President Obama's PLAN for businesses to hire

I have written before that the best way to stimulate the economy is to eliminate all the government impediments to economic activity.

On January 18, 2008 I wrote. "They should repeal the minimum wage for anyone who is hired within the next 12 months.

They should eliminate all of the EEOC requirements for hiring and firing any employee hired during the next 12 months.

They should eliminate the licensing requirement to start a taxi business, barber shop, beauty salon, garage and many other businesses."

In March 16, 2009 I wrote, "President Obama just announced a PLAN to help small businesses get credit. He is offering 17 billion for an industry that supplies 70% of the jobs in the U.S. AIG, one company, got ten times that amount."

Now the economy is improving, months after the recession begin, as is the normal process. An improving economy does not stop the government from implementing another PLAN for us. The government is always planning our lives. President Obama's latest plan will give companies a tax credit of up to $5,000 for each new hire and reimburse them for Social Security taxes if they expand their payrolls.

If we want zero unemployment we should eliminate the barriers to employment. These barriers are listed by Lew Rockwell in his column.

The high minimum wage that knocks out the first several rungs from the bottom of the ladder;
The high payroll tax that robs employees and employers of resources;
The laws that threaten firms with lawsuits should the employee be fired;
The laws that established myriad conditions for hiring beyond the market-based condition that matters: can he or she get the job done?;
The unemployment subsidy in the form of phony insurance that pays people not to work;
The high cost of business start-ups in the form of taxes and mandates;
The mandated benefits that employers are forced to cough up for every new employee under certain conditions;
The withholding tax that prevents employers and employees from making their own deals;
The age restrictions that treat everyone under the age of 16 as useless;
The social security and income taxes that together devour nearly half of contract income;
The labor union laws that permit thugs to loot a firm and keep out workers who would love a chance to offer their wares for less.

I think President Obama has realized the mid term elections are near and he knows the economy is going to be an important issue so he is trying any way to get the unemployment to improve. He still has plenty of stimulus money that has not been spent. As of November 2009 only $100 billion of $787 billion had been spent. Why not? Because he is saving it to boost the economy for his in 2012 campaign.

Charles Tolleson

Oregon Voters and Taxes

Oregon voters just voted by 54 to 46 percent to raise taxes. They did not raise taxes on themselves. They raised taxes on those making over $125,000 and businesses. The 54% who voted to raise taxes voted to raise taxes on someone else. The 54% voted to raise taxes on 3% of the voters, and on businesses.

The voters think by voting to raise taxes on businesses they will be taking from the rich business men. They are too naive to realize they are raising the cost of goods and services to all consumers. As the voter's greed and envy causes the cost of business to rise, some businesses will leave the state. Less competitors may mean higher prices to the consumer,

This is further proof of Bastiat's theory, "The Law" is legal plunder. The law, as Bastiat said, becomes perverted when it does something other than protect property and lives. Today the law is used for legal plunder, just as Bastiat predicted.

A recent US Supreme Court ruling allows corporations to spend money on campaign ads. Liberals are alarmed at this. The court decision also allows unions to spend money on campaign ads. The Oregon vote shows the power of unions, the government mob, to influence campaigns. The Oregon public employees unions outspent the opponents of the ballot $6.85 million to $4.55 million.

In the San Mateo-Foster City School District there is a ballot measure to raise parcel taxes for the schools by a whopping 113%! The tax will increase from $84.85 to $180.85 per year.

The immorality of this ballot is it excludes people over age 65 from paying the tax. If they do not have to pay the tax it is immoral that they can vote in favor of forcing others to pay the tax. Those who are over 65 should not be allowed to vote on this measure if they are not required to pay the tax. There are people over 65 who may be retired teachers or have someone in their family who works in the San Mateo-Foster City School District. Their yes vote is a way to legal plunder. I voted no on the proposal.

My AT&T phone bill includes "Government Fees and Taxes". These fees for 2010 increased a whopping 15%.

My Medicare premiums for 2010 increased 15%!

San Francisco area bridge tolls will rise 20%!

California sales taxes increased in 2009 from 7.25% to 8.25%, a 13.7% increase. Did CA provide more services from the increase?

The San Mateo County Public Transportation, SamTrans, raised its fares in Feb 2009. A year later they raised them again an average of 10%!

San Mateo, CA raised its use tax from 1% to 1.25%. This is a sales tax cities and counties can add on to the CA state sales tax. The government employees promoting the 25% increase in the San Mateo City use tax said it was only a quarter of a cent added on to the already 9.25% total sales tax the San Mateo citizens paid bringing the total sales tax for San Mateo to 9.50%. That is correct, but the increase in the city sales tax is a whopping 25%! This obfuscation is successful with most of the voters.

During the past 12 months the San Francisco MUNI has raised fares as much as 30%!

Federal Funding for the Head Start program increased from $7.2 billion to $8 billion, a 13% increase, which includes a cost of living increase when the cost of living has not increased.

HHS released the Head Start Impact Study Final Report.
There are several remarkable things about it : The study demonstrated that children’s attendance in Head Start has no demonstrable impact on their academic, socio-emotional, or health status at the end of first grade. That’s right. If you were a mother who lost the lottery, couldn't get your child into Head Start, and had to care for her at home, she was no worse off at the end of first grade than she would have been had she gotten into Head Start.

The tax increases are adding up, yet there is no inflation. The government said there was no inflation and did not give a cost of living increase to Social Security recipients in 2010. The consumer price index was actually down in 2009. If there is no inflation, why all the tax increases? Why can private business get by without raising prices and government services cannot get by without raising prices? Could it be that government services have no competition? Government is a monopoly that operates on force. It collects its revenue at the point of a gun.

"When plunder has become a way of life for a group of people living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it, and a moral code that glorifies it." ~ Frédéric Bastiat

No matter how much taxes the government takes from the producers, it will not be enough. If the government taxed at 100% they still would spend more than they take in. Then there would be the long ululations of how some people, white males, are not producing enough and should work harder. The central planners and plunders never rest.

Charles Tolleson, over 65, white male

Massachusetts 2010 Special Election

Massachusetts just elected Scott Brown in a special election to replace the senate seat held by the late Edward Kennedy.

On November 3, 2006 I wrote in this blog that if the democrats win, don't look for any change. The programs may change but the real program, big government, will stay the same. No matter which party is in power, power corrupts. Bertrand de Jouvenel says in his book, "On Power" that current presidents and parliaments have power that former kings would envy.

People thought when Ronald Reagan became president that the government would be controlled. Under Reagan the size of the Federal Register grew and spending increased,

If people in MA wanted to curtail the power and growth of the government mob they should have voted for the libertarian candidate Joe Kennedy. Check out his website and his platform to cut spending and end the wars. With such a realist campaign platform Kennedy only got 1% of the vote! The myth of the rational voter does exist.

The person who gets elected cannot resist the temptation that is offered by power. Scott Brown, a member of the MA National Guard, will promote war, the biggest government program and the one that takes away our liberty. He will promote the Patriot Act and other big government programs. He even voted for the Massachusetts Health Care that required all citizens of MA to buy health care. Brown also voted against repealing the MA income tax! Still, Brown said his victory was a wake up call.

A real wake up call would have been for the libertarian candidate Kennedy to get 20% of the vote. Voters think if they vote for a libertarian they are wasting their vote. Those people who voted for the two party, dempublican, wasted their vote.

Humans are the greatest pretenders of all the animals. Their language allows them to excel at obfuscation. They pretend to value freedom and self reliance, but they vote to control others or allow others to control them.

Brown won, but by only 51%. The other 48% still want big government. All will get big government.

There are more female voters than male voters. I suspect Brown got more female votes than his opponent, a female, simply because Brown is a hunk. So much for the feminists complaints that male sexism keeps females from gains.

I'm against big or small government. I'm for tiny government!

Charles Tolleson

Farewell Newspapers

DENVER – The holding company for MediaNews Group Inc. newspapers, including The Denver Post and San Jose Mercury News, says it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

I'm glad to see the power of newspapers diminishing. Far too long newspaper editors have used their power to endorse political candidates. The unsophisticated voters who knew little about the candidate or the issues would go along with the endorsement of the newspapers.

Many newspapers also promoted the grandiosity and virtue of the State. They were liberal and part of the power aristocracy. The editors and reporters went along with the growth of the State in order to be a part of the power. The majority of people who entered journalism school admitted they were liberal before becoming a newspaper reporter. They became reporters to promote liberalism.

"A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money."-- G. Gordon Liddy

Then along came the Internet and 24 hour cable news. No longer do people look to their morning newspaper, with all its advertisements, for their outdated daily news. Newspapers are now anachronisms.

The Internet, with millions of bloggers, discussion groups, comment sections at the end of an online news story, and Wikipedia, have revolutionized the flow of information the same way as the printing press.

Bloggers that write well and develop a following after a few years will have inside information from tips from readers about issues.

Great libertarian writers of the past who would never have been mentioned in newspapers or TV will be read globally by online readers. No longer will readers be fed a daily pablum of words glorifying the State.

Farewell newspapers.

Charles Tolleson

Most Americans Like Big Government

A January 14, 2010 Harris poll showed that most Americans, Democrats and Republicans, approve of most big government programs.

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
H. L. Mencken

Astoundingly, 90% of American adults support Medicare, a program that forces your participation, and is a contributing cause of the cost of health care increases and increases in government borrowing.

Medicare premiums are based on one's adjusted gross income. The premiums for higher income earners went up an incredible 15% in 2010! Try to imagine a private insurance company telling its customers that their premiums are based on a sliding scale of your income. It would be a great sales pitch! People would buy insurance from that company out of envy and greed, only to find out there are no higher income clients buying the product because higher income people buy insurance from another company that does not charge on a sliding scale.

The Harris poll also shows- Other very popular services include crime-fighting and prevention (88% support, 47% "a great deal"), Social Security (86% support and 53% "a great deal"); defense (83% and 47% "a great deal"); the national parks (83% support and 41% "a great deal"); unemployment benefits (82% support and 39% "a great deal") and federal aid to public schools (81% support and 43% "A great deal").

Social Security, another government program, is failing. Still, people believe in the plundering of others for their own perceived long term safety.

Federal aid to public schools is supported by 81%! Do these people know anything about the U.S. Constitution? No where in the constitution does it say the Federal Government has the right to give money to local schools.

"It is interesting that while government, and "Washington," are generally unpopular, 12 of the 13 major federal government services are supported by more than half of all adults, ten are supported by more than 70%, and seven are supported by more than 80%."

Many people perceive the State as community property. These people who approve of big government are expecting more from the community than they put in. The supporters of all these big government programs don't care if they are leaving their children in debt for the government borrowing to pay for these programs. Their delusions are that the government will solve the problem. Delusions are necessary to escape reality and live a pretend life, something the human animal, pretending, excels at.

The state tends to expand in proportion to its means of existence and to live beyond its means, and these are, in the last analysis, nothing but the substance of the people. Woe to the people that cannot limit the sphere of action of the state! Freedom, private enterprise, wealth, happiness, independence, personal dignity, all vanish. Frederick Basitat

Haiti and Poverty

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Haiti has long practiced Voodoo, which is socialist in its belief.

This from Wikipedia- Vodou's moral code focuses on the vices of dishonour and greed. There is also a notion of relative propriety — and what is appropriate to someone with Dambala Wedo as their head may be different from someone with Ogou Feray as their head. For example, one spirit is very cool and the other is very hot. Coolness overall is valued, and so is the ability and inclination to protect oneself and one's own if necessary. Love and support within the family of the Vodou society seem to be the most important considerations. Generosity in giving to the community and to the poor is also an important value. One's blessings come through the community and there is the idea that one should be willing to give back to it in turn. There are no "solitaries" in Vodou, only people separated geographically from their elders and house. A person without a relationship of some kind with elders will not be practicing Vodou as it is understood in Haiti and among Haitians.

Voodoo practices the ancient tribal beliefs that community is more important than the individual. History has shown that communities that have private property and practice the art of selfishness grow and prosper faster than communities that practice common property.

Charles Tolleson

No jail for woman who murdered her husband

Amber Cummings pumped two slugs into her husband's head as he slept. The judge did not sentence her to any jail time for the murder.

The sentence, no jail time for murdering her husband, just gives the green light to women who want to be judge, jury and executioner.

The murderer, Amber Cummings convinced the judge she had no options. Baloney! She did not even take the stand in her defense. Why not?

How many times does one have to assault you before you decide to leave? She did make the decision to leave when she pumped two bullets into the head of her husband, James Cummings. She could have left five minutes before, but, she simply decided to get revenge before she left.

The usual argument in the battered woman syndrome is that the woman is a psychological prisoner. Never would a man get to use this defense! If women are so weak, why are they allowed to have equal positions of power as men in society?

After the murder the FBI found evidence the victim was a neo Nazi who was building a bomb. Amber Cummings knew this. Why did she not tell the FBI before she killed her husband James Cummings? She would have then been free.

With the domestic laws of today it would have been a simply matter for her to get a restraining order aginst her husband. It looks bad for the police who always claim they are here to protect us. Why did Amber not feel like the police could protect her?

The poll taken by the Bangor Daily News shows a shocking 79% of the respondents do not think Cummings should receive jail time. I suspect the Maine Yankees think all neo Nazis should be killed.

Is it right to approve murdering members of a group we do not like? Could Judge Hjelm let his Jewish heritage influence his decision to not put Amber Cummings in jail because she killed a neo Nazi?

Men, we are living in the ages of the Salem witch trials. A man's life is worth less than a dog's. Michael Vick got more time for dog fighting than Cummings got for murdering a man. Men in relationships with American women are living with the Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.

Women not only have custody of the children, they also have custody of the men.

"Women have a wonderful instinct about things. They can discover everything except the obvious." Oscar Wilde

Charles Tolleson

Guys' Night

Feminism,- "The fear that somewhere a man is happy."

I just had a 4 day visit from my son, which happens twice each year. This time however, he brought 4 of his neighborhood buddies. That meant 6 guys in my small 1800 sq ft, 2 Br, 2.5 bath condo. I was anxious about all the humans congregating in one place because I am an old man who lives along and connects with humanity mostly through cyberspace.

My stress was wasted. The six guys, ages 38 to old, had a most delightful time. My son and I spent days together while his 4 buddies, all married with children at home, toured the bay area.

At night we had big meals, cooked by my son who likes to cook, shared some wine, and had many laughs. Only one night did we order pizza.

Having worked, and watched the feminizing of America, and seeing a constant presence of females on TV, the denigrating and demonizing of males on TV, (We watched very little TV) I found the conviviality of 6 guys sitting around, without women nearby, almost surreal, but the most pleasant experience I have had in a long time.

I recommend guys' nights, or guys' vacations, without TV and women. It will be therapeutic to the male soul.

Charles Tolleson, Masculist

Government to create jobs it cannot create!

"Obama announced the awarding of $2.3 billion in tax credits to companies that manufacture wind turbines, solar panels, cutting edge batteries and other green technologies. The money will come from last year's $787 billion stimulus program.

He also renewed a call by Vice President Al Gore for Congress to approve an additional $5 billion to help create more such jobs.

Obama said the tax credits would create some 17,000 green jobs".

Over two billion dollars to create seventeen thousands jobs! This means jobs created by the government plan, (the government planers are always planning your life), will each cost the government, in tax revenue, $135,000! What a plan! No wonder governments have to operate on force and coercion. They would not survive if people had a choice to voluntary follow the government plan or not to follow the government plan.

Other news.- Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, gave a speech on "Development in the 21st Century."

Hillary Clinton said, "Well, you know the proverb, Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime. Well, if you teach a woman to fish, she'll feed the whole village. (Applause.)"

Notice the denigrations of the male and the praise of the female. Hillary Clinton says if you teach a male and a female how to fish, the male will feed only himself, but if you teach a female how to fish she will feed a whole village. That's a lot of fishing for one woman, and it does not comport with how my father fished to feed his family. Nor does it add up to why so many men died in coal mining and other industrial accidents trying to feed their families.

Secretary of State Clinton is still advocating her socialist views of the African proverb "It takes a village to raise a child". She is a Platonist who thinks only the State, ran by women, knows how to raise us, and then when we become adults, the State continues to manage our lives. Her long oration is not about economic development in the 21st century. It is about wealth distribution. The humanitarians are not satisfied with managing the affairs of others in their own country; they want to manage the affairs of other countries. Humanitarians are never satisfied.

Santiago. The fisherman (The Old Man and the Sea)

California Budget, Biologist

A pilot and three California state employees were killed when their helicopter crashed while the state employees were surveying the deer population.

(MADERA COUNTY, CALIF. -- Three biologists with the California Department of Fish and Game and a contract pilot were killed Tuesday when their helicopter clipped a power line and crashed while they were surveying deer in the Sierra foothills south of Yosemite National Park, authorities said.)

Surveying the deer population! No wonder the state of California has a budget deficit. Do you need to count the deer population? Maybe it's because it is the year to take a census. And do you need two high paid biologists and an assistant to do the counting?

And why does high paid California State employees have to hike through the mountains and measure the snow pack? What a job. Hike where you want and make an estimate. There are electronic devices for measuring snowfall. Don't expect the government employees to be furloughed. The State could furlough all high paid hikers and let private individuals and ski resorts report the snow pack.

Another way CA could close there budget deficit and actually have a surplus is to close K-11 grades in the government schools. Classes for seniors would continue and those who could would graduate. Another way to reduce the massive education cost is with courses on YouTube or other online sites providing online courses. But the governor said he would not cut education funding. The plunders of the education monopoly have too much power.

For over 80 years California did not have a sales tax. Then in 1933 they passed a sales tax of 2.5%. Today, in less time than it took the state to create a sales tax of 2.5%, the rate has risen to 8.5%. County and local taxes have the total sales tax in San Mateo County of 9.25%!

This plunderous sales tax on the producers is not enough. They want more. Maybe they want to count the squirrel population.

Bilbo Baggins, from his Hobbit hole in Hobbiton, CA

IRS to regulate tax preparers

The Internal Revenue Service is going to regulate tax preparers. These are people who are not lawyers, enrolled agents, or certified public accounts. These are just people who will help you prepare your taxes, for a fee. There are about one million people who prepare taxes for a fee. Your cost to a tax preparer will go up because there will be fewer tax preparers. It's just like the regulation of other producers. The cost to conform with the regulations reduces the incentive to provide a service.

The IRS bureaucrats have made these new laws. They were not made by the legislatures.

The lawyers, enrolled agents, and CPAs probably lobbied the IRS to create these regulations in order to reduce the competition. They approve of being regulated. (To keep out competition) Imagine that. This is from the news story. (Many professional organizations and tax preparation companies have said they would support increased oversight. "I believe it will improve services to the general public," said Cindy Hockenberry, research coordinator for the National Association of Tax Professionals. "The comfort level will go up a little bit because the taxpayer will know that somebody is looking over this industry." )

Will the IRS now require those who do their own taxes to show they are competent to do their own taxes?

The problem is the complex tax system that creates unnecessary work for the individuals filing taxes. It also creates burecratic work for the 115,000 IRS government employees that live better than the people who pay taxes.

Charles Tolleson

All female marine team in Afghanistan

The all female marine team in Afghanistan is to interact with Afghan women and gain their support. This is a good strategy for our empire, if we are going to be an empire, a policy which I am against.

I have written before that technology will change the Muslim culture the same way it changed the Christian culture. Technology allowed women more choices and fewer pregnancies. The female marines in Afghanistan are just expediting the process. The process, with the birth control pill, cell phones, and the Internet, will destroy the traditional family that depended on the men and Allah. The future of Islam will be the same as the current western world's culture where a woman does not need a man because the State will be her provider and protector.

We do not need our war enablers and the beneficiaries of war in foreign countries. Their countries will become as socialistic as our country and our military.

Do those female marines, and male marines, realize they are part of the most socialistic and collectivist organization in the United States? The war enablers and beneficiars of war are trying to find the best employment in hard economic times. With over 70 different types of pay and allowances, and the new GI Bill that allows benefits to flow to dependents,and the largest day care provider in the U.S., the U.S. military helots are willing to murder for the State.

When the war enablers join the U.S. military they give up their constitutional rights and agree to be governed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a document written and approved by the State. The socialistic military helots sleep in the same quarters in the same type bunks and with the same type linen and eat the same food and wear the same kind of clothing. This cohesive collective has only one mission, to serve and protect the State.

"In the eyes of empire builders men are not men but instruments.” Napoleon Bonaparte

Charles Tolleson