02/13/20 [R/G/decisions] [L/G/intol/tyrmaj] It is interesting that in the Democratic Party primary in California that delegates to the convention are awarded proportionately based upon votes whereas the Democrat-controlled state disallows votes for president other than the Democrat candidate.
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1/02/20
[L/G/cent/decep] [L/G/indoc] A recent scientifically-conducted study showed that 79% of voters think that taxpayers in the top 1% of income pay federal income taxes at a lower rate than middle-income taxpayers. But according to the US Treasure and Congressional Budget Office, these high-income taxpayers pay an average rate that is 2.5 times the rate of middle-income taxpayers. https://www.justfacts.com/news_2019_survey_voter_knowledge 10/30/19 Recently on our local NextDoor website, a neighbor made the following post: “For decades PG&E didn't pay to maintain their equipment correctly. At the same time their executives paid themselves lavish salaries and bonuses. As a result, their equipment is unsafe to operate, so they have to shut it off during high winds or it will spark fires that kill people.” I don't know if he is right or not but the point here is that I don't think he does either. [L/G/dogma] Left-thinkers repeat a mantra about capitalists abusing workers type of thing without giving any thought to their words. What information does this guy have about what maintenance P.G.&E has done? Are the salaries lavish? Does he actually know the amounts of the salaries and on what basis is he comparing them to reach the conclusion that they are high? 10/29/19 Here is an interesting example of left-thinking: An attorney with a radio show had a caller who explained that he parked in front of a fire hydrant as there were no other spaces available but a fire broke out at a neighbor's house and responding fire department pushed his car out of the way into a ditch to get at the fire hydrant. [L/FP/care] The caller asked if he could sue the fire department. 10/04/19 Trevor Loudon is a New Zealand author, speaker and political activist. [R/FP/self] He says that he believes in “Freedom with responsibility, not freedom from responsibility. [R/FP/liberty] [R/G/disorder] My ideal society is one in which government is slashed to the bone and people are free to reach their potential.” He also has stated that “Socialism is, in short, a manifestation of mental illness or major character deficiency.” Wikipedia 09/28/19 People's ignorance of the process of wealth generation not only limits their well being but leads to disastrous attempts to correct wealth disparity using means that are counter-productive and destructive of our liberties and way of life. [R/E/educ] Some people figure that wealth disparity must be the result of a conspiracy but it is actually a simple matter of ignorance which can be corrected with a little thought and learning. [R/E/think] Many simple, ordinary people with ordinary incomes have figured it out, save and invest, and put themselves in a solid position by making conscious choices about the utilization of what wealth and income they have. A good read on this is “The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy” by Thomas J. Stanley. [L/FP/coercion] The socialist approach to correcting wealth disparity is to use government coercion to confiscate wealth from those own it and give it to whomever they wish. But this reduces capitalization so is counter-productive and doesn't solve the problem. To reference the old saying, it gives men fish rather than teaching them to fish. 09/24/19 [L/G/authority] [L/G/cent] In her book, Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt states that rule by decree is efficient because it bypasses the intermediary steps between issuance and application, prevents political reasoning by the people, ignores local customs and bypasses the process of general law. It facilitates centralized administration because it overrides local autonomy. [L/G/cent/decep] “If rule by good laws been called 'the rule of wisdom', rule by appropriate decrees may rightly be called the rule of cleverness. For it is clever to reckon with ulterior motives and aims, and it is wise to understand and create by deduction from gernally accepted principles.” [L/G/bureau] Referring to the bureaucracy in France, she says, “There the administration has survived all changes in regime since the Revolution, entrenched itself like a parasite in the body politic, developed its own class interests, and become a useless organism whole only purpose appears to be chicanery and prevention of normal economic and political development.” Such is the nature of centralized administration. Origins of Totalitarianism Hannah Arendt 09/07/19 In 14th century Europe, the bubonic plague decimated something line ¼ of the entire population. That much suffering is hard to fathom. But it is also interesting to note the economic effects of this fairly sudden change in the population. Because of our current, high population we are accustomed to hearing about minimum wage laws. [L/FP/coercion] After the plague, there were instead maximum wage laws passed—an equally bad idea. There was such a shortage of and demand for any skilled labor that the cost of labor naturally rose. The concern was over wages being too high. Additionally, commodity prices were very low. Relative to the population after the plague, there was an abundance of food stuffs, homes, clothing, farm animals, machinery etc causing prices to become low. 08/23/19 [R/E/free/cap] [R/E/abundant] Gross Domestic Product (GDP)can be considered a measure of our well-being. Anything that increases GDP leaves us better off and anything that decreases GDP leaves us less well off. 07/09/19 When I was young, our neighborhood experienced a flood. In our home, water began coming in under the baseboards and my mother started putting things up on the table. The people across the street had it worse as they were downhill from us and closer to the creek that was overflowing. Their home flooded about ¾ the way up the wall I was told. [R/FP/liberty] When the flood receded, neighbors from throughout the area appeared at the house across from us armed with shovels, rakes, brooms, mops, cleaning cloths, buckets etc. They cleaned, they moved wrecked things out of the house and got it into decent shape. My father came home, went into my parents bedroom and came out with a couple of his suits, went to the living room and grabbed up half of my parents' record collection, went by the kitchen and took some pots and pans then took all of that stuff across the street to the neighbors. Many other neighbors did the same. By the end of the day, those neighbors were in pretty good shape. [R/G/human] That is the way things like this were handled then. Not only is it quick but it draws neighbors close. You were disinclined to behave badly because you never knew when it might be you who needs help. [L/G/bureau] Today, the neighbors would ignore the neighbor with the disaster because government takes care of that. Those people would make an appointment to see a bureaucrat, wait in line, fill out lots of forms then wait for two or three months to get a check. |