Aug 05

It begins: Thousands of Americans have been secretly arrested, tortured and/or interrogated without lawyers in a Chicago facility

chinese_swat-1024x652

Every government that ever existed ultimately came for all property, all freedom, all money, and to kill all who resist. The average person in the world is several times more likely to be killed by his own government than by any other source.

This is why governments are always the greatest source of danger for most of the world’s peoples.

Now there are details regarding the Chicago Police Department’s secret torture facility.

At least 3,500 Americans have been detained inside the Chicago police warehouse known as Homan Square over a decade.

82% were black.

Only three received documented visits from an attorney.

The purpose of the facility is apparently to force suspects to incriminate themselves before their arrests appeared in a booking system by which their families and attorneys might find them.

The Guardian reported stories of people being shackled and held for hours or even days, all without legal access.

A 42-year-old civil rights activist says he was abducted by masked officers, shackled, held on false charges and “with no food, no water, no access to the outside world” at the behest of “covert operations.” One young man was held at the warehouse for 14 hours without any public listing of his whereabouts.

See here.

Aug 04

Democrats push for higher taxes while Republicans do not appear to be pushing for lower taxes

marx_dees

The two major American “political parties” are largely two sides of the same coin: they both trust and support expansive and intrusive government.

Polling has consistently shown that American voters–often by supermajorities–view their own taxes as too high. See here. The average American, when asked, states that the U.S. government wastes 51 cents of every dollar it receives. (One-fifth–fully 20 percent–say the government wastes 76 cents or more.) See here. The people want more freedom, but aren’t getting it.

Traditionally, the fake “two-party” system has provided something of a bellwether indicator of future trends. Republicans claimed to advocate lower taxes while Democrats (knowing how the public disfavors tax increases) generally strayed from explicitly advocating higher taxes, or claimed they sought to raise taxes only on “the rich.”

Now Hillary Clinton is vying against socialist Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination. Sanders advocates far higher taxes, and Hillary is promoting higher “capital gains” taxes–which supposedly would fall mostly on “the rich.”

Meanwhile the Republican frontrunners do not appear to be emphasizing any intentions to cut taxes anywhere.

Economist Stephen Moore points out that raising “capital gains” taxes would further stifle investment and drive the American economy even further away from its former traditions of entrepreneurialism and innovation. See here.

According to Moore, Hillary’s plan would cement the United States as one of the highest taxing countries on earth:

The American Council for Capital Formation finds that the Hillary Clinton plan would raise the capital gains tax to nearly the highest in the industrial world. The U.S. already has the highest corporate tax rate in the world, so this would be a double whammy. The Tax Foundation finds that, bang for the buck, lowering the capital gains tax rate is one of the most pro-growth measures Congress could adopt. The optimal capital gains tax is zero.

Aug 04

Obamacare Penalty for “Cadillac” Insurance Policies will Kick in by 2018; Taxes will Increase Substantially while Benefits will Decline

dyingfreedom

Socialism is a curse that should be wished only on a hated enemy. Any society that embraces it will inevitably become sick and weak.

The “Affordable Care Act” a.k.a. “Obamacare,” was some 2,000 pages in length when passed. Additional tens of thousands of pages of regs will ultimately accompany it.

Among the Act’s vast provisions is a section designed to equalize everybody’s health insurance by harshly taxing “Cadillac” (or luxury) health plans. Previously, some employers got a tax break by paying employees with fancy, all-inclusive, or “Cadillac” plans. Such plans provided all–or nearly all–health care for employees (who generally did not need even to pay a deductible when obtaining health care).

But Obamacare was drafted by minds that are fundamentally socialist; they resent the perks of the “affluent” and seek to equalize society. In the eyes of a socialist, everyone should get the same result no matter how hard they work or how much they provide.

Last week, the IRS issued a notice regarding “the excise tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health coverage under Code Sec. 4980I,” which will kick in beginning 2018. “Under Code Sec. 4980I [of Obamacare], if the aggregate cost of applicable employer-sponsored coverage provided to an employee exceeds a statutory dollar limit, which is adjusted annually, the excess benefit is subject to a 40 percent excise tax.” See here.

Stay tuned!

Aug 03

Today’s college students pay more than 1,000 percent more for textbooks than their predecessors, almost entirely due to the Government’s student loan program

imagesW7JDSHV8

Today’s incoming college freshmen will be paying 1,041 percent more for their textbooks than their peers did in 1977. This is while the actual value and costs of books have been declining for years. The free market has been making books cheaper; yet college students are forced to pay ever-more.

Why?

Because of the Federal Student Loan Program, which subsidizes demand, causing prices to rise. Amazingly, the Student Loan Program was enacted with claims that it would increase “access” and allow poor students to afford college.

The Student Loan Program, like every other “anti-poverty” government program, achieves THE VERY OPPOSITE of its stated objectives.

Of all places, these statistics were aired in a piece on Salon.com, a government-worshipping website that pushes a steady stream of elitist, redistributionist and government-trusting policies. See here.

Aug 03

Puerto Rico outvoted government-cutting governor and enthroned an advocate of expansive government; Now Puerto Rico is Defaulting.

exorcist

Today, August 3, 2015, Puerto Rico failed to make a $58 million dollar payment on its debt. See here. The defaulting commonwealth is some $70 BILLION in debt.

But just a few years ago, Puerto Rico was on a path to economic growth and dynamism. Puerto Rican voters elected Luiz Fortuno as their governor in 2008. According to the Wall Street Journal, Fortuno “slashed 38,000 government jobs, helping shrink the government by 20%. Then he cut income-tax rates by half and corporate-tax rates by nearly a third.”

The economy improved rapidly, and Puerto Rico came close to retiring its debt. According to the WSJ in 2012:

In many respects, the governor’s plan appears to be working in Puerto Rico. He lowered the deficit to $660 million from $3.3 billion, avoiding a fiscal meltdown. He reduced government employment on the island where one in three people worked in the public sector. New corporate-tax rates are leading to a minor boom for investment in some sectors like pharmaceutical manufacturing and export services. All told, three decades of economic stagnation on the island could be ending, with Puerto Rico’s economy set to grow 2% this year—its first gain in years.

But the forces of government power rebelled against Fortuno. There were demonstrations outside his office. Fortuno lost the next election in 2012.

Fortuno’s successor, Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla, increased spending and raised taxes. Entrepreneurs and hard workers stopped working so many hours, or fled. Now Puerto Rico can’t pay its $70 billion debt.

Aug 02

Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rates at Near Zero for 2,417 Consecutive Days

poverty4

If you save anything in modern America, you are an utter fool. The Federal Reserve has kept its key interest rate at near zero (0) for 2,417 consecutive days in an attempt to keep the U.S. economy appearing to be afloat. See here.

Savers are being punished severely. If you keep any money in a bank (or elsewhere), it is steadily losing value.

Central banking allows governments worldwide to give the appearance that they are providing benefits and services above the burden of taxation. Just as a poor person can temporarily appear to be wealthy by going into debt and driving a new sports car, a government can go deeply into debt and print mountains of currency to prop up appearances of financial solvency or stability. Stupid welfare or entitlement programs can appear to be “a deal”–at least for a while.

Aug 02

Proposed Constitutional Amendments to “Overturn Citizens United” Would Actually Overturn Hundreds of Cases

Bernie Sanders

(Pictured above: Bernie Sanders, who is pushing to amend the Constitution to give much more power to the government to “regulate” (meaning fine, punish, or imprison for) (private) spending on ideological-oriented ads, pamphlets or broadcasts.)

More than a dozen proposals have been introduced in the two chambers of Congress to supposedly overturn the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. F.E.C. ruling.

However, even the mildest of these proposals would overturn hundreds of constitutional cases.

In 2010, the Supreme Court struck down small parts of the “McCain-Feingold” Law, which MADE IT A FELONY to spend money on political-oriented ads in some circumstances. This phony “law” was unconstitutional from the beginning, because the First Amendment states plainly that “Congress shall make no law” abridging freedom of speech and press.

We at Lysander Spooner University are presently undertaking a research project to try to determine how many First Amendment cases would be overturned by such proposed constitutional amendments. At minimum, these proposals would gut a quarter-century of First Amendment law in the area of political speech, from
Buckley v. Valeo (1976) onward.

Jul 31

Government scrambles to protect its vast stupid regulatory schemes from the threat of Uber

government, law enforcement, criminals

To operate a taxi cab business is to navigate through one of the most over-regulated industries in the world.

But the actual act of cab-driving is relatively simple, and poor people of limited means should be able to participate and enter the market.

This disconnect is caused by decades of stupid overregulation of the taxi industry. Legislators, mayors and city councilmen everywhere have given rich crony cab companies a wonderful gift: they license and regulate taxi companies as “public utilities” and impose vast, stupid regulations on competitors: new cab companies must get “certificates of need” (often from boards of cab companies that do not like competition); fees and prices are set and imposed by government; routes must be government-approved, etc.

Such stupid regulation leaves customers with high-priced, unclean and unsafe (but government approved) taxi service. It is likely that hundreds of people have been killed or arrested for DUI because the U.S. taxi industry is so overpriced and overregulated.

Recently, people have realized they can create “an app for that.” Companies like Uber and Lyft have devised mechanisms allowing people to summon a friendly driver to their curbs using simple I-phone or other Smart devices. Drivers sign up to be available to give rides to passengers, frequently making a few bucks on the side.

Uber and Lyft drivers (and their cars) are often smarter, cleaner, neater and safer than traditional government-approved cabs.

But the good-old-boy cab companies (and their powermad politicians) are fighting back against this new feeling of freedom.

Here is a story about how the mayor of New York City is trying to stop the “threat” of free-market competition.

Jul 31

Freedom-Of-Information-Act Documents Show U.S. Military Exerting Influence on TV Programming

liber

Trusters of government frequently complain about private-sector money in politics. They say that private-sector voices (especially business and pro-free-market voices) should be barred from spending money on ads that could influence American politics.

However, the government is spending massively to influence politics, and to convince Americans that government is good and should be expanded and empowered.

Case in point: a recent set of requests under the Freedom Of Information Act shows that the U.S. military actively influences TV programming behind the scenes. See here.

The sheer scale of the Army and the Air Force’s involvement in TV shows, particularly reality TV shows, is the most remarkable thing about these files. “American Idol,” “The X-Factor,” “Masterchef,” “Cupcake Wars,” numerous Oprah Winfrey shows, “Ice Road Truckers,” “Battlefield Priests,” “America’s Got Talent,” “Hawaii Five-O,” lots of BBC, History Channel and National Geographic documentaries, “War Dogs,” “Big Kitchens” — the list is almost endless. Alongside these shows are blockbuster movies like Godzilla, Transformers, Aloha and Superman: Man of Steel.

Jul 30

U.S. Corporate Taxes are The Highest on Earth

poverty

Former director of the Congressional Budget Office Douglas Holtz-Eakin recently spoke before an audience in Washington, D.C.. The event was covered by the Washington Examiner. See here.

The U.S. has the world’s highest corporate tax rate: 39.1 percent at the top margin. This is almost 14 percentage points higher than a global average.

America’s high corporate tax rates are driving hundreds of corporations to headquarter overseas or partner with foreign corporations to give the appearance of foreign residence. Many other corporations, of course, are never launched at all due to high U.S. corporate tax rates.