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Milton J. Madison - An American Refugee Now Living in China, Where Liberty is Ascending

Federalism, Free Markets and the Liberty To Let One's Mind Wander. I Am Very Worried About the Fate of Liberty in the USA, Where Government is Taking people's Lives ____________________________________________________________________________________________ "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Tolerance in the face of tyranny is no virtue." -Barry Goldwater-

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Does Obama Know the Difference between Great Britain and England?

I hear the elephant song playing somewhere....



....Actually what I hear is more like the Song of the Volga Boatmen these days.

In case anyone really cares, there is no Embassy of England anywhere. It is the British Embassy in case there is any question. England is part of Great Britain as well as Wales and Scotland but not Northern Ireland that is part of the United Kingdom (who knew and why do they have to make it so confusing for brilliant people such as the President of the United States?) I think that if it was Sarah Palin or Herman Cain that said this, that this unforced error would be blaring out of liberal pie holes for weeks. Stupid idiot Republicans...And really stupid idiotic Republican women and stupid Republican blacks. How could you be so stupid and not see the light of the Democratic socialist way? Don't you know that unfettered rights to abortion for women are a God given right and paternalistic government towards our black brethren is not just a duty but something sacred that you should fall to your knees and thank the leviathan for?

Does Obama Know the Difference between Great Britain and England?

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Quote of the Day.....

One of the great contributions of Ludwig von Mises has been to show through rigorous reasoning, and a hundred examples, how government intervention in the market economy always finally results in a worse situation than would otherwise have existed, even as judged by the original objectives of the advocates of the intervention.


The Road to Totalitarianism - Henry Hazlitt - Mises Daily

The Road to Totalitarianism - Henry Hazlitt - Mises Daily

From 1956. The leviathan has been building strength for decades....
In spite of the obvious ultimate objective of the masters of Russia to communize and conquer the world, and in spite of the frightful power which such weapons as guided missiles and atomic and hydrogen bombs may put in their hands, the greatest threat to American liberty today comes from within. It is the threat of a growing and spreading totalitarian ideology.

Totalitarianism in its final form is the doctrine that the government, the state, must exercise total control over the individual.
This is what the state through the faux-liberal Democrat minions seeks to achieve.

The Road to Totalitarianism - Henry Hazlitt - Mises Daily

Uncle Sarko Kindly Demands Your Independence | ZeroHedge

'Old' Europe vs the vibrant robust Europe has caused the effete to try to harmonize taxes so that everyone is under the same sclerotic lead weights that face France and Germany....

SARKOZY SAYS EURO ZONE MUST FURTHER INTEGRATE
SARKOZY SAYS TROUBLED EURO COUNTRIES DIDN'T UNDERTAKE REFORMS
SARKOZY SAYS EURO ZONE MEMBERSHIP IMPLIES OBLIGATIONS
SARKOZY SAYS EUROPE'S FUTURE REQUIRES CONVERGENCE
The words integrate and convergence are code words for raising taxes and foisting deadening regulations on businesses. And raise taxes to the absurdly high rates of the worst of 'old' Europe. See, the problem with countries like France and Germany is that high taxes are driving productive and profitable enterprises and wealth creation to lower tax nations within the EU. This leakage will only get worse as financial distress facing Europe that we have not seen on this continent since the great wars will force companies, people and industries to adjust to devastatingly difficult economic environment. On the margin, this will shift productive resources to less hostile environments. Expect that Europe, that never went through the good economic times enjoyed by most of the world in the 80's and 90's to have a devastating difficult and cathartic recession in the coming years.

The problem in the US, is that the communist Democrats are pining for higher national taxes seeking these destructive taxes in order to create their Utopian European dreamland that will be nightmare for the rest of us. In the EU, people there still have choices as long as they have the liberty to move freely to less hostile economic environments. However, in the US, the Democrats are trying their best to create a harmonized national hostile environment. The hostile environment that we have already created has forced many businesses and people to seek opportunity in other nations that are more friendly. This has disenfranchised the working people of the US and given that people can take the nation back from the leviathan, it will still take decades to offer the opportunities to our children that were available to us and our predecessors.

Uncle Sarko Kindly Demands Your Independence | ZeroHedge

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

RealClearPolitics - Alice in Liberal Land

American treasure Thomas Sowell on anti-liberty Democrats. Consider that these people think that they know what is better for you then you do. Amazing things have happened in the US where individual liberty once once considered sacred.....

RealClearPolitics - Alice in Liberal Land

Quotes........

HOW DO DEMOCRATS WANT TO MAKE THE TAX CODE MORE EQUITABLE? BY MAKING IT LESS EQUITABLE!

-Glenzo, 2011-

Michael Tomasky: How Obama Can Get to 270 Electoral Votes - The Daily Beast

The stupidest think that I have read in a while....
To win, Obama is going to have to assemble different coalitions in each battleground state. What do members of all those coalitions have in common? They’re part of the 99 percent.
It was a mystery to me why anyone voted for this dope the last time. Sometimes people are fooled. But if they are fooled again, then the nation fully deserves this clown.

Michael Tomasky: How Obama Can Get to 270 Electoral Votes - The Daily Beast

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Is there no limit to Congress’s power? - The Washington Post

This might galvanize a Supreme Court majority to say “Enough!” and begin protecting individual liberty from a Commerce Clause that the court itself has transmogrified into an anti-constitutional gift to Congress of a virtually unlimited police power. This case can begin restoring Madison’s constitutional architecture for a government limited by the enumeration of its powers.
Hopefully the Supreme Court will start considering individual liberty as being sacrosanct and not the powers of the central government. Every power gained by the leviathan reduces individual liberty by an equal amount. One day we will wake up and realize that we are no longer a free people but serfs to the central authority.

Is there no limit to Congress’s power? - The Washington Post

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Keystone XL on the brink - November 20, 2011 - Petroleum News

The misty eyed proclamation this past August by the biggest buffoon to have occupied the White house in my generation.....
“You should know that keeping the economy growing and making sure jobs are available is the first thing I think about when I wake up every morning. It’s the last thing I think about when I go to bed each night.”
Here. In all form and no substance what-so-ever, the idiot-in-chief make another clownish and stupid decision. Bowing to the crackpot environmentalists, this completely idiotic President trades 100's of thousands of 'shovel ready' American jobs to placate environmentalists that have nothing better to do but try hurt typical Americans. This empty suit delayed this decision, possibility killing the project purely to benefit his election. We do not need morons like this even remotely associated with our governments. This bozo needs to go back to teaching where he belongs.

The oil will instead probably go to China and this will only divert resources from productive American uses to productive overseas uses! How did this brainless child even get through school?


Keystone XL on the brink - November 20, 2011 - Petroleum News

Friday, November 18, 2011

CARPE DIEM: Companies Continue to Leave Anti-Business California in Record Numbers to Save 40% in Costs

Like I have been arguing for quite some time, experiments in taxing, regulations and social engineering are the portfolio of States and localities. When one does this on the national level, the people are held hostage to these nationalizations and it makes it very difficult for the people to adjust. But they adjust offshore eventually if the nationalization is too onerous.

As we can see what has happened in California and more specifically, Los Angeles, their economic and tax base are being gutted as businesses vote with their feet and move to other less onerous jurisdictions.
Since 2007, more than 2,500 employers have left California. They've taken about 109,000 jobs with them.
If we want to get back on track as true competitors on teh world stage, then we have to defang Washington and its continuous and destructive interventions into markets and private property and allowthe people to adjust and be more competitive and efficient.

Here, look what has happened to Europe due to their hyper socialist state and the excruciating burdens of taxes and regulations on their economies...


Europe is falling rapidly from where it was. Their competitiveness and capabilities are going to hit the tipping point and we will rarely see anything of value from Europe in the coming decades. Asia is gaining despite the collapse of the Japanese economy. But Europe is obviously facing serious troubles so why do communists like the Obamessiah keep trying to recreate European socialism and its disfunctional economy and social life in the US?

CARPE DIEM: Companies Continue to Leave Anti-Business California in Record Numbers to Save 40% in Costs

The New Retirement Normal: The Average American Must Work For Two Extra Years After Death | ZeroHedge

The average American lives to somewhere around 78. However, the average Amercian expects that they will have to work to 80 in order to retire. This means that Americans can expect to work 2 years past their death in order to accumulate enough funds to retire. Prepare for the new zombie workforce in the next few decades.

The New Retirement Normal: The Average American Must Work For Two Extra Years After Death | ZeroHedge

CBO on the Stimulus: "A net negative effect on the growth of GDP over 10 years." - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine

Irresponsible government spending and higher debt levels hurt the long-terms prospects of a nation? Who knew? The long-term consequences of borrowing and spending money leads to long-term disaster according the CBO? So why are we doing this nonsense?

CBO on the Stimulus: "A net negative effect on the growth of GDP over 10 years." - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Poll: Newt best against O « Don Surber

On Newt Gingrich.....
But so is his record: He pushed for term limits, balanced budget, balanced budget amendment… He is pro-life and pro-liberty. I cannot think of another leader in Washington — he was 2 heartbeats from the presidency from 1995 through 1998 — who has publicly denounced secular humanism.
i thought that he was much better qualified than McCain as a conservative to run against the vapid socialist Obamessiah during the last election and definitely can have a huge positive impact on the nation during our troubled times.

Poll: Newt best against O « Don Surber

How Great Thou Art.....

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Rivkin and Casey: ObamaCare and the Limits of Government - WSJ.com

The overreach of the US government has hopefully reached its apex as the leviathan healthcare intervention will hopefully be stopped by the Supreme Court. The foundation of the US was an experiment in individual liberty and a limitation on the portfolio of powers and obligations of the central authority. For decades now, this very government has intruded upon the rights and responsibilities of the states and individuals and have almost completely upended the liberty of people to make choices in many aspects of their lives. The bottom line, is that the government through this legislation is naturally creating and environment will it can require you to OR not do anything that they deem to be in the best interest of the nation as a while....
If Congress can require individuals to buy or otherwise obtain and maintain health insurance simply because they may be said to impact commerce by their very existence, without regard to any particular activity in which they have chosen to engage, then there is no limit on federal power. For example, if Congress can require you to buy health insurance because your lack of insurance may, at some point in the future, impose costs on the wider economy, then on the same theory it can require the purchase (or sale) of virtually any good or service, since the failure to have or use the relevant product can always be said to have some economic impact.
The Commerce Clause in its creation by the founders WAS NOT a broad power that allowed the leviathan to do almost anything that they want. It was a restriction of states authority to restrict commerce amongst themselves. To consider this to be a right of the central government to intervene in markets particularly on the flimsy pretences that are being bandied about on this legislation is not only sill, stupid and juvenile but destructive. When the central government requires or mandates, the citizens have no choice and their liberty has been restricted. If a states does the same thing, a citizen can choose to move if it is too onerous. This market reaction and voting with one's feet keeps states from overstepping their own people but these limits do not exist when these things are foisted upon the citizenry nationally.

For those that argue that states can do these things that I so abhor, yes, they can and i will still abhor these market interventions. However, it is absolutely the right and intention of the federalist system that states can experiment and that they can succeed or fail. Then people have the choice of living there or leaving since Americans are a very mobile people. Bad decisions will eviscerate a state and survival will force these states to adjust to reality. However, bad decisions on the federal level can cause the whole nation to collapse as we see with Europe. The experiment there with socialism is a dismal failure and Europe 20 years from now will not look at all like it does now. And the error that happened there was the centralization of decision making and pan European regulation that crushed the spirit and nature of people there. They created an entitlement mentality that will take decades to squeeze out of the psyche of Europeans.

Rivkin and Casey: ObamaCare and the Limits of Government - WSJ.com

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Guest Post: The World Is Drowning in Debt, And Europe Laces On Concrete Boots | ZeroHedge

Drowning in debt. The Western world is facing a debt deflation of unprecedented proportions. Europe is is in worse shape than the US and the US is in critical condition.

Guest Post: The World Is Drowning in Debt, And Europe Laces On Concrete Boots | ZeroHedge

There is no free lunch and the government is eating yours.....

"There's a fundamental truth that everyone has to understand: what the government spends, the public will pay for sooner or later, whether in taxes or inflation or having their debt defaulted on."

-Thomas Sargent, Nobel prize winning economist-

Quote of the Day.....

“Life is tough, but it’s tougher if you’re stupid.”

-John Wayne-

Monday, November 14, 2011

Scribd

Deleveraging the American economy still has a way to go!

Scribd

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Strained By Its Debts, EU Is Breaking Up - Latest Headlines - Investors.com

The pressure to dismantle the EU will only grow. For a long time, the EU and its currency let Europeans believe the fiction that they were still a large, dynamic, growing economic bloc, not the stagnant, aging, welfare state they've become.
the US is quickly becoming the stagnant, aging , welfare state and the economic socialism being forced upon a previously free people will create massive conflicts.

Strained By Its Debts, EU Is Breaking Up - Latest Headlines - Investors.com

Friday, November 11, 2011

Herman Cain loses endorsement from American Mustache Institute | The Ticket - Yahoo! News

In a devastating turn of events surrounding Herman Cains recent troubles with harassment allegations, the American Mustache Institute has withdrawn their endorsement of the candidate.....
In withdrawing its endorsement, the group cited recent allegations made against Cain, including their own tongue-in-cheek accusations: That the advertising at Godfather's Pizza was misleading and that his mustache could be a fake. (Unlike Ron Paul's eyebrows, Cain's mustache is, in fact, real.)
The loss of the powerful mustache group endorsement has not been commented upon by the Cain campaign.
Herman Cain loses endorsement from American Mustache Institute | The Ticket - Yahoo! News

The Rising Age Gap in Economic Well-Being - Pew Research Center


The wide and getting much wider wealth gap..... As liberals go wild over the New York Times crusade against people that work and earn high incomes and defining through the false god of the Gini Coefficient, that somehow incomes in the US are unfair, one has to look at the actual wealth gap between the young and old also.

As we can see from above, the median (not average which is probably even higher) wealth for those family heads 65 and older are more than 50 times the medium wealth of those family heads 35 or younger. But as we constantly hear the frothing-at-the-mouth liberal New York Times hysterically crowing that the income gap in the US is widening, one conversely seldom hears anything about this widening wealth gap metric. There are 2 reasons for this:
1. It is extremely difficult to tax wealth but easy to tax income and increasing government tax revenue is the quest that the socialist New York Times is promoting.
2. Elderly, won't tolerate the newspaper illuminating the subject and this group of people have outsized wealth and clout and therefore has the ability to affect newspapers editorial policy.
The largest transfer of income and wealth in the history of humanity is taking place through the taxing of young working people. And the payments from the poor are being made to the wealthiest single class of people in the history of the world. And this is fair? I just do not think so.

The elderly and their strength in voting, due to their numbers, are able to vote themselves greater and greater proportions of national income through disgusting and undeserved transfer payments. These payments are coming from young working class to the feeding at the trough wealthy elderly.

Remembering the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville 200 years ago, who was astounded at the success of the American experiment in liberty thoughtfully contemplating that it was due to the moral Christian fiber of the nation, considered "When (Americans) discover that they can vote themselves money from the public till, the experiment will be over."

We do not have to look too far to see where people have been voting themselves income when one considers Social Security and Medicare. And the recent troubles surrounding Occupy Wall Street centers on another class of people, the laziest of the young demanding their own handout. Since their numbers are much much smaller than the elderly voting block, they have and will resort to threatening and violent behavior to shake-down America for their handouts too.

Government should not be involved in schemes to provide retirement income, healthcare or any other good or service outside of their Constitutional portfolio as defined in that document. Functions outside of these limited powers are the functions of the states or holy cow, the people themselves! We are on the slippery slope of communism and if we allow it to continue, this will not end well. in addition to losing our economic freedom, we will also lose our personal liberties.



The Rising Age Gap in Economic Well-Being - Pew Research Center

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Full page error by the local paper......

Kind of embarrassing. The paper in Hong Kong puts the picture of George Foreman on the obituary of Smokin' Joe Frazier's death...


I guess all black folks look the same to them.

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Three Cheers for Income Inequality | Hoover Institution

This piece is just too important to miss. It really cuts through much of the nonsense that we hear from useless hard left traditional media such as the New York Times. But the bottom line is; do we want to have a robust economy that rewards hard work and success or do we want a nation driven from a central planning platform in Washington that focuses on equality of outcomes? In the end, continuous envy of success will only destroy the nation and punitive taxes will ensure that the destruction will be complete and thorough....
The United States is now in the midst of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. That current strategy is failing in the face of economic stagnation, even with no increase in tax rates. It will quickly crumble if tax increases are used to feed the current coalition of unions and farmers who will receive much of the revenue, while the employment prospects of ordinary people languish for want of the major capital investments that often depend on the wealth of the privileged one percent of the population.
A nation cannot survive if it BOTH wants the wealth creators to create jobs/national wealth and pay punitive taxes. There two are mutually exclusive and cannot be achieved.

And what about taxes the seem to be the permanent bee in the liberals bonnet? It is very difficult to discern if punitive taxes on the wealthy through heavily progressive tax rates may or may not be effective at achieving the goals of the nation. So then why do Democrats and liberals insist on them? Because it has nothing to do with economics or determining optimal levels of taxation but everything to do with faith in socialism that has created a core need to lead vicious attacks on those that work, create and save. Higher taxes is the blue blood that flows thorough the veins of modern liberalism and so what about these taxes? I think that there is absolutely no reasonable argument that the level of progressivity in the tax code is optimal other than baseless desires by Democrats to make it even more progressive....
But what about the flat tax? Frank and others are right to note that a return to the flat tax will result in an enormous redistribution of income to the top one percent from everyone else. But why assume that the current level of progressivity sets the legitimate baseline, especially in light of the current anemic levels of economic growth? What theory justifies progressive taxation in the first place? The current system presupposes that this nation can continue to fund the aspirations of 99 percent out of the wealth of the one percent. That will prove to be unsustainable. A return to a flatter tax (ideally a flat) tax will have just the short-term consequences that Frank fears. It will undo today’s massively redistributivist policies. But it will also go a long way toward unleashing growth in our heavily regulated and taxed economy.
Clearly, socialism doesn't and didn't work. It didn't work in Russia, 1960's China, North Korea, North Vietnam, et al, and the loss of liberty that comes in such environments; the destruction of people, families and society should not to be overlooked either.

Rational people have to fight against these urges to legally steal from others under the hard left guise of "justice" through a national tax code where people have no choice but to pay or stop working. its self destructive and frankly stupid, so why are we even considering such lunacy?

Three Cheers for Income Inequality | Hoover Institution

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Raising the stakes vs. Obama « The Enterprise Blog

Thought of the day.....
And those actions will help determine whether America’s economic future will be one of a) renewed growth and prosperity or b) shared scarcity and managed decline. Putting it another way, will the 21st century American Way be the dynamic, entrepreneurial capitalism of Schumpeter or the static, state capitalism of Keynes?
Keynes would be hugely disappointed in how his political/economic thought has been hijacked by the Communist Democrats these days. But that is for another time.

At the end, do we want a life in the US of pushing everyone to the lowest common denominator with the 'elites' that have government access and perks benefit at the expense of the rest of us or do we seek a dynamic and robust economic life where winners are rewarded and conversely the losers actually experience losses that they justly deserve? I think that the founders of the nation had it exactly correct that the central government should be one of limited powers and this is not anywhere near where we are today where the central government is instrumental in creating winners and losers.

In this kind of environment, like we have seen in North Korea, the Cold War Soviet Union, 1960's fascist China, the Soviet Eastern Bloc of influence et al, central planning not only has a gigantic detrimental impact on the economic life of a nation, but this collectivization of resources destroy the liberty of the people. This is what we have in store if we continue down this path.

Walter, you agree?

Romney just dramatically raised the stakes vs. Obama « The Enterprise Blog

Monday, November 07, 2011

Instapundit » Blog Archive » OBAMA DENIES MEETINGS WITH EXTRATERRESTRIALS. I believe him. Nobody looking for intelligent life w…

Blog post headline of the day....
OBAMA DENIES MEETINGS WITH EXTRATERRESTRIALS. I believe him. Nobody looking for intelligent life would visit this White House.


Instapundit » Blog Archive » OBAMA DENIES MEETINGS WITH EXTRATERRESTRIALS. I believe him. Nobody looking for intelligent life w…

Excerpt: Mike Mayo's Exile on Wall Street - WSJ.com

It's easy to understand the appeal of certain regulation. If we'd had the right oversight in place, we would have limited the degree of the financial crisis, which included bailouts measured in hundreds of billions of dollars and millions of people losing their homes due to foreclosures. But we also would have sacrificed innovations in credit and a vibrant financial sector.

Moreover, the real problem with regulation is that it often doesn't work very well, in part because it's always considering problems in the rearview mirror. The financial system today is almost dizzyingly complex and moving at light speed, and new rules tend to address fairly precise things, like banning specific types of securities or deals.
Emphasis is mine. The opiate of government capability to actually have a positive impact on the long-term health of an industry or nation is highly questionable. We need to recognize that government is political, that they dole out favors to those that they like therefore creating winners and losers within the context of any intervention that they make. This is just not efficient nor effective. These interventions can be arbitrary and ultimately creates lower value for the nation as a whole.

Excerpt: Mike Mayo's Exile on Wall Street - WSJ.com

The hard left Obamessiah.....

From these early videos from the Obamessiah's Senate campaign, we can gain an insight into how this man embraces traditional Marxist thought....



“We all have a set of mutual obligations towards each other — we are our brother’s keeper, we are our sister’s keeper — and that those mutual obligations have to express themselves through government policies,” he says at the end of this political advertising video used during his 2004 campaign for U.S. Senate.

I wonder why the press never brought this kind of information to the American electorate prior to the 2008 election? I think that the American people should have a right to know what they are getting involved with.

But for some of us that believe that we are our brother's keeper, we do not approach this by making a grand bargain with the devil like Christian liberals do. The leviathan will eventually eat the very people that that these misguided people are trying to help. WE have personal responsibility to ourselves, for our families, neighborhoods, churches and nation. However, this responsibility does not include forcing our neighbors to what we consider good works. You want to make a difference? Do it yourself.

More on this here.

Friday, November 04, 2011

Adult Babies - Mark Steyn - National Review Online

At a million-dollar San Francisco fundraiser today, President Obama warned his recession-battered supporters that if he loses the 2012 election it could herald a new, painful era of self-reliance in America.
This is showing what the Obamessiah is all about. He is a socialist. He is a communist. He is a big government authoritarian. Lets get rid of this profoundly stupid man and send him back to where he belongs, academia.

Well, one day the nanny state will collapse and we will be forced to return to a state of self reliance. That will surely be painful since all of the promises that government has made to us will not be delivered. But if we grow up now and behave like adults, we can face the reality that we humans HAVE TO BE SELF RELIANT. Its the nature of humanity and the age of socialism will eventually end.

Adult Babies - Mark Steyn - National Review Online

New word of the day.......

The word is: Ineptocracy

1. Ineptocracy: *_Ineptocracy_****(in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) – a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number
of producers*

Use the new word in a sentence:

The former community organizer is deploying ineptocracy in his economic policies.

Thursday, November 03, 2011

Greek deal exposes European folly--Nile Gardiner - NYPOST.com

The huge difficulties facing the Euro are symbolic of the deep-seated problems enveloping the European Union today. Chief among them is a lack of economic freedom -- thanks to over-regulation of businesses, high tax rates and massive welfare spending as well as heavily protectionist measures (such as the Common Agricultural Policy) that limit free trade outside the EU.
Sounds like where the United States is heading these days. What the European experiment with economic union and the common currency, the Euro, did was to codify the socialist welfare state eliminating the formerly tenuous free market economic state. This is the reason why one could hear the talk of harmonizing taxes across the union since without harmonization, there would be actual competition between the states on taxes. Also, the central authority in Europe foisted deadening regulations onto businesses and people across the continent that promise to move jobs and economic creation out of the region.\

However, where I dispute the common wisdom is that I think that it was not the Euro that is going to kill Europe, but it is the continuous stupid regulation of business, banks and people that created an environment where a common currency is doomed.

Greek deal exposes European folly--Nile Gardiner - NYPOST.com