Decline of morals

When I came to this country in 1961, most people admired millionaires and wanted to emulate them. Today, many people are envious of millionaires and want to confiscate their wealth. Why? Government at all levels has gotten too powerful, limiting our choices and making it hard to start your own business. Now people seek favors, but never get enough, no matter how big the handouts, because they see others, especially the crony capitalists (most big corporations), getting even bigger handouts.

Liberate the Kurds and the Sunnis in Iraq & Syria

Its time to admit that the multicultural (Kurd, Shia, Sunni) utopia with a Shia majority did not work for Iraq and tell the Kurds and Sunnis that they can have independence from Baghdad, if they want it, provided ISIS is defeated.  This would provide the much needed motivation for the Sunnis to fight ISIS. This would also be a good lesson for the central government in Baghdad.

Return Power to the People

The only way to reign in a corrupt Congress controlled by special interest is to return power to the people.  The Swiss do this successfully with a national referendum process.  We need a Constitutional Amendment to allow for nationwide voter initiatives.  I can think of several initiatives that would pass with flying colors:

1. Congress is subject to the same laws/rules as everyone else.

2. Balance the Budget

3. Congressmen & Senators cannot vote when there is a conflict of interest.

Economic Freedom

The administration's anti-inversion proposal is just one more nail in the coffin of ECONOMIC FREEDOM*** in the US. The Bush and the Obama administration have moved us away from a free & competitive markets, closer to an economic dictatorship in favor of cronies and tax maximation.  As a result, we have fewer start up's and fewer new jobs.  I started my company during the Reagan years.  I wouldn't even try now.  Its become too bureaucratic and there are too many uncertainties as to government interventions & dictates.

***We have droped from #3 in 2000 to #18 in 2010 (see: "Economic Freedom in the World" by the Frsier Institute, Canada)

IRAQ's Civil War

VP Biden deserves credit for the suggestion, he made long ago: Let the Kurds, the Sunnis and the Shiites form their own states in a loose federation.  However, against all odds, we imposed the artificial Iraq boundaries set up by Churchill on the 3 distinct ethnic/religious groups, forcing them to  get along with each other in spite of their differences.   We never ask them!  Even now Hillary says, it would be unfair to let them have separate states.  Who are we?  Who is she?   Doesn't anyone in the West have respect for their civil and political liberties?

As it happens, they may finally get their own way in spite of our interference.

The decline of the Middle Class

The decline of the Middle Class and the increasing income disparity is a symptom, not the cause of our decline. In the after WWII years, we didn't have a global economy and it was easy to find well paying jobs without a getting college degree. Globalization has changed all that. Nowadays, industry needs more highly skilled employees to compete in a more technology oriented global market and low skill jobs have been taken over by robots. On the other side of the equation, our public schools have not kept up with demand and the rest of the world, especially in mathematics and the sciences. College students have not tuned in on the high paying curricula. So unemployment among the technically skilled (i.e. engineers) is practically zero, because the graduation rates of engineers and technicians is far below demand.

Decline starts when our primary education is not keeping up with China, not with inequality of income.

Entrepreneur Driven Education Reform

I trust Minerva is only the tip of the iceberg for entrepreneur driven education reform. The exiting institutions are overpriced and underperform, creating great opportunities for new players, who think outside the box. For example: Why should it take 4 years to earn a BS in electrical engineering. Fast learners using an interactive digital curriculum may finish at their own speed, may be in 1 or 2 years. May be Bill Gates and Steve Jobs would have earned a degree, if they were able to proceed at their own pace. Being held back by the slow learners is a serious shortcoming of the outdated lecture format.

Economic Freedom in the World

The data is in. If we apply logic, we can end the argument. The data compiled for over 140 countries in both, the "2010 Index of Economic Freedom" by the Heritage Foundation and the "2010 Economic Freedom in the World" report by the Frasier Institute, clearly show that economic growth and per capita income increases and poverty decreases with Economic Freedom. The reports also show why some poor countries remain poor and others improve.

It seems the Robin Hood or Socialist idea is emotionally very attractive and economists touting Socialism of one form or an other are politically motivated.

Snowden and the NSA

Our image abroad has been hurt by our immense data collection worldwide, not by Snowden getting asylum in Russia. Our data collection activities receive more attention in foreign news media than here at home. In Germany the NSA is compared to the STASI (State Security Police in East Germany).

The Military/Industrial Complex (MIC) now feels threatened by Snoden's disclosures. The MIC has most of Congress, Democrat & Republicans alike, and the mainstream media in their pocket. This is evidenced by the House Leadership clamp down on the popular Amash amendment to CISPA. As the the distrust of government rises, the MIC will clamp down more & more on our personal and economic freedom.

I hope the Republican Leadership's support for the NSA program will backfire.

America Land of Liberty?

We take claim to be the worlds beacon of liberty, while we spy on our citizens, use government agencies (i.e. IRS) to go after political enemies, forfeit private property without a trial, authorize the President to suspend Habeas Corpus and use SWAT teems to break into peoples homes.  It does not help being #18 on the latest Frasier Institute "Economic Freedom in The World" report right after Qatar.

Our Economic Decline

We should look in our own backyard for the reason our economy is hardly growing any longer. Our social engineers have have caused the slowdown by diverting money previously re-invested in the economy, into financing failed social programs. Rather than helping people to get a good education, become independent and earn their own living, these wise guys enslave them on Uncle Sam's Plantation.

Lets not forgot to mention that power hungry politicians have grabbed the power away from businessmen and entrepreneurs and put them into a regulation straight jacket.

A farmer, who consumes most of his harvest (of course he has an urgent need for the crop) and does not reinvest enough of the seeds into the next crop will gradually produce less and less. Of course for a while, he can borrow seeds from another well managed farm, but that does not reverse the downtrend.

The "Government by the People" Dilemma

The first priority of incumbent, power hungry politicians is to get re-elected.  So they have rigged the system to remain in power forever.  And rather than think, many voters vote their feelings, making the political TV ads highly effective.  The money for the TV ads is provided by special interest groups (PACs), who in turn control the politicians.  Meanwhile, the voter have little power to change the rigged system and have to wait till the power hunger of the political class results in self destruction, taking the rest of us with them on the road to hell.

Libertarians voting for their own candidate

It is certainly true that Gary Johnson may Obama get reelected. This however is not Gary Johnson's fault. Its the fault of an electoral system that amplifies the power of the majority at the expense of political minorities. We have seen the results, a dictatorship if the majority, when one party controls everything and conversely, government disfunction when control is split. 

A system akin to the European one would allow for coalitions and if the Libertarian Party won 5%, it could work together with the Republicans and retire Obama. Our system achieves the exact opposite.and may get Obama reelected.

Of course the two parties like it that way. They don't even want to listen to minority opinions. The RNC changed party rules retroactively to keep Ron Paul from having a greater voice at the convention. So we are stuck in a system that suppresses political minorities. That in it self may contribute to the eventual demise of the great American Idea - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Can we patch up our Broken Government?

Congress is controlled by special interest groups, not by the voters. They won't stop demanding their piece of flesh until there is nothing more to get. I just wonder who gets blamed when the money printing gets out of hand. 

The Federal Reserve (not Bush) caused the real estate bubble with to low interest rates for to long. Then the Fed raised the interest rate too fast and the bubble burst. They are at it again. Do you expect different result this time? Who is going to stop them? Not the pols! They need to deliver to their sponsors for the next election. The system is broken. Face it. Its not going to get fixed till most of the capital in the US is destroyed by hyper inflation. Check:http://www.aftershockpublishing.com/

Expats dumping US Citizenship

We got to face it, the government is beholden to special interests: Bankers, Giant Corporations and Unions. Government is scaring us into forever expanding their credit line (the debt ceiling) and to pay for an interventionist foreign policy, while Entrepreneurs must work with one hand tied behind their back.  We are in decline!  There is no way out, because we are too scared to take on the government.  So the best talent will leave for countries with more economic freedom like Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, New Zealand or Australia. 


Furthermore, Congress is forcing US Citizens to give up their citizenship, if they live abroad and want to have a banking relationship there.  The new FATCA law requires all foreign banks to report all US person owned accounts.   These banks don't like the cost of reporting assets of USA clients to the IRS and do not accept the legal risk of being sued by the US.  Since the US Government sued UBS, many foreign banks already refuse American customers .  By 2013 (FATCA implementation), they are all going to refuse to do business with US persons.

Bobby Jindal's School Vouchers

Governor Jindal's vouchers will not only help kids to get a better education, it will also reduce the income disparity that the liberal elite keeps talking about. The same rich elite sends their children to private schools and top universities. However, they force poor kids into dead-end, dysfunctional public schools and middle-class kids into underperforming public schools; preventing them from getting admission to the top universities. And all that while constantly complaining about the 1% and income inequality. President Obama is the best example. He did away with the vouchers in Washington, DC. Lets abolish the Department of Education!

The FDA Bureaucracy Kills

Are we a free country when the government decides what medications we can buy?  Why can't doctors and patients make their own decision based on the the risks involved?  Does the FDA's need police power over the Medical and Pharmaceutical Market?  Why not  restrict it to control over labeling and an advisory function on effectiveness and risk factors.  The label for new drugs could say: "Experimental - Take at own risk, not approved by the FDA".  Why is a dying person not allowed to use any experimental drug they want to try?   The FDA's police Power has gone to its head and according to the Life Extension Foundation, it is often acting like the Gestapo when raiding doctors offices or drug manufacturing facilities under suspicion of using unapproved products or procedures.

Buffett Tax will not produce any new revenue

Fairness at a price - less revenue?  Since the Buffett Tax is really a capital gains tax increase from 15% to 30%, it will actually reduce federal tax revenue.  In 1986, we increased the capital gains tax rate from 20% to 28% and the revenue collected went down from $50 billion to $25 billion over the following 5 years.  Conversely, every time we reduced the capital gains tax, revenue went up.  See "The Obama Tax Soup"  WSJ 4/9/2012

Poverty: Addressing the Symptoms vs. the Cause

Give a man a fish and he will have food for a day.  Teach a man how to fish and he will have food for the rest of his life.  Teach a kid how to fish and he/she will feed the world.
                                                                                                      Big Brothers

Why does our political elite insist of just feeding and housing the poor, but neglect their education?  They want to create dependency, an underclass constituency that gets them re-elected over and over.  If we want the underclass to break free from what Star Parker calls Uncle Sam's Plantation, we need to provide the same private education, the kids of the Washington Elite enjoy, to everyone.  Give every kid a voucher for the full cost of public education.  Then the now clueless underclass will join the middle class and no longer vote for these parasites.

Privatise Airport Security

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) bureaucracy has taken on a role that private contractors can fulfill more effectively at lower cost with a more traveler friendly attitude.  San Francisco (SFO) is a good example of that.  The most effective role for the TSA would be quality control of private contractors working for the airport or the airlines.  In other words, the private security employees would do the screening and the TSA would do frequent audits to test that no weapons or bombs get through.  This would not only improve the airport environment, but it would also allow for innovation in screening and detection methods.