The Founders of the United States of America built a government on a power base from the People. The Peoples' power of liberty was understood to be God-given, not government-granted. The People voluntarily cooperate to govern themselves mainly at local levels, then at State levels, and finally at Federal levels.
They rightfully distrusted distant Federal power, so they devised a rule book, the Constitution of the United States, to specify the basic relationship between the Federal government and the States' governments and the People. The design was to have a Federal government with strict boundaries around it; so, they allotted only a few designated powers to the Federal government with all other powers retained by the States and the People.
These designated powers are contained in Article I, Section 8, and there are only eighteen of them. The Federal Government is ONLY supposed to operate within those strictly limited powers. However, the last century in America has seen a massive move of the Federal Government outside of this box.
We must reform this relationship.
Welcome to eighteenpowers.org--Rediscovering the Founders' Design of Limited Government.
Again from the NYT — THIS ARTICLE actually takes a look at the real problem with governmental deficits. Deficits, by definition, are expenses greater than receipts. So we have TWO important factors to look at: expenses and receipts.
Increasing tax revenue addresses receipts. Cutting government services addresses expenses. Closing any deficit means addressing theses items, however, a rift seems to exist in people’s internal bias towards one of these solutions.
And here’s a look at what the rates on the long bond have done over the last 90 days. I’d guess that the market is seeing the China situation as it is. China will likely no longer import US inflation onto the Chinese people. The Chinese people are frugal with a personal savings rate that dwarfs ours. As such, massive price inflation, particularly on foods will just not be tolerated.
With the RNB floating upward (to reduce the internal inflation in China), the US will no longer be able to cross subsidize our own inflation onto anyone else. This means that ..read more
Read THIS ARTICLE which outlines how the State of Texas is struggling with the concept of Federal coercion. The coercive method used involves the Federal government taking money out of a State via taxation and then sending money back to the State in the form of Federal “grants” but attaching many conditions to it that typically involve other unrelated items that the Feds want done.
This form of coercion was enshrined in law as permissible through the Supreme Court case South Dakota v Dole in 1987. That case arose when the Feds were attempting to get a nationwide drinking age of 21. ..read more
I am currently reading a very interesting book, Mad as Hell, by Scott Rasmussen of the polling services that bears his name. He is outlining in his opinion what the Tea Party movement is all about. He is outlining that people in the “mainstream” really don’t understand what is going on.
As evidence of the cluelessness of the “mainstream” I offer two entries in the contest. As usual, I seek to boil my blood using the New York Times opinion section. Interesting timing, for me, in reading this book and these op-ed pieces on the same day.
Paul Krugman here
Thomas Friedman here
The “mainstream” ..read more
Our Secretary of Labor produced THIS VIDEO (watch it now because I’ll bet it gets pulled from YouTube) where she wants to ensure that all workers “whether documented or undocumented” get the highest pay possible. Undocumented?!? Really?!?
And at the same time, our Attorney General is planning to sue Arizona for attempting to enforce immigration laws that the Fed Govt won’t. CLICK HERE.
Have we landed in bizzaro land? I’m in full support of open immigration, but make it the law of the land. When the Government openly and flagrantly ignores the law, what does that tell you about their respect for ..read more
