Unemployment

Consider 20,000 unemployed people.

Which population would obtain a job quicker?

  1. This group obtains $300.00 per week up until they find a job.  Or hit 26 weeks.  Which ever comes first.
  2. This group gets 26*$300 the day after they file for unemployment benefits.

Knowing this would you change the way in which you construct the unemployment programs?

About That “Disaster”

Wisconsin.

Unions.

Scott Walker.

The Prediction:

“This is a disaster,” said Mark Miller, the Wisconsin Senate Democratic leader, in February after Republican Gov. Scott Walker proposed a budget bill that would curtail the collective bargaining powers of some public employees. Miller predicted catastrophe if the bill were to become law — a charge repeated thousands of times by his fellow Democrats, union officials, and protesters in the streets.

Still think so?

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In Remembrance of Independence Day

Dan Mitchell has an awesome document that represents the changes to the Declaration of Independence that might be made if the Liberal Elites had their way.

Enjoy:

IN CAMBRIDGE, July 4, 2011.
The unanimous Declaration of the Ivy League,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for all peoples to strengthen
political control over rampant individualism, and to assume among the powers of the
earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Gaia entitle them, a
decent respect to the opinions of personkind requires that they should declare the causes
which impel them to expand government.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people should be made equal, that they are
endowed by their government with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are jobs,
healthcare and housing.–That to secure these rights, Governments must rule over the
people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the elite, –That whenever the
people becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the Elite to alter or to abolish
it, and to institute more Government, laying its foundation on such principles and
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect the power
and control of the elite.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments should not be reduced or constrained;
and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that personkind are more disposed to suffer,
while capitalism is sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which
they are accustomed. But when a long train of liberties and freedoms, pursuing invariably
the same Object evinces a design to liberate them from the elite, it is government’s
obligation, it is their duty, to impose more Government, and to provide new Guards for
their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of the elite; and such is now
the necessity which constrains them to expand their former Systems of Government. The
history of the Founding Fathers is a history of repeated limitations on state power, all
having in direct object the restriction of an absolute Tyranny over the people. To prove
this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
They refused to facilitate more Laws, based on our evolving definition of what is
necessary for the public good.
They have forbidden the bureaucracy to impose Laws of political importance, unless the
Constituion is amended.
They refused to allow other Laws for the accommodation of dependency among the
people, depriving those people of the right of paid vacations, maternal leave, and cable
TV.
They imposed limitations the power of government that were unusual, uncomfortable to
the ruling class, for the sole purpose of limiting government power.
They restricted the power of Congress repeatedly, thus hindering invasions on the rights
of the people.

They refused for a long time, after such restrictions, to allow courts to create new rights
for Internet access and electric cars to the People at large for their exercise; the State
remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of inadequate power to control
people’s lives.
They endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing
automatic voter registration for illegal immigrants.
They obstructed the imposition of bureaucracy, by refusing their Assent to Laws for
empowering the Judiciary to expand government.
They required Judges to obey the Constitution, instead of treating it as an evolving
document.
They failed to erect a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither inadequate swarms of
Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
They failed to impose among us, in times of peace, a big enough EPA, BATF, or OSHA.
They affected to render the people independent of and superior to the state’s power.
They combined with citizens to limit the elite with a constitution, making it difficult to
impose our preferred Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of bureaucrats among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which
they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province,
establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as
to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same
absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering
fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with
power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
They limited Government here, wanting the President to get approval before waging War
against Libya.

They made it difficult for us to plunder the seas, ravage the Coasts, burn the towns, and
destroy the lives of people.
They would forbid transporting large Armies of U.N. Mercenaries to compleat the works
of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy
scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a
civilized nation.
They constrained to the federal government so it could not bear Arms against the
Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves
by their Hands.
They failed to allow an income tax until 1913, which delayed our ability to bring on the
inhabitants of our nation, the merciless IRS agents, whose known rule of warfare, is an
undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these unpleasant freedoms We have Petitioned for Redress in the most
humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A
Constitution whose character is thus marked by every act which may define freedom, is
unfit to enable the enslavement of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them
from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction
over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement
here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured
them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would
inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the
voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity,
which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies
in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the political elite, in faculty lounges, Assembled,
appealing to the United Nations for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and
by Authority of government, solemnly publish and declare, That the American people
ought to be governed by the United Nations; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance
to the Constitution, and that all political connection between them and the Founding
Fathers, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as highly-taxed and dependent
States, they have full Power to levy taxes, disrupt Peace, contract new departments and
agencies, regulate Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which the political
elite may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the
protection of the establishment media, we mutually demand your Lives, your Fortunes
and your sacred Honor.

The President’s Weekly Radio Address: July 2, 2011

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Washington, DC

Right now, there are a lot of folks who are still struggling with the effects of the recession.  They’re wondering how they’d deal with an unexpected expense if their car breaks down.  They’re worried about layoffs. They’re not sure if they can help their kids pay for college. And for many families, these challenges were around long before the recession hit in 2007.

I ran for President because I believed in an America where ordinary folks could get ahead; where if you worked hard, you could have a better life.

See, I don’t think you did.  I think you ran for President because you felt that many of Americans’ had too much money.  And that you felt you could implement your own version of fair.

That’s been my focus since I came into office, and that has to be our focus now.

Mr. President?  To be fair, that hasn’t been any part of your focus since you came into office.  In fact, it’s been the exact opposite of your focus since you came into office.  See, you’ve focused on health care, auto bailouts and union givebacks.  None of those things creates jobs.

It’s one of the reasons why we’re working to reduce our nation’s deficit.

Define “working”.

Government has to start living within its means, just like families do.  We have to cut the spending we can’t afford so we can put the economy on sounder footing, and give our businesses the confidence they need to grow and create jobs.

I must say; truer words have never been spoken!

The good news is, Democrats and Republicans agree on the need to solve the problem.

Jeez, Mr. President, I hate to interrupt, but Democrats don’t agree on this point sir.  See, they wanna KEEP spending like college sophomores at Myrtle on Spring Break.

And over the last few weeks, the Vice President and I have gotten both parties to identify more than $1 trillion in spending cuts.  That’s trillion with a ‘t.’  But after a decade in which Washington ran up the country’s credit card,

Holy jeebus you won’t let Dubya go will ya?!?

we’ve got to find more savings to get out of the red.  That means looking at every program and tax break in the budget – every single one – to find places to cut waste and save money.  It means we’ll have to make tough decisions and scale back worthy programs.  And nothing can be off limits, including spending in the tax code, particularly the loopholes that benefit very few individuals and corporations.

I love with a capital L how you call a “tax break” a “spending program”.  So that’s how you’re gonna role, ain’t it?  You are gonna say that a tax break is an expenditure and that in order to “cut spending” you’ll have to “cut” those “tax breaks”.

Sparky….over heah….not foh nottin’, but ‘dat sounds like a tax hike to me! /SexyMobAccent

Now, it would be nice if we could keep every tax break, but we can’t afford them.

Here it comes….the money line….

Because if we choose to keep those tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires,

millionaires and billionaires…..

or for hedge fund managers and corporate jet owners,

MO’NEY!

or for oil and gas companies pulling in huge profits

I gotta say….I’d bet even money, EVEN ‘effin money, you couldn’t tell me what profit means!  Just sayin’.

without our help – then we’ll have to make even deeper cuts somewhere else.  We’ve got to say to a student, ‘You don’t get a college scholarship.’

Psssst…..ssshhhhhh, don’t tell no one…..he maybe don’t.

We have to say to a medical researcher, ‘You can’t do that cancer research.’ We might have to tell seniors, ‘You have to pay more for Medicare.’

How ’bout we tell 2 year unemployed guy he don’t need no more benefits?  How about we tell the college researcher looking into the mating habits of the Russian Yak we don’t maybe care so much?  How about we quit hiring $800,000 prison doctors?

Why do you always ALWAYS take the most important expenditures and put them at the top of the “cut list”?

Never mind…..I think I know.

That isn’t right, and it isn’t smart.  We’ve got to cut the deficit, but we can do that while making investments

Did’ja know that investments = spending?  I told you that Democrats don’t agree we need to cut spending.

in education, research, and technology that actually create jobs.  We can live within our means while still investing in our future.  That’s what we have to do.  And I’m confident that the Democrats and Republicans in Congress can find a way to give some ground, make some hard choices, and put their shoulders to wheel to get this done for the sake of our country.

On Monday, we celebrate Independence Day, the day we declared a new nation, based on revolutionary idea: that people ought to determine their own destiny; that freedom and self-governance weren’t gifts handed to us by kings or emperors, but the rights of every human being.

Yeah.  Some of us [hint hint] believe that ore than others do.  I suspect you are very much in favor of removing self-governance wherever you can.

We’ve learned in the years since that democracy isn’t always pretty.  We have arguments.  We disagree.  But time and again we’ve proven that we could come together to solve problems.  We remember that while we may not see eye-to-eye on everything, we share a love for this country and a faith in its future.  That’s the spirit we need to harness now.  That’s how we’ll meet this challenge and reach a brighter day.  Thanks for listening, and have a wonderful fourth of July.

You don’t have to thank me for listening.  What would be refreshing is if YOU would listen.

Jon Stewart Blinked

Anthony Weiner is a dumb ass.  We knew this long before his recent history making revelations.  However, now we know about his history making revelations.

And, if you have any kind of sense of humor, his history making revelations are hilarious.

Just the kind of story for Jon.

But Anthony is a friend.  And so Jon let him off.

Jon Stewart claims he’s a comedian and that he just makes fun of the political theater in front of him.  But he doesn’t.

He had The Weiner in his sights.  And he blinked.

He’s a good friend.  But he’s not just a “political comedian” either.

Casey Anthony

I think every single person in America feels she knows that something horrible happened to her daughter AND that she knows who did what.

But she ain’t sayin’.

And THAT is bullshit.

But it doesn’t mean she’s guilty of 1st degree murder.

 

There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

This is why we need to be leery of government.

It’s not because government is always “evil”.  It’s not because all people working in government are self absorbed power hungry influence brokers.  It’s not because of man’s natural desire to rule their own world; whatever world that is.

Now, to be sure, some or all of that exists, but the vast majority of the people who make up government are honest hard working folks.

The problem with government is that it creates the wrong incentives.

And the North Carolina State Parks is no exception.

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How To Afford Health Care

I’m reaching into the “Way Back Machine” and pulling out a post from a long time ago:

Much debate has been made about the uninsured in America. I have tried and tried and tried to make the point in my personal conversations that you can not claim you can’t afford thing “A” when you voluntarily spend the money that could purchase thing “A” and instead buy thing “B”. That is to say, if I have enough money to book, but instead purchase a DVD, I can not claim to be unable to buy the book. I simply decided to prioritize the DVD higher than the book.

The same is true of health insurance. If I have money to purchase health insurance but instead choose to buy thing “B”, I can not claim to be unable to afford health insurance. I just decided not to buy it. Now, I understand that there are things in life that seem to qualify as “must have”. Shelter, food and clothing to name a few. People even claim that an internet connection and phone service can qualify as required services. So I tried to find an item that in no way could be classified as “required”. I came up with lottery tickets.

Now, looking at uninsured data found at Carpe Diem, there seem to be three rough categories of people:

  1. Those that make less than $25,000 a year
  2. Those that make from $25,000 to $50,000 a year
  3. Those that make more than $50,000 a year

Those three breakdowns seem to describe the uninsured equally. About 30% of the uninsured population are in each category. Let’s see if my theory holds true for the lower income population.

Using data reported by 4 Professors at Duke University, we are able to see lottery participation rates as well as annual per capita amounts.

What it shows is remarkable. Combining the players making less than $25,000 per year we see that just about HALF of the population plays the lottery. Further, those people who play are spending near $600 a year! This means that these players have near $600 of annual disposable income that they are choosing to spend on the lottery. By going here, I can find a policy that covers a single 25-year-old man for $52 a month. Or, $612 a year – almost exactly what is being played on the lottery.

Given that a group of people have disposable income of near $600 and that an insurance policy costs nearly $600, can you realistically say that those folks are unable to afford health insurance?

Me either.

For The Record

I believe in the nobility and the divinity of the soul.

I feel that all life is precious and a gift given to us by that power which each of us is free to name; or not name.

I understand that part of our responsibility is to provide for the relief of others less fortunate, whether this be in the short term or in the long term.

I am aware that my successes and joys are the result of the sweat and sacrifice of those generations that have come before me.  In some cases, these sacrifices were true and terminating; think soldiers dying in war.  In other cases, these sacrifices were of labor and drudgery; think the factory worker.  And in others, these sacrifices were of joy and celebration; think educators.  I stand on the shoulders of giants.

I know that all mankind is obligated to watch and care for his brother.  That the joy and peace of my fellowman is a much mine to care for and grow than if it were my own.  It is, after all.

When sick, we should heal.

When hungry, we should feed.

When poor, we should enrich.

When tired, we should relieve.

When burdened, we should shoulder.

These are things that I know.  And that I hope to be teaching.

After these things, when they have all been satisfied to my ability, I reflect on the worlds view of me.  And I am at peace.

However, it causes me no small amount of pain and frustration that because I believe in these things, these things that, when wrapped into one concept which I call Liberty, I am called greedy or callous.  That because I believe that the proper and most noble state of man is found within Liberty that I should be thought of as selfish.

As if.

I find it more noble and empowering to “want” in freedom than to “have” in bondage.

Thoughts On Liberty And Democracy

There’s an old saying attributed to Benjamin Franklin:

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.

When I read it I wrinkled my nose.  Lunch is too modern a word and well-armed is too….well, too neo-con.

I like my take better:

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner.  Liberty is a lamb contesting the tyranny of the majority.

Government can not take from me what is not first mine.  No matter the tyrant or the number of them.