Odds and Ends

Thanks Pratt for carrying the load here. I have been so busy I have been unable to take the time to post anything. I have seeral points to make here. First, I am retiring from ASU. The university offering me a deal I could not refuse even though I love teaching. The university said retire and we will give you a year's salary. Don't retire and we will require you carry a heavier load. Duh. Second, the nonsense from Washington continues. This administration and many in Congress have no understanding of what private property rights are. Obama decides to invade a country without any sense of national defense or private property rights. Lives are and will be lost -- don't those people own their own bodies? Not only do the constant unconstitutional wars violate private property rights, they cost enourmous amounts of money (estimates of Libya are $1b a day), and further encroach on the PPR and liberty of U.S. society. As Robert Higgs says, each crises (each war for instance) leads to larger government. Government in the U.S. today is about 40% of the economy. As Pratt notes below, a study shows that safety net spending in the U.S. is not much different from the socialist states of Scandinavia. In addition to the safety net spending, the U.S. has a huge military budget.

In the next few days Congress will be debating whether to lift the debt ceiling above the current $14.3 trillion to allow the government to borrow more and thus either print more money or raise taxes now or in the future. Obama's budget proposal under the most conservative estimates will increase the debt by $2 trillion a year for as long as can be seen. The argument against not raising the ceiling is that it will shut down the government, hurting the poor, the old, the infirm, and the military. That is just not true. The government will still be collecting $600 billion in revenues; it is spending that will have to be cut. Government will have to decide whether to cut across the board, eliminate departments, reduce the military spending, eliminated duplicative programs, and so on. It is merely a choice of whether to allow the government to grow further or to stop its growth at the current ridiculously high level. The ceiling should not be raised.

California just passed a law that requires one third of all energy to come from solar and air by 2020 (I think it is 2020, it could be 2015). What does this mean? It means a significant increase in electricity bills. Instead of allowing the market to determine how electricity is generated, government do-gooders decide to raise taxes on everyone. Who does this hurt the most -- the poor. The very people these do-gooders always claim they are trying to help.

While the screaming and ridiculous rhetoric that will be called upon by the democrat party and some republican party members as well to argue against revising Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, if they are not revised people 45 and younger will be paying massive FICA taxes and not get anything in return. In fact, at some point the U.S. will have to default. But, revision need not mean harm to anyone. Allowing people 45 and younger to invest in mutual funds or other instruments of their own choice -- with some type of safety net restriciton -- will generate more funds for them. Raising the retirement age to 68 or 70 over the next 20 years will mean very little to those who retire in 20 or more years. Providing block grants to states will eliminate huge bureacracies in Washington and eliminate a great deal of waste, and will allow 50 different laboratories for experimenting with medical care provision and funding.

Well, enough for now.