Economics Should Be Mandatory for Public Office

I am watching this election process unfold and I have suddenly noticed that none of the candidates have even a basic understanding of economics. They seem to fail at the most basic concept of supply and demand. They have no understanding of competition in the marketplace and completely fail to grasp who ultimately pays the taxes.

This is clearly demonstrated in base issues such as:
Minimum Wage
Capital Gains Taxes
Corporate Taxes
Estate Taxes
Government Health Care
and OH So Many More

The first thing we need to realize is that Corporations and Businesses don't really pay taxes. Yes, they write the check to the government and it is drawn against their account but where did that money really come from? Us the consumer, we are the ones who pay their taxes. They simply add it to the cost of goods sold and if we want it, we pay the taxes along with it.

Congress is currently debating the idea of raising the taxes on the Big Oil companies. These companies make between 7-10% profit. There profit margin isn't going to change. They will simply move the new expense (tax) down the chain to the consumer.
The tax gun of the government is pointed at the oil company so they take it out of everyones pocket and give it to the government so our elected leaders can hold up the big check and declare they have won a victory for the people. The people were robbed by the government and then told it was good using Big Oil as the middleman to collect their newly acquired wealth.
Look at the taxes paid by Exxon. This one company pays as much tax as almost 50% of the tax payers in America. This tax equates to the government making $2.41 profit for every dollar of profit Exxon makes. This does not include the additional,so called, road taxes paid at the pump by the consumer. Yes, Big Oil made record profits over the last couple of years, but that is nothing compared to the profit our government made.

Then there is the constant drum on the minimum wage. I have written many articles on this issue. I have even debated an economics professor in DC on this key point. As the minimum wage increases the number of jobs available decrease. The risk of hiring and training a new employee with their probable mistakes and losses becomes to great for the company. This loss to reward balance is fulfilled by reducing the number of candidates brought into the work force. This reduction in employment translates to increases in welfare and other failed support programs that increase the taxes on the people.

Simply put, Increased Taxes Increases Poverty. The consumer pays the tax and the consumer is the employee who is driven out of the work force by the additional taxes and mandates. Increasing the taxes on business will only increase the cost of the goods sold and further reduce the spendable income of the less fortunate and under educated. Increasing the bottom wage only reduces the work force and increases the amount of work that needs to be done by the individual worker who is now more desperate due to increased costs for needed goods and services thanks to taxation.

Capital Gains Taxes are removing money from the business environment. Why should someone invest or strive to be successful if they are not going to be rewarded. If you are punished for success would you still strive for it? People with money look for opportunities where they can invest and grow their nest egg. This could be a few hundred dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Smart investors find ways to build wealth by helping others succeed and then participate in the rewards of success. This participation could be land, equipment, or buildings that improve the operation and success of a business. All that translates to more jobs.
If you instead, punish investors big and small for taking that risk, fewer will invest and there will be fewer jobs. In the global economy those investments simply go elsewhere.
We all would like to retire and live a reasonable life. Many of us have 401k's or 503c's and the like to use as wealth building tools. These small returns on investments over the long haul will fund a healthy retirement. The government is looking to cut into your ability to do just that. They know Social Security is failing and under their current plan your private investments wont do much better. And If you should die before you retire, the government already has a plan to take as much as possible from your estate as well. You can't even hold out hope of passing what little you have onto your kin to reduce their struggle.

I don't know about you, but anyone who would take office and then seek to destroy the people they were sent to represent shouldn't be promoted to a hirer office, they should be fired. You may want to look at your ballot closely and choose a candidate who actually understands basic economics. If they are not promoting policy that will improve the lives of your fellow citizens, choose someone else.

Article of Interest -- Best Quote from Article:
"Economists have long understood that companies don't really pay taxes; they merely collect them."

Prior Writings:
Tax or Not to Tax
The Minimum Wage Isn't The Problem
Knowing When You Need More Help
Minimum Wage Increase Passed

We Just Keep On Giving

I get really tired of hearing how Greedy the US is. Every time I turn around some dictator or world leader is telling us we need to give them money. Half of these crack pots have robbed the coffers of their nation and have left their people to starve while they live large.
Now we got a bill flying through congress to do just that. It is now in the Senate (S.2433). The bill was dropped on our leaders just prior to recess and a vote demanded. That's right no time to study, debate and hammer out issues. The basics of the bill sound good, "End World Poverty by 2015". The US can't even deal with its own poverty issues and now we are going to use failed policy on others at our expense. Our congress has no right to give our money away without our permission.
I dare you to read the words of Davy Crockett, Not Yours To Give. We the American people are a generous bunch but government is not the means to dole out our generosity.
Look at the Tsunami Fund as an example, the American people independent of government gave out billions of dollars in aid. This should more then cover the tab of the current Senate bill. But wait there's more. We the American people contribute to both religious and non-religious causes that feed the children, provide safe drinking water, and so many other world projects. If they would agree to tabulate all this into account before writing a single check out of the government they would find we have over paid again.
This bill is not necessary and we should be ashamed of our representatives who would take the spending of our money so lightly. To make matters even worse, one of our candidates for president is the key sponsor to this bill. Obama should be taken to the mat and stripped of all authority on this issue alone.

Article of Interest

Do I Hold My Nose and Vote?

I have been advocating the advancement of conservative principals and joining together to win the Senate and any other elected offices. I still am pushing for us to get together and discuss and support the issues over at The American Conservative Forum.
Let me point you to an article that is worthy of discussion in this same vein.

Obama Changed My Mind About McCain
By JR Dieckmann

On Tuesday night, Feb. 19, 2008, Barack Obama let the cat out of the bag for the first time, when he gave a 45 minute, off the cuff speech after his victory in Wisconsin. For the first time in his campaign, he talked to some extent on substance, rather than in just empty platitudes and feel good rhetoric. For the first time he talked of more than just “hope for change” and “change for hope” and leave the rest to the fantasies of his supporters‘ imaginations.

What he was proposing was pure socialism, correction - communism, straight out of the teachings of Saul Alinsky and Karl Marx. It all centered around government control over everything from the energy industry, to home mortgages subsidized with our tax money, to government run healthcare. Some will say it was just extreme left wing liberalism but I call it what it is - communism. Take money from the rich and give it to the poor, not only within America but internationally, all in the interest of global equality, paid for by the American taxpayers.

Clinton's speech wasn't much different but she was cut off when Obama took the stage. Americans need to realize that what these two charlatans are trying to do is to lead America straight into communism. And they are no longer being subtle about it. Whenever questioned about it, they dance around it and divert the subject to something else, never answering the question, or giving two completely opposite answers in the same statement. Only liberal politicians being interviewed by the liberal media can get away with this. It’s like having a conversation with an automated phone tree.

The communist threat to America has been brewing for decades right here in our own country and now it’s coming to a head. It is now trying to take over the highest office in the land. It’s time we started calling it exactly what it is and stop this political correctness that has us referring to communism as simply “progressive” or harmless “liberalism.” Some call it American socialism but it has it’s roots in pure communism.

Clinton and Obama don't have a clue what America is all about. Their idea of America is everyone living on welfare with their lives supervised by government social workers, and all business regulated by a government that can’t even regulate itself in compliance with the Constitution. They see big government as the solution to America’s problems when, in fact, in most cases the government is the cause of them. When has the government ever solved a problem without creating three more? Or solving a problem for one group by taking away the rights of another?

So much more to read

Recommended reading suggestions from you are always welcome. Better yet, why don't you join me over at The American Conservative Forum, and we can discuss it.

Seeing Your Work In Print

I really enjoy JBWilliams and his writings, but sometimes you wonder. He did a real nice job on this writing but it seems to be an expansion of my own. I wrote and posted on Feb. 15 "Take Back The Senate 2008". Now I am reading his article dated Feb. 25 and de javu has set in.

A Conservative Senate

A conservative (not just Republican) senate will assure that pure constructionist judges are appointed to the Supreme Court.
A conservative senate will make certain that the very real international war against Islamic Jihad is fully funded and aggressively fought.
A conservative senate will stop any effort to legalize illegal immigration, or undermine national sovereignty and security with an open unregulated border policy.
A conservative senate will block all efforts to sign insane international treaties at odds with American interests, including those advanced by Al Gore’s Global Warming Scam.
A conservative senate can re-adopt the Gingrich Contract with America agenda aimed at reducing the size, scope and budget of a runway federal government.

The senate is currently made up of 49 Republicans, 49 Democrats and 2 so-called Independents, both of whom caucus with Democrats currently. Three senate seats will swing control of the senate and plenty are up for re-election and available in 2008. Check your state senate races. Get really involved.

A conservative senate means that whoever sits in the White House, administration efforts to steer the nation into the socialist abyss will be impotent. Conservative Americans MUST vote to take back control of the senate in their state races, anywhere a Democrat or liberal Republican seat is up in 2008.

You can read the entire article here.

Hey, JB if you are reading this. I really don't mind, but could you sight your source once in a while. A little note in the corner would do me fine.
Thanks,
ablur

You Have Got To Love This Guy

In election 2008, don’t forget Angry White Man

Gary Hubbell
February 9, 2008

There is a great amount of interest in this year’s presidential elections, as everybody seems to recognize that our next president has to be a lot better than George Bush.
The Democrats are riding high with two groundbreaking candidates — a woman and an African-American — while the conservative Republicans are in a quandary about their party’s nod to a quasi-liberal maverick, John McCain.Each candidate is carefully pandering to a smorgasbord of special-interest groups, ranging from gay, lesbian and transgender people to children of illegal immigrants to working mothers to evangelical Christians. There is one group no one has recognized, and it is the group that will decide the election: the Angry White Man. The Angry White Man comes from all economic backgrounds, from dirt-poor to filthy rich. He represents all geographic areas in America, from urban sophisticate to rural redneck, deep South to mountain West, left Coast to Eastern Seaboard.
His common traits are that he isn’t looking for anything from anyone — just the promise to be able to make his own way on a level playing field. In many cases, he is an independent businessman and employs several people. He pays more than his share of taxes and works hard.

Read The Rest Here

This is one piece that needs to be read by every American Angry White Man. We have had almost every shred of decency and courtesy taken from us over the last 50 years and it is time to stand up and say NO MORE. We have worked hard to keep and hold this country in greatness and we are not going to give it over to a bunch of pandering liberals, who would forfeit their own mother to serve their needs.
This is the United States of America and this country belongs to us.

Global Cooling is Back

I can remember in the 70's when people were clamoring about Global Cooling and the next Ice Age. It was quickly out done by the much better funded population crisis crowd. The planet was going to swell to 6 billion people and life as we know it would end.
Remember "The Late Great Planet Earth" and all the hoopla. How about the move "The Day After" about the inevitable nuclear war between Russia and the US. I don't think there ever was a time in history when some group attempted panic and hysteria over nothing. Y2K still strikes fear in my heart when I hear it.
It seems now is the time for the Global Warming nuts to fall from their dizzying heights. They had just hit their peak when mother nature decided to dump their apple cart. The Ice is back and the polar bears have been saved. Mother nature may have gotten a little carried away making her point though. Record snow falls in normally desert regions have not deterred Al Gore and his ensemble of die hard warmers.
I can't wait to see the next crisis dejour and how much world money they will control through fear and manipulation. The world is ripe for another sob story because the current fairy tale has just been stamped with a Jack frost The End.

Article of Interest

Take Back The Senate 2008

Let’s look at the US Senate. This body of 100 elected members from across the US has a vital role in our government. These are the people who have been constitutionally bound to oversee presidential appointments. If there is a portion of government that is vital to be won this would be the group. As a conservative who isn’t too fond of the current Republican front runner I am being bombarded with so-called conservative media blitzes about possible Supreme Court justice replacements likely over the next ten years. Well I don’t have to like the political presidential candidates to get my needs met. The right Senate body is all it takes for our fine court to be unblemished by our failing political system.

The President gets to choose the nominee but he can’t force the confirmation. The confirmation process goes through the Senate and it isn’t a cake walk. Ask Justice Roberts about the grilling he got before the Judiciary Committee and the Senate. Some get tossed back and the process starts over.

The bottom line is, who is up for election in the Senate and what choices do we have available. The senate is currently made up of 49 Republicans, 49 Democrats and 2 Independents that Vote Democrat. There are currently 35 seats up for grabs, 23 Republican 12 Democrat. If the Republicans can actually field a conservative to challenge the Democrats and the other Republican seats can be at least half retained, the Senate will be slightly improved. This body needs to be tied at minimum or 1 bested for Conservative values to carry.

The States that have current Senate elections should be our focus point. If you are reading this and are from one of the following states, help conservative Americans get a handle on their choices.

Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming

Look into your candidates and help everyone become informed. Join me over at The American Conservative Forums and help persuade Americans back to our conservative values. What we cannot do by ourselves we can accomplish in number. Become someone who works on changing our country for the better, rather then someone who is forced to change for the worse.

Look Around

Have you really looked at what is going on around you? My guess is that most people keep themselves so busy with their own stuff they really don’t bother. Life is just too busy. Many of you probably got a list like this:

Work
Meals
Household Chores
That one special TV program
Child 1 activity
Child 2 activity
Family Activity
Religious Study group
Church
Shopping
That other one special TV program
Extended Family Activity
That Project for Work
Spouse
Sleep

The problem is that life seems to have far more control of you then you have of it. You probably repeat on at least a weekly basis, “I just don’t have time for even one more thing.” It probably follows after somebody asked you to do something. It just rolls out automatically. Have you watched they glint in the eye of your child turn cold by the time you get to the third word of the phrase they now mouth with you?

It is all in the planning. Failing to plan is planning to fail. The extremist will buy a planner and try to get it all hammered out before the sun goes down. I would suggest some moderation; find out what you’re doing with all your time by keeping some type of daily time journal or event record. Say every 30 minutes for the next week. At the end of the week analyze the chart.

Take out your blue, green and pink highlighters, which have been sitting in the drawer forever waiting for a chance, and do the following. Color pink the must do’s, work, Sleep. The stuff that affects you directly and personally that no one else can do for you. Take the green one and mark all the things that you are doing for somebody else, the kids, family, and friends. Next take the blue one and mark all the things you are doing to add joy or purpose to life, church, entertainment. Has the week been fully colored in or are there some other items. Things that you don’t need to do yourself or just time that got away. Tally those hours.

I dare you to do it again for another week.

The second week probably went a lot better. You may even feel you have take control of it a little. Did you find more time?

Life is pretty tough and since I helped you find a few extra minutes let me help you plan some upcoming events. What are you going to do about the tax breaks ending soon and you needing to come up with about 15% more money at the end of each month? You got another year or so on some. The roads around your neighborhood are starting to look pretty bad and the local planners are talking tax increase. Will you be ready? Welfare just isn’t enough anymore for the millions who won’t work and you wouldn’t want them to go hungry or have bad health right?

How long can you afford to put off doing something about our nation’s political crisis?

I have made suggestions. I’m ready to hear yours.

Dear Fellow Conservative;

As an American Conservative, I have some sad news to tell you today. I also have some good news that I will share with you.

You have probably noticed that your only choice for president, in this election, is a liberal. I know, some will try to claim some modest level of conservatism but a careful look under the cloak of half truths you will find a liberal standing before you. Recognizing this fact and preparing for the inevitable, barring some miracle, will only help us to rise to the challenge. Now is not the time to turn away or blindly thrust your head in the sand. There is work to be done.

Our congress is another disaster. It cannot accomplish a single task and has stalled our nation. This may too fall to the liberals who are so eager for power. They will quickly remind you of their superior intellect and their determination to save the world through the failed philosophy of socialism. They may strive to make some dramatic changes to our great nation and if we sit back and do nothing, they will succeed.

The good news is that there is a chink in the armor of liberalism. Liberalism demands power and dominance and our constitution puts us in charge. Oh, they will try and put you at ease and say they got it all under control. They may even try to silence the critiques of their grand schemes, but as long as we stick together they will remain impotent.

Keeping power is more important to the liberal then their ideals. They will sacrifice any and all who stand in the way of power. They must come back to “we the people” to retain that brass ring. If we turn our backs and walk away from the right to vote that so many have died for, we have let them win.

Now is our finest hour. We the Moral Conservative Majority have the ultimate trump card in our hand. We have the capacity to dethrone them and there is nothing they can do to keep us from it. We have the election process and the impeachment process at our disposal. All we need to do is stay organized and informed.

We have the ability to feed and support each other knowing that, no one of us has all the answers. The liberals in their superior then thou throne rooms have only themselves. It has been measured that conservatives make up more than three-fourths of our great nation. We come in every political bent; Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, Constitutional, Green, and so many more.

Set aside your political affiliation and take a moment to focus on your core conservative beliefs. We are the people of the United States of America and we can set the agenda. Let us start by unifying in conservative locations, both in body and on the internet. Each of us has unique talents and knowledge that can help all of us keep our government in check. If each of us does three things we can make a difference and save this nation. All three of these things are in everyone’s reach no matter your race religion or financial standing.

1. Stay informed of what is going on around you.
2. Share and interpret this information with everyone and anyone you can.
3. Write letters and hold your representatives feet to the fire, from the neighborhood watch to the President of the United States.

The first one should be a breeze; you live and work where you are. You know those around you and what goes on where you live. You don’t need to stretch much to make a difference.

The second one will require you to actually act on what you believe and know. No matter your specialty, interpret and report to fellow conservatives what you see and hear. The liberal media isn’t going to help us stay informed. We will have to blog and spend time on forums to pass information along. We will have to spend a few minutes each day getting the word out and taking in what is going on elsewhere that may affect us. Use the knowledge and skill of fellow conservatives to keep you informed.

The third one will be our shining star, reminding the pandering power mongers who is really in charge. They won’t make a move against a unified body of conservatives bent on taking away the only thing that really matters to them, power. They will follow lock step as a bull firmly grasped by the ring in his nose, if we stay engaged.

I would like to take this moment to recommend a place to share and build conservative unity, the American Conservative Forum. This is not just a fun hang out, but a place for serious conservatives who want to take America back and hold our leaders accountable. A place for people who are willing to do their part and use their God given talents and skills to keep our government in check, by informing the rest of us so we can act in mass.

Many of us have become disenfranchised from our government and we have cast our one vote away. It is no longer about one vote. It is about all of us, as one, casting a vote for conservative principals totaling epic proportions of conservative presence in American Politics. We have failed to unify for almost one hundred years and we have been given the government we deserve.

Are YOU ready to take it back?

Take your first step. Post, print or email this message to everyone you know. Join the American Conservative Forum and let’s start restoring America.

Sincerely,
ablur

Links:
American Conservative Forum -- http://amcon.proboards99.com/index.cgi
My Web Home – http://ablursspot.blogspot.com

Sonic Pest Control has Changed

These devices have become pretty popular. We use them for bugs, rodents and pet control. They have come a long way in helping deal with a difficult problem and not have to use heavy pesticides and other dangerous chemicals.

Have we now gone too far?

Stores Use Sonic Devices to Chase Kids

LONDON (AP) - England's commissioner for children and a civil liberties group joined in on a campaign Tuesday to ban high-frequency devices intended to drive misbehaving children away from shops and other areas.
The so-called "Mosquito" device emits high-frequency noise which is audible - and annoying - to young ears, but generally not heard by people over 20.

Failure is my middle name Pelosi

Nancy went off and did an interview with Wolf. The key sound bite that everyone should be talking about is:

Anchor Wolf Blitzer asked: “Are you not worried, though, that all the gains that have been achieved over the past year might be lost?”
“There haven't been gains, Wolf,” the speaker replied. “The gains have not produced the desired effect, which is the reconciliation of Iraq. This is a failure. This is a failure. The troops have succeeded, God bless them. We owe them the greatest debt of gratitude for their sacrifice, their patriotism, and for their courage and to their families as well.

HEY Nancy, the surge was to quell violence and restore order so the government of Iraq would have the freedom to govern. It has done all those things. Yet, freedom is choice Nancy, it is not Force.
The surge gave the Iraqi people the incentive to believe the American troops would finish the job and not leave them to die at the hands of terrorists like Nancy and her friends constantly threatened to do. Why should they help us when almost everyday some powerful Washington Politician was telling them they were going to pull the troops out? Why should they take any risks? The surge demonstrated the opposite and suddenly information flowed and the battle turned to our favor.
Hundreds of American lives were lost because Nancy and Company couldn't help with winning hearts and minds. They created the appearance of an endless war through posturing and pandering. The psychological war was being won by the terrorists everyday with Nancy and Company aiding and abetting the enemy at every turn.

About the Afghanistan Comment:

“Afghanistan is not settled because the president took his eye off the ball and took the full attention that should have been in Afghanistan, and shifted some of that to Iraq, a war without end, without a plan, without a reason to go in, without a plan to win, without a strategy to leave. This is a disaster … we cannot perpetuate.”

You may want to notice that we did have a plan and exit strategy. Other nations were to take over and lead in organized transitions. Maybe you would gain more points if you instead insisted that we should have stayed and finished, to hell with the other nations who we agreed to transition with. That wouldn't look good with the rest of the world first point of view you constantly spout. We might offend another nation. It is much easier attacking America, you've practiced this so often already.

Nancy, perhaps you leap to the word failure so easily because of what you have done since becoming speaker of the house. NOTHING. The only resolutions you have managed to pass are non-binding. The business of running America hasn't gotten done under your command. Your leadership has been a complete failure. Look over your promises when taking office.
You have failed to bring home the troops - you hold the purse strings.
You have failed to secure the border - no funding.
You have failed to provide immigration reform.
You have failed to fix the health-care crisis.
You have failed to improve foreign relations - visiting they enemy was interesting.
Nancy "Failure" Pelosi does have a nice ring to it. You are leading a congress with one of the worst approval ratings. Bush is horrible but he is still beating you out by ten points.
Article

Which Liberal for President?

Look over the available candidates. You have the full spectrum of liberalism available for the choosing.
You have mild liberal Huckabee, who panders to illegals and spends wildly the peoples money.
You have moderate liberal McCain, who is against free speech and closed borders to name a few.
You have leftist moderate liberal Clinton, who would place us in a socialist society on almost every issue.
You have extreme Left Liberal Obama, who has yet to put anything substantial forward as to his direction of leadership but past performance takes him off the chart left.
There's the line up. When Americans pole 86% right, every attempt to pull them hard left is now out of the box. All that this nation was built on and stood for has been placed at the edge of the cliff and our only choice is to jump. The only remaining question is how far out? The slippery slope isn't even an option here.
I am so ashamed of our American political system right now. A nation that was founded on principals of majority and religious freedom, has taken a complete about face.
Where is MY America?

Article of Interest
Quote from Article:

the presidential candidates of both parties would be willing to use the bully pulpit and governing power of the presidency to suppress political speech, punish producers, oil companies and drug companies, open wider our borders, cater to the whacko environmental movement and its junk-science-driven pseudo-consensus on global warming, nominate judges who don't "wear their conservatism on their sleeve," close Gitmo, confer constitutional civil liberties on enemy combatants, end life-saving interrogation techniques, demonize evangelical conservatives, and obstruct efforts of conservative Republican legislators.

Republicans Better Get It Together

We have pretty much blown any chance of electing a conservative. The only candidate with some conservative credentials is Romney. The rest are liberals and wackos wanting to pander our vote.
Pick an issue:
Borders -- They have enacted illegal friendly policies.
Life -- They have preferred death directed policies. (abortion, euthanasia)
Economy -- They have voted for increases in taxes.
WOT -- They are looking at negotiations instead of elimination of terrorists.
English -- They pursue policies of mixed language and multiculturalism.
Culture -- They want to discard marriage and family traditions.

Look at McCain -- on the issues facing our nation today, John McCain is no more conservative or Republican than Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. In fact, after more than three decades in Washington DC, his friends are not Washington conservatives, but Washington liberals like Clinton, Obama, Kennedy, Lieberman, Graham and Martinez.

Huckabee tries to claim he is a conservative simply because he was a Baptist preacher. Look at the policies he signed into law in Arkansas. He made the Clinton's look conservative.

We need to clear our heads and take this matter seriously. We can't afford the cost of one of these men becoming the president. Stop sitting there and start taking steps to save America.

Here are some great articles to sum up the points and help us strive for the goals.
How the Republican Party Committed National Suicide
Time For Some REAL Straight Talk

Stimulus Package Nonsense

Here is a great article that says it like it is.

Stimulus Package Nonsense

By Walter E. Williams
CNSNews.com Commentary
January 31, 2008
Some Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls are preaching economic doom and gloom, disappearing middle class, and failing health care industry. What's their solution? The short answer is give them more control over our lives.

...........

The imaginary hobgoblin this time is the threat of an oncoming recession, even though it is by no means clear that the U.S. economy is in a recession. To head off a recession, politicians, including President Bush, are calling for a stimulus package.

..........

There are three ways government can get the money for a stimulus package. It can tax, borrow or inflate the currency by printing money. If government taxes to hand out money, one person is stimulated at the expense of another who pays the tax, who is unstimulated and has less money to spend. If government borrows the money, it's the same story. This time the unstimulated person is the lender who has less money to spend. And if government prints money, creditors, and then everyone else, are unstimulated. As my colleague Russell Roberts said in a NPR broadcast, "It's like taking a bucket of water from the deep end of a pool and dumping it into the shallow end. Funny thing -- the water in the shallow end doesn't get any deeper."

Go read the entire article. It is worth the time. It sounds like he might have read my rant, "Hang Onto Your Wallets".

Hat tip to HeavyHanded for pointing this out.