Archive for the ‘Economy’ Category
What is a “fair share?”
“We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes non work.” ~ Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize economist Was Friedman forecasting today’s reality? In one tax year reported in the Statistical Abstract of the United States, millionaires earned 100 times as much as people earning $30,000, but paid 300 times as much tax. The top 20% […]
The Welfare State
“A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.” ~ George Bernard Shaw Shouldn’t those advocating the United States continue its ever-expanding welfare state look more closely at what is happening in Europe under the staggering weight of its “cradle to grave” welfare mentality? Though it sounds charitable […]
Avoiding debt
“We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.” – Sir Winston Churchill Before Christmas, Pamela Yip wrote a column in The Dallas Morning News offering advice on ways to avoid holiday debt, including […]
I’m entitled
“Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions – it only guarantees equality of opportunity.” Irving Kristol, 1920-2009 American columnist Undercover Boss is a television reality show in which a company CEO goes undercover in his or her own company, pretending to be applying for a job. On a recent episode, the CEO of Mack Trucks […]
“Other people’s money”
“Socialist governments do traditionally make a financial mess. They always run out of other people’s money.” Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister, 1979 – 1990 She added, “. . . They’re now trying to control everything, . . . reducing the choice available to ordinary people.” Does this sound like our government since the 1940s when […]
Government economics and free markets
Can our free market economy survive the federal government? The president and Congress may get to learn what C.S. Lewis meant when he defined experience as “that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.” Hopefully, you do learn, but not always, which leads us to the economic theories of Vice […]
Free market economy?
Discussing the economy, the President said the private sector is “still nervous about whether they want to go ahead and take the risks that are inherent in a free market system.” But, the private sector is not afraid of free markets, it is afraid of continued government interference and fears how much more it will […]
The damnpolitician and the farmer
Last week, I proponed the Founding Fathers had only two requirements to be president of the United States because they wanted to protect the people’s power to choose the president. They did not want those writing the Constitution and those later “interpreting” it to be able to limit our choices. They assumed people like you […]
Spending the people’s money
“Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.” − Ronald Reagan Is it an appropriate use of taxpayer money to fund a “tattoo removal violence prevention program,” a Sparta Teapot museum, a program to communicate with extra-terrestrials, the Pleasure […]
The entitled generation
Last week I watched a news report on a new type of life crisis. Well, sort of. A young reporter discussed the many difficulties facing the 25-year-olds as they finish college. Wait a minute? Why are 25-year-olds just finishing college? Did they take a few years off along the way? How did they do that? […]
More jobs, larger tax base, fewer entitlements
The government continues wasting our money, leading us further into socialism and worse. Our leaders refuse to understand that the free market economy works, but only if the government stops trying to help. Nonetheless, government continues handing out “free” money, people little noticing that they are becoming dependent on those monies and losing the incentive […]
Is the government the new “company store?”
How well does the government manage our money? Do our elected leaders spend it responsibly and frugally, as they should? Sen. Charles Schumer answered these questions saying, “Let me say this to all the chattering class that so much focuses on those little, tiny, yes, porky amendments: ‘the American people really don’t care.’” He was […]
Roosevelt or Reagan?
Our country’s leaders believe President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal ended the Great Depression and saved the economy. Are they right? Did his New Deal end the depression or even shorten it? Take a moment and consider the Roosevelt logic Congress is using with our current situation. They believe they can fix the economy if they […]
California’s latest budget crisis
Experts projected California would have budget deficits of more than $35 billion, requiring massive budget cuts and tax increases. The Governor proposed $17 billion in program cuts and $8.3 billion in tax increases. Education programs faced over $2.7 billion in cuts with proposed additional cuts of $5.2 billion. In a recall petition, the governor was […]
You’re Beulah’s son, aren’t you?
Several years ago my wife and I were in Arrick’s Fly Shop in West Yellowstone, Montana. She was wearing a sweatshirt from the Bolder Boulder 10k Memorial Day Road Race, which my brother founded in Boulder, Colorado, in 1978. An older man working in the shop came over to my wife and asked about her sweatshirt saying […]
Is FDR’s New Deal the answer?
Did President Franklin Roosevelt and his “New Deal” shorten the recovery from the Great Depression? Was government intervention in the economy helpful or hurtful or both? Some economists suggest the government manipulated market forces too much and actually prolonged the recovery. President Roosevelt put into effect his recovery plan immediately after his inauguration in 1933, […]