United Liberty
government
Our Government Declares (Economic) War On Japan?
Fri, 01/29/2010 - 12:18pm | posted by Peter Quinones
General Motors announced this week that anybody that owns a Toyota vehicle will receive a $1,000 “incentive” to trade said vehicle in for a GM product.
Editor’s Note: Ford has since matched the $1000 offer.
“We decided to make this offer after receiving many e-mails and calls from our dealers, who have been approached by Toyota customers asking for help,” GM said in a statement. The offers will run through the end of February.
The supposed e-mails and calls mentioned are in relation to the recent widespread recall on many Toyota products due to a faulty gas pedal that has led to at least one death. Toyota is working feverishly to find a fix but has yet to do so which has stopped production and sales of their most popular models including the Camry and Corolla.(as of this writing, a fix has been announced)
If this were General Motors declaring “war” on Toyota at their most vulnerable I would say go for it. I’m all about free markets and the best product usually succeeds. Hence Toyota outsells most if not all GM car models. But that is not what is happening here.
General Motors is now majority-owned by the Federal Government and Barack Obama is essentially the C.E.O. To believe that GM “CEO” Edward Whitacre Jr. didn’t get a thumbs up from President Obama on this is far beyond naive, it borders on gullible.
Ron Paul Responds to Obama’s Inaugural Address
Wed, 01/21/2009 - 12:49am | posted by Dr. Charles Kennedy
In this video, Dr. Paul cuts to the chase by pointing out that Obama is really making an argument for more and bigger government, while attempting to camouflage it behind fanciful (perhaps one could say “Orwellian”) rhetoric.
Government Raids on Family Farms
Thu, 12/18/2008 - 5:07pm | posted by Andrew Ward
In his book, Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal, Joel Salatin discusses the plight of the small farmers and all the cumbersome regulations and laws surrounding the sale of food direct to consumers. In an ironic twist, PDA officials took this book during one of the raids on Mark Nolt’s farm in Pennsylvania. The title of the book begs the question “why is a farmer writing a book titled Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal?”
Read the full story at Campaign for Liberty.
Icelanders Storm Central Bank
Tue, 12/02/2008 - 11:37am | posted by Austin Wilkes
Anti-government and bank rage reached a boiling point Monday in the small island nation of Iceland, where residents have seen unemployment and inflation skyrocket following the fall collapse of the Icelandic banking system. Iceland, a nation recently prided as a great example of the “Scandanavian Model” of a prosperous welfare system, has in a matter of months been transformed into the least politically and ecnomically stable nation in Europe. The International Herald Tribune reports below-
Is It Time to Close the Government Money Hole?
Thu, 11/13/2008 - 12:08am | posted by Shana Kluck
This video would be much funnier if it wasn’t fairly accurate. But this satirical argument addresses a very real issue in DC. There’s no discussion on whether money should be taxed, borrowed and spent, just how it will be wasted by our irresponsible, ineffecient government.
Mises Institute Summit 2008 Review
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 2:13pm | posted by C Scott Morris
The 2008 Mises Institute Supporters Summit
The Go
ld Standard Revisited
This past weekend was a chance for many of the Mises Institute’s supporters to get together, get familiar, and get updated on the Austrian tradition’s interpretation of recent events. The focus of this weekend seminar was on the gold standard, and the increasingly desperate need for sound money in today’s fiat fiasco of an economy. Speakers, local and international, delivered the message of monetary sanity to the supporters and students in attendance, as well as those who tuned in around the world via Mises.org. Talks were given by many of today’s
Political appointees jobs not given on merit, gov’t pay outpaces private sector
Mon, 03/08/2010 - 4:04pm | posted by Jason Pye
I am shocked, absolutely shocked to read that government appointees are not given their jobs based on merit:
At the request of several high-ranking members of Congress, the study, which was publicly released this week, looked at the employee conversion rates to monitor how much favoritism exists in hiring employees who were politically appointed to temporary positions but who then tried to shift into career jobs based on their professional credentials.
“Sometimes … circumstances surrounding [employee] conversions can raise questions as to whether the individuals received political favoritism or an unfair advantage in the merit system selection process, even the appearance of which could adversely compromise the integrity of the system,” the report reads.
[…]
It found that 143 employees who had been politically appointed by either President George W. Bush or Obama, or a member of a congressional panel or agency, had gone on to be hired for a job that required not political favoritism, but professional merit-based job superiority.Most of the conversions from political appointments to career employment came from the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense.
I’m even more shocked to read that government pay for certain jobs, such as graphic design, librarian, financial analyst and cook, are out pacing the private sector. The average government jobs pays $67,691, while the average private sector jobs pays $60,046.
It’s always easier to spend someone else’s money.
How ‘Cash for Clunkers’ Can Hurt the Poor
Wed, 08/19/2009 - 9:14pm | posted by Chris Moody
As thousands of car owners trade in their old vehicles under the “Cash for Clunkers” program, charities fear they will see a decrease in the amount of old cars that are donated for people who cannot afford them.
USA Today reports:
Charities across the country are concerned that the popular “cash-for-clunkers” program will entice people to junk old cars for credit toward new ones rather than donate them.“We know there’s going to be a significant impact,” says Chad Iseman, director of the Kidney Cars program for the National Kidney Foundation. Iseman says the foundation gets about 19% of its annual revenue from selling donated cars. The charity said it estimates a 10% to 15% decline because of the federal rebates.
Of course, media outlets were shouting everywhere what a success the program was, but few took the time to check (bless you USA Today) for a little thing called unintended consequences.
Zombie Government
Tue, 08/04/2009 - 12:24pm | posted by Jason Pye
Being an enthusiastic fan of zombie movies, I can appreciate the link to how government works and the undead:
H/T: QandO
A Troubling Yet Perfect Picture of the State
Tue, 07/14/2009 - 10:42am | posted by Chris Moody
A satire artist couldn’t have drawn it better: A government official presses his foot to the back of protestor in western China, holding his finger on the trigger of a gun pointed directly at his head.
To be sure, this picture that ran in The Washington Post on Saturday lacks context, and may not tell the full story. In case you haven’t been following the protests that are occuring in the far corner of China, a minority group of ethnic Turks called Uighurs have been clashing with Chinese forces over the past week.
