Todd’s Life

I am currently reading “Human Action” by Ludwig von Mises, a brilliant economist who understood IT.  I’m going to share with you some things that I read from him as often as I can.  I’ll cite him.  If you have a chance, I’d suggest picking up any book by him.  He will provide you the tools to fight those who wish to fight freedom by dissecting their arguments and teaching you to understand the fallacy of security.  There is no security in the world today.  It’s been that way from the beginning.  I wish that Americans would stop and think about what President Obama and the Democrats are proposing.  They are in effect saying that the government can manage health care better than the market.  If that is the case, then why don’t we let the government manage everything and why don’t we just become communist.  Of course most people see the lunacy in that, but to accept Obama’s argument is to basically admit that the market economy and the freedom it entails does not work and so we must choose the government and its police powers to manage our economy.  The best we can hope for is liberty.  Anyway, here is what he said on page 287 about the Inequality of Wealth and Income.

“The inequality of individuals with regard to wealth and income is an essential feature of the market economy.”
 
“The fact that freedom is incompatible with equality of wealth and income has been stressed by many authors.  There is no need to enter into an examination of the emotional arguments advanced in these writings.  Neither is it necessary to raise the question of whether the renunciation of liberty could in itself guarantee the establishment of equality of wealth and income and whether or not a society could subsists on the basis of such equality.  Our task is merely to describe the role inequality plays in the framework of the market society.”

“In the market society direct compulsion and coercion are practiced only for the sake of preventing acts detrimental to social cooperation.  For the rest individuals are not molested by the police power.  The law-abiding citizen is free from the interference of jailers and hangmen.  What pressure is needed to impel an individual to contribute his share to the cooperative effort of production is exercised by the price structure of the market.  This pressure is indirect.  It puts on each individual’s contribution a premium graduated according to the value which the consumers attach to this contribution.  In rewarding the individual’s efforts according to its value, it leaves to everybody the choice between a more or less complete utilization of his own faculties and abilities.  This method cannot, of course, eliminate the disadvantages of inherent personal inferiority.  But it provides an incentive to everybody to exert his faculties and abilities to the utmost.”

“The only alternative to this financial pressure as exercised by the market is direct pressure and compulsion as exercised by the police power.  The authorities must be entrusted with the task of determining the quantity and quality of work that each individual is bound to perform.  As individuals are unequal with regard to their abilities, this requires an examination of their personalities on the part of the authorities.  The individual becomes an inmate of a penitentiary, as it were, to whom a definite task is assigned.  If he fails to achieve what the authorities have ordered him to do, he is liable to punishment.”

“It is important to realize in what the difference consists between direct pressure exercised for the prevention of crime and that exercised for the extortion of definite performance.  In the former case all that is required from the individual is to avoid a certain mode of conduct, precisely determined by law.  As a rule it is easy to establish whether or not this interdiction has been observed.  In the second case the individual is liable to accomplish a definite task; the law forces him toward an indefinite action, the determination of which is left to the decision of the executive power.  The individual is bound to obey whatever the administration orders him to do.  Whether or not the command is issued by the executive power was adequate to his forces and faculties and whether or not he has complied with it to the best of abilities is extremely difficult to establish.  Every citizen is with regard to all aspects of his personality and with regard to all manifestations of his conduct subject to the decisions of the authorities.  In the market economy in a trial before a penal court the prosecutor is obliged to produce sufficient evidence that the defendant is guilty.  But in matters of the performance of compulsory work it devolves upon the defendant to prove that the task assigned to him was beyond his abilities or that he has done all that can be expected of him.  The administrators combine in their persons the offices of the legislator, the executor of the law, the public prosecutor, and the judge.  The defendants are entirely at their mercy.  This is what people have in mind when speaking of lack of freedom.”

“No system of social division of labor can do without a method that makes individuals responsible for their contributions to the joint productive effort.  If this responsibility is not brought about the price structure of the market and the inequality of wealth and income it begets, it must be enforced by the methods of direct compulsion as practiced by the police.”

Hi all! As everyone knows by now, I am happily married to a beautiful, intelligent, smart, funny, goofy, nerdy Chilean woman. We have been married now for over 3 months. I don’t think it is very appropriate to post much about our personal life. That is personal stuff. So I am going to turn this blog into more of political, economic, things that I find interesting in the world today. I hope you enjoy.

Right now I am reading the Communist Manifesto. I thought it would be good to understand the great work that espouses communism and is basically the father of all the great socialist movements since the 1800s and according to Barack Obama. I found this next piece on the web. It is crudely written and perhaps a little too simplistic or one-sided, but I think that it proves its point, which is that Barack Obama, no matter how nice of a gentleman he might be, believes in Marxism and would probably agree very much with the Communist Manifesto.

A comparison of Obama’s Ideas to the 10 Planks of the Communist Manifesto

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. (Obama is for more public use of private land by confiscation. Liberals around the country are confiscating private land for new public use. )
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. (Obama plans to rescind tax cuts and to raise taxes, no matter what he says.).
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance. (Obama wants to significantly raise the inheritance tax.)
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. (Obama will soon classify you as a rebel, just like his compaign tried to silence a Chicago talk radio show. Why not just make it official, Obama?)
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. (Obama calling for strict regulations on banks.)
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State. (Obama just loves the Chinese ports, trains, etc. That’s because he wants the government to take over this function.)
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. (Obama wants to penalize factories which want to move some operations offshore to participate in the global economy. What are his plans, confiscation)?
8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. (Obama is calling for a new “national commitment to service”. What Obama is not telling you is that it is compulsory.)
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country. (Obama wants several functions to be turned over to the government. For instance, Obama says he’s against the “fairness doctrine,” but he is for severly limiting ownership in the media as a way to control “conservative talk radio.)
10. Free education for all children in public schools. (Obama is for free education, but Obama is really for compulsory indoctrination of children in public schools by fighting school vouchers. You see, if you tax a family to death, then they can’t afford any school by a government school.)

According to the Communist Manifesto, all these were prior conditions for a transition from capitalism to communism.

And here’s an interesting article that will at least get you to think.  If Barack Obama really believes Alinsky’s writings and spent the primary part of his career implementing those things, then is he also a fan of Lucifer as well and his work…  Obama and Alinsky

Hi all! So our first mortgage is a 20 year fixed mortgage at 4.35%. Can you believe that? And you thought that the US rates were cheap. We should be moving in next weekend. Not much else is new. Work is work. It is busy. I’ve got 4 projects going right now. It is finally warming up. To be honest though, Santiago winters are not too bad. It sure isn’t Hawaii, but the winters aren’t bad. The past 2 days have been about 80 degrees during the day. I can survive winters here. The only thing that I do not like is poor air quality at times.

Oh and if you want to read a great article about the economy, here it is from Bill Bonner. http://dailyreckoning.com/read-between-the-decimals/

Hi all!  We got our first mortgage are about ready to buy the new apartment.  It will be different to own something, at least part of it.  I guess we won’t technically own it for another 20 years.  It is nice too to live in place that is affordable and you can buy something for so little.  We’ll be doing all the buying of appliances and things like that over the first few weeks.  And finally, I found 4 excellent articles on the health care debate.  I would encourage you all to read them and pass them on.  Finally one question that we all need to answer.  Who is better at managing your money?  Yourself or a politician, most of whom are dishonest, thieving bastards.  Ha.Ha. 

• http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/08/18/whose_medical_decisions
• http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/08/19/whose_medical_decisions_part_ii
• http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/08/20/whose_medical_decisions_part_iii
• http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/08/21/whose_medical_decisions_part_iv
• http://www2.wholefoodsmarket.com/blogs/jmackey/2009/08/14/health-care-reform-full-article/

Hi all!  It is finally kind of warming up in Chile.  After 3 weeks of sun and fun in the U.S. it sure is getting old waking up and being cold.  We can’t wait until we move into our new place because it has central heating.  Hopefully that will happen in the next few weeks.  We are waiting for an exact date from the people building the place and for all the mortgage stuff to go through just fine.  It will soon be warm for quite some time. 

And now a great video that I found by Milton Friedman… He sure knew a lot and understood how to deconstruct the silly arguments of socialists and their many lies they use to take away freedoms for their power consumption.  What arrogant folks socialist leaders are.  Enjoy the video here.  (Milton Friedman)

Hi all.  I know that I have been absent for quite some time from my blog, but I’m back.  I recently got married a beautiful woman from Chile and we have been enjoying our 3 week extended honeymoon here in the states.  I’ve decided to turn this blog into more of a political blog.  There are too many interesting things going on in the United States, most of it terrible and tyrannical.  The presence of government in our everyday lives here in the USA is appalling.  Is there any place that normal, responsible people can go in this country anymore without being harrassess by some form of government to pay more money in taxes?  Now that Obama is president and the Democrats are running Congress, the amount of stupid comments coming from the government has only increased.  Are these people really that stupid to think that the federal government can somehow manage healthcare correctly?  It doesn’t take a genius to know they can’t.  What it does take is a wise person to realize that the problem with health care and the rising costs has been caused by the government’s Medicare and Medicaid program along with it’s meddling in health care.  Let me see if I can set a few of you straight on this.  So the government back in the 1960s creates this Medicare program that gives poor and old people free healthcare.  What do people do with something that is free?  They use it like crazy.  Also, these people are not held responsible for their poor health choices.  They can just keep accessing free healthcare.  So Medicare has been expanded over the years.  So now you have millions of people with free healthcare using it like crazy.  What do you think is going to happen?  You are going to have a shortage of health care and prices are going to sky rocket.  Duhhh, this isn’t rocket science.  Americans are fat and unhealthy and the government only encourages this by rewarding crappy behavior.  Anyway, I will be writing about political stuff once again, but I will be doing it from the safety of Chile.  I don’t think I could stand watching the US implode from stupid, socialist decisions.  Good luck all.

I found a great article from Thomas DiLorenzo today.  Check it out here.

Man, the weeks just keep flying by.  So what has happened this past week.  Well, Karla and I chose a venue for the marriage.  It will be held at the Hotel Interncontinental.  I asked her parents if I could marry her and they said yes and welcome to the family.  She has a pretty cool family, extended family, etc.  They are intelligent, smart, good people and they all seem enamored with me.  This week was spent somewhat recovering from the tonsillitus episode.  I went to work everyday, but didn’t feel a 100% until later in the week.  Right now in Santiago it is supposed to be raining everyday and cold, but they are having freakishly warm weather which is good for me.  I guess every new place that I go, I always seem to bring weird weather.  They expect the warm weather to last until May, then it will turn cold.  Let’s see, what else happened?  Karla and I bought the rings for the wedding the other day.  They are traditional classic gold rings.  We should have them by this Thursday.  So we have the venue, the rings, she has chosen her dress, etc.  So I’d say that everything is on track.  Well that is it for now.  I will write more frequently now.  I know that I haven’t been that good at this, but I will be better.

Well, let me just summarize what has transpired in the last few days.  This tonsilitis thing sure takes a long time to beat.  I was basically at home most of last week.  It leaves you with a splitting headache as well.  I’ve never had a headache that basically lasts for days.  Now I know what migraines feel like kind of.  You just don’t want to move.  Luckily, Karla is very good about taking care of me and she came over and made me dinner most of the evenings.

I also saw my first live soccer match in Chile pitting the 2 bitterest rivals against each other.  Jared would have appreciated the amount of swearing in Spanish that was going on.  I’ve never heard so many chants and cheers with mother in them and other words that can’t be reproduced here.  Basically, the stadium was filled with one set of fans on one side and the other on the other side and we were in the middle, right where it was divided.  I will never forget the father-daughter in front of us flipping off the other fans and they were swearing something in Spanish.  It was loud the whole time.  If you ever get a chance, you really should go to one of these.

Also, last night, I officially asked Karla’s parents for her hand in marriage and they welcomed me into the family.  They have never seen Karla this way.  She has had boyfriends, but for whatever reason, I am something different.  I am sure it is because of the values that I have.  She has the same ones as me.  She is a good woman.  So it looks like the date is June 20.  We have a lot of work to do between now and then and it will be stressful and we all know how I react to stress, but in the end it will be worth it.  I will be with a good woman and she will be with a good man.  Don’t buy tickets just yet.  We need to firm up that date with the venue today or tomorrow and then we’ll let you all know.  You will love Chile when you come down here.

Ok, so it has been a really long time since I have written.  I don’t know why.  I guess you could say because my life is busy and I didn’t write.  I have my first major illness here in Chile.  It is tonsillitis.   Yikes.  I am getting better.  I’ve kind of been out of commission for a few days now.  Other than that, I’m sure that most of you have heard the news, I am going to get married on June 20 here in Chile.  I know that some of you are wondering why, but I’m not.  I’ve met a wonderful, good, kind woman here in Chile.