Alfred Holzheu – online and verbose – The Main Pontifications page
Alfred Holzheu – online and verbose – The Main Pontifications page
Entries by Alfred Holzheu (75)
Monday, March 9, 2009 at 10:00 PM
10:00PM
Mar 9, 2009 at 10:00 PM
It all seems so obvious:
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Bring the military home, we do not build nations nor can we fix insane problems (either that or drop the guns and turn the whole international military into the Peace Corps, seems like our soldiers are doing that already)
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Legalize most drugs, we have had the exactly the same success in the “war” on drugs that we had during Prohibition (the success has been in making the bad guys rich and giving the DEA something to do)
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A Flat tax or national sales tax, if the incoming Treasury Secretary can’t figure it out, neither can the rest of us.
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Fix the biggest Ponzi scheme of them all, Social Security. By every definition it is a Ponzi, as it depends on the new investors (kids coming into the work force) to pay a return to the retiring investors. Had it been invested in anything, even real estate, it might truly have assets that would see us through.
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Stop subsidizing non-work. Everyone is educated to some degree, everyone works, no more welfare without effort.
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Every prison is a Sheriff Joe Arpaio Prison. And if we stop the drug nonsense, there will be fewer prisoners to begin with.
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Every child is either taught a trade or prepared for college.
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Universal catastrophic health care coverage, otherwise exercise, eat right, stop smoking, stop fornicating without protection, stop getting high or suffer the consequences in silence. Of course, there are exceptions for the truly mentally incompetent (great job for the welfare people, it does not take much training to care for most disabled people, they just need a helping hand) or truly disabled and/or elderly.
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The government never produces anything (that is not their purpose) only consumes, give people the freedom and incentive to produce and then get out of the way. Of course people can not then produce pollution, war, crime, or all the stuff that we generally agree we don’t want as a society, (ie. The government is society for all intents and purposes, which is the purpose of government)
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You can not legislate morality, any more than you can make your kids behave. As long as one human does not infringe on another human (someone over 18, before that you have no frame of reference by which to make decisions, and for lots of humans 18 years is a minimum only, most males don’t seem to have a clue until 26) it is all good. There are some intrinsic basic human rights conferred by just showing up on the planet, but beyond that stop with the silly laws!
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9:45PM
Mar 9, 2009 at 9:45 PM
The Primacy of the Businessman
It seems to me that everyone in the current debate about the economy is forgetting the most important element. Without the businessman, the butcher, baker, candlestick maker, farmer, miner, etc. there is no economy. The forward development of mankind appears to hinge on which societal structure and/or governmental structure that most successfully encourages economic leaders to risk time, money and mental peace to produce more than they consume, so as to produce surplus, ie. Wealth! The rest is all talk. Furthermore, economic enterprises do not self-organize, anymore than sand can self-organize into the Empire state building. The intellect that organizes and develops a better mouse trap is the basis of the real economy. No government does that, they are the entropy to the businessman’s syntropy. Governments on the whole consume wealth through income redistribution, wars, useless political dialog and the child like manipulation of the economy. When have price controls ever worked, when has income redistribution ever eliminated the poverty, when have we ever been able to legislate morality. Their only purpose is keeping the playing field fair, be it civil, criminal or international. But that is a service we gladly pay taxes for, to have a functioning, fair society based on law and the inalienable rights of the individual. We actually fought a revolution for just that purpose. The generation of the founding fathers were virtually all independent businessman, and I would believe that they knew the power of the individual through self-interest to produce more wealth than any society ever or since! The scale of the current government’s insertion of its influence into the economy can never work, as we are driving out the very people we wish to generate the jobs, much like food aid to impoverished nations only increases their dependence on outside food by destroying their already vulnerable farmers. It might be well intentioned, but the results are the same. If we wish wealth in all its forms, then we must encourage wealth creation, not penalize it or crowd it out with short term fixes.
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Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 10:24 PM
10:24PM
Dec 2, 2008 at 10:24 PM
Alfred Holzheu3 CommentsShare ArticleEmail ArticlePrint ArticlePermalink
4:38PM
Dec 2, 2008 at 4:38 PM
http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/
These guys have got it right! The problem is that the general public is brain challenged. We still sell Loto tickets, even though there is not a snowballs chance in hell of winning anything ever. All the logic in the world can not compete with a Nancy Pelosi telling people that she can invalidate the rules of commerce, and by force of will make GM produce and sell cars (and make us buy) that anyone actually wants. And without credit, how can anyone even think of buying a car anyway. Maybe they can make free loans to everyone on the planet, then GM might do well, but for how long, and what would their incentive be to produce anything but a Volga or worse. And what do you do with the “foreign” produced cars built by US workers. It is all insane and everyone knows it, but Barney Franks and Company don’t give a flying poop about logic or common sense, all that matters is getting re-elected.
Alfred Holzheu2 Comments| inEconomicsShare ArticleEmail ArticlePrint ArticlePermalink
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 8:39 AM
8:39AM
Nov 18, 2008 at 8:39 AM
http://www.city-journal.org/2008/bc1114td.html
A very interesting book review about vaccinations and Autism, that probes a very important societal question. Should the scientifically challenged be allowed to potificate on matters they don’t have a snowballs chance in hell of understanding
Alfred HolzheuPost a Comment11 References| inScienceShare ArticleEmail ArticlePrint ArticlePermalink
Saturday, November 15, 2008 at 10:42 AM
10:42AM
Nov 15, 2008 at 10:42 AM
This guy is the most readable blogger on economics that I have ever found. Great Stuff!
Alfred HolzheuPost a Comment| inEconomicsShare ArticleEmail ArticlePrint ArticlePermalink
Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 10:10 AM
10:10AM
Nov 13, 2008 at 10:10 AM
http://charterforcompassion.com/
Now this is something to get behind
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 11:12 PM
11:12PM
Nov 11, 2008 at 11:12 PM
These guys are debunking the Global warming religion, Amen brother!
Alfred Holzheu1 Comment| inGlobal Warming (yeah right)Share ArticleEmail ArticlePrint ArticlePermalink
Monday, November 10, 2008 at 10:34 AM
10:34AM
Nov 10, 2008 at 10:34 AM
Hopefully a window into the maw
Alfred Holzheu4 Comments| inEconomicsShare ArticleEmail ArticlePrint ArticlePermalink
10:31AM
Nov 10, 2008 at 10:31 AM
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aatlky_cH.tY&refer=worldwide
We are heading in a very scary direction. My father went through the complete devaluation of the German Mark, and this is looking very similar. Not good
Alfred Holzheu1 Comment1 Reference| inEconomicsShare ArticleEmail ArticlePrint ArticlePermalink
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“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” Albert Einstein