Valuable Lessons from Federal Spending and Debt by Jacob G. Hornberger August 10, 2011 Americans are getting some great lessons in both economics and history in the federal spending-debt crisis. Yesterday, the Federal Reserve announced that it definitely intends to keep interest rates low for two more years. Translation: We will inflate (and debase) the currency to whatever extent necessary to get the economy rolling again. This is precisely what has been going on for ...
Why Expand the Drug War? by Jacob G. Hornberger August 9, 2011 Here we go again. Amidst all the talk about out-of-control federal spending and debt, what does the U.S. government do? It goes out and spends more money by expanding the drug war in Mexico. Hey, when a federal program has failed to show any success after 40 years, what else would you expect federal officials to do, especially in the ...
China’s Scolding of the U.S. Government by Jacob G. Hornberger August 8, 2011 Did you ever think you’d see the day that communist China would be lecturing the United States on fiscal responsibility? It’s just a sign of how far down American statists have taken our country. Sure, it’s humiliating that Standard & Poors just downgraded the U.S. government’s debt rating for the first time ever. But to have the commies preaching to ...
America’s Socialist and Imperialist Onslaught by Jacob G. Hornberger August 5, 2011 If the debt ceiling had not been lifted and then the stock market had plunged 700 points, administration statists and mainstream commentators would have been screaming, “The stock market has plunged because the debt ceiling wasn’t lifted!” But the debt ceiling was lifted and extended to sometime past the 2012 presidential election. Congress permitted President Obama to add another $2.7 ...
The Problem with the Tea Party by Jacob G. Hornberger August 4, 2011 Okay, so the Tea Party is good at speaking out against out-of-control federal spending and debt, even if its members in Congress are not so good at reining in government spending and borrowing when voting on whether to permit the federal government to pile another $2.7 trillion of debt onto the backs of the American people during the next ...
Our Statist Economic Woes by Jacob G. Hornberger August 3, 2011 Imagine that people in society own a total pool of wealth of $1 million. The group is divided into three categories — the poor ($50,000), the middle class ($250,000), and the rich ($700,000). The entire group as a whole produces an annual income of $100,000, divided proportionately between the 3 categories. The government decides to levy a flat tax of 3 ...
Debt-Ceiling Fraud by Jacob G. Hornberger August 2, 2011 I told you so! For the past several months, I have been saying that the Republicans were going to cave on the lifting of the debt ceiling. I’ve been writing it and I’ve been proclaiming it on my weekly Internet show. And sure enough, that’s exactly what they did. After weeks of huffing and puffing about the enormous size of ...
A Society on the Dole by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2011 A good example of the power of the government dole is found in the reaction of Detroit automakers to President Obama’s demand to raise mileage requirements for automobiles. According to an article in the New York Times, four years ago the automakers vehemently protested against the opposition of higher fuel-economy standards. Not so today, however. Today, the auto industry is meekly and submissively ...
Hornberger’s Blog, August 2011 by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2011 Wednesday, August 31, 2011 Perry Is Right about Social Security Not surprisingly, Governor Rick Perry is catching flack from mainstream statists over his calling Social Security “a Ponzi scheme.” For statists, Social Security, as the crown jewel of the welfare state, is sacrosanct. Any challenge to the program or even an accurate description of how it works is, well, close to ...
Sharing Ideas on Liberty at Ron Pauls Congressional Luncheon Group by Jacob G. Hornberger July 29, 2011 I had an interesting lunch yesterday. Congressman Ron Paul invited me to share libertarian perspectives on the warfare-welfare state and the debt ceiling with his private luncheon group, which consists of several of Ron’s fellow congressmen. About 8 other congressmen joined us for the luncheon meeting in Ron’s office for a fun, free-wheeling discussion of the debt ceiling, foreign ...
Shut Down the Postal Service by Jacob G. Hornberger July 28, 2011 The Postal Service has announced that it is closing 3,700 post offices across the country due to financial troubles. I’ve got a better idea. How about closing the Postal Service itself and turning over the delivery of first-class mail entirely to the private sector? After all, the Postal Service is a monopoly. That means the government has granted it an exclusive ...
Norway and Gun Control by Jacob G. Hornberger July 27, 2011 At the risk of belaboring the obvious, the massacre in Norway reminds us, once again, of the three big reasons that our American ancestors enshrined the right to keep and bear arms in the Second Amendment. First, the right to own property is a fundamental, God-given right with which no government can legitimately interfere. Guns are private property. Thus, even ...
