The Beginning of The End of America

There has been a movement since the 1930's to change America. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Democratic Party used the Great Depression to begin a progressive takeover of the country. This takeover came in the form of higher taxes and price controls.

Today, we see the Democratic Party, the ideological left, using the same tactics. Progressives, despite the name, believes capitalism is the root of all evil. They believe government should either own or place tight controls on all businesses, no matter if it's large or small. Some might liken their goals and tactics closer to those of Karl Marx. In either case, the result is always failure.

Jobs and Automation

President Trump ran and was elected on jobs. If you listen to democrats, there are more jobs than people, which means labor must be Imported. Since the beginning of the industrial age people have been worrying that machines would replace humans, which is the main topic of this writing.

A friend and I were discussing economics when he asked me what I thought about minimum incomes and wages. I told him that in the USA the economy is regional and not national. For that reason any minimum wage should be regional or restricted to the state.

Government Controlled Economics – A Failure

Coal exports from USA

With the US economy trying to dig its way out of what has been erroneously called the Great Recession – we sit and watch the happenings in Washington. We recently heard a speech by the president reaffirming his desire to defeat climate change. Carbon emissions seem to be the number one item on the Washington agenda. While Congress sleeps, the EPA and other agencies expand their regulatory power.

The American people elected a president who promised to destroy the coal industry. He has the desire to make the coal industry a thing of the past. While use of coal in the USA has dropped, exports to Europe were up 92% in 2010-11, according to Platts. Electrical rates are expected to increase dramatically because of mandates for closing coal powered generation plants. The president said, “Electrical rates will necessarily dramatically increase.” This is all in the name of saving the planet from climate warming that isn't currently happening and was never proven to be caused by humans.

How many of you have taken a cruise? If so, how many of them flew the American flag? There is only one cruise ship operating under American registration, the American Pride. The reasons are simple, that this profitable industry operates offshore – US regulations. These regulations are widespread – everything from labor laws, environmental regulations, to health inspections.

Economics – Chickens, Cows, and Money

People place a lot of importance on money, which is understandable. Bartering was once the major method of payment. In some areas something as simple as salt or spices were worth more than gold. The more rare an object, the more its worth in comparison to other goods and services. The more rare the tradesmen, the more their worth.

People can't provide everything they need for themselves. Let's say that a farmer needs a cow for milk. The cow cost ten chickens. Most cows are raised in a different village so the farmer has to haul the ten chickens to that village for trade. Most times he takes 11 chickens because one might die on the way.

Someone decided a long time ago that gold coins were a lot easier to carry around. One gold coin is worth 10 chickens. The farmer doesn't need a wagon to carry a single gold coin with which to buy the cow. He simply sold ten chickens to a village that was closer. Sounds pretty simple doesn't it? Well, it was until the bankers came along.

Government Command and Control Farming

Belgium dairy farmers dumping milk in protest.

As Europe clawed its way out from under the ravages of World War 2, the one thing they desperately needed was food. Farmers had to reclaim farm lands and put it back into production. In an effort to speed the process, European governments began giving financial support to farmers. Their plan worked and they managed to rapidly end hunger.

Seventy years later, and long after formation of the 27 nation European Union, the practice continues. Through subsidies and tight regulation the EU has been able to produce cheap affordable food. Enter 2013 and we find Belgium farmers dumping milk on fields in protest of too low milk prices. Unless something is done many EU farms are threatened by bankruptcy.

By the 90's EU farms were over producing. Reports of wine lakes and mountains of butter – as described by the EU press – made some think it was time to have a more free market approach to agriculture. When the world wide recession hit, and driven unnecessarily deeper by the US government created housing bubble, world food prices dropped dramatically because people were buying less.

Progressive types believe they can control the economy by thinking they know what's best for everyone. Simply because someone is elected to office doesn't make them effective economists. It is only when faced with disaster such as the one in Europe will government back away from certain practices. A looming disaster is forcing EU officials to rethink their policies and follow a more free market approach.

Winning America through education

Too frequently I find myself in debates with the typical Democratic voter and they will repeat the same rhetoric they get from peers and the 6 pm news.. Five minutes into the conversation they have the doe in the headlight look. Once I begin explaining basic finance and use words like Quantitative Easing and Rehypothification, they run away.

If they do stick around past that point, the moment I mention the free market they point to what they believe are faults in capitalism. They tell me how it was capitalism that caused the crash of 2007, and how the greedy bankers are taking people's homes. They tell me how companies like Monsanto are poisoning everyone. I could go on, but you get the message. Everyone knows all the arguments.

I must then explain to these people we have not had a free market in modern history. Not since Wikard versus Filburn have we come close to a free market. This opened the door for federal regulation of almost everything produced in America. All the problems mentioned above, and then some, are done with cooperation from the overseer government.

Why Minimum Wage Laws Are Bad

The right seems to continuously lose the fight against minimum wage laws. It's unpopular to tell people who make low wages they aren't worth more. If a person believes they are worth more, they should put forth the determination to prove to the employer they are worthy of that next promotion. When younger, I was one of those minimum wage workers. I was working part time in the summer while school was out. I thought I was rich. I was rich by my standards.

Take the family of four living off the same wage. They would suffer. We must ask where that family would be if there was no minimum wage. It's likely they might have an even lower wage. The worker would have no choice but to seek a job with more pay. That worker, in a healthy economy, will find a job paying more. The previous employer who chose to cut wages,or keep wages low, will likely have to increases wages to fill that job. The market and local economy will always dictate wages for particular jobs. If you have 1000 potential workers wanting to pick fruit, and jobs available for only 500 people, wages will drop. If there are only 500 people vying for 1000 jobs, wages will increase. The reason wages will go up is that since there are not enough workers, they will try to attract the best workers who will produce more. To attract the best workers, employers must pay more.

I'm called the extremist

Each day I'm told over and over by the media how people who think like me are extremists. I was recently de-friended by someone on a social site because of my extreme views. Extremism is often relative to the other person's beliefs. I want to go over a few things that led this person to view me as an extremist.

The United States is approaching the so-called fiscal cliff and my belief is, in the end, the country might be better off if we take the dive. For a decade we have listened to government talk about cutting spending and then pat themselves on the back when they propose a spending bill that cuts projected spending by a few billion dollars. What they don't tell us is that once again, spending increases dramatically. We are running a trillion dollar deficit and neither party seems to care. The Democrats want to raise tax rates on the top 2% earners, which would raise only about $80 billion. Neither party is willing to rein in the IRS and look at all the deductions. They love deductions because that's how they repay those that contribute to their campaigns. Because I point out that taxing the top 2% is simply misdirection, and say we get only double speak from both parties, I'm called an extremist.

Wasted vote

I just watched an electoral landslide victory of a lesser of two evils. Obama was not the man of hope and change that people believed him to be. He has been a failure as president. It should have been impossible for him to win with nearly 8% unemployment, yet he did.

A lot of people are sitting around wondering what went wrong. The wrong is the two parties. We are forced into positions where we must elect someone that will either expand federal power a lot, or a little.

I think we can reduce this to gay marriage. No, this is not about the Republican Party’s stand against gay marriage. It doesn’t matter if we have a republican or democratic president, those laws never change. The mistake is that people think they vote for someone who will help them legalize their relationships.

1892 Homestead Strike

While watching the History Channel’s Men Who Built America, I became intrigued with the Homestead strike of 1892, where 10 men were killed, three of which were Pinkerton agents. History sometimes portrays this as some kind of atrocity. In a sense it was, but who was really at fault? We could blame Carnegie Steel’s, Frick, but that is too easy.

Working conditions were hard, but that was life in America in those days. Those people worked twelve hours a day in torturous heat. Those men were steel workers who were known for their toughness.

Enter the union, who told the men they needed more money, which was fair. The unions took things too far. They convinced those workers that the steel mill belonged to them. They were the ones who built it. Unions and the left are telling people the same things today. They tell people that those who built the industry couldn’t have done it without the worker, which is true, in some sense. It’s this kind of thinking that leads many of us to say that unions and the Democratic Party are communistic. They overlook the fact they were given much needed jobs in which to feed their families.

Obama: ”We built this country together.”

In the beginning there were the 13 original colonies. It was those intrepid people who were the foundations of this country. They came to this country for many reasons. Some came to escape religious persecution, while others came to be free of oppressive governments. For whatever their reason they sometimes formed small communities and worked together to build their small portion of the country. These people later formed local governments which have become the foundations of this country.

In time these colonies decided it would be in their best interested if they formed a partnership to provide for a common defense and create free trade agreements. Many knew that tariffs among the young colonies could be their downfall. For these and other reasons the United States of American was formed.

Life of Julia Without Government

Obama released his slide show of Life of Julia and all the things government has done for her. I tried to show how her life might be better without government.

View the Tea Party Tempest slide show of Julia

This is a graphic is now included in the slide show.

Atlas Shrugged Pt. 1 The Movie.

It's not often that I take the time to write a movie review. When Atlas Shrugged part 1 came out It didn't show any place close. Last night I finally had the chance to see the movie. I have to admit I had trepidations. I knew they had set the movie in the modern area. I also knew it would be an impossible task to make to reproduce the book on the silver screen.

For decades the people holding the movie rights had waited for the right production company. I, like many, had begun to think we would never see the movie come to light. There were high expectations, and I must admit they were met as far as I'm concerned.

The characters were well developed, as was the plot. I do wonder if a movie viewer who hasn't read the book will understand all the plots. If they didn't, I believe in coming segments they will begin to see why the world was crumbling.

Communism Falls and Thanksgiving Rises

The United States has one of the best examples ever of communism's failure. We all have heard the fanciful tale of how Thanksgiving began. We have all heard how the poor ignorant Europeans settled in Virginia and didn't know how to grow crops in which to feed themselves. I clearly understand that the varieties in land can make farming hard, and sometimes nearly impossible.

Europeans had roamed several continents, all the while managing to feed themselves. It was only when they came to some of the most fertile soil on the planet that they began to starve. We are told that if not for the indigenous population the settlers would have perished.

Something did happen in Virginia. Those people were starving and then suddenly their fields flourished. That transformation was in government, not agriculture. In the beginning, they were a collective society, Communism, if you must say it.  During harvest, all crops were brought to central storage where the village elders made sure each household received their fair share. How many times have we heard that term from Obama and the other socialist?

Is The Political Left Evil?

Those of us that follow the political world tend to find any position other than our own evil. So I ask, is the left evil? The clear answer is no. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t evil within all ideologies. I find most of the people have a good heart. They care about others. They worry about those without housing, food, and health-care. Those are not bad things.

What the left often gets wrong about the right; is that we worry about the same things. It’s only how we wish to solve these problems that differs. We on the right believe that the poor are best severed when the rest prosper. Through the free-market system we have made the American poor some of the richest people in the world.

Those on the left run around shouting that the rich need to pay more. If we confiscated the wealth of anyone possessing more than a million dollars, we couldn’t even pay off the current national debt.

I wonder how many people on the left would be willing to give up the simplest things so that the poor around the world could eat properly. If people were told that giving up cell phones would end world hunger and poverty, would they? I dare say they wouldn’t.

On the other hand, are the people on the right greedy? Sure, maybe some, but most humans are. What makes people on the political right different is they are realist. We know that confiscating wealth will do little to solve all the problems the left holds dear. Since the 50’s we have each year put more and more money into education, yet test scores continue to drop.

What is evil, are the power mongers that will use the good hearts of the people on the left to further political ambitions. For decades those in power on the left have been promising black Americans prosperity, yet it has never come. The best those of us on the right can promise anyone is equality.