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Via Drudge on FB: What are your predictions for the United States and the world if Hillary becomes the next President?
Joshua Andrew Newcomb What difference does it make?
Hall of Shame
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(Reason). A new poll of unemployed Americans finds that almost half of them have given up looking for a job.
There are actually lots of jobs that require brief training, skilled trades and the oil field are good opportunities. Hard work and long hours but the pay is pretty good. Not gonna get to use that liberal arts degree much but hey a paycheck is a paycheck.
Whole lot of frictional unemployment going on these days.
For many unemployed middle-aged workers, some of the more physically demanding occupations, like oilfield work, are not viable (never mind those who are tied down to mortgages, family responsibilities, etc.), never mind moving to a place like Williston, ND where housing, etc., is in short supply. We have a market which is all but dysfunctional due to activist fiscal and monetary policy. Whereas some states like ND and TX have abundant natural resources, keep in mind natural resources ultimately rely on a robust diversified economy, just like a housing bubble couldn't be justified on stagnant household incomes.
No, it's not frictional unemployment, e.g., people losing or quitting their jobs before they line up a new job; this is still an employer's market; this is clear from stagnant income figures.
The issue has more to do with distortions from a free market from a clueless Administration which repeated Hoover's and FDR's counterproductive strategies prolonging the Depression, fixated on policies increasing economic uncertainty, picking winners and losers in the economy, etc. They went on ineffective spending and dysfunctional regulatory binges
(Reason). Yet another in the endless series of "Officer Friendly At Work" videos includes depressing revelations about how policing is done in these here United States. See second video under Hall of Shame.
I'm getting really tired of the all cops are bad meme. It simply isn't true, yes there are bad guys that are cops, there are also good guys, you never hear about the good guys. The bureaucracies that have been put in place by us including the unions are the reason that the bad guys continue to be employed.
To the police apologists in this thread, does this include the blue code of silence? There is no excuse for an armed police officer to terrorize and abuse unarmed, outnumbered citizens; it's legal thuggery. The police chief and union generally stand behind accused cops even when there's documented abuse. What do you think happens when there are no witnesses, when it's your word vs. theirs'? There but for the grace of God...
(Reason). If people go around eating things labeled hummus that aren't really hummus, all sorts of…things…could happen. Disappointed party guests, for example!
I thought fraud was one of the (few) things CATO believed should be regulated. If we don't define what X is, how do we define fraud? If I label motor oil as "soda", does Reason suggest Caveat Emptor?
No, it's not fraud. It depends how it is being marketed. If someone misrepresents ingredients in their variant of hummus or explicitly suggests, say, it's the same or tastes the same as traditionally prepared hummus, that might be fraudulent. But just because I tweak a recipe of, say, an apple pie, doesn't mean that Sara Lee has the right to bar my right to sell my version of an apple pie, because it's not made the traditional way. The bottom line is, the consumer has the right to determine the success of my pie, whatever I call it. Now in the case if I use a hybrid mixture of chickpeas with other ingredients in making hummus? The Big Chickpea should be able to market its pure form, not unlike kosher hot dogs.
(Cato Institute). "The Clause may seem like a mere technicality, but for the Founders that “technicality” embodied principles that were important enough to fight a revolution against the most powerful army in the world."
This is idiotic, society exists and you take advantage of its maintenance and defense. You agree to the taxation by being a part of this well run society, there has been no theft.
I think the ancap position is exactly that, the slippery slope of enumerated powers. Even as a minarchist, I think we have an overtly overbuilt military and unnecessary international alliances; we only need so much of a military to protect us from those nefarious invaders from Mexico or Canada. There is a reason why the Founding Fathers debated the wisdom of a standing military. Even if you accept a minimal government to enforce individual rights and contracts and for the common defense doesn't imply a blank check: there's the diminishing rate of return for these interventions.
(Drudge Report). What are your predictions for the United States and the world if Hillary becomes the next President?
Just as political opposition to The One is seen as "racist", opposition to Ms. President Zipper will be seen as "sexist". She will build on the record of counterproductive, morally hazardous centrally planned domestic and international policies. If you think Carter and The One wearing sweaters and lowering thermostats is bad enough, wait until you hear Big Mommy nagging us from the Oval Office... She will attempt to "reform" ObamaCare deficits by going single-payer. The dollar and economy will collapse, and the Fed will find it impossible to cure. She will blame George W. Bush for all her problems. She will break the glass ceiling on incompetent, bad male Presidents.
(Reason). Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert: Just Talking About Immigration Reform Leads to Child Sex Slavery. Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert has an interesting reason for opposing...
Gohmert, like all anti-immigrants, has put the cart ahead of the horse. Any competent economist will tell you at least in the long run, liberalized immigration is win-win. The reason we have a black market in immigration is because we have an unduly restrictive immigration policy. Xenophobes, labor protectionists, and bigots try to put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. Crackpot theories, like the groundless human trafficking allegations, mask uglier, real motives. As a native Texan, I believe in open borders; Gohmert does not speak for us.
(Lew Rockwell). "How dare Republicans criticize VA health care as inefficient, government-run health care. They are the ones who failed to do something about it when they had absolute control of the government for over 4 years under Bush. And they are the ones who sent young men to fight senseless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have now overloaded the system," says Laurence Vance.
How dare they? First of all, don't confuse the GOP majorities from 2003-2006 with the super-majority in the 111th Congress. They couldn't even make the Bush tax cuts permanent. Second, bringing party into international meddling ignores the horrific tolls in WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, all initiated or escalated under Democrat administrations. Third, the funding for Iraq and Afghanistan after Dems took control of Congress in 2007 required their cooperation; in fact, The One has more than doubled Afghan casualties in less time AFTER he was elected on having the insight to give a speech against Iraq intervention--the fact is, not only did Obama fail to reduce Bush's negotiated end date in Iraq, he was trying to extend our presence there. Some of us think hypocrisy deserves a special place in hell. Obama has spread undeclared wars in Libya, Yemen and elsewhere and clearly wanted to get involved in Syria: some Nobel Peace Prize winner!
Instead of engaging in ad hominem attacks, shouldn't Vance at least acknowledge the validity of GOP criticisms of the VA? Does anyone really doubt that vets would be better served by a competitive free market, by privatization of health care for vets? Doesn't everyone admit that GOP criticisms of government-run healthcare, over inevitable rationing, have been consistent?
I understand the demagoguery of a pox on both parties, but understand that reforms involving cuts or reforms to entitlements bring the special interests out of the woodwork, predictable resistance to change. Democrats will politically exploit uncertainty over necessary reforms. Unless you have solid control of the Congress and White House, it's hard to make unpopular reforms.
(Cato Institue). President Obama’s plan to treat excessive spending on wildland fire suppression by give the Forest Service more money is like attempting to put out a fire by throwing gasoline on it. Instead, firefighting decisions should be turned over to the states.
Apparently The One was a poor student of Saul Alinsky whom in part was a promoter of the principle of Subsidiarity.
Wow, really? It's as simple as that? I thought I'd see comparisons between State expenditures and effectiveness versus Federal efforts. Or an actual analysis. Or some real facts about fighting fires today versus historical efforts. Anything at all in fact but what I just wasted time reading... like really?
What evidence do you need about the failures of remote centralized planning? No doubt you were impressed with how the federal government handled Katrina--those well designed dams and levees, the execution of evacuation plans, the lawlessness in the aftermath... Heck of a job....
Troll stomping (on a Reason thread):
Anarcho capitalism is ridiculous. Free markets break down with asymmetric information. Legislating truth in labeling is not overly burdensome. Pure libertarianism won't work any better than any other pure ideology and the people pushing for it aren't doing our libertarian candidates any favors. The government does need to exist to provide economically public goods and minimize dead weight loss in markets.
Pretentious nonsense! Government, having a monopoly on force, creates more deadweight loss than anyone, is static in nature (unable to cope with the dynamism of the market); it perpetuates obsoleted business models by impeding free trade; it delays the production and marketing of innovative (including health-preserving) goods and services. You also assume only the government can provide common defense, infrastructure and arbitration services, manifestly false.
Still More Proposals
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Michael Ramirez via Townhall |
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| Via Brainy Miscellany They were trying to divide by zero |
Roberta Flack, "Killing Me Softly"
