About Me

In writing the "About Me" portion of this blog I thought about the purpose of the blog - namely, preventing the growth of Socialism & stopping the Death Of Democracy in the American Republic & returning her to the "liberty to abundance" stage of our history. One word descriptions of people's philosophies or purposes are quite often inadequate. I feel that I am "liberal" meaning that I am broad minded, independent, generous, hospitable, & magnanimous. Under these terms "liberal" is a perfectly good word that has been corrupted over the years to mean the person is a left-winger or as Mark Levin more accurately wrote in his book "Liberty & Tyranny" a "statist" - someone looking for government or state control of society. I am certainly not that & have dedicated the blog to fighting this. I believe that I find what I am when I consider whether or not I am a "conservative" & specifically when I ask what is it that I am trying to conserve? It is the libertarian principles that America was founded upon & originally followed. That is the Return To Excellence that this blog is named for & is all about.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Don't Kid Yourself - BO Is Winning

"We're more than 50% socialist.  And I don't think we're getting our money's worth." – Professor Friedman speaking about America several decades ago.
 
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The above graphic indicates that the growth of an economy is a function of employment growth + productivity growth powered by capital investment.  Unfortunately for America employment growth in good paying jobs has been almost non-existent since BO's deceptive misleading recovery started in June 2009 & nonfarm business sector labor productivity has also been stagnant during this same time, actually declining 1.9% during the first quarter of 2015 – see graph below.  Median annual household income has dropped from over $54,000 in 2009 to under $52,000 in 2013 in inflation adjusted dollars - the only time that household income has ever dropped in an economic recovery – & in 2014 a third of Americans aged 18 to 31 were living with their parents – the highest percentage in @ least four decades.  In addition, small & medium sized businesses are dying faster than they're being born.
 
In short BO's plan of a lackluster existence under government dependence for "We the People of the United States" is working.
 
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Job creation in April continued to inch along @ a tepid pace that ensures the American middle class will not return to strong prosperity anytime soon because the free enterprise system has been shut down by BO – hence another push toward socialism by politicians leading the general population in the wrong direction.  There were 223,000 jobs created in April – 10,000 of which were government jobs.  March's figure was revised down to 85,000 total jobs created – the worst showing in almost three years.  This means there were 37,000 net jobs created when adjusted for growth in the labor force in April & negative 96,000 jobs net in March by the same measure.  To put the jobs condition in perspective it took until June 2014 to get back to the same number of people working as when the recession began in December 2007 but the number of full-time employees is even today still 3.2 million below the peak of the fall of 2007.  During the time of the recovery starting in June 2009 the working age population increased by 14.6 million people meaning these people were dispersed without a job into any one of several non-productive categories by the Labor Department.  There currently are 93.2 million people of working age that are not considered part of the labor force.
 
America needs a return to the free enterprise capitalistic system with emphasis on the word free.  But far too few investors or companies of late are willing to risk their capital on expansions & innovations that will raise our standard of living because they face an Administration in BO's that has twice set the annual record by issuing 81,000 pages of regulations, & of course the American corporate income tax rate is the highest in the world @ 35%.  Since 2013 BO has raised the top marginal individual income tax rate to 39.6% from 35%, added a 3.8% surtax on investment income, dividends, interest, & capital gains as well as an additional 0.9% Medicare tax on wages & self employment income – none of which will encourage business expansion.  To put it another way – name one of BO's policies that ever would have helped the American economy? – of course there never has been one since his entire intention is to destroy the America most of us were fortunate enough to be born in.
 
It is hard to find a politician in Washington who does not talk up a reduction in the corporate income tax rate – to be more competitive is the usual premise.  But it is all talk after decades of such a charade.  The corporate income tax rate is the highest in the world because politicians need money to fund their programs & think keeping this rate high is one of the better ways to get it.  For instance, if the U.S. pays 25% corporate income tax in France there still is a 10% tax liability if this money is ever returned to America.  Reduce the corporate income tax rate to 25% & you eliminate this additional liability.  What a pitiful game & poor economic reasoning.
 
The results of the survey below verifies the problem small business owners see with taxes & regulations as a stifler of business expansion.  If you find your way of life & future livelihood evaporating in front of you look closely @ this graph.
 
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The above graphic indicates that the "quality of labor" is fourth on the list meaning that many businesses are holding back on expanding because they can't find workers with the skills to sustain the expansions.  When people do not take the initiative to educate themselves so that they can compete with robots or people in third world countries who make pennies a day the result can only be disastrous for all such people in the global economy.
 
In a reverse of the usual idea that companies send jobs overseas where they can pay lower wages than in the U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions points out that domestic companies gobble up the quotas for foreign applications for science, technology, engineering, & math majors not because there is a shortage of qualified Americans for these positions but because foreigners will work less expensively than home grown Americans in the same field.  I can't dismiss this out of hand but if it is real it is part of the global economy in which companies try to maximize their efficiencies to the tune of 85,000 H-1B visas per year.  It is @ least partially believable.
 
The above presents the economic problems the country faces. 
 
The political problem we face is that a majority of people believe that wealthy individuals & corporations are not taxed enough, a higher minimum wage is needed, & progressive policies like prekindergarten & government legislating paid sick leave allotments to companies are required in order for their lives to improve.  This class warfare is heightened because every Republican proposal for economic growth calls for lower tax rates somewhere along the line & this completes the circle back to the statist talking points claim that Republicans favor millionaires & billionaires by giving tax breaks to the wealthy.  See graphs below.
 
click on graphs to enlarge
 
The graph on the above left shows that Americans have had a consistent socialist instinct for the 30 years surveyed as Professor Friedman stated above.  The graph on the above right shows a narrowing of free enterprise reward instincts over the decades & a clear shift to socialism the last four years in another sign BO is winning.
 
People of substance discount this information @ their peril.  Hillary Clinton senses the trends shown on the graphs & has already started to campaign to the left of BO because she doesn't want Sanders or Warren to steal the Democrat nomination from her like BO did in 2008.  The Republican candidates for president, with a clear lack of leadership, are waiting to find out the most politically correct stance to take on issues like immigration instead of just telling people what they really believe – it is Mitt all over again.
 
In 2008 there were legitimate reasons from A to Y why BO should have been defeated but Z was for zero – "which is the likelihood that one of the current GOP hopefuls will defeat BO in 2012."  It is the Death Of Democracy principles once again that are coming forth to dominate our futures & that is why we need a Washington, Monroe, Coolidge, or Reagan figure to come forth.  The majority of people are interested in handouts – not the workings of the Clinton Foundation or Hillary's bogus private e-mail server no matter how legitimate an issue these points might be.
 
Ayn Rand said "I worship individuals for their highest possibilities as individuals, & I loathe humanity, for its failure to live up to these possibilities."  Miss Rand also said she wrote about men like John Galt & Howard Roark because she knew they existed.  Well, we obviously need them now & they can't appear soon enough to suit me.
 
 

2 comments:

  1. Doug - excellent analysis of how intertwined our economic problems are intertwined with our political and social mindset of dependency on Government. The fact that in 2007 we had 3.2 million more full time workers than 2013 is very appalling. So is the fact that more businesses fail or leave than start likewise is startling. New entrepreneurial start his have been our major economic growth source. These trends must be reversed else the US accelerates its economic demise. This however must start with a mindset change by the citizenry and must be in place for the 2016 elections. a conservative premise trial candidate must step it up, become a rare Great Communicator, and return the US back to its roots and thereby excellence.

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  2. Your latest RTE was so good, made me very sad because we know it is so true. What is in store for children and grandchildren who follow us - maybe better not to know.

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