Look At It This Way (#LAITW)

And it’s not “Mother” Nature, either. Or if it is, she doesn’t give a rat’s you know what. Or maybe it’s “Nature’s a Mother”. In any case, nature goes where it goes. Survival of the fittest. Nor rules. Oh wait, there are some rules. Physics. And no second chances. Doesn’t matter if you show your work. If you get the right answer, you’re OK. If not, you’re dead – no need to review how you got to the wrong answer. Survival of the fittest. Unless there’s an asteroid impact. I guess you could say the asteroid was more fit.

Liberalism (socialism, communism, etc.) only works in a utopia (which doesn’t exist, can’t exist, you moron) where EVERYONE and EVERYTHING play by the rules. Reality has too much randomness, too much free spirit, too much unpredictability.

For instance, taking away people’s right to bear arms only works if NO ONE is a bad guy. In the real world, the natural world, there are bad guys. And when good guys are stripped of their ability to defend themselves, the bad guys win.

And there are bad guys.

This distinction is important. But we’ve been blurring it over the last X years. “Why do you think we’re any better than them? We did slavery, and Jim Crow, and confederate flags, and gay bash, and on and on.” OK, so no one’s perfect. In the balance, I think the U.S experience has been, and could continue to be, exceptional. On any front you want to discuss, I’ll be glad to argue that the American approach is better.

There really are good guys and bad guys. And if we don’t include that in our mindset, we can make terrible decisions.

For instance, the U.S. is a good guy. Iran is a bad guy. Iran vows to wipe out Israel in its constitution! It’s clearly been supporting terrorism (e.g. Hezbollah). If you can’t even agree to that, there’s no point in trying to convince you of anything else.

If you can’t or aren’t willing to judge good and bad, there’s nothing that can be done.

Remember when Rush Limbaugh got in trouble for saying he wished Obama would fail? Well, Limbaugh did not get his wish. In fact, Obama has been miraculously successful at getting done what he wants to get done. Should what he wanted to get done surprise anyone? Not in the least. Some of us knew he was a radical leftist from the get-go. All the clues were there for anyone paying attention to see. If there was any doubt that this country was headed toward socialism (and worse), there is no doubt now. We took a very hard left with the Obama administration.

Few of us will be around long enough to see this all play out, to read the history books of the next century (assuming history is not re-written). I fear for my grandkids, and their grandkids. Nasty things happen in socialism, communism, fascism, etc. I’ve seen the pictures of the kids faces.

God help us all.

You all know I’m a train lover. But for the record, I want you all to know that I’m totally against California spending billions on high speed rail and all for California spending billions on water solutions.

“Water” is the correct choice.

So what if the economy gets messed up. So what if we lose a few freedoms, liberties, or rights. So what if some suffer a bit. No big deal. It’s for the better good, blah, blah, blah.

Well, the game just notched up.

The first time Iran uses nukes, the deaths are on those of you who have supported this administration whether by action or inaction. And some of you are my friends. Sad day.

“A businessman cannot force you to buy his product; if he makes a mistake, he suffers the consequences; if he fails, he takes the loss. A bureaucrat forces you to obey his decisions, whether you agree with him or not—and the more advanced the stage of a country’s statism, the wider and more discretionary the powers wielded by a bureaucrat. If he makes a mistake, you suffer the consequences; if he fails, he passes the loss on to you, in the form of heavier taxes.”

Ayn Rand

When capitalism is left alone to function cleanly, it works.

In the U.S., for at least 27 years now, capitalism has been hampered by all manner of government intervention and story telling.

“As documented in Parts 1-3 (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), the Fed has generated a $50 trillion financial bubble since Alan Greenspan took the helm in August 1987. After 27 years, honest price discovery has been destroyed, thereby reducing the nerve centers of capitalism—-the money and capital markets—-to little more than gambling casinos.”

The real unemployment rate in the U.S. today is much closer to 42.9% than the reported 5.5%. Stockman’s approach to calculating this is very straightforward. How many potential work hours are available from the work-age population, and how many are actually fulfilled. If you have been paying attention at all, you would recognize that with 90+ million Americans no working, the real unemployment rate can’t possibly be 5.5%.

Read David Stockman’s article…

The number of childfree women is at a record high: 48 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 44 don’t have kids, according to 2014 Census numbers.

So, there will be roughly half as many kids as might be expected to pay off our $17 trillion debt.

Uh-oh.

There are morals and ethics of a higher nature. Whether you think they’re “by God” or “of nature” may matter a little, but the point remains. There are ethics and truisms that are above reproach. I know, there are moral relativists out there. And those who believe there are no rules. Screw ’em.

Thou shalt not steal. Notice that there are no qualifiers. Not even “but I was starving” counts.

That doesn’t stop the government. Roughly 1/3 of government spending is on welfare (social and corporate) and other “redistribution of wealth” programs. This is stealing from Peter to pay Paul. It’s immoral. All that crap should be cut from government at all levels. Supporting those who need support is much better done charitably and locally.

But, you say, if we don’t extract the money from some people, they won’t be charitable. And you know what, that’s their right not to be charitable. Live with it.

Here’s the biggy. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT OF THE DEBT (which is what, about $17 trillion these days) is stealing from the future. It’s stealing from my kids, and grandkids, and kids that aren’t even born yet.

It’s immoral. I think it’s criminal.

Remember the population scare from the 60s/70s? Right.

It’s important to remember this crap so when you’re listening to the doom scenarios the left puts out if we don’t solve the problem the way they see it, your BS-meter will go off.

Like with climate change.