Socialism, Nationalization, and Inflation

Being a believer in republican government, capitalism, and free markets is starting to get very frustrating. Every day, we patriots watch our government grasp a little more power, spend a little more money (or . . . a lot more money), and move us further down a very, very dangerous road. Most of my fellow countrymen don’t seem to see it happening—”after all,” they say, “the government has to do something.”

Maybe it does, though I’m not even sure about that. If the government has to do something though, this certainly isn’t the right something.

Presidents Bush (R) and Obama (D) have spent the last six months on the same mindless economic path, throwing insane amounts of money into the partial nationalization of banks, car companies, insurance companies, and more. This has not stopped our economic slide and, in fact, the slide has accelerated every time the government makes one of these unconstitutional, socialist ‘investments’ in what used to be a free market economy.

To fund this idiocy, the Federal Reserve has had to significantly increase ‘injection’ of new money into the banking system. In other words, we’re printing new money out of thin air to ‘pay’ for it all. Of course, when Germany did this in the early 1920s it led to inflation, followed by hyperflation, followed by a massive economic collapse, the collapse of the Weimar Republic, and the rise of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Yeah . . . let’s do that.

Meanwhile, Obama is seeking to give the Dept. of the Treasury even more unconstitutional power than it has already been granted under Bush’s ‘bailout’ and Obama’s ‘stimulus’. Now, if Congress passes this ludicrous legislation, the Treasury Department will have unilateral power to seize pretty much any business they think needs to be seized to ‘keep’ the economy is ‘stable’. How have the nationalizations of AIG, GM, Lehman Brothers, CitiBank, and so on done so far? You know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

We have been very lucky that we have only once let things get so bad that it put the United States at serious risk of collapse—the Civil War in the 1860s. The Great Depression in the 1930s, had things gone differently, might have ended with a nation teetering on collapse too, but World War II intervened, reunified us as a nation, and reinvigorated our economy. I am not one to begin spouting ‘fire and brimstone’ talk about the end of America, but, on the other hand, I’m not so naive to think that the United States could never fall apart. It can.

If we continue walking the road to socialism, if we continue blithely nationalizing industries, if we continue operating outside of the bounds of the U.S. Constitution, and if we permit inflation to take hold and eventually lead to hyperinflation . . . well . . . that might be the end of it. Mark my words.

I weep for the republic.

Moving is Hard

cu-move-dayMoving is hard.

Melissa and I aren’t moving, but we did end up being two of many folks recruited to help our friend Christine move. I had forgotten how absolutely draining it can be. The good news is, as I mentioned, there was a lot of help. There was also a nice, big truck to load everything up in. All in all, the move was a success (I think).

The effort (for Melissa and I anyway) started around 1pm, and finished up finally around 9pm (ish). Apparently work had been ongoing before we arrived, although it seems to have been mostly packing. There were only a couple items in the truck when we arrived, but we quickly remedied that situation.

Anyway, all-in-all, it was fun and challenging and tiring. I’m going to sleep now!

Reversing the Burden of Proof

In the United States, when it comes to criminal law, the burden of proof is on the accuser. What that means is, to use a common colloquialism, you are innocent until proven guilty. In defending yourself against criminal accusations, the burden is on the accuser (the government) to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed the crime for which you are charged. You don’t have to prove anything (although it doesn’t hurt to do so). Not only does the accuser have to prove his case beyond a reasonable doubt, but twelve individuals all have to agree unanimously that he has done so.

If you, as the accused, have raised a reasonable doubt in the mind of just 1/12th (8.3 percent) of the jury, you go free. This hearkens back to the founders’ doctrine that it was better to let a guilty man go free than to ever take away the freedom of an innocent man.

Unfortunately, this doctrine isn’t always applied anymore.

The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states clearly how criminal trials are to be handled in the United States:

Internet Explorer 8 Released; Off on a Tangent Ends IE 6 Support

Microsoft announced today that it has released a new version of its flagship web browser, Windows Internet Explorer (IE). IE version 8 brings many upgrades, most importantly continued security improvements and much improved web standards compliance. IE 8 is available for Windows 5.1 (XP) and Windows 6.0 (Vista) for free download from Microsoft’s web site.

If you still use Internet Explorer on one of these two supported operating systems, I strongly recommend you upgrade as soon as possible to IE 8. For the best web experience, I recommend switching to one of the excellent, free alternative browsers—Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, or Opera.

If you are still using Internet Explorer version 6, please pay attention to the following important Off on a Tangent Support Notice:

A Better AIG Bonus Plan

While none of us should be surprised that that the American International Group (AIG) has squandered the 112 billion dollars that the U.S. government has ‘invested’ in the business’s unconstitutional nationalization, we’re now faced with a dilemma: what to do now.

The answer is surprisingly simple. There are about 306 million people populating the United States, and we’re all AIG shareholders now whether we ever wanted to be or not. It seems to me that we, as the owners of the business, are entitled to a portion of its largess. It’s a simple matter of math:

112,000,000,000 / 306,000,000 = $366.01 per person.

Now that’s a bonus plan! It’s also ‘change we can believe in’. You hear me, President Obama (D)? If you’re going to continue spending taxpayer dollars on ‘fixing’ the economy, do it by returning that money to the people who actually earned it.

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.