they all lie because you and the rest of us allow it… and your cynicism without action is a weak attempt to make yourself feel informed without being informed, while expending no energy to do anything substantive.  You are part of the problem.  You are part of the reason we are here.)

It’s our job to stop freedom destroying, innovation killing, fiscally irresponsible, anti-capitalist ideas like Socialized Medicine.

It is our job to vote out those politicians who support such ideas.

(Originally posted 011812.  Posted again because we are seeing it happen right in front of us… to the exclamations of “Who knew?”  We knew.)