Remember how your classroom glorified him as the Great and Almighty Messiah? Some of his most "heroic" accomplishments and features:
Waged war without a declaration from Congress
Created blockades against the South, and sent his Northern Army upon the South thereafter (no wonder the South fired the first shot)
Oversaw the killing of innocent civilians at the hands of the State
Cared less about slavery and more about preserving the Union in the name of an all-powerful central government
Implemented excessively high import taxes, signed an extremely protectionist tariff bill, and explicitly threatened invasion against any state that failed to comply (signed ten more tariff bills thereafter)
Was an ardent supporter of corporate welfare, handing over massive land grants and subsidies to transcontinental railroad corporations
Took the nation off the gold standard and handed over control of the monetary system entirely to central government through the National Currency Acts, nationalizing the banking system
Drafted thousands of individuals into government slavery through coercive military conscription
Jailed over 30,000 civilians who spoke out against him or the war efforts without due process of law
Forced hundreds of newspapers that did not support the war into free speech suppression
Completely ignored the Tenth Amendment (states' rights) and the right of the South to secede from the Union, even though the North was also holding slaves and many other countries found more peaceful solutions to the eventual abolishment of slavery (ex. buying slaves and freeing them)
Preferred dictatorial centralization over state sovereignty
Lincoln was a fraud, a traitor, and a tyrant. In fact, he was probably the worst president ever - and that's a lot considering we had Bush, and now Obama. Socialists, neocons, and big government Progressives use the public's love of Lincoln to manipulate the masses into an imperialistic foreign policy, economic totalitarianism, and centralized government on colossal proportions. Someday, I hope the indoctrinated public wakes up and realizes what Lincoln worship has wrought upon our nation.
An aggressive foreign policy wasn't always the staple of the Republican party. In fact, the exact opposite was once true. The rhetoric of prominent Republican president Warren G. Harding reflects this.
My best judgment of America’s needs is to steady down, to get squarely on our feet, to make sure of the right path. Let’s get out of the fevered delirium of war, with the hallucination that all the money in the world is to be made in the madness of war and the wildness of its aftermath. Let us stop to consider that tranquility at home is more precious than peace abroad, and that both our good fortune and our eminence are dependent on the normal forward stride of all the American people.
As I read and hear the words of the Old Right, I ponder as to where the conservative movement went wrong. Even prominent Republican Robert Taft was anti-war. Conservatives didn't want to go into WWI, and some didn't even want to go into WWII - yet today, Republicans cheer on the imperialistic nature of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, completely ignorant of true conservative roots. It was always Democrats who were interventionist. They wanted to regulate industry, expand the size and role of government, and promote "peace" and "democracy" through violent warfare and bureaucratic foreign entanglements. Whether it was Woodrow Wilson's WWI and League of Nations, FDR's aggressive policies in WWII, or Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam, Republicans were never considered the party of war. When Irving Kristol and the Bushes came into the picture, however, that all changed, and the neoconservative movement emerged.
The current Republican party promotes an aggressive foreign policy over diplomatic solutions. The Democratic party, still full of their "peace and democracy around the world" rhetoric, offers no real alternative in terms of foreign policy. Woodrow Wilson's passion for nation-building and the imperialistic imposition of democracy around the world shapes the foreign policy of both parties in Washington today. At the cost of billions of dollars, endless inflation, the unsustainable deterioration of the U.S. dollar, our civil liberties as we know it, and thousands of lives - American and foreign alike - we are pursuing imperialistic wars of aggression in the hopes of strengthening our national security at the risk of our freedoms. What do conservatives believe in anymore? The conservative case for noninterventionism is supported by numerous conservative principles, including, but not limited to:
Fiscal Conservatism - The loss of billions of dollars on two wars that have served no major benefit to our nation or to its people does not represent the "fiscal conservatism" that Republicans still claim to support. Every year, courtesy of the Federal Reserve, we print vast multitudes of worthless dollar bills out of thin air in order to fund two wars the government claims they want to win. The high levels of legislative taxes are not the only financial burden that we face today considering that, as I have stressed again and again in my writings, the policy of monetary inflation is the most burdensome form of taxation there is. Our war budgets are colossal - we have spent over $900 billion and counting on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan alone.
While deficits continue to skyrocket, and more and more of the poor and the middle class are robbed of the fruits of their labor through both legislative taxes and monetary inflation - in large part due to the expenses of our world empire - the Republican party, as ironic as it may be, still promotes "fiscal conservatism." If the Republican party wishes to regain credibility, they must recognize once again the wisdom of the Old Right: war costs money, war causes inflation - war debases currencies. True fiscal conservatives know and acknowledge this fact. War does not save money. It destroys it.
A Strong National Defense - The major goal of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was to fight terrorism in order to strengthen our national security. Policing the world, building an empire, and entangling ourselves in foreign alliances is now deemed the best and most appropriate way to defend America. Conservatives should know better. Terrorist groups have only grown larger since we invaded Iraq. Al Qaeda and the Taliban have become even more radical, even more dangerous, and an even bigger threat to our national security than ever before. Terrorists are radicalizing, and we are the enablers. When our forces grow in size and we take part in aggressive invasions upon their land, terrorists become even more motivated to commit acts of violence and murder, with God the Almighty being used as a mere excuse for their behavior.
Their forces are growing, and our solution is the equivalent of pouring salt on a wound. We attempt to solve the problem by increasing our forces and sending in more troops. This has been tried for the past nine years - eight years under Bush and one year under Obama. The result has been the expansion and radicalization of terrorist groups. It is obvious by now that our current foreign policy is only making things worse. By invading their territory and threatening our enemies with weapons and warfare, we are only motivating the enemy to come after us. When we motivate our enemies to come after us, we weaken our national security. 9/11 was a consequence of the aggressive foreign policy of the Bush and Clinton years - yet we have learned nothing. Another 9/11 might be coming if we don't change our ways.
Instead, we should be focusing on border security and domestic defense. If the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan were instead placed on our borders, our national security would be much stronger than it is now. If we stopped spending on overseas imperialism and instead focused on defense here at home, our citizens would be much safer and better guarded against the threat of terrorism than if we continued building an empire around the world. The hostility aimed towards us would not vanish completely, but it would begin to shrink and fade with time. If we talked with nations and found diplomatic solutions to our problems, the threat of attack on American citizens would be curtailed. If conservatives truly want a strong national defense, they must be willing to bring our troops home and focus on peace here on our own soil.
Small Government - Republicans still claim to support small government - yet, since the election of George W. Bush, the government has experienced expansion by record proportions. This fact further proves that war provides an incentive for government to grow and expand in size. Bush's Patriot Act takes away our freedoms to this very day, all in the name of national security. Our phone records, medical records, business records, telephone calls, and computer conversations are all subject to the eyes and ears of government bureaucrats, and often times without valid reason. Politicians claim that this invasion of privacy is necessary to protect Americans from the threat of terrorism. However, political "radicals" and those of us who hold hostility towards the government for various reasons have been officially labeled by the Department of Homeland Security as a serious threat.
Through the sneaky and deceptive practice of monetary inflation, men and women with fancy labels have obtained a higher claim on our money than we have ourselves. Hardworking Americans have no control over the value of their currency. Bureaucratic hands make sure of that. We are not free to choose whether or not our money goes to wars that serve no benefit to us or our loved ones. We are forced to pay against our will. The tyrannical empire that has formed due to our willingness to accept the expansion of government and the deprivation of civil liberties in the name of security continues to prop up regimes in the Middle East, with oil and power being the ultimate goal of the politicians in Washington.
The only way to fund these imperialistic wars is through the policy of currency elasticity forced upon us by our central bank, the Federal Reserve. While the value of the dollar plummets further and further towards total annihilation, war is used as an excuse to rob the people of massive percentages of the money they earn. The government no longer spends and expands within its limits because it has no incentive to do so. The Federal Reserve can print money out of thin air, regardless of whether the amount of money printed represents anything at all. There is no incentive for government to stay small, so along with its expansion of wartime budgets, it expands its intrusive social programs and its fascist corporate bailouts.
The growth of government at this point in time is perpetually rapid, and only sound economic policy based on free market solutions and the curtailment of government spending both domestically and abroad can destroy the beast that is government expansion. Violent warfare, policing the world, and building a global empire will do nothing of the sort. In fact, it is and will continue to be an enabler of government expansion. True conservatives realize that when you attempt to trade liberty for security, you lose both. Big government means less liberty and less security for all of America's citizens.
National Sovereignty - The phrase "New World Order" is often equated with conspiracy theory, but it is becoming more and more evident that a world government is in the works. War does nothing to prevent this from happening. In fact, violence and destruction is the tool of globalists. The only way to bring about the planetary regime that they wish to set up is by government force. Instead of focusing on the rule of law outlined in the U.S. Constitution, we are focusing on the rule of law outlined in the structure maintained by the United Nations. "America First" is no longer a principle followed by our nation's leaders. American citizens are forced to take care of people in other nations instead of being given the space and freedom to take responsibility for their own lives first and foremost.
We are ordered by the United Nations to police the world, yet it has no benefit to the citizens of our country or to the countries we wish to defend. It's only beneficiary is the world empire. It took millions of lives and billions of dollars to kill Saddam Hussein and bring democracy to Iraq. We continued with the policy of bankrupting American citizens in order to achieve the goals of warfare. Osama bin Laden has expressed his admiration for the perpetuation of our current foreign policy. His wish is to bankrupt us further, and we are falling right into his trap.
We are at the mercy of the United Nations, the G-20 alliance, and the World Bank. The Founders would be ashamed that we are letting our nation be ruled by planetary systems of law instead of the rule of law in the Constitution - the document that recognizes that rights are not given to us by government, but rather given to us by God. If conservatives really care about our national sovereignty, then it is time to remove ourselves from global leadership and place ourselves under self-rule. Aggressive wars in the name of world democracy weaken that opportunity.
If conservatives really believe in fiscal conservatism, a strong national defense, small government, and national sovereignty, they must realize that the wars pursued in Iraq and Afghanistan only offer the negligence and destruction of those principles. They must realize once again that wars debase our currency, weaken our national security, expand the government, and hand over our sovereignty to world rule. Violence is the tool of dictators, the enabler of tyranny, and the destroyer of freedom. Liberty does not come about by force of government. It comes from the grace of God. The Almighty only asks that we take responsibility for our inalienable rights.
If we lose our freedoms, we will have ourselves to blame. Each and everyone of us, conservative or not, must realize that aggressive wars destroy our individual sovereignty. Instead of protecting our freedoms, violent warfare destroys them. The greatest threat to our liberty is not the terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the terrorists in Washington and Wall Street. Let us take back our liberties before it's too late. Let your voice be heard, let your heart guide you to spread the truth, and let your spirit forever be determined to ensure your individual salvation. That is something that no one can take away from you.
Most of us today realize the undoubted necessity of major health care reform. For those of us who do not wish to maintain the status quo, there are two sides to the argument. The Obama administration and the Democratic majority in Congress propose moregovernment. Even Republicans are proposing their own slightly lighter version of ObamaCare. However, the only real solution to our health care problems is not more government, but less. It is the very regulations, subsidies, taxes, and inflationary policies proposed today that have led to our health care problems in the first place.
People are being taxed more than they have ever been before. Forty to seventy percent of each income earned by the middle class and the wealthy is now deemed government property, and taxed accordingly. Property taxes, payroll taxes, and corporate taxes are at an all-time high. All of this combines to kill jobs, drive up costs, and make our nation poorer by taking money from citizens to pay for unaffordable government programs, so-called "investments" in money-losing projects, useless bailouts, excessive government salaries, and, worst of all, imperialistic wars that only weaken our national security. With these expenses, it is no wonder that the cost of premiums, treatments, and medical care is at an all-time high. These costs are becoming unaffordable for thousands of American families.
Businesses continue to suffer from heavy price controls, wage laws, union-appeasing legislation, and pointless regulations. This kills profits by raising expenses, which in effect leads to reduced wages, higher prices on consumer goods and services, and a lower motivation to work, compete, and innovate. Advancements in medicine and opportunities to lower costs in order to compete are stifled by these expenses. When prices are fixed by government bureaucrats instead of the free market, the incentive to make improvements and provide better services is damaged. When doctors and patients have to sign more paperwork in order to meet the demands of time-wasting loopholes and expensive government regulations, the efficiencies produced by doctor-patient negotiations are no longer existent. Businesses can no longer afford to provide adequate wages or employer-provided health insurance for their workers.
Subsidies reward failure at the expense of the taxpayer. Big pharma, various insurance companies, and the medical-industrial complex rake in handouts with no idea of what will truly benefit or satisfy consumers. The transmission of information produced by the price system is distorted by false stimulus dollars that provide no calculation of profit and loss. Knowing what consumers want - and how much consumers are willing to pay - becomes much harder when funds are acquired by force rather than by the voluntary actions of consumers themselves.
Last, but not least, if we are to bring about real changes to our health care system, a problem we must be willing to face is the problem of monetary inflation produced by escalating wartime budgets, corporate welfare, cheap handouts, and the very central banking system we adopted under the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Credit expansion leads to distorted interest rates and high levels of monetary inflation, causing endless boom-bust cycles and dollar degradation. Inflation is the biggest and sneakiest tax of all. It robs people of the value of their hard-earned money, which, in turn, brings down their actual wages and raises the prices of consumer goods and services. Hiring workers becomes more expensive, and businesses suffer as a result. Doctors, patients, hospitals, and companies are hurt in the process. Medical care only becomes more unaffordable.
From these facts, we can deduce that ObamaCare is simply more of the same. The overall economic costs of this expensive overhaul will only make things worse for consumers, workers, and employers alike. High taxes, excessive regulations, costly subsidies, and rising inflation is going to make everything we buy more expensive and everything we sell more worthless. Doctor-patient relationships, medical innovations, incentives to drive down costs, and quality of care will continue to suffer as a result. This is no way to reform health care. In order to truly reform health care, we must be willing to:
Provide more tax credits and tax cuts
Rollback price controls and medical regulations
Stop favoring unions and the medical-industrial complex over consumers
Eliminate subsides for insurance companies, big pharma, and corporations
Slash our budgets to fight inflation
Reduce the discretionary powers of the Federal Reserve, and...
Take health care out of bureaucratic hands and return it to the powers of the free market
Real health care reform starts not by asking government to solve our problems, but by getting it out of the way. Only then will the individual achievement unleashed by the powerful forces of the free market guide us to improve services, lower costs, and provide high-quality health care for a greater number of people. Freedom does wonders for our personal, economic, and social well-being.
How does a leader who promises peace around the world, yet expands the war in Afghanistan, authorizes the bombings of innocent civilians, continues to send tens of thousands of troops to fight overseas for an unjustified cause, is in bed with multinational corporations that manipulate the law to suit their needs, further deprives us of our liberties by extending the Patriot Act, uses taxpayer money to give aid to powerful dictatorships, puts us further at the mercy of China through excessive borrowing, builds up the debt through escalating budgets and regulations, authorizes more power for the Federal Reserve, signs away our national sovereignty with unprecedented ease, supports policies that cause more people to starve and die in third-world countries, and acts as if he could care less that the dollar is on the road to destruction - win and accept the Nobel Peace Prize?
The climate change summit in Copenhagen is not something that many people want to pay attention to. Perhaps a gathering of environmentalists and world leaders to discuss "climate change" doesn't seem like such a big deal. The agreements made at this summit will affect each and everyone of us, yet we brush it off as just another pointless environmental propaganda fest that will have nothing to do with our personal or economic well-being. Do the words "one-world government" worry anyone? If so, then this event is something that needs to be paid attention to. The globalists would prefer global warming skeptics to stay out of this debate, but we must not give into their desires. I can assure you that our freedom and prosperity will be further damaged once President Obama gets involved in this meeting of totalitarian dictators bent on forcing their ideology upon the masses.
What exactly are these people planning? They seem to be setting up some type of treaty or agreement setting up worldwide laws that, if broken, will result in catastrophic punishments to millions of innocent people. The agreements themselves are punishment alone - punishment for driving certain cars, eating certain foods, working certain jobs, and living certain lifestyles. If any nation dare refuse to abide by these worldwide rules on how many carbon emissions can be produced, all Hell will break loose, and the U.N. will see that the disobedient will pay for their refusal to submit to the power-hungry global overlords that seek to grab control of everything in sight.
Third-world countries are being hurt the most. Food prices are already skyrocketing. Millions will be forced to starve and die because these new worldwide regulations and global taxes are far too burdensome on agriculture, energy companies, the auto industry, and citizens themselves. The very air we breathe is now considered a pollutant by the EPA. No one is safe from the wrath of the totalitarian dictators that seek to control every aspect of our lives. They will be telling us what kind of cars we can drive, what kind of foods we can eat, what kind of jobs we can work, and how we are supposed to live our lives. Liberty is being traded for "global security," and, in doing so, we are giving up the very heart and soul of our existence to those who seek to deprive of us of everything we have so that they can be known to the citizens of the world as the "saviors of mankind."
In the climate change agreements that will be confirmed at Copenhagen, we see some pretty scary things. Lord Christopher Monckton, one of the very few prominent figures speaking out against the New World Order, has somehow obtained secretive papers from Copenhagen coordinators outlining the plans for devastating global regulations. Believe it or not, there is actually going to be a massive global tax imposed on the citizens of the world, the revenue going to the World Bank to pay for whatever programs the globalists wish to force upon the masses. Global regulations regarding the emission of carbon into the atmosphere will also be set in the form of - courtesy of Smiley-Faced Fascism Incorporated - "environmental agreements." I can assure you that prices will rise, wages will go down in many industries, and the unemployment rate will continue to skyrocket within the coming months. Leading us into a global depression is exactly what the globalists intend to do, even if some naïve members of Congress insist otherwise. Our dollar is on the path to full-blown destruction.
Fortunately, a recent scandal has awakened many people to the scientific hoax that we call "global warming." Hackers gained access to the databases of many university computers, discovering shocking emails that revealed scientists discussing distortion, exaggeration, and elimination of their own scientific data to make global warming look like a valid and catastrophic epidemic. In their own words, they were trying to "hide the decline." Have you noticed how cold it's been lately? Here in Wisconsin, our summer was chilly, our fall was cold, and our winter is freezing. You literally feel like an iceberg as soon as you step out of the door. Temperatures have been declining, and we are supposed to believe that "global warming" is still a valid theory. Despite what the Al Gore propagandists want you to believe, we have been experiencing environmental extremes since life on earth took its first breath. Sun cycles account for the majority of what we call climate change, and there isn't much we can do to change sun cycles.
In the fifties, Progressives were screaming about how polar bears would drown and cities would sink beneath the seas if we didn't do "something." By the seventies, the tune of the Progressives was changed to "global cooling," and we were going to see another Ice Age if we didn't change our lifestyles - and quick. By the turn of the millenium, "global warming" came back to haunt us, and prominent figures, including Al Gore himself, profited off of environmental alarmism. Due to recent declining temperatures, the phrase is now "climate change," and we are supposed to believe that the evils of humanity have caused every single environmental problem that we face today. Even if you have spent but a year on this earth, politicians and scientists point their fingers at you to say, "It's all your fault." They don't want to accept that perhaps the majority of the temperature changes we see today are caused naturally rather than by the so-called "evils" of humanity.
Don't get me wrong. There are many legitimate environmental issues that we face today - the biggest being pollution. However, excessive taxes and regulations aren't going to make our environmental problems any better, and, even if they did, we'd do so at the expense of our freedoms. Instead, we must find ways of solving our problems without resorting to deprivation of Constitutional liberties. For one thing, we need to respect property rights more than we do now. We need to eliminate the loopholes that allow various corporations and individuals the right to pollute on property that isn't theirs. We also need to attack massive budgets and burdensome regulations that lead to credit expansion and high inflation rates. If we don't attack the problem of monetary inflation, the motivation and innovation needed to discover new and cleaner technological advancements will only be stifled by costly expenses. Believe it or not, I am a great admirer of nature, and I personally believe that everything on this earth has a life, a spirit, and a name. The environment is definitely an important issue for me, but the whole environmental movement has been infiltrated by big government Progressives, activists expressing anti-business sentiment, pinko commies, and self-loathing econazis. I, for one, have a hard time associating with those people.
Unfortunately, those who speak out against the New World Order have politicians, scientists, professors, television personalities, prominent celebrities, and brainwashed simpletons to deal with. When Lord Christopher Monckton tried to speak to anti-globalists at the climate change summit in Copenhagen, many brownshirted activists stormed in to seize property, act in a violent manner, and trash the place entirely. Police have also been taking into custody those who would even dare speak out against global leaders attending the summit. Free speech is dying a horrible death, and we need to do everything we can to utilize what is left of it.
I urge each and everyone of you to protect the environment, but do so without demanding personal or economic liberties to be taken away from us. Speak out against those who would like to see our rights deprived of us for their own personal gain. Expose the globalist agenda for what it truly is, even if it means losing a few friends and colleagues in the process. If we lose our freedoms, we will have ourselves to blame. Don't let it slip away. I know that I have used this quote many times before, but, in the words of Patrick Henry:
"Give me liberty or give me death!"
Fight the establishment with all you've got. Follow your heart, and march to the drums of liberty and freedom. God bless you, my friends, and have a wonderful day.
We continuously hear over and over again that the leading cause of poverty in America today is a lack of regulations, inadequate taxation, underfunded budgets, "privatized" health care, and the free market system itself. Capitalism is blamed for the over-concentration of power and wealth into hands that belong to the richest of the rich. All of our troubles are claimed to have been caused by the system that brought us more freedom and prosperity than any other nation on earth. My friends, the leading cause of poverty in America today is not capitalism - it is our departure from that system and our inability to preserve the principles upon which our nation was founded.
At the root of the problem is the central banking system that we adopted in 1913 under President Theodore Roosevelt and then advanced further under President Woodrow Wilson. Both of these men were power-hungry globalists whose policies triggered a "need" for an elastic currency. When government bureaucrats propose budgets that are too expensive, taxes that are too high, or regulations that are too burdensome, the Federal Reserve is given the encouragement to expand credit and print money endlessly without a care in the world that the creation of the money itself is entirely artificial. It is created out of thin air.
Before the Federal Reserve, the government had to spend within its means. However, if we continue with a centralized monetary policy, the government will continue to spend and expand without limit. Poverty becomes a very difficult issue to deal with. Politicians, in turn, propose massive taxpayer-funded welfare programs that only drive up inflation, which is not only an increase in the money supply, but also a way of taxing the poor more than any legislative tax could do. When an inflationary policy is endlessly continued in infinite cycles, prices rise, wages go down, and it becomes more expensive for employers to hire people. The dollar is depreciated, and we get less bang for our buck. Poverty programs only make poverty worse.
Never has America been more riddled with useless wars and foreign entanglements than in the past several decades. If it wasn't for the Federal Reserve, the government would not be able to declare wars on other nations without a care in the world what it would do to our national debt and the economic well-being of our citizens. Recently, President Obama confirmed a troop surge of 30,000 men and women into Afghanistan. It's as if he is taking a page right out of the Bush playbook. This was the man who was supposed to be anti-war, the man who everyone thought believed in peace and nonaggression. His supporters continue to make excuses for him, but there is no excuse for sending tens of thousands of troops into a country that should have been left by Americans a long time ago. If you are anti-war, there is no excuse for the actions that were taken by President Obama, so stop making excuses for him. Does anyone else regret that we did not elect Congressman Ron Paul for president?
These wars pose a threat to our security, our economic well-being, and our civil liberties. It gives the totalitarian dictators in Washington the ability to take away our right to privacy and free speech in the name of what they determine is our "national security." When you give up liberty for security, you lose both. The real threat to our security today is the imperialistic power structure that consists of the U.S. government, the corporations preferred by bureaucrats, and the dictatorial Federal Reserve that controls almost every aspect of our economy. We are sinking deeper and deeper into the realms of fascism, and that is not something our Founding Fathers would have been proud of. We must do everything we can to fight for our lives and for our freedoms. We need to return to limited government, low budgets, low taxes, a noninterventionist foreign policy, and sound money.
The cause of all of our troubles, including poverty as we've never seen it before, is the inability to preserve the foundation upon which our great and prosperous nation was founded.
As you may have heard, a House panel has voted to audit the fed. The move, led by Congressman Ron Paul, would give Congress more authority and oversight over actions taken by the Federal Reserve. I'm no economic expert, but H.R. 1207 is one of the most important pieces of legislation ever proposed in Congress.
The Federal Reserve, as everyone should know, is a central banking system that controls our monetary policy. It used to be called a "private" entity, but evidence shows us otherwise. The Fed is a public-private partnership having total control over a monetary policy that the Founders would be ashamed of. We no longer base our currency off of a sound, valid commodity. Our current fiat standard bases our monetary policy on almost nothing. It's a complete illusion.
We are supposed to believe that printing money based on the opinions of a few elitist aristocrats is superior to basing our money supply over something that actually exists. We've never had a full-blown gold standard, but we did have something that was more toward such. Gold, as many people know, generally increases in value over time. The value and supply of gold used to be the basis for how much money we could print. Before the Federal Reserve, there was a natural cap on spending formed by the forces of the free market. The government had to spend within its means. With the Federal Reserve however, the government can spend and expand without limit because the Federal Reserve controls monetary policy by whim. Instead of monetary policy being controlled by sound commodity and the natural forces of the free market, monetary policy is changed based on the decisions of a bureaucratic panel of wealthy bankers. Somehow, this is supposed to be superior to the gold standard.
The endless printing of money causes much damage to our national and global economy. The value of the dollar, unfortunately, is becoming worthless because the Federal Reserve prints money endlessly to fund the government's massive budgets, spending programs, and debts both foreign and domestic. If our monetary policy doesn't change, we will see hyperinflation post-recession, the inevitable destruction of the dollar, and mass poverty worldwide. There will, in effect, be a financial meltdown. We won't ever be able to pay off our debts if we keep spending money that isn't there. Things won't get better if we continue to pump illusionary wealth into the system.
I highly recommend Ron Paul's End the Fed, a book that explains our situation in detail. Since I am very tired, I will leave it here today and perhaps express my emotions on a deeper level in a few days. For now, God bless you, God bless America, and have a fabulous day.
Pardon me, but I need to vent my anger about the current culture of entitlements that has been arising in our youth and our adults. It seems that, nowadays, people are asking for more government programs and benefits than ever before. These welfare queens seem to think that, since they are citizens, they should be entitled to free health care, free education, free housing, free energy, free transportation, free TV, free internet, and even free cash. Why have we allowed ourselves to create an atmosphere in which everything we have been taught to work for in the past is now being considered a "basic public necessity?" We need to set our priorities straight or we'll grow into a nation of government-run people.
The government can give you what you think you deserve, but not without stealing from somebody else. Maybe you think it's okay that they take from the "rich" guy to take care of you, but the government is stealing from your pockets as well. It's called redistribution of wealth, and it's a socialist principle that does not work in our society. If anything, it increases the size and role of government at rates unforeseeable by our Founding Fathers. It makes people into slaves and servants rather than individuals and masters of their own lives. When the people become dependent on the government, the government can convince people into believing that it is trustworthy enough to expand in size and power.
You may think that the expansion of government is not such a bad thing. In fact, you may like it because you get more "free" stuff, and you feel more secure with a bureaucratic elite than with the forces of the free market. However, what you get is something worse than you could ever imagine: the government starts telling you what you can and can't do with your own life. Maybe it tells you that you're not allowed to drive a certain car or own a certain gun or marry a certain person. Maybe it tells you that you're not allowed to eat a certain food or set up your own business or sign up with a certain insurance company. Maybe it will even start dictating how much you can earn, how much medical care you can get, and what kind of lifestyle that you're allowed to pursue. It already happens in Canada and Britain.
When you ask the government for more and more "free" services, you're asking for it to grow in size, power, and tyranny. At the rate we're going, we'll no longer be individual citizens with the right to live life the way we see fit. We'll be a truly powerless people, owned and managed by the dictatorial U.S.S.A. Have we learned nothing from the nursery rhymes that we all knew and loved as kids?
Rock-a-bye baby in the tree top
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock
When the branch breaks, the cradle will fall
And down will come baby, cradle and all
You see, my friends, we're the babies being cradled by that branch, which is - you guessed it - the U.S. government. We are becoming increasingly dependent on that branch to live our lives. That branch will grow stronger and stronger, but the wind will grow stronger and stronger as well. No matter how strong that branch gets, the winds of deficit, taxation, warfare, inflation, dollar depreciation, burden, wickedness, totalitarianism, and evil will grow stronger right along with it. Eventually, the wind will grow so strong, that the branch will break, and the system will collapse upon itself. The government will fail its people, and the people won't know what to do because they haven't learned how to take care of themselves. The branch will break, and the people will fall.
It's never too late for preservation or restoration or a Second American Revolution. Thomas Jefferson once said that the blood of patriots and tyrants must once again be shed one day in order to restore the tree of liberty that has been planted in our great and prosperous nation. We need to stop letting ourselves become servants of an all-powerful master that promises to take care of us until death do us part. Instead, we must release our individual strength and tell the government that we serve ourselves and whoever we want to serve. We are the masters of our lives and of the government. They don't own us. They can't tell us what to do. They can't push us around anymore!
We are a strong and courageous people. We will rise again to relinquish the demonic forces that have infiltrated this all-mighty power structure that we call "leadership." We must not let them grow so large that they will bury us all. Protect your right to keep and bear arms. Protect your right to make your own choices regarding your life, liberty, and property. Protect your right to pursue happiness as you see fit. It's your life, and the government can't tell you what to do.
We're not going to take it anymore. Not in America. After all, we know better than to give up our freedoms in the name of some Progressive utopia where an elite group of aristocrats makes the decisions for us. Don't let them ever take away your liberty. It is more precious than any one of us take for granted.
Freedom is a treasure that must always be preserved.
We all knew this was coming. Even as we frantically tried to call Congress to put a stop to this horrific piece of legislation, we knew in our hearts that it would amount to nothing. Our leaders don't listen, and we've known that for a very long time. One of the worst bills in history is about to become reality. Kiss your freedoms goodbye, America.
Progressives thought about what "free" or subsidized health care would do for millions of those who cannot afford health care. Without considering the economic consequences of such a disastrous idea, the social benefits of such a proposal seemed to outweigh any negatives whatsoever.
No one really took enough time to factor in the Federal Reserve: This team of global elites has been printing money like madmen since the very beginning, resulting in recession after recession. The value of our dollar has been plummeting, and yet, we want to continue with failed Keynesian policies that create nothing but illusionary wealth. Our politicians keep begging for inflation and dollar depreciation in order to fund their massive budgets. Without the Federal Reserve, our politicians would be forced to live within their means instead of spending and expanding without limit. Unfortunately, people now think that big government is the answer to all of our problems, and therefore want to sustain the Federal Reserve so that the government can keep gaining more control.
When this bill is passed in the Senate and signed by our president, many things will happen. Small businesses will inevitably see tax hikes. Prices will go up, wages will be cut, and quality of service will plummet. We'll have to beg China for money again, increasing our debt dramatically. Competition will suffer, and with it, innovation will also suffer. With all of the new regulations on the insurance industry, and the lax oversight of the government option, the government will inevitably have the upper hand. They'll be able to seize their funds by force, whether people like it or not. Since everyone will be required by law to have insurance, those who do not have it will be forced into the government option, sending premiums even further through the roof. There will no longer be an incentive to provide better care. Government-run health care will take control.
Worst of all, money will print at rapid speed, increasing inflation and making our dollar worthless. Everyone invested in our dollar will suffer, leading to mass poverty worldwide. At the mercy of tyrannical governments and wealthy bankers, we will beg to be saved. We will no longer own ourselves.
Enjoy your freedom while it lasts, for it could be worse. At least we're not living in Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union - yet.
I read this excellent article by blogger Eddie Howell, the author of Something You Might Like, and I thought I'd share it with everyone:
Obama's Enemy List
by Eddie Howell
President Barack Obama, in a very un-presidential manner, is going about promoting his political agenda in large measure by criticizing, trying to marginalize, and ultimately bring down those whom he perceives to be his political enemies (rather than “opponents”). Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) has cautioned the President that his actions are beginning to look like those of Richard Nixon, who, seemingly in a paranoia mode, made a list of “enemies” he wanted his administration to go after, and some of whom he did actually attack, using the resources of government. This pursuit of “enemies” led to the eventual downfall of his presidency.
“‘An “enemies list” only denigrates the Presidency and the Republic itself,’ Alexander said on the Senate floor. ‘These are unusually difficult times, with plenty of forces encouraging us to disagree. Let’s not start calling people out and compiling an enemies list. Let’s push the street-brawling out of the White House and work together on the truly presidential issues: creating jobs, reducing health care costs, reducing the debt, creating clean energy.’” [1]
Sorry, Senator. You are correct, but you may be too late. The enemies-list operation is in full swing already. Any people or groups of people who have criticized (to any significant effect) some part of the Obama agenda may very well find themselves to be his target, if they aren’t already.
A partial listing of Obama’s “enemies”:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce – This is yet another example of Obama trying to marginalize and take down a traditionally very influential group. Obama is against any effective lobbying group that tries to benefit the private sector or the American economy. A prosperous people don’t look to government for everything. An impoverished people may.
Fox News – Anita Dunn, David Axelrod and others have been sent out to try to discredit Fox News and even get “mainstream” news outlets to deny that Fox is a legitimate news organization. This will have some effect, perhaps, but Fox News’ ratings are up substantially since this “war on Fox News” broke out.
Rush Limbaugh and conservative talk radio – The administration will probably try some back-door version of the Fairness Doctrine to silence conservative talk radio (and Fox New as well). Mark Lloyd, the “diversity czar” of the FCC has no respect for freedom of speech or freedom of the press. Rush’s ratings are up.
Health insurance companies – Democrats in Congress are currently working to deny health insurers the exemption from anti-trust laws that they currently enjoy. The objective is to strip the states of their power to regulate insurance and at the same time put the insurance companies either out of business or directly under the thumb of the federal government, and further obfuscate the costs of their health care plan.
Big oil – All energy-related industries, as well as consumers, are likely to suffer as a result of cap and trade, if it is enacted. This will punish our entire country by bringing on another depression. States that are already suffering the most will likely be hardest hit, but all will be hurt. Are you ready?
Auto manufacturers – Current CAFE standards and the GM and Chrysler takeovers should be punishment enough, if any were needed (which it isn’t), but Obama is going to tighten CAFE standards further and dictate what kind of cars can be made. Many vehicles currently available will be gone.
Fast food – Federal and some local laws will more strenuously regulate fast food providers as to location, nutritional information disclosure, and allowable menus. This is an area where endless harassment of citizens can and will take place.
Conservatives on the internet – Obama is already pushing for authority to take over private networks on the pretext of “cyber-security” concerns. Proposed “net neutrality” rules will further restrict internet freedom. People have remarked on how the internet has not brought about “Big Brother” controls as some have feared, but we haven’t seen the outcome yet. The technology is there for massive abuse and government control. The FCC “diversity czar” is going after internet conservatives also.
According to Investors’ Business Daily, even though “net neutrality” is advertised as creating more opportunities for internet access, “[t]he issue is not access, but control. In February 2008, FCC diversity czar Mark Lloyd, an admirer of what Hugo Chavez did to silence Venezuela's media, wrote about net neutrality in an article titled ‘Net Neutrality Is A Civil Rights Issue’ and published by CommonDreams.org.
“‘Unfortunately, the powerful cable and telecom industry doesn't value the Internet for its public interest benefits,’ Lloyd wrote. ‘Instead, these companies too often believe that to safeguard their profits, they must control what content you see and how you get it.’ Lloyd feels government should be the voice controlling what you see and hear.” [2]
The Republican Party – The Obama White House is trying to marginalize the Republican Party as a non-factor. The main obstacle to this is the fact that the American people, by a majority, support none of Obama’s main initiatives. Republicans could capitalize on this a lot more than they have been doing. But if they’re afraid of appearing too combative, they will instead appear to have rolled over and capitulated. New candidates will be needed if the GOP is to be revived in 2010, even though most voters want that to happen.
Etc., Etc. – Look for more enemies-list activity in upcoming days. They’re just getting started, and they’ve got to move fast.
Then there are those the Administration and Congress are going after a little less directly, without trying to publicly discredit them specifically. They’re not enemies so much as targets to be dealt with in clearing the way for and financing the Obama program:
Doctors who oppose Obamacare – Doctors are going to find their government reimbursements decreased (to lower “costs”), which will lead to more doctors dropping out of government-reimbursed programs, or out of medical practice entirely. But that’s OK with Obama if he gets his government-dominated program going. However, the attempt to cut reimbursements may well prove politically impossible.
The private sector in general – How many more businesses and industries must be taken over by the government? Apparently many more, will be, not necessarily by ownership, but by numerous new taxes and regulations and zealous enforcement from the growing government sector. Corporate profits are the liberals’ piggy bank, they think. They’ll worry about the economy and jobs (along with Afghanistan) later, time permitting.
The “rich” who aren’t part of his support team – Hollywood liberal elites, professional athletes, union leaders, rich trial lawyers and other liberal donors can hope to fare well in Obama’s fascist crackdowns. Some large companies are said to be cutting deals to try to gain a favorable position. But the rich taxpayers in general are considered ripe for the picking. Obama does not care about unemployment or the bad economy. It’s all about getting his great fascist program in place before the bottom falls out of his popularity.
American Taxpayers in general (investors, professionals and other workers) – These will do well to be able to keep their jobs or the better part of their investments in the Obama-depressed economy that we’ll see if Obama’s big agenda items are enacted. Forget about green jobs. A few thousand of those will do little to help the 15-million-plus who are unemployed, not counting those who have given up looking for work, or have taken part-time jobs.
The Obama Administration is probably the most activist freedom-destroying and takeover-minded (i.e., “progressive”) administration in our history. Woodrow Wilson and FDR might come close, but at least they could point to World War I and the Great Depression and World War II as excuses for their activism. Obama still tries to blame George W. Bush long after it’s too late to do so. This is not the change most people thought we were going to get. Soon only the most hardcore leftists and Obama fans (and some others bought off or severely arm-twisted) will be able to willingly support the Obama program.
Isn't that incredible, people? Eddie is such a good writer. Please visit his blog, and be sure to comment! God bless you, and have a fabulous day!
I was watching the news this morning, and the conversation I witnessed was very interesting. The reporter was interviewing Stephen Moore, one of the authors of a book called The End of Prosperity, which I haven't happened to read yet. They were discussing "Pay Czar" Kenneth Feinberg's decision to cut the salaries of executives at several bailed-out firms. Stephen Moore made sure to correct the reporter on calling Feinberg the pay czar.
"He's not the pay czar. He's the pay dictator."
I couldn't have put it better myself. Now don't get me wrong - I can assure you that these executives were paying themselves more than they deserved, all the while cheating out their employees and shareholders with jack for dough. The salaries the executives paid themselves were over-the-top and outright ridiculous. However, there is a deep message in all of this. Let's take a look at what happened.
These firms, which were on the edge of declaring bankruptcy, were bailed out with taxpayer money. Hooray for government intervention, right? What happens when executive salaries, wages, and the means of production are paid for by your tax dollars is that an alliance forms. Government gets to call more shots in the market, and the giant corporations get to call more shots in the laws. Since the corporations are now dependent upon public funds, the government, who controls those funds, also gets to control the aspects of production that are dependent on those funds. As far as I'm concerned, once an institution is bailed out, it provides an incentive for the government to gain an impressive amount of control over the market, especially since many of these bailed-out institutions are largely responsible for what happens in our economy.
What can the government now control in terms of that bailed-out institution? Almost anything - salaries, wages, prices, methods of production, distributive measures, shareholder payouts, what is produced, how it's produced, when it's produced, where it's produced - pretty much everything. Even if you don't agree with what the methods of production are, you're forced to pay for it anyway through the tax dollars that you rightfully earned. A large part of the market is now controlled not by the people, but by the ruling elite. When an institution is largely free of regulation, the institution has a responsibility to employees, shareholders, and consumers. If these people are not properly satisfied, it hurts business. The institution is then held accountable and must choose to make the proper decisions in order to satisfy the people they are responsible to. If they do not make the proper decisions, they can lose their employees, shareholders, and consumers through the system of natural selection that is the free market. Sales, profits, and overall stability decreases. Since institutions want to avoid this, they are motivated to make the right decisions. That is the magic of the free market.
Let's pretend you're a business owner.
Employees earn their pay by the wages you provide. The lower the profits, the lower the wages. You can't earn a decent profit if you pay yourself too much and don't leave enough for the means of production and the people who are expecting to be paid. If people find out that your wages aren't too great, less people will want to work there. You need workers to do the jobs that you don't have time to do because of your other responsibilities. I won't waste too much time explaining why workers are needed. It's obvious.
Shareholders are invested in your profits, since they themselves own a portion of your business. This means that they are dependent upon your profits. The lower the profits, the lower the payouts. If the payouts are too low, less people will invest in your business, and you might just dissatisfy your shareholders.
Consumers buy your product. They're the main source of your profit. If they buy your product, you bring in money. If they don't buy your product, you don't bring in anything. Thus, you must satisfy them. You also need enough profits to set good prices and make a high-quality product. If the price is bad, and the quality is bad, less people will buy your product, which will give your competitors an advantage.
See how much responsibility you have as a business owner? You dissatisfy people, and they just might take a hike. You get less profits. You don't want this to happen. You are motivated to avoid the worst in order to keep profits, stay ahead of the competition, and thrive. Simple as that.
When the government starts to stick it's nose in everything, however, force can be used to bring in revenue (which isn't profitable if you're spending more money than you take in). Money can be squeezed out of taxpayers whether they like it or not because paying taxes is the law. It's not voluntary. You can be jailed or even threatened for not paying your taxes. Therefore, most people will want to pay them. What you have is coercion. If you spend more money than you take in, which is usually the case with government due to reduced profit motive, then you add on debt. This means higher taxes, more inflation, currency degradation, and more. It's horrible for the economy. We're on the edge of destroying the dollar right now.
Excessive government intervention leads to waste and inefficiency. I mean, look what happened. The health industry was relatively unregulated - and then came the government with price controls, subsidies, regulations, tort reforms, and programs like Medicare. Is it any coincidence that our system got worse as intervention got heavier? Social Security's broke, Amtrak is broke, Medicare is broke, Medicaid is broke, every government program on the book is broke. If the government was a business, they would have failed decades ago!
The worst thing about this whole ordeal is that the pay dictator is letting executives of government-owned corporations keep their massive salaries - think GM and General Electric - in addition to thinking about regulating the salaries of private businesses that aren't even propped up by taxpayer dollars. This means that the big guys are going to literally squish the little ones into tiny little pieces. Oh, President Obama sure loves those small businesses, doesn't he? Unless they have money, that is. Then he stabs them in the back and accuses the millions of small businesses that belong to the Chamber of Commerce of having too much profit.
Since when can one man - the pay dictator - determine executive salaries? I mean, I could understand if Congress was involved. These are taxpayer funds, and Congress is supposed to have control over those funds. But since when can one man say, "Your salaries need to be cut," and be automatically fulfilled of his wish? This is dangerous, people! One man having so much control is not a good thing. Powerful corporations have been given even more ability to call the shots in the very laws we must abide. You'd better believe it.
On top of that, the Federal Reserve, a supposed "private" entity that is supposedly "separate" from the government has been given the power to monitor the activities and actions of other businesses. If you don't think these guys are power-hungry, string-pulling puppeteers whose ultimate goal is one-world government, you've got to be out of your mind. The proof is everywhere, people! This banking elite is the most powerful entity in the world. They must be destroyed.
Everyone knows that the first stimulus was a complete and utter failure. Even President Obama himself admitted it. In fact, Vice President Joe Biden took it a step further and said that the administration and Congress underestimated the economic crisis. Although some politicians seem to be in denial, most of America knows that the first stimulus hasn't really done anything. It hasn't even been fully spent yet. Once put into full throttle, the Fed's gonna be printing money like there's no tomorrow. They already are. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has three main principles that he implies openly:
1. Inflation is good.
2. Urgency calls for more spending.
3. Don't worry about deficits.
Of course, he has ulterior motives, and anyone who knows the true agenda of the banking elites knows that economic recovery is not a top priority. Bernanke has extremely flawed principles. Keynesian economics - I'm sorry to say - just doesn't work. Bernanke is a smart guy. He knows the dollar is being obliterated. Unfortunately, that's the goal. It will open the gates for an open-borders North American Union with a continental currency. In fact, it will bring the world that much closer to a one-world government. With the dollar destroyed, mass poverty will ensue worldwide. Do you know how many people are invested in our debt? No one wants to buy our debt anymore because the American dollar is nearly worthless now. You could burn it, and no one would care. With massive budgets and exceedingly flawed monetary policy, this series of events will come quickly, so be prepared.
Some Democrats proposed a second stimulus bill. President Obama, however, says it isn't necessary - and he's right. I want the American citizens to know, though, that this is just a game. We now know why Obama doesn't want a second stimulus bill. It's because a second stimulus is already being spent away in the form of countless "recovery" programs. Republicans will point to Democrats, saying that this is all their fault, but the plans that Republicans have aren't any better, and they have shown that for the past eight years. They want to throw tax refunds at failing corporations! Yeah, it'll give the corporations an unfair advantage over the little guy, but Republicans don't care. It's all in the plan, folks. Washington is just one big party.
Not only is Washington spending away our futures, but they're spending away the futures of the next generation. We're going to see tax hikes, hyperinflation, massive job loss, poverty like we've never seen before, and the complete and utter destruction of the dollar. I know it may sound apocalyptic, but the New World Order is coming. My late grandfather knew about it, my mother knows about it, and I know about it. The truth is being passed down through each generation. Milton Friedman and all of the other great free market economists predicted every single thing that is happening now. If we don't put a stop to this insanity, their startling revelations will be fulfilled.
But there's hope.
There is a revolution brewing in our people. We are going to fight a long and glorious war - not a war of guns and bullets and bombs, but a war of words and ideas and principles. I feel the spirit of the American people, and it is a strong one. We have defeated socialism, communism, fascism, and every other totalitarian system in the book. We can and will defeat the New World Order.
Viva la revolution!
Have a fabulous day. God bless you, and God bless America.
It seems as if a growing number of youth are outwardly embracing socialism and crediting capitalism as nothing but an evil system that exploits workers and ignores what Progressives like to call "the common good." With the release of Michael Moore's new movie - Capitalism: A Love Story - I believe that anti-capitalist sentiments will increasingly infest our culture. I have yet to watch the film, but I should in order to gain an understanding of where Michael Moore is coming from. It seems to me as if he cites corporate fraud and deceitful bankers as reasons for anti-capitalist sentiments. However, fraud, theft, and corporatism are anything but capitalist. It's mild fascism.
Progressives think of corporate welfare, corporate preference, fraud, theft, bailouts, and other corporatist policies and behaviors as purely capitalist principles. This, however, is a fallacy. In a capitalist system, corporations and banks are left to fail and succeed in a system of natural selection. In a corporatist system, however, financial aid is given to corporations and banks through taxpayer-funded subsidies. Taking money from one group and giving it to another is anything but a capitalist principle. Redistribution of wealth is, more than often, a socialist principle.
In a capitalist economic system, the market primarily regulates itself, giving individuals and businesses private property rights and private ownership over the means of production. When the government intervenes in large ways, however, we start to stray from the principles of laissez-faire economics. When we implement things like the minimum wage, corporate welfare, federal welfare, social programs like Medicare and Social Security, and subsidies, we are no doubt paving the way for what some Progressives call "a little socialism." A little socialism may not seem like a bad thing, but once we realize that we still have problems, some people like to say, "Well a little more socialism wouldn't hurt." We head into a slippery slope of more and more socialism.
Socialism creates a system of dependency that leads to feelings of individual entitlement that are not earned through work or labor. When an individual is free to pursue his or her own self-interest without a governing power providing for his or her every need, he or she has the motivation to work and produce. When a governing power, however, starts to provide for citizens instead of having them earn it through work or labor, it begins to create feelings of entitlement that lead to citizens asking for more and more and more and more. The only way the government can provide for its citizens without setting up a voluntary tax system is by forcing people to give to others. The reason for giving no longer becomes human kindness and generosity, but rather coercion.
The problem with government providing charity is that the method of collection is force. Unfortunately, the money often does not get to the people who need it most. Two thirds of taxes allocated for federal welfare do not get to its appropriate place, but instead the government, who spends it on other things. On top of that, it often goes to people who refuse to work, but could actually do so. Private charity, however, uses two thirds of its collections - on average - for the people who truly need it. In the history of our nation, private charity has proven to be a better means of helping the poor and needy than federal welfare. Unfortunately, our national charitable contributions are only a third of what they used to be. It is because federal welfare stifles the work of private charities by setting up a competitive system that cannot truly be competed against. Federal welfare has a significant competitive advantage in that its money always gets there by force, whether it goes to those who need it or is spent on other things instead. Private charities, however, depend on human kindness and generosity. People are more hostile and less generous than ever before because the government forces households to give anywhere from 40%-70% of their income.
Socialism claims to be a better means of promoting "social justice" and ensuring workers' rights and well-being. For example, socialists often advocate a higher minimum wage in order to pave the way for higher household incomes. However, it is often not taken into consideration that businesses will have to pay more for production and labor, which ultimately results in higher prices. Higher prices mean that people have to pay more for their goods. Businesses suffer lower profits, and they must often raise prices and lay off workers in order to stay stable in the market. The price is passed onto the consumer, and workers are the largest consumers of all. If it hurts consumers, it hurts workers. The more businesses have to pay for production and labor, the less people they can hire. This stifles job growth and opportunities, not only because it provides less jobs, but because it also takes jobs away from the poor, the young, the elderly, and the disabled.
When businesses can hire only so many workers, they must hire the most qualified and the most skilled people in order to be efficient and productive in the market. The poor and the young often do not meet either the educational requirements or the necessary skill requirements to be hired for the job when a minimum wage is implemented. The elderly and the disabled often do not have the physical capabilities for the job, unless, of course, it is a job that relies on other talents that do not require certain physical capabilities of people. If businesses could dole out a wage lower than the current minimum standard, they would be able to provide more jobs to less qualified people. However, the minimum wage stifles their ability to do so.
On top of all that, the minimum wage has lead to increased outsourcing and layoffs. With less money to pay for production, businesses often have to turn to workers in other countries in order to produce cheaper goods and pay less for labor. This needs to be done in order to be efficient and productive in the market. Socialism collapses in on itself.
Free market capitalism is a better means of sparking innovation. When one is free to pursue his or her self-interests, and one is free to compete with others in the market, the result is, more than often, innovation. For example, if a business owner who sells tools notices that a competing tool business is attracting an increasing amount of customers, he will ponder upon why this is happening. This competing business would be taking away potential customers, so he would naturally want to find out how to best his competitor. He would want to create better tools at a higher quality and higher value in relations with costs. This, my friends, is the magic of the free market. What has resulted is innovation, and innovation leads to more consumers, more investment, more profits, new inventions, improvements that result in more efficiency and quality, and an overall boost for the economy.
With socialism, however, working is encouraged as a means of providing primarily for the common good. When one is forced to work beyond self-interest and is forced to share the fruits of his or her labor with those he or she does not choose to share it with, he or she is less motivated to work. Selfishness is human nature. Milton Friedman, the late, great free market economist - whose unfortunate predictions for our generation have been fulfilled - puts it better than I do.
There are so many other aspects of capitalism and socialism that would take much of my time to discuss. In order to leave you with as much information as possible without overdoing myself, I would like to share with you some incredible animated short films that discuss the core principles of laissez-faire economics in a very simple manner. These cartoons touch me on deep emotional levels, combining both of my passions, cartoons and politics, into one amazing package. The best short film is going to be the last one, so stay tuned.
The first short film I would like to share with you is a brief, excellent explanation of competition and innovation in relation to free market economics, primarily focused on profit motive.
If you liked that one, prepare for a more detailed explanation of free market economics that is still extremely comprehensible. This next short film takes my breath away.
Isn't that wonderful? It really made my day to watch these. They make me so cheerful and warm. I love my country so dearly, and the principles of free market economics touch me emotionally. I have always been a conservative at heart, even when I started to think I was a liberal in my early adolescence. Even with all of the complicated arguments I have seen in defense of capitalism, these classic animated short films make the most astounding case for a free market system.
The next short film you are about to see relates to wages and prices in relation with productivity. It pretty much outlines what I discussed here, but in a cute, fun, simple way. I hope you enjoy it.
I know that cartoon was probably a lot more controversial. Most people, even conservatives, advocate some sort of minimum wage in one way or another. The cartoon I just showed, however, made a great case against it. In my opinion, they did it in the best way possible. I love it, love it, love it!
The next cartoon I'm going to share with you attempts to explain the basics of the stock market, something which I've been trying to understand for a very long time. This short film really helped me learn a lot about it, and I hope you do, too.
I know there are some socialists, nationalists, and liberals who read my blog, and they are probably feeling sick to their stomachs, but I can assure you that I do not mean to offend. I simply would like to share my viewpoints with my readers and share something that I enjoy with them. I love it when I am free to choose who I can share with, instead of being forced to share. It feels so much better, and I feel so much warmer inside.
The last cartoon is my absolute favorite out of all the ones I have shown today. It left a lasting impression on me, even sending me to tears with its powerful message of liberty and patriotism. Our Founding Fathers would be proud that there are still values like this in America. I hope it touches at least a few people. I know it made me warm. Without further ado, I present to you the 1948 classic - Make Mine Freedom:
What an incredible masterpiece. It will always be in my heart. A special thanks to Industrial Com for posting these wonderful short films on YouTube.
Viva la revolution!
Have a fabulous day. God bless you, and God bless America.
Shortly after writing my previous entry – which you should definitely read – I made my way to the television. What I saw absolutely disgusted me. My eyes glared angrily at the screen, my fists clenched in rage, and my mind blowing a fuse as I listened to the lying, deceptive scumbag give his little speech.
President Obama – you make me SICK!
I completely lost control. All of a sudden, I was throwing objects at the screen, muttering insane utterances to myself, and clenching my teeth as that phony leader of the free world pretended that he was all innocent and sweet.
I wanted to punch him right in the face!
A brave Congressman screamed exactly what I had been shouting at the screen the whole time.
“You lie!”
And lie that scumbag did. He just wouldn’t stop. How the hell does he get away with this?
"We are the only democracy, the only advanced democracy on Earth, the only wealthy nation that allows such hardship for millions of its people."
We’re not a Democracy, Mr. President. We’re a Democratic Republic. Even Benjamin Franklin admitted that. The reason we are not a Democracy is because we did not want to give a “majority” the ability to take God-given rights away from other people. We wanted everyone to have the same rights as everyone else, and that’s why the Founders wrote our beautiful U.S. Constitution. They wanted people to have the ability to elect representatives that actually represented them, representatives to protect the rights that were guaranteed by the Constitution, to make sure that no power big or small, minority or majority, government or citizenship would take away rights from anyone else.
There are so many people in “advanced” nations that experience hardships everyday. What are you trying to say, Mr. President? That we’re stuck in the past? Well, sir, I love the principles of our Founding Fathers, and you can’t change me no matter what you say or do.
"Well, the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed."
Do you think we forgot about this, Mr. President?
You tell opposition to shut up and get out of the way. You refuse offers to have meetings with the Republicans, and you have done so since April. Other Democratic leaders do the exact same thing. I’m not saying Republicans aren't just as bad. They are. It’s just that you’re pretending to be all bipartisan, but your actions don’t reflect that. You say one thing, but you do another. Do you really expect us to believe you, sir?
"First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, or Medicare, or Medicaid, or the V.A., nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have."
"Let me – let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have."=
I wonder how you got away with that one. Even most on the Left know that’s not true. You continually leave out that if an employer was to switch to the government’s alternative plan, people will be changing their coverage and doctors. Is it so much to ask to at least admit that?
"And insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies. Because there's no reason we shouldn't be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse.
It does make sense, and it does save lives, but in no way does it save money. These things have a cost to them, sir, and most people who take these tests are not discovered to have the diseases, so it does end up costing a few extra bucks. It doesn’t save money at all. Again, these tests are great, but you at least need to be honest and upfront with the American people.
"Now, even if we provide these affordable options, there may be those, and especially the young and the healthy, who still want to take the risk and go without coverage. There may still be companies that refuse to do right by their workers by giving them coverage.
The problem is, such irresponsible behavior costs all the rest of us money. If there are affordable options and people still don't sign up for health insurance, it means we pay for these people's expensive emergency room visits.
If some businesses don't provide workers health care, it forces the rest of us to pick up the tab when their workers get sick, and gives those businesses an unfair advantage over their competitors.
And unless everybody does their part, many of the insurance reforms we seek, especially requiring insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions, just can't be achieved.
That's why under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance – just as most states require you to carry auto insurance."
Slow down there, buddy. If health care is truly a right, then people should have the right not to have it or to pay for it as they please. If they want to pay for it directly, then they have a right to do it. You can offer alternatives and you can give people the opportunity to have health care or insurance, but you have no Constitutional authority to force anyone to have health care or insurance.
You blame individuals and businesses for people having to pay for the financial expenses of others, but you forget the laws the government makes – or you just don’t want to admit them. The government forces us to pay for expenses other than ours all the time. Under that logic, taxes should be lower, federal welfare should be reformed or abolished, and you should not be advocating a public option, you filthy hypocrite.
I think the health care system would be much better if money was provided on a local level by private charities, but that’s a whole different topic entirely. As you can see, I do advocate free health care. I do advocate health care for all. It’s just that the Congressional plan being proposed right now is neither affordable nor reasonable, and I sure as hell don't trust our government.
Do I advocate states requiring people to have auto insurance? Hell no! I use the exact same logic as I use here. Readers, I urge you to read my previous entry as soon as possible. It’s very important that you do.
"Now, there are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms – the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally."
The thing is that it’s not exactly clear. Nothing in the bill will stop illegal immigrants from being insured by any alternative plan. Illegal immigrants can also obtain private insurance from some insurers already (although they do have a right to do so). If the bill does pass, with or without the public option, we cannot be certain that illegal immigrants will be covered because the bill as proposed can’t currently stop it. To be fair, it doesn’t say anything about insuring illegal immigrants either. Regardless of your political position, facts are facts.
"And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up: under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place."
As of now, that’s a lie. Abortions are considered “health care” under federal law and also, more specifically, “reproductive health care.” How can we trust you after you this speech?
"And – and I will make sure that no government bureaucrat or insurance company bureaucrat gets between you and the care that you need."
It does and will happen. As of now, it’s inevitable.
"Now, here's what you need to know. First, I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits, either now or in the future."
Are you sure, sir?
"I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit now or in the future – period."
The reality, Mr. President, is that every time you open your mouth, more than $10 thousand are added to our national debt. You can even check the U.S. National Debt Clock in real time. Logic indicates that this plan will not amount to a surplus. As soon as you spend federal money that isn’t there, debt is added. It’s just that simple. You and your Federal Reserve masters praise inflationary deficit spending right in front of the public. Let’s take a look at this clip first:
No matter what you or McCain said, it was clear that you both embraced and still do embrace inflationary deficit spending by your actions. McCain’s part in this was supporting the majority of pork-infested, deficit-thriving spending bills proposed by President Bush. Since this is an article about you, let’s focus on your part in this. You claim that you will pay back taxpayers, which would require first to take money from them. This indicates that your spending plans are going to be expensive. Taxpayers can’t pay for all of it. If they do, they will eventually see the most dramatic tax increase in years. What you do is you get your Federal Reserve friends to print more money, which results in hyperinflation. It doesn’t stop there. You still don’t have enough money to fund the plan, so you spend money that isn’t there and claim that you will somehow pay it back later. That is inflationary deficit spending by definition!
You love Ben Bernanke, right? You shower him with praise every time you get the chance, and you appointed him to a second term. You adore the things he has done. Let’s take a look at what he has had to say:
Basically, he admits that his plans involve printing more money and increasing inflation. He says that he is doing this to get back to a stable economic situation, then tread back from inflationary deficit spending, which was the problem in the first place. It’s called pouring salt on a wound. One theory is that Ben Bernanke knows exactly what he’s doing and that he’s not stupid. He knows that these policies will lead to a larger debt and the destruction of the dollar, which will lead to global poverty.
Why would any person be so sick as to want this?
If everyone is poor and starving, the people of Earth will look to a global elite to make everything better. Through the ages, government officials and their Federal Reserve masters have been talking about a New World Order in which a planetary system of laws should be implemented. This can be summarized in one word: globalization. The policies implemented right now will effectively lead up to that goal.
Your claim that you will not sign the bill if one dime is added to the deficit is completely bogus because you already support the plan that will do exactly that, and even with major modifications, it will still happen. Every time you say that your plans will not add to the deficit, it ends up happening anyway, so how the hell can we trust you?
"I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit now or in the future. Period. And to prove that I'm serious, there will be a provision in this plan that requires us to come forward with more spending cuts if the savings we promise don't materialize."
I still don’t believe you. You and your friends can make your promises, but you don’t keep them. We’re still in Iraq, you’re expanding the war in Afghanistan, you never really wanted to repeal the Patriot Act, you want to force people to have insurance despite what you said in the election, you didn’t cut spending (you're spending more), and your Bush-like “no new taxes” claim is going to be completely and utterly shattered by the time cap-and-trade passes.
"...I know that the Bush administration considered authorizing demonstration projects in individual states to test these ideas. I think it's a good idea, and I'm directing my secretary of health and human services to move forward on this initiative today."
I’m not noting this because this is another lie. I’m noting it because it is more Bush pandering. You don’t really dislike the guy’s policies. You just want to expand them. This statement is nothing compared to the fact that you kept Bush’s defense secretary and you kept the same exact foreign policy that you’re expanding each and everyday.
"Now, this is the plan I'm proposing. It's a plan that incorporates ideas from many of the people in this room tonight – Democrats and Republicans. And I will continue to seek common ground in the weeks ahead. If you come to me with a serious set of proposals, I will be there to listen. My door is always open."
That statement was proven wrong a long time ago. Readers, if you look at what I stated earlier, you will know why this is a lie.
"In 1935, when over half of our seniors could not support themselves and millions had seen their savings wiped away, there were those who argued that Social Security would lead to socialism. But the men and women of Congress stood fast, and we are all the better for it."
No, we’re not. The government spends our Social Security funds, then issues IOUs. They must be repaid by taxes, more printed money, and inflationary deficit spending. From the Congressional Research Center in 1998:
When the government issues a bond to one of its own accounts, it hasn't purchased anything or established a claim against another entity or person. It is simply creating a form of IOU from one of its accounts to another.
From the Office of Management and Budget under the Clinton administration in 1999:
These [trust fund] balances are available to finance future benefit payments and other trust fund expenditures – but only in a bookkeeping sense. These funds are not set up to be pension funds, like the funds of private pension plans. They do not consist of real economic assets that can be drawn down in the future to fund benefits. Instead, they are claims on the Treasury, that, when redeemed, will have to be financed by raising taxes, borrowing from the public, or reducing benefits or other expenditures.
These facts are startling, people! Click here for more information. The only way Social Security would work is if we could trust the government with our money, which we can’t because they spend it on other things.
And another thing...
Our government has become filled with socialists, communists, facists, statists, and totalitarians, sir. They're called Progressives, and they're in both parties. They don't always admit what they are, but their policies reflect their true nature. You are one, Mr. President!
Back to President Obama:
"You see, our predecessors understood that government could not, and should not, solve every problem. They understood that there are instances when the gains in security from government action are not worth the added constraints on our freedom.
But they also understood that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little; that without the leavening hand of wise policy, markets can crash, monopolies can stifle competition, the vulnerable can be exploited.
And they knew that when any government measure, no matter how carefully crafted or beneficial, is subject to scorn; when any efforts to help people in need are attacked as un-American; when facts and reason are thrown overboard and only timidity passes for wisdom, and we can no longer even engage in a civil conversation with each other over the things that truly matter – that at that point we don't merely lose our capacity to solve big challenges. We lose something essential about ourselves.
That was true then. It remains true today."
Translation: “I like big government.”
Oh, Obama, baby, you're so dreamy.
And there you have it, folks. Our Liar in Chief at his best. I included the video and the FOXNews.com transcript link below.
Try not to get too angry, but if you do, it's understandable.
Thank you, and have a fabulous day. God bless you, and God bless America.
I'm a girly girl who loves animation, video games, reading, and writing. I'm a far-right libertarian conservative who advocates free market capitalism, lower taxes, limited government, states' rights, abolition of the Federal Reserve system, private charity, a noninterventionist foreign policy, gun rights, drug legalization, a strong national defense, protecting the lives of both the born and unborn, LGBT rights, and maximum freedoms in both personal and economic matters. I am a firm believer in the Constitution, and I happen to believe that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness make for great groundwork in a society.
