Election Humououour

Clever and funny!

The Mind Of The Left

Here's a good article I thought you all might enjoy reading and pondering.  A snippet:

"Economics are not usually considered part of a culture, but for red-diaper leftists, their attitude to economics is cultural. It is part of the core, sacred narrative. They usually have a child-like view of economics, which they often have inherited from their parents. This is probably why the doubt triggered by their first tax shock is so easily forgotten for leftists. The child-like view is comfortable and familiar. Once amnesia sets in and comfort returns, discussions of economic reality are seen as right-wing propaganda.

Leftists hear big numbers and picture Scrooge McDuck’s money bin, not infrastructure, maintenance, specialized equipment, transportation, training, payrolls, etc. 

For leftists, industry has so much money. Businesses make huge profits. The price of everything is too high. The government has billions. They want to keep it all for themselves and their rich friends. So leftists believe that these evil people must be made to spend the money on things the leftists themselves choose."

Thanks to Vox Day for the great find.   A slice of his thoughts on the article:

"It's an interesting glimpse into what, for me, is an entirely alien mindset. I find it easier to understand those from very foreign cultures, including the English, the Italians, and even the Japanese, than I do a left-wing 2.0 American. While I correctly noted their fixation on narratives and the childish nature of their magical thinking, I was always mystified by their delusions of intellectual brilliance.

I put it down to their education and credential fetishes, but the author makes clear their belief in their intelligence is actually due to the fact that they are so deluded, they believe they are actually producing the solution to all the various problems they encounter by virtue of repeating their magic mantra: more government spending.

Of course, their concept of government is childish too; it is essentially a magic combination of a 365-day Santa Claus with a friendly Sunday School god whose got the whole world in his hands."

Ideas To Ponder

Finland is considering giving every citizen €800 a month.

Authorities in Finland are considering giving every citizen a tax-free payout of €800 (£576) each month.

Under proposals being draw up by the Finnish Social Insurance Institution (Kela), this national basic income would replace all other benefit payments, and would be paid to all adults regardless of whether or not they receive any other income.

Unemployment in Finland is currently at record levels, and the basic income is intended to encourage more people back to work. At present, many unemployed people would be worse off if they took on low-paid temporary jobs due to loss of welfare payments.

Working Americans already pay a ridiculous amount in subsidies for people who don't work, plus the salaries of all the gov't employees to manage these programs. What if we did this here? The amount would need to be closer to $2000 to cover the essentials. Let's kick this can around the Table for a few minutes.

Basically, we're talking about doing away with social security, welfare, food stamps, housing/health subsidies. All of it, down the "social experiment" crapper.

Give every citizen $2000 per month. EVERYONE from skid row bums to billionaires. Everyone.

It would recharge the 50% of our population who are pulling the ever-crowded wagon. A couple could use their $4000 windfall to fund retirement, or education for their kids. Inner city blacks, reservation Natives, West Virginia poor whites, and others would once again have a reason to get married and create stable households, as there would be no financial penalty for an intact family. People who can't afford to work because of the loss in benefits could not only obtain/create employment, but thrive. Well-off citizens could donate the windfall to schools, churches, clinics. Could you imagine if people who donate their portion to schools were automatically given a seat on the school board, to vote on where the money is spent and demand accountability from teachers and administrators? It would be epic.

How could we pay for this simplified system? Disband the IRS. Begone a$$holes! Levy a 10% tax on all purchases and services, with no caps and no exceptions other than maybe rent, food, and medical expense. No income tax, no death tax, just ONE tax. Let the individual states be in charge of collecting it and remitting Ceasar's portion to Ceasar, while keeping their own portion for state business and projects.

If you buy a $100,000 home? Please pay a 10% tax, or $10,000, into the tax kitty. Purchase a $250,000 boat? Pony up $25,000. No caps. If a business buys a million dollar piece of equipment, remit $100,000. Simple. Punish fraud with lengthy prison sentences, and make them forfeit their $2000/month stipend for life.

There might be a way to throw public sector worker pensions into this mix. I know it would send the progressives into howling fits for touching their sacred, taxpayer-funded golden stash, but that's the breaks.

In a perfect world everyone would work and support themselves, but it's not a perfect world, and unless something catastrophic happens the libs are not going to relinquish their giveaway bonanza. Maybe the best we can do right now is to simplify and control it, and in the process reinvigorate the middle class and jump-start innovation.

Think long term strategy. Think Overton Window.

Okay friends. Fire away!

Not Working...Survival Tips For Democrats

This article is so spot on that it's stunning in its simplicity. I don't always agree with Glenn Reynolds, but he nails it this time.

Working class white people don't like President Obama much. According to the latest Gallup Poll, only 27% approve of him. That's 21 percentage points down since he took office in 2009.

A standard talking-point is that these voters don't like Obama because they're racist. But that assumes that the key word in "white working class" is "white." In fact, the key word is "working." After all, Obama isn't any blacker than he was in 2009.

A few Democratic pundits seem to get this. Writing in Mother Jones, Kevin Drum observes: "So who does the WWC take out its anger on? Largely, the answer is the poor. In particular, the undeserving poor. Liberals may hate this distinction, but it doesn't matter if we hate it. Lots of ordinary people make this distinction as a matter of simple common sense, and the WWC makes it more than any. That's because they're closer to it. For them, the poor aren't merely a set of statistics or a cause to be championed. They're the folks next door who don't do a lick of work but somehow keep getting government checks paid for by their tax dollars. "

Read it all. You'll be glad you did!

Hot Off The Presses of Middle Finger News

Who Be the Stupid Ones?

                                                  Middle Finger News Guest Editorial
                                                           By Dr. Jonathan Gruber

I’m not the egomaniacal, deceptive monster you think I am.

Making the rounds on the internet is an unflattering video of me speaking at an academic conference, a place where great minds share the fruits of scholarship. To the uninformed viewer, one of my remarks may seem disparaging, as if I were suggesting American voters suffer from below-average intelligence. The 22-second clip if often viewed out of context, and it’s a far cry from what I was clumsily trying to express, which was simply this:

You stupid. Me not stupid.

                                               

Read it all here. 

Pineapple For Everyone!

I read an interesting, though shallow, article this morning, and I remembered that our lewy had touched upon the "not enough jobs" thing a while back. Is a universal basic income the answer? Has the author of the article seen the movie Wall-E? Anyhoo, here's a taste:

The reality of this situation is chewing at the roots of American politics. The fundamental bargain of American society is that for anyone willing to hustle, there is a decent job to be found, or one that will at least prevent abject destitution. It underpins our national mythos as the land of opportunity and self-reliance. It has always been less true than anyone wanted to admit, but for an increasingly large fraction of the population — start with the 16 percent of Americans who regularly don't have enough to eat— it's a sick joke.

So, according to this premise, EVERYONE would get a check, every month. How much would it be? 2 grand? 3? 4? Whatever it would take to be comfortably above the poverty level?  So if we did that, we could lay off all welfare, food stamp, WIC, and other public workers that manage the business of gov't largesse. Sweet! They wouldn't need to work anyway. Sam will provide!

Also, if we did that, we would no longer need Medicaid (because everyone could afford "insurance"), we would no longer need Earned Income Credit and the plethora of other tax-time wealth transfers, we would no longer need social security for our oldsters, and we would no longer need to fund food pantry or soup kitchens. All of this should generate more than enough moola to fund giving the working 50% a big slice of the pie too (the non-working 50% already get theirs, just not in the form of one monthly check). What's not to love? Mmmm...pineapple!

The Creation Of The Federal Reserve

This is a good video. I learned things I didn't know. H/T: Dean Garrison at The DC Clothesline

Solar FREAKIN' Roadways

Is this real? 'Cuz if it is, I'm SO jazzed! What a remarkable concept!

Is Obama Slowly Losing The Left?

Peggy Noonan has penned a couple of interesting articles this week. In the first, she skewers Obama for his lack of vision and focus:

"Meanwhile, the president is stuck in his games and his history. He should have seen unemployment entering a crisis stage four years ago, and he did not. At that time I was certain he'd go for public-works projects, which could give training to the young and jobs to the experienced underemployed, would create jobs in the private sector and, in the end, yield up something needed—a bridge, a strengthened power grid. He instead gave his first term to health care. And now ObamaCare is being cited as a reason employers are laying people off and not hiring, according to a report from the Federal Reserve.

What a mess."

Yesterday's column concerned her discussion with two senators who attended the much-trumpeted dinner with Obama on Wednesday evening:

"Another possibility is that the president’s claiming he’s poison is just a dodge, a way of subtly putting the onus on his foes: I could help if your team didn’t hate me so unreasonably, but alas they do, so I can do little. And this would be an excuse to continue what appears to me to be his preferred negotiating style, which is the nonnegotiation negotiation: Let them guess where I am, let them guess what I’ll do, I’ll be the calm center while they run around like headless chickens.

My sense: If you really want a grand bargain, that dinner was exactly where you’d make it clear you’ll work with them every step of the way, you’ll own this, you’ll lead.

It doesn’t sound like that’s what the president did."

Friday Freidman

As an epilogue here is one more short video I came after scheduling the others. This one sums up Freidman's views succinctly.

Friday Friedman

The Great Depression Myth:

In our final installment, Milton Friedman explores on of the great myths lies of history  -- that the Great Depression was the fault of business.

So, Honestly, What Do You Think?

Friday Friedman

Just what is society’s responsibility to the poor and how can we meet that responsibility? Milton Friedman has some thoughts.

Friday Friedman

This week, Milton Friedman explains how what seems to look good doesn’t work and how what looks selfish is really better.

Lady de Rothschild Will Save The Day

What is this fresh hell? Please pass the barf bag.

"In an effort to bring the best to the system, I am co-chairing a new international group, the Henry Jackson Initiative For Inclusive Capitalism that is trying to showcase several immediate and permanent solutions from the private sector.

In our first working paper, available at henryjacksoninitiative.org, we have highlighted several private sector efforts to improve education, support small and medium businesses and to bring back a bedrock sense of ethics and civics.

I don’t want to destroy the system. I want to balance the freedom that has brought me a wonderful life with personal responsibility. That is the only way to save capitalism for the sake of a future generation of girls who have dreams."

Typical middle-class American girl, huh? Yeah. Right. She makes my skin crawl, and perusing her website put the tiny hairs up on the back of my neck.

Here's the linky-poo to the Henry Jackson Initiative place referenced in the article. And who exactly is this Henry Jackson fellow anyway? I dunno.

The whole thing is creepy.

Friday Friedman

What does the future hold for freedom? Milton Friedman has some ideas.

Friday Friedman

Why do good people allow bad things to happen? Let Milton Friedman tell us how.

Questions Of The Day

What do you think about a Romney/Rice ticket?

What in the world is going on with the stock market? Please explain. I'm perplexed...why does it keep rebounding?

And the major question of the day: will the Canucks win the Stanley Cup?  First match: October 11 against the Flames.

Friday Friedman

Milton Friedman explores whether life is really a zero-sum game.

Friday Friedman

Can we really say resources are limited when there may be some we don’t even know exist yet? Milton Friedman explains.