Freedom Watch
Out of Control
How long before the market loses its faith in our ability to pay?
Back when I was an economics professor, I was always amazed to hear faculty members complain that the United States was not more like Europe. They were enamored with the cradle-to-grave entitlements of the European welfare state.
Every society tries to find a balance between liberty and security. Europe has chosen to put more weight in security and subjects the individual to the needs of the collective. America is different. We value liberty highest, and this commitment to the individual is what makes America unique.
Our Founding Fathers designed a constitutional system based on the rule of law to protect the individual from an overbearing federal government. The government was to do only that which was both right and necessary; the rest was to be left up to the states and individuals.
An American’s freedom is based on individual, God-given rights
guaranteed by the Constitution, and also on economic liberties that
allow us to provision our families and pursue our own
happiness.
For more than 200 years, American citizens have used their personal
and economic liberties to pursue their dreams and provide for their
families. Along the way we built a prosperous nation. American
wealth was not an accident but a direct result of our freedoms.
The relationship between the private sector and the government is similar to that of a jockey and horse. The winning combination is a strong and fast horse with a nimble and light jockey. In this case the horse is the private sector and the jockey is the government. When the jockey grows too large, and the horse is starved, eventually the horse will collapse under the weight of the jockey.
Advocates of big government do not understand this. They take our freedom and prosperity for granted. We now find this commitment to personal and economic liberty being challenged by the size of government. President Obama and Congress are looking to “Europeanize” the United States through a legislative stampede of government control: the nationalizing of our health care system, cap and trade energy taxes, and aggressive unionization. How can it be that the United States government now owns banks and auto companies?
Milton Friedman warned us that the true rate of taxation is government spending. With trillion-dollar deficits projected for years to come, I fear the greatest threat to our freedom and way of life will come from our out-of-control deficits. Eventually you must pay the piper, and the government will either deflate our currency or impose catastrophically high taxes and institute a national sales tax. Or, even worse, it will pursue a combination of both bad ideas.
Higher taxes degrade our standard of living, leaving citizens with fewer choices and fewer dreams. Taxes and a bloated public sector rob the private sector of much-needed capital investment. Capital is like fertilizer: when it’s spread on the private sector it grows the economy; when it’s fed to the government it grows more government. This is the challenge handed to the new crop of freedom-loving patriots: government is growing too big and too costly, and it needs to be reined in.
The Greek debt crisis should be the canary in the coal mine. Greece is the first Western country in recent memory to experience a sovereign debt crisis. In 2009 the Greek budget deficit was 13 percent of GDP, and investors do not believe the Greeks can credibly get the budget under control. The Congressional Budget Office reported that our 2009 budget deficit was 10 percent of GDP. Clearly the United States is on an unsustainable path. In less than 10 years the interest on the debt alone will approach $500 billion. How long before the market loses its faith in our ability to pay?
Fortunately a new generation of citizen activists has stood up to demand political courage to get the budget under control. Commonly known as the Tea Party movement, these defenders of freedom have emerged in the last year to ask politicians to do what families do across the country: prioritize spending and live within a budget. Like the Reagan revolution and the Contract with America once were, the Tea Party movement is the next great conservative revolution in my lifetime.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (102) | Leave a comment
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jeff| 4.6.10 @ 6:32AM
"government will either deflate our currency or impose catastrophically high taxes and institute a national sales tax."
I think you mean "inflate" - please fix the typo.
Howard| 4.6.10 @ 10:07AM
I think he means deflate the purchasing power of the currency. Each dollar will purchase fewer good or services.
Tim| 4.6.10 @ 10:41AM
McNugget Happy Meal at the drive through circa 2020 : $49.95
Fiscal responsibility now: priceless.
Bob the Engineer| 4.6.10 @ 10:13AM
I think it is NOT a typo. If deflate the currency that produces inflation in the market place. Look at it this way if the same number of dollars can only buy one loaf of bread now that previously bought ten then the price of bread has a 1000% inflation rate.
Ned| 4.6.10 @ 10:47AM
He means exactly "deflate" - the dollar is now at par with the Canadian dollar, instead of at a 25-30% premium... please learn economics...
Tim*| 4.6.10 @ 11:26AM
Yup, Armey means what he said " deflate ".
Alan Brooks| 4.6.10 @ 6:22PM
Armey was rather harsh with Focus On The Family, for without FOTF both Bush administrations would have had a substantially lessened base; they weren't as popular as Reagan except after Desert Storm,-- when Bush 41's popularity was briefly at 90 or so percent.
Aside from that, having merely ridden in on Reagan's coattails, the Bushes needed all the help they could get. So Armey was rather ungrateful to FOTF, seeing as he needed them in the '90s to help the '94 elections and the aftermath go as it did.
No one can accuse Armey of being too grateful.
Alan Brooks| 4.6.10 @ 6:41PM
There aren't many allies as steadfast as FOTF, so Armey having diminished their support for the sake of garnering libertarian brownie-points was foolish.
No wonder Armey is called 'Dick'.
jpm77| 4.7.10 @ 9:59AM
The generally libertarian leaning and moderate middle of the country is needed to win elections, neither the conservative nor the leftist progressive base has enough support to carry general elections except in a few rare cases State by State. Social conservatives antagonized the other half of the conservative big tent and forced them to side with the liberals on social issues and the result was the catastrophic 2006 & 2008 elections. Armey is just being wise, libertarians are required to prop the conservative big tent back up and save the country from the marxist wannabes and out of control government growth. They are a significant portion of the Tea Party movement, and without them, we might just see a lasting Democrat and Progressive hegemony. Don't be so quick to dismiss them and their support.
Alan Brooks| 4.9.10 @ 8:39PM
Small-morals libertarian morality doesn't cut it anymore, as to erode family values as in the past is too expensive now-- both to the social fabric-- or lack thereof-- and fiscally.
I'd rather acquiesce in Obama being made president for life than have any connection with low-morals libertarians.
Alan Brooks| 4.26.10 @ 10:46AM
... well, actually, I do look at a nude photo once in awhile; but at least it is of a woman (you libertarians wouldn't want any gay lechers at AS, now would you? we must try to maintain some decorum)
Bill H| 4.7.10 @ 1:31AM
Inflate prices = Deflate the currency
cassandra| 4.7.10 @ 1:10PM
We all know what Dick Army meant by "deflate". The term "inflation", as used by economists, refers to "inflating the money supply", which leads to an increase in the general price level. The terms "inflation" and "deflation" are used so loosely by everyone now (including economists) that we can only decipher what is meant from the context. Can't make people be precise with language. Why quibble when we know what they mean.
Roger| 4.7.10 @ 10:01AM
"Jeff" is misunderstanding the term "deflate the currency" What Armney is referring it is a government devaluation of the dollar, meaning the dollar will be made to have less value, which is an artificial way of make less debt. Never mind that a deflated currency will maintain the same debt to asset ratio. All that matters is the propaganda of see, the deficit has been reduced.
But that is what the left and their media supporters are best at. Lying to the voters to cover the crass ignoring of the constituents wishes.
Steve| 4.7.10 @ 12:18PM
When you have inflation, the currency is devalued, or deflated as you will. Armey's usage is correct.
Sic Semper Tyrannis| 4.7.10 @ 2:29PM
It's called devaluation\revaluation\hyperinflation, as in Zimbabwe dollars...
"We the People are the rightful masters of both congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." -Abraham Lincoln
Jay| 4.6.10 @ 6:46AM
"The government was to do only that which was both right and necessary; the rest was to be left up to the states and individuals. " This is wrong. Congress was to have only those powers specifically enumerated and delegated to it by Article 1 section 8 of the constitution. The power to do whatever is "right and necessary" is no limit at all.
JP| 4.6.10 @ 7:42AM
"How long before the market loses its faith in our ability to pay? "
I suppose one should keep a close eye to the interest rates of 30 year Treasuries. One day no one will show up at the Treasury auctions. The auctioners phone calls to buyers will go unanswered; thier texts and emails will fail to get responses. The Treasury will be forced to signifincantly raise interest rates to get anyone remotely interested in risking thier hard earned cash.
But even interest rate hikes will not be enough. For individuals whose credit risk is so poor, the lenders of last resort are pawn brokers. But these guys normally demand significant collateral.
When the Greek debt crisis first broke, there were stories tha that German and Swiss bankers were demanding that Greece hand over some of its most prized real estate holdings (the Parthenon, beach resort properties, etc...) to be held as collateral before the EU would bail them out. These stories went below the radar pretty quickly. But, I wouldn't discount these kinds of requests in the future.
We will know when the game is up when the Chicoms demand federal properties (and thier mineral and timbers rights) as collateral as a prerequisite for any future debt purchases.
Merlin| 4.6.10 @ 9:04AM
Some parts of China has a high ratio of young men to young women. Will the Chinese demand women as well as land and natural resources?
Jeannine| 4.6.10 @ 6:02PM
"Will the Chinese demand women ....?
That may not be a bad idea. I have been told by 2 women who visited China recently that all the men in Inner Mongolia look like young & tall Steven Segals. Sign me up for Inner Mongolia!
Jack| 4.7.10 @ 11:30AM
... and they treat their women like property. Good luck with that. I hope you fetch a good price from a benevolent, young, tall, Steven Segal type; however, the old, fat, cruel ones have most of the resources.
Steve | 4.7.10 @ 5:20PM
I can think of a few women we could spare starting with Nancy Pelosi. Ship Nancy Pelosi to Mongolia as collateral for a loan.
Norto| 4.7.10 @ 11:25PM
I have a couple I no longer have any use for and would gladly offer. Not so young, but still serviceable. This has possibilities.
axbucxdu| 4.7.10 @ 12:38PM
"I suppose one should keep a close eye to the interest rates of 30 year Treasuries. One day no one will show up at the Treasury auctions. The auctioners phone calls to buyers will go unanswered; thier texts and emails will fail to get responses. The Treasury will be forced to signifincantly raise interest rates to get anyone remotely interested in risking thier hard earned cash."
Helicopter Ben never saw a government bond he wouldn't buy...no doubt, he would prefer that fools rush in first and save him the trouble...
Old Soldier| 4.6.10 @ 7:58AM
"the true rate of taxation is government spending."
Yes - I had a real Macro Econ professor who taught me that government drag on the economy is the present value of expenditures minus transfer payments.
At this point government drag will stop the economy sooner than later. 2010 will be flat - 2011 will be another crash unless Republicans can stop the roll-back to higher taxes.
axbucxdu| 4.7.10 @ 1:17PM
I'd like to see a thorough macro econ analysis that evaluates government balance sheets and flow of funds statements. When considering government financials, economic professionals tend to focus only on the for-profit equivalent of revenue statements for Y-O-Y budgeting (funds accounting) and therefore the general public thinks in only these terms as well.
Eric Norby commenting on Walter Burien:
"He regards fund accounting as a criminal activity and approaches it as an illegal scam that the government is putting over on the taxpayers. As a lawyer I have to say that what they're doing is probably legal, but if people knew about it they wouldn't be very happy and maybe they'd change the law." (c.f. Sarah Foster,http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17105)
I wonder whether these economists bother to actually read the govt's CAFRs?
Pingback| 4.6.10 @ 8:01AM
Dick Armey throws weight behind Tea Party | Liberty Pundits dot net links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 4.6.10 @ 8:13AM
Your analogy of the jockey and the horse is accurate.
You could also look at the fact that our children and neighbors are being turned into the equivalent of government mules, carrying their paychecks home only to have those checks looted electronically to pay for an ever larger government.
While state and federal tax revenues plunged due to a shrinking business market and high unemployment, things have never been better for government employees and that's another danger unto itself.
Here's a brief synopsis from National Review Online by Rich Lowry:
http://article.nationalreview......rich-lowry
For most Americans, the Great Recession has been an occasion to hold on for dear life. For public employees, it’s been an occasion to let the good times roll.
The percentage of federal civil servants making more than $100,000 a year jumped from 14 percent to 19 percent during the first year and a half of the recession, according to USA Today. At the beginning of the downturn, the Transportation Department had one person making $170,000 or more a year; now it has 1,690 making that.
The New York Times reports that state and local governments have added a net 110,000 jobs since the beginning of the recession, while the private sector has lost 6.9 million. The gap between total compensation of public and private workers has only widened during the downturn, according to USA Today. In 2008, benefits for public employees grew at a rate three times that of private employees.
http://www.americanthinker.com.....emplo.html
Ken (Old Texican)| 4.6.10 @ 8:22AM
Mr. Armey, thank you.
I often think that we here in Texas are sorta' shielded from the craziness that has infected the US as a whole.
Our basic sense of "can do" and "neighborliness" is still intact to a large degree, even with the constant influx of "fereigners" from other States diluting it somewhat...until we can submerge them in our culture here.
I'm with you.
The counterpunch by serious Americans all across the country ...who have adopted the name "Tea-Party" is extremely exciting. I am proud to be a part of it.
I hope and pray we can prove decisive, both in terms of finding good (not perfect), candidates to support, but also my hoped for follow-up after the elections to give them some encouragement and direction, (atta-boys and thou shalts).
Tim| 4.6.10 @ 10:43AM
Does Texas sell gold coins? Might be time to start minting...
Kevin | 4.7.10 @ 9:06PM
Even the Second Republic of Vermont is selling silver coins! They're called Clovers instead of Dollars.
davelnaf| 4.6.10 @ 8:55AM
By now any objective person has to conclude that Washington is not mindlessly growing the size of the Federal government but is doing so deliberately. Does Washington have a realistic idea that the end result might be something better than what we had before and will benefit all Americans? The answer to that question, given the obfuscation and deceit on display during the Obamacare controversy has to be an emphatic no.
Sic Semper Tyrannis| 4.7.10 @ 2:35PM
"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that justifies it." -Frederic Bastiat
Pingback| 4.6.10 @ 9:05AM
Budos World » Blog Archive » Tuesday’s sit rep links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Retired Army| 4.6.10 @ 9:17AM
We better all learn how to speak one of the Chines dialects. They own the country now anyway. One day, they might call the notes due. Then what?
Ken (Old Texican)| 4.6.10 @ 9:47AM
Retired Army,
Our Texas independence movement began with the following challenge: "Come and take it", (implied of course, "if you can".)
We can still turn this whole mess around. Boots and saddles, Soldier!
Tim| 4.6.10 @ 2:38PM
They take our money and send us drywall that secrets acid. Sounds like a pretty fair exchange.
Howard| 4.6.10 @ 10:10AM
I like Friedman s comment. It is not just the current tax bill that is the "tax". It is either future obligations or general inflation to disguise the tax. I like the way the liberal SOB's say Friedman is irrelevant. My ass!
Petronius| 4.6.10 @ 10:38AM
The IRS and it's counterparts in every major country is hiring shit heels to invade the privacy of every individual they consider wealthy: (try solvent with no debt). Their mission is to incriminate anybody "who has it too good." Welcome to the 17th century.
Call me when the black market opens.
Ride 'Em Out On A Rail!| 4.7.10 @ 2:37PM
Is it any wonder that people like that used to be tarred and feathered?
Tim*| 4.6.10 @ 10:43AM
Tea Party Rallies Across America On Tax Day ,April 15th !
The Tea Party Express is in Davenport ,Iowa ,heading to Rockford ,Illinois and Madison,Wisconsin today.
Joe Doakes| 4.6.10 @ 11:26AM
Via email to: Rep. Hall, Appointed Sen. for NY, Sen. Schumer, Pres. Obama
Washington DC
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Yertle:
I am concerned that the manner in which the federal government is operating is eerily like how the Krupps munitions factory was still billing the Nazi’s - after Hitler committed suicide. Benjamin Franklin once remarked that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing, and expecting different results. The congress has passed bailouts, and rescues, and soon a, stimulus package, all in an empty effort to save the Republic from the financial malfeasance of governments small and large. If they failed to work in the past what reason do you believe that they will work in the future? It appears to me that the solution is obvious. Forgetting financial reality for a moment. In a given year the US economy generates 10 to 15 trillion dollars. I say why wait for the year to pass. Next time all of you are at your respective posts pass a bill to print $12.5 Trillion and disperse it. At least that way we will all know who is getting the money.
Obviously, however enticing, this idea is absurd. Is it any more so than one insolvent institution, the US Government ($2 Trillion running deficit, $12 Trillion in debt), giving another insolvent institution, US Banks(Bloomberg news service reports $4-$5 Trillion required to re-capitalize them, at the current rate of loss), money it does not have anything to back it other than more debt, and a beaten up taxpayer? With ink so fresh on the bonds that the Communist Chinese government has yet to collect the interest on it? I fail to see the wisdom in how creating a smaller hole in one spot, and a bigger hole in another will ever do any of us any good. This philosophy has not worked in the past and it will not work in the future. The evil economic stew we are cooking has been brewed before, and it will taste just as bitter this time.
When Ronald Reagan took the reigns of this nation in 1981 we were in far worse shape than we are in today, a large portion of our military qualified for poverty assistance, a business owner could not breathe without the governments permission, inflation was sky high, unemployment at double digits. Unless we do the right thing now we will be there again, rapidly. Our economic problems today are manufactured by our own fiscal malfeasance - there is no shortage of food, energy, labor, or capital. What we have too much of is the heavy hand of government deciding who gets what, how much, and when via a complex set of regulations and tax policy. President Reagan, to the largest extent possible, ended that madness, and while the 80’s were no picnic, that decade created 20,000,000 new jobs, strengthened this nation so we could carry on in the future, and we brought most of the world with us as a lucky strike extra. The economic lesson of the 80’s is that freedom and economic liberty are viral, and the only antidote for it is big government - this is something we have forgotten or chosen to ignore. Up to now President Obamas rhetoric has been the antithesis of this pro growth philosophy. Mr. Obama thinks that a combination of targeted tax cuts, welfare, and government make work projects are the cure for our ills. To do this Mr. Obama will need more bureaucrats, and add more legal and fiscal complexity to meet his goals. I reject this economic cure and its implementation. Remember, what the government gives to one it must take from another. How does the government know that the capital or wealth it is redistributing will not be used for a much wiser purpose then the one it has ordained? It doesn’t. Like an alcoholic in a bar, the government drinks without accountability, and spends the monthly mortgage payment on whiskey without forethought, and hurts everyone it claims to care about. Remember these thoughts as you create the next seemingly free government give away; someone has to pay for it, that someone will be our children, their payment will either be in gold or blood.
This insanity of printing, borrowing, and misallocation of capital must stop. No country on earth has ever borrowed, spent or taxed it’s way to recovery, let alone prosperity. War and Depression? Absolutely. If this economic cancer is allowed to metastasize we will once again be pushed as a nation into a choice of not whether we should or should not do something, but whether or not we can. The “stimulus package” legislation all of you are considering is nothing more than economic suicide.
Respectfully,
Spartuchis| 4.6.10 @ 12:39PM
Has there ever been an instance of a banana republic actually mandating the purchase of it's treasury bonds by the public? I'd hate to think of the guvmint so broke that it forces its citizens to buy it's crappy faithless paper.
Dope and Chains| 4.7.10 @ 2:09PM
If things get bad enough, the owners and managers of "low-hanging fruit" -- 401(k)s, IRAs, pension funds -- could certainly be required to buy them. All it would take is a few brief amendments to the statutes that originally enabled these vehicles. But first, they'll slap on currency restrictions so that the capital can't flee the borders.
It's by no means limited to "banana republics." The United Kingdom regularly resorted to nonsense like this before Baroness Thatcher straightened things out.
Doug| 4.6.10 @ 8:15PM
You can get an ITIN number from the IRS. It is a replacement number for illegals who can not get SSI #. The illegals use it to get loans and open accounts. Evey american should get one and open up a saving acount and skip paying the IRS on the interest. We should have benifits illegals have. Pass it on. ITIN #. Screw the IRS! What Fun!
Dondman| 4.6.10 @ 9:28PM
The illegals use it to get loans and open accounts. Evey american should get one and open up a saving acount and skip paying the IRS on the interest.
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ralph| 4.6.10 @ 11:25PM
The question I have is what will stop this goverment ponzi scheme? If they print lots of dollars it will enable them to pay back the national debt with cheap dollars. In doing so they will punish those of us who have been fiscally responsible, but they really don't like us anyway because we are not depending on the goverment for our provisions. We simply want life, liberty and to be able to pusue happiness with minimal goverment intervention! I am concerned their scheme will work, slowly taking away liberty. I think only a natural disaster could foil this for them or maybe a wider war in the middle east causing oil to go through the roof. The balancing act they have is to not print so many dollars that us worker bees simply stop working.
Pingback| 4.7.10 @ 2:58AM
Rebellion News links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 4.7.10 @ 9:49AM
Starving The Horse « Constitutional Heritage Blog links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
John| 4.7.10 @ 10:32AM
It is sad to see this country headed for more welfare programs, but what where you businessmen thinking when you supported importing cheap labor and you liberals when you spawned the underclass with entitlement programs. Do you really expect the growing masses of low intelligent people without skills to just starve in a one-man one-vote democracy?
Pedro| 4.7.10 @ 10:58AM
"Every society tries to find a balance between liberty and security."
Wasn't there a founder of a certain society that said something about giving up any liberty for security being a fool's bargain?
There is no acceptable balance between liberty and tyranny.
Brian| 4.7.10 @ 11:30AM
Reading all the comments posted here I can only shake my head. So many intelligent, seemingly thoughtful folks who clearly care about this country, swallowing hook, line and sinker the superficial musings of one of the most cynical and hypocritical individuals to exploit our political system - and national problems - for personal gain. Here are a couple of simple facts. National debt as a percentage of GDP have fallen under ever president since Truman EXCEPT Reagan, Bush and Bush (under each of whom it rose, and not insignificantly. Do a little research and you will see for yourselves.) Furthermore, what Mr. Armey coveniently ignores while waxing poetic about the vision of our founding fathers is that in their time and ever since, the folks running the government have been, by and large, the folks with the largest stakes in the private sector. "Hands-off government" has suited the captains of industry (again, many of them also involved at the highest levels of government in some capacity) just fine because it has allowed them to squeeze maximum profits from land and labor. Environmental standards, labor rights, minimum wages - we're told these things stifle the entreprenurial spirit. The reality is that they are opposed by big business because they raise the bottom line. The majority of Americans are being squeezed right now, but not by higher taxes - it seems to me that what is really thinning the pocketbook of the average American family right now is the marked decrease in real wages relative to inflation (a decline which increased substantially under George W., it should be noted) and out of control living expenses - including healthcare and fuel (again, marked increases in the 8 years under Bush). Let's be objective folks. The Republican party effectively controlled our government from 2000 until 2008 (2006 if you want to nit-pick), and by any objective standard, was negligent in its handling of our fiscal policies. Obama has, in fact, inherited a very precarious national economy. Tens of millions of us have suffered in ways that can never be fully measured or appreciated - lost homes, loved ones lost to illness for lack of access to health care, more hours working for less money, retirement savings lost, more debt, etc. etc. To believe that the private sector is going to address on its own the underlying causes of all of this - or provide some desperately needed relief to literally tens of millions of Americans out of work and up to their ears in debt - is to ignore our own history. I'm sure as hell no more a Democrat than a Republican, and I don't like big government one bit. But the reality is that we have allowed problems to grow in this country that can only be addressed by our federal government - through policy, spending and taxation. Dick Armey is criticizing the fire department for showing up at a burning house that he helped to light afire, and he's doing it because he seems a chance to take the stage again by playing on peoples' legitimate frustration and desperation. He is the worst kind of politician, and doesn't deserve the space or attention he's been given to advance his agenda.
The rest of us need to be a little more effective in seeing past the smoke and mirrors.
Rick| 4.7.10 @ 12:27PM
Brian, talk about not understanding history or ecomomics. Look at recent events, our government now owns GM and Chysler, AIG, the student Loan business, 90 percent of all mortgages through Frannie & Freddie. The health care legislation did nothing to actually reduce the cost of health services, it just imposed massive goverment and price controls that will effectively nationalize the insurance industry. Small and midsized businesses in this country are afraid to hire fearing the coming tax burden in heath care, Cap & Trade and the coming VAT tax that this administration will propose this coming December. Europe is now just unwinding their failed experiment, privitizing peice by peice and you are endorsing falling into the same hole they are trying to climb out of. You sound intellegent and well meaning, just very narrow minded in your praise of this socialist Obama Regime. The unparrelled growth of our government will hurt everyone, not help the little guy. Socializm just doesn't work, it never has...
Black Saint| 4.7.10 @ 1:16PM
The policies of Obama and Wash. DC Democrats are intent on following Calif. policies and Pro-Illegal Aliens, Pro-Unions and Anti-tax paying citizens and are endorsing the same socialist process of rewarding the Corrupt, Stupid, Foolish, Lazy, Greedy & Criminal while punishing the responsible, honest, law abiding & hard working citizens of American.
Veritas Vos Liberabit| 4.7.10 @ 2:56PM
"Beware the greedy hand of government, thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry." -Thomas Paine
"Were we directed from Washington when to sow, and when to reap, we should soon want bread." -Thomas Jefferson
"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." -James Madison
"Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them." -Thomas Jefferson
"A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever." -John Adams
Kyle513| 4.7.10 @ 4:56PM
And the lost freedom due to your entire personal financial wipeout caused by serious illness, surgeries, long hospital stays, loss of health insurance because employment lost since you are sick, or pre-existing conditions or lifetime spending cap (take your pick).
And beware of the greedy hand of your health insurance company, taking your money your entire life, then cutting you lose when you get sick and you are unable to obtain new coverage. Could John Adams ever conceive the quagmire of this type of free market. I think you 100% miss the boat on HCR.
axbucxdu| 4.7.10 @ 11:48PM
What free market are you talking about? Surely you don't consider Medicaid, Medicare, employer sponsored health care, compulsory ER treatment for illegals, a free market? I'd like to know where the consumer and producer directly interact in this so-called market.
It's a quagmire all right, but you definitely miss the boat 100% percent characterizing what we have now as a "free market".
Unlike today's liberals, John Adams knew the invariant nature of human beings and would have easily predicted the chaos of today's health care system given the government inspired financial incentives under which it currently operates. Sheesh...
Dope and Chains| 4.7.10 @ 3:29PM
I'm going to dog-ear this post so I can point to it the next time someone asks me to provide an example of "doublethink." What are you now, Brian -- a junior? I'm sure that ability to regurgitate the party line impresses your Socialist professors, but that dog simply won't hunt with anyone who thinks for themselves. Like adults who pay real bills and real taxes.
"Do a little research," huh? Well, yours only holds up if the examination ends at 01/19/2009, and if you ignore two little inconveniences named "Johnson" and "Carter:"
FACT: Unlike every single one of the 43 presidents who preceded him, your Hero the Oval Office Zero has run trillion-dollar deficits from the second he raised his right hand.
FACT: Your Hero the Neo-Socialist Zero's deficits are four times larger as a percentage of GDP than any "Shrub" ran during his eight years in office.
FACT: CBO projections predict that ONLY ONE of the Affirmative Action Hire's projected budgets -- FY 2014 -- will be BELOW a trillion dollars.
You "don't like big government one bit," and yet we have "problems" that "can only be addressed by our federal government?" I'm going to file those two sentences under the heading, "Suspension of Disbelief FAIL."
As as for the "millions of people who have suffered," the strains of "Hearts and Flowers" are deafening. What overweening, sentimental nonsense!
Here's one truth the profs almost certainly haven't mentioned: Life ain't fair, and no amount of big-government meddling in our lives will ever change that fact. The sooner you get used to that, kid, the happier you'll be.
Brian| 4.7.10 @ 4:29PM
Dope and Chains -
To be that angry, and a racist. Can't imagine how that must feel.
The differences between you and I may include age, as it's hard to imagine someone becoming so bitter early in life. Education-wise you're pretty far off the mark, but they're all just pieces of paper anyhow so that doesn't bother me. And you'll get no sympathy for paying big boy taxes on a big boy salary - we all do it, deal with it.
If you take the time to read what I wrote and not infer beyond that, you'll notice that I haven't praised Obama. Much of what has been done over the past year and change causes me great concern - more for my kids and their peers than me and mine. I wouldn't suggest for a second that the monstrosity that our government has become is a good thing. However, there is a fundamental difference between seeing big government as a bad thing on the whole, and arguing that there is an immediate and momentary need for government intervention. If you can't wrap your mind around that, maybe you'd do well to get back in the classroom for a bit.
I've yet to hear a compelling argument refuting the assertion that the hole we are in now was, by and large, dug by George W. and his ilk. Obama and company have been in there with shovels, digging deeper, to be sure. But you find me one similar contemporary situation in which an economic downturn the likes of ours was reversed without government intervention. Without being either a socialist or a Democrat, I believe that the corner your kind of thinkers put us in (I'd love to hear your thoughts on foreign policy issues) necessitates in the short-term an unpleasantly aggressive government intervention. Regrettable to say the least, and potentially destructive over the long-term, but necessary right now to stave of the collapse of our financial system and an even more severe economic slump.
And please, do the research. Debt as a percentage of GDP decreased under both Johnson and Carter. You're simply wrong to suggest otherwise. Doesn't mean they were great presidents. But a fact is a fact.
"Overweening, sentimental nonsense." I'm just going to assume that most of the thoughtful folks who read and post on this page are more sensitive than you to the difficult realities facing so many of our fellow countrymen. Children, the elderly, our service men and women and their families. Hardworking people who've done everything by the book and still can't get ahead because a relative handful of big moneyed interests have bought off our government - including your Republic party, make no mistake. Nobody who's been around for any amount of time with his eyes open would believe that life is fair. But when it's as hard as it is for the majority of people in this country to simply get by, we need a reality check. And your worn out, classical liberal economic ceteris paribus blabber is of no real use, thanks though.
So here's what I suggest. Take a deep breath. You accept that life ain't fair. Read a little Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy. It may help you accept that fact with a little more grace and compassion.
Dope and Chains| 4.7.10 @ 5:39PM
"Angry."
"Racist."
"Bitter."
Epithets betray a scoundrel who lacks a logical leg to sand on.
Begone, troll.
Brian| 4.7.10 @ 5:46PM
haha. Your words gave you away. That's your fault, not mine. And to all the rest? And Kyle513's points?
Seems you may be the one with the bum logical leg.
Kyle513| 4.7.10 @ 5:11PM
OMG, Dope and Chains, did you totally 100% miss the boat here. Better luck with your facts next time-
FACT: Your Hero the Neo-Socialist Zero's deficits are four times larger as a percentage of GDP than any "Shrub" ran during his eight years in office.
Check the Fiscal 2009 budget, since you are spewing facts, you should be fully aware that that fiscal year 2009 began on 10/1/2008-during Shrub's presidency- that is the year that the deficit swooned to $1.4 trillion, from $458 billion in fiscal 2008. It went up 308% under W. Mostly as a result of TARP- which was mostly the result of small government (no financial regulations).
And you may recall W took the war spending off budget, 44 put it back on budget, which makes the numbers erroneously appear more favorable to W (when you add back the war spending to the govt outlays).
Better luck next time with your "FACTS"
axbucxdu| 4.8.10 @ 12:18AM
Small government? You really are a comedian.
Shrub was everything but an agent for small government. And now to conceal HIS costs, Obama is simply going to delay his real spending on this new entitlement until the next sap takes office.
Always and everywhere brought to you by fiat currency and its corresponding govt bonds.
A long term structural analysis reveals that the deficit went up because Lincoln long ago forced the circulation of legal tender greenbacks. It turned out to be such a good thing for the feds during the Civil War that the USG went on the system permanently in 1913. That's why the government and/or its deficits always grow through congresses and administrations of both parties. They differ only in how the monster should be fed, not how large it should be permitted to grow.
As long as the government is financed by its own fiat money, it will never, ever, under any circumstances, be "small".
The Florida Scoop | 4.7.10 @ 1:41PM
Great article and Dick hit the nail on the head. Americans are forced to live within their budget. Our elected officials apparently think our nation does not have to live within their budget. And worse, our bloated government thinks they are above those who elected them to represent constituents. Arrogant.
Steve A| 4.7.10 @ 2:15PM
Brian,
You are a funny dude. " Our problems can only be addressed by our fed govt, through policy, spending & taxation." I am sure all economists would agree that policy, spending & taxation are directly responsible for American exceptionalism. It has nothing to do with our freedom to pursue prosperity without getting half of the profits confiscated by a bloated, self serving, inefffficient, monstrosity located in Washington DC. History has always displayed the wonders of excessive taxation & spending. Glad you have set me straight.
Brian| 4.7.10 @ 4:43PM
Steve A,
I'm glad you at least got a laugh out of my post. Thing is though, I didnt' say suggest that all our problems, over time, can only be addressed through govt policy, spending and taxation. Just some of the critical ones we're facing right now -- all of them the result, to be sure, of some combination of govt policy, spending and taxation. Twisted irony isn't it? And in fact there are many economists who would agree with your interpretation of my words, even if I wouldn't.
I'd just say this. If you think that this country has ever been a place where the average working man was free to pursue prosperity without having a big chunk of his profits confiscated by a bloated, self-serving monstrosity in Washington (or his own state or town, which was often much worse), than you need to read up my friend. And take note of the fact that the guys in Washington taking that money are more often than not playing golf on the weekends with the guys who are running the empires of our wonderfully free and competitive economy. The image you seem to have in your mind of what has made us great just doesn't track with reality.
Steve A| 4.9.10 @ 10:39AM
Hey Brian,
Wow man, really?? Funny how those military families OVERWHELMINGLY declare themselves conservatives. Funny how huge government spending, printing $$ & massive social program entitlements have created economic stagnation (at best), if not total ruin, in every historical example you can find, yet you seek to back this agenda simply because you pulled the lever for this guy. Get over the fact that it was a mistake, try to discover the reason why this American experiment has created the greatest standard of living in the history of civilization & make an adjustment. (Hint; it was not because of huge taxes, spending & entitlements) That method has been tried over & over & fails every time.
Kyle513| 4.7.10 @ 5:50PM
I bet you the families of the trapped miners killed in WV wish the gov't had a little more power to enforce safety regulations in the WV mines. Imagine that, a govt too big is not even big enough to protect the lives of the worker. Its cheaper for Massey to pay the fines than keeps its workplace safe and workers alive. Free markets at its best.
Brian| 4.7.10 @ 6:08PM
But Kyle513, effective government oversight to ensure that our mines are operated safely would have meant that Massey wouldn't have been able to triple its output over the past year! That's just government stifling the entrepreneurial spirit!
No, because the people who like Dope who gin up this conveniently self-serving language about "socialists" and "liberals" wanting big government to bleed us all dry don't have to worry about working in mines, or working two jobs seven days a week to provide healthcare coverage for the kids, or sending their kids to public schools, or living in neighborhoods with high crime rates. Come to think about it, on the whole, they're also not the ones to send their kids off to fight our wars, or police our streets. But they sure as hell know how to exploit the frustration of a lot of those people.
KTruth| 4.7.10 @ 5:15PM
Most of the country understands that our freedom is at stake, and that Obama is the agent of unwanted change. Even most of those who voted for him don't want a European uber-government approach. November's election will turn things around and give Obama a lesson in hubriss and its costs.
Pingback| 4.7.10 @ 5:27PM
A Legislative Stampede of Gov’t Control | ProjectVirginia links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
HULAgate | 4.7.10 @ 6:16PM
Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain (know as the PIGS to the EU) are the direct result of Clinton-infused speculation and bad Obama math -- and most Europeans do not own their own homes, by a large percentage less than Americans.
They also do not now and frankly never have carried their fair share in military expenditures, of every kind.
No, thanks.
Jski| 4.7.10 @ 7:12PM
A point that people are not making, or at least that I have not seen made, is that growth of government is not just bad for freedom for economic reasons. How much of the taxes raised and debt accrued go to law enforcement? And if they have it, they will use it. We have an exploding prison system, an out of control law enforcement culture, and a Republican party that is much more to blame for this than the Dems!
B. Johnson| 4.8.10 @ 1:19AM
The main reason that we're having major problems with Constitution-ignoring Congress is this, IMO. Activist justices in the 1930s and 40s perverted the General Welfare and Commerce Clauses so that Congress could overstep its constitutional limits. But in order to do so, outcome-driven justices had to ignore Jefferson's writings about these clauses. Here's what Jefferson had to say about these clauses.
First, here's Jefferson's common-sense clarification of the General Welfare Clause.
"1. To lay taxes to provide for the general welfare of the United States, that is to say, "to lay taxes for the purpose of providing for the general welfare." For the laying of taxes is the power, and the general welfare the purpose for which the power is to be exercised. They are not to lay taxes ad libitum for any purpose they please; but only to pay the debts or provide for the welfare of the Union. In like manner, they are not to do anything they please to provide for the general welfare, but only to lay taxes for that purpose. To consider the latter phrase, not as describing the purpose of the first, but as giving a distinct and independent power to do any act they please, which might be for the good of the Union, would render all the preceding and subsequent enumerations of power completely useless.
It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and, as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please." --Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson's Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank : 1791. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18t.....ank-tj.asp
Note that Jefferson clearly indicated that good intentions on Congress's part are no substitute for enumerated powers when it comes to making legislation.
Here's an excerpt from Jefferson's writings on the Commerce Clause.
"For the power given to Congress by the Constitution does not extend to the internal regulation of the commerce of a State, (that is to say of the commerce between citizen and citizen,) which remain exclusively with its own legislature; but to its external commerce only, that is to say, its commerce with another State, or with foreign nations, or with the Indian tribes." --Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson's Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank : 1791. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18t.....ank-tj.asp
With terms like “does not extend” and “exclusively,” Jefferson made it clear that Congress has no authority to interfere with intrastate commerce.
The bottom line concerning things like Obamacare is this. The Democratic-controlled 111th Congress is wrongly ignoring its Article V requirement to petition the states to amend the Constitution for new powers for Congress. The state power-usurping Congress is instead relying on the USSC's perversions of the General Welfare and Commerce Clauses in the 1940s to make illegal legislation like Obamacare, legislation based on constitutionally nonexistent federal government powers.
Finally, voters need to elect pro-state sovereignty lawmakers to both the federal and state legislatures in this year's midterm elections. Then hopefully, pro-state power lawmakers will work together to put the federal government back on its constitutional leash.
catherine t.| 4.8.10 @ 7:35AM
With regard to critics of Dick Armey; would suggest that they just try to 'be here now' . Or. . .if easier, and at the least, think of a 'glass half full' instead of half empty.
Pingback| 4.22.10 @ 8:20PM
Is the tea party racist? - Politics and Other Controversies -Democrats, Republicans, links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 4.23.10 @ 11:49AM
Is the tea party racist? - Politics and Other Controversies -Democrats, Republicans, links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 4.23.10 @ 12:58PM
Is the tea party racist? - Politics and Other Controversies -Democrats, Republicans, links to this page. Here’s an excerpt: