Friday, September 19, 2008

Hatred, Political Apathy and Government Corruption; How Can You Make an Informed Vote

I don't understand the hate people have for others who believe differently than they do, especially in politics. It's crazy. When people are so filled with hate, freedoms are taken away, or worse. If those like current far left liberals/social progressives in hollywood, in congress and elsewhere ever totally controlled government it would be just as bad as far right conservatives taking away religious and other freedoms. We would also be a socialist type country, which means they would have to change, ignore and/or amend the constitution. Changing the constitution would be one of the worst things that could happen to this country. That is why politicians, like Barack Obama, that think the constitution is a fluid document, open to interpretation really scare me. I may think Obama could seriously damage this country and the middle class and below, but I do not hate him, I do not want his freedoms taken away nor do I want to force him to believe the way I do.

I am a skeptic when it comes to politics. That is why I study economics, taxes, history, countries, states and cities and what party is running them, etc. Then I can choose a candidate based on economic and other facts. Knowing these facts and having at least a basic understanding of economics will help keep you from being misled. There is so much misinformation everywhere you turn; it is just so easy to be misled these days. Politician’s records, their voting records, the people they surround themselves with and listening to what they say well before the final days of an election are all important in making an informed decision.

One reason for the lack of enthusiasm for either presidential candidate is that they both are members of congress. Historically Americans favor candidates that are governors or vice presidents. I agree with this. I am usually more enthusiastic about and would rather vote for candidates that are governors. They have more experience, because they are the executive officer of a state. They have to lead, make executive decisions and run the state. This more closely matches the duties of the president. They may not have foreign policy experience, but history is full of presidents that were governors, including the last two. Also, three of the candidates are members of what may be the worst congress in history. Because Barack Obama has been in congress for only one term and has only been there 160 days out of the 4 years he’s served, he has the least experience. His lack of experience shows when you hear him speak. I could go as far as say that Sarah Palin has the most experience just because she is a governor. I am also not a fan of candidates who are lawyers. Both candidates on the democrat ticket are lawyers. It seems that a lot of democrat candidates seem to be lawyers these days. The president of the United States and any politician should be an example to everyone, so moral decisions and behavior are a factor in my decision.

I don't know if you can make an informed decision based on major network news anymore. They seem to bias and ignore things to support who they think you should vote for, whether it is Obama over Hillary Clinton or Obama over John McCain. This is becoming a serious obstacle keeping Americans from making an informed decision. The media is at risk of becoming propaganda. The American public does not like to be told by the media or other countries around the world who they should vote for. The 30 lawyers for Obama scouring Alaska for anything bad they can find on Sarah Palin is one thing, but why are so many media journalists in Alaska trying to do the same thing as well? Why are they only going after one candidate, what about the others? There are so many questions that need to be asked about Obama and Biden and the media is ignoring them. Where are all the fluff pieces on McCain and Palin and their families, like the ones we saw earlier on Obama and his family? Why are they going along with the off limit lists of topics that Obama and his wife bring to interviews? That is not typical media behavior. The presidential race is too important to selectively give any one candidate a pass on serious questions.

Why is the media ignoring the success the surge has had in Iraq? You can’t blame it on the old standard “the media only reports the negative” answer. If that were true, you would hear a lot more negative news about the Obama/Biden presidential campaign, instead of the consistently positive news.

Democrats have been calling for our troops to be withdrawn from Iraq, saying the surge was destined to fail. Now that the surge is working they have been forced to acknowledge it. And yet many still ignore it and some even still say it is not working. Why are they misleading the American people? What does this say about their foreign policy experience? How can they make good decisions and lead America if they ignore facts? A good leader can only make the right decisions if they base their decisions on all the facts, both positive and negative, regardless of their political bias.

It is rather remarkable that the US economy came out of the recession that began toward the end of the Clinton administration and has been growing for the past 8 years, despite high gas prices, the weak dollar, the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Iraq war, the worst congress ever, the housing market bubble bursting bringing to light the housing and financial scandals and the media and politicians only reporting negative information about the economy. Only reporting negative economic information affects consumer confidence, which is an important factor that affects our economic growth. It is also dishonest to imply that the country is in a recession. A recession is negative growth for two full quarters. The growing economy can be attributed to President Bush’s tax cuts over the last eight years. There is actually quite a bit of positive stats and info that can give hope to those in states and areas that are hard hit and/or in a recession. The positive should not be ignored. It is necessary to take into account the negative and positive in order to see our countries' true economic health and it is necessary to know this in making an informed decision. Growth was back up last quarter after slowing a bit. The median household income rose recently. Consumer confidence has been unexpectedly up and it has been up so far this month. First-time owner house sales are up in California. Unemployment rates have been close to their lowest levels, they have recently gone up a bit. There is more positive and negative data as well. If Bush and congress would have cut spending instead of increasing it, the deficit would be lower and we would be in better shape. Of course lower taxes would help even more. The only way to minimize the threat of corrupt government is to keep it as small as possible. It is time for us to learn from history and our mistakes.

If a state or city is suffering it is usually because their state and local leaders are letting them down (high taxes, etc.) and/or an industry in the state is suffering. This is because the US economy and many state economies are growing. Take Michigan for example, it has been in a recession since 2001. The unemployment rate just went up to 8.9%. Part of this is because of the automakers financial problems and part of it is Democrat governor Grandholm and other state and local leaders. Despite the bad economy Grandholm and the state legislature keep raising taxes. The new service tax has really hit some businesses hard. Some saw their tax burden suddenly jump by $10,000.00. They also raised the minimum wage several times, which caused an unemployment rate spike. The cost of doing business has continued to increase but since the economy is slow businesses are at the point where they can’t increase the cost of goods and services to the consumer anymore. Now there is no money left to make unskilled jobs available at the semi-skilled labor rate. So they can’t afford to offer these types of unskilled jobs anymore. A minimum wage hike when an economy is in recession can also raise the cost of living while salaries stay the same. Cost of energy has skyrocketed exponentially as well. Some businesses are paying over $1000.00 more per month than they did just months ago. To make things worse Grandholm is about to sign an energy bill that will raise the cost of energy for households and businesses alike, within a few months. Renewable energy is a good thing but get the economy going first. There are people in this state that can’t afford to pay their energy bills now. Enough is enough. Why should they lose everything because inept politicians put energy above lower income citizens and those that have lost jobs, some with debt that they can no longer afford because they had to take lower paying jobs? For the past six years companies have been moving out of Michigan, the latest being Phizer and Comerica Bank. Michigan is ranked third, behind California and New York as the worst state to do business in. Businesses are now leaving because of a direct result of Grandholm’s policies. The solution is painfully obvious. She raises taxes, the economy gets worse. Their total lack of economic understanding and inability to learn from their mistakes just boggles the mind. It is inexcusable. If you want to know what an Obama presidency will look like just look at Michigan, except it will be several times worse, especially if democrats have a majority in congress. Just look at all the states and cities with economic problems, most have high tax rates and many are run by democrats.

Because government is so corrupt and no one is willing to fix it; it, its programs and involvement need to be as small as possible. It's sad but in reality, I don't have a whole lot of faith in any party to fix problems, so I vote for the person who is most likely to keep government small and taxes low, because at least corruption will be minimized somewhat and the economy can still grow. The freedoms our constitution affords we the people, just makes the giant corrupt government that much worse, even more than any big corrupt business. If people stood up for what is right, instead of looking the other way, corruption in business could be prosecuted and/or fined based on current laws. But who will protect us from big government?

[1] Ten Myths About the Bush Tax Cuts

Obama Says Constitution Deep Flaw Continues Today


Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The Effects of Human Nature on Global Social Systems

There are several economic facts that are ignored and not even taught in many of our schools.

First, when taxes are raised the economy slows; when taxes are lowered the economy grows. When the economy grows the government’s tax revenue increases.

Second, as long as there are greedy and/or corrupt people, any centrally planned economy, whether it is socialism, nationalized redistributive programs, etc., will never work.

Our founding fathers were brilliant when they wrote our constitution. It and capitalism take human nature; greed, corruption and the human spirit and put it to work for the good of everyone. It and a free people are two of the reasons the United States has become one of the most successful and powerful countries today, the center of the financial world, the dollar being the standard of currency, the most charitable country, etc. Socialist type systems work against human nature, dampen the human spirit and encourage corruption, which makes their failure inevitable. It takes away the human desire to be a productive member of society. History shows that some of the first settlers that came over from Europe learned this lesson the hard way. Socialist type governments have to take away freedoms and oppress their citizens in order to prolong their demise. Basically, socialism and redistribution schemes push everyone down to the “lower class”. We would all be equal at zero or close to zero, except the ruling elite and the “super rich”, empowering them to oppress the “lower class”. This can be learned by studying history, our mistakes, governments, nations, states and communities around the world. Examples of oppressive and slowing socialist type economies are everywhere. The state of Vermont is an example right here in the United States. One example of an economy growing after lowering taxes would be Ireland. They recently lowered their corporate tax rate to 12.5% and businesses are growing and flowing there from all over. The US corporate tax rate is 35%, one of the highest. This is just one of many examples.

A lot of people in this country look to Europe as the example they want to emulate. But why would you want 50% and higher taxes, 17-20 % unemployment, redundant government bureaucratic waste, no common sense in government, governments that are literally almost bankrupt, governments that do all they can to keep businesses from surviving, lower charitable giving and loss of freedoms?

The bigger the organization the more corrupt it is. Governments, unions, school systems, nationalized programs, etc., are all perfect examples, our government, particularly the current democrat run congress, being the worst in history. Our judicial system is catching up with the corrupt congress. Many judges go against the will of the people by favoring the convicted offender instead of the victim or they make unconstitutional rulings. Since no one wants to do anything about it, the only thing left to do is keep government small. Everyone is eager to go after big business but they are willing to ignore the even more corrupt federal government and many state and local governments. They are the largest single factor in slowing our economy. The more they take, the less we get in return and the more corrupt they become. The government spends twice as much money to do the same thing that can be done in the private sector. Another way to put it, as soon as the government has your money half of it disappears. Everyone makes less and many lose jobs.

The latest example is the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac financial scandal. These were pseudo government entities that were rife with corruption. Basically congress caused this melt-down and then has the audacity to blame it on the free market. During the ‘90s the government encouraged mortgage lending to people who could not afford it, under the guise of affordable housing for all. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bought all these bad loans, loans that would never be paid back, from banks and mortgage companies. This is one of many examples of what happens when government gets involved instead of letting the free market regulate itself. In reality, there are laws and regulations already on the books that if enforced would provide sufficient regulation. If the government was not involved these bad loans would never have been made. There was no accountability because the federal government was backing and encouraging these bad loans. The fall-out was inevitable. Many republicans in congress including John McCain warned many times of this outcome. They and the president tried several times to pass legislation to change oversight, but it was always blocked and filibustered by Chris Dodd, who is the head of the congressional finance oversight committee, Barney Frank and many other democrats. If you follow the money you will find that many democrats and liberal organizations received the bulk of the many generous contributions doled out by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These companies were turned into political fund-raising machines for politicians. Chris Dodd is at the top of the list receiving the most contributions; Barack Obama received the second highest amount for his political campaign. Frank Raines, the CEO of Fannie Mae and a Clinton appointee, stepped down because of an ethical accounting scandal. He left after running the company into the ground while taking multi-millions of dollars from the company. Now he and another Fannie Mae executive, Jim Johnson, have advised Senator Obama on economic matters in his campaign for the presidency. This is probably the largest government scandal in history yet no one is demanding an investigation. While Obama and fellow democrats are blaming the free market and republicans for this scandal, democrats in congress are not crying for an investigation the way they usually do. A lot of democrats, some republicans and many companies would be implicated if they did. The very people these bad loans were supposed to help are even worse off now. Many have lost everything. This is the classic example of big government helping its citizens. While it was necessary for the federal government to step in and take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to avoid a run on the banks and a major collapse, the very people who caused this problem are now directly in control. Even after all this, many of the corrupt executives of these companies are still receiving multi-million dollar severance packages. This will happen again unless they split up the companies and completely privatize them. Why is it that we need oversight committees to oversee the congressional oversight committees that oversee these government programs? The American people should demand that these members of congress resign and that an investigation be done. If they don’t resign they should be voted out of office. This is major news; the media should be demanding this as well. These scandals and crisis will happen more and more as socialism and its nationalized programs creep into government. The collapse of the Social Security and Medicare systems is inevitable as well, unless we fix or end them. It’s just a matter of when. How can we expect government to “fix” health care when they refuse to fix or end social security, especially in light of the recent financial scandal. If they nationalize health care, they would just be creating another time bomb for future generations. England is now trying to privatize their nationalized health care system after years of failure.

These are complex systems so solutions have to be well thought out. There are so many things that affect each other. It’s just too easy and common for a solution to have unintended consequences. Linear thinking is all too common in every single aspect of society, which would explain why so many “solutions” today have the opposite effect and actually make things worse. Instead of learning from these mistakes we blame everything and everyone else but the “solution”. The same “solutions” are tried over and over and because people are being misled by the proponents of the “solution”, things continually get worse.

Politicians, the media and professors today make big government and nationalized redistributive type programs that spread the wealth around sound good, this is even taught in our schools and universities, but they have the opposite effect than what is intended. They hurt those they profess to help. Socialism and nationalized programs like welfare, health care and social security bring out the worst in society. High taxes, high unemployment, people make less, the economy slows into a recession with generations of people saddled with hopelessness. In extreme cases there is only a rich, ruling elite and their corrupt friends in various industries. Everyone else has nothing.

These centrally planned economies seem to make sense in theory, but in practice they do not work. They have been and are tried over and over again and they do not work. Global evidence proves this. How many times will we ignore history and destroy peoples’ lives.

Our constitution with its bill of rights ensures our individual liberty, freedom and prosperity while protecting us from the corrupting effects of government. These socialist type programs circumvent these protections giving government too much oppressive power. Individuals crushed by the weight of government. Our government is already too big and corrupt now. Do we really want to give them even more power while at the same time removing the mechanism that protects our individual freedoms? There are those that believe the constitution is a fluid document open to interpretation. There are those in congress that seek to add a second bill of rights. There are those that wish to use judges and the Supreme Court to circumvent our constitution. We must recognize those that wish to do this and stand up to them. Education and the privilege to vote is the best way to keep them from taking away our freedoms and destroying our great country.

People from around the world still see the United States as a beacon of hope and many still believe that if they could just make it here they will succeed despite the negative propaganda from politicians and hollywood. In fact, many from other countries come here with nothing at all, some who are forced to flee their own countries. They know there are no limits to their success. This hope and opportunity for all is in danger.

If we keep government small, cut spending and cut taxes then the economy will boom, everyone will make more, more people will have jobs and unemployment will be even lower than it is now. Then we will be able to help those that really need help. Citizens will be free to give even more money to charities than they do now. When citizens have liberty and freedom of every kind including economic and the human spirit is allowed to soar, people can achieve extraordinary things which translates into a strong, robust economy.

Government is not there to give us a handout it is there to ensure that each and every citizen is free and has every opportunity to be all they can be.

Economics Lesson: Socialism will never work...
The Founding Fathers On Redistribution
Most Presidents Ignore the Constitution
Obama's Plan For A Debt-Ridden Future
Tax Increases Mean Less Revenue: Your Common Sense Guide

Milton Friedman educates Donahue on Capitalism & Greed - Video (Excellent!)




Obama Says Constitution Deep Flaw Continues Today Video




Obama Redistribution of Wealth Video


Taxes, Taxes, Scandals and The American Dream?

What happens if the “rich” are taxed 50% or more and their charitable loopholes are eliminated? The $95.5 billion or 79% of US foreign aid US citizens give to charities around the world would be a lot less. The world would be a very different place after that. That amount does not include domestic charities. So the total amount is even higher. The US is by far the most generous country in private donations given. That is just one of the many things to consider when taxing the American dream.

That $95.5 billion also includes corporations and foundations. So the same loss of giving applies if you eliminate some corporate loopholes as well. If you raise taxes and think you can compensate with government aid. Think again. The government spends twice as much money to do the same thing that can be done in the private sector. Another way to put it, as soon as the government has your money half of it disappears. It is more efficient to give incentives for private giving than to let the government do it. This is by the way one of several reasons not to tax oil companies profit “windfalls”, but rather give them an incentive to invest some of their profit directly in renewable energy. This is also one of many reasons to stay away from nationalized programs or any centrally planned program.

If a politician talks about raising taxes, even if they say it is only on the “rich”. You better be prepared for tax hikes for everyone. Another thing to remember, many Americans are living beyond their means, they have too much debt. So if taxes are raised on the rich and it starts at the $100 to $250K income level, you may be hurting those with a high debt-to-income ratio.

A fair tax is good, as well as eliminating many loopholes for individual and business. Just be thoughtful when doing it or there will be unintended negative consequences. If taxes are raised the economy slows, if taxes are lowered the economy grows. When the economy grows the government’s tax revenue increases, which can help lower the deficit. If we keep government small, cut spending and cut taxes then the economy will boom, everyone will make more, more people will have jobs and unemployment will be even lower than it is now. Then we will be able to help those that really need help. Citizens will be free to give even more money to charities than they do now. When citizens have liberty and freedom of every kind including economic and the human spirit is allowed to soar, people can achieve extraordinary things which translates into a strong, robust economy. Government is not there to give us a handout it is there to ensure that each and every citizen is free and has every opportunity to be all they can be.

It is rather remarkable that the US economy came out of the recession after the last administration and has been growing unexpectedly for the past 8 years, despite high gas prices, the weak dollar, the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Iraq war, the worst congress ever, the housing market bubble bursting bringing to light the housing and financial scandals and the media and politicians reporting mostly negative information about the economy. Only reporting negative economic information affects consumer confidence, which is an important factor that affects our economic growth. It is also dishonest to imply that the country is in a recession. A recession is negative growth for two full quarters. The growing economy can be attributed to President Bush’s tax cuts over the last eight years. There is actually quite a bit of positive stats and info that can give hope to those in states and areas that are hard hit and/or in a recession. The positive should not be ignored. It is necessary to take into account the negative and positive in order to see our countries' true economic health. Growth was back up last quarter after slowing a bit. The median household income rose recently. Consumer confidence has been unexpectedly up and it has been up so far this month. Unemployment rates have been close to their lowest levels, they have gone up a bit recently. There is more positive and negative data as well. If Bush and congress would have cut spending instead of increasing it, the deficit would be lower and we would be in better shape. Of course, lower taxes would help even more. The latest IRS Stats came out in August. They show there is already significant tax redistribution. Some say the top 10% pay more of the tax burden than ever before and the top 40% carry most of the tax burden.

The groundwork was actually laid for the housing market scandal during the late ‘90s when the government encouraged mortgage lending to people who could not afford it, under the guise of affordable housing for all. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were pseudo government entities that were rife with corruption. Basically congress caused this melt-down and then has the audacity to blame it on the free market. This is one of many examples of what happens when government gets involved instead of letting the free market regulate itself. In reality, there are laws and regulations already on the books that if enforced would provide sufficient regulation. If the government was not involved these bad loans would never have been made. There was no accountability because the federal government was backing and encouraging these bad loans, loans that would never be paid back. The fall-out was inevitable. Many republicans in congress including John McCain warned of this outcome. They and the president tried several times to pass legislation to reform oversight, but it was always blocked and filibustered by Chris Dodd, who is the head of the congressional finance oversight committee, Barney Frank and many other democrats. If you follow the money you will find that many democrats and liberal organizations received the bulk of the many generous contributions doled out by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These companies were turned into political fundraising machines for politicians. Chris Dodd is at the top of the list receiving the most contributions; Barack Obama received the second highest amount for his political campaign. Frank Raines, the CEO of Fannie Mae and a Clinton appointee, stepped down because of an ethical accounting scandal. He left after running the company into the ground while taking multi-millions of dollars from the company. This is probably the largest government scandal in history yet no one is demanding an investigation. While Obama and fellow democrats are blaming the free market and republicans for this scandal, democrats in congress are not crying for an investigation the way they usually do. A lot of democrats, republicans and many companies would be implicated if they did. The very people these bad loans were supposed to help are even worse off now. This is the classic example of big government helping its citizens. While it was necessary for the federal government to step in and take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to avoid a run on the banks and a major collapse, the very people who caused this problem are now directly in control. Even after all this, many of the corrupt executives of these companies are still receiving multi-million dollar severance packages. This will happen again unless they split up the companies and completely privatize them. Why is it that we need oversight committees to oversee the congressional oversight committees that oversee these government programs? The American people should demand that these members of congress resign and that an investigation be done. If they don’t resign they should be voted out of office. This is major news; the media should be demanding this as well. These scandals and crisis will happen more and more as socialism and its nationalized programs creep into government. The collapse of the Social Security and Medicare systems is inevitable as well, unless we fix them. It’s just a matter of when. How can we expect government to “fix” healthcare when they refuse to fix social security, especially in light of the recent financial scandal. If they nationalize healthcare, they would just be creating another time bomb for future generations. The only way to minimize the threat of corrupt government is to keep it as small as possible. It is time for us to wakeup and learn from history and our mistakes.

[1] Ten Myths About the Bush Tax Cuts
Obama's Plan For A Debt-Ridden Future

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The Social Decline of Our Society

In our quest to do anything we want, to live how we want, to put self first, we ignore facts and the consequences of our actions. This behavior is everywhere, from politics, education, to our economy. So many aspects of our society bring everything down to the lowest common denominator. Most of the problems in society are part of complex systems so solutions have to be well thought out. There are so many things that affect each other. It’s just too easy and common for a solution to have unintended consequences. Linear thinking is all too common in every single aspect of society, which would explain why so many “solutions” today have the opposite effect and actually make things worse. Instead of learning from these mistakes we blame everything and everyone else but the “solution”. The same “solutions” are tried over and over and because people are being misled by the proponents of the “solution”, things continually get worse. Another aggravating factor is that the bigger the organization the more corrupt it is. The problem is compounded if the organization is centrally planned.

Many of our public school systems are too big and corrupt. The billions and billions of dollars from the federal government and elsewhere being poured into them year after year seems to have no effect in improving them. Supervisors at the top make millions and waste the money and it never gets to the children who need it. Teachers unions are full of corruption and look out for themselves even if it harms students. Teachers are grossly underpaid. No one is looking out for kids. Teachers don’t get the support they need from parents. Many parents look out for themselves instead of their children. How can we solve this problem if parents don’t even care? This is just another vicious cycle. The more bad parents we have in society the more children grow up to be selfish, corrupt people that make up these corrupt organizations. Music, TV and other media compound the problems parents face when raising their children. Children see and are told every day, sex, drugs, it’s all ok, I can do anything I want without having to face the consequences of my actions, and on and on. We as a society and as individuals owe it to our youth to let them know all the facts and consequences so they can make informed decisions. This has to be balanced by a parent’s right to raise their children and decide when their child is ready for any exposure. Under the guise of free speech and the belief that children should have access to everything in society, the very people that set the standards for our public school system are allowing children access to media and information, including pornography, that has a negative impact on children and can cause abnormal behavior. Some districts bring in people that give talks to our children telling them to go ahead and experiment with drugs, sex and unprotected sex. Parents’ rights to raise their children should be safeguarded. It is so bad in the corrupt democrat run city of Chicago that school children are demonstrating and striking in an effort to be noticed and given the tools they need to be all they can be. It seems the public school system and society have forgotten about many of our children. If no one is willing to do anything but throw money at the problem, how can we ever expect to clean up a system as corrupt as this? When you think about it this way, the No Child Left Behind initiative makes sense. How do you fix a system that is corrupt from the top down and no one is willing to fix it. Many people, including many in congress, are even standing in the way. The only thing left to do is take money away from the greedy miscreants, based on performance. Then they have to do something to fix the problem or they lose their cash cow. If they don’t improve, it exposes the problem for all to see. The parents and those willing to do the right thing can bring the corrupt people to light, the media gets hold of the story, there is a public outcry and someone is forced to step in and remove the corrupt people. There is a better solution, but until everyone is willing to change, this may be the next best thing.

The media brings everything to our children at such young ages. The music, movies and video games of today are also a bad influence on children. There is also a growing lack of role models for them to look up to.

The welfare system encouraged families and single women to have more children just to be eligible for more money. There was no incentive to find work. Some of these children did not have parents that cared for them, creating a vicious cycle of despair. This contributed to the inner city poverty we have today thus creating generations of people without hope. Now civil rights leaders, preachers, teachers, community organizers and many in the democrat party are teaching and radicalizing many that they don’t have the same chances to make it as other Americans have, that they are being held back by other Americans. Those teaching this are destroying their own communities and the lives of millions of people. Why do so many from other countries come here with nothing at all, some whom are forced to flee their own countries, succeed? They have not been taught and they know that there are no limits to their success.

Has anyone noticed that the industries with the most problems are the ones with the largest, most powerful labor unions, the auto and airline industries and the public school system?

Labor unions may have a purpose, but many are too big and corrupt. Some have people at the top that make millions while their workers get stuck paying dues that are too high for what they get. The whole system seems to be setup to bring down the quality of work, to encourage bad working habits. The union mentality of making workers and companies’ enemies, instead of working together is bad for the economy. A company and its employees should work together for the good of each other. One cannot exist without the other. They are a team. When employees are doing the best they can do and the company is doing all it can for its employees, they both benefit and profit from it. It is a cycle that should not be disrupted. The practice of giving promotions based on seniority and making it costly and difficult to fire people is another factor in bringing the performance of all the workers down to a lower level. Promotions should be based on job performance first and seniority second. Hard work and constant improvement should be encouraged. Many times a hard worker comes in and is passed over time and again by people who have seniority but are slackers or should be fired. After awhile they will become discouraged and realize there is no point in working hard so they will be like everyone else. This also affects morale, which in turn affects job performance. They may become angry and disruptive as well. There are documented cases of hard workers being asked not to work as hard because they are making everyone look bad. How can we compete in the global economy if we encourage and promote bad working habits?

Steve Malanga writes about what Alexis de Tocqueville & Max Weber would think of America today.
Like A Virgin: The Press Take on Teenage Sex
5 Character Flaws That Are Destroying America's Future
What No Government Program Can Do

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Women In Politics

Why do some women in America think Governor Sarah Palin should just stay home and raise her children? We hear some women from various women’s rights groups, in politics, in hollywood and in the media voicing their strong opinions on this matter. Some of the remarks could be labeled as sexist, many are profane ignorant comments filled with hate. Where is all this hatred coming from? Is it because she is a republican, a conservative? Should all women be free to be all they can be, to choose what they believe in or does this only apply if you are a liberal or a democrat? Men are free to choose to live their lives the way they see fit; they are free to choose to be liberal or conservative, democrat or republican. Women should be allowed the same freedoms. They should not have to conform to the ideals of one group in order to succeed. Do these women’s rights groups seek conformity instead of freedom for all women? Do the liberal women in politics and in the media seek conformity instead of freedom? Are they advocating rights and freedoms only for liberal women? What about the millions in this country who have the same views as Palin? Are they hated just as much because of their views? What happens when people filled with this much hatred of any kind are in control of government? They oppress and take away the freedoms of those with different views. Hatred of someone different than you whether it is because of political views, moral views, skin color or nationality is one of the causes of oppression, wars and loss of freedoms around the world.

Is it because she has a pregnant, unmarried teenage daughter? Then should all mothers with pregnant teenage daughters quit their jobs and stay home to raise their kids? If so, the American workplace will soon be a very different demographic.

Is it because she is a successful woman who has achieved so much in such a short time and yet is not a liberal or democrat? Her record as governor of Alaska is there for everyone to see. You can choose to ignore it, but it speaks for itself. She has the highest approval rating of any governor. While the state has no sales or individual income tax and each citizen receives a yearly dividend from their share in the state’s oil profits, she pushed through the legislature an additional $1200.00 check for each citizen to pay for heating bills this year. The state now has a budget surplus; she has the surplus funds making money in some type of savings fund. She pushed through and signed an ethics reform bill in 2007.

What if she had chosen to be a stay at home mom instead of pursue a political career, would she be less successful?


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