Ⓥ EconomicsJunkie » Politics

Politics – A Definition

Nima — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 07:44:23 +0000

Politics is the process of planning, organizing, and implementing the means necessary to initiate threats and acts of aggression on an ongoing basis. Related posts:Politics Please signup to the Email Newsletter! Ron Paul Head to Head With Obama in New Poll; The Ideas Matter, The Politics Don’t Related posts:

The Inevitable Waste and Corruption of “Stimulus” Spending

Nima — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 03:47:32 +0000

A good theory has predictive power. A prediction doesn’t automatically make a theory true, but it’s a good first test in my opinion.

Quite a while ago, I made the case, based on praxeological reasoning, why bureaucracy can’t ever accomplish its stated objectives in the long run.

Based on that theory I suggested many times over that government stimulus programs will not be a panacea to economic sluggishness, quite the contrary.

In particular I wrote almost 3 years ago:

The $800 billion spending bill that is currently being discussed will not fix the US economy.
(…)
This bill was never [Obama's] bill. It was the Congressional Democrats’ bill, led by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Now Obama has made it his bill. All the scandals, wasteful projects and corruption that will be uncovered under the projects funded by it will be associated with him.
(…)
To ignore [those who oppose it] would be the biggest mistake Obama could make now.
(…)
If he continues doing it, the political retaliation will ensue sooner or later in the next Congressional elections and maybe in the next presidential elections. This is an unnecessary, harmful, and avoidable political gamble.

Here we are, almost 3 years later, with an unemployment rate higher than it was at the time (~9% now vs. ~8% then), which I would submit as one piece of evidence that the stimulus did not work. (My readers will know that there are many more, but that’s not the main point of this post!)

(And yes, I know the good old argument that “it would have been much worse, had it not been for the stimulus” etc. I would only kindly ask that anyone wanting to submit such an argument please logically refute the counter arguments that I have already laid out very clearly in The Trouble With Bureaucracy, and empirically supply specific examples that corroborate this thesis and that outweigh any evidence that may exist to the contrary.)

But in addition to that, I would say that the corruption, scandals, waste, and the ensuing political backlash that I predicted above, have only just begun to unravel: The case of Solyndra is suddenly a big thorn in the administration’s side, and it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon:

Pressure on the Obama administration over the loan guarantee given to Solyndra ratcheted up after the discovery of e-mails from a White House official warning of possible political ramifications of the loan. As Carol Leonnig and Joe Stephens reported:

A White House official fretted privately that the Obama administration could suffer serious political damage if it gave additional taxpayer support to the beleaguered solar-panel company Solyndra, according to newly released e-mails.

(…)

Solyndra, the first renewable-energy company to receive a loan from the stimulus law creating the guarantee program, had its headquarters raided by the FBI last week. As AP reported:

The FBI raided Solyndra’s headquarters last week and interviewed company executives at their homes. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is under seal, said the search was related to a fraud investigation into whether Solyndra filed inaccurate documents with the government.

The Silicon Valley company was the first renewable-energy company to receive a loan guarantee under the stimulus law, and the Obama administration frequently touted Solyndra as a model for its clean energy program. President Barack Obama visited the company’s headquarters last year.

Even as Obama declared that “the future is here” during a May 2010 visit to Solyndra, warning signs were being sent from within the government and from outside analysts who questioned the company’s viability.

At least three reports by federal watchdogs over the past two years warned that the Energy Department had not fully developed the controls needed to manage the multibillion-dollar loan program.

… and as was predictable, Republicans are happy to pounce:

“What did the stimulus give us last time? It gave us Solyndra,” Bachmann said to cheers at a packed Tea Party fundraiser this week in liberal Marin County. “Wasn’t that great?”

Bachmann is among the growing ranks of Republicans, including the lineup of 2012 GOP presidential candidates, who are increasingly salting their stump speeches, press releases and talking points with references to the Fremont firm that once was a poster child for the Obama administration on alternative energy jobs before it shut down last month.

The Minnesota Congresswoman and Tea Party darling delights audiences when she dryly quotes Vice President Joe Biden’s past observation that the federal government’s $528 million loan to Solyndra “was exactly what the stimulus act was all about.”

“It’s exactly true,” she said to cheers and applause from conservative activists in Marin on Thursday. “I tell you … we have so much material, it’s going to be a joy.”

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/16/MNED1L5MRI.DTL#ixzz1YAbztAT7

I would actually be shocked if this will remain the only example of blatant stimulus waste that will come back to haunt the president.

Actions have consequences; stupid decisions, whose long term impact you are unable to assess, will come back to bite you in the ass, particularly during election year. From the Republicans’ viewpoint, Obama could not have picked a better time for pushing the stimulus bill, since it usually takes at least a few years for all the filth and corruption of giant government programs to build up and trickle through the shiny, pompous, and mindless facade of politics.

But as I have come to realize about politics a while ago, the best thing to do in my opinion is to abstain from participating in these spectacles, sit back, relax, and don’t hurt your head too much about petty, boring, and small minded sociopaths who aspire to exercise power over millions of people year after year.

Obama vs Obama on Raising the Debt Ceiling

Nima — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 05:59:53 +0000

Senator Obama in 2006 when the debt ceiling was at $8,965 billion or 64.2% of GDP:

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.

And of course as a standup and incorruptible agent of change, President Obama in 2011 (via spokesperson), with a debt ceiling at $14,294 billion or 92.1% of GDP:

Obama “thinks it was a mistake,” presidential spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. “He realizes now that raising the debt ceiling is so important to the health of this economy and the global economy that it is not a vote that, even when you are protesting an administration’s policies, you can play around with.”

Ah, the idiocy of politics in all its beauty …

I wonder if this is the kind of “CHANGE” he was talking about all along. ;)

Unions, Bargaining, Morality, Egypt, and Liberal vs Republican Bullshit

Nima — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 10:53:48 +0000

Politics

Nima — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 09:55:25 +0000

The economist Franz Oppenheimer once wrote that there are only two means of acquiring material wealth. One is voluntary exchange and the other is theft. He aptly called the former the “economic means” and the latter the “political means”.

This is exactly the distinction that I make in the primer on the right hand side of this blog. I call it economics of voluntary action versus economics of compulsory action.

Oppenheimer furthermore defined the state as an “organization of the political means”:

The State is an organization of the political means. No State, therefore, can come into being until the economic means has created a definite number of objects for the satisfaction of needs, which objects may be taken away or appropriated by warlike robbery.

The process of politics, due to its complete violation of morality, contradicts everything humans are by default wired for.

It seems to be generally understood that there is nothing to be gained out of the political process for mankind in general.

One can observe this in common day to day speak:

“Oh, this is getting too political for me.”

“He’s just playing politics.”

“Don’t politicize this issue!”

“You should hear yourself talk. You sound like a politician!”

And so on …

Thus I think it is fair to say that evidence exists to support the notion that people in general very much understand the futility of the political process. They like to let it slip from time to time. Except when it really matters … on election day.

You can see this in emotional knee jerk responses that you get from most people when advocating abstention from the voting process.

It is not unreasonable to believe that such cognitive dissonance is one of the ultimate results of childhood scar tissue.

The Idiocy of Politics

Nima — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 05:55:45 +0000

“To participate in this process is an act of shameful self subjugation.”

True that!

And one more:

Ron Paul Head to Head With Obama in New Poll; The Ideas Matter, The Politics Don’t

Nima — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 02:01:32 +0000

Rassmussen Poll: Obama 42% – Ron Paul 41%

Pit maverick Republican Congressman Ron Paul against President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election match-up, and the race is – virtually dead even.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters finds Obama with 42% support and Paul with 41% of the vote. Eleven percent (11%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent (6%) are undecided.

Ask the Political Class, though, and it’s a blowout. While 58% of Mainstream voters favor Paul, 95% of the Political Class vote for Obama.

But Republican voters also have decidedly mixed feelings about Paul, who has been an outspoken critic of the party establishment.

Obama earns 79% support from Democrats, but Paul gets just 66% of GOP votes. Voters not affiliated with either major party give Paul a 47% to 28% edge over the president.

Paul, an anti-big government libertarian who engenders unusually strong feelings among his supporters, was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. But he continues to have a solid following, especially in the growing Tea Party movement.

Twenty-four percent (24%) of voters now consider themselves a part of the Tea Party movement, an eight-point increase from a month ago. Another 10% say they are not a part of the movement but have close friends or family members who are.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it’s in the news, it’s in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

Thirty-nine percent (39%) of all voters have a favorable opinion of Paul, while 30% view him unfavorably. This includes 10% with a very favorable opinion and 12% with a very unfavorable one. But nearly one-out-of-three voters (32%) are not sure what they think of Paul.

Perhaps tellingly, just 42% of Republican voters have a favorable view of him, including eight percent (8%) with a very favorable opinion. By comparison, 42% of unaffiliated voters regard him favorably, with 15% very favorable toward him.

Twenty-six percent (26%) of GOP voters think Paul shares the values of most Republican voters throughout the nation, but 25% disagree. Forty-nine percent (49%) are not sure.

Similarly, 27% of Republicans see Paul as a divisive force in the party, while 30% view him as a new direction for the GOP. Forty-two percent (42%) aren’t sure.

Among all voters, 19% say Paul shares the values of most Republican voters, and 27% disagree. Fifty-four percent (54%) are undecided.

Twenty-one percent (21%) of voters nationwide regard Paul as a divisive force in the GOP. Thirty-four percent (34%) say he is representative of a new direction for the party. Forty-five percent (45%) are not sure.

But it’s important to note than 75% of Republicans voters believe Republicans in Congress have lost touch with GOP voters throughout the nation over the past several years.

Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and the GOP’s vice presidential nominee in 2008, is another Republican who has been bucking the party’s traditional leadership and was the keynote speaker at the recent Tea Party convention in Nashville. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Republican voters say Palin shares the values of most GOP voters throughout the nation. Just 18% of Republicans see Palin as a divisive force within the GOP.

Rasmussen Reports released survey findings yesterday that take a closer look at the political views of those who say they’re part of the Tea Party movement. Among other things, 96% of those in the movement think America is overtaxed, and 94% trust the judgment of the American people more than that of America’s political leaders.

When it comes to major issues confronting the nation, 48% of voters now say the average Tea Party member is closer to their views than Obama is. Forty-four percent (44%) hold the opposite view and believe the president’s views are closer to their own.

Fifty-two percent (52%) believe the average member of the Tea Party movement has a better understanding of the issues facing America today than the average member of Congress. Thirty-five percent (35%) of voters now think Republicans and Democrats are so much alike that an entirely new political party is needed to represent the American people. Nearly half (47%) of voters disagree and say a new party is not needed

If the Tea Party was organized as a political party, 34% of voters would prefer a Democrat in a three-way congressional race. In that hypothetical match-up, the Republican gets 27% of the vote with the Tea Party hopeful in third at 21%. However, if only the Democrat or Republican had a real chance to win, most of the Tea Party supporters would vote for the Republican.

Ron Paul: We can do better with peace than with war!

This is Ron Paul at a recent Southern Republican Leadership Conference:

People one Step Closer to Waking Up

The reason why I am showing all this is not that I have any particular hopes in Ron Paul in his potential function as a president or anything like that. Anybody who wants to see how much of a chance a fiscal conservative who supports limited government has once elected, just look to California.

But it is undeniable that he has inspired millions of people through the ideas of freedom and peace. And these ideas are really all that matters in the long run.

We can’t expect people to understand right away that we need to eliminate the government at some point. Nor should we be so demanding. The process of economic and moral education and enlightenment is gradual, not abrupt.

Nor, on the other hand, should we be complacent. The coming Congressional elections will be a landslide victory for the Republicans, in that I stand by my prediction from over a year ago, simply for the reason that most people will think that they suck less than the Democrats.

This is of course all nonsense. But for a few true (but inconsequential) believers, such as Rand Paul (KY), Peter Schiff (CT), and John Dennis (San Francisco), most of what we’ll see is business as usual, even with a largely Republican Congress.

The political machinery is vicious. No matter how good your intentions, it will either swallow you up and corrupt you or spit you our right away. There is nothing good whatsoever that can come out of violence. This is at the root of all political problems and it will never go away until we abdicate from this mad fantasy that is the government.

Reason is the Enemy

Nima — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:52:25 +0000

Reason is the enemy of the spin doctors of our age. Reason requires thought. Thought requires intelligence. The less intelligent someone is, the less reasonable the decisions he makes.

This is the fate of those who fall for the spin doctors of our age; for the people who tell us that aggression is justifiable; the people who cry about global warming; the people who tell you their health care plan will make a difference; the people who send 30,000 more hitmen to Afghanistan to kill more people and get killed by more … and, yes, the people who thought it made sense to invade Iraq …

… the people who voted for Bush and Obama.

The people who take your money and give it to their Wall St. buddies; the people who think prosperity can be conjured up out of a printing press; the people who have been wrong on every single thing they said in the past … and will continue to be wrong on every thing they say in future.

This is the fate of Democracy today; a bunch of misguided souls, thinking they know when they don’t, thinking they voted for change when they didn’t, thinking they thought when they didn’t.

Yes, intelligence does require thought; thought requires reason … reason is the human tool of survival, what would we be without it?

Who is out seeking to destroy our tool of survival, to issue our death sentence. It is, unfortunately, the spin doctors of our age, messing with your minds.

Don’t let them do it! THINK! Use your brain! Question things you are being told before accepting them at face value. Educate yourself about Ethics, Human Nature, and Government.

For intelligence requires thought. Thought requires reason. And the spin doctors of our age are the enemy of reason … don’t let them succeed. Think for yourself and fight for truth. Because as long as you don’t, nothing will change …