So now we’re starting to see the effects of the government economic stimulus and recovery cash injections according to the Whitehouse. The Obama Administration (and his cheerleading squad) of course says it is a success. If you consult “economists” to get an answer you will be sadly disappointed, because most of them contradict each other. If you do some quick research on your own, what you will find is that unemployment is still going up and most of the 3.5% of the reported 3rd quarter growth was growth of government, and oh yeah by the way we have increased our money supply by 120% in the past year; which leads to hyperinflation. “Hyperinflations are caused by extremely rapid growth in the supply of “paper” money. They occur when the monetary and fiscal authorities of a nation regularly issue large quantities of money to pay for a large stream of government expenditures. In effect, inflation is a form of taxation in which the government gains at the expense of those who hold money while its value is declining. Hyperinflations are very large taxation schemes.” (http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Hyperinflation.html). If you look at history you will find that this formula has proven disastrous. In the mean time, our national deficit is skyrocketing, and politicians are proposing a scheme to add a trillion dollars to that deficit, because it’s just too difficult to ask people to be responsible to pay for their own healthcare or generally take responsibility for themselves.
I have often said that your life is not about the circumstances that you find yourself in, but rather the way you choose to face those circumstances. I think as a country we are failing to face our circumstances with wisdom and dignity. Instead of hunkering down and relying on each other as individual neighbors, we have chosen to ask the government to save us from discomfort. The funny thing is that there are social democracies all over Europe that have done the same thing. All of their economies are in trouble as well. Many have tax rates of 40-50 percent and government run healthcare plans that are so difficult to maintain they have to be heavily rationed. The main difference is that their governments are so big and powerful, that the individual is powerless to effect change. We won’t be saved from the discomfort. We will only prolong it.
If we throw away liberty in the pursuit of free stuff, or to relieve ourselves of our responsibility, what does that say about us? When the government can no longer sustain itself, you are taxed to the hilt and are powerless to change it because you gave liberty away...what will you have to show for it? Liberty, as it turns out, is not easy. It takes self responsibility, determination and hard work. But I would rather work at keeping liberty than work at getting it back.
"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it." – Thomas Jefferson 1791
Nick, I'm way out of my league here in the realm of political debate, but I'm curious as to how you're defining the term "liberty" in the context of the economic stimulus plan and current state of the economy.
ReplyDeleteLouis I'm glad you asked, because I don't think that people think in these terms anymore. I looked up the definition of liberty on Miriam Webster website and have included it below so we are working from the same definition (the quality or state of being free: a : the power to do as one pleases b : freedom from physical restraint c : freedom from arbitrary or despotic control d : the positive enjoyment of various social, political, or economic rights and privileges e : the power of choice). The debate about health care going on in our government is not one of welfare, but ideology. Whenever you give the government a stake in something, you are giving them the coercive power over your behavior. They have the right to use force and taxation to change that behavior.
ReplyDeleteTake healthcare for an example and follow it through the system. If you decide to live a generally unhealthy life and the government now has a stake in your life they can tell you that you have to make lifestyle changes. They want you to lose X number of pounds and eat only certain foods. They can tax you, force you or refuse further medical service until you comply. If you have private insurance they may want you to make the same lifestyle changes, but they don’t have coercive power. You can go to another company, agree to pay a higher price, or choose to have no healthcare. Its your choice and you will suffer the consequences of your lifestyle choice. Congress has already proposed taxes on soda and other foods high in sugar. Rationing is not only a possibility but a reality on any government provided system. When the government runs out of resources to care for people, they get to choose who will get care and who won’t. Its already happening in Canada and Europe.
Use the TARP as another example (You can also refer to my previous posts on this issue). The banks that received TARP money, are now subject to pay caps. You may say this is a good thing that if a corporation receives government money the government should control some of that money. There are consequences to this however. If you pay less than the competition you will lose people to higher paying organizations. Another problem is that now the government has created a plan to control how much anyone within financial corporations can make whether they took government money or not. The American Recovery and Reinvestment act gave billions of dollars to states for certain programs. The Federal government said the states must expand their welfare and unemployment programs (all states had to change large parts of their legal systems to except the money), but as a condition they can’t cut the programs when the money runs out. Now when the money runs out the states will still have troubled economies and more programs to fund. The states will have to raise taxes to compensate. This goes against the constitutional concept of Federalism.
The cap and trade legislation is no different. If the government deems CO2 emissions as dangerous, that means the government can control all aspects of CO2 emissions. In the EU (adopted cap and trade) utility companies are making huge profits and utility prices have increased by 75% in most places to receive the same service. This includes smart grid technology which monitors the amount of electricity, gas and water you use in order to regulate the system. This also gives the government the ability to tax you if you use whatever they deem as “too much” of any utility. In England there are millions of trash receptacles that use weight to tax people if they have too much trash. This all leads to higher taxes and higher costs. Not to mention our president is getting ready to sign a cap and trade treaty in Copenhagen in December that will overrule our constitution and allow international organizations to impose international laws within our borders without our consent.
I couldn't fit it in one post, I had to put the rest here:
ReplyDeleteI know that our government is telling us that they will not raise taxes to cover all of this, but if you believe that your nuts. Not to mention we don’t have the money for any of it. Our current debt is at about 9 Trillion dollars (before adding healthcare). Thomas Jefferson called this kind of government activity immoral. The men that forged our constitution called it Tyranny. Most of what I have described here goes against constitutional principles. In my opinion if people in this country really want all of this to happen fine, but don’t ignore the constitution. If people want all this stuff then they need to have the courage to throw out the constitution and go to a different form of government. This kind of reliance on the coercive powers of government to remove self responsibility has been the downfall of all great civilizations. The Roman Empire is the best example. Asking the government to use its coercive powers to take from some and give it to others is wrong. Liberty means you live within the scope of positive and negative consequences in your own life and don’t ask the government for a safety net…that's God's job, and He asks us to be responsible for ourselves and take care of our neighbors in need. Having the fortitude to live with liberty is what has made this country great.