Economy

ECONOMY

Without economic liberty and property rights, there can be no civil liberty and human rights.  The right to own and control property and the right to self-ownership is the codification of human rights. The government can't violate one sphere of the man while leaving the whole of the man intact.  Rights are inseparable. Rights are not collective, but belong to each and every individual - black, white, latino, Christian, Jewish, Muslim.

Theft, arson, vandalism, and fraud have traditionally been considered to be crimes. This is because they violate property rights. Rape, kidnapping, and murder have traditionally been considered to be crimes. This is because they violate the right to self-ownership. Thus we can conclude that any violation of property rights or the right to self-ownership is a crime. If the government enacts and enforces a law that violates property rights or the right to self-ownership, then the government is behaving criminally.

Not only are dollars physical pieces of property, but it is through the acquisition of dollars that one achieves a command over property. There is no objective difference between the government taking your cow, or taking your money so that you can't buy the cow to begin with. Thus we can conclude that taxation can best be summarized as the confiscation of property.

Suppose the government taxed 100% of everything to do with, say, newspapers. How long would newspapers be in business? Without property rights, one can't have the printing press. Without the printing press, one can't exercise their First Amendment rights. Without property rights, one can't eat. If one can't eat, they can't live. If one can't live, they can't exercise their First Amendment rights. Civil rights are a corollary of property rights. By exercising civil rights, one is also exercising property rights.

The federal government is bankrupt.  The Congress hasn't the money to spend on one person or group without inflicting economic injury upon another person or group. Increasing federal funding for A only engenders the economic deprivation of B. Remember: politicians are not philanthropists. It isn't their money being spent.  The government is not a philanthropic institution.

To the extent that the federal government spends money, this makes us all that much less self-sufficient. That our economic problems are the result of insufficient government spending is the wrong interpretation. The problem is not a dollar shortage, but a productivity shortage. The bipartisan spending orgy is killing the economy, and this then begets the erroneous conclusion that the Congress must spend even more to make up for its own recklessness. Misfeasance begets misfeasance. Instead of advocating for a return to a free market and a sound economy, various special interest groups fight with eachother over pieces of a shrinking economic pie.

The U.S. Congress is running a budget deficit of almost $2 trillion every fiscal year.  I strongly support an immediate return to fiscal sanity, a balanced budget, and lower taxes.  It is important to understand that everything written in the last sentence is a platitude.  Until we re-examine what the proper role of government should be, and then advocate objective cuts in government programs and departments, it is impossible to curtail the spending orgy and cut the overall tax burden. 

While politicians claim accolades for cutting particular taxes, this should not be confused with a reduction in the overall tax burden.  Other taxes - e.g., the Alternative Minimum Tax - have hit more people.  All government spending is paid for one way or another.  If the Congress doesn't raise direct taxes to finance its spending, then it relies on the Fed to monetize its debt.  That is called inflation.  There is no objective difference between the government taking the money you have in your pocket and the government duplicating the money you have in your pocket, thus devaluing the money that you have.  This is called taxation by inflation - a stealth tax.  So long as the spending orgy remains intact and even accelerates, then we will not have had an objective reduction in the overall tax burden.  Instead, we are getting a net tax increase, no matter what particular taxes the politicians cut.

Understand that we went through a financial collapse as the result of artificially low interest rates, engendered by loose monetary policy of the Fed.  Unfortunately, rather than coming to their senses, politicians have chosen the expedient - but dangerous - way out: re-creating non-existent savings on a printing press.  The entire game right now is to conceal the insolvency of the federal government by using a reckless monetary policy called "quantitative easing" to prop up the bond market.  The Fed is politically incapable of raising interest rates to defend the dollar, because this would expose insolvencies outright.  Too many people in Washington would have to relinquish too much power voluntarily in order for this to happen.  The Fed is propping up the bond market for the biggest sub-prime borrower on earth: the U.S. Congress.  Until we have authentic change in Washington and unless the Fed tightens, we are headed towards the insolvency of the dollar itself - i.e., a currency crisis.

More coming.......