Seeking Optimism

    At a recent large family outing I got cornered by a liberal Democrat who was lamenting the growing disparity between the rich and the poor and the bleak prospects for the younger generation. With the hard-earned lesson that one doesn't seek converts in such settings, we steered off to the steep financial bifurcation in sports, music, and writing. Here is what I would have liked to say:

    1. These things come and go. It helps to study the presidencies since World War II to see the impact of different policies, personalities, and management approaches. Particularly look to Eisenhower, Kennedy, Reagan, and Clinton (with help from Gingrich) as leaders of energetic growth - and Carter and Obama as overseers of decline. Partisans and ideologues can parse the causes, but it is clear that America is strong enough to overcome an ineffective president who does not understand or appreciate the vitality of the free enterprise system.

    2. We all want peace and prosperity, we just start with different approaches. Democrats, particularly of the Obama variety, start with "fairness", wanting to build the social safety net with resources taken from those who have done well. Republicans want to provide the opportunity for all to rise, believing that society prospers when it captures the talents and initiative of all, without limits. Equal results versus equal opportunity.   

   3. On an individual basis, Rick Santorum had it right. We know the keys to a successful life:

        - Get an education. Income levels jump and unemployment levels plummet when one gets a high school degree, and further again with a college degree.

        - Get a job. Don't expect to start as president of Google. Everybody in my family worked in restaurants at one time or another, learning self discipline, customer service, and the value of a dollar.

        - Get married before you have kids. The hill is steep enough for moms and kids to not be part of the trend where half of today's births occur in one parent families.

    I doubt that any of this would have had an impact on a life-long San Francisco Democrat. Nor would adding data - Jimmy Carter's 12 % inflation; Obama's $17 trillion debt; Reagan's 18% growth in after-inflation per capita GDP; the top 10 % currently paying 71 % of federal income taxes with 43 % of the income; the difference in growth in Red states versus Blue states. Maybe the history of the country's transition from agricultural employment to industrial employment, to office employment, to the new information age would have fostered some optimism - so long as it wasn't couched in terms of success of individuals and the free market system rather than the government' accomplishment - as in "you didn't build that."

    The next time I will bring the baby pictures.

                                               -----

    In this week's video the "Iron Lady" addresses the gap between the rich and the poor.

    And as a bonus, a tribute to the other female world leader to die this week.   

bill bowen - 4/12/2013  

 

Comments

[DickG]

A SCHEME IN SEARCH OF A CATASTROPHE; having repealed The 'Glass Steagal' protections and allowing the all new Investment/Savings institutions access to The Federal Reserve Discount 'window' (incidently,the very people that detroyed much of the Planet's economy). Hasn't this access given Bernanke the means of passing thru 0% interest funds to them while a trillion per year of T- Bonds go to 'The Canyons of Wall St'? Because of this channel, it's being claimed that the COUNTERFEITING is being restricted to Wall St and not the general economy. It also seems, these funds are responsible for at least a 25-30% increase in the Market Indexes. So are they also making a giant 'PONZI SCHEME' out of these INDEXES by buying 'UP' the Indexes ?
Can someone make the explanation of how this is kept confined ?

[Bill McCormick]

SUMMARY: Excellent summary of the basic differences of the parties philosophies, Bill. Unfortunatley, the Republicans lack an operating strategy to compete in the future with the liberal Democrats who have gained control of the Democratic party. Democrats are engaged in an all out financial plan to create voters for their party in ever increasing numbers. They are using deficit dollars (debt) and printed dollars to do so. It is a brilliant strategy much like that of a Ponzi scheme in which they use the dollars of the opposition (tax payers) to buy the votes of the friendly (low income, public workers and union workers) through the expansion of benefits such as unemployment,healthcare,education support, public jobs and retirement fund bailouts. Additionally, they use illegal immigration combined with this financial strategy to import future voters then complain when Republicans don't support the benefits they need to stay off welfare. But, at the same time always accuse Republicans of hiring them as a political strategy to paint Republicans as uncaring and supporting illegal workers. Democrats have also beat the Republicans in the use of the internet and social media to fund campaings and gst out the vote (message) targeting young voters and $5/month credit card donations to out fund the Republican party. Democrats have also made huge inroads into women voters by painting the conservative Republican base as anti women's rights on several fronts. Romney blew that one hugew in the debates.

Republicans were always against the tide as the Hispanic and Black population grew proportionally to the White population and as women contimued to play a larger roll in politics. The loss of the "old Democratic Conservative southerners" who supported the Republican's on many issues has limited the Republicans power as well. Now the Democrats have a decisive lead in registered voters and the Republicans are faced with defendeing their red states in the middle of the country while giving up on the solid block of Democratic electoral votes in California,Oregon,Washington,Illinois,Michigan,New York and Massachusettes.

In the end the Republicans are going to have to get off their old strategy of "wait for the Democrats to: get us into a recession or a war to win the White House or the Congress unless they are resigned to be forever the party of "no" blocking Democratic actions in the Congress. Eventually, Democrats will gain control of the US Supreme Court and if they once again gain a super majority in the House and Senate will likely be able to dicatate all future US policy. While many people think that the idea that the US is moving toward a socialst system is just a political slogan, this is exactly the way it can happen and liberals party leaders know exactly what their strategy is.

What is more likely to stop this trend than a "new" Republican party strategy is the rise of the independents as a 3rd party with the power to actually govern from the middle and split the power of the Far Left Democrats and the Far Right Republicans. This would relegate the extreme party factions to minorities. In my mind that is the only way America will remain a capitalist, Free Enterprise nation.

[DickG]

COMPLEXITY OF COMPREHENDING THE GLOBAL APPROACH for our political & financial leaders. They must repeat the following, until commited to memory.
"Duties are the foundation of fair dealings. Every right in the world rests on an equal responsibility. For everything we receive, there are things we must give in return: duty to God, Country, others and yourself."
BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 1910.

[DickG]

OUTCOME VS OPPORTUNITY EQUITIES DEMONSTRATED this week at Howard University with Sen Rand Paul's appeal to self actualizing (bootstraping)vs The Nanny State. During the Q & A period,a student expressed his greater desire to have bestowed Government intervention in his life. More importantly the Socialist/Marxist culture has convinced the individual of his inferiority and incapacity. In order to reinforce such a culture; the federal government is clandestinely going to impose the substandard C-O-R-E educational standards.