A Samizdata Quote of the Day

You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

– Adrian Rogers

Never a truer word.  Related.

Bill Whittle: Guns, Islam and Orlando

This is graphic. NSFW or kids.

Mizzou-Hoisted On Their Own Petard

Mizzou is taking it on the chin after their stunningly stupid handling of the "protests" there.

The school is braced for a 25 percent drop in new students this coming fall, forcing the institution to enact painful budget cuts, as well as hiring and salary freezes.

“We do know that the events of last fall have had an effect on our application numbers; however, it’s difficult to provide a specific number as we do not have any hard data," University of Missouri spokesman Christian Basi said in a statement to Foxnews.com.

That's not the only place they'll lose revenue; it occurs to me that their legions of sports fans will stop attending events and stop buying shirts and hats, as well as other items emblazoned with the Tiger logo. And alumni financial support? This could also be a huge "ouch".

The financial price could ultimately be catastrophic, which is a shame. It WAS a good school that we in flyover land proudly supported.

And this. So much THIS:

“College enrollment is declining overall – perhaps because high school graduates are realizing trivial courses that lecture on “white privilege” and “queer liberation” – just to name two – don’t help one much with employment and real-world problems,” Kyle Olson, founder and head of the Education Action group and news site EAGnews.org, told FoxNews.com.

He adds that the same can be true of the microcosm of Mizzou.

“Do most reasonable people want classmates who parade through the library finger-waving about the supposed evils of whiteness – or professors who threaten the safety of their students and undermining the very tenant that protects their profession for which she is training them: the First Amendment?” he asked.

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!

More On The Invasion Of Europe

Article from the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet.

There is chaos in Berlin, where the authorities are being sued by refugees who demand money

Right now a train arrives in Berlin with approximately 450 refugees daily — where authorities are pushed to the limit. Between 350 and up to a total of up to 800 find their way, every day, to Germany’s capital.

The tens of thousands of predominantly young men, who have, in recent months arrived in increasing numbers from many countries, must first queue in front of the foreigners’ agency in Lageso in the district of Moabit.

It is going to go horribly wrong.

Here, in the middle of Berlin, around 50,000 refugees and migrants are expected this year. Frustration prevails, anxiety and sometimes chaos — because the queues are endless, and now comes the cold.

And this: As Goes Nickelsdorf, So Goes Europe

Anyone who watches the uncontrolled masses and their behavior can see very clearly that Austria has long lost its sovereignty over its borders. Neither a few ramshackle patrols nor the few remaining police have any effect here — especially not when there is a clear and blatant lack of political will and operative commands.

Also:

Western toilets are phooey!

Mobility is an across-the-board problem nowadays for the indigenous population. For the longest time, all train traffic has been completely halted to and from Nickelsdorf; the trains stopped at the station before the town. And here you see the same picture you can see with the Railjets of the ÖBB (Austrian Federal Railway) in all trains that were used to transport immigrants: All railway wagons were extremely filthy beyond the acceptable. The trains had to be cleaned and disinfected. Many cars were rendered useless due to the contamination of feces. Many of the immigrants of the Near and Middle East have no use for Western toilets — just as they have no use for our idea of garbage disposal. The local garbage collection locations at the most were used as convenient pissoirs. 

Cholera. Hepatitis. Typhoid. Rota, Nora....to name a few of the diseases that will become rampant under these unsanitary conditions.  How will Europe cope with sheltering, feeding, and providing medical care to this onslaught of people?

Finally. Someone Said It.

Namely, Gavin McInnes. His latest article "A Tailgate Under The Hanging Tree" discusses the simple truth; we have no idea what's going on in the world.

“Da news!” yells a 70-year-old man at the bar around the corner from my office. Then he harrumphs and adds, “Yeah, I LOVE watching da news.” His friend the bartender nods in agreement and replies, “Fuck da fuckin’ news. I like cartoons.” Jon Stewart would pause it here and put his head in his hands so all the upper-middle-class liberals could laugh at these uninformed plebes, but I wasn’t laughing. They’re right. The news is worse than a cartoon and it has less and less to do with informing people. It’s become a strange combination of sports and fashion where you follow trends and root for your team.

Read the whole thing. It's brutal. 

Observation Status

My friends, please read this article! It could save you and your family many thousands of dollars.

For years, there have been other misjudgments against Medicare patients that are only now becoming apparent. Let me clarify a particular problem which wishes not to be clarified: observation status.

You would think when seeking life-threatening medical care at a hospital, treatment begins in the emergency room followed by admission to an inpatient bed. But under the controversial designation “observation status” determined by Medicare bureaucrats, you are still considered an outpatient even with oxygen in your nose and an IV in your arm.

*snip*

If you are a Medicare patient in a hospital, make sure you know your status. Should you be observation, question the case manager whether there might be justification to make it inpatient. Discuss with your physician the need to minimize testing, and bring your own medications from home to be distributed by nursing.

This is important. A hospital stay under "observation" status could easily force a family into bankruptcy. I knew that our local hospital used this designation, but I had no idea why until today.

I'm sure the ACA will be utilizing many such tricks to get expenses down. I believe that prescription medications will be another cost-cutting target. Talk to your doctor about whittling down the number of prescription medications you take.  Most (not all) people can achieve this if they lose weight, exercise, and eat healthy foods. We should all try to make the transition now, before our insurance plans refuse to pay for all those medications. It won't be easy.

Make no mistake: the pencil-pushers managing the ACA will mandate that we ALL have skin in the game. Those that refuse could find themselves staring at the reaper.

An Interesting Experiment

From the Marin Independent Journal:

Since posting this story in 2013, the left simply won’t leave it alone. Something about it strikes a chord and they have to lash out at it, even though it’s a story.

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama’s socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama’s plan”.. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A…. (substituting grades for dollars – something closer to home and more readily understood by all).

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.

The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.  As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed. Could not be any simpler than that.

These are possibly the 5 best sentences you’ll ever read on this experiment:

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!.
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

What I am reading now is liberals, progressives or those that dismiss the STORY because it’s a scenario and not real. They can’t cope with the real truth that you can’t move poor people into prosperity by legislation from Washington, DC.  Government doesn’t have the authority to take from Citizen A and give to Citizen B to make things even.