"The Masses Need a Course in
Economics, Capital and Freedom"
from "In Defense of
Rural America"
By Ron Ewart,
President
1. Only the profits from private enterprise create income,
which can be taxed by government.
2. Government can only create jobs, or pay
for social services, using the money from the taxes on private income.
Government does not create money. It is a net absorber of money, even if it
prints it. Government only creates debt. Government-issued currency is evidence
of that debt.
3. Government over-regulation inhibits, or
in some cases, prohibits the creation of jobs, start-up businesses, or the
expansion of businesses. With too much regulation there is less capitalism and
thus less private income to tax and decreasing jobs, forcing government to print
what it needs to pay for the irrational promises it has made ..... for
votes.
4. If government takes too much in taxes on
private income, capital becomes less and less available to create private jobs,
or create new businesses, or expand existing ones.
5. If there is not enough capital in the
markets for new business creation or expansion because government is taking too
much of the capital for social services, coupled with massive government
inefficiency, waste, fraud, abuse and corruption, freedom cannot survive and
socialism takes its place.
6. History proves that eventually, this
expanding socialist system runs out of private capital and it collapses into
fascism, or an absolute socialist oligarchy, or a dictatorship, where the people
become nothing but slaves to an almighty government. That's what most of the
nations in Europe have become today.
7. Democratic Progressivism is a direct path
to national bankruptcy and irreversible socialism.
8. Freedom dies when there are more people
in the wagon than there are pulling the wagon. The people pulling the wagon are
indentured servants to the people in the wagon by the force of government, at
the point of a gun.
The next graph explains it all:
In approximately 55 years, the national debt
went from somewhere near $1 Trillion to $19 Trillion, or a 1900% increase. In
2008, after two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and before Obama took office, the
national debt was 76% of America's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But wars always
create debt. However, by 2015, under Obama, a Democrat, the national debt shot
up to over 104% of GDP. On its current path with an anemic GDP growth rate of
less than 2%, the national debt will increase to 136% of GDP in 10 years, a
financial death spiral, created by mostly Democrats and over 100 years of
Progressivism.
Even after World War 2 was over, the national
debt to GDP was a little over 100% but was whittled down to around 30% by 1975.
That decrease in the national debt was due to a robust manufacturing base during
that period. There were lots of private sector jobs and the real unemployment
rate hovered around 5%. Women who were in the war-time work force, came home and
raised their children to be productive and honorable Americans. Returning war
veterans were able to fill the millions of manufacturing jobs. America was a
manufacturing powerhouse for the rest of the world.
But then Congress ratified and Bill Clinton
signed into law, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1992, which
started the steady decline of manufacturing jobs in America. Without a
significant manufacturing base, the national debt could not be decreased and by
2015, under Obama, a Democrat, the national debt breached $19,000,000,000,000
(that's Trillion), headed for $33,000,000,000,000 by 2026, according to
the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Combined with the loss of manufacturing jobs
came an explosion in social benefits, especially under Obama, a Democrat, with
the passage of the Affordable Care Act, euphemistically known as Obama Care.
Obama Care is set to implode as more and more private insurance carriers abandon
the program, which will rapidly accelerate the national debt, if something isn't
done to stop it.
As the jobs decreased and welfare benefits
increased, government kept taking a larger and larger share of available capital
from the profits of private industry for expanding social services. This
government TAKING has been going on and accelerating since FDR created a massive
increase in social welfare programs and subsidies, both personal and business.
President Johnson exacerbated the TAKINGS with his Great Society. Obama and the
Democrats further threatened America's financial security with the passage of
Obama Care. This is an inescapable path to national bankruptcy, socialism, or
even fascism, brought on by Progressive policies based on buying votes to stay
in power, under the guise of compassion.
As we have stated many times in past articles,
there are now more people in the wagon than are pulling the wagon. Eventually,
there became less and less capital available for new business starts, job
increases and business expansion. The GDP slowed to less than 2% in 2016 and
even though the unemployment rate allegedly decreased, most of the new jobs are
on the low end of the pay scale.
On top of an exponential increase in social
spending, came the inevitable increase in regulations, a natural outcome of a
Democrat-driven, Progressive ideology. In spite of the picture they paint,
Progressives abhor freedom. On the other hand Progressives love dependency
(for votes) and control of the masses through ever-increasing social and
environmental regulations.
Added to massive federal laws and rules from
unaccountable bureaucracies, are the local and state laws and rules. There are
literally millions of laws on the federal, state and local law books. Many of
those laws are in direct conflict with each other, creating confusion and
unequal application throughout the entire court system, assigned to enforce and
prescribe punishment for violations of the laws and rules.
Laws and rules are meant to inhibit or prohibit
human behavior, coupled with punishments for violations. However, every time
legislators or bureaucrats write a new law, no matter at what level of
government, they immediately trigger three very costly events: 1) Increase
government employment to analyze, research and study not only the science to
justify a new law, but to monitor the effects of the law; 2) Increase government
employment to administer or defend the law; and 3) Increase government
employment to enforce the law. Since new legislative bills are drafted by staff,
with influence from special interests, the legislators seldom read the laws they
pass. Therefore, each new law adds to government employment and government
continuously grows, exponentially while sucking more dollars out of the private
economy.
By just sheer numbers, the more laws that are
written, the less likely the entire population will even know about the laws, or
understand them, or know of their consequences or penalties for violation, much
less be in compliance with them. The consequence of too many laws is that huge
segments of the public are totally unaware of their existence. And yet, under
the law, ignorance of the law is not a defense. Then, when the hapless
individual comes face-to-face with the law, it results in anger and frustration
for that individual and a spiraling degradation of freedom and liberty for all
of us.
Many laws are written at the insistence of
lobbying or special interest groups with very narrow and purposely hidden
agendas. The public never has an opportunity for real input and society as a
whole is not benefited. Partisan politics often compromises a new law into
meaningless, often conflicting legislation, leaving loopholes over which lawyers
can argue over for decades. Just ask the environmentalists. They have made an
entire multi-million dollar industry out of suing government over government's
environmental laws.
But businesses must deal with tens of thousands
of those laws and rules on a daily basis or face huge fines and penalties, or
having their business shut down for persistent violations. Businesses create
jobs. Individuals, especially poor ones, don't. Thus, businesses are forced to
deal with all the laws and rules and that burden comes at a huge price in lost
profits, time and production. Those losses end up being added to the value of
their product or services.
Many small businesses operate in the blind to
the laws and rules until they get caught, when in fact there is no way they
could possibly know of, or how to even comply with all the laws and rules,
including the Internal Revenue Code. We acknowledge that some laws and rules are
necessary, but there comes a point where too many laws and rules inhibit or stop
businesses from starting up, or creating jobs, or expanding their
business.
Sadly, this short course in economics, capital,
regulations and freedom will reach only an infinitesimally small segment of the
population. Those that do read the information are probably already aware of it.
The over 60% of the population that should read it, will never see it and
therefore will not know that what they are receiving from government in handouts
and subsidies has an end to it. The end is when Democrat Progressive Socialism
runs out of other people's money to redistribute to the over 60% receiving it.
When that happens is determined by politicians who are still bent on buying
votes with a very limited supply of money and how rapidly they accelerate the
draw down of that limited supply. With Democrats in control, the end will come
much sooner, but the end will come nevertheless because America has gone past
the point of no return.
Anyone who believes that somehow we can slow
down this death train America is on, is delusional. Anyone who believes we can
just continue spending money into oblivion and printing more money to make up
the losses is living in the Land of Oz. There is always a day of reckoning to
reckless behavior.
But long before the death train crashes, the
revolution will begin. Too many Americans will not go quietly into the night
without putting up a fight, a fight the outcome of which is impossible to
predict. Americans are not docile Europeans who bend to the whip of the
establishment order of the ruling class. There are millions of Americans who
still believe in American freedom and are willing to pledge their lives, their
fortunes and their sacred honor in defense of that freedom. We're not there yet,
but it's coming.
As further evidence of this outcome, we
offer:
But don't wait for the revolution. Start
fighting back now. We have provided some of the tools to defend your self
against all levels of government abuse and harassment, HERE. Either resist and fight back or become government's
slave.
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Ron Ewart, a nationally known author and
speaker on freedom and property rights issues and author of this weekly column,
"In Defense of Rural America", is the president of the National
Association of Rural Landowners (NARLO) (http://www.narlo.org) an advocate and consultant for urban and rural landowners and a
non-profit corporation headquartered in Washington State. He can be
reached for comment at: info@narlo.org.
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