By Monty Pelerin, on January 1st, 2010 Jim H. Ainsworth wrote a timely and appropriate article in American Thinker entitled A Bucket List for America. Unlike the movie, Ainsworth explains that his bucket list is to prevent America from dying. Here is his thoughtful list:
Truth — the unvarnished, non-manipulative, forthcoming kind — is no longer a stranger inside the Beltway.
Contracts are once again honored, words kept, and the government stops invalidating valid contracts.
The government gets off small businesses’ backs and allows them to create real jobs.
People go back to saving for home down payments and making sacrifices in order to own homes. Those who will not save or sacrifice go back to renting.
Soldiers are no longer prosecuted for bloodying terrorist lips. They are no longer accused of murder (without evidence) by members of Congress.
Soldiers become more important than politics or a socialist agenda.
Rules of engagement are changed to allow our soldiers to fight to win and come home.
The government stops “helping” the economy by creating jobs that must be paid for by the real job-creators.
Failure is once again punished in the marketplace instead of rewarded in Washington. That will scale back unreasonable pay more than any pay
Continue reading America’s Bucket List
By Monty Pelerin, on December 10th, 2009 Science taking another hit?
“The man with the nickname “Dr Flu”, Professor Albert Osterhaus, of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam Holland has been named by Dutch media researchers as the person at the center of the worldwide Swine Flu H1N1 Influenza A 2009 pandemic hysteria. Not only is Osterhaus the connecting person in an international network that has been described as the Pharma Mafia, he is THE key advisor to WHO on influenza and is intimately positioned to personally profit from the billions of euros in vaccines allegedly aimed at H1N1″. Financial Sense Online
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By Monty Pelerin, on December 5th, 2009
Liberty Bell
Few people realize how important liberty and freedom are until they are lost.
These people understood:
“The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation – enlightened as it is – if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men.” -Samuel Adams
“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” Ben Franklin
“A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.” Bertrand de Jouvenel
How many quotes about liberty and freedom have we read? Do these quotes affect us in any way other than noting the cleverness of the authors? For most, the answer is no.
Watch this video if you want to have abstract quotes put into the perspective of the here and now.
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By Monty Pelerin, on December 4th, 2009 Any Econ 101 student would flunk the course if he showed the aptitude of this Administration regarding basic economics. It is likely most Americans have never taken an economics course, yet would be able to discern why recent economic policies, either proposed or already implemented, destroy jobs. Simple common sense or a modicum of “street smarts” is all that is required.
The President’s jobs summit to address the soaring unemployment issue was embarrassing. Apparently Obama is unable to pass Econ 101 and needed outside advice. Why we have Tim Geithner and Larry Summers and a host of other “experts” that could not educate the man is beyond comprehension. Is he so unbelievably ignorant? Perhaps it is his incredible arrogance that leads him to believe his silver-tongued teleprompter will enable him to “talk-over” his failed policies. Regardless, this “summit” was either an insult to the intelligence of the American public or a revelation of Obama’s intelligence.
The other possible hypothesis is that the President is so ideologically opposed to markets that he believes that all direction must come from Washington, more specifically him. If so, his knowledge of history is as bad as his knowledge of economics. This hypothesis takes us beyond the possibility of ignorance into the realm of stupidity.
The accompanying chart from Heritage indicates the gap between the Administration’s plan versus actual on the jobs front. It is not encouraging.
The Heritage article that follows came via email and should be required reading for every politician
Continue reading Economic Summit Insult to the Intelligence of Citizens or Revelation of Obama’s IQ
By Monty Pelerin, on December 3rd, 2009
Frank Capra’s George Bailey of Bailey Savings and Loan would surely not recognize our banking system or its accounting. However, Mr. Potter, George’s evil competitor, would probably be right at home with what’s going on.
The overhang to any economic recovery is the banking system. There is no way to know how bad the banking problems really are, given the accounting or lack thereof. Banks, with an encouraging wink and a nod from regulators, have refused to realistically value their assets. In some cases, these values may not even be determinable, other than to say they are currently grossly overvalued.
Some believe that the problem is so big that recognition of it would show the banking system to be insolvent, requiring massive bank closings and possibly triggering a run on the system. Actions taken by the government and the Fed are not inconsistent with this belief. The “pretend and extend” strategy that has been employed is one of desperation. Bank behavior, in terms of the accumulation of massive excess reserves, also appears consistent with this hypothesis. While excess reserves would not protect against a massive run, they do serve as excess capital that can be utilized once banks willingly or are forceably write assets down to reflect market value. The fact that regulators have tightened loan regulations on new loans may be provide additional support, suggesting that they don’t want the problem to get any bigger at the same time they are unwilling to recognize how big it
Continue reading Jimmy Stewart Wouldn’t Run These Banks
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Friedrich von Hayek
Friedrich von Hayek founded the Mont Pelerin Society.
“Monty Pelerin” is a pseudonym chosen by this blogger to convey general agreement with the philosophy, goals and spirit of the Mont Pelerin Society. No other connection exists between the blogger and the Society.
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