It Was a Very Good Week

"Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." -- Frederic Bastiat

The Wisdom of George Will...

It takes a worried man to sing a worried song, and in a recent speech that seemed like Larry Summers's swan song, the president's now-departed economic adviser warned that America is "at risk of a profound demoralization with respect to government."

The idea that America's problem of governance is one of inadequate resources misses this lesson of the last half-century: No amount of resources can prevent government from performing poorly when it tries to perform too many tasks, or particular tasks for which it is inherently unsuited.

Actually, government is not sufficiently demoralized. (George Will)

Representative Giffords' recovery proceeds at a miraculous pace, and the big lefty smear has failed. The House voted to repeal health care, and I'm still employed.  It's been a good week.

Have a great weekend!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Steve Forbes cuts to the heart of the statism of Obama and the Pelosicrats
I have done it myself, but I don't think calling people fascists helps the cause of freedom.  Steve Forbes gives us a model of how to argue against the liberty grab that is going on:

One hesitates to bring up the economics of Benito Mussolini and his ilk because fascism means ugly nationalism and racism, as well as mass murder and aggressive war. So let's label the economic part of that ideology as neosocialist, corporatist, statist or--to be sophisticated and use a French word--dirigiste.

Under the corporatist state, private companies exist but take their direction from government. Competition is seen as wasteful and destructive and therefore must be "managed." There is a basic hostility toward small businesses precisely because there are so many of them, making them harder to regulate and more apt to do things without government permission.

Statism certainly creates a facade of stability...

Next Up T.R. Fehrenbach explains how business is undermined by greedy politicians:

The majority of Americans work and therefore eat and pay taxes because they are involved in some sort of surplus-producing private business, from industry to sales to finance to science and agriculture. Enterprises such as charities, education, and government — non-profits in general — are utterly dependent on profit-making business for funding. You'd think people would grasp this when things get rough.

We are dependent on business, not government, to create wealth

There are many reasons for this. Business is always being undermined by the demons inherent in democracy: greedy politicians and populist programs that gut it. By and large, educators and clergy, who create no wealth, put other callings first.

Bright people are urged not to go into business and make money but to serve their fellow man. The problem is, nobody can serve anybody without the wherewithal. Many people who live off donations and taxes affect to despise the source, much in the manner that clean-handed lords despised their grubbing serfs.

Required Reading:  George Will's Cato Institute Speech
It is too brilliant to excerpt here.  Go read the whole thing

Peter Ferrara offers a quick economic history of the 20th Century.  
He explains how supply-side, pro-growth policies worked not Just for Reagan, but for Kennedy and Harding as well.  Read it, understand it, bookmark it.  This is essential information for those of us who routinely argue with delusional liberals who claim Reagan wrecked the economy.

Hooteries and Bill Maher Madness

A quick quiz to see how well you pay attention to the news

The Hooteries (you know, that rightwing white racist domestic terrorist group) are soooo dangerous, and such a threat to the United States of America, that:

a) President Obama is launching drones over Michigan, and threatening to declare war on the Upper Peninsula

b) Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered them held indefinitely

c) A federal judge has ordered them released, while scolding the government for its tissue-thin case.

If you guessed C, you're right!  Can anybody say "politically motivated?"  Obama can't find any right wing domestic terrorists, so he invented some by wire tapping a group smack-talking nutballs.


Here's your prize:  See what happens when Bill Maher tries sit at the big peoples' table.  
He's not so witty when he has to actually interact with thinking people:



Go read all about it at Big Journalism!