Step back From That Ledge!

"The Storming of the Bastille" (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My generation came of age knowing we’d never see a cent from social security.  It’s gotten worse.  It’s gotten bad enough that those getting money from social security might not be able to much longer.  I think that at some point we do triage and give minimum only to those who need it absolutely to survive.  No, I don’t WANT this – it’s just inevitable, with a falling birth rate.  And no, importing illiterate workers doesn’t help.  This is not the twenties.  There are no great factories waiting for them to walk in and work on.

And that’s a good thing, of course.  By and large this country has dispensed with dangerous, labor-intensive work – except in farms, though even then it’s been lessened.

But it’s also a hint of things to come.  When I was born, mid-twentieth century we had some innovations and things had gotten cheaper, but the world would have made perfect sense to someone born a century earlier.  (Particularly where I lived.)  You could take someone from the nineteenth century and plunk them down in the middle of the twentieth, and after some adjustment, they’d go “oh, right, motors are different, carriages have motors, blah blah” but the structure of life would make perfect sense.  There would be homes, families, hospitals, schools, factories, office buildings.  Once they adapted to the minor tech innovation (and humans are very adaptable.) they’d “get” what was going on well enough.

Now… not so sure.  We’re only at the beginning, so they’d still identify a lot of things, of course, and they’d fail to see the significance of the fact that you can communicate instantly, in real time around the world.  They’d think it was just a “neat” thing.  A lot of people today think that too.

Part of that is because we’re just at the beginning of the revolution.  It’s hitting my business first, so I can tell you it’s dispensing with factories, with warehouses, with centralized distribution.  It’s a HUGE change.

The change is coming to other fields.  Schools are dead, but still walking.  Most factories, too, once three-d printing gets going.

Am I saying technology will save us?

Oh, my Lord NO!

Rapid change brings on upheaval.  The last change almost (but not) this fast gave us… the French Revolution and its sisters around the world.

It’s going to get rough.  It’s going to get really rough.  At the end of this where you live will mean far less than where you work, and the two might be half a world apart.

Does this mean territorial location and territorial nations will mean nothing?  Well, no.  It means stuff we can’t even imagine yet, but not that.  After all, my friends are around the world, my publisher is in North Carolina, but I am still affected by a disaster in my area, and how my neighbors live still matters.

What it means, though, is that people will be increasingly more free.  The territorial government will mean something, but not as much as it used to: labor regulations/welfare/laws about what you can’t and can’t do for a living – all of this means much less when you can live one place and work the other.  The same for what you can do for play.  The same for the interest rate that controls what home you can buy.  Regional jurisdictions, like NYC who rely on a highly paid work force are going to be upended, because people can work there and live elsewhere.  The same, writ large goes for national governments.

I have no idea, none, what the world will look like at the end of this.  And neither do you.  And neither does anyone else.  So called “futurists” are usually missing ten or twenty little points that could be all that determines the future.

But I do know one thing: where you live will still matter, as a locus of culture, law enforcement and neighborliness.

And I know another thing: we’re likely to come out on top.  We’re likely to come out on top for the same reason that our elites want a new electorate – because we’re not a normal nation.

We’re the descendants of those who left everything, who acculturated to become something new united not by blood, not by tribe, but by the words of the constitution.

The constitution is more flexible than tribe or blood. The constitution was forged to meet circumstances no one could have foreseen, a new world, new ways of doing things.  It was a document supposed to underlie a nation as tough as granite, as flexible as steel. A creature the world had never seen.

There is a reason that for the last hundred years, the future has come from America.  Even when inventions are made elsewhere, they are applied and popularized here.

We Americans are more flexible than those who chose to stay behind.

The cowards never left, the weak died on the way and the pusillanimous went back, tail between their legs.  (As will many of the new ones, when the teat goes dry.)

Those who became American are crazy people, ready for any challenge.

We are a people of the future.  The future can’t scare us because it’s where we come from.  We are impatient for it to arrive, curious about what it will bring, excited about our opportunities in it.

Let the elites rule and mandate.  You concentrate on what you can do that they never thought of.  You create a future they can’t comprehend, much less affect.

Step back from that ledge.  You’re an American and you belong to the future.

Read the full article.

Obama's War on Prosperity

President Barack Obama talks at the DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

President Obama’s Administration is beginning to feel like one endless freshman orientation, you remember the kind where they used to sit you down the first week of college and tell you you’d been oppressing blacks and women all your life and had to spend the next four years doing penance?

Four years ago he began his Inauguration by announcing that fossil fuels were a thing of the past and that we would now get our energy from “wind, sun and soil.” He spent the next four years trying unsuccessfully to push cap-and-trade through Congress and subsidizing a bunch of scraggly “renewable energy” projects that haven’t produced much of anything except a few notable scandals.

Now with unemployment still pushing 8 percent, with participation in the work force at a historic low of 62 percent, with the economy limping along in a five-year doldrums, and with the financial system starting to tremble as Ben Bernanke lets up the pressure on interest rates, the President has decided to stake his second term on — another initiative against coal! This time there isn’t even any blather about “creating jobs” or “building a new economy.” We’re just going to punish ourselves, pure and simple. Coal plants are going to shut down, electricity prices are going to soar, people are going to be put out of work, but that’s just too bad. We’ve sinned by putting “toxic” carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — even our very breathing implicates us! — and we’re just going to have to suffer the consequences.

Read the full story here.

Related articles

• Obama Ramps Up His War On America
• White House Says "A War on Coal is Exactly What's Needed"
• Obama prepares to slam coal, natural gas with executive orders
• President's 'War on Coal' is a War on Jobs

Life From the Seat of a Tractor

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

An old Farmer's Words of Wisdom we could all live by......

• Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
• Keep skunks and bankers at a distance.
• Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
• A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
• Words that soak into your ears are whispered¦....not yelled.
• Meanness don't just happen overnight.
• Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.
• Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
• It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
• You cannot unsay a cruel word.
• Every path has a few puddles.
• When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
• The best sermons are lived, not preached.
• Most of the stuff people worry about, ain't never gonna happen anyway.
• Don't judge folks by their relatives.
• Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
• Live a good and honorable life, then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.
• Don't interfere with somethin' that ain't bothering you none.
• Timin' has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
• If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
• Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
• The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin'.
• Always drink upstream from the herd.
• Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.
• Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.
• If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around.
• Live simply, love generously, care deeply,
• Speak kindly, and leave the rest to fate.
• Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.

I Am a Viking!

Vikings FTW (Photo credit: stibbons)

From Sean Linnane:

A reader in Finland pinged me on Twitter, asked what I meant when I discuss having Viking blood? I explained that my Viking blood comes from the Norsemen who occupied Ireland and France. I have dark brown hair, almost black, dark brown piercing eyes, and olive skin; as close to a true Celt as what exists these days, but there are many fair redheads in my family; the Viking genes are in my family.

To me, Vikingism is a part of my personal religion; a blend of Vikingism, Buddhism & Christianity: they are complete opposites but to me, that's the way it is. I respect the old gods Thor & Odin and I honestly believe there is Valhalla for fallen warriors.

I am 6'2", 220 lbs, broad across the shoulders like a footballer. I pump iron, practice martial arts and weapons training. Viking.

I am a Viking in that I am a professional soldier always looking for a good deal; a laissez-faire capitalist who believes the rules are made to be broken, that if you ain't cheating you ain't trying and if you get caught, you ain't trying hard enough.

I was raised in Southeast Asia and learned to respect Buddha. I believe in reincarnation even though it is incongruent with Christianity. I'll let Jesus judge me on that on the Judgement Day. As a Buddhist, I believe in reincarnation; although I don't believe that we can have any direct memories of our previous lives. The Hindus and the Buddhists say that before we are reborn, our souls are dipped in the Sea of Forgetfulness.

Nonetheless, there are occasions where Buddhist priests and mystics have visions of people's previous lives. When I was in Jerusalem, I felt a vividly strong sensation as I walked through some of the ancient sites; I had been there before. I also can easily imagine myself in a Viking longship, sailing toward the Irish coast.

I was raised by my parents to respect all religions, although I struggle with where Islam has taken itself to now. It is a fact that I owe my life to a Muslim. I cannot be against my fellow man because of his religion, but I can say that the Muslim religion has been hijacked by a pack of psychotic homicidal maniacs.

The old, mystic Sufi-ism no longer exists; they sold out when they embraced Osama Bin Laden and the insanity of Al Qaeda. We are told that not every Muslim wants to become a terrorist but I still believe that they make the choice for themselves. Child brides and honor-killing of women are crimes against Humanity.

We Christians have a lot to answer for. Christianity did some craziness back during the Crusades - study what happened in the 13th century. Let us remember Jesus' words: "Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone."

The Christian sentiment of turn-the-other-cheek, and Buddhist philosophy of nonviolence notwithstanding, this does not preclude killing in defense of one's family or nation. We must resist the Muslim encroachment for their stated goal is to kill or enslave every single one of us. We must resist Sharia with every fiber in our beings, because they wish to kill or enslave EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US, possibly letting some of our females survive to use as breeders.

That, my Viking brothers & sisters is our quest, our mission: to actively resist and fight Sharia wherever and whenever this insanity presents itself, with every inch of our souls, as long as there is blood in our veins and air in our lungs.

- STORMBRINGER SENDS

The Dangers of Democracy

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Todd Keister and published at American Thinker

Democracy.  The word is nearly ubiquitous in American political discourse.  We routinely refer to our country and those modeled after our own as democracies.  We listen to speeches, read books, and profess our belief in democratic principles, democratic governments, and democratic ideals.

Americans in the modern world completely fail to comprehend two important points.  The first is that America -- as organized under the Constitution -- is not a democracy.  The second is that democracy, in its pure form, is nothing more than mob rule.


Most of us learned, in some vague manner, from our parents and teachers that the will of the majority should hold sway.  We vote on things like what to eat, what shows to watch, and whether to play kickball or dodgeball at recess.  Once in while, when we find ourselves on the losing end of a vote, we feel a sense of unfairness, but we don't know how to put that feeling into words.

The elusive thought that escapes us is that there are considerations other than simply the will of half the people plus one.  What if the food chosen is utterly repulsive to you and you are forced to go hungry, while another choice might allow everyone to eat something acceptable to all?  What if no one in your family likes the shows you enjoy, and so you are denied the opportunity to ever watch them? 


What you are sensing in these trivial frustrations of childhood, and what is never explained to you in school, is the existence of natural rights.  Natural law and natural rights were the underpinning of the American founding and the reason why democracies are inherently unfair and always degenerate into despotism.  The Declaration of Independence declared that all men are born with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- rights granted to them by God, or simply because they are human beings.  As John Adams put it, "[y]ou have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the great legislator of the universe." 


It is our instinctive, if undefined, understanding of these rights that make us feel we should be able -- at least some of the time -- to eat, watch, and play what we want even if the majority prefers something else.  Unrestrained democracy provides no safeguards for the rights of the individual, leaving him defenseless against the mob.  Democracy is not freedom; when your natural rights to life, liberty, and property are subject to the whims of a majority, you have no rights at all.


The founders understood this because, unlike our contemporaries, they studied and learned the lessons of history.  They knew that because democracy is simply mob rule, it offered no protection for liberty and was always doomed to destroy itself.  So they created a republic -- a representative form of government wherein the people democratically choose fellow citizens to represent them in government.  The government, in turn, was restrained by law from doing anything to infringe upon the rights of the individual.  With a federal government strictly limited to the handful of powers granted in Article 1, Section 8 of the constitution, and specifically prohibited from infringing on critical liberties such as speech and religion, freedom could be protected from the caprices of the mob. 


America's federal government long ago shed the chains of the Constitution, and today, it possesses the power to dictate the amount of toilet water we can flush, what type of light bulb we use to light our homes, how we can use our land, and how much of our income we are permitted to keep.  Moreover, our government has now cloaked itself with the power to decide whether we will be permitted to receive life-saving medical care.


With limitless powers, and with the number of representatives capped at 435, so that each member of the House now represents an absurd 700,000 citizens, we live in a democracy and not a true republic.  With such a system, millions of Americans can live their entire lives without ever having a congressman who accurately reflects their views or values. 


American presidents wield a power over us unmatched by the monarchs of antiquity.  While our presidential sovereigns technically do not hold the power of life and death over each individual citizen, they now have the authority to arrest and detain indefinitely any citizen they accuse of terrorist sympathies.  Barack Obama asserted his absolute right to make war on foreign nations without consultation with Congress, and his authority to order the death of American citizens abroad he designates as terrorists.  Furthermore, American presidents have access to technology -- drones, computer networks, and surveillance systems -- that permit them to monitor our every movement and track every private financial transaction we make.  King George might have been able to declare Samuel Adams a traitor, but he could never have dreamed of being able to tell every subject of the crown how much money he could make or what kind of food would be served in schools.  And even His Majesty had to go to Parliament before starting a war -- something Presidents Truman, Johnson, and Obama have deemed beneath them.


Liberty is the value upon which this country was founded and for which the Continental Army fought and died.  It is your natural rights to life, liberty, and property that you should jealously guard and which are under daily assault -- not just from Barack Obama and Congress, but from thousands of state and local tyrants as well.


Truly, there is precious little of our freedoms remaining to us.  Patrick Henry warned the first generation of Americans, "... liberty ought to be the direct, the primary end of your government."  And he warned his fellow Virginians, "Guard with jealous vigilance the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel."


Americans forgot that warning, and today we languish under the crushing weight of an authoritarian, paternalistic socialist state that is stealing our money as it saps our will to succeed and suffocates our best efforts under an impenetrable web of laws and regulations.


It's little wonder that democracy is the favorite refrain of the socialist; the Socialist Party USA's website uses the word sixteen times in its brief Statement of Principles.  It is natural that they would promote democracy, since the productive are always vastly outnumbered by the moochers.  The Communist Manifesto says that the revolution should be accomplished by establishing democratic constitutions and that democracy should be "immediately used as a means for putting through measures directed against private property[.]"  Democracy allows the lazy majority to vote itself a portion of what the productive have earned -- it is, as someone once described it, two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.

And so it has gone for America.  We have indeed degenerated into a democracy -- socialism is firmly established and has openly won two consecutive presidential elections.  The wolves have voted, and we are being served for dinner.


Todd Keister is a former Navy intelligence specialist with the Defence Intelligence Agency and a published author.

Related articles

• Democracy and the Moral Majority: Why Third Graders Know Better
• The True Dysfunction
• What Is the Government's Agenda?

The Great Orator?

Sweating profusely in front of a relatively small crowd as his teleprompter failed him, Barack Obama looked every bit the stumbling and mumbling individual some close to him have long whispered he truly is.

President Obama repeated lines, his voice wavered, he looked confused, the crowd’s response was tepid, and he was clearly sweating through his clothes.  It was among the worst public performances of his presidency.




Read the story.

How Could You?

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Author Unknown:

When I was a puppy, I entertained you with my antics and made you laugh. You called me your child, and despite a number of chewed shoes and a couple of murdered throw pillows, I became your best friend. Whenever I was 'bad', you'd shake your finger at me and ask "how could you?" But then you'd relent, and roll me over for a belly rub. My housebreaking took a little longer than expected, because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together. I remember those nights of nuzzling you in bed and listening to your confidences and secret dreams, and I believed that life could not be any more perfect. We went for long walks and runs in the park, car rides, stops for ice cream (I only got the cone because "ice cream is bad for dogs" you said), and I took long naps in the sun waiting for you to come home at the end of the day.

Gradually, you began spending more time at work and on your career, and more time searching for a human mate. I waited for you patiently, comforted you through heartbreaks and disappointments, never chided you about bad decisions, and romped with glee at your homecomings, and when you fell in love. She, now your wife, is not a 'dog person'. Still I welcomed her into our home, tried to show her affection, and obeyed her. I was happy because you were happy

Then the human babies came along and I shared your excitement. I was fascinated by their pinkness, how they smelled, and I wanted to mother them too. Only she and you worried that I might hurt them, and I spent most of my time banished to another room, or to a dog crate. Oh, how I wanted to love them, but I became a 'prisoner of love'. As they began to grow, I became their friend. They clung to my fur and pulled themselves up on wobbly legs, poked fingers in my eyes, investigated my ears, and gave me kisses on my nose. I loved everything about them and their touch - because your touch was now so infrequent - and I would have defended them with my life if need be. I would sneak into their beds and listen to their worries and secret dreams, and together we waited for the sound of your car in the driveway

There had been a time, when others asked you if you had a dog, that you produced a photo of me from your wallet and told them stories about me. These past few years, you just answered "yes" and changed the subject. I had gone from being "your dog" to "just a dog" and you resented every expenditure on my behalf.

Now, you have a new career opportunity in another city, and you and they will be moving to an apartment that does not allow pets. You've made the right decision for your family but there was a time when I was your only family. I was excited about the car ride until we arrived at the animal shelter. It smelled of dogs and cats, of fear, of hopelessness. You filled out the paperwork and said "I know you will find a good home for her". They shrugged and gave you a pained look. They understood the realities facing a middle-aged dog, even one with 'papers'. You had to prise your son's fingers loose from my collar as he screamed "No Daddy! Please don't let them take my dog!" And I worried for him, and what lessons you had just taught him about friendship and loyalty, about love and responsibility, and about respect for all life. You gave me a good-bye pat on the head, avoided my eyes, and politely refused to take my collar and leash with you. You had a deadline to meet and now I have one, too. After you left, the two nice ladies said you probably knew about your upcoming move months ago and made no attempt to find me another good home. They shook their heads and asked "How could you?"

They are as attentive to us here in the shelter as their busy schedules allow. They feed us, of course, but I lost my appetite days ago. At first, whenever anyone passed my pen, I rushed to the front, hoping it was you, that you had changed your mind, that this was all a bad dream... or I hoped it would at least be someone who cared, anyone who might save me. When I realised I could not compete with the frolicking for attention of happy puppies, oblivious to their own fate. I retreated to a far corner and waited

I heard her footsteps as she came for me at the end of the day, and I padded along the aisle after her to a separate room. A blissfully quiet room. She placed me on the table and rubbed my ears, and told me not to worry. My heart pounded in anticipation of what was to come, but there was also a sense of relief. The prisoner of love had run out of days. As is my nature, I was more concerned about her. The burden which she bears weighs heavily on her, and I know that, the same way I knew your every mood. She gently placed a tourniquet around my foreleg as a tear ran down her cheek. I licked her hand in the same way I used to comfort you so many years ago. She expertly slid the hypodermic needle into my vein. As I felt the sting and the cool liquid coursing through my body, I lay down sleepily, looked into her kind eyes and murmured "How could you?" Perhaps because she understood my dog speak, she said "I'm so sorry". She hugged me, and hurriedly explained that it was her job to make sure I went to a better place, where I wouldn't be ignored or abused or abandoned, or have to fend for myself -- a place of love and light so very different from this earthly place. And with my last bit of energy, I tried to convey to her with a thump of my tail that my "How could you?" was not directed at her.

It was you, My Beloved Master, I was thinking of. I will think of you and wait for you forever.

Congratulations! You Made It!

D-Day Remembered

A touching story. Sad to think that this day goes by almost unmentioned in our own country.

A Soldier Died Today

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

by A. Lawrence Vaincourt

He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast,

And he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done,

In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, every one.

And tho' sometimes, to his neighbors, his tales became a joke,

All his Legion buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke.

But we'll hear his tales no longer for old Bill has passed away,

And the world's a little poorer, for a soldier died today.

He will not be mourned by many, just his children and his wife,

For he lived an ordinary and quite uneventful life.

Held a job and raised a family, quietly going his own way,

And the world won't note his passing, though a soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth, their bodies lie in state,

While thousands note their passing and proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell their whole life stories, from the time that they were young,

But the passing of a soldier goes unnoticed and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution to the welfare of our land

A guy who breaks his promises and cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow who, in times of war and strife,

Goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life?

A politician's stipend and the style in which he lives

Are sometimes disproportionate to the service that he gives.

While the ordinary soldier, who offered up his all,

Is paid off with a medal and perhaps, a pension small.

It's so easy to forget them for it was so long ago,

That the old Bills of our Country went to battle, but we know

It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys,

Who won for us the freedom that our Country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand,

Would you want a politician with his ever-shifting stand?

Or would you prefer a soldier, who has sworn to defend

His home, his kin and Country and would fight until the end?

He was just a common soldier and his ranks are growing thin,

But his presence should remind us we may need his like again.

For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier's part

Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor while he's here to hear the praise,

Then at least let's give him homage at the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline in a paper that would say,

Our Country is in mourning, for a soldier died today.

1984 Has Finally Arrived

The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US

customers of Verizon, one of America's largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April.
The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an "ongoing, daily basis" to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries.

The document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.

The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (Fisa) granted the order to the FBI on April 25, giving the government unlimited authority to obtain the data for a specified three-month period ending on July 19.

Under the terms of the blanket order, the numbers of both parties on a call are handed over, as is location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls. The contents of the conversation itself are not covered.

The disclosure is likely to reignite longstanding debates in the US over the proper extent of the government's domestic spying powers.

Under the Bush administration, officials in security agencies had disclosed to reporters the large-scale collection of call records data by the NSA, but this is the first time significant and top-secret documents have revealed the continuation of the practice on a massive scale under President Obama.

The unlimited nature of the records being handed over to the NSA is extremely unusual. Fisa court orders typically direct the production of records pertaining to a specific named target who is suspected of being an agent of a terrorist group or foreign state, or a finite set of individually named targets.

The Guardian approached the National Security Agency, the White House and the Department of Justice for comment in advance of publication on Wednesday. All declined. The agencies were also offered the opportunity to raise specific security concerns regarding the publication of the court order.
The court order expressly bars Verizon from disclosing to the public either the existence of the FBI's request for its customers' records, or the court order itself.

"We decline comment," said Ed McFadden, a Washington-based Verizon spokesman.

The order, signed by Judge Roger Vinson, compels Verizon to produce to the NSA electronic copies of "all call detail records or 'telephony metadata' created by Verizon for communications between the United States and abroad" or "wholly within the United States, including local telephone calls".

The order directs Verizon to "continue production on an ongoing daily basis thereafter for the duration of this order". It specifies that the records to be produced include "session identifying information", such as "originating and terminating number", the duration of each call, telephone calling card numbers, trunk identifiers, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number, and "comprehensive communication routing information".

READ THE FULL STORY

Related articles

• Alleged 'Top Secret' Court Order Reveals Alarming Scale of Domestic Surveillance Under Obama (And It Might Involve Your Phone Records)
• US government secretly collecting phone records of millions of Americans

An Idea Worth Looking Into

Image via CrunchBase

Sen. Carl Levin was aghast.

Before his committee sat, unapologetic and uncontrite, Apple CEO Tim Cook, whose company had paid no U.S. corporate income taxes on the $74 billion it had earned abroad in recent years.

“Apple has sought the Holy Grail of tax avoidance,” said Levin. “Apple has exploited an absurdity.”
Actually, Apple had done nothing wrong, except hire some crack accountants who chose Ireland’s County Cork as the headquarters of their international division. Thus Apple paid on profits earned outside the U.S.A. nothing but a 2 percent tax imposed by the Irish government.

Far from being condemned, Apple’s CPAs ought to be inducted into the Accountants Hall of Fame.
It is no more immoral for Apple to move its headquarters for foreign sales to Ireland than for Big Apple residents to move to Florida to escape the 12 percent combined state and city income tax.
Among the reasons the Sun Belt is booming at the expense of the Rust Belt is not just the weather. Southern states strive to keep income and estate taxes low or nonexistent. They want companies and families to relocate and live there, and to spend their money there.

The problem here is not with Apple, it is with Sen. Levin & Co.

In a press release, “Avoiding Their Fair Share of Taxes,” the AFL-CIO hails Levin and bewails the fact that though the U.S. corporate tax rate is 35 percent, highest in the world, corporate income tax revenue has fallen to well below 10 percent of federal tax revenue.

“Cash tax payments by non-financial companies in the S&P 500 Index fell … to $222 billion in 2010,” moaned the AFL-CIO.

“Another corporate tax avoidance strategy is to move overseas to a corporate tax haven like Bermuda. By reincorporating offshore, companies avoid paying federal income taxes on profits earned outside the United States.”

Yes, they do. But instead of bewailing this, perhaps we should start thinking and acting as our forebears did. In the same Wall Street Journal that reported on Cook’s defense of Apple, former Sen. Phil Gramm described that earlier America:

“Over the late 19th century, real GDP and employment doubled, annual average real earnings rose by over 60 percent and wholesale prices fell by 75 percent, thanks to marked improvement in productivity.”

Astonishing. And what is the difference between that age and ours? A 35 percent income tax rate on individuals and corporations that did not exist then, and would have been regarded by Americans of the Gilded Age as the satanic work of Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx.

From the Civil War to World War I, our economy grew from one-half the size of Great Britain’s to twice Britain’s. American companies were capturing markets abroad. Today’s U.S. companies are looking for ways to relocate abroad.

Herewith, a modest proposal to turn this around.

READ THE REST OF THE STORY.

Related articles

• What Tim Cook should say: Tax me more, Apple not at all

Badges? We Don't Need No Stinking Badges!

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Before he lied to Congress while under oath about what he knew about targeting reporters, he lied about Fast and Furious. As early as the New Black Panthers case, Eric Holder had a problem with the truth.

That the House Judiciary Committee is investigating whether Attorney General Eric Holder lied under oath during his May 15 testimony on Department of Justice (DOJ) surveillance of reporters comes as no surprise. People have forgotten about the New Black Panther case, perhaps the most clear-cut case of voter suppression and intimidation ever. On Election Day 2008, New Black Panther Party members in military garb were videotaped intimidating voters outside a Philadelphia polling place.

The slam-dunk prosecution of these thugs was dropped by Holder's Justice Department. When asked why, Holder, on March 1, 2011, testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies that the "decisions made in the New Black Panther Party case were made by career attorneys in the department."

Holder lied, for the decisions were made by political appointees. J. Christian Adams, a former career DOJ attorney in the Voting Rights Section, testified before the U.S. Civil Rights Commission that it was Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli, an Obama political appointee, who overruled a unanimous recommendation for prosecution by Adams and his associates.

Documents obtained by Judicial Watch and a ruling by Judge Reggie B. Walton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in response to a suit brought by the group show that "political appointees within DOJ were conferring about the status and resolution of the New Black Panther Party case in the days preceding the DOJ's dismissal of claims in that case."

Read the full story.

Related articles

• The Perjury Rap Sheet of an Attorney General
• Obama Administration Busted In New Black Panthers Case