Consumers Are The Ultimate Polluters

Those of you who complain about industrial pollution continue to drive your cars far more than necessary, continue to purchase clothes when you have a closet full of clothes, continue to air condition your homes when you could live without air conditioning (I grew up in a non-air conditioned house), continue to take unnecessary vacations, continue to consume fruits and vegetables shipped from around the world, use the internet (a data center for handling, storing and processing internet data can consume 250 megawatts of power), and enjoy a thousand other luxuries that you could live without.  Then, you complain that the ones who produce those goods and services, solely for your consumption, are the ones guilty of “polluting” the earth.  Consumers are the problem…producers simply respond to the demands of the billions of individuals who consume the goods and services they produce.   Without consumption there would be no production.

Resolution to Rename the Statue of Liberty, July 4, 2013

Resolution:  On this day, July 4, 2013, we resolve to rename the “Statue of Liberty” the “Statue of Equality,” on order to reflect the new enlightened common wisdom, which is not reflected in the current name of the Statue or in our outdated Constitution.   We also resolve that the poem on the base of the Statue of Equality shall be changed from “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” to “All are welcome who believe that each should contribute according to his ability, and each should receive an equal reward.”

The outdated thinking, as envisioned by our forefathers, was for Government to limit itself to creating the peaceful conditions within which the people are free to secure their own well-being, with an emphasis on freedom of the individual.  Any enlightened person will realize that this will lead to unequal outcomes, with some citizens having more than others.  Our collective wisdom now leads us to dictate that our Government should take responsibility for securing the welfare of all the people, and not just provide a structure under which they seek their own selfish, greedy individual well-being.  Thus, we collectively must provide retirement security, medical care, education, food, shelter, cell phones, and income security.  To accomplish this requires that the Federal Government organize massive transfer payments from the “haves” to the “have nots.” Of course, this will entail enormous handling fees and inefficiencies generated by bureaucracies, political politicking, and cronyism, but this is a small price to pay to the ensuing “equality” that we as a society so desire. 

From Freedom to Following Rules

For most of the USA’s history, transactions occurred based on pragmatic experience.  Society was shaped by countless voluntary transactions based on the accumulated knowledge gained through experience, largely free from government interference. Frederick Hayek stated “all the famous early law-givers did not intend to create new law but merely to state what law was and had always been.”  For example, for decades, experience had shown that to remain strong, banks needed a certain capital base, and to lend money to buy a house, banks required that the recipient of the loan have a 10 percent down payment (so they would have a vested interest in the property, and to show they had the self-discipline to manage a budget to save up the down payment) and that payments not to exceed 30 percent of income.  This kept foreclosures at a minimum.   “New” law was written requiring banks to change their policies, not based on what worked, but to make the housing market more “fair” and to increase home ownership, and this new law did not take into account what experience had shown to be successful, but instead was based on how bureaucrats envisioned how things “should” be.  The result was the real estate bubble that ended with the financial meltdown of 2007. The “Affordable Health Care Act” is the latest huge law written by our ruling elite which will replace largely voluntary transactions between doctors and patients with detailed laws that all caregivers and patients must follow…forget voluntary transactions based on years of experience.  More and more, voluntary transactions, based on knowledge gained through experience, are being replaced by very detailed, specific laws, written and implemented by an elite few who think that their limited knowledge can construct a society of rules that is superior to a free society.  We are quickly turning away from what has made the USA prosperous, and so far, the results are not favorable.

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Berating Corporations… biting the hand that feeds you

I saw a post today from the “Seniors for a Democratic Society” Facebook page, where Sen. Bernie Sanders said “if you want to start going after someone for closing the deficit, start with these greedy corporations!”  I would comment on their Facebook page, but they blocked my comments after one post I made on their page that was counter to their philosophy, which seems to be that the rest of the world exists to provide them with the good life.  Had I been able to comment on this post, here is what I would have said.  What are corporations?  Legal entities set up by one or more people who want to invest their money to produce a good or service to offer for sale to others.  Their objective is to receive a reasonable return on their investment, and they only do that if what they offer is voluntarily purchased by someone who values it, and if their cost to produce it (plus the added costs of the government’s take) is less than the cost to provide it.  That is how we have pacemakers, cars, food, stints, entertainment, houses, televisions, gasoline, phones, and everything else we consume.  Somehow, those who post on Seniors for a Democratic Society seem to think that corporations, who only provide what consumers voluntarily purchase, are evil, yet, they want all the goods and services the corporations produce.  This seems to me to be the epitome of “biting the hand that feeds you.”

What makes politicians successful?

Politicians who represent special interests are successful.  Politicians who uphold the Constitution and represent the average citizen are not successful.  Why?  Those who want something from the government band together to elect politicians who will deliver what they want.  Those of us who just want to be left alone and who want political power dispersed as defined in our Constitution, don’t take the time to organize into a “special interest” group, so our voices go unrepresented.

Benjamin Franklin on Welfare

"To relieve the misfortunes of our fellow creatures is concurring with the Deity; it is godlike, but, if we provide encouragement for laziness, and supports for folly, may we not be found fighting against the order of God and Nature, which perhaps has appointed want and misery as proper punishmets for, and cautions against, as well as necessary consequences of, idleness and extravagance? Whenever we attempt to amend the scheme of Providence and to interfere with government of the world, we had need be very circumspect, lest we do more harm than good. " Benjamin Franklin (In Smyth, writings of Benjamin Franklin, 3:135)

Franklin D Roosevelt on Government Regulation and Legislation

“The doctrine of regulation and legislation by ‘master minds,’ in whose judgment and will all the people may gladly and quietly acquiesce, has been too glaringly apparent at Washington…Were it possible to find ‘master minds’ so unselfish, so willing to decide unhesitatingly against their own personal interests or private prejudices, men almost godlike in their ability to hold the scales of justice with an even hand, such a government might be to the interests of the country; but there are none such on our political horizon, and we cannot expect a complete reversal of all the teachings of history.” Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1930, when he was still governor of New York.