The Long Tail of Entitlement Trumps Self-Reliance and Intelligence

nospam@example.com (Mark Jeftovic) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:51:18 -0400

I have long had in my mind's eye a kind of chart with a bell curve in it that intuitively explained to me why, over time in a democracy, the lowest common denominator of cultural and political discourse will sink, which will have a negative feedback effect on the overall robustness of society. Today I got an email from my longtime internet penpal Larry Wallman, quoting Ron Paul, that finally motivated me enough to whip up excel and try to plot it:

What Larry Wallman sent via email was his famed "Sunday Comments", which, since I no longer daytrade at all, is actually the only reason I subscribe to his stock market newsletter...

[quote]
Last week, Ron Paul of Texas, said something so profound that it needs to be said here, please read this carefully:

"But the people who are screaming for the housing bailout are the people who got their houses for free. You know, they didn't have to put any money down. The house went up in value. They even borrowed more money. Then they spent it. Now they want you and I to bail them out so that they can keep their homes" - Congressman Ron Paul

You cannot explain what's going on with the latest "bail out" any better than Mr. Paul just did. People got into homes with no money, borrowed against the home because supposedly the value was increasing and then when they found they really couldn't make the payments when the rates reset, they whined to Uncle Sam and now YOU and I are going to have to pay to bail them out. Will I get their home in return for bailing them out? Will I get a percent of the profits if they sell? No. Will I get a lousy Christmas card? No. I get absolutely nothing. You get absolutely nothing. The only people that get something are the politicians who will get votes. Lets face it, if I was a deadbeat, living in a house I had no right to even consider, let alone buy, I'd vote for the idiot that is going to allow me to live there too.

And so it goes, the death spiral of the US economy.[/quote]

Let me explain why my chart may explain why these economic death spirals are inevitable as the tides...
Continue reading "The Long Tail of Entitlement Trumps Self-Reliance and Intelligence"

He says that like it's a bad thing...

nospam@example.com (Mark Jeftovic) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:59:09 -0500

I don't know who Jesse Larner is, I don't own a gun, and I may be the only card carrying libertarian in the world who has never read an Ayn Rand book. But I felt I had to put down my thoughts in response to his "Sinister Folly of Ayn Rand" rant on the Huffington Post. Specifically this comment:

In her insistence that she owed nothing to the state, nothing to any human being other than herself, Rand epitomized the kind of childishness shown by libertarians who insist that they have every legal and moral right to own as many guns as they please, pay no taxes, educate their children at home, and live free of any law except those governing, in the most direct manner, their own security and that of their neighbors. A watered-down form of this nonsense today exists in the platform of presidential candidate Ron Paul...

Continue reading "He says that like it's a bad thing..."

Exile From the Herd - Personal Liberty

The Long Tail of Entitlement Trumps Self-Reliance and Intelligence

He says that like it's a bad thing...