The Government’s Definition of “Fair”…

What is fair? Is life meant to be fair? Is it fair that you have to be 6’8” to play in the NBA? Is it fair that you have to run fast to be a marathon runner? Is it fair that you have to be smart to get into Harvard? In order to make many things that we value fair, we have to change the rules and then accept the outcomes of those changes.

In order to make access to becoming an NBA player fair we would have to put in place rules like: there needs to be the same amount of woman, Asians, Whites, Hispanics, and Black players on every team. These players would need to be divided into players that are no taller than 5’1”, 5’8” and 7’0”. This would eliminate the dominance of tall players. We would also have to include a number of slots for people that are disabled. The list of rules to make the game fair could go on for pages.

We could take every institution, profession, and employment opportunity there is and make rules to make the possibility of entry to them fair but the results would all be the same; fair = distributed misery. There is no such thing as ensuring fair outcomes without manipulating the inputs. If you manipulate the inputs it is guaranteed to impact the outcomes in a negative way.

The rules of the game must be fair. The US Constitution is the rule of the game for this country. The Constitution offers a guideline for a limited intrusion into the freedom of the individual. These rules encourage people with exceptional skills, intellect, and drive to become successful without the intrusion of government bureaucrats forcing fairness on their outcomes.

Smart people will always be more successful than not so smart people. Big strong tall people will always have a better opportunity to be a professional sports player. People with a propensity to take risks will always be more likely to be successful entrepreneurs. The federal government can try to dictate that not so smart people should be smart but unless those people apply themselves the result will diminish the institutions they are enrolled in. The federal government can dictate that the NBA hires small uncoordinated people but the result is the NBA will lose its fans. The federal government can give money to people to start businesses based on something other than skill but the result will be less business at a high cost.

You can make the access to opportunity fair by making the rules of entry the same for everyone. You can try to make the outcome of results fair but that is a fool’s errand. We are not equal when it comes to skills, knowledge, God given genes, and drive, so how do you dictate success? The only way to make outcomes fair is to distribute misery.  And that is something the federal government and all government bureaucracies are really good at… Spreading misery…

Obama Phones: A Telling Tale

Find the entire Obama Phone story here.

It is almost a natural reflex in today’s mixed up, backwards world of politics to turn to the government to “fix” things in our society. Whether it’s; obesity, speeding, freak accidents, bad behavior, or a reaction to any headline the media decides to put front and center. A man jumps off a bridge, lower the bridge. A woman leaves a dog in a car with the windows down, remove windows from cars. People flush 5 gallons of water down the toilet, make toilets 3 gallons. The underlying question is why Americans reflexively turn to the government to “fix” things?

Any casual review of the results of government programs will tell you; government is incompetent at best, evil at worst. Take the issue of Obama phones. To be fair to this president, the program that has become the Obama phone program was started long ago to bring basic service to the poor so they could have a basic line in case of emergency. It was a program of good intentions which is common with every government program, but the results? Fraud and abuse is the result.

Since the program was expanded to include cell phones in 2008, the costs have gone from $822 million to $2.2 billion. This well intentioned program is now being completely abused. But why would we be surprised? Look at Detroit, Camden, Newark, Chicago, NY, and many other places across the country that are littered with government programs intended to help the people it is destroying. Section 8 housing, food stamps, welfare, public education, Medicaid, and on and on. These programs have spread misery, poverty, and ignorance in the communities they are intended to help. So why would giving “free” cell phones be any different? Actually, why would any government program produce different results?

The Obama phones that this reporter was able to accumulate without even lying about his status shows the potential abuse of every government program. So why do we keep asking the government to get involved in matters that are best left for individuals, local communities, churches, and civic groups to fix? Is it just a reflex? Or is it that people just don’t know where else to turn? I think if we can figure out these questions we can begin to really fix our issues as a country.

This reporter received 3 Obama phones which he wasn’t even eligible to have. The reason was that the federal government promises to pay private carriers for every phone they give out under the program. Do you see a problem with that incentive? Why didn’t the federal government?

Income Inequality Morally Wrong?

In President Obama’s latest speech, he promised to place all of his efforts on building, supporting, growing, helping, whatever, the “middle class.” The problem is that this president doesn’t understand how the “middle class” becomes a middle class. A quick side note: we fought to end a class system so I like to call it the “opportunity class.” But that aside, let’s look at why we in the US have more people in a position to live a comfortable life.

We are the only nation in the world that was founded on economic freedom. Individuals that created things, provided services, and followed their dreams and desires were able to interact with others without being encumbered by government. Throughout most of our early history we had what was often referred to as “Laissez Faire” economic policy. Basically, people could trade and barter between each other to create wealth. This economic freedom is the reason so many Americans had the opportunity to live a productive life rather than a life of subsistence as was, and still is, the way of most of the rest of the world.

Economic freedom within the rule of law is the reason we have an opportunity class. The people that created stuff needed people to work for them. The people working for them learned trades and craft and often went out and started something of their own to create more wealth. Millions of economic transactions between people without the meddling of government allowed for wealth to be created and therefore an opportunity class formed. It is not a stagnant class of people. People move in and out of the opportunity class.

Some people move to an ownership opportunity and amass wealth that enables them to live an even more comfortable existence often supporting charities and people who are less fortunate. Other people of the opportunity class squander their wealth and have to start over because of bad choices or circumstances. But the main point is people working in this free environment have an incentive to keep trying in order to move up or stay put.

When this president talks about a “middle class” what he sees is a class of people that are victims of circumstance. They take jobs and their opportunity is determined by some “rich capitalist.” He comes from a school that subscribes to people needing the help of government to succeed. Without the government to take the wealth created by others, these people would starve or remain in poverty. This system and this president don’t believe in the people to take care of themselves even though it is the reason we are so wealthy. So when he talks about growing the middle what he means is that by taking from the opportunity class is the only way to make it fair. To this president re-distributing income is how you grow the middle and punish those greedy capitalists. That is the exact formula for destroying opportunity for the most people.

It is why we continue after 5 years of this policy to see poverty rise and opportunity diminish. So the question to this president is how is income equality fair? Why keep growing government when what we need is more economic freedom? Government is a necessary evil. The people in government are not necessarily evil, but the function of government always ends up spreading evil. Poverty, ignorance, hunger, homelessness are the result of government intrusion in our economy. Making everyone equal in poverty is immoral…

Building the Economy “from the middle out”?

If you are confused by the title of this post, don’t feel bad, you should be. It is the most recent statement on economic policy by President Obama. A President that has next to nil experience in the private economy of the United States, not even a lemonade stand. He is an agitator, and a very good one. He agitates many Americans with statements like this.

Let’s look at and analyze the suggestion of “building the economy from the middle out, not the top down.” If you look at this statement from a purely political perspective, he is attempting to divide Americans by class and agitate people to blame the “top.” The top being the “rich”, the rich being the people that create the jobs. This president has no problem with the rich that donate to his campaign, and the rich people he gives our tax dollars to for businesses he supports, like solar companies, but the rest of the “rich” he despises. The people that actually create jobs from the “top down.”

“Top down” job creation is actually not top down; it is from “nothing to something” job creation. It is people that take an idea and put it into action which attracts customers to purchase that idea, and then it grows, and the person that started from nothing has something that they need help to keep growing. Whew! Did you follow that? That is where the person that took “nothing to something” now hires people and like magic you have job creation. These people are to be celebrated, not demonized or ignored as the president wants to do in his newest transformation as a job creator from “the middle out.” Creating jobs from the middle out?

How do you create a job from the middle out? In the real world the only way that happens is that a worker leaves the current company they work at and start their own company. If the person from the “middle class” steps from that job to take the risk of opening a business, they have now become the “top down.” They are the owner, entrepreneur, CEO, sole proprietor, etc…, and no longer are in the middle. Starting a business puts you at the top. That’s how I see it and how any sound business person would interpret the President’s message of “middle out”. But we would be wrong!

What the president is suggesting is that we need to grow the “middle” without the “middle” stepping out and creating new companies. He is saying that the government must “invest” (tax dollar confiscation from the “top”) to add people in the “middle” without the “top” creating new jobs. The only way you can do that is to transfer wealth from some other source. There are two choices: the taxpayer and the “top.” Both of these choices creates nothing new and destroys the wealth creation you already have. The pie doesn’t grow it just gets sliced up in a different configuration. The pie actually gets smaller because the “top” leaves and finds a better country to do business or just stops doing business because they are punished for their success.

This is economics 101 and a class the President obviously failed or skipped to hang out with his fellow agitators at Harvard. Actually it is part of the left, liberal, social democratic plan to destroy the wealth of this nation and put government in control of a failing economy. It is all about power, envy, and contempt for our capitalist, constitutional republic. It is because the left despises freedom, free markets, and limited government intrusion in our lives.

This President is an economic genius for the political philosophy he embraces. He is a failure to the people that love and believe in this country. His term can’t end fast enough. I just hope our economy can absorb another three years of this president’s attempt to destroy it…

Detroit Reveals the Facts on Government Policies

·         Leadership: When you have a separatist Mayor (Young) people separate and take their productivity and wealth with them.

·         Taxes: When you raise them people flee.

·         Business: If you threaten them they will leave taking their jobs and tax base with them.

·         Unions: You can negotiate any contract you would like but taxpayers can decide to leave and not support the taxes needed to sustain the contracts.

·         Politics: You get the government you vote for and voting for democratic rule for over 40 straight years gets you bankruptcy.

·         Education: If you can’t read you should not be allowed to graduate. If you graduate and you can’t read you probably will not find a job. It is especially true when you have chased the business community away (see above). Education is the door to opportunity and trusting the system to government and union’s guarantees failure.

·         Crime: It must be punished or it thrives. It is the cancer of all inner cities. Justice must be blind and corrupt cops must be punished. Corrupt politicians are a cancer and must be prosecuted without exception.

·         Race: When the government focuses policy on race that race suffers. Race relations improve as economic status improves. Unless you put a fence around a city people of all races will leave based on their improved economic status if the above conditions are present.

Detroit is a preview of this nation’s future and it is being promoted by liberal democrats. Will they learn the lessons of Detroit and change their policies?

The Road Back for Detroit

Note to the NY Times: Detroit ran out of other people’s money. They deserved the government they kept electing. Detroit should serve as a lesson to our youth for future elections. If the numbers don’t add up you just can’t ignore them. People need incentives to work, not another government handout… Detroit is a sad case but predictable and it is just the beginning. The root cause of Detroit’s demise is present in most major cities in this country. Washington DC is doing the same at the national level. It is inevitable if we keep ignoring the facts. It is time to re-introduce the principles of the American Dream… A good education, hard work, and personal responsibility, makes for a good life and a prosperous nation…

It is so easy for people that are driven by emotion rather than facts to opine on the Detroit situation and pity the people living in Detroit. Pity is not what the people of Detroit need. What the people of Detroit need is the spirit and drive to improve their situation. Instead of focusing on the pension plans that were pie in the sky promises from politicians, they should be focused on improving the fundamental conditions that attract people to live in a city.

The city of Detroit has a branding problem. When people around the country hear the word Detroit they think of the once great mega of new cars, crime, bloated unions, filthy and broken down homes, and people that have no interest in improving their own living conditions. Why would anyone want to move to Detroit? Is the future so hopeless that Detroit will remain a third world environment in the former fourth largest city in the United States?

How do you re-vitalize a people and a city? The first thing is the people that live there must want to change the conditions they live in. The second thing is that the city must be perceived and truly be a safe place to be. Crime cannot be tolerated but this will take some time and will need to be proven to the outsider looking in. In the meantime efforts should be made to clean up neighborhoods, refurbish buildings and homes, and people should begin opening up businesses to support their fellow residents.

Once it appears that the people of Detroit are working on improving their own conditions they can reach out to the country, and I am not talking about politicians, I am talking about civic and church groups, to ask for a helping hand. The people of this great nation will be happy to help people that want and need the help. Habitat for Humanity, and other groups would flock to a people truly contrite in their efforts to make a better life.

The one thing Detroit does not need is a bailout. A bailout would be a reward for bad behavior. Using other people’s money and work ethic is what put Detroit into bankruptcy. The most difficult part of this plan is the effort it will take to change the attitude of the city from victim to victor. I don’t have a lot of faith any of this will take place in Detroit. They have been coddled for too long.

I do wish the people of Detroit the best of luck if they choose to be victorious…