Welfare-Warfare State

Feds spend at least $890,000 on fees for empty accounts

"It is one of the oddest spending habits in Washington: This year, the government will spend at least $890,000 on service fees for bank accounts that are empty. At last count, Uncle Sam has 13,712 such accounts with a balance of zero.They are supposed to be closed. But nobody has done the paperwork yet. So even as the sequester budget cuts have begun idling workers and frustrating travelers, the government is required to pay $65 per year, per account to keep them on the books. In this time of austerity, the accounts are a reminder of something that makes austerity hard: expensive habits, built into the bureaucracy in times of plenty." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFeds spend at least $890,000 on fees for empty accounts

Tax Money: One Man Shot a Million Photos of President George W. Bush

"The staff photographer for President Bush took a million photos. The President kept all of them. This week, the GWB Presidential library opens in Dallas. If someone wants to view a million photos of Bush, he can. I don’t know who goes to a Presidential library. There are 13 of these libraries. Bush’s cost $250 million. It has 15 acres of fake prairie. It has 227,000 square feet. To house what? They cost millions a year to run. They are built by private donors. No one knows who. No one knows why. What we do know is that taxpayers funded a full-time photographer who spent 8 years taking pictures of George W. Bush." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTax Money: One Man Shot a Million Photos of President George W. Bush

Tax Money: One Man Shot a Million Photos of President George W. Bush

"The staff photographer for President Bush took a million photos. The President kept all of them. This week, the GWB Presidential library opens in Dallas. If someone wants to view a million photos of Bush, he can. I don’t know who goes to a Presidential library. There are 13 of these libraries. Bush’s cost $250 million. It has 15 acres of fake prairie. It has 227,000 square feet. To house what? They cost millions a year to run. They are built by private donors. No one knows who. No one knows why. What we do know is that taxpayers funded a full-time photographer who spent 8 years taking pictures of George W. Bush." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTax Money: One Man Shot a Million Photos of President George W. Bush

The Corruption of Capitalism in America Excerpt: Chapter 17, Serial Bubbles

"Never before in history had the nation's financial system been pummeled by two gigantic bubbles and two devastating crashes in such a brief interval. That Greenspan's heir apparent managed to detect the Great Moderation at the midpoint of this cycle of financial violence was only added testimony to the degree to which monetary policy had become unhinged. It was no longer plausible, therefore, to describe the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and the various venues for equity derivatives as a free market for raising and trading equity capital issues. Instead, they were violently unstable casinos, ineptly stage-managed by a central bank." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Corruption of Capitalism in America Excerpt: Chapter 17, Serial Bubbles

Government Against the People: It Gets Worse In the Late Stages

"It’s a simple but disturbing truth: A late-stage state’s modus operandi must always be 'government against the people' – one that is inherently predatory. And it’s not because the participants are all sociopaths (though many are). At most times, governments try very hard to skim quietly, as with payroll taxes, where the producer’s money is taken away before he or she ever holds it in their hands. That’s also why tariffs were a traditional tax – the average person never saw it, and didn’t feel violated. But when governments are massively over-extended, they lose the luxury of the quiet skim and become more aggressive." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGovernment Against the People: It Gets Worse In the Late Stages

Never throw away your tax returns

"David started working in his teens. Surely, he has 40 credits (or 10 years) in the system? Yes, he does. But having gotten rid of his older tax returns, he can no longer prove it. David asked the IRS for copies of certain missing years, dating back to about 20 years ago. Not only did the IRS not have copies, but they didn’t even have electronic transcripts going that far back. What can David do? Not a thing. He accepted this philosophically, knowing he must work two more years to build up his benefits. How can you avoid this problem? It’s easy. Never, ever throw out a tax return." Continue reading →

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The Role Disability Insurance is Playing in Discouraging Young Adults from Working

"Of the nearly nine million former workers receiving federal disability payments, more than 2.5 million are in their 20s, 30s and 40s. 'It is difficult to overstate the role that the SSDI program plays in discouraging' employment among these young people, Messrs. Autor and Duggan said in one of their research papers, urging reform." Continue reading →

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Terrible Costs of a ‘Modern Economy’

"When large democracies create state mandates they will inevitably be exploited. Now it appears that nearly a million in Britain were taking advantage of sickness-related benefits that they were not eligible for. This figure is arrived at via reports that 878,300 'decided not to have an official assessment of whether they were fit for work.' The Telegraph informs us this was more than a third of the total number of people claiming sickness-related benefits. 'As well as the 878,300 who chose to drop their claims, another 837,000 who did take the a medical test were found to be fit to work immediately, while a further 367,300 were judged able to some level of work.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTerrible Costs of a ‘Modern Economy’

Ron Paul launches Institute for Peace and Prosperity

"For the first time since leaving office, Ron Paul returned to the spotlight this week. The recently retired congressman launched a new foreign-policy educational effort from Washington on Wednesday called the Institute for Peace and Prosperity. Some fellow lawmakers past and present - including Walter Jones, Dennis Kucinich, John Duncan, and Thomas Massie are on the Institute's board, and they are aiming to change more than policy as RT's Meghan Lopez explains." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRon Paul launches Institute for Peace and Prosperity

Ron Paul launches Institute for Peace and Prosperity

"For the first time since leaving office, Ron Paul returned to the spotlight this week. The recently retired congressman launched a new foreign-policy educational effort from Washington on Wednesday called the Institute for Peace and Prosperity. Some fellow lawmakers past and present - including Walter Jones, Dennis Kucinich, John Duncan, and Thomas Massie are on the Institute's board, and they are aiming to change more than policy as RT's Meghan Lopez explains." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRon Paul launches Institute for Peace and Prosperity