Thought of the day....

What to do when your a libertarian and you're being subjected to false attacks:

If you’d like a taste of what it feels like to be a libertarian, try telling people that the incoming Obama Administration is advocating precisely those aspects of FDR’s New Deal that prolonged the great depression for a decade; that propping up failed and failing ventures with government money in order to save jobs in the present merely shifts resources from relatively more to relatively less productive uses, impedes the corrective process, undermines the economic growth necessary for recovery, and increases unemployment in the long term; and that any "economic" stimulus package will inexorably be made to serve political rather than economic ends, and see what kind of reaction you get. And trust me, it won’t feel any better five or ten years from now when everything you have just said has been proven true and Obama, like FDR, is nonetheless revered as the savior of the country.

I haven't posted much recently because it feels worthless to go on and on against something that so many people think is needed. . .At my job I have been responsible for providing analysis and recommendations on the Smart Grid language in the stimulus bill and I have found it incredibly difficult to hide my utter disdain for the entire bill and process. We are simply replacing a debt-ridden consumer driving the economy with a debt-ridden government driving the economy- tell me how that's better?

Or, as Tom Coburn pointed out- "As a nation, we got into this mess by spending and investing money that didn't exist. We won't get out of it by doing more of the same. Yet this is precisely what this bill proposes we do. .... The bill's selling point is that three million jobs will be created or saved by this package. What's alarming is that each job will cost $286,000 to create or save. Moreover, one in five will be a government job."

Of course, it's no surprise that, according to Rasmussen, 26% of government employees think the stimulus bill will make things worse. I'm surprised the number is that high.

Maybe I'll start writing about this again. . .

In the meantime, apparently state employees that are being furloughed are eligible for partial unemployment benefits. I'm gonna guess the Governor's office didn't think of that. . .so, shouldn't pay just be cut across the board? Isn't that a more effective and efficient means of reducing government employee spending, instead of forcing 2 days a month furlough, which can then be recovered by the employee through unemployment benefits? Oh wait, silly me. . .the unions run this stuff, and unions don't care about the long-term health of any organization, except themselves.