Free kibbles

SOCIALISM:

In the wake of the cash for clunkers debacle, which paid people to destroy working cars, the price of used cars has gone up significantly. Duh.

ECONOMY:

The mainstream media and economists suddenly noticed that the housing recovery was an illusion with the report that new home construction was down 10 percent and 20 percent of construction workers are out of work.

Here's a powerful reminder that we matter. Thanks to the rallies, emails, letters and phone calls, House committee considers reining in the Fed and calling for the firing of Geithner. This would never have happened without the tea parties and Ron Paul's audit the Fed bill. I guarantee you this limits Obama's power. We matter. Voting and fighting for freedom matters. What we say and what we do effects Congress. We've always mattered. The problem with government isn't that the aristocrats ignore us, it's that we continue to re-elect them then sit quietly on the sideline, or bitch about the other guys' aristocrats while voting for ours, while they destroy our country. If we cared as much about freedom as many suddenly pretend to, we'd never be in this predicament.

I'd like to see a poll that asked people if they are against big government, who they voted for recently and what actions they've taken to reduce the size and scope of government. I think the vast majority of Americans would say they're against big government, a smaller majority would say they voted for big-government Bush, and almost every one of them would say they never lifted a finger to reduce the size and scope of government other than vote for big-government Republicans like Bush. I would really like to see this poll because it might finally wake up the sleeping giant.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

Fed plans to keep interest rates at zero for two more years. That means the Fed is going to block our economic recovery for two more years. Why just two? The reality is the Fed will continue to block our recovery forever, because we're going to be in even worse straits in two years, just like the Japanese government did in Japan. Government will never acknowledge that its the problem as long as we keep electing the same two failed parties.

HEALTH CARE:

There's some dumb senator on Foxnews saying that the Senate health care oppression bill will cut the deficit by over $600 billion in the second ten years. What he doesn't say is that nobody, including the CBO, claims to be able to accurately estimate 10-20 years out. The CBO consistently underestimates costs in the first ten years.

MISC:

Judge rules Army Corp of Engineers liable for flooding damage after Katrina. I can see both sides of this. The federal government had no business seizing power over a local New Orleans issue like those levies. It seized power and it failed to perform the job it was supposed to. On the other side, the people in New Orleans who didn't leave have nobody but themselves to blame for their plight. The lesson on both sides should be that personal responsibility and local government is superior to surrendering power to the federal government, but I doubt that lesson will be learned by anybody who didn't already know it. This disaster was not only predictable and preventable, it was predicted for decades.

How insurance regulation drives up prices and subsidizes risky behavior, harming consumers and society.

Great observation:

"The idea that the free market is highly popular among businessmen is one that is widespread, but not among sound economists. It was not very popular in 1776, when Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations was pulished, and it has not become terribly popular with all of them since--which is not surprising, for the free market benefits the consumer but disciplines the businessman."

The free market is the best regulator of business possible. To the extent it interferes in the free market, big business, government enables exploitation by businesses.