Obama: Mercantilist

I always get annoyed when Barack Obama is called a socialist or Marxist. This annoyance does not come from any kind of pent up love and affection for the man. Nay, I just call it like it is. The economic system Barack Obama follows is not capitalism or communism but neo-mercantilism.

Mercantilism was a dominant economic system set up in the Late Renaissance and Early Modern period in Europe. Even though it had its roots in parts throughout Europe; especially in the non-free market section of Spain’s Salamanca school, it got the most traction in Great Britain. British merchant Thomas Mun was considered one of mercantilism’s greatest proponents.

Mercantilism is the mistaken belief that the prosperity of a state is wholly dependent upon its supply of capital, the global balance of trade is unchangeable (unchangeable as in a zero sum game) and that one party may only benefit at the expense of another. In a nutshell, the government has to manage the economy through a protectionist trade policy (either towards domestic corporations or friends of the current regime) using prohibitive taxation, tariffs or extremely restrictive licenses to do business and the total confiscation of gold and silver in favor of domestic monetary units.

What is a neo-mercantilist? Instead of viewing trade and commerce as between nations, as the old mercantilists used to posit, it views all trade in the domestic market as trade between nations. In neo-mercantilism all economic activity between two parties that are not supporters of the state should be clamped down by excessive taxation and restrictive licensing laws to start and maintain a business. It also incorporates aspects of Socialism, with redistribution of wealth and the control of the means of economic production. There is also a smattering of Keynesianism; a school of thought heavily influenced by mercantilism, where government must infuse the economy with massive spending to boost start the market.

This fallacious system is alive and well with the Obama regime. If it isn’t him giving waivers from Obamacare to companies that supported his election campaign, his letting General Electric (one of his biggest supporters) cart blanche to build a clean burning coal plant while burdening every other company that produces coal fuel with taxes and regulations that leave them bankrupt and Obama giving General Electric a special waiver from his oppressive ‘global warming laws’ while leaving other businesses to eat cake.

Mercantilism died when it was torn apart by great thinkers like Adam Smith, David Hume, Dudley North and John Locke. Reality also dealt mercantilism a fatal blow. When food prices went up, when factories were closing and people were left homeless on the streets people got angry and kicked the bums who supported this dastardly system out of office and into the streets. Mercantilism was one of the major stimuli that kick started the American Revolution; even if ghouls like Alexander Hamilton only wanted to replace one economic dictator for one born and raised in the U.S.A.

Neo-mercantilism will die like its much-maligned grandfather. Reality will set in, when food prices sore and affordable energy is a thing of the past, people will get mad. When people lose everything, they lose it. All politics comes down to the pocket book. These elites think they can squash all commerce that does not favor them; even when that competition is by leaps and bounds more economically efficient than they are. Free markets are the only true natural economic order. It is human nature. Any impingement on this system through any sort of economic central planning is a perversion of human nature. Economic central planning is just as bad as a child molestation or infanticide.

Obama is not a socialist. His economic policy does have elements of Marxism. But, the Marxist argument is a way to get you arguing over that while Obama and his cronies swoop in and discredit every argument you make. He is a neo-mercantilist. That fact is irrefutable. He is killing this country and economy through this foolish policy. Attack him on this. It might be a bit heady for some Americans. I have faith in the intelligence of the American people. So should you.

Cats And Welfare

It is the dead of night and I am sure garbage will be strewn all over the side of my house. Wrappers, rotting food stuff, chicken bones and other things of the smelly kind will be sitting there, waiting for me with my latex gloves and black garbage bag.

            This has been a persistent problem for the last couple of months. Having a weak stomach and an aversion to trash I resolved to find the culprit.

            I’ve embellished a bit on my description. Garbage isn’t dumped as much as it is thrown all over the place like buckshot. It originates from the over turned garbage cans and moves onward from there. The garbage bags are ripped to shreds, the food having bite marks of the feline variety. The culprit of this heinous crime is obvious.

            My next door neighbor is a stereotype. Widowed, ancient, hunched over, voice like a crone, temperament like an angel and avid collector of cats. Siamese, Persian or fat alley cat; name a breed of cat and she has it.

            Cats are not territorial creatures. They explore, get into places they don’t belong, go back home to the litter box, laze around for a little while and the cycle continues. My neighbor’s cats are no exception to the rule. I find them in my back yard all time exploring and climbing fences. Until recently, they never caused trouble or got into the garbage.

            On an unpleasant Sunday afternoon, after picking up the garbage on the ground and expelling the bagel I had that morning, I decided to talk to my tenants to see if they knew what was going on. Maybe they held the vital clue I needed to crack this case.

            My tenants are great people. Being twenty something newlyweds they pick up after themselves, are quiet at night and the nuptial arguments have yet to kick in.

            I knock on the door of their apartment. After about 10 seconds Maria, the wife, opens the door.

            She is a great woman; a sweetheart that knows her way around a house and a man’s heart. She stands about 5’7, average weight, luminescent dark hair and a smile that could light up the room. I hope to find a woman like her one day.

            The door is opened just enough for Maria to stick out her head. She smiles and asks in a cute, mousey voice,” Hey James, something wrong?”

“I just noticed cats are getting into the garbage. You know anything about that?”, I respond in a polite manner

            “Cats? I mean…I always see them around the backyard. I feed them all the time. They’re so cute!”, she says.

            I give a polite wave,” Well…alright. Thanks. I’ll see you around.”

            I turn my back and walk away as she closes the door. I walk back into my house to take a shower, ruminating on the answer Maria had given me.

            She was feeding the cats. The cats, being used to always getting food from this house, must have taken for granted it would always be there.  At night there is no food for them here. Being free loaders used to handouts, they smell it in the garbage cans. They take the food from the garbage cans without being permitted to do so, causing a mess in their wake.

            During my reverie, I realized that this was the perfect allegory for the welfare state. The cats were given handouts and trashed the place when the handouts were not there. In the welfare system, people who do not contribute one iota to the world are given free money, for them at least, and when the gravy train runs out they act like children having temper tantrums; but their tantrums lead to rioting and looting in the streets. The cats are given food that does not belong to them. The food, with Maria’s husband being the one that makes money, was redistributed from the pantry in their apartment and given to the cats. The money from welfare is taken from the taxpayers and given to free loaders in the ghetto.

            The main difference is people are not animals.  We let cats lay around the house and live off the fat of the land because we care for them like they are our own babies. They never have to make money because they are unproductive in the production of capital and always will be; that’s why we love them. They are a reflection of what we would want to be but cannot be for it would fly in the face of human nature. Unlike cats, welfare queens are the antithesis of human nature. They live like dogs and cats. They require the master of all, government, to feed them and make sure they get bathed. They have Cadillac’s, air conditioning in the summer, heat in the winter, DVD players, X-Box’s, an endless supply of cheese blocks and premium cable. All at the expense of the taxpayers while bankrupting our country and leaving us destitute on the land our forefathers fought to create.  Unlike cats, which we voluntarily give sustenance and shelter, welfare recipients are drains on the public treasury, put there involuntarily while acting like animals. Not human beings.

             I am one of the few people calling for the complete elimination of all welfare programs by federal, state and local governments. I am one of the few with intestinal fortitude to stand athwart this evil freight train coming our way and saying no. Even so-called conservatives are for welfare and social justice. All they believe in is slightly tinkering with the broken system while the problem is systematic and the whole system must be demolished. Reform is never possible in government. When government has a problem, the whole system it creates should be torn down and re-built if totally necessary. That is the main problem most conservatives overlook. You cannot run a government like a business or any other sane structure. It is a totally insane structure with no competitors and no ways to opt out of its control. You can run a government with a light touch and do whatever you have to do to keep the cogs from turning. But you cannot make it ‘efficient’ because it always runs at its top efficiency. It is efficient at force and extortion and little else.  Welfare is propagated by the outright theft of capital from the productive sector of society into the unproductive sector. It is a succubus for vote getting politicians while giving money to parasites that have no right to the fruits of your labor. The welfare system does not need a soldering iron and WD-40 to make it work correctly. No, it needs the wrecking ball to make sure the system cannot destroy anymore productive members of society.

            The moral of this scrawling? Love your pets and treat them right. But don’t feed the cat lady’s feline adventurers. And don’t feed anybody on welfare. They are already eating and living on your dime; don’t enable the parasites even further.

I'm Dreaming Of A Capitalist Christmas

         Christmas approaches while the bittersweet chill in the New York air kicks in. The smells of wood smoke permeate the air, holiday music fills the airwaves and the malls are overflowing with gift buyers. It is a beautiful time for everyone involved. It is a time of voluntary charity and gift giving to loved ones not coerced by any outside force but goodwill and love. It is not produced by government, forcing you to bear gifts to those you do not wish to bear to. Socialists believe Christmas is an affirmation of their failed beliefs. They are wrong. Socialists would love to turn this holiday into a swansong for socialism and full blown wealth spreading. From the gift giving, to holiday cheer for other men and to charity, it is all voluntary with no coercion. Let’s forget the socialists and look into what Christmas is: an ode to the free market.

            You may not realize this, but everything you will be enjoying this holiday was produced by the magic of the free market. Hundreds of thousands of individuals are involved in the production of the goods and services that you will be consuming and giving away. Every entrepreneur, to every assembly line worker, to the truck driver and even the person bringing the raw materials from the Earth have a hand in the production of your gifts.

            Lets take one of the most popular gifts this year, the Amazon Kindle e-reader, as an example. The miners and the mining company take raw silver and other metals from the earth. The mining company sells the metals to the semi-conductor company. The semi-conductor company turns those metals and other resources into the motherboards and circuitry of the e-reader. They sell it to the manufacturer of the machine. The manufacturer buys the plastic case from the molding company. The molding company buys the oil and metals necessary to produce the plastic case. The metal ore, for the molds, comes from the mining company and the oil comes from the hard labors of the men working the oil rigs and the oil company providing them with a salary. The molding company takes all of those raw materials and turns them into the plastic case thanks to the hard work of the workers on the assembly line and the molding company paying their salaries. The manufacturer assembles this motley crew of materials into the e-reader, thanks to the hard work of those on the assembly line whose salary is provided by the manufacturing company. The manufacturing company either sells their product to you or to a retailer. The manufacturer purchases the services of the delivery company to ship their product to your doorstep or to your local store. The delivery company buys their trucks from the truck company. The truck company buys the materials necessary to make their trucks from the mining company mining the metal ore necessary to create the mechanical parts and body of the truck. The truck company buys their tires from the tire company. The tire company buys the rubber to make their tires from the rubber farmer who gets it from the rubber tree and sells it to the truck company. The truck company assembles all of these materials into a truck thanks to the hard work of the workers on the assembly line whose salary is paid by the truck company. The truck company sells the truck to the delivery company. The delivery company is paid by either you, the manufacturer or the retailer to deliver the Kindle. They buy the diesel fuel for the truck from an oil company who takes the crude oil from the ground and turns it into fuel. The driving is done by a truck driver with a salary paid by the delivery company. If the product is delivered to your doorstep, that is its last stop. If it is bought by a retailer, the retailer must stock and promote the Kindle if they want people to buy it from them. They must also pay their employees to stock the product and sell it to you, the consumer. The retailer must also pay the cashier taking your money and making change if necessary. Finally you, with a salary or money from a business you own, use the capital produced by your labors, money, and trade it for the Amazon Kindle; and the cycle continues. But, on the journey of the Amazon Kindle, you are the last in line.

All of these seemingly diverse parties are only working together under one force: capitalism. The motive towards profit and the need to accrue capital are what puts food on the table and gifts under the Christmas tree. Under a socialist system, there is no private means of production so there is no profit motive thus arrested economic development ensues and severe economic devolution quickly follows.

            We live in a country created by capitalism, and we reap the benefits everyday. Even our poor, which government loves to claim need to live off the government dole, are better off than Roman emperors. They have color televisions, DVD players, computers, internet and many other modern amenities. They also have the ability to control the temperature of their domiciles, air conditioning in the summer, heat in the winter and hot or cold running water. I have heard it said that you can judge a society by how it takes care of its poor. If we look at how capitalism takes care of its poor, I’d say the society is looking pretty good.

Modern life is the end result of capitalism and free markets. Not the work of government programs. Everything you enjoy about modern life you can thank the free market and the innovation of entrepreneurs. There’s a reason why socialism is a corpse bureaucrats try to re-animate unsuccessfully and capitalism, even though much maligned by freedom haters, will always be alive. The free market is the natural order of things and will always be around even when outlawed. It just becomes a black market whenever the government tries to outlaw a particular force in the market.

            Capitalism is responsible for everything that you will be enjoying this Christmas. From the gifts under your tree, to the food on the table, the money in your pocket and even the tree itself are products of the free market standing as testaments to its power and glory. If we lived in a country that Barack Obama so wants, Christmas would be without gifts, we’d all be chopping down scrawny dying pine trees and standing on a breadline for our Christmas meal.

            When you are thanking the world for the gifts it has given you while praying for peace, happiness and other good stuff remember to thank one thing you always forget is there. Give thanks to the wheels within wheels of the free market system. Without capitalism you would not be celebrating Christmas. Without capitalism, you’d be homeless, broke and hungry on Christmas. Without capitalism you’d be living in the Stone age, killing deer with a stone spearhead while struggling to create a fire.

            Give thanks to capitalism. For with it, we are everything. Without it, we are nothing.