A Nation of Peasants?

An article by Victor Davis Hanson:

Traditional peasant societies believe in only a limited good. The more your neighbor earns, the less someone else gets. Profits are seen as a sort of theft. They must be either hidden or redistributed. Envy rather than admiration of success reigns.

In contrast, Western civilization began with a very different ancient Greek idea of an autonomous citizen, not an indentured serf or subsistence peasant. The small, independent landowner -- if left to his own talents and if his success was protected by, and from, government -- would create new sources of wealth for everyone. The resulting greater bounty for the poor soon trumped their old jealousy of the better off.

The public is seldom told that 1 percent of taxpayers already pay 40 percent of the income taxes collected, while 40 percent of income earners are exempt from federal income tax -- or that present entitlements like Medicare and Social Security are financially unsustainable. Instead, they hear more often that those who managed to scheme to make above $250,000 per year have obligations to the rest of us to give back about 60 percent of what they earn in higher health care and income taxes -- together with payroll and rising state income taxes, and along with increased capital gains and inheritance taxes.

That limited-good mind-set expects that businesses will agree that they now make enough money and so have no need to pursue any more profits at the expense of others. Therefore, they will gladly still hire the unemployed and buy new equipment -- as they pay higher health care or income taxes to a government that knows far better how to redistribute their income to the more needy or deserving.

This peasant approach to commerce also assumes that businesses either cannot understand administration signals or can do nothing about them. So who cares that in the Chrysler bankruptcy settlement, quite arbitrarily the government put the unions in front of the legally entitled lenders? [read more]

Communism was able get a hold in old Russia because there were peasants there. Karl Marx convinced the peasants that Communism was good for them--which it wasn't. Punishing the successful didn't help the peasants. Their conditions never changed. It was all just a scam.

The dirty little secret is that The Ruling Class wants the rest of the population to be peasants. Because peasants are easier to control and manipulate. Or at least the Ruling Class hopes they will be that way.

UK Proposes All Paychecks Go to the State First

From CNBC.com (Sept. 20):

The UK's tax collection agency is putting forth a proposal that all employers send employee paychecks to the government, after which the government would deduct what it deems as the appropriate tax and pay the employees by bank transfer.

The proposal by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) stresses the need for employers to provide real-time information to the government so that it can monitor all payments and make a better assessment of whether the correct tax is being paid. [read more]

At first this may sound like a good idea. After all it saves the taxpayer mental aggravation in figuring out the tax code and doing the taxes. But what if the gov't screws up the tax calculation (which according to the article could happen)? If could take months for the gov't to correct their mistake.

The question is could this system be coming to America? I rather have a simplified tax system than the gov't just calculating what you owe and deducting it from your income automatically.

The Chronic Gambler and The Congressman

Giving money to a chronic gambler in debt is not much different than giving money to a deficit spending Congressman. In both cases, you'll never see any return on your money. The gambler says "I need more time" to hit the jackpot to pay the borrower back. The Congressman uses the excuse he needs to spend more money to get the country out of debt. But unless both bad habits are broken the behavior continues.
You could get your money from the gambler if you can outlive the law of averages. Then again the gambler might think he is on a winning streak and continue gambling.
It's all about self-control. Which neither one has.

Light bulb factory closes; End of era for U.S. means more jobs overseas

From the Washington Post.com (Sept. 8):

WINCHESTER, VA. - The last major GE factory making ordinary incandescent light bulbs in the United States is closing this month, marking a small, sad exit for a product and company that can trace their roots to Thomas Alva Edison's innovations in the 1870s.

The remaining 200 workers at the plant here will lose their jobs.

What made the plant here vulnerable is, in part, a 2007 energy conservation measure passed by Congress that set standards essentially banning [my emphasis] ordinary incandescents by 2014. The law will force millions of American households to switch to more efficient bulbs. [read more]

Yes, it is sad for a company to go out of business for no good reason. So, much for the economy growing. Then again this is what the environmental nuts wanted--the incandescent light bulb to disappear. It's one thing if a better light bulb comes along and replaces the a previous one just through normal market forces. But to have the "all-knowing" gov't ban a product because of some stupid reason, is just plain wrong.

It's a fact that gov't can't create business growth, but it sure as hell can destroy it.

Death Fog Mystery

In August 1986 in Cameroon nearly 2000 people dropped dead (plus cattle too) dropped dead by Lake Nyos without any signs of struggle or injury. It was a mystery to say the least.

To make a long story short it was CO₂ that was the culprit. CO₂ normally gets released from lakes in small amounts, but in this case huge amounts of CO₂ were released from the bottom of the lake all at once. A person can take small amounts of CO₂ but not huge amounts--you suffocate.

Most scientists thought a volcano caused the deaths. Because survivors smelled volcanic gases and the non-survivors were burnt. But the evidence did not add up to that conclusion.

One scientist named Haraldur Sigurdsson came to the conclusion that CO₂ was the cause of the deaths from previous experience with similar deaths in 1984 in Cameroon with another lake. Eventually his theory was the correct one. The burns were caused from the freezing CO₂ aka dry ice. As for the smell of volcanic gases it was just an olfactory hallucination.

What's interesting about this incident is the psychology. The Cameroon gov't did not initially believe Sigurdsson because of the consensus of the other scientists who thought a volcano eruption caused the deaths. But good scientific investigation won out. As it should. Does this scenario sound familiar to you? (Hint: notice the italics)

As a side note, the EPA has plans to capture and store CO₂ deep underground. Er, okay.

Bill of Rights Institute

I found an interesting website that teaches high school students about the bill of rights called of course Bill of Rights Institute.org. For example one of the lesson plans is called Citizenship and Character: Understanding America's Civil Values. This is what is in the text book:

1. Courage: The Declaration of Independence
2. Respect: First Amendment; Freedom of Religion; Madison’s Memorial and Remonstrance
3. Consideration: First Amendment; Freedom of Speech
4. Perseverance: First Amendment; Petition and Assembly
5. Industry: Fourth and Fifth Amendments
6. Responsibility: Magna Carta; Fifth and Sixth Amendments
7. Justice: The Bill of Rights; Virginia Declaration of Rights; Pledge of Allegiance
8. Initiative: The Voting Amendments
9. Moderation: Franklin’s Autobiography; Washington’s Farewell Address; Jefferson’s Dialogue
10. Integrity: The United States Constitution

The website also has free resources for teachers (although anyone wanting to bone up on their American history can use these resources) like the Founders Online and Founding Documents. For students (or anyone really) is a quiz about the Constitution and the Founders. This quiz is also on the Good Web Sites list on the left.

From what I've seen a very good institute for high school students.

Environmental Protection Agency Reviewing Petition to Ban Lead Bullets

From Weekly Standard.com (August 27):

Will Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson make a back door move to ban lead bullets the day before the November 2 elections?

Several environmentalist groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) are petitioning the EPA to ban lead bullets and shot (as well as lead sinkers for fishing) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Although EPA is barred by statute from controlling ammunition, CBD is seeking to work farther back along the manufacturing chain and have EPA ban the use of lead in bullets and shot because non-lead alternatives are available. But here's the catch: the alternatives to lead bullets are more expensive [my italics]. A ban on the sale of lead ammunition would force hunters and sport shooters to buy non-lead ammunition that is often double the cost of traditional lead ammunition. A box of deer hunting bullets in a popular caliber could be upwards of $55. [read more]

I think the US gov't has gone insane--if not already. Although this is a sneaky end-run around gun control. Instead of banning guns--just make the bullets more expensive to buy. And blame it on "saving the environment." You get the same result. Less people owning guns. You can't use a gun if you don't have ammunition for it.

Screen Guide for Americans

The following was written by Ayn Rand for the Motion Picture Alliance for American Ideals. These were meant to be suggestions:

1. Don't take politics lightly.
2. Don't smear the free enterprise system.
3. Don't smear weath.
4. Don't smear the profit motive.
5. Don't smear success.
6. Don't glorify failure.
7. Don't glorify depravity.
8. Don't deify "the common man."
9. Don't glorify the collective.
10. Don't smear the independent man.
11. Don't use current events carelessly.
12. Don't smear American political institutions.

Pretty good suggestions. Nowadays motion pictures are doing exactly the opposite. Notice the suggestions did not say you couldn't criticize politicians.