February 2011 Blog Posts (21)

In a response to my piece entitled, "Taxeaters", a reader who favored progressive income taxation posed this question back to me: why shouldn’t the top 50% of income earners pay 96% of the taxes?



My answer: for the same reason that they shouldn’t have to pick up 96% of the state’s collective bar tab. All knowledge builds upon what you know.



That evening, I pondered his question some more and was inspired while enjoying a pub meal that Michelle Obama would ban if…

Welcome to the second Civil War. This time it is the taxpayers against the taxeaters; the hand versus the cookie jar. The tea party sparked it, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey declared it, and now Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin has fired the first shot.



On one side of the economic Mason/Dixon line are taxpayers, people who send more money to government than they receive from it. On the other is taxeaters, whose ledger balance is reversed. Pick your side, either by…

Here is the education story from Wisconsin this week that really matters: only 39% of eighth graders in the public schools are proficient in math, and only 34% in reading, despite a 65% increase in per-pupil spending over the past decade.



While the attention of the nation is focused on what Wisconsin teachers earn, the question of what they do to earn it has been largely ignored. What they do not do is educate our children.



Spare me the hate mail, teachers, as I…

Some days, this column writes itself. The first two news articles I read this morning were once again about the standoff in Wisconsin between taxpayers and tax-eaters, and I spent most of the commute still shaking my head in disbelief that this is not all a dream.



The first was an article was from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the weekend’s happenings in Madison – "ground zero", as they put it, for the protests against Governor Walker’s plan to avoid thousands of layoffs by…

DEMOCRACY! Sounds good;doesn't it? The United Sates Government keeps harping on the plan to bring democracy to the Middle East, Africa, and wherever else it seems lacking, Many of our politicians, media commentators, talking heads, and stuffed suits of every stripe keep referring to this form of government as if it were a desirable alternative to tyranny. It is anything but that - but it sounds good. So did sub-prime loans: it's not what some ideal sounds like but where it…

At the core of the dispute inflaming passions in Wisconsin this past week are two incompatible principles – Free Will versus Free Lunch. When Free Will said "no more" to Free Lunch, the stuff hit the fan. A week of it has not changed a mind, so let’s just get on with it.



The unionists in America now have the same problem that unionists had in Poland decades ago - the State and its employee unions have become indivisible. The Solidarity movement in Poland fought for local…

Over the past several days, the fur has been flying in Wisconsin over Governor Walker’s plan to modify state workers’ benefit contributions as part of his budget fix package. Unionists object strongly to his suspension of collective bargaining rights, and as a libertarian, I agree with them on that one point – up to a point.



But if you are going to make the argument that a state law cannot deny someone their right to bargain collectively, then you must also concede the other half…

along with all the other orweilian,tyranical,unconstitutional legislation currently in place

and it will begin the process of rounding up the war criminals like Cheney and Bush and other PNAC tyrants and Zionists currently still walking the streets free!

On February 10 Ron Paul appeared on Yahoo's Tech Ticker, a very positive development as this segment of the Yahoo Financial Section is widely viewed. My impression of TT up until now has been a series of conversations among puppets discussing how to change the puppet show; not very productive as long as the puppet master Federal Reserve is still pulling the strings. But now, with exposure of the Fed as a banking cartel, we may see some action. We need action as the time for talking has long…

Wisconsin Governor Walker put it to the state’s unions this week: either a) state workers accept a modest benefit concession, or b) he cuts 1,500 government jobs and drops 200,000 kids from BadgerCare, the health care safety net for poor children.



As expected, the unionists rejected any talk of benefit reform outright, choosing instead to throw those kids under the bus along with 1,200 of their least senior brethren. Solidarity forever – or until we have to contribute something to…

Anyone who still wants the phrase "In God We Trust" removed from our currency should consider the alternative, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.



This week, Chairman Bernanke testified at the House Budget Committee that the Fed’s monetary policy had achieved their target GDP growth rate of 3.4% in the fourth quarter of 2010. He explained to us that 5% was too fast, and 2% was too slow, and that growth in the mid-3’s was just right. Later, in a response to a question on unemployment, he…

Overheard this morning on the D.C. Metro commute to Capitol Hill, "...and he just went mental - turned into some kind of giant tea-bagger, totally against the government now, not even interested in being part of the solution anymore".



Overheard in the Senate cafeteria later today, "...it's too late to get you an earmark this year, but there will be plenty of chances for plus-ups in the appropriations bills; we appreciate the fundraisers you put on last year".



Two…

Liberals expose themselves to ridicule when they measure compassion by government spending on social programs. Conservatives make the same mistake when they equate spending on national defense with national defense.



Conservatives and libertarians see eye-to-eye on many things, but we usually part company when it comes to national defense. Defense is a subject I know a little bit about, with 35 years of experience in the industry and a doctoral dissertation on DoD procurement…

A second federal court has now ruled that ObamaCare is unconstitutional, and the Democrats’ predictable response is to ignore the ruling. And to misrepresent two earlier procedural dismissals as constitutional endorsements in order to claim a 2-2 tie in court cases.



Only two cases were allowed to move forward to a final judgment; in both cases, the court found the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to be unconstitutional. The score is 2-0 with 2 abstentions. Until it is…

Those who do not understand the American Tea Party movement must also find the democracy demonstrations in Egypt frightening, while those who participate in the Tea Party movement here should be encouraged by the protests in Cairo.



The Egyptian Tea Party convinced Hosni Mubarak not to week another term; it is unlikely that the American Tea Party will convince Barak Obama to follow his lead. But the parallels between the two movements remind us of two important truths.…