Jan 07

New Study: only 5.8 % of people in highest 1 % are there two years in a row

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A shocking new study shatters sacred myths of government trusters.

Some 11% of Americans will join the Top 1% for at least one year during their prime working lives, according to research done by Thomas Hirschl, a sociology professor at Cornell University.

But only 5.8% of the 1% will be in the 1% for two years or more.

As for holding onto this status for at least 10 years? Only a miniscule 1.1% of Americans who enter the 1% category are this fortunate.

The IRS looked at how frequently the same Top 400 taxpayers appeared on the list over a 22-year period ending in 2013. Some 72% ranked that high for just one year. Only 3% were listed for a decade or more.

While just over half of Americans reach the Top 10% at least once in their careers, only 14% stay in it for a decade or more, Hirschl found.

On the flip side, it’s not uncommon for Americans to spend some time at the bottom of the heap. Some 54% of Americans will be in or near poverty for at least one year by their 60th birthday, Hirschl said.

These findings DESTROY claims by such pro-government extremists as Bernie Sanders that government must forcibly redistribute resources from “the one percent” to the poor. In fact, as Thomas Sowell has pointed out, (see here), the rich and the poor are largely the same people at different stages of their lives.

See here.

Jan 06

63 percent of Americans are one paycheck away from homelessness

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If you save anything in modern America, you are an utter fool. Government policies, such as near-zero Fed interest rates, massive and growing levels of taxation and regulation, and increasing government barriers to entering most careers have hollowed out the financial strength of the American working class.

New figures show that 63 percent of Americans cannot scrape together $500 for an emergency. See here.

And, of course, Social Security and Medicare have incentivized most Americans to work less, save less, invest less, and retire earlier. See here.

Economic research indicates that Social Security alone has made America at least 2 to 4 percent poorer. See here.

Jan 06

Americans say government is their biggest problem again

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Gallup has been asking people about the biggest threat to their lives and livelihoods every month for some time.

For the past two years, a vast majority have said they view government as their greatest problem. See here.

When Gallup asked Americans what troubles them most and is the chief threat to our way of life, one issue is head and shoulders above all the others: the government.

When asked to choose between big government, big labor and big business, 69 % of those who were surveyed overwhelmingly named big government as the “biggest threat to America’s future.”

Nearly nine out of 10 Republicans say big government is the biggest threat, but 67 percent of independents and 53 percent of Democrats say so, too. (And remember, Democrats are largely government employees and aid recipients themselves!)

Jan 05

In Effort to Strip Private Citizens of Guns, “Liberal” President Moves to Strip Mental Health System of Confidentiality

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Every government ultimately comes for all freedom, all property, and to kill all who resist.

For centuries, the law has recognized physician-patient confidentiality. Doctors who snitch on their clients or who disseminate private, confidential information regarding their patients have faced professional penalties.

Now, in the never-ending quest of government to strip the private sector of guns, President Obama has announced a rule that mental health practitioners may snitch on patients with “mental health issues,” thus enabling the government to bar them for life from purchasing firearms. See here.

Soon, no doubt, the practitioners may even be REQUIRED to add mental patients to the government background-check lists.

Obviously, this will have far-reaching implications to the mental health profession, and will incentivize people needing treatment to NOT SEEK such treatment.

Stay tuned!

Jan 03

It Appears that China may be Kidnapping or Killing Hong Kong Booksellers

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Shocking story from Hong Kong, one of the freest countries on earth.

For a century, Hong Kong was a British colony. It has a British style court system (complete with jury trials), protections for property rights, and relatively free markets.

Hong Kong attracted millions of ethnic Chinese who fled the mainland. Over time, the average resident of Hong Kong (who are the same race as those in China) became a hundred times wealthier than the average resident of China.

But China retook the Island a decade ago.

Now it appears that China may be cracking down on free speech and press in Hong Kong. Booksellers who sell books critical of Chinese officials–books that are banned in mainland China and popular with Chinese tourists–are apparently going missing.

See here.

Jan 01

Federal Trade Commission Issues Guidelines Purporting to Regulate Ads that Appear too much like News

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Every government ultimately comes for all freedom, all property, all money, and to kill all who resist.

The Federal Trade Commission, whose jurisdiction is supposedly limited to . . . well, ‘trade,’ has just published new “native advertising” guidelines for print and digital publishers. See here.

The guidelines purport to try to regulate the publication of ads that seem too much like news.

According to the New York Post, the FTC seems to be pushing to require “some variation of the word “advertisement” to appear near native ads that it deems could create confusion if consumers cannot discern quickly and simply that what they are viewing is a paid ad.

But the First Amendment poses something of a problem to the FTC.

Stay tuned!

Jan 01

Puerto Rico’s Economic Collapse Followed its Tax Hikes on Corporations

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The U.S. has the world’s highest corporate tax rates, driving many corporations overseas and preventing others from ever starting.

Yet “progressive” politicians continue to demand that corporations be taxed even higher.

Puerto Rico’s economy provides a vivid illustration of what happens when a government hikes corporate tax rates.

Puerto Rico is in default on its debts, the result in part of the elimination in 2006 of a favorable tax break for U.S. companies that sent many of them packing. Since then, a long-running recession has sparked an exodus of companies and skilled workers.

See here.

Dec 31

False Flag “Attacks” Are as Common as Dirt

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Looking back through the pages of history, one must admit that false flag attacks are as common as dirt. Here is a partial list of false flag attacks that have been ADMITTED.

Many more, of course, are openly known but not admitted by government officials who staged and benefitted from them.

Dec 30

Post-recession banking regulations have made things worse

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It is a myth that “deregulation” caused the housing bubble (and later, the crash) of 2008. And a bigger myth that post-recession laws have improved banking.

As John C. Goodman writes, almost everything said by government and pro-government economists about the 2008 recession is a myth. See here.

And the “cure” hatched by Congress in 2009–the Dodd-Frank law, which imposed thousands of pages of new regulations on the banking industry–has made things worse.

[After Dodd-Frank], Banks are holding more reserves; they are making fewer loans; there are more consolidations and fewer banks are forming; the industry is hiring a ton of regulatory compliance officers and very few new loan officers; and the recovery from the recession has been the slowest on record.

Dec 30

State of Oregon Seizes Bank Account of Cake Decorators Who Refused to Bake Lesbian Wedding Cake

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Ever wonder what it was like to be a Jew in Nazi Germany?

Melissa and Aaron Klein–described as “devout evangelical Christians who own a mom-and-pop bakery”–are beginning to find out; in Oregon!

In July, they were ordered to pay more than $135,000 in damages to a lesbian couple after they refused to bake their wedding cake. The Kleins objected because of their religious beliefs.

The judgment was awarded to the lesbians for “emotional suffering.”

(Of course, every person has a right to marry the person or persons or things they love. Government has no right to interfere, sanction, or unsanction such personal choices. That is not the issue).

Just a few weeks before Christmas, Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian wiped out the Klein family’s bank accounts – taking nearly $7,000. See here.