Dose of Clarity

Many people believe that practicing capitalism has failed us in society by bringing hardship upon common people due to the greed of the few that benefitted at their expense. This is an economic system that is practiced among citizens and businesses operating in their own interest with the Government intervening through regulation and taxation, but such Government does not practice it directly by planning and determining the economic outcomes. These activities are conducted among citizens in society and they should bear the consequences whether it is the benefits of good decisions or the failure of bad ones. It is well known that capitalism creates excesses that must be occasionally corrected and there are times that some misdeeds do go unpunished. Nonetheless, it is a very efficient system overall because outcomes are directly shouldered by those that initiated the respective activities – or so they should be in a “truly” capitalistic model. Whether capitalism [Read the rest of this entry...]

It boggles the mind to really think about what our Government has become on the most fundamental level. It has evolved into nothing more than a monetary distribution system that benefits some at the expense of others. It seems obvious to any logical thinking person that its function should be to collect revenue from all citizens earning income in order to provide for the common good of all citizens. Somewhere along the line it began to collect an increasing share of revenue from a decreasing segment of the population in order to provide benefits to its chosen groups. Basically, it takes from some to give to others. The Government is collecting an ever-increasing amount of money to compensate and expand itself first and foremost; then choosing how the remainder will be distributed, thus selecting the winners and losers in society by giving preference to one over another. There is so much talk about redistribution of wealth these days, but that has been going on for years. [Read the rest of this entry...]

It is with mild fascination that we watch the result of the debt and spending debacle unfolding in Greece along with its developing civil unrest. The struggles of that nation to accept the consequences of their past decisions combined with the responses from other anxious nations in the Euro zone with similar issues makes for good political theatre. We casually watch from afar discussing the various implications as they play out on the world stage, yet we seem to miss that it is simply a prelude of what will be coming to our own shores if we continue down our current path of irresponsibility that appears so unrelenting. How could it be that we think our condition is so different from theirs? How do we observe from a distance and arrogantly think it is an isolated problem that will never materialize here? The situation is very comparable regardless of all the justifications of our importance and stability [Read the rest of this entry...]

It is a popular activity these days to exchange insults and criticize along partisan lines while jousting about the direction of our nation, but unfortunately that does absolutely nothing to fix the extraordinary problems coming our way. Generally, the exchange centers on justifying the horrendous and destructive agenda of our current Government by pointing to the bad decisions of the previous Administration. These justifications and criticisms are irrelevant and useless since they are focused on the past therefore little attention is being directed to the destructive proposals going on right now. Also, many of the criticisms are universally shared anyway, it may come as a surprise that many conservatives are disenchanted with a host of the previous Administration’s policies as well, thus arguing them are just distracting from the real issues that are threatening our nation today. The partisan banter is analogous to the band playing on the Titanic’s fateful night, it may have been gratifying, but that did nothing to prevent the ship from sinking.

It is very difficult to comprehend how we will navigate our way out of the formidable circumstances we have brought upon ourselves. This is the challenge that each citizen should be concerned with at this time. People can [Read the rest of this entry...]

The pursuit of ideals such as social justice as a political objective completely discounts the contribution afforded by disparate results among members of society. It is through these contrasting outcomes of success or failure that serve to drive and inspire greater efforts in the future. If a citizen perceives their result as inferior to another, this becomes a motivating factor in their future pursuits. Being associated with the “have-not crowd” is not necessarily a permanent outcome; in fact, it should ardently focus one’s efforts to bring about a different and more desirable outcome going forward. Imagine a whole nation of individuals striving to better their own circumstances and the effect that has on the aggregate. No amount of guaranteed or promised results could begin to arouse the spirit unleashed by millions of people striving to exceed their own condition. This truth is evidenced by the greatness that the United States has attained through its history. It has resulted from the ambition created in our nation by allowing unequal results to [Read the rest of this entry...]

It seems evident that all creatures in nature have been endowed with the same natural rights as humans, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Although these may take on different forms among the various species in nature, nonetheless, they are present. All living creatures freely explore their own pursuits and fully decide how and when they will undertake these desired activities. This is the natural state of life until some force such as humans interfere by capturing them to satisfy their own purposes of research or to simply be entertained while relegating them to captivity in a zoo. Suddenly, these creatures no longer determine any aspect of their lives because their freedoms have been revoked and replaced with a predetermined existence courtesy of humans as their keeper. Once in a zoo, they become property to be controlled in any regard its keepers consider expedient. This is vastly different than the freedom provided from nature [Read the rest of this entry...]

Round and round we go on the everlasting debate about supply-side economics. We all choose which side of the argument we would like to believe and then hop on the merry-go-round arguing about something that seems so straightforward. Supporters of this concept believe that if incentives or benefits are given to investors, they will in turn invest their money in productive endeavors that will provide jobs and value to the community. Central to this belief is that any money invested in an enterprise is first applied to employee compensation and then all other expenses of production, and only then does it return to investors if a profit has been realized. The opposing camp to this debate believes that all the focus should be on making the masses prosperous and the resulting bounty will raise the whole class and all those above them. This common viewpoint provides a good sound bite, but it lacks logic and any basis in reality.

It is very interesting to see our own Government’s vicious opinion regarding supply-side economics and how it is nothing more than [Read the rest of this entry...]

Could it be that Americans are unfairly criticizing the recently passed health care legislation in the House of Representatives? Is there any doubt that the optimal health of each and every American is the utmost concern of our elected officials? Are we letting negative assessments cloud our judgment regarding the altruistic intentions of our leaders that certainly care for us so unselfishly? Should we be apprehensive concerning the Government’s ability to deliver quality health care to the masses, after all, they are the U.S. Government and they claim to be helping. The best indication we have in these regards is a clear illustration of the alleged value of this proposal, for it has already been conclusively graded for quality and the results are indeed significant and worthy of consideration, this certainty can not be emphasized enough and is expressed by the following truth. Our Congressional leadership rejected amendments in both the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Rules Committee that would require members of Congress and other governmental officials to enroll in the exact same plan they are proposing for us. This absolute lack of an endorsement should speak volumes about the quality that can be expected from this legislation that is supposedly the solution for the rest of us Americans. Their personal objections undermine any and all credibility, but then again maybe we should consider that perhaps Congress is just being thoughtful of the American people by not diverting any of the sheer abundance of benefits from this proposal to themselves. Yeah! That must be it.

Health care can not possibly be a right in our society unless it is considered acceptable to retract the rights of others to pursue their own livelihoods. Typically, health care being a right is an assertion that usually follows any discussion about one’s ability to pay for such services. For one citizen to believe that they have a right to complimentary health care is to further believe that another citizen must have the obligation to provide that care, thus denying that person their own rights as a citizen. Nobody in our society should have the expectation of entitlement that depends on the efforts of others, or alternatively, no citizen has a right to infringe on another person’s living. It is no different than believing that a homebuilder should not be compelled to build a house for another because they are homeless, nor should a car dealer be forced to provide a car to someone that does not have one. In general, most rights that are recognized are regarded as negative rights [Read the rest of this entry...]

Socialism may very well arrive in our nation by the simple annexing of private industry incrementally using the disingenuous ploy of supposedly “saving” us from economic disaster, but it may be more likely to arrive with a sudden crash provoked by bad public policy that conveniently creates an unforeseen emergency. Upon its advent, it will be popularly accepted that only the massive resources of our enormous Government will have the capacity to solve this emergency. They in turn will be more than happy to intervene using our public funds to take command of any remaining industries not already in their domain, and instantly socialism has arrived by default. The Government already controls a large percentage of our economy through the banks, mortgage companies, automotive industry, and they are diligently working to include health care which represents a large segment of our economy. One would have to honestly admit that we are effectively socialistic at that point. How could so much of the American economy be controlled by the public sector and it [Read the rest of this entry...]