Dear Elizabeth....

Dear Elizabeth.....

You seem concerned about an economic issue, and now that you're a senator, this is scary for all of us.

You got elected by standing up for the little guy.  Your idea of accomplishing this, as I understand it, is to throw a check and some food pellets in the little guy's mailbox every month, and also by interfering in the workplace to raise the little guy's pay to a level that is higher than his productivity. (This encourages more automation, outsourcing, unemployment, etc., but that horse has already been beaten to death elsewhere.)

Now....look at this, from The Austrian Economists site:

% Households with:	Poor 1984	Poor  1994	Poor 2003	Poor  2005	All 1971	All 2005
Washing machine	58.2	71.7	67.0	68.7	71.3	84.0
Clothes dryer	35.6	50.2	58.5	61.2	44.5	81.2
Dishwasher	13.6	19.6	33.9	36.7	18.8	64.0
Refrigerator	95.8	97.9	98.2	98.5	83.3	99.3
Freezer	29.2	28.6	25.4	25.1	32.2	36.6
Stove	95.2	97.7	97.1	97.0	87.0	98.8
Microwave	12.5	60.0	88.7	91.2	1.0	96.4
Color TV	70.3	92.5	96.8	97.4	43.3	98.9
VCR	3.4	59.7	75.4	83.6	0.0	92.2
Personal computer	2.9	7.4	36.0	42.4	0.0	67.1
Telephone	71.0	76.7	87.3	79.8	93.0	90.6
Air conditioner	42.5	49.6	77.7	78.8	31.8	85.7
Cellular Telephone			34.7	48.3	0.0	71.3
One or more cars	64.1	71.8	72.8 (2001)		79.5

These increases in productivity seem to have helped "the poor".  What the hell have you risked for the poor, Elizabeth?  Anything?  Ever poured your own money into R&D for something that might not work?

But wait, that's not all!!!
Efficiency and productivity increases help the little guys more than the help the big guys!!!  Mostly because there are more of them !!

I hope this has helped.  And don't feel bad.  As long as Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters are alive, you won't be the biggest idiot in Congress.
But Christ Almighty, you are so close.

We Can Pick Winners !!!!

Sometime around 1994 my daughter, The Aggie, selected Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez as her hero and the greatest catcher of all time.  At the time, Pudge was just a fat Puerto Rican kid with a great arm.
The Aggie was only 3 years old when she made this prophecy.
Pudge Rodriguez will soon be going into the Major League Baseball Hall Of Fame.  He is now regarded as one of the greatest defensive catchers of all time.

Sometime around 1986 The Aggie selected John Elway of The Denver Broncos as her quarterback.  At the time, Elway had a reputation as a so-so quarterback who couldn't ever win The Big One.
Elway went on to win two, count 'em, two Super Bowls.  He's already in the Pro Football Hall Of Fame.

When The Aggie puts on her prophecy hat and speaks Ex Cathedra about a game, I listen.  My money is often invested based on her advice.  The Aggie knows things.

Well, the apple didn't fall very far from the tree.  She ain't the only one who can pick a winner.

Back in December of 2010, I was trying to find this blog's Person Of The Year.  Based on the sheer godawfulness of the Obama Administration, I wanted to nominate a low-level government hack for this honor.  Someone who took his limited authority, magnified it, and used his power to make life as miserable as possible for the greatest number of people.  I wanted a politically correct numbskull of the worst possible sort.  I wanted a typical Obama Administration Democrat.

I settled on an obscure Justice Department attorney named Thomas J. Perez.  Here's why:

Tom Perez, the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division....now has completely severed all links between his lefty-ideological, artificially constructed world and the normal realms of common sense and logic. Several colleges wanted to institute a voluntary program to use the Kindle book-reading device for its class texts. Repeat: VOLUNTARY. But Kindle didn't have voice-activation gizmos (or somesuch) for the blind. Reports York: "The Civil Rights Division informed the schools they were under investigation. In subsequent talks, the Justice Department demanded the universities stop distributing the Kindle; if blind students couldn't use the device, then nobody could."

Yeah.  Outlawing college textbooks on the Kindle because the Kindle discriminates against the blind?  That's brilliant.  Statists across the land probably removed their hats to Mr. Perez as a gesture of respect.  

This is lunacy. Sheer lunacy. How does it hurt a blind student one iota if his normally sighted classmates use Kindle? Does that keep a blind student from getting the texts in braille or another blind-friendly format? No. Does that do a single smidgen of a fraction of a hemi-demi-semi-quaver to violate the civil rights of the blind person? Of course not. No, no, and no, no, no, no. The educational opportunities and/or experiences of blind students would be affected in no way at all if other students use Kindle

Now....I fully expected college parents to be out in the streets, banging pots and pans together, and purchasing every pitchfork and torch available to run this idiotic bastard out of Washington.

But no....
We are a nation of sheep.  If someone in D.C. claims that The Kindle discriminates against the blind, we follow along like a good little battalion of Nazi goose-steppers.
Think about it.  Can blind people "hear" a traditional book?  Can blind people hear the words you're now reading?  Does Thomas J. Perez think that traditional college textbooks have a set of lips and a tongue, like those magic books at Hogwarts?

Who knows.
We had an opportunity to save billions of dollars, billions of trees, and billions in transport costs.  Thomas J. Perez made sure it didn't happen.  I suspect some academic publishers had a say in his decision.  (Although I would never, ever, ever accuse someone like Thomas Perez of being a kickback-taking son of a bitch.  I wouldn't do that.)

Back to the point at hand.... I expected Assistant Attorney General Thomas J. Perez to take his award plus whatever he got from the publishing companies, and then slink off into lobbying sometime.

No.

Just a few hours ago, Barack Obama reached into the corrupt bowels of his Justice Department and nominated THOMAS J. PEREZ AS SECRETARY OF LABOR !!!!

It's almost too good to be true.  In a truly just society, Perez would be mopping up spills at Wal-Mart, but Barack and I were able to select this doofus as the person most worthy of recognition and honor.

Awesome.  I wasn't this proud when I guessed the winning score of The Cotton Bowl in 1996.  

Here's what The Teleprompter Jesus had to say about Perez in his nomination speech:

"If you're willing to work hard, it doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, what your last name is - you can make it if you try," Obama said. "Tom's made protecting that promise for everybody the cause of his life."

Unless, of course, you want to save money on your daughter's college textbooks.  Then Perez is going to screw you, and screw you hard.

It's a great feeling, knowing that I, too, can pick a winner.

Picture of this corrupt bastard came from here.  
Now that The Aggie is of proper age, you'll be able to find her football picks on this site starting in August.

Let's Save Fuel With Barack!!!

Here's Obama's weekly speech on whatever, properly illustrated with pics of him on his private 747, the one that he flew to Chicago to deliver a speech on his fuel-saving plan.... 

Hi, everybody. As a nation, our top priority is growing our economy and creating good middle class jobs. That’s why this week I’m speaking to you from the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, because few areas hold as much promise as what they’re focused on right here — harnessing American energy.

You see, after years of talking about it, we’re finally poised to take control of our energy future. We produce more oil than we have in 15 years. We import less oil than we have in 20 years. We’ve doubled the amount of renewable energy we generate from sources like wind and solar — with tens of thousands of good jobs to show for it. We’re producing more natural gas than ever before — with hundreds of thousands of good jobs to show for it. We’ve supported the first new nuclear power plant since the 1970s. And we’re sending less carbon pollution into the environment than we have in nearly 20 years. So we’re making real progress.

But over the past few weeks, we got a reminder that we need to do more. We went through another spike in gas prices, just like last year, and the year before that. It happens every year. It’s a serious blow to your budget — like getting hit with a new tax coming right out of your pocket. Over the past four years, as part of our all-of-the-above energy strategy, we’ve taken steps to soften that blow by making sure our cars use less gas.

We’ve put in place the toughest fuel economy standards in our history so that by the middle of the next decade, our cars will go twice as far on a gallon of gas. Over the life of a new car, the average family will save more than $8,000 at the pump. But the only way we’re going to break this cycle of spiking gas prices for good is to shift our cars and trucks off of oil for good.

That’s why, in my State of the Union Address, I called on Congress to set up an Energy Security Trust to fund research into new technologies that will help us reach that goal. Here’s how it would work. Much of our energy is drawn from lands and waters that we, the public, own together. So I’m proposing that we take some of our oil and gas revenues from public lands and put it towards research that will benefit the public, so that we can support American ingenuity without adding a dime to our deficit. We can support scientists who are designing new engines that are more energy efficient; developing cheaper batteries that go farther on a single charge; and devising new ways to fuel our cars and trucks with new sources of clean energy — like advanced biofuels and natural gas — so drivers can one day go coast-to-coast without using a drop of oil.

Now, this idea isn’t mine. It’s actually built off a proposal put forward by a non-partisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals. So let’s take their advice and free our families and our businesses from painful spikes in gas prices once and for all. And in the meantime, let’s keep moving forward on an all-of-the-above energy strategy. A strategy where we produce more oil and gas here at home, but also more biofuels and fuel-efficient vehicles; more solar power and wind power.

A strategy where we put more people to work building cars, homes and businesses that waste less energy. We can do this. We’re Americans. And when we commit ourselves to something, there’s no telling how far we’ll go. Thanks and have a great weekend.

And don't do anything to encourage global warming - TWS

The Most Persistent Economic Fallacy Of All Time

Here's the late, great Milton Friedman, explaining the difference between money and production, and then production vs spending.

Spending Vs. Results

Here's a handy infographic showing U.S. spending per tricycle motor, and comparing it to English, Math and Science skills. 
Sources are the CIA Factbook and the U.N. 
Came from here. 
The spending, of course, is much, much higher in some places like D.C., which get truly miserable results. 
One day, someone is going to put out the definitive spending vs. results data for public vs private (and home) education. 


Via: MAT@USC | Master’s of Arts in Teaching

My heart breaks. My tears flow.

Lobbyists on K Street in Washington D.C. have had a rough time of it for the last two weeks. 
Here's Roll Call, on the difficulties now facing the residents of Gucci Gulch:

…sequester cuts…reflect not only Washington’s political paralysis but a bitter lobbying failure for K Street interests across the board. From university professors and scientists to cancer victims, defense contractors and federal workers, hundreds of advocacy, trade and labor groups have lobbied aggressively for months to head off the cuts. They’ve run ads, testified on Capitol Hill, staged demonstrations and hounded lawmakers, all to no avail. …the path forward could be a lobbying nightmare.


These people have lifestyles that would make Roman Emperors blush. 
They convince your CongressCritters to spend money on silly, silly things.  Mostly defense, but sometimes on million-dollar studies of Why Lesbians Get Fat.  (Hint: It's because they're less promiscuous than men, therefore more secure in their relationships.  Plus, they party a lot.) 

Anyway, thanks to the great Dan Mitchell for the quote copied above.  And also for this cartoon showing his reaction to the difficulties now facing K Street, which, if Libertarians have their way, will eventually be bulldozed to put up a Frisbee Golf Course.

311,604 Federal Workers doing their part to prevent government waste

Several years ago I began awarding trophies called "The Whitey" to citizens who did their part to eliminate government waste.
The best way to eliminate government waste is to avoid paying your taxes.  If you don't give them your money, they can't waste it.  
An astounding number of Whiteys went to rejected (and confirmed) members of Obama's cabinet.  Timmy "TurboTax" Geithner, Tom Daschle, etc etc etc all did their part to keep their hard earned dollars out of The U.S. Treasury.  Hit the "Whiteys" label at the bottom to read about previous award winners.

Lord have mercy, they're still trying to devalue the trophy.  

From the Tax Prof Blog:

311,566 federal workers and retirees owed more than $3.5 billion in back income taxes in 2011 (up from $3.4 billion in 2010, $3.3 billion in 2009, $3.0 billion in 2008, and $2.7 billion in 2007).

And from Investor's Business Daily.  Looks like 40 of Barack's lackeys and handmaidens have been doing their share:

A new report from the Internal Revenue Service has just revealed that 40 of Obama's White House aides owe their employer, the federal government, a total of $333,485 in back taxes.
This is the third straight year that the chief executive of the United States has been unable to get his own staff members to keep up with a citizen's legal income tax obligations. to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes owed. All this while Obama has made such rhetorical hay about corporations and the wealthy paying their fair share.

That's 311,604 current and former suckers of the government tit who are doing their part to keep their own money from being wasted by Barack H. Obama. 

Here are your Whitey Awards !!

Milton Friedman Was Wrong

Milton Friedman once divided all spending into four basic categories, claiming that government spending would always be inefficient because it all fit into his fourth category.

Here's his breakdown:

There are four ways to spend money. 

1. You can spend your own money on yourself. When you do that, why you really watch out for what you're doing, and you try to get the most for your money. 

2. Then you can spend your own money on somebody else. For example, I buy a birthday present for someone. Well then, I'm not so careful about the content of the present, but I'm very careful about the cost. 

3. Then, I can spend somebody else's money on myself. And if I spend somebody else's money on myself, then I'm going to have a good lunch!
 
4. Finally, I can spend somebody else's money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else's money on somebody else, I'm not concerned about how much it costs, and I'm not concerned about what I get. And that's government. And that's close to 40 percent of our national income.

His point, of course, is well-taken, but incomplete.  Government spending isn't restricted to Category #4.  But I think the good Dr. Friedman should have anticipated the amount of government spending devoted to Category #3 (spending someone else's money on myself.) 

Consider this:

Poor oversight at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs allowed agency officials to waste as much as $762,000 at a pair of multimillion-dollar conferences that took place last year in Orlando, according to an investigative report released Monday.The report, released by the VA's independent watchdog, estimated that the agency spent about $6.1 million on the two conferences, including $762,000 that was identified as unauthorized or unnecessary. Among the wasteful expenses: $97,906 worth of promotional gifts for the federal workers attending the training sessions; $154,000 for contractor travel; $16,500 to produce daily "Happy Face" videos of those in attendance; and nearly $2,300 for beverages, such as soda and juice, consumed by conference officials and speakers.

And this one:

Where does a muffin cost more than $16?At a government conference, it turns out.They may run just over $2 at your average coffee shop, but the Justice Department paid seven to eight times as much at a gathering it held at the Capital Hilton in Washington. And on Tuesday, the muffins seemed well on their way to joining the Pentagon’s $600 toilet seat as symbols of wasteful spending.Justice Department auditors also criticized a $76-per-person lunch at a conference at a Hilton in San Francisco, featuring slow-cooked Berkshire pork carnitas, hearts-of-romaine salad — and coffee at $8.24 a cup.A report released Tuesday by the department’s acting inspector general,Cynthia A. Schnedar, is full of what she called “wasteful or extravagant spending” at 10 law enforcement conferences spanning the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. Descriptions of cookies and brownies costing the government nearly $10 each and beef Wellington hors d’oeuvres at $7.32 per serving struck a nerve in Washington, where austerity and belt-tightening are the watchwords at a time of economic hardship.

And there are the recent GSA scandals:

At least 77 General Services Administration employee conferences that totaled more than $6.7 million in costs are under review by the agency’s inspector general, the watchdog said at a hearing before a House panel Wednesday.


The conferences, which cost at least $10,000 each and were attended by 25 employees or more, were held between October 2010, when the agency held an $823,000 employee conference in Las Vegas, and April 2012, when that conference became public.

The conferences were the focus of a hearing before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. GSA acts as the realtor and purchasing officer of the federal government.

The conferences ranged from a a five-day regional marketing managers meeting that cost $10,920, to the 2011 GSA Training Conference and Expo that cost $1.2 million.

According to GSA preliminary findings obtained by The Washington Post, the Federal Acquisition Service held 30 conferences costing more than $3.5 million, the Public Buildings Service held 38 conferences costing more than $2.5 million, the Office of Governmentwide Policy held one conference costing $136,495, the Office of the Chief Information held two conferences costing $177,960, the PBS and FAS held a single joint conference costing $112,131, the Chief People Officer held three conferences costing $60,588; and one for Intergovernmental Relations, costing $15,922.

While the list gave numbers of people who attended, it did not break down the number of employees.

Since the 77 conferences are currently under investigation, the agency’s inspector general could not give examples of which conferences had problems or red flags.

The committee also reviewed a one-day $270,000 awards ceremony in Arlington County for employees of the Federal Acquisition Service.

The one-day conference was held four weeks after the Las Vegas event with a more than $140,000 tab for coordination and logistical costs, $34,000 for the venue, $28,000 on picture frames and $20,579 for drum sticks, Brian Miller, GSA’s inspector general, testified.

So, yeah, Government spending my neighbor's money on me isn't very efficient. 
But I bet spending my neighbor's money on $20,579.00 worth of drumsticks is a lot more fun! 

If you've ever wondered how the Federal Poverty programs can spend over $61,000.00 per family in poverty and still have families in poverty?  Look no further.  Milton Friedman's category #3

3. Then, I can spend somebody else's money on myself. And if I spend somebody else's money on myself, then I'm going to have a good lunch!

From the people who are about to take over healthcare....

Here's a Justice System Update, courtesy of Instapundit:

Man Left in Solitary Confinement for 2 Horrific Years … for Suspected DUI. “After Steven’s arrest on suspicion of DUI and driving a stolen car, he was placed in solitary confinement because because officers felt he might be ‘suicidal.’ There, he was essentially forgotten about by the legal system. He was given no health care. His toenails grew so long they curled around his feet. He developed bed sores. A fungus grew on his skin after being denied showers. He lost a ton of weight. His hair grew long and shaggy — he looks like he just got off a desert island. He descended into madness. And his dental problems grew so severe that he was forced to pull out one of his rotting teeth by himself. Eventually, after 22 months, Steven was released after all charges against him were dismissed.”

The poor guy is now batshit crazy, but has won 15.5 million in a lawsuit.  

"His mental health has been severely compromised from the time he was in that facility. That continues to be the same. No amount of money will bring back what they took away from him," Matt Coyte, Slevin's Albuquerque-based attorney, said on Wednesday. "But it’s nice to be able to get him some money so he can improve where he is in life and move on."

And the people who were running the prison?  Still employed there.
The people who paid the fine?  The citizens of New Mexico.

Wait until the same mindset takes hold in our intensive care wards.
Go here to read occasional updates on Britain's National Health Service.  
Go hear to read about the recently formed political party opposed to any NHS reforms!  (Kinda like postmen forming a union to retain 6-day letter delivery in Merigold MS in the age of email.)
Hey, anybody can make a mistake, right?  

The Pruitt-Igoe....Myth? Tonight at 7:00 p.m.

I've turned this into an recommended event for the Tarrant County Libertarian Party.  Hope to see you there....

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (3200 Darnell St, Fort Worth, TX, in the museum district) is showing the documentary film "The Pruitt Iago Myth" on March 7.  The doors open at 6:30 p.m.  Tickets are free, but on a first-come, first-served basis.  The film begins at 7:00 p.m.

Here's an experiment:  Type "Public Housing Demolition" into Google, and it will auto-complete with "New Orleans".  "Atlanta".  "Chicago".  (It seems that top-down, centrally planned public housing projects generally face the wrecking ball after 20-25 years.)

Type "Public Housing Implosion" into Google, and your computer won't even think twice.  It will take you to the infamous St. Louis Pruitt-Iago Public Housing complex.

Here's what Alexander Von Hoffman of Harvard had to say about Pruitt-Iago:

"St. Louis's Pruitt-Igoe housing project is arguably the most infamous public housing project ever built in the United States. A product of the postwar federal public-housing program, this mammoth high-rise development was completed in 1956.

Only a few years later, disrepair, vandalism, and crime plagued Pruitt-Igoe. The project's recreational galleries and skip-stop elevators, once heralded as architectural innovations, had become nuisances and danger zones. Large numbers of vacancies indicated that even poor people preferred to live anywhere but Pruitt-Igoe. In 1972, after spending more than $5 million in vain to cure the problems at Pruitt-Igoe, the St. Louis Housing Authority, in a highly publicized event, demolished three of the high-rise buildings. A year later, in concert with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, it declared Pruitt-Igoe unsalvageable and razed the remaining buildings.

Pruitt-Igoe has lived on symbolically as an icon of failure. Liberals perceive it as exemplifying the government's appalling treatment of the poor. Architectural critics cite it as proof of the failure of high-rise public housing for families with children. One critic even asserted that its destruction signaled the end of the modern style of architecture."

And yet, the makers of this documentary, and perhaps the city of Fort Worth (official sponsors of this showing !) claim that we shouldn't try to learn too much from this supposedly failed experiment.  Here's some more info from the documentary's official website:

"And yet, despite this complex history, Pruitt-Igoe has often been stereotyped. The world-famous image of its implosion has helped to perpetuate a myth of failure, a failure that has been used to critique Modernist architecture, (and) attack public assistance programs..... The Pruitt-Igoe Myth seeks to set the historical record straight. To examine the interests involved in Pruitt-Igoe’s creation. To re-evaluate the rumors and the stigma. To implode the myth."

Let's attend this showing and learn for ourselves if the stories of the Pruitt-Igoe meltdown are lies, legends, or merely a case of bad luck for city bureaucrats.  The City Of Fort Worth's Human Relations Unit will hold a Q&A session afterwards.

Those who don't remember the past are condemned to repeat it.  March 7th, at The Modern.  Show up at 6:30.

Trickle-Down Stimulus

This is the phrase you must use twice in any debate with members of The Statist Flock.  Three little words. 

"Trickle-Down Stimulus". 

Try it. 

"I don't believe in any kind of Trickle Down Stimulus." 

"Reagan proved it.  Trickle Down Stimulus doesn't work." 

They're accustomed to sprinkling their political arguments with key words and phrases.  George Bush !  Sarah Palin ! Greedy Corporations !  A decent society should take care of it's ....! and finally, without even thinking, they're going to say "Trickle-Down doesn't work". 

I honestly don't know if "Trickle-Down" works or doesn't work.  I do know that it's not our damn government's job to try to make the economy work, though, and I'd rather live in an era when government didn't even pretend to be competent enough to manage money.

The more I read about the Reagan era, the more I see "Trickle-Down" as an unfortunate marketing term for whatever Reagan did.  But the Statists associate the phrase with breaks for the rich.  But here's the Oxford English Dictionary definition:  "Trickle-down, adj., of or based on the theory that economic benefits to particular groups will inevitably be passed on to those less well off...; orig. and chiefly U.S."

If the U.S. has ever experienced an outright gift from the taxpayers to the wealthy, it was in Obambi's stimulus package.  Lord have mercy, what a porkfest.    So don't hesitate to make it known.  

"I supported Obama until he introduced that Trickle Down Stimulus bill."    

The Keynesian Trifecta - Theft, Borrowing and Counterfeiting

To hear Washington tell it, if we cut back on the increase, not the total, but the increase of government spending, we're going to go bankrupt, resort to cannibalism, and start listening to disco again.  30 seconds of video here.  Please watch it.  Who does it remind you of? 



Let's break down the Keynesian Logic (sic) here....

Economies rely on spending. 

I spend a lot, and you spend a lot. 

Government takes money from both of us, and spends it.  This makes it look like government spends even more, and is even more vital.  But it's the same amount of money. 

But even if we weren't spending our money instantly, we would have it in a bank.  The bank attracts our savings by paying interest.  The only way they can generate this interest it by loaning it to other people who want to..... spend it. 

Government takes our money by force.  If the only rationale for this theft is to create jobs and help the economy, we could be doing that without their freakin' help.  I want to create jobs in industries that I like, not necessarily in industries that have given The Teleprompter Jesus a shitload of contributions.  Plus, even though I'm a moral leper, I still don't like giving money to an asshole who blows up children with drones.   

Some of the other money pumped into our economy is borrowed from other nations, other individuals, or from ourselves.  Keynesian economists don't worry about this, mostly because they're not the ones who will have to pay it back. 

The other money pumped into our economy is printed at a facility on Blue Mound Road in Fort Worth TX, or at another facility in Washington D.C.  Nothing is backing it.  Not gold, not silver.  It's just paper. 

Taking money by force is bad.  Printing money out of thin air is bad.  Borrowing isn't necessarily bad in some cases, but if you're putting the loan on the credit cards of 5-year-olds, it's bad.   

If the only things keeping our economy afloat are 1) theft 2) borrowing, and 3) counterfeiting, then we need to re-examine everything we think we know about government, economics, and politics. 

The piper is coming, and he's gonna get paid. 

Robbing Peter to pay Paul. Krugman.

Paul Krugman says that our national debt is not a problem.
Go here for his explanation.  (For those with little time for such, his explanation is "Those who rob Peter to pay Paul Krugman will always have the support of Paul Krugman, especially when Peter is still wearing diapers.")

Here's a handy chart, showing our Fed debt per capita as compared to other countries.

Here are some videos of what's happening in Greece - which doesn't even take the silver or bronze medal in this race.
If you think it can't happen here, you're sadly mistaken.
And this one:
Start saving your metal. The Mormons always put away one year's worth of food. I'm stockpiling Jim Beam and Purina dachshund chow.
 I betcha Krugman's getting nervous too.

Where will you find enough angels? - Milton Friedman

I often find myself surfing the net, reading magazines, listening to the radio, and (when drunk) watching television, and wondering about people.
Yeah, people.
I wonder about all the people who think that our government should "do something".  Take charge.  Regulate.  Otherwise, the big corporations will have their way with us.  Businessmen are only in it for the money, you know....
There are actually people, living, breathing humans, people who can feed themselves with a knife and fork, yet believe that governments should own all of the oil companies.  They believe that our government should set all wages and set price margins.  It really is astounding.

Here's a crusty old exchange between Phil Donahue and Milton Friedman.  I've probably watched the YouTube a dozen times, but this guy blessed us with a transcript.

Enjoy.  And just for grins, I followed it with Wikipedia's links to every Federal-level political scandal going all the way back to the founding of the republic.  Politicians and bureaucrats don't become economic eunuchs when they go in and out Obama's door from business to government.  They're just like you and just like me - providing for themselves and their families first, and then their supporters.  Any other considerations are waaaaaay down the line.  

Phil Donahue: When you see around the globe, the mal-distribution of wealth, a desperate plight of millions of people in underdeveloped countries. When you see so few “haves” and so many “have-nots.” When you see the greed and the concentration of power. Did you ever have a moment of doubt about capitalism and whether greed is a good idea to run on?

Milton Friedman: Well first of all tell me is there some society you know that doesn’t run on Greed? You think Russia doesn’t run on greed? You think China doesn’t run on greed? What is greed? Of course none of us are greedy, it’s only the other fellow who is greedy. The world runs on individuals pursuing their separate interests.

The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus. Einstein didn’t construct his theory under order from a bureaucrat. Henry Ford didn’t revolutionize the automobile industry that way.

In the only cases in which the masses have escaped from the kind of grinding poverty you’re talking about – the only cases in recorded history – are where they have had capitalism and largely free trade.

If you want to know where the masses are worst off, it’s exactly in the kinds of societies that depart from that. So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear that there is no alternative way so far discovered of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by a free enterprise system.

Donahue: But it seems to reward not virtue as much as ability to manipulate the system…

Friedman: And what does reward virtue? You think the Communist commissar rewarded virtue? You think a Hitler rewarded virtue? You think – excuse me – if you’ll pardon me – do you think American Presidents reward virtue ?

Do they choose their appointees on the basis of the virtue of the people appointed or on the basis of their political clout ?

Is it really true that political self-interest is nobler somehow than economic self-interest ? You know, I think you’re taking a lot of things for granted. Just tell me where in the world you find these angels who are going to organize society for us ? Well, I don’t even trust you to do that. 

1 Scope and organization of political scandals

2 Federal government scandals

• 2.1 2009– Obama Administration
  • 2.1.1 Executive Branch
  • 2.1.2 Legislative Branch
  • 2.1.3 Judicial Branch
• 2.2 2001–2009 George W. Bush Administration
  • 2.2.1 Executive Branch
  • 2.2.2 Legislative Branch
• 2.3 1993–2001 Bill Clinton Administration
  • 2.3.1 Executive Branch
  • 2.3.2 Legislative Branch
• 2.4 1989–1993 George H. W. Bush Administration
  • 2.4.1 Executive Branch
  • 2.4.2 Legislative Branch
  • 2.4.3 Judicial Branch
• 2.5 1981–1989 Ronald Reagan Administration
  • 2.5.1 Executive Branch
  • 2.5.2 Legislative Branch
  • 2.5.3 Judicial Branch
• 2.6 1977–1981 James E. Carter Administration
  • 2.6.1 Executive Branch
  • 2.6.2 Legislative branch
• 2.7 1974–1977 Gerald Ford Administration
  • 2.7.1 Executive Branch
  • 2.7.2 Legislative Branch
  • 2.7.3 Judicial Branch
• 2.8 1969–1974 Richard M. Nixon Administration
  • 2.8.1 Executive Branch
  • 2.8.2 Legislative Branch
  • 2.8.3 Judicial Branch
• 2.9 1963–1969 Lyndon B. Johnson Administration
  • 2.9.1 Executive Branch
  • 2.9.2 Legislative Branch
  • 2.9.3 Judicial Branch
• 2.10 1961–1963 John F. Kennedy Administration
  • 2.10.1 Legislative Branch
• 2.11 1953–1961 Dwight D. Eisenhower Administration
  • 2.11.1 Executive Branch
  • 2.11.2 Legislative Branch
• 2.12 1945–1953 Harry S. Truman Administration
  • 2.12.1 Executive Branch
  • 2.12.2 Legislative Branch
• 2.13 1933–1945 Franklin Delano Roosevelt Administration
  • 2.13.1 Legislative Branch
  • 2.13.2 Judicial Branch
• 2.14 1929–1933 Herbert Hoover Administration
  • 2.14.1 Legislative Branch
• 2.15 1923–1929 Calvin Coolidge Administration
• 2.16 1921–1923 Warren G. Harding Administration
  • 2.16.1 Executive Branch
  • 2.16.2 Legislative Branch
• 2.17 1913–1921 Woodrow Wilson Administration
  • 2.17.1 Executive Branch
• 2.18 1909–1913 William Howard Taft Administration
  • 2.18.1 Legislative Branch
  • 2.18.2 Judicial branch
• 2.19 1900–1909 Theodore Roosevelt Administration
  • 2.19.1 Legislative Branch
• 2.20 1878–1898
  • 2.20.1 Executive Branch
  • 2.20.2 Legislative Branch
• 2.21 1869–1877 Ulysses S. Grant Administration
  • 2.21.1 Executive branch
  • 2.21.2 Legislative branch
  • 2.21.3 Judicial branch
• 2.22 1865–1869 Andrew Johnson administration
  • 2.22.1 Executive branch
• 2.23 1861–1865 Abraham Lincoln administrations
  • 2.23.1 Executive branch
• 2.24 1857–1861 James Buchanan administration
  • 2.24.1 Legislative Branch
• 2.25 1849–1850 Zachary Taylor administration
  • 2.25.1 Executive Branch
• 2.26 1829–1836 Andrew Jackson administrations
  • 2.26.1 Executive Branch
• 2.27 1817–1824 James Monroe administrations
  • 2.27.1 Legislative Branch
• 2.28 1801–1808 Thomas Jefferson administrations
  • 2.28.1 Executive branch
  • 2.28.2 Judicial Branch
• 2.29 1797–1800 John Adams administration
  • 2.29.1 Executive Branch
• 2.30 1789–1796 George Washington administrations
  • 2.30.1 Legislative Branch
• 2.31 1777–1788
• 2.31.1 Executive Branch

Facebook Fodder For Libertarians

For everyone who wants to put liberty-oriented conversation starters on Facebook every day of their lives, here are a few resources:

All American Blogger has a selection of 99 Great Libertarian Quotes.  Here's a sampling.

1. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul, can always count on the support of Paul. – George Bernard Shaw
2. America needs fewer laws, not more prisons. – James Bovard
3. War is just one more big government program. – Joseph Sobran
4. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. – John Adams (1814)

5. They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Benjamin Franklin
6. One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation. – Thomas B. Reed (1886)
7. If you are not free to choose wrongly and irresponsibly, you are not free at all. – Jacob Hornberger (1995)
8. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. – P.J. O’Rourke
9. The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates. – Tacitus
10. Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. – George Washington

The other 89 are just as good.  

Artist Dan McCall creates some of the greatest posters, prints, t-shirts, and blog illustrations on the Net.  

Go here for generic Free Stuff like this.

Or free desktop wallpaper like this:

And then there's his art and print gallery.  There's probably something in here for everybody.  That doesn't mean everybody will like this one.....

Dan also puts some of his work-in-progress on Facebook.  He's a great guy.  Friend him.  

And then there's Reddit.  

Reddit is a place where, no matter how much of an individual you think you are, you can find a few hundred people just like.....you.  

Here's a link to Libertarian Reddit.  Browse the top articles.  Facebook 'em.  Tweet 'em.  Email 'em.  

I hope you have fun with this stuff.  

Try to remember this one important rule:  "Polite People Never Change Anything".