Read the latest on the incompetence of government bureaucrats in Wisconsin. Summary: government worker practicing law in Wisconsin is too incompetent to pass a simple bar exam that all private lawyers have already done.
Also, the article explains that the pathetic governor, Jim Doyle, who has allowed unemployment to soar and created untold losses of wealth in Wisconsin, is now hoarding large amounts of extortion cash from special interest groups as he makes his exit from Wisconsin politics. I no longer wonder where all the money in Wisconsin has been going all this time.
With Doyle out of the races for governor in the next race, Wisconsin will get the spectacular choice between a hard-headed incompetent Republican bureaucratic idiot and a much-the-same incompetent Democrat thief. Your choice is limited to two morons in Wisconsin politics! Fortunately, there is a better way.
A company that should have gone through the normal bankruptcy process, has had its incompetent CEO, Rick Wagoner, fired by another incompetent CEO, Barack Obama. Obama plans to run this company now. Jeff Tucker at Mises.org says that Rick Wagoner leaving the firm is creepy though. I agree. Read his post to find out why!
Kooky nutbags like Tammy Baldwin who advocate that Americans go into more debt in order to become wealthier are exposed in this, at times hilarious, video explaining away the phoney government ponzi scheme advocates like Wisconsin’s Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin.
Although production is essential to consumption, let’s not put the proverbial cart before the horse. We produce in order that we may consume, not the other way around.
I enjoy writing and teaching but I enjoy sunning in Acapulco even more. I have labored to produce this piece and to teach its principles in my classes instead of going to Acapulco first because I know that’s the only way I’ll ever get out of Michigan. Writing and teaching are the means; sunning in Acapulco is the end.
A free economy is a dynamic economy. It is the site of what the economist Joseph Schumpeter called “creative destruction.” New ideas supplant old ideas, new products and methods replace old products and methods, and whole new industries render obsolete old industries.
This occurs because production must constantly change shape to conform with the changing shape of consumer demand. As Henry Hazlitt has written, “it is just as necessary to the health of a dynamic economy that dying industries be allowed to die as that growing industries be allowed to grow.”
A bad economist who falls prey to this ancient fallacy is like the fabled pharaoh who thought pyramid-building was healthy in and of itself; or the politician who promotes leaf-raking where there are no leaves to be raked, just to keep people “busy.”
It seems that whenever an industry gets in trouble, some people cry that it must be preserved “at all costs.” They would pour millions or billions of dollars in subsidies on the industry to prevent the market’s verdict from being heard. The bad economist will join the chorus and ignore the deleterious impact that would befall the consumer.
The good economist, on the other hand, does not confuse ends with means. He understands that production is important only because consumption is even more so.
Want an example of this fallacy at work? How about the many proposals to prevent consumers from buying Japanese autos in order to “protect” the American auto industry from competition?
“What Peter Schiff? Are you suggesting that government caused the financial crisis? Well, whatever you think about who caused this mess, let’s get on with talking about how government will clean up the financial mess. What Peter Schiff? Are you suggesting that government will only make matters worse? Where in the world did you get that idea from?” — An example dialogue between mainstream media’s windbags and Peter Schiff as Schiff dares to interject truth into conversations regarding the economy.
Individuals in Madison, WI can benefit from taking notice that major media talking heads typically use the False Dilemma fallacy to fool viewers into believing that there are only two options in a crisis, either a little government intervention or a lot of government intervention. The major media windbags always shape the question as, “Let’s talk about what type of government policy should be used to fix the current mess in question”. Notice in the video how Schiff points out this fallacy and talks truth to the viewers by saying, “Hey, despite what the other guests are saying, there is another option here and it’s called freedom. Individuals need to be free to operate in their communities to clean up this mess absent incompetent government coercion”.
Madison WI individuals, you can raise your standard of living by spotting the False Dilemma fallacy when it is presented to you by others. This should help you save both time and money by recognizing an incomplete set of options.
From the lips of Paul Ryan comes this hilarious take on how to ’solve’ the inflation problem in America:
Due to the serious threat that inflation poses to our economy, I have introduced H.R. 6053, the Price Stability Act. Currently, the Federal Reserve Bank has a dual mandate: to promote full employment as well as price stability. Unfortunately, these goals, while laudable, can lend themselves to contradictory policy responses. For example, we are currently seeing both rising unemployment and increasing inflation. Traditionally, the policy response to rising unemployment would be to lower interest rates to stimulate the economy; however, the response to increasing inflation is to raise interest rates. With these competing aims, the Federal Reserve finds itself in a difficult position.
The Price Stability Act would solve this problem by removing the dual mandate. It would instead give the Federal Reserve only one mandate – to maintain price stability. It is important to recognize that, by virtue of its control of monetary policy, the Fed is the only institution that can control inflation over the long-run. By providing stable and foreseeable prices, businesses and individuals are better able to plan for the future and provide continued growth for our economy. Additionally, stable prices would ensure the continued buying power of our wages.
Wow, what a complete waste of time and effort trying to solve the inflation problem, not to mention a very socialist attitude regarding the creation of money. It appears that the only political party left to defend freedom in commerce is the Libertarian Party. The Republican parasite Paul Ryan is holding fast to Keynesian junk science regarding the viability of price stability through government manipulation of interest rates and printing presses. I guess this big government worshiper doesn’t understand that price stability can never happen. Prices always fluctuate to reflect the new information regarding the supply of and demand for the Earth’s natural resources. However, maybe Paul Ryan is more intelligent than I give him credit for. It is possible that in wanting ‘price stability’ he is referring to getting rid of or reducing the continuing rise of prices of most products in the market (which uninformed pseudo-economists incorrectly call inflation). Well, then again we find that Paul Ryan is still misinformed about proper economics. If he is wanting to get rid of the continuous rise in the general price level, than his Price Stability Act surely will be a failure. Paul Ryan wants the Federal reserve to have only one mandate—control inflation. Now this is absolutely hilarious for it is the Federal Reserve itself which inflates the money supply and causes the subsequent rise in the general price level! Mr. Paul Ryan, how in hell is the Federal Reserve going to control price increases when it is the Federal Reserve’s very existence that causes the rise in the general price level!?!?!? Well, politicians aren’t exactly the brightest bulbs in the world. What is so disastrous about this entire comedy is that it is Republican idiots like Paul Ryan who preach about the glories of free markets but have no idea what in the hell that means! What is needed is for more libertarians to run for office to obtain a platform to reach broader audiences to put people like Paul Ryan in his place. Call him out. Tell the public what he really is so that Republican shams like him stop calling socialist policies the ‘free market’. We need true free market libertarians to shout from the rooftop that these big-government-loving Republicans hate the free market for money and love their twisted socialist/fascist monetary schemes.
This great book, What Has Government Done To Our Money?, by Murray Rothbard shows the futility of the Federal Reserve controlling the continuous rise in the general price level. Here and below are some true monetary free market lovers shouting it loud and clear!
Tammy Baldwin (d) and Paul Ryan (r) of Wisconsin voted on Dec 10, 2008 at 8:46PM to enslave future generations to interest payments on the corporate welfare handouts they wanted to present to incompetent managers and overpaid/under-productive union workers of the failed automaker institutions headquartered in Michigan. Talk about cerebral insanity. When it comes to economics, Tammy Baldwin and Paul Ryan are nothing more than second-hand peddlers of junk science—Keynesianism. The votes for future extortion and economic slavery by these two corrupt individuals is a great example of their mind-boggling adherence to zombie economics. These two maniacal political parasites act as if they are a king or queen of a serfdom. They believe they can steal money from the public in the future to pay for their whims and fancies today. On Dec 10, 2008 at 8:46PM their fancy was moving capital investment money that could be borrowed by competent entrepreneurs of profitable businesses (in Wisconsin possibly) and instead moving this capital investment money into the willing hands of incompetent welfare CEO’s in Michigan. If Tammy Baldwin and Paul Ryan have their desires realized, they will have reduced the standard of living of present and future generations of southern Wisconsin individuals. This is pure political parasitical corruption. What else can Wisconsin individuals expect though when they believe they need these two haters of liberty ruling over them?
Immense gratitude goes to one of the commenters in this forum for the idea for this post title.
As the federal government continues to borrow and print paper money (because it is bankrupt) and directs it into unprofitable worthless financial companies and now incompetent automakers, the federal government is destroying thousands of good profitable jobs and companies as profitable firms will not have access to this capital redirected by government. As Peter Schiff mentions in these videos, government is directing capital away from profitable use and funneling it into unprofitable use. Then, because the federal government has destroyed valuable profitable firms and products, customers decide to hold their cash as they don’t want to purchase the products offered by the firms that the government has bailed out. Giving money to incompetent automakers does not change the fact that customers still will not buy the products of these failed institutions. This creates a recessionary effect over short and long periods of time and so government will then feel it must try to correct the recession they have created. How do they attempt to fix it? By borrowing and printing more scraps of Federal Reserve Notes. They do this directly through printing presses and indirectly by lowering interest rates. Of course, printing more scraps of paper then what was already in circulation doesn’t create wealth or fix the problem of unwanted products, but it does create inflation. Well, maybe with all those trillions of scraps of worthless paper (the US dollar) the federal government has been printing, the worthless soon-to-bailed-out firms of GM and Chrysler will be mandated by government to produce a hybrid that runs on these worthless notes. That would be a fitting relationship—three failed institutions, the Federal Reserve, GM and Chrysler teaming up to produce a worthless product that runs on worthless scrap paper—neither of which there will be any shortage of in the future thanks to government intervention. Imagine what a wonderful world would we live in if companies succeeded or failed based on how well they met the needs of individuals in society.
Peter Schiff on CNN Auto Bailout Intense Debate! 12/4/08 part 1/2
Peter Schiff on CNN Auto Bailout Intense Debate! 12/4/08 part 2/2
The Federal Reserve will end this economic crisis! Right?
I recently commented that it appears that individuals in Dane County in Wisconsin have a more open system for looking over government records than do individuals in Maricopa County in Arizona. It turns out I had spoken prematurely. I did not realize the extent to which government workers, such as Kathleen Falk and Joe Norwick, in Dane County tried to cover up their own incompetency and failure and that amongst other government workers and in so doing consequently showed the corruption of Dane County government workers. By corruption I mean secrecy. The Isthmus’ recent article “Dane County 911 Center faces the future“, explains that in the Brittany Zimmermann case, where the government 911 center allowed this individual to be murdered after she called the center pleading for help, the government center “refused to acknowledge the call or mistakes until it was reported by Isthmus“. So much for trusting so-called public servants. However, I already exposed the myth of public servants here. Kathleen Falk still continues to hide under a cloak of secrecy even now. It appears that the blunders of this central planner are numerous. The Isthmus asked this taxpayer-funded worker why she had not conducted the required yearly performance evaluation of then government 911 center director, Joe Norwick. Apparently, Kathleen Falk lied or truly did not know but in any case said that Norwick had not been a director for a full year. The Isthmus discovered that in fact Joe Norwick had been employed for over a year. Why did Falk give the Isthmus false information? Not satisfied, the Isthmus demanded to see all the performance evaluations of center directors that were given by Kathleen Falk. Only upon noticing the relentless actions of the Isthmus, Falk’s spokesman, Josh Wescott, finally admitted that Kathleen Falk had in fact NOT conducted a single performance evaluation of a government 911 center director for over 5 years. That’s 60 months. That’s 1,825 days that had gone by. Kathleen Falk thought that despite the fact that government 911 center directors are required to have an evaluation at least once every 365 days, 1,825 days should go by without any evaluation. Kathleen Falk is the prime example of the failure of government central planners. The government 911 center has no competitors because government planners have not allowed them to come into existence. The result of government-imposed monopolies is always a relaxing of business standards. The result of government-imposed monopolies like the 911 center is a decrease in productivity. The result of government-imposed monopolies is always secrecy. The result of government-imposed monopolies is always incompetence. The result of the Dane County government monopoly on emergency dispatch services is that government workers allowed Brittany Zimmermann and Mark Gregory Johnson to be murdered. Government workers were not there in that moment of brutality and aggression imposed upon these individuals by someone else. An open market for emergency dispatch services would never have allowed this government monopoly to exist. So long as politicians attack private individuals and not allow them to create competitive emergency dispatch service centers, we will continue to get more of the same incompetence, corruption and secrecy by government workers like Kathleen Falk but at higher and higher costs to taxpayers. Why at higher and higher costs? Because when government planning fails, government workers say it was the fact that they didn’t have enough money to carry out their duties. The reality is that they had enough money but they didn’t have any competition which would have sharpened their talents and made them more productive and skilled at a decreasing cost to their customers. If you’re planning on moving to Madison, WI you may want to think twice about the fact that the government here has a monopoly on emergency dispatch services and the lack of help you would receive in an emergency may mean severe consequences for your safety and life.
The real question is, “Who is hurt by the Wisconsin state budget shortfall?” The answer is anyone that depends on this monopoly known as the state. From the Wisconsin State Journal in an article on Nov. 15th titled, “Who’s to blame for state budget shortfall?“, here is a section of it:
“If Gov. Jim Doyle and Republican and Democratic lawmakers now find themselves in a $5 billion budget hole, it’s because they’ve all done part of the shoveling, budget experts said. At least $1.6 billion of the state’s massive budget shortfall stems from a spend-now, pay-later attitude pervasive in both political parties in the state Capitol, these analysts said.”
All politicians are faced with guaranteed termination within a few years of getting into office as re-elections are mandated. So these individuals know their time is short and they must spend all the money they can while they are in. These individuals are parasites that feed on the citizens’ money which was stolen through the corrupt practice of collecting involuntarily paid taxes. I never consented to paying any taxes. And if I don’t pay, I go directly to jail. Taxes are involuntary. Governor Jim Doyle is an example of a parasite. There are special interest groups he must feed. There are campaign contributors that he must feed. There are his close friends in Wisconsin communities that must receive special considerations. He must receive name recognition now and in the future through grandiose schemes he must concoct funded by large sums of stolen tax money. He must not care about costs. He must not care about the future, he must only care about now. There may be no next term for him.
The other problem is that these parasites continue to spread their tentacles into Wisconsin communities and the state apparatus becomes a monopoly over many of the services that are vital to citizens for their daily life. The state parasites also snuff out any competition for services and thereby destroy jobs. Trash collection, road maintenance, security services, schooling services, retirement planning, and on and on and on. Instead of community individuals socially cooperating in the decentralized free markets to make arrangements for services that are sustainable, they rely on central planners like Jim Doyle and his gang to coordinate this. However, the state is a monopoly that doesn’t produce anything in order to fund itself. It relies on the only trick it has for funding—steal from taxpayers and enforce the theft with the guns and firepower of the police-state. This dark practice comes to light though when tax revenues are down such as now. What trick do central planners like Jim Doyle have now? Nothing. They can only hand out what they previously stole from others. But as lucrative as their unethical game is they are faced with admitting that the game of theft and spend is a roller-coaster ride fraught with instability. It’s not organic. It’s artificial. It’s a scheme not unlike the one Ponzi came up with. In the end though it’s the citizens who have been depending on this central planning regime and its artificial scheme that are hurt the most. Imagine the possibilities for improving our lives and making them sustainable if instead of funneling 1/3 of our income through central planning bureaucratic parasites we instead had an open market where multiple choices were available with much lower costs and better quality. We would buy and sell services to and from community members that have a stake in their reputation and future with fellow individuals. They aren’t here today and gone tomorrow. Life would be much more stable in a downturn. In an organic market system the only people out of a job would be the unproductive boobs in government now.
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