Peter Darley sent us this thought-provoking and persuasive article. We don't agree with a lot of it, but it's good stuff all the same and most definitely Grumpy, so deserves to be widely read ...
• There are no true democracies in the world today. The correct description is ‘fascist’. Electorates are presented with a choice of two or more bunches of idiots who essentially offer the same (failed Keynesian) policies. Ask yourself — what is the real, fundamental difference between the Democrats and the Republicrats?
• Far too many people vote on the principle ‘what’s in it for me?’ instead of ‘what’s best for the country?’ Politicians, therefore, have to offer more freebies to the 99% to get votes, resulting in a continuous drift towards welfare states. Politicians also know that the consequences of their failures will not normally be seen until they have ridden off into the sunset with their ill-gotten millions.
• Politicians have been allowed to grab too much power, which should belong to ordinary people. We know that politicians are, for the most part, liars and thieves, so why do we let them have so much power over our lives? Ordinary people must eventually realize this and take the power back from the politicians. One can only hope that the people will realize this before it is too late. I am not hopeful.
The US is now firmly on the path towards a welfare state, when one considers that the number of Americans receiving welfare benefits of all kinds is now approaching the number of Americans who pay tax on the rewards for honest effort. In the long term, welfare states must fail, as the number of non-productive deadbeats eventually overwhelms the ability of the productive to support them. It is my conclusion that this is what led to the collapse of the Roman Empire. This collapse took so long (eight to ten generations?) that no one living at the time knew what was happening. The collapse was followed by a thousand years of ‘Dark Ages,’ when per capita economic growth was close to zero, i.e. every generation lived as the previous one — subsistence agriculture, always just one failed crop away from starvation.
Are we now in the same position? It would be a mistake to believe that it cannot happen again — because there are people actively working for it, whether they realise it or not. I came across this great quote recently: “Fascism isn't essentially about jackboots, mass rallies and starting wars — although it always winds up with those things. It's about meshing the state with large corporations. Unlike socialism, it's about allowing corporations to be privately owned, so thoughtless people easily conflate it with capitalism. Then favoured classes can become wealthy through fat salaries, bonuses and share options. But corporations are state controlled - through regulation, taxation and directed spending” — Doug Casey of caseyresearch.com.
“Occupy Wall Street”: has it never occurred to the 99% that they are the people who stand around waiting for the 1% to tell them what to do with their miserable lives? Does anyone believe that they would not jump at the chance to become part of the 1% if only they had the talent? In fact, if the 99% want the brutal truth, human progress has always come from the 1% (more like 0.1%). Without them, we would all still be living in caves. The vast majority of humanity are and always have been worthless parasites.
Are assets more efficiently applied in the hands of individuals or in the hands of governments? In the hands of individuals, assets are necessarily invested in the productive areas of the economy. In government hands, assets are flushed down the sewers via donations to deadbeats. Who, then, grows the economy? Which is why Warren Buffett does not understand basic economics when he thinks that he should be paying more tax. If he pays more tax, the net effect will be detrimental to the US economy as a whole. Bastiat got it right when he said ‘Everyone tries to live at the expense of someone else.’
Humanity receives two elements for free - air and water - each of which is essential, but neither of which is sufficient, to sustain life. The missing element is human effort. Far too many have now decided that the effort should come from other than themselves. Take a look around you—everything you see came from the surface, or just below the surface, of the earth. The difference between what it was and what it is, came from the human brain.
The GOS says: I believe that the welfare state as formulated in Britain after World War 2 was probably the most perfect example of political/social engineering there has ever been. In recent years in the hands of careless, thoughtless Labour politicians who tried to use it to destroy what they saw as a class-divided society, it has become a corrupt, wasteful and negative part of our lives, but that doesn't alter the essential virtues of the idea or the system.
The principle that everyone should contribute to society in order that when the need arises they may depend on it for support, is fine and fair and a mark of true civilisation. So are public television, a free and uncensored press, free and comprehensive education for all, free universities and the universal franchise, and look what a bloody mess we've made of them all.
With the benefit of hindsight, the late 40s and 50s were heady days when people really thought they were building a new and finer world for the future. It's only taken 50 years to turn that world into a festering hulk of greed, unfairness and oppression by the very institutions that were intended to protect and nurture us.
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