Socialism 101

The following excerpts comes from the ebook Capitalism: A Treaty on Economics by George Reisman. Keep the excerpts in mind when thinking about Obamacare:

Capitalism has planning—the planning of each and every person who participates in the economic system.

The most fundamental fact about socialism is that government ownership of the means of production constitutes an attempt to make intelligence and initiative in production a monopoly of the state.

Socialism simply prohibits all of the independent planning of millions of free, self-interested individuals that is required to run an economic system in a rational and ordered way.

It follows from the powerlessness of the plain citizens that the government of a socialist country is not and has no reason to be interested in anyone’s values but those of its rulers.

Under socialism, economic development is possible only under the kind of tyranny and mass murder practiced by Stalin.

Now the way socialism is to achieve a price system is by dividing the socialist economy up into separate sections or firms. Each will be assigned a balance at the government’s central bank. The government will set prices for all goods and services. At least on paper, these firms will then buy from and sell to each other; they will also sell to consumers and pay wages. They will pay interest on capital to the government’s central bank and even to other enterprises, and they will record profits and losses.

Self-interest, operating under the freedom of competition, is the driving force of price determination under capitalism. Government control of prices thwarts this driving force.

“Market socialism” wants the socialist government to place capital in the hands of firms and individuals who will have absolutely no incentives of ownership, and then to give them discretion as to its investment. It wants the government to delegate its responsibility for investment to them, by giving them capital and then telling them to go and make believe they are capitalists.

In sum, the essential facts are these. Socialism must commence with an enormous act of theft. Those who seriously want to steal must be prepared to kill those whom they plan to rob. In effect, the Social Democrats are mere con men and pickpockets, who engage in empty talk about pulling the “big job”—socialism— someday, and who flee before the first sign of resistance by their intended victims.

If socialism is not to be achieved by open force, the only other way it can be achieved is behind people’s backs—i.e., by fraud—which is the method of price and wage controls. This was the route chosen by the Nazis.

Since a socialist economic system functions in a state of continuous chaos and chronic crisis, it is very easy for any given official to be singled out and blamed for some disaster caused by socialism’s anarchy of production.

Cops: Man playing real-life 'Frogger' hit by SUV

From Associated Press (Dec. 30, 2010):

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — A man has been hospitalized after police in South Carolina say he was hit by an SUV while playing a real-life version of the video game "Frogger."

Authorities said the 23-year-old man was taken to a hospital in Anderson after he was struck at around 9 p.m. Monday.

In the "Frogger" arcade game, players move frogs through traffic on a busy road and through a hazard-filled river. Before he was hit, police say the man had been discussing the game with his friends. [read more]

Well, that’s a smart idea. Not! Excuse me I must have left my brains at home.

A 23-year old discussing a game invented in 1981? The game is older that he is! I remember the game when it came out (yes, I am dating myself). I guess game manufactures are bringing back the classics for the younger generation. Plus you can play Frogger online.

I am glad this idiot err I mean this man is okay—well he is in stable condition anyway. The accident could have been much much worse.

Earth project aims to 'simulate everything'

From BBC.News.uk (Dec. 27, 2010):

An international group of scientists are aiming to create a simulator that can replicate everything happening on Earth - from global weather patterns and the spread of diseases to international financial transactions or congestion on Milton Keynes' roads.

Nicknamed the Living Earth Simulator (LES), the project aims to advance the scientific understanding of what is taking place on the planet, encapsulating the human actions that shape societies and the environmental forces that define the physical world. [read more]

Interesting. But I get nervous when George Soros likes this project. Soros comments:

"The team of scientists that Dr. Helbing has gathered together can, I believe, make a significant contribution to the understanding of the evolution and change in societies as they meet the formidable issues of governance, climate change, sustainable economic balance that we are all faced with in the coming decades."

The UN (or any socialistic leaders) could use this modeling to make economic or political policy. They could justify almost any policy using this project as a defense. Is this LES a precursor to the New World Order?

If this simulator says socialism is a good idea then you know the data going into it is bogus.

Holograms on cell phones coming in five years, IBM predicts

From Computerworld.com (Dec. 27):

In five years, cell phones will be able to produce holograms of friends and colleagues talking and moving in real time, IBM researchers say.

"We see 3D [video] technology moving into the cell phone, which will have the ability to transmit information off the cell phone to create a 3D hologram, projecting the hologram on any surface in life size," said Paul Bloom, IBM's CTO for telecommunications research, in a recent interview. [read more]

Cool. The mock-up photo reminds of the hologram of Princess Lea projecting from R2D2 in the movie Star Wars.

Obama Returns to End-of-Life Plan That Caused Stir

From The New York Times.com (Dec. 25):

WASHINGTON — When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over “death panels,” Democrats dropped it from legislation to overhaul the health care system. But the Obama administration will achieve the same goal by regulation, starting Jan. 1.

Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment.

“While we are very happy with the result, we won’t be shouting it from the rooftops because we aren’t out of the woods yet,” Mr. Blumenauer’s office said in an e-mail in early November to people working with him on the issue. “This regulation could be modified or reversed, especially if Republican leaders try to use this small provision to perpetuate the ‘death panel’ myth.”  [read more]

I also heard this on Fox News too. Will  doctors get a bonus if they are able to persuade a patient to forg0 aggressive life-sustaining treatment? Nah. Then again since the gov’t is paying for the treatment they can dictate what treatments they will cover—you know like health insurance companies do now. And if the gov’t runs out of money for the treatment guess what will happen next. That’s right—no treatment at all or the minimal amount of treatment. And you have no choice or option in the matter since the gov’t is all you have for health insurance.

Environmentalists Can Be Smug Jerks

I read this first in Popular Science August 2010:

According to a study, when people feel they have been morally virtuous by saving the planet through their purchases of organic baby food, for example, it leads to the "licensing [of] selfish and morally questionable behavior", otherwise known as "moral balancing" or "compensatory ethics".

“Do Green Products Make Us Better People” is published in the latest edition of the journal Psychological Science. Its authors, Canadian psychologists Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong, argue that people who wear what they call the "halo of green consumerism" are less likely to be kind to others, and more likely to cheat and steal. "Virtuous acts can license subsequent asocial and unethical behaviors," they write.

Well, people have been conned if they buy green products they are saving the world. So, of course environmentalists think they are better (read: do-gooders) who don’t buy green products. They develop a superiority complex.

There is nothing wrong with cleaning up pollution, recycling and even reusing certain products. That’s practical environmentalism. We are custodians of the planet. But thinking if you saving earth by using some green product is saving the earth—you are deluding yourself. You don’t have that much power over it. And if you worship the earth over God—you are a pagan.

The Mighty Casey

The following plot summary comes from a Twilight Zone episode called The Mighty Casey broadcasted first in 1960:

"Mouth" McGarry, the manager of a broken-down baseball team on its last legs, allows a robot named Casey to play on his team. Casey has the ability to throw super-fast balls that cannot be hit. Eventually, after Casey is beaned by a ball and given a physical examination, the National League finds out and rules that Casey must be taken off the team because he is not human. Casey's inventor, Dr. Stillman, gives him an "artificial" heart to have him classified as human. Now that Casey has human emotions, he refuses to throw his fast balls anymore. He says that he feels empathy with the batter and does not want to ruin the batter's career by striking him out.

Is it me or did Casey turn into a liberal after getting that “heart” (which was just a ticking clock)? He certainly became politically correct. I know this is just fiction but I don’t think striking out a batter would ruin his career. It seems he became completely emotional and lost all logical thought—real strange for a robot. Then again for liberal robot it might make some sort of weird sense.
I am not sure what Rod Serling’s political stance was but I think he may have been poking fun at the left.

Miscellaneous Thoughts Part 19

• Why not have self-serve pat downs at airports?
• If the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany had completely different ideologies then why did the Soviet Union make a treaty with Germany? You don’t make a treaty with someone you don’t have affinity with.
• If you are an introvert or an individualist in a collectivist state then you might be diagnosed as mentally ill by that same state.
• I think Glenn Beck should interview George Soros in a neutral meeting place like France.
• When going ghost hunting it might be a good idea not to eat any gaseous food before hunting. The food might cause contamination during the hunting.
• Oatmeal and oat bran are Drano for the intestines.
• An euphuism for flatulence:  Bending air.
• The phrase “climate change” makes as much sense as asking someone how they feel and the reply is “I’m emotional.”
• Pot heads of the world unite! And do nothing or you know you might go and get some munchies and laugh uncontrollably….
• Helen Keller must have had it bad. She could not hear someone yelling “Watch out for that…!”

Strange Thinking…Or Maybe Not

There are those in Congress who think that you cannot give income tax relief if it is not paid for.  Now, taxpayers like me would say that doesn’t make any sense. Not paid for? The gov’t is not giving any money to taxpayers. Income belongs to the taxpayer. And the taxpayer gives money to the gov’t via taxes.
But you are not thinking with the correct mindset. Those with this mindset thinks any income the gov’t doesn’t receive via taxes is a cost to the gov’t. A Congressman actually said this. Therefore if tax relief is a cost then the gov’t has to get the money from somewhere else other than taxes. Got it?
If you don’t get it then think of it this way: You are an employee and your boss has announced there will be no more raises until business improves. Until you get paid your paycheck or bonus is the property of the company you work for. It controls your pay. Certain Congressmen think they are your boss. That the money you give to the gov’t via taxes is their money or the government’s. Not yours. Tax relief in their eyes is a raise for you. Understand now? Kind of confusing huh.
If this a strange mindset for the everyday person it is not for those in power who have this mindset. It completely makes sense for them. And there’s the rub. This mindset is not strange for them.

The Inside-Out Strategy

The former White House green jobs czar Van Jones said this:

The opportunity is to recognize that a governing movement is three things: It's top-down — you handled that, you got the White House, the Senate and the House. You handled the top-down. But it's also bottom-up and inside-out. Top-down, bottom-up and inside-out. So now your challenge, as you leave here — our challenge — is to take care of that bottom-up part and that inside-out part: the heart part. That's where we're weak now. And we have the chance as we move forward to take the old admonition from the South African movement and govern from below.

Visualize this: You, the citizen, are the inside-out part inside a clamp where the radicalized gov’t is the top-down part of the clamp and the rioters like the labor unions are the bottom-up part of the clamp. The far-Left wants you squeezed. This is what happened during the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. You get people scared, confused, and frustrated and then they want someone to save them ie the gov’t.  Could this be happening in America today?

Well, the tax code is confusing that is for sure. Frustrating is right up there.

Then there is Obamacare. That is definitely confusing. Scary? A real possibility since it takes some of your rights away.

Could airport security scans and searches be part of this plan?

Or how about increasing prices on food and oil or other staples of life. That would make people scared or at least worried.

And how about that smart grid technology that gives the gov’t the power to control your heating and air conditioning and other things as well?

The radicals want people dependent on the gov’t and panicking.  They don’t want people thinking about what’s happening around them. The radicals need people’s mind and hearts inside-out. Otherwise this plan fails.

The Magic Square Analogy

If you add the rows, columns, the longest diagonals, and even the four corners of the inner and outer squares you get the sum of  34.  If you notice every number is unique. Because of this you cannot swap one number with another without breaking the balance. The “magic” would then disappear.  This I believe is the essence of individualism. Each member contributes his own uniqueness.

Contrast the magic square with the square above. Most of the columns, and diagonals add up to 34. But the four corners don’t and one diagonal does not add up to 34. This square has no “magic”. And it is very boring to look at I think. You can make a magic square out of this square though by removing 10’s. But then it would be really uninteresting. This is the essence of collectivism. Everybody is the same. No individuality. And if you don’t fit in the collective group like the 10’s you might be called an outsider and even exiled from the group to create some artificial balance.  Also, the above square is what wealth-redistributionists have in mind unlike the magic square where everyone is free to earn their own income level.

Magic squares have been around for a long time. Even Benjamin Franklin was fascinated by them. That’s where I first learned of them by reading a book about him.

Washington Set to Control Your Light Switch

From BigGovernment.com (Nov. 29):

The next step in Green won’t even require Congressional approval. The Department of Energy recently decided they have authority over appliances in your home. Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently issued five new energy efficiency standards for large appliances, and is reworking the policy to include ten new categories. According to Assistant Energy Secretary Cathy Zoi “…we have a mandate. Where we can actually just issue regulations and do market transformation.”

It is like we are moving backwards in time, seeing modern life outlawed one convenience at a time. Right now social engineers are busy working on “Smart Grid” technology. (The perennial question: if environmental choices are actually so intelligent, why do the marketers have to convince us, with names like “Smart Car,” and “Insight?”) The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 set aside $11 billion dollars to begin construction of that grid.

Smart Grid sounds harmless and modern, but it will be incredibly intrusive. Appliances in the future will have microchips installed; when you plug them in, they will handshake with the grid, and a central authority will determine whether that appliance deserves to get power or not. If a bureaucrat in Washington decides that it’s not hot enough for you to put on the air conditioner, your air conditioner will not work. If the Fed decides that Margaritas lead to too much trouble on Cinco de Mayo, all blenders can be disabled for the day.

They can also turn off radios, televisions and computers. In the era of electronic information, restricting the freedom of the press is as easy as turning off the light. The idea is to conserve power, but a Smart Government will be able to use the technology to retain power as well. [read more]

  This is exactly what a dictatorship wishes it could do. This is close to absolute control as you can get. So, if the Obama administration does not want anyone to listen to Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck or anyone else it deems a threat to its policies it can zap the electricity to any radio that is tuned to that station during that time slot. Nice. Real nice.

Why Private Property Rights Matter

If though most readers knows what private property is I’ll explain it anyway for those who don’t. Private property is the clothes you own, the car you own, the house you own, etc. Basically anything that you own is private property including money. The key word here is private. Otherwise the state owns the property and can do what it wants with the property.
Since you own the property you can give it away, loan it out, or even destroy it if you wish. It is yours to do whatever you want with it.  But nobody can take it without your permission. “Thou shall not steal.” as it says in The Ten Commandments. God put that commandment in there for a reason. Owning private property is natural for mankind. It is part of our nature. It is even part of the Buddha’s Five Precepts. In a communal society stealing is not even a concept. How can you steal X from someone when everyone in the society owns X? By that very definition if you own X too then you are not stealing.
You could still get in trouble if you take something from somebody without the state’s permission. Since the state really owns the property it decides who gets what.  You might be taking something that was intended for someone else determined by the state. Or you could take something that was private property of the state and only the state. You really think private property will be  completely abolished in a communal society? The powers-that-be will always own their private property. That’s the way it was in the Soviet Union.
Also, if two or more people want the same object then someone has to determine who gets the object. Who you think that will be? Someone in authority of course like the state. If we are talking about large numbers of people like 10 or more people then the state has to determine who will get the object.  Smaller groups of people could get away with a pure communal society but even that could be problematic unless they are family or close friends.  By the way, if the state wants that object too then guess who gets it. The state of course. It will always get the best of everything.
Here are other things to think about in a communal society: The state could take something from you and give it to someone you don’t like or you don’t think needs it or deserves it. This could happen if the receiver is a friend or relative of the state. Also, if you spend time, effort, and/or money in making a product and then the state takes it from you and gives it to someone else where is the incentive to make it again just to have the state take it away from you again? None, unless you are making it for yourself and doing it for fun.

Soros group maps out Obama strategy for next 2 years

From Wnd.com (November 18):

A George Soros-funded think tank with deep ties to the White House has written a roadmap for President Obama to bypass the new Republican Congress and rule for the next two via executive order.

The plan calls for Obama to push a "progressive agenda" on issues of health care, economy, environment, education, federal government and foreign policy. [read more]

Well, that’s something unexpected. Not! If George Soros is the puppet master as Glenn Beck hypothesizes then who is the puppet? Barack Obama maybe? George Soros has been to the White House a couple of times.

Congressional Pay: A Good Idea

This idea I endorse comes from Glenn Beck. He stated this idea on his TV show on last Friday:

Congressman — here it is — congressman shall not be paid — shall not be paid more than those who are currently serving on the front line of duty. They shall never make more than that.

There's no reason why congressmen should be able to enrich themselves — make more than a guy who's on the front lines fighting, somebody who is in a tank right now, somebody else who is risking his life to save a child in another country. Are you kidding me? There is no justification for congressional salaries, none.

Demand Congress lower their salaries and their benefit to the same benefits offered to our soldiers, period.

Right on! How’s that for economic justice as the Left likes to say. Congress can either lower their salaries to equal that of the soldiers or raise the soldiers salaries to equal theirs. Or better yet, have Congress and the soldiers swap salaries for awhile. After all America is in debt and Congress can make some sacrifices like they want the taxpayers to do all the time.

Beck also thought that federal employees should not be paid higher than those serving in the front line of duty. Not bad either.

The Benefits of Banning Federal Funding

Ruth Fischbach and John Loike of Columbia University’s Center for Bioethics have noted that the George W. Bush administration’s 2001 federal funding ban on human embryonic stem-cell research led scientists kicking and screaming into developing alternative cell-transformation approaches---approaches that now show tremendous promise for new treatments.
What’s the moral of this story? Even research scientists are human. Instead of looking for alternatives they looked only for one solution because the gov’t discouraged other alternatives by not funding other alternatives—not deliberately but the result was still the same.  But when President Bush banned federal funding (he did not ban all funding, just federal) he made the researchers look for other sources of funding (like investment bankers, wealthy businessmen, etc.) or alternative approaches to the problem. In other words, Bush let the market decide not the government.
The moral above can be applied to other research the gov’t funds. In essence, the gov’t is saying “this research X  is the best research.” Which may or may not be true.  Especially in the long run when we can look at the results later on.
Source of first paragraph: Wrong. Why Experts Keep Failing Us---And How to Know When Not to Trust Them. (2010) by David H. Freedman.

The 15-day Calendar

The following is a 15-day calendar developed by Damon Vickers in his book The Day After the Dollar Crashes: A Survival Guide for the Rise of the New World Order  when America’s debt is monetized:

Day 1: China says no more bonds.

Day 2: Markets are spooked. Little eerie, quiet, but there's a — there's a kind of a hush all over Wall Street.

Day 3:  Rumors are happening.

Day 4:  Asian markets start to fall.

Day 5:  Dow plunges 900, maybe 1,000 points in 20 minutes.

Day 6: Europe raises their interest rates.

Day 7:  The market starts to rally.

Day 8: The market sells off 900 points.

Day 9: Market stabilizes.

Day 10: The dollar plunges. Ten to 15%.

Day 11: The Federal Reserve meet and then raises the interest rates 5 percent to 6 percent.

Day 12: The Dow falls 3,000 points in one day.

Day 13: The IMF and G20 meet.

Day 14: New World Order.

Day 15: People start breaking into the banks.

I haven’t actually read the book, but it sounds interesting and unnerving.  This information comes from a Glenn Beck TV show transcript.

The Things That Are Unseen Speech

The following speech was given by then Vice President Calvin Coolidge in 1923 at Wheaton College:

We do not need more material development, we need more spiritual development. We do not need more intellectual power, we need more  moral power. We do not need more knowledge, we need more character. We do not need more government, we need more culture. We do not need more law, we need more religion. We do not not need more  of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen. It is on that side of life that it is desirable to put  the emphasis at the present time. If that side be strengthened, the other side will take care of itself. It is that side which is the foundation of all else. If the foundation be firm, the superstructure will stand. The success or failure of liberal education, the justification of its protection and encouragement by the government, and of its support by society, will be measured by its ability to minister to this great cause, to perform the necessary services, to make the required redeeming sacrifices.

This speech should be displayed in the halls of Congress and The White House—especially today—minus the part about liberal education. He could have added  “We need more humility.” Interesting speech.

An Anatomy of a Crisis

This is how the far-Left plan to bring about the New World Order in America:

First, create or exploit a current crises in the country. This can be done by monetizing the debt so the dollar is worthless. No country will want to loan us money or buy any product from us. This will create hyperinflation. Creating high unemployment by high-taxation and over-regulation all businesses. Corrupting main stream religions with Marxism (collective salvation and social justice) and destroying the family—which is basically what welfare did to the black family. In other words create chaos in the country by any means necessary. Even using violence like in Greece.

Two, encourage the citizens to be dependent on gov’t programs like a drug addict. Discourage self-sufficiency and entrepreneurship. Discourage independence. Try to persuade people that the gov’t is a benevolent parent. This is done through public education.

The far-Left hopes there will be enough people in panic mode wanting a savior to help them. That’s where the far-Left says look toward the gov’t. It can save you they will say.  Then martial law will be invoked. Maybe not all at once but slowly.

Anyone that keeps his cool and says don’t trust the gov’t  will be treated as an enemy of the state.  Also, there will be scapegoats like big business or any big business that is not a friend of the state. The government will say big business caused this crises even if they didn’t.  Any conservative that wants to cut the budget like Social Security,  Medicare or any progressive gov’t program will be scapegoated.  The far-Left will say the Right wants to do harm to the elderly, etc. Then again the far-Left always does this. The State can never have anyone know they are the cause of the crises. Then you have a situation like in the French Revolution.

Don’t think this scenario can come true? It happen during the 1930’s in Germany and in Russia when the Soviet Union ruled.

One final note: George Soros said: “So, an orderly decline of the dollar is actually desirable [my italics].” Refer back to the First Step.

Also President Obama said before he got elected: “We are five days away from fundamentally changing the United States of America.” If that doesn’t give you chills I don’t know what will.

Miscellaneous Thoughts Part 18

• The socialist's/Marxist's motto: One nation under Government with equal misery for all. Or at least that's their unofficial motto.
• Ayn Rand said that the individual is the smallest minority. In mathematics there is a parallel. Single numbers are random by themselves because they cannot be compressed down to an equation. For example, 1, 5, 9, 12 is not a random sequence because it can be compressed to x = x + 4.
• If George Soros wants to spread the wealth around why doesn't he start with himself. He can give 1/3 of his wealth to the citizens of America.
• There should be a DVD called: "The Communists: A Warning from History" too.
• Next on The SyFy Channel: Killer Bees versus Fire Ants. Just joking. No such movie. Beside the bees would probably win anyway.
• The Left saying that the economy could be worse is like telling a car accident victim who has a broken rib and two broken legs it could be worse. He could have been run over by a steamroller. It doesn't make the victim feel any better.
• If the Left think big gov't is wonderful I wonder if they would use a public defender instead of a private one if they ever have to go to trial. Because even lawyers need incentive to do a decent job.
• If every country were free like America then you wouldn't need the UN. Or put it another way if every country had a constitution like America's then the UN would be obsolete.
• Randomness may just be complexity misinterpreted.
• Insane thought: Accordions in marching bands. Why not? They already have tubas. You could the marching band play polka songs then.