United Liberty

The Wall Street Journal reports that when lawmakers receive per-diem money for official travel, it’s typical for them to pocket the leftover cash instead of returning it to the Treasury—that, or they spend it on gifts and souvenirs:

When lawmakers travel overseas on official business they are given up to $250 a day in taxpayer funds to cover meals and expenses. Congressional rules say they must return any leftover cash to the government.

They usually don’t.

…”There’s a tacit understanding that if lawmakers don’t spend the money, they get to keep it,” said Rep. Sue Kelly, a New York Republican who was defeated in 2006.

…Rep. Joe Wilson (R., S.C.) said he once bought marble goblets in the Kabul airport as gifts for constituents. Rep. Mark Souder (R., Ind.) said he dipped into his funds to buy a $200 painting of an estuary in Turkey, which hung in his office for a while and was now in his house.

This is not a lot of money when you consider the trillions of dollars that make up the federal budget. But the concept that it might be innapropriate to spend taxpayer money for personal reasons seems to be completely lost on our elected officials.

And here’s the real kicker: When asked about taxpayer money he uses for non-official purposes, Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla) replied, “I’m a generous spirit and a courteous spirit. I stand accused.”

Yes, Mr. Hastings, it certainly is easy to be generous when you’re spending other people’s money.

In my political science class we were discussing the issue of taxation. In order to better understand the issue and to balance out a lot of the negativity we inherently have towards taxation (which isn’t a bad thing) we discussed what we (personally and as a society) actually get in return for our taxes.

I decided to make a “cynical” version of the list we thought up in class. So here are ten things we get from taxes:

1 ) Drug Prohibition - Billions spent each year on making sure no one uses drugs that are “too dangerous” for us. Thank you nanny state! Except for the fatal flaw in this argument: marijuana is illegal yet more harmful substances such as alcohol and tobacco are legal. Not to mention the war on drugs is a complete and utter failure.

2 ) Overpaid Government Officials - It’s a well-known fact that city planners, parks and recreation directors, and many others in government are paid “comfortable” salaries sometimes even more than $100,000. Not only that, but many government officials have guaranteed pensions backed by the state. While people work long hours in the private (productive) sector who have to deal with 401K’s and actually saving and investing for retirement, these government officials have it made!

3 ) The Federal Reserve - Ah yes, the Federal Reserve who claims their existence is necessary to “maintain a strong currency,” have been doing just the opposite. As the dollar loses its value slowly but surely and bubbles have rocked our economy into deep recessions many times since its inception, it’s unfortunate this entity receives tax dollars from the private sector.

4 ) Foreign Aid - None of that money goes to waste, right? It all goes directly to the needy in the most efficient manner, no corruption involved! Right…

Yes, it was indeed 100 years ago yesterday that the House passed a resolution to send the 16th Amendment to the states for ratification, thereby establishing the federal income tax.

Since then, teenage socialists everywhere quickly realized the sins of their ways the day they received their first paycheck….or, the percentage they were allowed to take home at least.  (Oh, I’m sorry, did you think you were getting the full amount?)

The tax system in the United States is terribly complicated, and when all of the rules, regulations and instructions are written out, it fills more than 70,000 pages. The darn thing is so confusing that Americans spend about $300 billion per year to hire professionals to pay their taxes for them.

Dr. Paul, once again, outlines the real culprits of the current economic crisis, and points to the real solutions- less government, lower taxes, decreased spending, the end of devaluing the dollar.

H/T: Matt Chancey

Barack Obama’s first tax hike, a 62-cent increase on tobacco products, went into effect yesterday. The tax hurts the poor the most. One one hand they want us to believe that these taxes discourage and decrease smoking. On the other hand they say that they’ll fund various healthcare programs, in this case, SCHIP. That doesn’t make much sense.

Our very own Jason Pye, along with other Tea Party organizers, speaks to Neil Cavuto about the Tea Party movement.  Citing low numbers, Neil questions whether the Tea Party protests will gain the support needed to have the influence needed, and is reminded that the original Boston Tea Party protesters started with a small minority as well.

Meet my new parents: the U.S. Government. The parallels are astonishing when you think about it. (Forgive my generalities… they are for illustration!)

1. Parents want their kids to be the best: Just like proud moms and dads show up at little league games and fight with other parents, help (or take over) fundraising activities so their kids will “win” by raising the most money, or argue with teachers about grades… we see the U.S. Government assert its authority all over the world - both economically and militarily - so that we can be the “greatest nation on earth”.

The 2008 Mises Institute Supporters Summit

The Gold 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

For this entry, we will go outside his aforementioned email. Don’t worry; we’ll be returning to it very soon.After taking another look at the debate between Congressman Price and Dr. Lawson, his “Keeping in Touch” newsletter that he sent to the 4th District voters (at taxpayer expense), and his Vote Smart page, there’s a particular claim that Congressman Price likes to make (or at least imply) that his recent record shows to be a bowl of mush.

This claim is that he is some sort of a principled fiscal conservative who works tirelessly for balanced budgets.