Author: George Noga

MLLG

Socialism, Toilet Paper, Taxes and More

George Noga

Socialism resulted in chronic shortages of meat, fish, bread, milk and yes – toilet paper.

Socialism, Toilet Paper, Taxes and More

By: George Noga – February 27, 2022

Democratic Socialist or Social Democrat: It is critically important which word is the noun and which is the adjective. Socialists like Bernie Sanders and AOC like to cloak themselves in the mantle of Scandinavian social democrats, who promote robust social benefits – but all within the ambit of a capitalist democracy. Don’t be fooled by this maskirovka. When the words are reversed, socialist becomes the operative word and democratic merely a modifier. Social democrats give you countries like Sweden and Denmark; democratic socialists give you hell holes like Venezuela and Cuba.

Socialist Humor: A journalist enters a store in Venezuela and asks if there is any meat. The clerk replies, “This is the store with no fish; the store with no meat is across the street.” The journalist dutifully writes in his notebook “no fish, no meat“. Next, the journalist goes into a bakery; finding no bread, he jots down “no bread“. Then he goes into a dairy store and once again finding the shelves bare, he enters “no milk“. A secret police agent following the journalist then goes up to him and says, “You could be shot for writing that“. Whereupon, the journalist writes in his notebook “no bullets“.

“Workers were issued their own personal roll of toilet paper.”

Toilet Paper and Socialism: Commies are not only incapable of producing meat, fish, bread and milk, they could not produce toilet paper. In workplaces throughout the Soviet Union, there never was any toilet paper in the stalls because it instantly would be stolen. Instead, each worker periodically was issued his personal roll of toilet paper for use while at work. This is not a joke; welcome to the socialist workers’ paradise.

Note: We do not publish these vignettes to heap ridicule, however well deserved, on the commies of yore and their present day look-alikes. Our purpose is to remind people that this will happen here if we continue down the path of progressivism.

“The IRS answers only 3% of all calls to taxpayer services.”

Democrat Tax Increases: House Dems voted for 87,000 more IRS auditors to conduct 1.2 million more audits annually. Incredulously, this equals only 13.8 audits per year for each new agent. There is something terribly wrong with this metric; why can’t each agent perform five or ten times that number? I am reminded of Will Rogers’ quip, “Thank God we don’t get all the government we pay for“. To make matters worse, the burden of the new audits would fall predominantly on small business and the middle class; the wealthy use high-octane tax professionals and are effectively audit proof. The Democrats want to fund IRS enforcement by 2,300% more than taxpayer services. Last year 97% of all calls to IRS taxpayer services (help line) went unanswered.

The law passed by the Dems raises the effective personal income tax rate to 57.4%, the highest in the developed world. Many blue states will have a combined marginal rate above 60%. They voted to increases the top marginal capital gains rate to 37% – the highest in 50 years. They also voted to increase the tax on home heating fuel.

Identity Politics: The EPA recently issued a press release heralding new appointments to its Science Advisory Board; it began as follows: “Today the EPA announced the selection for membership of the Science Advisory Board, which will be comprised of 22 women and 25 men, including 16 people of color, making it the most diverse ever.” How comforting it is to know that our science is in the hands of a group balanced by race and gender. This is a disservice to any appointees selected on the basis of merit.

Biden announced his Supreme Court appointment would be a black woman. This not only would be illegal in the private sector, it is a colossal disservice to his nominee. Biden is announcing his nominee will be selected based on identity and not on merit.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Next on March 6th – The progressive assault on our democracy.
More Liberty Less Government – mllg@cfl.rr.com – www.mllg.us
MLLG

On the Origin and Nature of Government

George Noga

Neolithic barbarians understood economics better than many of today’s predator class.

On the Origin and Nature of Government

By: George Noga – February 20, 2022

Primitive societies had leaders but no government. Small bands of hunter-gatherers and nomads lived from hand to mouth dependent of the exigencies of the hunt, the bounty of the sea and the caprice of nature; they never generated an economic surplus. They moved from place to place and were not easy targets for predators. Nonetheless, such primitive bands frequently were victimized by roving bandits. However, the bandits, once they had plundered what little booty that was available, moved on to plunder others; after all, there was no incentive for them to remain behind.

All that changed during the Neolithic Revolution when people learned agriculture and created permanent settlements. Now humans generated a regular economic surplus and were more vulnerable to bandits because they had more to plunder and had to remain in one location. Once again, roving bandits came to plunder; however, they were not stupid. There was an incentive for them to stay to plunder permanently. Roving bandits became stationary bandits, forcefully subjugating the populus and keeping out other bandits. They had a monopoly of the use of force and, bingo, government was born.

A regular economic surplus is an a piori condition for the existence of a state; hence, government cannot exist without entrepreneurs. Without those who accumulate capital, take risks and create things people need or want, government could not exist. Even the earliest farmers had to build capital to support their families while the crops were grown and they had to overcome many risks such as weather and pestilence. Meanwhile, the now permanent bandits did nothing constructive and even imposed obstacles to productivity; they also took a big chunk for themselves.

There is little difference in principle between the stationary bandits of yore and today’s governing class. Instead of kings and emperors, they now call themselves presidents and prime ministers. They both have a monopoly on the legal use of force; they both hinder production; they both take a large share for themselves; and they both are permanent. The difference is that, instead of conquest, today’s rulers achieve power by guile, ersatz promises, lies, bribery and pitting people against each other.

Even today, we might be better off governed by Neolithic barbarians wearing animal skins. At least they understood that government does not create wealth and that things had to be produced before they could be plundered. They understood that imposing regulations and creating obstacles and uncertainty reduced the amount of plunder. Some of the barbarians even grasped that plundering less today enabled them to plunder more tomorrow – benefitting both the plunderers and the plundered.

Moreover, the barbarians of yore sometimes got sated and left us alone for awhile. Today’s predator class never gets sated and never leaves us alone.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Next on February 27th – Socialism and Toilet Paper.

Click here to join our mailing list

More Liberty Less Government – mllg@cfl.rr.com – www.mllg.us

Facebook ‌ Twitter ‌ LinkedIn

MLLG

Spending Crisis Locomotive Nearing the Abyss

George Noga

“God loves fools, drunks and the United States of America.” (Otto von Bismarck)

Spending Crisis Locomotive Nearing the Abyss

By: George Noga – February 13, 2022

The spending crisis is one of MLLG’s signature issues – along with climate change and school choice. Our last update was in our post of 2/7/21 and it is time for another. First however, we take a look back to our prior projections about the spending crisis.

Over 10 years ago I wrote a 24-page report entitled “The Crisis of Spending, Debt and Deficits“; it was printed and mailed (USPS) to our readers – which were much fewer in number back then. It is not on our website. I had not given this report any attention in many years and had nearly forgotten about it until one of our longtime readers asked for a copy. I reread the report and was flabbergasted to see how accurate it was!

Nearly 12 years ago, I projected that in 2021 GDP would be $21 trillion, public debt $26 trillion and the ratio 124%. The best data available for year-end 2021 are GDP of $23 trillion and debt of $25 trillion for a ratio of 109%. For reference, back in 2010 GDP stood at $15 trillion, debt at $9 trillion and the ratio at 60%. No one – absolutely no economists anywhere – and most certainly not the CBO – were projecting anything even remotely close to the data published by MLLG. Note: I actually published three projections; the one cited herein is the middle (or most realistic) case.

My projection was not a lucky guess. I spent hundreds of hours during the summer of 2010 while in Montana constructing a computer model of the US economy. I used that model to generate the data in the published report. I did not merely project a ratio, I built the data from the ground up. My projection was accurate because I made realistic assumptions about, inter alia, recessions, spending and taxation. Readers may decide for themselves, but my past accuracy should confer a strong presumption of present credibility about the spending crisis. As a reminder, I call it the spending crisis rather than the debt crisis because the crisis ultimately results from uncontrolled spending.

At its heart, it is not really a spending crisis – it is a moral crisis.

I again have spent many hours updating projections. Surprisingly, the 2021 (debt/GDP) ratio was better than projected in 2020 because of the stronger than expected economic recovery from the pandemic. Future debt ratios depend primarily on: (1) economic growth; (2) tax rates and collections; (3) interest rates; (4) timing, length and depth of recessions; (5) inflation; and (6) any spending blowouts such as BBB. There are many variables and uncertainties such as possible natural disasters and military conflicts.

I have run numerous projections with various combinations of economic growth, taxes, inflation, spending, interest rates and recessions. The best I now can project is that the ratio will be near 150% in 5 years and over 200% in 10 years – on its way to the moon. In later years the ratio would hit 500% and even 1,000%, but that is moot because the locomotive would go over the cliff long before the ratio reached such numbers. God may love fools, drunks and the USA, but nothing can save us from a ratio of 500%.

I call it a spending crisis, but at its heart it is not really a spending crisis; it is not really a debt crisis; it is not really a deficit crisis; it is a moral crisis! We chose – whether consciously or unconsciously matters not – to take from our children and grandchildren rather than to control our own spending. We refused to make tough choices, falsely thinking we could buy social peace. We elected politicians who promised the moon was made of Stilton. We chose, and are continuing to choose, to condemn our progeny to a lost generation in a Clockwork Orange world filled with existential threats.

Even worse, we stole from future generations – not to save America from some manmade or natural calamity – but to pay for a perpetual New Years Eve party.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Next on February 20th – the origin and nature of government.

Click here to join our mailing list

More Liberty Less Government – mllg@cfl.rr.com – www.mllg.us

Facebook ‌ Twitter ‌ LinkedIn

MLLG

America Needs More Jury Trials . . . Chauvin-Rittenhouse-Smollett-Arbery-Potter-Holmes

George Noga

America’s criminal justice system must have more involvement by citizens.

America Needs More Jury Trials . . .

Chauvin-Rittenhouse-Smollett-Arbery-Potter-Holmes

By: George Noga – February 6, 2022

One of the bright spots in American democracy is our jury system. Most Americans join me in believing that the juries got it right 100% of the time in the six recent headline-grabbing trials listed above. Juries are fallible, but they represent the best way to deliver justice and to check against government run amok. Unfortunately, today in America a jury trial is a vastly underutilized right. Instead of a jury system, we now have a plea system with 96% of criminal cases settled without a jury trial.

“I consider trial by jury the only anchor imagined by man, by which a
government can be held to the principles of its constitution.” (Jefferson)

The right to a jury trial is the only right mentioned in both the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and more words are devoted to it than to any other right. The founders intended to put citizens at the beating heart of our criminal justice system. However, plea bargains, unknown to America’s founders, now dominate criminal cases.

Plea bargains are more problematic for our democracy than jury trials. Defendants often are coerced to plead guilty due to police and prosecutorial misconduct as well as plea deals cleverly designed to induce an innocent defendant to accept the proffered plea rather than to chance a trial and a much more severe sentence. Defendants often are overcharged to pressure them, even though the sluiced up charges would dramatically wither away in a courtroom. Plea bargains cover up police misconduct and relieve prosecutors from having to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

American juries have a long and glorious history. The Salem witch trials ended only after 52 straight acquittals and/or hung juries. Northern juries acquitted abolitionists charged under the Fugitive Slave Laws. Juries speeded the end of prohibition and acquitted protestors during the Vietnam War. Juries refused to convict LGTBQs charged with consensual sex under sodomy laws. The right of a juror to vote his conscience goes back over 1,000 years and is traceable directly to Magna Carta.

The right of a jury to vote conscience is traceable to Magna Carta.

In a trial, jurors can go well beyond determining the facts. They can choose to exercise their independent life experience, concept of justice, wisdom and beliefs. Following are some of the situations where a jury may choose to exercise conscientious acquittal and nullify a flawed law or prosecution: (1) the accused never intended to commit a crime; (2) an honest citizen acted in good faith; (3) vague or unknown laws; (4) the minimum sentence is out of proportion; (5) laws that shouldn’t exist; (6) law applied selectively or misapplied; (7) police/prosecutorial abuse; (8) overzealous enforcement; (9) reliance on paid informants; (10) victimless crimes; (11) matters of conscience.

America’s founding documents and system of government depend on citizens being involved in the criminal justice system. We need to rein in plea bargains to hold the government to account. Not everyone may agree with the outcomes of the trials of Chauvin, Rittenhouse, Smollett, Arbery, Potter and Holmes, but we all should be able to agree the juries discharged their duties faithfully. That is the American way.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Next on February 13th, an update about the worsening spending crisis.

Click here to join our mailing list

More Liberty Less Government – mllg@cfl.rr.com – www.mllg.us
MLLG

Taxes – Showerheads – School Choice – Economics

George Noga

The total wealth of all US billionaires would fund government for only 158 days.

Taxes – Showerheads – School Choice – Economics

By: George Noga – January 30, 2022

 

Biden’s inflation tax devastates ordinary Americans: Biden’s tax hikes hit middle- income Americans and even low-income Americans who pay no income tax. Inflation is the cruelest tax of all and it falls disproportionately on low and middle-income families. Inflation is outstripping wage gains and Americans are getting poorer each month. Moreover, unlike other political issues, inflation is impossible to spin because Americans are acutely aware of it every time they buy gas or groceries.

Taxing billionaires doesn’t work: Forbes Magazine counts 614 US billionaires worth a total of $2.95 trillion. If you taxed each $1 billion, it would fund government for 33 days. If you confiscated all the wealth of every billionaire, it would fund government for 158 days – and then it would be gone forever. The narrative of taxing billionaires is pure class warfare intended to disguise from where the money really is coming.

Why some corporations pay no income tax: The poster child for this is Amazon, which paid no federal income tax last year. That’s because Amazon suffered humongous losses in prior years and was able to carry those forward to offset later profits. FedEx paid no tax due to accelerated depreciation on its fleet of aircraft – in accordance with laws passed by Congress to encourage investment and job creation. However, both Amazon and FedEx pay billions each year in payroll, state, local and foreign taxes.

Corporations that pay little or no federal tax are acting in furtherance of laws passed by Congress. It takes chutzpah for politicians to rail against tax laws they passed. Further, per a congressional committee, 98% of corporate taxes are passed through to low and middle-income families, including those who pay no income tax, as higher prices.

Biden is regulating your bath: Prior to Trump, each showerhead could emit no more than 2.5 gallons per minute. Trump eliminated that restriction. One of Biden’s first moves was to reverse this and also to extend the limit to apply to all showerheads in the aggregate – even though fewer than 1% of Americans have multiple showerheads. This is a minor issue in the cosmic scheme of things, but it exemplifies progressives’ desire to regulate every aspect of your life and to diminish your personal liberty.

School choice is a winning issue: It is incandescently clear from polls and elections that K-12 education is the wedge political issue in America today. Parents are shocked and mortified by what they learned during the pandemic including: (1) school boards and PTAs as adjuncts of teachers unions; (2) pornography in grade school libraries; (3) the 1619 project; (4) mask mandates; (5) critical race theory; (6) encouraging young kids to question their gender; (7) vaccine mandates; (8) school closures; and (9) huge gaps in learning versus private schools and other nations. Union control of education has wrought nothing short of total disaster. Universal school choice would immediately end all dissonance about the nine aforementioned issues. School choice demonstrably is a winning political issue as well as the civil rights issue of our time.

Economics: Roger Ream upon receiving the 2021 Bradley Prize in Economics: “Taught properly, economics provides a lens to understand how the world works. It is about how humans interact and make choices and how an undirected market process unleashes the forces of invention, innovation, imagination and improvement. The result is nothing short of miraculous. We ignite a spark in the minds of students as we show them how Adam Smith’s invisible hand motivates a self-interested individual to promote an end not part of his intention and thereby to serve the needs of others.”

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Next on February 6th: Chauvin, Rittenhouse, Smollett, et. al.
More Liberty Less Government – mllg@cfl.rr.com – www.mllg.us

 

MLLG

The Raison d’etre of Government

George Noga

The answer is not more government or even better and wiser government.

The Raison d’etre of Government

By: George Noga – January 23, 2022

Preamble to the US Constitution

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.“

Since the Neolithic Revolution 12,000 years ago, when humans transitioned from nomadic hunter-gatherer clans to settled agricultural societies, people have banded together for security from internal and external threats to their lives, property and liberty. The Declaration of Independence proclaims all men have an unalienable right to life, liberty, and (property) pursuit of happiness. The Constitution, in its preamble above, establishes the raison d’etre for our government as being mostly about security, i.e. justice, domestic tranquility, defense and liberty. Indeed, the social contract between man and the state always has been, first and foremost, about security.

Americans expect government, above everything else, to protect their lives, property and liberty. Progressive government at all levels, national, state and local, is failing in this, the most basic role of government. The Biden Administration is failing to provide for the common defense. Its manifest weakness, on full display in Afghanistan, is an open invitation to Putin, Xi, Kim, Iran and to tyrants everywhere. Moreover, Biden is slashing (real) defense spending as progressives always do when in power. The most potent asset in our defense arsenal is our economy and Biden is weakening it.

Progressives in control of state and local governments refuse to protect citizens and property from mob violence. They defund police, decriminalize larceny, abolish bail, create sanctuary cities and refuse to prosecute serious offenses. They impose gun control to keep citizens from defending themselves and their property from mobs; instead, they prosecute those (McCloskeys, Rittenhouse) who exercise their rights.

Rather than defending Americans’ lives, property and liberty, Biden and his top advisors, all selected based on identity rather than merit, are putting us at greater risk. They are destroying the property and life savings of many Americans by the pernicious inflation they have unleashed. Their profligate spending is hastening the arrival of a debt crisis and a lost generation for our children and our children’s children.

Progressives, and those who enable them, have lost sight of the reason Americans have a government in the first place. It is not for transgender bathrooms, CRT, identity or wokeness. They are placing our lives at risk from both foreign and domestic threats. They are failing to protect our property from criminals, looting and mob violence. They are assaulting our liberty in myriad ways – using the pandemic to abolish our right to assemble, to worship and to be secure in our persons (vaccine mandates).

Ironically, the evils catalogued supra all were promulgated by a form of government most people consider to be among the best in the world and even throughout history. The root cause of our present accursedness is not a failure of government or even bad government – although we presently have both. Rather, it is due simply to immutable human nature and to our government behaving like governments always do.

Indeed, the entire sweep of human history in the 12,000 years since the Neolithic Revolution instructs us that it is foolish to believe people can control government. We can’t; but we can limit it. Dear readers, the answer lies not in better, wiser or even enlightened government. The answer lies in more liberty and less government.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Our next post January 30th is about taxing billionaires.

Click here to join our mailing list

More Liberty Less Government – mllg@cfl.rr.com – www.mllg.us

Facebook ‌ Twitter ‌ LinkedIn
MLLG

Cri de Coeur for America

George Noga

First and foremost, I write this blog as my cri de coeur for America.

Cri de Coeur for America

By: George Noga – January 16, 2022

This begins the 16th year of the MLLG blog; thus far I have written 600 posts totaling 2,000 pages and 1,000,000 words. During that time readership has grown from 150 into the tens of thousands; whew!. I have labored mightily to present original and compelling ways to communicate the blessings of liberty and the evils (yes – evils) of government. Every so often, it is a good idea to remind readers (and myself) why I write this blog. But first, I offer a preview of my plans for the coming year.

I will continue blogging about my signature issues of: (1) climate change; (2) the spending crisis; and (3) school choice. You may also expect special postings on key holidays; my Independence Day and Columbus Day postings have become classics. Look for new multi-part series about “Poverty in America” and “Policing in America“. I will address timely political, economic and human interest topics. Responding to reader requests, I may write a few posts of a personal nature. As always, I will strive to present new ways to showcase the blessings of liberty and the evils of government in a fact-based, principled manner and without demonizing those with opposing views.

Why I Write This Blog

Above all, this blog is my cri de coeur for our beloved republic. I am standing athwart America’s steady march toward socialism, and ultimately to Gomorrah, screaming “stop”. I am constantly mindful that of the 115 billion humans who have trod this earth, fewer than 1% have enjoyed liberty. Even now, only 10% live in freedom. Alexander Hamilton’s eternal question still lingers, “Are societies of men capable of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or forever destined to depend on accident and force?” I would like to believe that I am providing our children’s children an infinitesimally better chance for liberty. If I fail, at least I failed daring to try.

As Hamilton knew, whether any society of men gets its politics right or wrong affects every aspect of life, and even life itself. If we get our politics right, we live our lives in freedom and prosperity. If we get our politics wrong, liberty, happiness and property are forfeit and our lives are brutish and brief. Our children’s children will be a lost generation living lives of quiet desperation in a Clockwork Orange world of staggering debt and climate madness, surrounded by nuclear armed enemies committed to our destruction. The gods of the copybook headings, with terror and slaughter, will return.

There is a second, and much darker, reason I write this blog. If it proves too late to prevent the self destruction of our beloved republic, I want to leave a historical record so my children’s children will know there once was such a wondrous thing as the fire of liberty and that some of us took great care to preserve embers of that flame until some glorious day when the embers may be used to reignite the torch of liberty.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
The next post is about the raison d’etre of government.
More Liberty Less Government – mllg@cfl.rr.com – www.mllg.us
MLLG

MLLG Special Unscheduled Posting . . . Of Cabbages, Kings and Insurrections

George Noga

The real target of progressive insurrectionists is ordinary Americans in flyover land.

MLLG Special Unscheduled Posting . . .

Of Cabbages, Kings and Insurrections

By: George Noga – January 6, 2022

This special posting is on the anniversary of the demonstration that took place at the US Capitol one year ago today. It is apropos that the headline above is taken from Alice in Wonderland because the “insurrection” storyline, hysterically promoted by progressives and the media, is worthy of CS Lewis. In fact, Democrats are suffering from Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS), a serious mental disorder characterized by distorted perceptions of reality. Yes, AIWS is real; Google it!
“The time has come” the walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes – and ships – and sealing wax –
Of cabbages and kings –
And why the sea is boiling hot –
And why pigs have wings.”

The Phony Insurrection

An insurrection is defined as a violent uprising against a government. What took place at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 was a political protest that got out of hand; it was decidedly not an insurrection. The demonstrators were unarmed; the protest lasted but a few hours and caused only minimal damage. The only person shot was an unarmed female protestor killed by police. The vast majority of the protestors were peaceful law-abiding Americans exercising their Constitutional rights.
The demonstrators did not intend to overthrow the government. Although a fringe element stormed the Capitol, they were unarmed and not representative of the protestors. To compare that incident to Pearl Harbor, September 11th and even to the Civil War – as Biden did – is beyond ludicrous. Anyone who believes January 6, 2021 was an insurrection has an acute case of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome.
Of course, those people who are screaming “insurrection” know better. They are cynically weaponizing language to demonize those with whom they disagree. By thus using language to frame their narrative of reality, they seek to abnegate the truth. Please see our post of 11/14/21 about weaponizing language at: www.mllg.us.

The Authentic Insurrection

A real insurrection did take place in America; it was the 2016-2021 Russia collusion hoax. Progressives, abetted by their media sycophants and the deep state, illegally misappropriated and mobilized the awesome coercive power of the state and wielded it against a president of whom they disapproved, and also against his appointees. Their aim was nothing less than to cripple or to overthrow a duly elected president.
Every element of the insurrection against Trump was a lie and known to be a lie by those promulgating them. The FBI, intelligence agencies, John Brennan, Department of Justice, Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, Christopher Steele, Adam Schiff, Robert Mueller, James Clapper, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, James Comey, Lisa Page, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok and countless others conspired in the insurrection.
******************************
The phony January 6, 2021 insurrection did not succeed in any way and it lasted mere hours. It consisted of ordinary Americans and included no powerful elites. No reputations were tarnished. There was no intention to overthrow the government and those who trespassed at the Capitol are being vigorously prosecuted by the deep state.
Contrast this with the real insurrection which lasted four years and was perpetrated and perpetuated by powerful elites. It succeeded in crippling and nearly overthrowing (two impeachments) a duly elected president and it ruined the lives and reputations of many honorable people (General Flynn). Every person and institution participating in the insurrection intended to overthrow the president and knew the Russia collusion narrative to be a hoax. No one has been held to account; instead, many insurrectionists have gotten lucrative book deals, speaking engagements and media gigs.
Donald Trump was the main target of the Russia collusion hoax insurrection, but he was not who they really were after. The deep state insurrectionists are terrified of ordinary patriotic Americans in flyover land and they, i.e. you, were their real target. As Trump often said at his rallies, “They’re really after you, I’m just in the way”.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Next on January 16th is our first scheduled posting of 2022.
More Liberty Less Government – mllg@cfl.rr.com – www.mllg.us

Special MLLG New Year Posting…. DANGER: 2022 Will Be An Annus Horribilis

George Noga

If Putin or Xi ever intend to invade Ukraine or Taiwan, it will be in 2022.

Special MLLG New Year Posting . . .
DANGER: 2022 Will Be An Annus Horribilis
By: George Noga – January 1, 2022
This posting is unplanned. After formulating my investment plan for 2022, as I do at the beginning of each year, I decided to share my analysis with readers. As I reviewed the geopolitical, economic and political landscapes, it scared the hell out of me. It looks like 2022 will be an annus horribilis with a phantasmagoria of likely horrors.

Geopolitical Horrors

Russia has massed 100,000 troops, poised for invasion, on the border of Ukraine. No one other than Putin knows his intentions. Perhaps he just wants to use this threat to exact major concessions. Either way, it is a bitter pill for the US and Europe. China is seriously threatening Taiwan but is unlikely to act until after the Beijing Olympics in February. If Putin or Xi ever intend to invade Ukraine and/or Taiwan, they will do so in 2022 when the US has its weakest leadership ever. Moreover, Putin is visiting Xi soon amidst increasing evidence of an entente forming between Russia and China.
The geopolitical horrors also include Iran and North Korea. Iran could race to develop nuclear weapons, threaten Israel and Saudi Arabia and foment terrorism throughout the Middle East. Kim Jung Un could invade South Korea using the same calculus as Putin and Xi. The greatest horror would be multiple threats materializing simultaneously, such as if attacks against Ukraine, Taiwan and South Korea were coordinated.

Economic Horrors

The greatest economic horror, by far, is inflation. The 7% inflation the US has experienced in recent months is backward looking. In coming months, I expect inflation in double-digits. Inflation savages not just your current income but also your investments. If you have managed to save say $1 million toward your retirement, you will need to have $1.1 million at the end of 2022 (assuming 10% inflation) just to stay even. Inflation will have cost you $100,000 in one year; that’s how pernicious it is.
Inflation destroys not only your income but also your investments
And inflation is just the beginning. The longer and higher inflation goes unchecked, the more Draconian will be the correction needed to restore the status quo ante. Ultimately, the Fed will have to surge interest rates; the last time inflation was this high, rates skyrocketed to 21%. Taming inflation will result in a deep and prolonged recession which will cause the deficit to go thermonuclear. Tax collections will plunge and Biden will print trillions upon trillions of borrowed dollars – all in a futile attempt to end the recession and to salvage progressives’ tattered political prospects. As always, the worst suffering will be among the poor and the middle class.

Political Horrors

One more thing is needed to complete the circle of our horrors – non compos mentis and feckless political leadership. Biden’s cognitive struggles are apparent to everyone including Putin, Xi, Kim and the ayatollahs. Other top US leaders have been selected based on identity, not competence, none more so than Kamala Harris, who got her big break in politics on her back. Their weakness and ineptitude was on full display in the departure from Afghanistan. Did I mention Biden wants to cut defense spending?
The Biden political horror show encompasses every issue: (1) Afghanistan with 60,000 yet to be evacuated; (2) rampant inflation; (3) lack of control over immigration and the border; (4) science-defying lockdowns, vaccine and mask mandates and school closures; (5) lawlessness, looting, bail elimination and non-prosecutions; (6) supply chain disruptions; (7) loss of US energy independence; (8) canceling US pipelines while approving Nord Stream 2; and (9) BBB’s $5+ trillion of added spending.

Investment Horrors

All the aforementioned horrors profoundly impact investing. Financial and retirement plans of Americans are being savaged by inflation and are subject to unknown and unknowable risks. FYI – I have actively invested for 50 years and owned an investment firm for 40 years. Following are the actions I have taken in the past few weeks.
I have moved my investments into a highly defensive posture. I now have over 70% of my investment assets in cash, cash equivalents and ultra short-term assets. Virtually all my fixed income (bonds) assets have durations of only one to two years. I have doubled my allocation to gold and commodities, the best inflation hedges. I want to be positioned to weather the coming apocalypse and to reinvest at or near the bottom.
*************************************
I take no pleasure whatsoever in any of this and hope I am wrong about 2022; but I call them as I see them. Worst of all, the horrors all are self inflicted and for the wrong reasons. Americans voted for the phlegmatic government they now have mainly because suburban women voted on the basis of personality rather than competence. They sowed the wind and soon we all will reap the whirlwind!
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Our next scheduled posting is on January 16, 2022.
More Liberty Less Government – mllg@cfl.rr.com – www.mllg.us
MLLG

MLLG Christmas 2021 Posting . . . Ebenezer Scrooge Gets A Bum Rap

George Noga

Scrooge accomplished much good – prior to his Christmas Eve epiphany.

MLLG Christmas 2021 Posting . . .

Ebenezer Scrooge Gets A Bum Rap

By: George Noga – December 5, 2021

Ever since Charles Dickens published his allegorical novella, A Christmas Carol, in 1843, Ebenezer Scrooge, before he was visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley on Christmas Eve, has been universally regarded as a pathetic hoarder. For nearly two centuries the word Scrooge has been both an eponym and epithet for miserly. Scrooge gets a bum rap; although unwittingly, he was really a beneficent humanitarian.

The definition of beneficent is doing good or resulting in good; a humanitarian is someone who promotes human welfare. Scrooge’s behavior meets these definitions even before his epiphany and reclamation on Christmas Eve. Whether he intended to be beneficent and humanitarian is immaterial; his actions meet the definitions.

Scrooge was a rich, hard-working, parsimonious businessman who hoarded his wealth. His clerk, Bob Cratchit, worked long hours for low pay, the norm in that milieu. Cratchit and hordes of others, who had been largely invisible in rural England, flooded English cities during the dawn of the Industrial Revolution and suddenly became very visible. Their lives in the cities were bleak, but vastly better than the devastating rural poverty they voluntarily fled. Scrooge’s actions did not harm anyone but himself.

Although his wealth did not benefit Scrooge personally as he took his gruel alone by the embers of a dying fire, it was a godsend to humanity. It provided capital to fuel the industrial revolution, then just beginning. While Dickens’ books paint a grim picture, every metric of human well being reveals a golden age for workers started circa 1840: wages exploded, life expectancy and literacy soared, child nutrition and mortality improved and child labor receded as school enrollment surged. There had never before been a comparable period of prosperity – and it has continued to our day!

All these blessings were made possible only by the capital accumulated by Ebenezer Scrooge and others like him. Scrooge’s tight-fisted parsimony and self-denial, whether wittingly not, was a great gift to humanity. Scrooge helped to fund the factories, railroads and equipment that greatly increased workers’ productivity and wages. Indeed, it is not an exaggeration to call Scrooge a beneficent humanitarian.

“May God bless us, every one!” (Tiny Tim)

Scrooge’s thrift benefitted humanity more than if he had tried to do good via Scrooge & Marley. Marley’s ghost fails to understand that by minding one’s business, one best serves mankind. Profit is the best metric of a business’ value to society and Scrooge’s business was highly profitable. Thus, Scrooge had no duty to give back as he already gave via his business. Scrooge’s capital benefitted humanity far more than if he had donated to charity or if government had taxed it in a misguided attempt to do good. The next time you hear Scrooge used as an epithet, remember, it is . . . humbug.

We end this, our final scheduled posting of 2021, by echoing the final words in Dickens’ novella, as spoken by Tiny Tim: “May God bless us, every one“

****************************************

Outside-the-box analysis, such as contained in this post, is what readers have come to expect from MLLG. Precious few people would defend the behavior of Ebenezer Scrooge before his Christmas Eve epiphany; yet, one must acknowledge his actions harmed no one and, to the contrary, resulted in great economic benefit to humanity. You may expect more of the same when we resume our postings on January 16, 2022.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR READERS. WE ARE TAKING A HOLIDAY BREAK AND WILL RESUME ON JANUARY 16, 2022; HOWEVER, WATCH FOR POSSIBLE UNSCHEDULED POSTINGS.

Our next scheduled posting is on January 16, 2022.

Click here to join our mailing list