The Dollar Store Miracle
NYC to Require Flu Vaccine for Small Children
Obamacare Enrollment Numbers Mislead
Republican Politicians Keep on Spending
The Correlation of Rich and Free
For a long time, it has baffled me how so many people in this world can ignore evidence that is right in front of their eyes. It just shows the power of propaganda. Specifically, I don’t understand how so many people can advocate socialistic policies and not think they will lead to bad results.
It Takes Money To Save Money
There is a saying that “it takes money to make money”. While there is some truth to the saying, it may also be overrated. When it comes to starting a successful business, money may help, but it isn’t the most important thing. In fact, not having much money is oftentimes what makes entrepreneurs creative and cost-conscious from the beginning.
It takes money to save money. Luckily, it doesn’t take a lot to get started.
The Government and Your Diet
It really is amazing that many things the government tells you are not just wrong; they are the opposite of right. This includes what you eat and what other substances go into your body.
The government will tell you to avoid eating saturated fats because it can cause heart disease. But the government is not just wrong that saturated fats are harmful. What you are being told is the opposite of the truth. It is not as if you avoid saturated fats that you will get the same outcome as you would have had if you consumed saturated fats. Saturated fats are good for your health.
In other words, by taking the government’s advice and consuming little or no saturated fats, you are actually making yourself less healthy. You are not getting the health benefits.
It is not just that the government is wrong. It seems that the government is actually trying to sabotage good health.
Of course, it is not just politicians and bureaucrats that work for the government. It is also big pharma, the so-called mainstream media, lobbyists, and even many doctors. It is a full scale brainwashing taking place.
Let’s also look at sugar as another example. Consuming sugar, especially in high doses, is not a healthy thing to do. If you want to have a proper diet and live a healthy lifestyle, it is best to minimize your sugar intake.
With that said, I believe that sugar is far less harmful than high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Yet, the government does everything it can to promote HFCS over sugar. The government puts heavy tariffs on sugar imports, making is far more expensive to import sugar from other countries (where it is cheaper and easier to grow). At the same time, the government gives huge subsidies (welfare) to the corn industry.
If it weren’t for the government, sugar would be inexpensive to use. Instead, we have all of these products that use HFCS in place of sugar in order to save on costs. And then the government will lie to us again and say that HFCS is not any more harmful than sugar.
Seriously, it is as if the government is trying to kill us.
If you want to eat right and be healthy, I wouldn’t listen to anything the government tells you. You would almost be healthier just doing the exact opposite in many cases. You should also take this into consideration when deciding whether to cure an ailment with prescription drugs or natural remedies such as vitamins and supplements.
If politicians and bureaucrats are telling you to stand up, you should probably sit down. If they are telling you to avoid saturated fats, you should probably consume far more. If the government tells you to stay away from raw milk, you should probably see what you are missing out on.
American Shift on Foreign Policy
There was an article run by the Guardian (also linked via LewRockwell.com) that describes an American shift on foreign policy. When I say “American”, I actually mean the American people and not the government. However, perhaps the government is also starting to shift a little, partially because of public opinion and partially because it is running out of money.
The article cites a study that says a majority of Americans now believe that the U.S. plays a less important and powerful role in the world than it did 10 years ago.
The poll cited also indicates that more Americans than before now believe that the government is going too far in providing protection from terrorism.
While it is overall good news, there were still some rather disappointing figures, showing that there is much work still to be done on the libertarian front. For example, 55% of those polled said Edward Snowden had harmed the public interest when he blew the whistle on the NSA’s spying program.
Also, rather surprising to me is that only 14% said that drones strikes in Pakistan make the U.S. less safe, while half say that drone strikes make the U.S. safer.
I can perhaps see the angle of some of the 36% or so who didn’t have an opinion one way or the other, or thought drone strikes make no difference. I am completely baffled that half of those surveyed still believe that drone strikes somehow make us safer. I am hoping that it is just ignorance and that these people just don’t understand the damage these drone strikes do and the fact that they typically kill innocent people. Even the so-called terrorists who are killed probably never would have been motivated to do any harm to any Americans if the American empire were not occupying and drone bombing their country in the first place.
As libertarians, we just have to keep preaching peace. We have to point out that wars and drone strikes result in innocent people dying. It isn’t the fault of those people for living in a relatively poor country and they don’t deserve to die. It is a collectivist notion to paint everyone in one country with a broad brush. Just the same, I wouldn’t want someone living in Pakistan to think I am evil just because the U.S. government has done bad things to their country.
I think it is also important to show conservatives the contradiction of their beliefs (in a friendly way). Many conservatives will go on about freedom and about how we need smaller government. They will talk about how corrupt and incompetent the government is at running almost anything. But then, as soon as it comes to the military, it is the greatest force of good on earth. It can do no wrong and it has great people and it is completely competent. Maybe I am exaggerating a little, but really not that much.
Conservatives must realize that putting on a military uniform doesn’t all of a sudden make government competent and great. It is still inept. It is still corrupt. At times, it is still evil.
In conclusion, I am glad there seems to be a little bit of a shift in public opinion, at least in wanting less intervention overseas. I had already detected this shift when the war that seemed inevitable in Syria was stopped. Let’s hope that this shift towards more peace will continue.
Washington DC to Raise the MInimum Wage
It almost looks inevitable that Washington DC will raise the minimum wage, perhaps as high as $11.50 per hour. This would put it higher than any of the 50 states.
I suppose the DC council can afford to make these ridiculous gestures because there is almost $4 trillion per year flowing into DC. While most of the U.S. has experienced a struggling economy over the last 5 or more years, DC is on top of the world. It is booming. When everything else seemed to be going bust, a new bubble was forming in DC. That bubble is in government.
And while the states and cities have to balance their budgets, or at least come something close to it, DC just turns to its digital printing press operated by the Federal Reserve. There has been no recession in DC.
Since DC is booming so much, we may not see significant immediate effects from the minimum wage. I doubt we will see mass layoffs. It will hurt people on the margin. Perhaps some businesses will not hire as many employees in the future, or may hire more skilled workers. Perhaps some businesses will not fill positions through attrition.
If the minimum wage were raised to $11.50 per hour in Arkansas, there would be a major problem and it would be noticeable quickly. There would likely be mass layoffs. I’m not sure that will happen in DC because it is a boom town right now. The effects will be more subtle.
Of course, the people who will be hurt the most will be unskilled workers. It will be teenagers and those with minimal education and minimal skills.
The minimum wage is only a minimum if you actually have a job. The real minimum wage in all cases is zero. And the more that the official minimum wage is raised, the more people that will be making the real minimum wage of zero.
Washington DC really is a microcosm of almost everything that is wrong with this country. It is public officials making laws that are passed in the name of the poor, yet actually helping the rich at the expense of the poor and middle class. If you are part of the elite class in DC, you are doing really well. If you are someone with minimal work skills, it is probably the wrong place to be.
Politicians who pass minimum wage laws are just praying on uninformed voters. They are taking advantage of economic ignorance. This type of nonsense will only stop when a large percentage of Americans become better informed. Unfortunately, the lessons of economics may come the hard way in the form of higher unemployment, higher inflation, and an economy that continues to struggle.