Author: George Noga

Trump Presidency at Six Months

George Noga
Trump earns an A+ for being Donald Trump – and not Hillary Clinton. 
Trump Presidency at Six Months
By: George Noga – July 16, 2017
     This post is in response to many reader requests for our take on the Trump presidency. Recall that MLLG is non partisan; we don’t much care for either political party. Our lodestar is all in our name – more liberty and less government. Nonetheless, unlike liberals, we don’t live in a bubble and must deal with the world as it is.

     First off, Trump has done a phenomenal job on the singularly most important aspect of his presidency, i.e. he is not Hillary Clinton! In the end, little else matters as he gives America a respite from its progressive-led death march toward Gomorrah. Each day Trump is in office is a day Hillary is not; that alone is ample cause to celebrate.

      If Trump is judged on his actions and appointments, and not his words and tweets, there is much to like. Assessed against the more liberty, less government standard, he also earns reasonably good marks. Trump’s critics err by taking him literally but not seriously; whereas the key to understanding Donald J. Trump is to take him seriously but not literally. His accomplishments, in addition to not being Hillary, are:

1. National Security. Trump’s national security team of Tillerson, Mattis, McMaster and Pompeo is outstanding and they work together seamlessly and in sharp contrast to the internecine feuding of the Bush and Obama teams. Trump is squarely addressing the festering problems Obama kicked down the road including North Korea, Iran and ISIS. However, Trump’s proposed increase in defense spending is far too little.
2. Cabinet Appointments. Including the inspired national security team, his cabinet is arguably the strongest since George Washington. Ben Carson, Betsy DeVos, Tom Price, Scott Pruitt and Ryan Zinke round out the cabinet; don’t forget Mike Pence.
3. Judicial Appointments. His Supreme Court and lower court appointments have been as good as anyone could wish for. In four (or eight) years, he can make a difference.
4. Taxes, Regulation, Environment and Energy. Trump aces all these business related issues. He showed courage and leadership in pulling out of the Paris climate accord.
5. Health Care. Although imperfect and incomplete, Trump has done about as well as possible given the resistance from Democrats. If Hillary had won, she would have used the implosion of Obamacare to impose nationalized health care on America.

     There are also many things not to like about Trump’s first six months; the worst ones, in approximate order, are: (1) protectionist trade policy including opposition to NAFTA, TPP and China; (2) lack of discipline in keeping on message, talking and tweeting too loosely and often; (3) failure to understand the traditions and protocols of his office; and (4) law enforcement issues including continuation of the failed war on drugs, civil asset forfeiture and ignoring the need for police reform.

     To evaluate Trump, judge him on his actions and appointments, not his words and tweets. Take him seriously but not literally. Finally, rejoice each and every day that Trump is president, because that is a day when Hillary is not. Hallelujah!
Our July 23rd post describes the threat America faces from an EMP attack.

Taxation in America – The Ideal Paradigm

George Noga
This post presents the theoretically correct approach to taxation in America.
It is vital to understand the ideal – even if it has no chance of becoming law. 
Taxation in America – The Ideal Paradigm
By: George Noga – July 9, 2017
       Economists often begin by defining the ideal. In that spirit, we present the ultimate plan of federal taxation. Our plan is transparent, fair, simple, pro-growth and neutral with no corporate welfare or social policy. Compliance (now $600 billion per year) is cheap, quick and easy; evasion is nigh impossible. It abolishes the IRS and the need to provide government personal financial data. It taxes the underground economy (an enormous revenue enhancer), broadens the tax base and has no exemptions or mandates. It taxes consumption and not income, savings, investment or wealth.

      The ideal tax is a tax on consumption collected from consumers at the point of sale. All other federal taxes are abolished. Individual and corporate income taxes, payroll taxes, capital gains taxes and death taxes are abolished. Every American would know each time a purchase was made that he/she was paying a tax and the amount of the tax. If government raised taxes, Americans would be painfully aware every time they bought something. The true cost of government would be manifestly transparent.

       Everyone, even the poorest, would pay the tax. However, government could make the tax burden fair to all by any one of several means such as tax rebates for the first tranche of annual consumption or by a form of UBI (universal basic income). It is the proper role of government to decide which citizens are subject to the tax and the best method to rebate money to those who are fully or partially exempt from the tax.

      The national consumption tax (“NCT”) would be progressive, as those who spend more would pay proportionately more tax. Lower income Americans would benefit enormously because an NCT would be incredibly pro growth. Without a corporate tax, jobs and investment would flood into America from abroad. Without taxes on income, savings, investment or wealth, capital would surge into new investments creating new jobs; productivity would go on steroids. Note: The NCT could be in the form of a VAT, provided the tax was collected from consumers and not embedded in products.

      Economists of all stripes agree on much, if not all, of this. There is widespread consensus to abolish corporate and business taxes as nearly every dollar of such taxes comes from higher prices paid by consumers. Since most consumers are not wealthy, corporate taxes are highly regressive, harming the poorest among us. Payroll taxes are regressive as they are imposed only on the first tranche of income. The 50% paid by employers is entirely regressive as it really is the workers’ money. All in all, the new NCT would be less regressive than all of the taxes that are abolished.

        America can enact a simple, fair tax regimen that is the envy of the world. We can create a veritable cornucopia based on sustained economic growth for all Americans. We could generate enough growth to defuse the crisis of spending, debt and deficits, buttress Social Security and Medicare and fund a robust national defense.

    Unsurprisingly, the main obstacle is the Sturm und Drang between politics and economics. Economists of all persuasions broadly agree on a plan such as presented herein. Politicians however, prefer things complex and opaque; they prefer class warfare and demagoguing about how to divide the pie rather than growing the pie. They prefer to milk the system for political contributions. Saddest of all, they prefer to see their political enemies fail far more than they wish to see America succeed.
We return to Taxation in America in a week or two, following other posts.

Special Independence Day Posting – Invading Aliens, Liberals and Muslims

George Noga
This special Fourth of July posting was inspired by the movie Independence Day.
You see, invading aliens have a great deal in common with liberals and Muslims. 
Special Independence Day Posting
Invading Aliens, Liberals and Muslims
By: George Noga – July 4, 2017
       In the movie Independence Day, an alien race invaded Earth. After ravaging their home planet, they were forced to abandon it and to find another planet. The aliens planned to despoil Earth and then move on to plunder yet other planets. An alien race raping and pillaging planets, failing to learn from it and then replicating such sordid behavior on unspoiled new planets, repulsed everyone who saw the movie. Yet, something eerily similar is happening today with Muslims and liberals.

       Muslims desert their home countries en mass to emigrate to western democracies. They avidly abandon toxic Muslim countries so they can speak, vote, live and worship in liberty and secure a better life for themselves and for their children. Yet, what do they do after they arrive? They agitate to turn their new nations into replicas of the entropic, dysfunctional places they abandoned. They demand Sharia law, genital mutilation, honor killings, proscriptions against free speech and the gamut of failed policies that turned their home countries into bleak authoritarian wastelands. Their behavior parallels that of the aliens who invaded Earth on Independence Day.

       Such behavior also is mirrored by disillusioned liberals who are ditching bankrupt blue states in droves. Progressives dump foundering blue states to avoid confiscatory taxes, Draconian regulations, failed schools, mandatory unionization, rampant crime, political corruption and gun control. They are eager to escape the prevailing sense of malaise, torpor, ennui, angst, melancholy and disorder endemic in blue state America. They bolt to red states with lower taxes, better schools, fewer regulations, right to work laws, less crime and where everyday life is simpler and more humanistic.

    So, how do liberals behave after they decamp to red states? The transplanted progressives continue to vote for the same virulent, pernicious and toxic policies that will turn their new homes into the failed blue states they desperately fled. This is well underway as liberals despairingly abandon Puerto Rico for Florida, Massachusetts for New Hampshire and California for Nevada. They already changed voting patterns in those states. Recently, New Hampshire was a reliably red state, but libs fleeing Taxachusetts turned it blue. It is Independence Day deja vu. Will they ever learn?

      It is hard to draw any distinction between the rapacious aliens who invaded Earth on Independence Day and the Muslims invading Western Europe and the liberals invading, inter alia, Florida, New Hampshire and Nevada. There is one critically important difference however: the aliens invading Earth could always move on to other planets. That is not an option for us if Muslims and liberals are able to corrupt and despoil everything in their path and leave Earth a vast dystopian wasteland.
Our next post July 9th resumes the series about taxation in America.

The Russians Hacked My Email!

George Noga
MLLG’s inimitable analysis and perspective on Russian election hacking 
The Russians Hacked My Email!
By: George Noga – June 29, 2017
      This special posting provides analysis and perspective about Russian hacking and is in keeping with MLLG’s goal to focus more attention on current events.
Russian meddling in US elections goes back over 50 years

       In 1968, Russia desperately sought to prevent virulent anti-communist Nixon from being elected and secretly offered to subsidize Humphrey’s campaign. Petrified about Reagan, Russia again tried desperately to prevent his nomination (1976) and election (1980 and 1984). Russia’s attempts to influence our elections proved unsuccessful, but the crafty Russians discovered they could wreak more harm by sowing distrust in our institutions and governments. Hence, Russia’s recent actions were directed mainly at undermining confidence in US institutions rather than favoring specific candidates. Russia also interferes in other countries’ elections, most recently Brexit and France.
Obama interfered in numerous foreign elections

      In 2016 Obama intervened in Great Britain by threatening trade sanctions if the UK voted for Brexit. In 2015 he tried to defeat Netanyahu in Israel by illegally funneling money to opposition groups. In 2012 he intervened financially and otherwise in Egypt in favor of Morsi. Obama meddled big time in Honduras in 2009 in favor of a Castro and Chavez puppet. While still a senator in 2006, Obama interfered in Kenya to help elect his relative, Raila Odinga. Obama also intervened in Macedonia and  Libya.
The real Russia hacking story

     Election interference is old news; so, what made it a cause celebre in 2016? In one word: Trump. The Democrats, having lost an unloseable election, couldn’t accept voter rejection of their insipid candidate and failed policies; there had to be something else and the Russia-hacked-the-election meme fit the bill. Following is the real story.
    No one, not even the diabolical Russians, believed Trump would win. If Russia attempted to harm Hillary, it was to weaken her future presidency and because she is an avowed Russophobe. Russia had zero impact on the election. Hillary lost because she and liberal elites had undisguised contempt for the deplorable, racist, homophobic, sexist, xenophobic and Islamophobic middle Americans in fly-over land.
    The idea of Trump-Russia collusion is preposterous on its face; even Democrats know it is crazy-stupid. They keep it alive only to thwart Trump in every way possible. They would rather see Trump fail than to see America succeed. If Hillary were in similar circumstances: (1) her AG never would have been recused; (2) the Deputy AG would have been a sycophant; (3) no special counsel would have been appointed; and (4) the media would be 100% okay with all that. This story will persist as the narrative morphs as necessary, from collusion to obstruction to who knows what is next.
    Preoccupation with Russian election hacking is symptomatic of our toxic political culture. While we consternate over election hacking, we ignore Russian hacking of our electrical grid that could shut down power and result in untold horror. Russia already penetrated a Vermont utility and shut down the Ukraine power grid. Nevertheless, the media have focused for an entire year on the Russia-hacked-the-election chimera.
   When it comes to the integrity of American elections, there is much more to fear from voter fraud in blue states and cities than there is from Putin and the Russians.
Our not-to-be-missed Independence Day posting is next on July 4th.

Taxation in America – First Principles

George Noga
As America debates tax reform, MLLG provides the appropriate perspective.
Taxation in America – First Principles
By: George Noga – June 25, 2017
      This begins our series about taxation in America; it coincides with the debate over tax reform and Trump’s tax proposals. Our tax series consists of several parts that will run during the summer; some parts will run consecutively and some intermittently. We begin by presenting ten wholly objective and nonpolitical principles.
  1. Taxes should be simple and transparent. Citizens should demand transparency and simplicity; however, it is in the interest of government to make taxes complex and opaque. A sales tax collected from consumers at the point of sale meets these criteria as people know they are paying a tax and the amount. Conversely, a VAT, embedded in the cost of products, is opaque; consumers don’t always know they are paying a tax nor the amount. Business taxes, which are passed along to consumers as higher prices, are totally opaque. Government always goes to great lengths to maximize opacity.
  2. Only living, breathing humans pay taxes. Businesses and corporations do not pay taxes; they may remit taxes, but it is not their money. The burden of all business taxes falls on owners, employees and (95% of the time) on customers as higher prices. Business taxes are a myth propagated by government to beguile voters into believing they are not paying tax. The 50% of payroll taxes “paid” by employers is really borne by the employee – not the employer – and is simply government maskirovka.
  3. Taxes should not impede growth. The goal of taxation should be to maximize economic growth. Politicians can and should debate how to carve up the pie but never should do anything to shrink the pie as this harms all Americans. Taxes on capital (such as capital gains) are harmful to economic growth and result in locked-up capital, misallocation of resources, under-investment and loss of productivity.
  4. Taxes must be stable. Once enacted, a tax regimen should be permanent and rarely amended. Politicians can’t resist using the tax code for class warfare and political fundraising. Individuals and businesses need long-term tax stability to plan their lives and investments. Uncertainty is a mortal enemy of investment and productivity.
  5. Taxes should be neutral. Taxes should impose identical burdens on all taxpayers regardless of the nature of their businesses. Under the current tax code, businesses with substantial fixed assets are taxed much differently than service businesses.
  6. Know Hauser’s Law. Tax revenue as a percentage of GDP is constant regardless of the top marginal tax rate. From 1945 to 1963 when tax rates were 90%, tax revenue was 15%-18% of GDP. In the late 1980s when the top rate was 28%, tax revenue was 18% of GDP. Tax revenues vary according to economic conditions but not tax rates. Hauser’s Law works because taxpayers modify their behavior based on tax rates.
  7. Taxation is not for corporate welfare. Simple, transparent, neutral and low corporate taxes would eliminate most of the rationale for corporate welfare. Businesses never should be rewarded for lobbying activity more than for growing their businesses.
  8. Governments should compete on taxes. Nations and states should compete on rates. People always win with competition. Competition from much lower tax rates abroad has created tax inversions. Ultimately, this will be solved by lowering US tax rates.
  9. Taxation is not for social policy. Taxes are for raising revenue in the simplest, most efficient, transparent and economic friendly manner possible; they never should be an instrument for social policy. To the extent government has legitimate social goals, they should be addressed directly and not via the tax code. The worst abuse of this principle is the death tax, which is not about revenue but about class warfare and politics.
  10. Understand the Laffer Curve. Tax revenue maxes out at 30%-35% for individuals and 20%-25% for corporations; anything higher actually produces less total revenue.
      Keep these ten principles in mind throughout our series on taxation in America and as Congress debates tax reform this summer. The closer the final outcome conforms to these principles, the better for every American.
Don’t miss our next posting on Independence Day (July 4th); it is a real keeper!

Fermi’s Paradox – A Disturbing Explanation

George Noga
Man’s capacity for destruction vastly outstrips his ability to govern. We may be technological wizards but we remain political cretins.
Fermi’s Paradox – A Disturbing Explanation
By: George Noga – June 18, 2017
      During the Manhattan Project, the world’s leading physicists often kicked back at the end of the day and, while enjoying a few libations, ruminated about the great unresolved issues of science. One such day the subject turned to extraterrestrial life, whereupon Enrico Fermi immediately exclaimed: “So? Where is everybody?”
      Fermi already knew the math, i.e. there are 10^24 stars in the universe – equal to 10,000 stars and 100 Earth-like planets for every grain of sand. In our galaxy alone there are one billion Earth-like planets and likely 100,000 intelligent civilizations. Our galaxy is 10 billion years old and most of it can be reached via probes or radio waves in four million years and ET could have reached us 250 times over. Thus, Fermi’s Paradox: given the immense probability, why has no one communicated with us?
      Explanations abound. Perhaps ET has been communicating but we don’t know how to listen. Maybe they don’t wish to communicate or their math is different. Scientists agree there are serious flaws with the above explanations as well as countless others that have been proffered. The two most likely answers to Fermi’s Paradox are: (1) life is incredibly more difficult to start, to evolve and to acquire technological prowess than assumed; and (2) advanced civilizations destroy themselves on short time scales.
     Man’s capacity for destruction vastly outstrips his ability to govern himself. Nuclear weapons are in the hands of a megalomaniacal tyrant (North Korea), a murderous dictator (Russia), an unstable tribal state (Pakistan) and soon a theocracy that vows our destruction and embraces martyrdom (Iran). It is only a matter of time until terrorists acquire them – likely from one of the aforementioned sources. One low grade EMP bomb smuggled into the US on a container ship and launched via weather balloon could kill 300 million Americans – and we are doing little to address that threat.
      It is altogether conceivable that the failure of mankind to understand and to heed the eternal lessons of Kipling’s poem The Gods of the Copybook Headings supplies the disturbing answer to Fermi’s Paradox. We may be technological wizards but we are political cretins and we are on a track to destroy ourselves on a short time scale.
   Does any nation that consternates over transgender restrooms while ignoring hardening its electrical grid against EMP attack deserve to survive? Does any civilization that will spend $100 trillion to lower temperature .3 degrees in 80 years while ignoring immediate human needs deserve to endure? Does any country with a $20 trillion GDP that won’t buy backup generators for its electrical transmission facilities to recover from an EMP attack and to save millions of lives deserve to last?
       We have kicked the can down the road until there is no road left. Clinton and Bush declined to deal with the nuclear threats while they still were manageable and Obama was in la-la land for eight years. It is wrong however to lay blame solely on politicians who respond to our priorities. America, and indeed all of humanity, is slouching toward an explanation to Fermi’s Paradox; unfortunately, it’s a disastrous one.
Next, MLLG begins an intermittent series about taxation in America.

Old Glory is 240 Years Old Today

George Noga
Flag Day is celebrated on June 14 – commemorating the adoption of the flag by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1777 – 240 years ago today.
Old Glory is 240 Years Old Today
By: George Noga – June 14, 2017
      Exactly 240 years ago, the Second Continental Congress formally adopted our flag. Recently, several colleges have banned the flag from campus. Because our flag is under attack, this is a good time to revisit the question of American exceptionalism. President Obama famously stated: “I believe in American exceptionalism just as the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.” In other words, America is unexceptional. MLLG believes otherwise; to wit:
  • Since man first trod this earth, there have been 110 billion humans and fewer than 1% have lived their lives in liberty. Even today, less than 10% of the 7.5 billion people alive enjoy relative liberty. As Lincoln said at Gettysburg, America is a nation conceived in liberty. Clearly, liberty is exceptional throughout human history.
  • America’s founding was unique. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were the driving forces, not bonds of religion, nationality or tribe. We are the only nation ever founded on an idea. Our motto is E Pluribus Unum, or one out of many, which not uncoincidentially contains exactly thirteen letters. The shot fired in Lexington at dawn on July 29, 1775 was the shot heard around the world for very good reason.
  • Our Constitution is by far the oldest surviving written charter of government; the second oldest is Norway’s in 1814 – 38 years later. Over 50% of constitutions fail within 20 years; ours has lasted 230 years and counting. Surely, this is exceptional.
  • America is a nation of immigrants. Despite some hiccups, all have been absorbed into the fabric of America. The Statue of Liberty says it all: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. There has never been a country so welcoming to so many people from so many places for so long.
  • America has laid costly sacrifices on the alter of freedom in many wars and mostly without conquest, territory, resources or occupation. In WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf Wars and Afghanistan we sacrificed to keep the flame of liberty lit.
  • America remains exceptional today. We have acknowledged and sought to correct our mistakes. Many Muslim countries bar non Muslims from citizenship and condone slavery. Any Japanese who is even one-sixteenth Korean is shunned. China has fewer than 1,500 naturalized citizens. Europe fails to assimilate its immigrants. Places like Latin and South America, Africa, Central Asia, Russia and the Middle East are well beyond the pale. America remains the last best hope for the world.
     America is the only nation ever defined by an idea, and one that continues to be noble, true and eternal; it captivates and inspires people the world over who dream not only of coming to America but of becoming Americans. This land is our land, from California to the New York Island, from the redwood forests to the gulf stream waters, from purple mountain majesties above fruited plains to oceans white with foam.
      May God continue to shed his grace on America, to stand beside her and guide her with a light from above and may God continue to bless America – our home sweet home! On Flag Day we celebrate our flag and the exceptional nation it represents!
On June 18th we write about Fermi’s Paradox and extraterrestrial life.

MLLG College Commencement Address

George Noga
Instead of a diploma, graduates should receive an apology and a tuition refund. 
MLLG College Commencement Address
By: George Noga – June 11, 2017
     Graduates: upon your graduation today from this elite college, you will receive congratulations and a diploma. Instead, you should demand an apology from the college along with a refund of most of your tuition. You have been swindled, deceived, bilked, scammed, hoodwinked and defrauded in almost every way imaginable.
      During your seven years here, you never were taught by a professor; most of your graduate-student instructors sat in the same class last semester that they now teach. Most of you graduated with honors; making them meaningless and reminiscent of Lake Wobegon where everyone is above average. Many of your degrees are useless; some even are harmful. If your degree is in any hyphenated subject or in one that ends in studies, consider it worthless; the same applies to degrees in Zombies in Popular Media and Queer Musicology. Most of you didn’t need a college degree in the first place.
    No instructor or guest speaker has ever challenged you with ideas contrary to progressive shibboleths. You have experienced diversity in every conceivable way except the one that matters, i.e. diversity of thought. You have been indoctrinated in pro-government, anti-capitalist, anti-business and politically correct orthodoxy. You have been propagandized and terrorized about the environment and climate change.
      You have been coddled by trigger warnings, safe rooms and even the avoidance of microaggressions. You have been cloistered in a cocoon of enforced conformity. Males have had their constitutional rights stripped away and live on the razor’s edge, one ersatz accusation away from perdition. There is not now and never was a campus rape crisis; the real world has no speech codes; and all America is a free speech zone.
      Your college has a humongous endowment and doesn’t even need to charge tuition. Nevertheless, it has colluded with government, and against you and your parents, to raise the cost of tuition. Government decided everyone needed a college degree, so they lowered standards causing a student glut and a bubble in higher education.
     Government then made student loans easily available and your college raised its tuition to capture the subsidies. Tuition has risen 400% faster than inflation. Middle income taxpayers, who foot the bills, are subsidizing your elite education and are the ones you stiff when you inevitably default on your loans. You show your ingratitude by flagrantly flaunting your disrespect of their values, religion and patriotism.
    You are victims of intergenerational theft and inherit $600,000 as your share of future unfunded government liabilities. You also inherit a dysfunctional world with multiple existential threats and an imminent debt crisis, all due to following the discredited progressive dogma you were taught at this college. You are a lost generation and will be truly lucky if your life is better than your parents’.
      Following this ceremony, go straight to the nearest unemployment office, as this elite college did not equip you to add value to the economy. Those of you finding a job will soon learn that it is not about you – it is all about the customer. Your second stop should be at a law firm to sue this college for fraud and a tuition refund. Finally, you must begin to unlearn all the crapola you were taught at this college.
       If you feel entitled to a break following graduation, spend some time in Venezuela or Cuba to experience some real socialistic comradeship – but remember to bring your own food, medicine and toilet paper. Use your time (while standing in lines) in these workers’ paradises to decide if you are a frail, delicate, fragile snowflake who must be sheltered in a safe room with a teddy bear or someone ready to face the real world.
      Finally, as alums, you will be solicited by this college for donations to add to its already obscenely large endowment. Instead, send them a copy of your student loan repayment schedule and once again demand a refund of your tuition payments.

Next up is a  special MLLG posting on June 14th – Flag Day

MLLG High School Graduation Address

George Noga

 
There are many excellent teachers in America, unlike those brutally described in this post. The problem however is not limited to a few bad apples; there are not enough good apples. 
MLLG High School Graduation Address
By: George Noga – June 4, 2017
       Congratulations on your graduation from this failed government high school. Now you enter the real world and must confront hard truths beginning with your teachers. They attended a college of education which attracts the poorest students mired in the bottom deciles of their class; nevertheless, they harbor illusions of adequacy. Teachers can’t be fired no matter how inept or dangerous. Some taught you; others are assigned to rubber rooms where they can do no harm. The problem is not just a few bad apples, but too few good apples. Teachers are anti-competitive government workers who oppose pay based on merit or results. They are overpaid for what they produce.
      Your unionized teachers bargain for salary and work rules at your expense; that’s why your school day begins at zero dark thirty. Public schools are a jobs program for adults; you are afterthoughts. You were indoctrinated in pro-government, anti-business, politically correct conformity with an entitlement mentality. They scared the bejesus out of you about climate change and the environment with myth and misinformation.
       School choice is the civil rights issue of our age; yet, you had no choice where to matriculate, unlike affluent families – none of whose kids attended your school. Your teachers and administrators stood blocking your schoolhouse door to stop you from escaping. Principals and administrators are unaccountable to students, parents or anyone but  the government blob – which never has closed a failed school. They are in constant fear that if armed with a free choice, the most potent force on earth, you will escape their government monopoly. Minority students were thrown under the school bus by the NAACP and your elected leaders because they choose to support public sector unions over you – knowing full well the great harm this inflicts on you.
      Although your learning was far beneath grade level, your school spent nearly as much per student as the most elite private schools. The education  budget is wasted on administrators; barely half ever found its way into your classroom. Your government school with police presence and metal detectors resembled a prison. Sports were more important than education. Your school was a Petri dish for every dysfunction and social pathology. Your graduation is a testament to your perseverance – not to learning. You have been badly defrauded by those you innocently trusted.
      You can’t attend college without much remedial work and community college is mostly a chimera. Any honors or awards you may have received are cruel hoaxes. You are not prepared for good jobs; practice asking “Do you want any fries with that burger?” Every tattoo and piercing reduces your lifetime income by $100,000. You can expect a life of quiet desperation with little or no social or economic mobility.
      In a final ignominy, you are victims of intergenerational theft; you inherit $600,000 as your share of unfunded future U.S. government liabilities. This does not include your share of unfunded future state liabilities for teacher retirement, health care and benefits which vastly outstrip benefits for comparable private sector jobs. You inherit the equivalent of a mortgage on a million dollar home – only without the home.
     There is no way to sugarcoat your predicament. Nonetheless, you are young and there is a narrow path that can led to success – but only for a precious few of you. The first step is to eschew all myth and political correctness, to embrace truth and to see and to understand the world as it is – not how you would like it to be. Understanding the reality of your high school experience as described herein is a good beginning.
      Learning must be a lifetime pursuit; never stop. Find something you are good at which isn’t necessarily something you like. Work incredibly hard; save money; and consider starting a business. Above all, make sure your children have educational choices and are not forced, like you, to attend failed government schools.
The next post on June 11th is MLLG’s college commencement address.

Revenge of the Gods of the Copybook Headings

George Noga
Kipling warns mankind to heed the wisdom learned since we lived in trees.  When we ignore these eternal truths, terror and slaughter inevitably follow.
Revenge of the Gods of the Copybook Headings
By: George Noga – May 28, 2017
       Civilization is built on nuggets of wisdom learned from man’s behavior through the ages resulting in well understood and inviolable rules of conduct. Millennia of human experience have ingrained these rules and disregarding them inevitably leads to terror and slaughter. Copybooks once were used in schools to teach penmanship. Each page was headed by one of these nuggets of wisdom which students then copied such as “All is not gold that glitters“. These are Kipling’s Gods of the Copybook Headings.

     This post excerpts parts of the poem; the full version is readily available online. The first two stanzas of the poem follow.

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper protestations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.
 
We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
that Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.
 
       The Gods of the Market Place refer to transient and ephemeral fads such as Tulip Mania and the South Sea Bubble. Today such Gods would include climate change, transgender bathrooms, open borders, microaggressions and government health care.

With the hopes that our world is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she even was Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshiped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.
 
When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed they sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “Stick to the Devil you know.”
 
     The Gods of the Market tell us what we want to hear – that we can spend and borrow without limit or consequence and that we can slash defense spending and still be safe. They tell us we can tax and regulate without choking economic growth. The Gods of the Market tell us we can have perpetual peace if only we ignore threats and appease North Korea, Russia, ISIS and Iran and negotiate ersatz one-sided treaties.

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”
 
     The Gods of the Market promise that every collectivist, socialist, communist and utopian scheme will deliver abundance for all. But such schemes are contrary to human nature per the copybook headings. Never has socialism worked for more than a family, clan or small tribe – perhaps 25 people max. Yet this eternal lesson is lost on the people of Venezuela and far too many other places. Following is the poem’s apt conclusion.

And after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!
 
     Kipling’s poem goes to the heart of human nature and is just as valid now as when he wrote it in 1919. Today, America is worshiping the Gods of the Market and defying the Gods of the Copybook Headings. We continue this only at our grave peril. Water still wets us and fire still burns; the only question remaining is: how much terror and slaughter must America endure before the Gods of the Copybook Headings return?
June 4th is MLLG’s not-to-be-missed high school graduation address