The Problem With Big Government

I argued with several conservatives regarding the Cash-4-Clunkers program. They thought this was an example of providing incentive at the consumer level.

I am willing to acknowledge that this program at least has a foundation in Capitalism. Unfortunately, it is not a natural driven occurrence.

My problem is that you need to give money back to consumers and allow them to spend it however they choose. Don't force them into the automobile market. All Cash-4-Clunkers accomplished was: #1 to persuade people to buy something that they were already strongly considering, or #2 persuade people to purchase something they can't really afford. Neither of these events is what should be happening in a FREE-MARKET CAPITALIST ECONOMY.

You will here me repeat this theme over-and-over. Let the free-market work and it will generally sort things out. Other than unlawful practices, Government involvement typically makes matters worse.

We got into this recession because of government meddling in the housing market.

So below is the news now telling us that automobile showrooms are now quiet. DUH! When the government forces an unnatural rally, it will not be good.

I'll give this a couple more months to play out, but what I see developing is this. The government artificially drove sales up, retailers responded by purchasing more vehicles to be sold, manufacturers responded by ramping up production (possibly even hiring back a few people) - this all sounds good, right? But now the sales are gone...retailers were tricked into over-responding...manufacturers made vehicles that weren't needed...soon there will be oversurplus and people will be laid off...and the downward spiral starts again.

Everybody agreed that the recession was near the bottom. Just allow it to run its cycle and it will improve. Now we have to suffer the emotional turmoil of another downward slope to our economy (i.e. consumer confidence goes down).

Nobody is evil in their intentions, in fact, they were probably noble. Its just the reality of economics. People buy and sale as individuals when they become convinced that their economic standing supports a move. Unnatural spurring in a certain direction, particularly when it is only short-term, only confuses the issue. It disrupts the natural course of the decision making process and causes people buy on impulse...and bad things happen.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/09/19/car_showrooms_quiet_after_clunkers_clamor_ends/

This brings us to the big newspapers that are crumbling. They are producing something that is no longer needed, and in many cases, no longer wanted.

Many of these are so slanted towards one party or the other that they are irrelevent.

Now, there is news emerging that Obama is willing to consider bills that provide newspapers a "tax break" if they restructure as "non-profit" organizations. (Gee, that has worked really well with ACORN).

I find it hard to believe that companies structured for profit can suddenly become non-profit. These companies have failed to keep up with the modern day technology, and they should be allowed to fail.

The natural cycle will take care of getting rid of poor performing companies, and it will reward those that produce the goods and services that consumers want. It just takes the courage to let it happen and stop trying to force an economically unnatural event.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/59523-obama-open-to-newspaper-bailout-bill

Ronald Reagan once explained, "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And, if it stops moving, subsidize it."

The reality is as Reagan also said, "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem".

Scrap This "Racist" Junk...There's Some Real Problems

Obama calls a white cop stupid, and that’s fine…a white congressman says that Obama lies, and he is rebuked by Congress and called a racist in the media…by the way, didn’t Obama say in that very speech that Sarah Palin lied about the “Death Panels”? Maybe Obama should be rebuked.

Seriously people....is this a hopeless fight?...please, just one Democrat, tell me that you see the problems....Van Jones, Cass Sunstein, John Holdren, Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, ACORN scandals, huge spending increases for a "Health Care Crisis", huge spending increase for an "Economic Crisis", huge spending increase that is Cap-and-Trade in order to solve the "Global Climate Change Crisis", huge spending increase to "Save the US Automotive Industry", huge spending increase for "Bank Bailouts"....PLEASE, one DEMOCRAT, I need to know that some of you still have a moral compass!!!!!

Its fine if you hate Bush, the more I think on it, the less I like him (spending increase for Homeland Security, spending increase for "No Child Left Behind", spending increase for "Pharmaceutical Plan")...they are all progressives that want DC to be involved in every aspect of our lives…….GET OUT! I want our Federal Government OUT OF OUR LIVES!!!!!!

Let's demand that corrupt politicians be treated like the criminals that they are...

Let's demand a 25% spending decrease from our federal government over the next 10 years...

Let’s demand term limits for Congress…

Let’s demand that Congress must live by the rules they pass for us…

Let’s demand more "check and balance control" over judges with lifetime appointments…

Let's demand that contributions to political parties lose their tax deduction, so that politicians must listen to the people that are donating to their political future, instead of obeying their party's marching orders...

Let's demand some "free-market" modifications to health care, and forbid a government takeover...

Let's demand that the fraud and abuse in Medicare/Medicaid be corrected...

Let's demand that the Security Exchange Commission actually do their job and monitor the honest flow of information from Wall Street...

These won't fix all of our ills, only a return to our religious origins will truly correct them. However, these steps will slow our decent into the deep darkness that Washington DC is starting to cast over this nation.

Git rid of da bums!!!

Let's limit terms for Senators and Congressmen to 8 years. This will also require changing normal Senate terms to 4 years.

If any of you are like me, you are sickened by the arrogance of these people in Congress, who act like elected nobility. So let's clean house permanently, and bring about a true revolution in this country. Let's get back to the day when serving in Congress was a duty instead of a privilege.

Spread the word!!!!

Quote -

"Every new regulation concerning commerce or revenue; or in any manner affecting the value of the different species of property, presents a new harvest to those who watch the change and can trace its consequences; a harvest reared not by themselves but by the toils and cares of the great body of their fellow citizens." --Federalist No. 62

Cap-n-Crunch

CO2 Cap-and-Trade is the latest government means of control that the Obama administration will strap onto the American people. To that end, Obama must be thankful that the silent Lemmings following him have no interest in understanding the original intention of our Founding Fathers. These men went so far as to establish a Bill of Rights for every citizen (granted by the Creator), yet they still feared that future governments would slowly usurp freedom from the citizens.

In the Federalist No. 51, James Madison wrote, "In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself"

So we "fast-forward" to modern day and find our government is planning to Regulate and Tax the public for the very gas that we exhale when we breath.

(Begin quoting the Patriot Post): After the bill's passage, Obama trotted out this whopper: "Thanks to members of Congress who were willing to place America's progress before the usual Washington politics, this bill will create new businesses, new industries, and millions of new jobs, all without imposing untenable new burdens on the American people or America's businesses."

Of course, that depends on what the definition of "untenable" is. In January 2008, Obama proclaimed, "[U]nder my plan of a cap and trade [sic] system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket ... because I'm capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, natural gas ... you name it ... whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. ... [T]hey will pass that money on to the consumers." (end quoting the Patriot Post)

Is it necessary that I point out the absolute absurdity of Cap and Trade? PLEASE, I am begging somebody to tell me that they understand that this is crazy............

Just in case you still don't understand, Below is a July 1, 2009 Open Letter to Congress by a team of prominent atmospheric scientists.

TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES: YOU ARE BEING DECEIVED ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING
You have recently received an Open Letter from the Woods Hole Research Center, exhorting you to act quickly to avoid global disaster. The letter purports to be from independent scientists, but that Center is the former den of the President's science advisor, John Holdren, and is far from independent. This is the same science advisor who has given us predictions of “almost certain” thermonuclear war or eco-catastrophe by the year 2000, and many other forecasts of doom that somehow never seem to arrive on time.

The facts are:

The sky is not falling; the Earth has been cooling for ten years, without help. The present cooling was NOT predicted by the alarmists' computer models, and has come as an embarrassment to them.

The finest meteorologists in the world cannot predict the weather two weeks in advance, let alone the climate for the rest of the century. Can Al Gore? Can John Holdren? We are flooded with claims that the evidence is clear, that the debate is closed, that we must act immediately, etc, but in fact

THERE IS NO SUCH EVIDENCE; IT DOESN'T EXIST.

The proposed legislation would cripple the US economy, putting us at a disadvantage compared to our competitors. For such drastic action, it is only prudent to demand genuine proof that it is needed, not just computer projections, and not false claims about the state of the science.

SCIENCE IS GUIDED BY PROOF, NOT CONSENSUS

Finally, climate alarmism pays well. Alarmists are rolling in wealth from the billions of dollars floating around for the taking, and being taken. It is always instructive to follow the money.

Robert H. Austin
Professor of Physics
Princeton University
Fellow APS, AAAS American Association of Arts and Science Member National Academy of Sciences

William Happer Cyrus Fogg Brackett
Professor of Physics
Princeton University
Fellow APS, AAAS Member National Academy of Sciences

S. Fred Singer
Professor of Environmental Sciences Emeritus,
University of Virginia
First Director of the National Weather Satellite Service Fellow APS, AAAS, AGU

Roger W. Cohen
Manager, Strategic Planning and Programs, ExxonMobil Corporation (retired)
Fellow APS

Harold W. Lewis
Professor of Physics Emeritus
University of California at Santa Barbara
Fellow APS, AAAS; Chairman, APS Reactor Safety Study

Laurence I. Gould
Professor of Physics
University of Hartford
Chairman (2004), New England Section of APS

Richard Lindzen
Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Fellow American Academy of Arts and Sciences, AGU, AAAS, and AMS Member Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Member National Academy of Sciences

Quote 7/9/2009
"Ludwig Von Mises, that great economist, once noted: 'People must fight for something they want to achieve, not simply reject an evil.' Well, the conservative movement remains in the ascendancy because we have a bold, forward-looking agenda. No longer can it be said that conservatives are just anti-Communist. We are, and proudly so, but we are also the keepers of the flame of liberty. And as such, we believe that America should be a source of support, both moral and material, for all those on God's Earth who struggle for freedom. Our cause is their cause, whether it be in Nicaragua, Afghanistan, or Angola. When I came back from Iceland I said -- and I meant it -- American foreign policy is not simply focused on the prevention of war but the expansion of freedom. Modern conservatism is an active, not a reactive philosophy. It's not just in opposition to those vices that debase character and community, but affirms values that are at the heart of civilization." --Ronald Reagan

Quote - 7/3/2009
"The Founding Fathers established a system which meant a radical break from that which preceded it. A written constitution would provide a permanent form of government, limited in scope, but effective in providing both liberty and order. Government was not to be a matter of self-appointed rulers, governing by whim or harsh ideology. It was not to be government by the strongest or for the few. Our principles were revolutionary. We began as a small, weak republic. But we survived. Our example inspired others, imperfectly at times, but it inspired them nevertheless. This constitutional republic, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, prospered and grew strong. To this day, America is still the abiding alternative to tyranny. That is our purpose in the world -- nothing more and nothing less." -- Ronald Reagan