Socialism 101 Part 2

It follows directly from socialism’s fundamental moral and political premise, which is that the individual does not exist as an end in himself, but as a means to the ends of “Society.”

Private slave owners were motivated to treat their slaves with at least the same consideration they gave to their livestock, and to see to it that their overseers acted with the same consideration. But under socialism, the slaves are “public property”—the property of the state. Those who have charge of the slaves, therefore, have no personal economic interest in their lives or well-being. Since they are not owners of the slaves, they will not derive any personal material benefit if the slaves are alive to work in the future, nor suffer any personal material loss if the slaves are not alive to work in the future.

The fact that [an] enterprise is government owned merely means that it is operated without benefit of profit-and-loss incentives and the freedoms of individual initiative and competition. The result is almost always gross inefficiency, high costs, poor service, and low quality of products.

Government ownership does not give the alleged citizen-owner the psychological security that the possession of capital gives to a capitalist. Because, unlike the capitalist, he cannot sell his share in a government enterprise. Nor—except in the most unusual cases—does he receive dividends on his share.

Six Powers of the Secretary of HHS under Obamacare

The following powers of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) are from the Center for Health Transformation:

1. The Secretary will decide what clinical drugs seniors can access. (Section 3307)
2. The Secretary will instruct physicians and nurses exactly how to give a drug to their patients in long-term care facilities. (Section 3310)
3. The Secretary will determine how dentists and dental hygienists should examine your teeth. (Section 4102)
4. The Secretary can overrule states on what insurance rates can be whether they like it or not. (Section 2101)
5. The Secretary can use comparative effectiveness research to determine access to care for seniors, like they do for patients in the British National Health Service. (Section 3102)
6. The Secretary can set standard hospital charges that hospitals have to follow.

If go the the CHT website they have a chart that lists 1,968 grants and powers of Obamacare. That’s quite a few.

The Republicans should focus on the unconstitutionality of Obamacare. The gov’t does not have the right to force any citizen to buy health insurance. That would be like them forcing a person to buy low-fat ice cream. Force the advocates of Obamacare to defend the position that they can force you to buy health insurance.

I am not saying the other issues of Obamacare are not important. Increasing unemployment and increasing the debt are important. But  Obamacare is against what  America fundamentally stands for---freedom. The Senate should vote up or down on whether the Washington has the right to force citizens to buy insurance.

Climate change study had 'significant error': experts

From news.yahoo.com (Jan. 19):

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A climate change study that projected a 2.4 degree Celsius increase in temperature and massive worldwide food shortages in the next decade was seriously flawed, scientists said Wednesday.

The study was posted on the website of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was written about by numerous international news agencies, including AFP.

But AAAS later retracted the study as experts cited numerous errors in its approach. [read more]

The whole climate change theory is flawed in my opinion.

A scientific advisor to the report said: “We are headed to 2.4, it is just not going to happen in 2020." Try never going to happen period.

Comprehensive List of Tax Hikes in Obamacare

The following list of tax hikes comes from the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) website:

• Individual Mandate Excise Tax
• Employer Mandate Tax
• Surtax on Investment Income
• Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans
• Hike in Medicare Payroll Tax
• Medicine Cabinet Tax
• HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike
• Flexible Spending Account Cap – aka “Special Needs Kids Tax”
• Tax on Medical Device Manufacturers
• Raise "Haircut" for Medical Itemized Deduction from 7.5% to 10% of AGI
• Tax on Indoor Tanning Services
• Elimination of tax deduction for employer-provided retirement Rx drug coverage in coordination with Medicare Part D
• Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tax Hike
• Excise Tax on Charitable Hospitals
• Tax on Innovator Drug Companies
• Tax on Health Insurers
• $500,000 Annual Executive Compensation Limit for Health Insurance Executives
• Employer Reporting of Insurance on W-2
• Corporate 1099-MISC Information Reporting
• “Black liquor” tax hike. This is a tax increase on a type of bio-fuel.
• Codification of the “economic substance doctrine”

Wow, that’s a lot of tax increases! As Will Rogers might have said, The Left never met a tax increase they did not like. Man I hope Obamacare gets repealed. You can read more info about the tax increases at the ATR web page.

City puts a stop to homeless outreach

From chron.com (Jan. 13):

Bobby and Amanda Herring spent more than a year providing food to homeless people in downtown Houston every day. They fed them, left behind no trash and doled out warm meals peacefully without a single crime being committed, Bobby Herring said.

That ended two weeks ago when the city shut down their "Feed a Friend" effort for lack of a permit. And city officials say the couple most likely will not be able to obtain one.

Anyone serving food for public consumption, whether for the homeless or for sale, must have a permit, said Kathy Barton, a spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Department. To get that permit, the food must be prepared in a certified kitchen with a certified food manager.

The regulations are all the more essential in the case of the homeless, Barton said, because "poor people are the most vulnerable to food borne illness and also are the least likely to have access to health care." [read more]

They were shut down because they did not have a “certified” kitchen with a “certified” food manager? I think the the city managers are certified nuts. Then again that’s bureaucracy for you. Just wait, someone will be fined for giving a sandwich to a homeless person. After all the sandwich might not be made in a certified kitchen. Who knows.

The HHS department said they made this regulation to protect the homeless from food poison. I would think not starving to death would be more important to the homeless than getting sick. True, getting sick would be bad, but not as bad as starving to death. Couldn’t HHS just fined the outreach program instead of just shutting them down? Seems kind of harsh.

I wonder if the HHS would shut down homeless shelters if they weren’t “certified.” Probably. They would say the shelters did not keep the homeless warm or cool enough depending on the season. Didn’t have a certified temperature manager.

So, some police officers asked the outreach program to move to a location on city park land. Guess what happened next? If you said they weren’t allowed there either you would be correct.  They didn’t have permits (one from the parks department and one from health department) to move there! Sounds like a badly written comedy skit save for the fact it actually happened.

OPEC ministers say world can handle $100 oil

From MSNBC.com (Dec. 26):

CAIRO — The global economy can withstand an oil price of $100 a barrel, Kuwait's oil minister said on Saturday, as other exporters indicated OPEC may decide against increasing output through 2011 as the market was well supplied.

Arab oil exporters meeting in Cairo this weekend said they saw no need to supply more crude as stocks were high and prices had been inflated temporarily by cold weather in Europe.

Asked by Reuters if the world economy could stand a $100 oil price, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Abdullah al-Sabah said: "Yes it can." [read more]

America really needs to start drilling for oil again so we don’t have to rely on OPEC so much. And the POTUS putting a moratorium on off-shore drilling is just plain stupid. It wasn’t an American drilling rig that spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

We can all use sources of energy to be energy independent but oil is the blood of the economy. Almost every product uses it. Corn-based ethanol isn’t the answer either.

Oh, by the way, didn’t America save Kuwait’s butt in the Gulf War? You would think they would give countries that helped them out a break. I guess not.

Retracted autism study an 'elaborate fraud,' British journal finds

From CNN.com (Jan. 6):

A now-retracted British study that linked autism to childhood vaccines was an "elaborate fraud" that has done long-lasting damage to public health, a leading medical publication reported Wednesday.

An investigation published by the British medical journal BMJ concludes the study's author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, misrepresented or altered the medical histories of all 12 of the patients whose cases formed the basis of the 1998 study -- and that there was "no doubt" Wakefield was responsible.

"It's one thing to have a bad study, a study full of error, and for the authors then to admit that they made errors," Fiona Godlee, BMJ's editor-in-chief, told CNN. "But in this case, we have a very different picture of what seems to be a deliberate attempt to create an impression that there was a link by falsifying the data." [read more]

It’s one thing if scientists make human errors when doing a study, but it’s a completely different matter when they deliberately falsify data. Governmental policies are made from scientific studies. Bad studies lead to bad policies. Politicians and the public who are not an expert in the field of a specific science trust the study. 

Once upon a time science was about finding the truth. Early scientists wanted to know the mind of God when they were searching for the truth. Now it seems sadly that modern scientists are about politics,  money and/or status (read: to get published in a major science journal). Truth is not a priority anymore. I really hope that trend doesn’t continue or science will get a bad reputation and no-one will trust it anymore.

Russia Wants "Impenetrable" Missile Shield by 2020, General Says

From NTI.org (Jan. 6):

Russian General Staff chief Gen. Nikolai Makarov said the nation's armed forces intend by 2020 to field an "impenetrable" missile defense system, the Washington Times reported today (see GSN, Dec. 8, 2010). [read more]

Now isn’t that interesting! Russia did not want America to have a missile shield in central Europe but they want one themselves.

Look I don’t blame any country for protecting themselves. That’s fine. What I do mind is any country telling America we can’t have one.  Then to have our naive leaders believing  that not having any kind of protection will make America and the world safe. That’s not just plain nuts. It’s dangerous too.

Concern over proposed Greek border fence

From CNN.com (Jan. 4):

Athens, Greece (CNN) -- Greece's decision to build a 12-kilometer (7.5-mile) fence along its border with Turkey in a bid to curb illegal immigration has caused mixed reactions, with humanitarian agencies saying the fence could prevent asylum seekers from reaching safety.

Greek Public Order Minister Christos Papoutsis announced the decision, saying "action is necessary" because more than 100,000 people have entered Greece illegally in the past year, and the country "can no longer tolerate such high numbers."

The European Union border control agency Frontex has said that in October 2010, an average of 245 people per day crossed into Greece illegally, mostly from the overland crossing with Turkey in northeastern Greece. That's where the proposed fence is to be built. [read more]

What? Greece doesn’t believe in open borders? Someone alert George Soros. The Communists in Greece are upset about the fence. Well, they are upset because if countries put up fences then that kind of ruins the New World Order plan.

As a side note Turkey’s population is 99% Muslim while Greece’s population is 98% Christian (Greek Orthodox).  If I was a Leftist I would think that Greece had Islamophobia and that’s why they are building the fence.

Then again Greece’s “freedom” ranking is much higher than Turkey’s freedom ranking.  Could that explain the mass migration to Greece? Just a thought.

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.