The Fiscal Cliff

mattnaugle — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 13:12:11 -0600

As we head into another end-of-the-year budget debate with Congress arguing in terms of “crisis”… This fantastic video from Steven Crowder puts what the public really thinks in perspective.

Smithereens Frontman Pat DiNizio & Christian Josi Team Up On Christmas Recording

mattnaugle — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 09:52:13 -0600

As Matt Lewis reported in The Daily Caller, noted jazz recording artist and libertarian activist Christian Josi teamed up with Smithereens frontman Pat DiNizio to create a new Christmas single, “Holiday 2012.”

Josi once ran the American Conservative Union and the CPAC Conference, the largest annual gathering of right-of-center activists. DiNizo is also politically activate and once ran for Senate in New Jersey. They first met 24 years ago on the L.A. set of The Smithereens video ‘House We Used To Live In.” At the time, Josi was co-producing an episode of former KROQ personality Jim “Poorman” Trenton’s local TV show.

The new single is the classic, ‘Winter Wonderland,’ with ’White Christmas’ as the B-side (there are 2 bonus versions with no percussion.)

“While I’m a rock-n-roll songwriter and singer, I’m not a screamer, said DiNizio. “And what Christian does — is he’s keeping that important tradition alive. He’s very much a purest.”

Performed by lovers of limited government, it is a relaxed recording of the Christmas classic which you will definately want to add to your office or family Christmas party playlist.

The album will be avilable on CD Baby, iTunes, and many other outlets this week.

Rep. Stephen Fincher and the Heartland of America

mattnaugle — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:06:53 -0600

After a tough campaign season for Republicans the budget debates in the lame duck congress are heating up, and it is up to the majority in Congress to hold the line with fiscally conservative principles.

One of those men in the fight is Rep. Stephen Fincher of Frog Jump, Tennessee, which is a city so small that Google Maps doesn’t list it.

Rep. Fincher isn’t an average congressman. He is a cotton and soybean farmer who worked hard instead of going to college. In fact, Fincher hadn’t even been to Washington, D.C., until he started his campaign.

As he told NPR last year, “I expected to get off the airplane and see the smartest people in the world. But what I realized was a lot of those guys ain’t got sense enough to get out of the rain.”

Fincher stars in the new video from National Republican Congressional Committee, in their “This is America” campaign, which reminds us that many “people in Washington have forgotten that the people and the heartbeat of America is in the heartland of America.”

Below is the transcript:

STEPHEN FINCHER: The first day that we were in session in Washington, we read the Constitution from the floor of the House. And we had an hour debate on which version of the Constitution we were going to read. And it’s been a fight ever since.

Well, Washington—as I like to say many times—is the land of make believe. There’s been no recession in Washington. The government is growing faster than it ever has. People are so frustrated with Washington. They are frustrated with the gridlock, frustrated with no accountability, frustrated with no budget They want Washington to listen. That’s something that’s not been happening in the past few years.

I think this is the crossroads from the America that we all know and hold dear, that our grandparents and their parents helped build and create and the America our liberal friends in Washington think that they want to see.

A few months ago, my middle son Noah — he and I were coming home from a duck hunting trip not far from my home and he looked at me and he said, “Dad, are you going to run for Congress again?” And I said, “Well, son, I don’t know. What do you think?” He said, “Well, you haven’t been home as much as you said you were going to be and mom’s not real happy about that.” [laughs] And I said, “Well son I know she’s not that happy.” And he said, “You’re not at as many football games as you said you’re going to be able to make because you’ve been so busy and that’s been kind of hard on me.” And I said, “I know son. Do you think I shouldn’t run?” A long pause after that last statement and he looked at me as if he was an adult having a conversation with another adult. He said, “Dad, you’ve got to run again. The country’s just in too bad a shape.” Now, to me, as a parent, that broke my heart. Because even a 13-year-old kid see’s where we’re going and if we don’t stop it, his future is in jeopardy. And I think that sums it up for me. As much as I would like to come home and be at his football games and be with my family and my little girl and my older son, this commitment we have to keep.

"FA$T CA$H: Easy Credit & the Economic Crash" by Dorian Electra

mattnaugle — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 10:04:20 -0600

Dorian Electra, a lover of Austrian economics who became an internet sensation after her “I’m in Love with Friedrich Hayek” music video, has done it again!

In “FA$T CA$H: Easy Credit & the Economic Crash,” Electra tells a cautionary tale about monetary stimulus in a catchy pop-song. Enjoy:

Here are the lyrics:

The economy is tricky, it’s a coordination game.
Like driving on the highway, knowing when to switch your lane.
Traffic lights coordinate those who go and stop.
The price of credit coordinates those who save and shop.

CHORUS:
That fast, fast, cash how fast can you get it?
Pump that gas, gas, gas, inject easy credit.
But will it last? Or will you regret…
The market crash, crash, crash, and don’t you forget it.

If consumers save up, it means they’re more willing
To wait before spending, before shedding a shilling.
What they put into banks, the banks can now lend.
Banks lower interest rates to get producers to spend.

Producers borrow big, when that interest rate’s low.
To start up big projects that take a while to grow.
They assume the low rate means consumers want to wait
Saving up for big, big purchases at a later date.

[CHORUS]

The Central Bank has got some tricks to keep the market booming.
Injecting excess credit, keeps consumers consuming,
It keeps producers producing, but consumers won’t buy.
They haven’t been saving, as the interest rate would imply.

Green light (GO!) red light (STOP!) keeps them in check.
But if all the lights are switched to green, OOO! they’re gonna wreck!
Consumers’ and producers’ plans get all discoordinated.
When the credit supply has been inflated.

[CHORUS]

Lots of easy credit’s like diluted gasoline.
It says the tank is full enough to fuel up your machine.
You get out on the open road a thousand miles away,
But it’s not enough to get you home, so on the road you stay.

[CHORUS]

All that fast, fast, cash seems like a dream.
But easy credit from the central bank turns all the lights green.
Everyone’s going at once, they’re gonna crash.
Beware of central banks pumpin’ that fast, fast cash.

The Joy of Hate, Liberal Speech Police, & Conservative Punks

mattnaugle — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 15:37:18 -0600

From Reason.TV, Nick Gillespie- the “Fonzie of Freedom” interviews Greg Gutfeld on his new book, The Joy of Hate: How to Triumph over Whiners in the Age of Phony Outrage, why liberals can’t stand punk rockers with conservative politics, and deep-vein thrombosis in Melville’s Moby-Dick.

A long title, and a hilarious guy:

In Defense of Walmart

mattnaugle — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 15:14:07 -0600

I can not express just how uninterested I am in Black Friday shopping. Long lines and the potential for violence is not worth a cheap TV. Nor do I feel like a corporation with balance sheets the size of many countries needs much defending, especially as they lobby for regulatory favors or for internet taxes.

However, Walmart, for all of its faults, probably does more for America’s less fortunate than any social program. Their food is 20%-40% cheaper than most grocery stores and offer supplies of cheap goods to communties which need them. And as we begin President Obama’s 2nd term, its clear unions are gunning for profitable companies and will force them into funding their political activities, while consumers suffer.

Peter Suderman, senior editor for Reason.com, on Saturday used Twitter to lay out his observations on the big box giant. His points are reasonable and brilliant:

Really enjoyed talking Walmart and Black Friday on @upwithchris [MSNBC’s Chris Hayes] this morning. I’m going to add a few stray observations on twitter.
1. Walmart’s customer base is heavily concentrated in the bottom income quintile, which spends heavily on food.
2.The bottom income quintile spends about 25 percent of income on food compared to just 3.5 percent for the top quintile.
3. So the benefits of Walmart’s substantially lower prices to the lowest earning cohort are huge, especially on food.
4. Obama adviser Jason Furman has estimated the welfare boost of Walmart’s low food prices alone is about $50b a year.
5. Walmart’s wages are about average for retail. Not amazing. But not the worst either.
6. Paying Walmart’s workers more would mean the money has to come from somewhere. But where?
7. Erase the Walmart CEO’s entire salary, and you can raise average hourly wages by just a penny or so.
8. Erase the entire Walton family fortune and you get an average $1/hour boost to Walmart workers.
9. Raise prices to pay for increased wages and you cut into the store’s huge low-price benefits for the poor. It’s regressive.
10. But what about Costco? They pay more, right? Yes, but it’s a different, smaller market.
11. Walmart’s average customer earns roughly $35k. Costco’s average customer earns about $75k.
12. Costco only has about half as many employees as Walmart. What would happen if Walmart adopted a Costco model and shrank to Costco size?
13. Not at all clear that the remaining half of Walmart workers would be better off. Many would almost certainly be worse off. Unemployed.
14. Obama econ adviser Jason Furman did a lot of the work on Walmart’s progressive benefits. His case: slate.me/R3bkc2
15. Finally, as someone who’s actually been a regular, small-town Walmart shopper, I’d like to argue for its community benefits.
16. Yes, some small stores close when Walmart opens. But in small towns, Walmart can become real community hubs – more so, because of size.
17. As for Walmart workers getting health benefits thru Medicaid, that’s due in part to a policy liberals argued for: wapo.st/axXXNE

The arguments against Walmart are anti-poor and are about union power. MSNBC and other liberal media outlets, working as paid PR efforts for AFL-CIO, pushed the news of striking “walk outs” well through the holiday weekend, even as the protests failed, as a way to publicly shame Walmart.

This will be a long, drawn-out war. Sadly, many Americans don’t think as clearly as Mr. Suderman.

Why Is There Corn in Your Coke?

mattnaugle — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 14:34:00 -0600

Coke is made with corn syrup, not real sugar. Why is this? According to Professor Diana Thomas in this LearnLiberty.org video, part of the reason is because government policies artificially raise the price of sugar.

Although these government policies actually cost Americans approximately $3 billion each year, the laws remain. The law benefits one group of people (farmers) at the expense of another group (consumers). But because the cost to each American is so small, average Americans don’t have an incentive to combat the lobbying groups who fight to keep the laws in place.

This phenomenon is known as “dispersed costs and concentrated benefits,” and it applies in many cases when laws are passed that benefit a small group of citizens. Prof. Thomas says the only way to prevent or end this practice is to limit what government can do.

If you find a small Mexican grocery store in your neighborhood, you may be able to find some bottles which include actual sugar, as that’s how it’s sold south of the boarder. It has a very different taste, which we would be used to if not for the power of big government and powerful interests more than trippling the actual cost of sugar.

Prager University: Free Market Morality

mattnaugle — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 13:03:45 -0600

Is the free market morally superior or inferior to other economic systems? If it’s morally superior, what makes it so? If it’s morally inferior, do we need greater government control of the economy?

In the latest video produced by Prager University, Walter Williams, renowned Professor of Economics at George Mason University, faces these questions head on and with bracing clarity:

Campaign Finance is Also About Politicians Shaking Down Industry

mattnaugle — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 08:41:37 -0600

PA State Rep. Jesse White

After the Citizens United Supreme Court case, loud advocates protested that corporations will have exessive influence in our politics. But as we saw on election night, campaigns with nearly unlimited budgets still can not win if voters don’t approve of the candidates.

However, there is something pernicious about campaign donations, that politicans often avoid, as it involves their own fundraising practices.

This case out of Pennslyvania is a fascinating, but not unique example of how fundraising often happens:

An ardent critic of the impact of gas drilling, state Rep. Jesse White of Washington County once enjoyed a cozy relationship with Range Resources Inc. — asking for a corporate plane ride to a Super Bowl and complaining the driller didn’t give him enough campaign money, emails between the lawmaker and company show.

In late 2011, White and Range executives in Cecil began battling publicly over Marcellus shale gas drilling. Just last week, Range canceled a private meeting with Cecil officials when White said he would attend.

Range says it wants to expose a lawmaker who tried to strong-arm the company and continues to challenge its Pennsylvania business dealings. This month, White urged several agencies to investigate the state’s handling of contamination tests at a Range drill site.

White, 34, says the company is organizing a smear campaign against him because he tries to protect constituents in land-control disputes. He suggests Range took his emails out of context or altered them, but would not produce any emails from his archive to prove that. Range stands by the accuracy of the emails it released.

“Just found out I had a few tickets to the game and am looking at our travel arrangements,” White wrote on Jan. 28, 2011, to Range Chief Operating Officer Ray Walker, in emails Range gave the Tribune-Review. “If the Range plane was heading down, any chance we could stowaway in the cargo hold?”

The Steelers lost that 2011 Super Bowl in Arlington, Texas, to the Green Bay Packers. White, a Democrat elected in 2006, did not travel with Range. He told the Trib he requested the ride as “a joke” and said he did nothing illegal or hypocritical in seeking campaign donations from Range. He said Range earlier invited him to its Super Bowl barbecue in Texas.

And

White’s correspondence includes a March 2010 email about a May fundraiser Range was organizing for him. White wanted Autumn Haines, his former district aide who then worked for Range, to oversee the event planning.

His email said he and Haines had “a relationship” at the time. Range said involving her in the fundraiser would be a conflict of interest. White wrote: “Understood — I just don’t want to get shortchanged, especially because I am going to catch (expletive) no matter what. I don’t have the money some of my colleagues do.”

Haines, 28, who works in Strattanville, Clarion County, declined comment.

“That’s a past chapter in my life,” she said.

White insists he did nothing illegal in pursuing fundraising help nearly three years ago.

Range spent $1,000 on White’s fundraiser. When the event’s contributions totaled less than $5,000, counting the Range money, White emailed Range on June 17, 2010: “This was considerably short of the intended target and to be perfectly blunt, I attest the low turnout to a somewhat substandard effort in working your vendor list.”

Politics is a unique industry because a politican is supposed to be able accept $10,000 while the donor is not to expect anything in return.

That’s not to say all campaign donations are corrupt. Plenty of donors give out of ideological reasons, or a general support of a candidate.

But too often, politicans feel the pressure to raise more money, and start selling legislation and votes. Just most of them aren’t stupid enough to write it down.

The political process will never be run by angels. It should be a reminder that since it is impossible to take these sort of incentives out of government, it is essential to keep government as limited and small as possible.

"I have yet to find one crime that Stalin committed."

mattnaugle — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:40:26 -0600

The Young Americans for Liberty hosted a debate at Montclair State University. During the question and answer section, the debater representing the liberal position claimed that communist Russia was not responsible for any deaths.

Professor Grover Furr insisted in the face of student questioning that Joseph Stalin was not responsible for the genocide for which he’s infamous.

In college I remember running into supposedly enlightened Trotskyites who would timidly defend the Soviet Union through claims of bias in American history books. But this is taking it to a new level.

According to a Soviet weekly newspaper, Stalin killed roughly 40,000,000 people. Communism, with its disregard of the primacy of the individual, is a brutal, immoral philosophy leading to upwards of 100,000,000 deaths, according to the Big Black Book of Communism.

Furr, who has authored several books on the topic of Marxism, also insisted that the United States has the lowest standard of living among industrialized developed countries.

This should be a reminder as to why conspiracy theories and fringe voices must be ignored. The ability to think this way is a dangerous form of insanity.

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