Replies to post #199270 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[SilverSurfer]

An individual who can sustain his or her life by their own effort has little need of being “governed” and will not be “ruled”. That makes the job of governance very easy, but the “job” of ruling prohibitively difficult. Since a government does not produce, it cannot “save” in the real meaning of the term. All it can do is to minimise its demand on those who DO save, those who consume LESS than they produce. That is anathema to a government intent on gaining the power necessary to “run” an economy.

The purpose of a “welfare state” is to convince a majority of the people that savings are not necessary. Once a welfare state has been put into operation - as it has been all over the developed world for a century or so - those in power go further. Their new task is to convince their subjects that the act of saving is not only unnecessary, it is dangerous to their “prosperity”. This would seem at first glance to be both a ridiculous and a formidably difficult task. It is. It has taken our “powers that be” a long time to succeed.

But succeed they have. The majority of the subjects of government all over the world have swapped independence for “entitlements”. That act, all by itself, has impoverished every nation in terms of REAL wealth. The higher the pile of IOUs pile up - the greater the impoverishment becomes.


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-09/defamation-independence-or-getting-nothing-something

[SilverSurfer]

The Federal Reserve, our nation’s central bank, is monetizing the federal debt so that deficits can continue. Independence replaced with entitlement....

Will Rogers said, “Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re paying for.” Today we are not paying for all the government we are getting, and the political class benefiting from this practice should be thankful for the Fed’s low interest rate policy, which makes running deficits inexpensive. In addition to making big government cheap, this causes a flight of investors from interest-paying assets into equities — the rising stock market primarily benefits the wealthy — and commodities, rather than job-creating investments.

The gov has convinced that saving is bad, risk on is good. Get it SoxFan....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-the-feds-not-so-golden-rule/2013/02/27/8306384a-8058-11e2-a350-49866afab584_story.html?hpid=z2