I like Ron Paul, have sent him a few hundred bucks, will vote for him, BUT... I am afraid if he is elected, people will come to hate freedom, and associate freedom with poverty and want.
After bringing our troops home, reducing the size of government drastically, eliminating the Federal Reserve Bank (It isn't federal, it has no reserves, and it is not a bank!) restoring states rights, and cutting taxes concomitantly, if there is no replacement of the income this system delivers to the American people, then we will be very poor indeed.
You see, our system does deliver, our empire has troops stationed in almost every country on earth. Our banking (for now) benefits USA first and most, and post WWII all trade lanes reached usa.
Of course this is crumbling, and cannot continue, and it will fall during the next president's watch. For there to be peace and prosperity in USA there must be a replacement of the wealth and commerce. Ron Paul has an entire school of economics behind him, those countless scholars should get busy and answer the question: "how much small business do we need to replace empire in the GDP?"
Certainly a free market and property rights and freedom to contract is necessary to restore an authentic economy, but WHO will start businesses? Once a few million government workers find themselves unemployed, are they going to start innovating? What about the countless defense engineers? Microsoft's #1 customer is government, as is just about every software company. Customers will dry up, and thus jobs. The big three auto firms would fail. Sure, some people would start their own companies, but enough to replace the contribution of big auto to the USA economy?
Nobody has studied what it would take to replace the part of USA GDP that is derived from "empire." It must be substantial, since countless have died trying to stop us from taking what is theirs.
Without subsidies, our mega-agriculture farms will cease overnight. Family farming takes tremendous talent and commitment. Who will replace our frankencorn? Of course, small farmers worldwide would rejoice, but I am first and foremost concerned about USA.
Consider how many people work for govt or are dependent on govt. Consider where USA gets its money. Where would the money to employ these people come from? Of course the only ready source of income would be from small business formation. It takes no government program, it is open to everyone, finance is never the problem, and with no taxes to speak of or silly regulations (sand is a hazardous material according to the EPA), every american would find an income soon enough.
But that is not going to happen. Not enough people know how to farm, fish, log, mine, woodwork, sew, bake, etc, let alone be self-employed. We just do not have enough americans open to being self-employed to replace the income from empire. A Ron Paul success would be a disaster.
Without our troops overseas, very many bad people will lose their jobs as dictators, along with their friends. The people who assume power will likely not trust USA. Ironically, so many countries have been unleashing the power of their people thru liberalization, that I expect the rest of the world would flourish with us out of the game. A safe bet, since they are anyway. We'd see a brain drain of our best and brightest to India, China, and countless other smaller countries.
Most of the countries carefully control immigration. They would recruit our best, and reject our worst.
Under Ron Paul, there would be people self-employed, who would be the envy of all americans on one side, and those struggling or starving, waiting for handouts on the other.
Better that Hillary is (fraudulently) elected, with the slow grinding wars, serial failure of all government plans, further destruction of USA liberty, contrived conflicts between americans, carefully worked out terms of surrender to the Chinese and Arabs now that they have used our means to defeat us. In say, another 30 years, we can form the critical mass necessary to return USA to its Jeffersonian ideal.
When a free market within USA can feed clothe and house americans, and provide other human services, then we can have a Ron Paul rEVOLution. We are not there yet. It necessarily will get worse before it gets better. I am optimistic about that.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Give Us Ron Paul rEVOLution... just not right away.
USA Stock markets
Two days ago, the markets experienced a volume in shares traded about 150 million higher than the normal 250 million for the day. Very unusual. Most people noted the 600 point swing. Yet, the market came within 100 points of the day before.
7 of the Ten biggest dollar transaction in stock were bank stocks, the other three were GE WalMart and Exxon. Very unusual.
This after Arab and Foreign banks invested heavily in USA banks the last month or so. Is it part of the terms of surrender? Did we just buy back mountains of bad debt into our pensions, etc, and the foreigners get capital gains?
Why, it seems there was very big movements, and carried out very, very carefully. We’ll hear about it later, I am sure. It will be fascinating.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Folks,
When the policy makers decided it was a good idea to lower interest rates and print money in volumes that would please drunken sailors worldwide, there were winners and losers to that policy. You could stand with the losers, or move over to the winners side.
One loser was the business banker, because money is fungible, and why would one borrow money from a biz banker, at 8, 10, 12% or more, sign off a perfected security agreement on your home (whether or not you are incorporated) and labor under loan covenants, when you could take out a HELOC at a floating rate about half the business banker rate? Well, one wouldn't, and didn't, and biz bankers went begging.
With the rate cut recently my HELOC dropped to 5.24% and my interest only payment fell by $330. What will I do with the extra $330? Well, if shorting the DOW stimulates the economy, then that is what I am doing.
Government policies have effects, but they help some and harm others. Of course, guess who gets helped, and who gets harmed.
One problem is folks partial to fighting either GLOBAL WAR on Terror or GLOBAL WARming, usually support the solution of the respective political class, and carrying signs Mostly say "hooray for our side". What if you know the political response is a scam AND you desire clean environment and terror free peace and prosperity? And further, you know a solution that does not have winners and losers?
Book Review: The Road To Hell
Folks,
Here is a link to another book review. I will compile a list of "must have" books, ones that you should keep for reference as well as well as have read it.
There is many reviews of the book over at amazon, but I would recommend, if you are concerned about human development, fair trade, indeed free trade, etc, to read the book with a view of the entrepreneurs "If so, then... why don't they just."
I had no idea the world of charity was soooo dysfunctional (to put it charitably)... which only means it is ever so ripe for the entrepreneur.
Read the review here...
Wren Changes The World
Folks,
After replying to Wren's question on the listserv regarding royalties in the world of smokeless cigarette trade, it dawned on me how this is an example of the radical nature of small business.
Wren desires to introduce a smokeless cigarette in USA, which is no small thing. If she does, and thrives, then she is doing well while doing good.
At the same time, if there are perhaps 200 players in smokeless cigarettes worldwide, the fact that she has joined the game means she will help shape how the game is played.
Right now, she has potential market and they have supply, with the advantage to the suppliers, for now. As she gets more market, the advantage tips to Wren. As she gains advantage, she begins to propose conditions that will either be acceded too or not. The sensible conditions will be acceded to. She can impose nothing, so she has no real power, except if she proposes the good, the true or the beautiful, or any combination thereof, the mass of the other players will accede, and her influence will have mattered.
This is that paradoxical radical nature of small business. Wren has no power, but she is changing the world. Small business is the opposite of extremism, it is radical.
And it is why extremists such as the Taliban and USA politicians and such work so hard at limiting small business. They despise change that does not come thru themselves. Both the Taliban and USA politicians want bigger government, to impose their respective wills. Both ultimately resort to violence to effect what change they seek, Sadly, when they use force, they have only assured the world is the same oppressive place it has always been, no different when they decided they could make a difference in politics.
The only group making net-benefit change out there as far as I can tell, are teh entrpreneurs? Do you see anyone else? Medicine? Religion? Academia? Science? Who?