Author: George Noga

Les Deplorables – Special Posting

George Noga
The 2016 election will be decided by les deplorables – good-hearted, hard-working
Americans branded as racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and Islamophobic.
Les Deplorables – Special Posting

By: George Noga – September 20, 2016

       I tuned out election prattle all summer, knowing nothing much matters until after Labor Day. Back in the loop and with fresh eyes and ears, I now sense a denouement to the election coinciding with Hillary’s “basket of deplorables” comment. I don’t purport to know who will win the election, but I now know how it will be decided.

     The 2016 election will be decided by les deplorables, i.e. those who are fed up with political correctness, which is really about coercion, intimidation and control with the ultimate objective of criminalizing speech distasteful to elites. It will be decided by the  basket of deplorables in rust belt America whose jobs and income have stagnated for a decade but are patronizingly scolded that all is well. It will be decided by coal miners and energy workers victimized by elitist environmental zealots. Les deplorables even have a theme song, “Do you hear the people sing?” from Les Miserables.

 

“Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!”

     The election will be decided by les deplorables, good-hearted, hard-working Americans branded as racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and Islamophobic. That remark was no slip of the tongue; it was an insight directly into the dark soul of progressives and their loathing of fly-over America. It will be decided by legions of 29ers, 49ers and victims of Obamacare’s high premiums, deductibles and co-pays.

     The election will be decided by les deplorables revulsed at the latte-left’s perversion of American history and its role in the world and by repugnance over campus idiocies such as trigger warnings, microaggressions and safe rooms. It will be decided by deplorables’ disgust at legalized theft by public sector unionism and particularly by teachers unions standing in the schoolhouse door blocking poor children from leaving.

     The election will be decided by les deplorables‘ outrage about being lied to ad nauseam. Elites lie congenitally about terrorism; they always opt for lies over truth.  Hillary lies so often it is hard to keep track; there was Whitewater, cattle futures, White House travel office, sniper fire in Bosnia, emails, Benghazi and now pneumonia-gate.

     Les deplorables will decide the November election; the only questions remaining are how many of them turn out and will it be enough. I can hear the people singing; it is the music of a people who will not be slaves again – slaves to political correctness, slaves to name calling, slaves to a moribund economy and slaves to progressive lunacy and lies. Could there be a new life about to start – when November comes?

International Trade – Part II

George Noga
Americans would be better off if the United States unilaterally abolished all tariffs
and trade barriers – even if no other country ever reciprocated – Milton Friedman
International Trade – Part II 
By: George Noga – September 19, 2016

       The economics of international trade is one of the few things about which all economists – liberal and conservative – are in agreement. By expanding the size of the market to the fullest extent possible (global), free trade enables greater specialization, economies of scale, comparative advantage and generates more wealth for everyone than any system that restricts cross-border exchange via tariffs or trade barriers.

     Most thinking about trade is upside down. What makes us well off is imports; exports are merely the cost of obtaining the imports. As usual, Milton Friedman said it best: “What we export we cannot eat, wear or use. It is imports that provide us TVs, cars and shoes. The gain from foreign trade is what we import. What we export is the cost of getting those imports. The proper objective for a nation (first propounded by Adam Smith) is to get the most imports possible for the least exports.” Tariffs and trade barriers raise costs and reduce the amount of imports bought with a unit of exports.

      Trade does not occur between countries but between people. It is a non-coercive voluntary action where both parties benefit. America did not buy those athletic shoes made in China – you did. In our households we know we are better off getting more in and sending less out. Our standard of living both as a nation and as a family is highest when we maximize imports and minimize exports. This is the dead opposite of the rhetoric we hear from the media and from both political parties and candidates.

     When countries go to war, they blockade their enemy to keep them from trading. Protective tariffs are the means nations use to prevent their own citizens from trading. We do to ourselves in time of peace what our enemies do to us in time of war.

     Trade agreements are managed trade rather than free trade; however, they create trade that is freer than before, even with incrementalism and lengthy phase in periods. Trade is not an us versus them proposition and domestic tariffs and trade barriers are not chits to be given up only if reciprocated in roughly equal measure by the other side. Even a poorly negotiated trade deal is beneficial to no deal. Finally, most job losses blamed on trade really are due to technology – to the tune of 80% or more.

     The last issue is trade deficits. Our family runs a  huge trade deficit with Costco and Duke Energy. Fortunately, we run a corresponding surplus with Vanguard and Fidelity. We do not have to be in balance with each entity we do business with. Yes, the US runs a trade deficit but it is matched by an investment surplus. The US has 41 straight years with a trade deficit and it has had no adverse impact on our economy.

     The rise of man did not occur in rugged mountain chains, burning desserts or beside great oceans. It occurred by harbors, navigable waterways and crossroads. The rise of humanity and the creation of wealth inexorably are tied to free trade and so it remains.

     Adam Smith and Milton Friedman got it exactly right. Americans would be better off if the United States unilaterally abolished all tariffs and trade barriers even if no other country ever reciprocated. If China indeed manipulates its currency, subsidizes exports and employs cheap labor, it is an unleavened blessing for American families to the tune of $2,450 each and every year – and we don’t even have to say “thank you“.

The next post presents MLLG’s take on policing in America.

Are International Trade Agreements Bad for America? Part 1

George Noga
Trade between nations always is an unalloyed benefit even when workers are displaced
and trading partners manipulate their currency, subsidize exports and use cheap labor.
International Trade – Part 1
By: George Noga – September 12, 2016

        This post and the next one address international trade, including trade agreements such as NAFTA and TPP, which has become an issue in the 2016 election. There are so many myths about foreign trade it requires two posts to debunk them all. Upcoming posts between now and November address several hot-button presidential election issues including: (1) policing in America; (2) political correctness; (3) real versus phony issues; (4) Uber and gay marriage; and (5) economic growth. Stay tuned!

     Both parties and candidates are demonizing international trade making it their bete noire. They have leveled numerous charges and criticisms including, inter alia, the following list. This post and the following one next week will address each of them.

    • Trade agreements are not really free trade but managed trade
    • Trade deals are poorly negotiated and unfair to the US
    • American companies are harmed and workers displaced
    • Trade is competition as in the US versus foreign trading partners
    • Foreign countries subsidize goods being exported
    • Currencies are manipulated and undervalued by other countries
    • Tariffs and barriers are needed to support vital domestic industries
    • Cheap labor is being used to gain unfair advantage
    • The US incurs harmful large and perennial trade deficits

     Tariffs and trade agreements are asymmetrical in terms of perception about those harmed relative to those benefited. Take the sugar tariff; it benefits a handful of big US sugar producers (mainly in Florida) enriching some by $100 million per year. The tariff costs each American (all 320 million of us) $100 per year but is opaque because it is buried in the cost of products – a few cents here, a penny there. Because the benefits are so concentrated and the costs so diffuse, the sugar growers spend a small fortune lobbying Congress for the tariff while there is no broad based popular opposition.

       Trade agreements are the reverse of tariffs; harm to the industry affected is visible, concentrated and immediate whereas the benefits diffused among all 320 million Americans and realized over a longer period of time. Therefore, opposition to trade agreements is populist and political with the industries affected, and of course labor unions, spending a small fortune on lobbying while there is no natural constituency to support the agreements. It is ripe for media and political demagoguery.

      In all cases – tariffs, barriers and trade deals – a small but highly concentrated cohort forces its will on the American people because of politics fueled by money and abetted by media economic illiteracy. In all cases, Americans would be far, far better off without domestic tariffs or barriers and with all trade agreements – even flawed ones. Best of all would be unfettered free trade without any government involvement.

Consider an example – US imports from China – currently $500 billion per year. Let’s say, a arguendo, China cheats by undervaluing its currency and subsidizing exports; moreover, they employ low cost labor. Let’s further stipulate China’s cheating amounts to 33%, i.e. they are dumping $750 billion worth of goods for $500 billion. This is an unmitigated godsend to America which receives a $250 billion gift each year from China – equal to $780 per American or $2,450 per family. The benefits ($2,450 per family annually) far outweigh the costs of some temporarily displaced workers.

     Take the case of Carrier Corp, excoriated by Trump for moving its manufacturing to Mexico from Indiana. It made the move to stave off Asian competition and it enabled Carrier to retain higher paid US jobs in R&D, marketing and high end components.

      In a personal anecdote, I once wanted a Traeger BBQ smoker but never bought one because they were too expensive. Traeger shifted manufacturing to China and the cost plunged so much that I bought one. Sales skyrocketed and Traeger created hundreds more (and better) US jobs than before they shifted manufacturing to China. The new US jobs are in sales, wood pellets, customer service, BBQ supplies and delivery.

The next post is the final part of our analysis of international trade and tariffs.

Public Sector Unions are Bankrupting America

George Noga
Only in the fetid parallel universe of government is unionization expanding.
Unions exact uncompensated value politically that cannot be earned on merit.
Public Sector Unions are Bankrupting America

$4 Million a Year for a Bureaucrat

By: George Noga – September 5, 2016

    US private sector union membership was nearly 50% after WWII; today it is 6% and declining as private sector workers conclude the costs of union membership are not worth the putative benefits. Public sector union membership, non-existent in 1945, is 40% and growing, as union workers average twice the compensation of the private sector for comparable jobs. In short, they use politics to extort from the rest of us.

In the private sector, market forces serve as a counterbalance to unions; if pay and benefits get too far out of line, companies lose money and go out of business. This causes unions’ interests to be closely aligned with the private companies they organize. Private sector unions become fierce advocates for private enterprise and lower taxes. This flip-flops with public sector unions; they become pro-government and anti-market agitating for higher taxes at all levels. They literally are bankrupting America.

Public sector unions have many horrors but two stand out. First is teachers unions. The NEA and other public unions are primarily to blame for our failing schools. They stand in the schoolhouse door blocking inner city kids from leaving, trapping them in failed schools. They have turned education into a jobs program for adults. They suck up more and more resources for ever declining performance. School choice is the civil rights issue of our time and the NEA is the 21st century Bull Conner, fire hoses and all.

Second, public sector unions are bankrupting America with enormous pressure for higher taxes to fund unsustainable public pensions and benefits for workers earning double free market compensation. Many jurisdictions are facing bankruptcy; others must jeopardize public safety and cut vital services to fund the aforementioned pensions and benefits. As shown in the following section, the situation is so extreme that it can cost up to $4 million per year to fund one low level civil service job.

$4 Million a Year for an Entry Level Bureaucrat

This animadversion is stranger than fiction. Assume a man begins working after high school as a unionized clerk in the Department of Motor Vehicles. He works for 30 years, eventually becoming a mid-level bureaucrat. He then retires receiving 90% of his final year pay; this is  based on 3% per year for 30 years – a common arrangement. He and his spouse (who also is entitled to benefits) collect the indexed pension for the rest of their joint lives. Of course, they also receive lifetime health care benefits.

       Our civil servant had a son at age 20 who followed precisely in his footsteps as did his grandson and great-grandson – each, in turn, working for the DMV in similar jobs. Fast forward many years; the original civil servant, his son and grandson are all alive, retired and collecting pensions and benefits. Taxpayers are paying four generations of the same family for only one active worker (great-grandson) who just began work.

      The cost, albeit well into the future, is $3-$4 million/year depending on overtime spiking, health care costs, disability status and inflation. Bottom line: taxpayers are paying up to $4 million for only one active employee, who just began work. In the private sector, the comparable amount would be under $300,000. This means the government, thanks to public sector unions and politicians, is paying up to 13.3 times (1,330%) the private sector for a low skill job. Perhaps now you can better understand how public sector unions are bankrupting cities, counties and states across America.
The next post about international trade begins our fall series addressing election issues.

Let’s Celebrate Capitalism

George Noga
Capital Day – a new American holiday – should be on the Sunday before Labor Day
Let’s Celebrate Capitalism
By: George Noga – August 28, 2016

    Even in the Stone Age, capital made labor more productive. A paleolithic fisherman worked all day to spear enough fish to survive. He intuited that a net could make him much more productive but he had no capital. He slept less, working extra hours each day, until he accumulated enough fish (his capital) to survive the many days required to build the net. Our newbie capitalist then generated a surplus of fish to trade for other goods or to make more nets. His capital investment enhanced the well-being of his entire band. In the 21st century this still holds true – capital enhances labor.

     Poor countries today are underdeveloped due to insufficient capital investment for a variety of reasons. Many are impoverished by obeisance to anti-capitalist ideologies. Others are destitute because they repel capital by not respecting property rights and the rule of law. Some lack educated work forces needed to properly operate capital equipment. Yet others remain poor because of confiscatory taxation and mind-numbing regulation. Many poor nations suffer from many or all of the above conditions. Even Europe and the USA could be far better off by lowering taxes, reducing regulations, eliminating uncertainty, ending creeping socialism and fully embracing capitalism.

    Capitalists, like our paleolithic fisherman, are responsible for the rise of humanity from isolated hunter-gatherer-fishermen up to and including modern man. They enhanced the IQ of the human race by increasing human interaction and cross cultural contacts in early trading centers – where intrepid traders (mostly from the deepest end of the gene pool) left far more behind than their trading goods. There was however one dark side to this. Seeing the wealth created by early entrepreneurs, early politicians created various means to destroy wealth – a pattern that also still holds true today.

    Traders, entrepreneurs, creators, innovators – capitalists all – have spawned enormous wealth, reduced poverty, increased life expectancy and boosted IQ. They are truly the heroes of the world. Who has done more to benefit the common man – Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, Sam Walton or any king, president or commissar?

    If you doubt for a moment capitalists are the heroes of the world, look around you. Ponder with amazement the monuments they have bestowed on you. Gape in awe at the medical breakthroughs, consumer electronics, software, technology and the veritable cornucopia of everyday marvels. Average folks today live better than monarchs mere decades ago. World poverty has been halved in the past generation. Luxuries a short time ago are selling today at Wal-Mart or Costco for ridiculously low prices. Not a single one of these miracles was created by government.

    Not uncoincidentally, capitalists are the antithesis of all socialist and utopian schemes. Without entrepreneurs we would be like the former USSR, Cuba, Venezuela and all the other hell holes that elevate the state over people. The greatest metric to measure the progress of a civilization is the rate at which it creates new wealth. The more new millionaires, the better that society is innovating, creating jobs, efficiently allocating its resources and responding to the needs and wants of all its members.

    Labor Day is appropriate to honor work which is a noble activity. However, it must be expanded to honor capitalists who make labor more productive via their risk and investment. America is humanity’s ultimate capitalist bastion; let’s celebrate capitalism and the capitalists who had a dream and the will to see it through. The horn-of-plenty that is America today results from labor and capital – let’s honor them both!

The next post, scheduled for Labor Day, addresses public sector unions.

Food Fight in America

George Noga
Progressive beliefs about food are a witch’s brew of ignorance, politics and religion.
Food Fight in America
By: George Noga – August 21, 2016
     Progressives call GMOs frankenfood and demand it be labeled. They believe organic food tastes better, is healthier, more nutritious, more natural and better for the environment. As usual, we examine the underlying facts.
      Genetically Modified Organisms or GMOs: Vermont recently became the first state to mandate GMO labeling – which could cost $500 annually per family as uninformed consumers buy more expensive non-GMO foods. National surveys show 90% favor labeling food containing GMOs; however, the same surveys show 80% also favor labeling for  DNA – what does that tell you about consumers’ acumen?
      Over 100 Nobel Laureates signed a letter supporting GMOs asserting: (1) scientific agencies find GMOs as safe or safer than other foods; (2) there has never been a single confirmed case of a negative health outcome; (3) the environmental impact is less damaging; and (4) they are a boon to biodiversity. Despite this, progressive groups are blocking a GMO rice that reduces/eliminates vitamin A deficiency, which UNICEF estimates can save the lives of 2 million children each year in Africa and Asia.
      With absolutely zero scientific basis and the most blatant anti-science of our age, liberals deny the fruits of modern science to starving and under-nourished poor people. This is not only callous, inhumane and heartless, it is nothing short of imposing starvation solely in the name of progressive religion. To call it immoral is insufficient.
      If GMOs are labeled, we propose the following. “This product contains organic material altered by human intervention. GMOs began 10,000 years ago per the Bible (Genesis 30:30-43) via our forebears’ selection of seeds and breeding. In recent centuries some GMOs resulted from natural mutations due to radiation or chemicals. More recently, some GMOs were via alterations to DNA. These changes have been an unmitigated boon to all of mankind and to the environment. Bon Appetit!”
       Organic Food: For acolytes of the environmental religion, organic food is their holy Eucharist. It is politically correct manna that the right people with the right ideas consume to demonstrate their good intentions, to feel smug about themselves and to solidify their membership in the progressive tribe. Organic food is mainly a political construct; knowing this, Whole Foods puts its stores nearly exclusively in enclaves with high concentrations of progressive voters. Whole Foods understands that they really are selling warm, fuzzy, feel-good Utopian fantasies rather than food.
      There is no difference in taste between organic and conventionally grown food as confirmed by scores of blind, independent taste tests. Stanford researchers reviewed 237 studies and published their conclusions in the Annals of Internal Medicine concluding there are no differences in health, nutrition or antioxidant levels. Organic isn’t more natural and 25% is fake, grown in China. There is however one clear difference – organic costs up to 300% more. How do you spell g-u-l-l-i-b-l-e?
       Nor is organic better for the environment. Both organic and conventional farming use pesticides, the sole difference is organic uses “natural” pesticides which are not as effective and require much heavier usage with bad consequences for the environment. Organic is inefficient, requiring anywhere from 30% to 50% more land – another body blow to the environment. Organic emits more greenhouse gasses from fertilizer (manure), often trucked in from afar. Organic is neither local nor sustainable.
       Progressive dogma about food is 100% voodoo, a toxic witch’s brew of ignorance, eco-religion, lies, myth and evil. It is indefensible scientifically and morally. Two million poor kids are condemned to death each year from vitamin A deficiency. Those who imbibe the witch’s brew cause needless death to children and destruction to the environment. If liberal ideas are so obviously wrong about simple food issues, how can progressives ever be taken seriously about more weighty issues?
The next post advocates a new holiday – Capital Day should precede Labor Day

Why Government Fails While Business Succeeds

George Noga

Government fails while business succeeds because of immutable human nature. At root, it is exactly the same reason socialism fails while capitalism succeeds.

By: George Noga – August 14, 2016

    Business succeeds because its risks, rewards and incentives are properly aligned with human nature. The need to make a profit focuses attention and demands great effort because success confers wealth and status while failure has immediate and unpleasant consequences. Thus, business attracts motivated, talented and hard working people. Why would anyone be a bureaucrat if he/she could succeed in business?

    All that is well understood; however, there are more compelling explanations for spectacular corporate successes like Apple, Walmart, Disney, Berkshire Hathaway, FedEx and Coca-Cola. Juxtapose these against abject government failures such as public schools, terrorism, Madoff, economic growth, jobs, disaster relief, health care, IRS, USPS and most major cities (Newark, Detroit, Chicago), states and nations.

    It all comes down to human nature which is unchanged since man walked on two feet. Humans are hard wired to further their self interest and to respond to incentives. This explains why socialism has never worked outside a small group like a family, clan or tribe. Socialist or Utopian schemes never have worked for more than 50 people – probably it is more like 25. We need look no further than Jamestown and Plymouth to see how socialism resulted in starvation and every form of privation; it was only when the settlers instituted private property that hunger and suffering were alleviated.

    The same principle that dooms socialism also casts its pall on government – even in capitalist countries. Both are contrary to the most basic laws of human nature – self interest and incentives. Public sector economics explains the inner workings of government; it proves,inter alia, why government prefers debt over taxes, why taxes are opaque and why failed public programs continue to exist and even to expand.

    In  business, all it takes is one driven entrepreneur such as a Jobs, Gates, Buffet, Fred Smith, Sam Walton or Walt Disney to change the world. By its very nature government must appeal to the lowest common denominator (“LCD”) of the populace to win elections. Politicians behave rationally when they do whatever is necessary to win elections. That explains why they divide people by race, gender, age and income and pursue policies they know to be detrimental to those they represent.

    A great paradox lies at the heart of government and human nature. Some limited government is necessary but there is no practical way to make it respond to the people’s long term best interests. The only possible solution is to reduce the size and scope of government to the absolute minimum, i.e. more liberty and less government.

    Business structures its incentives to appeal to the best and brightest among us and, as a consequence, one talented and motivated business person can change the world and make life better for everyone. In contrast, government always descends to the LCD or to the level of the least of us. Socialism and government always fail because they are, at the most elemental level, diametrically opposed to abiding human nature.

Next: The timeless struggle between personal freedom and government power.

Without Remembrance There Can Be No Redemption  

George Noga

If remembrance is the key to redemption, the Japanese people are unredeemed

By: George Noga – August 9, 2016

     This post is on the anniversary of the Nagasaki bomb. It is a post I never should have to write and one in which I take absolutely no satisfaction. But it must be written and presented to a candid world. A former German president (Richard von Weizsacker) speaking of German war crimes said, “The secret of redemption lies in remembrance“.  By that standard, Japan has failed utterly and abjectly and deserves no redemption.

    It was only a few months ago (75 years after the fact) and following several decades of legal effort that Japan apologized for and settled its WWII slave labor claims. Only in late 2015 did Japan come to grips with its sexual slavery of young Korean girls; they had to be dragged kicking and screaming and settled only under duress. Japan has yet to accept responsibility for the Rape of Nanjing in which its troops, in a frenzy of racial hatred, slaughtered 300,000 Chinese civilians in a gruesome depraved manner.

    Nanjing was but one episode in a long train of Japanese atrocities. Other Japanese holocausts include the Bataan Death March, subhuman POW treatment, massacres in Shanghai and Hong Kong and the Yellow River flood when Japan destroyed dikes and murdered 1 million civilians. During Japan’s occupation of the Philippines, there were 72 documented massacres leaving over 120,000 dead. The list goes on and on; it includes Laha Airfield, Bangka Island, Parit, Sulong, Tol Plantation, Balikapan, Chekiang, Sandakan Death March, Truk, Manchuria, Pingfan and 40 more wretched massacres, holocausts, ethnic cleansings and atrocities by the Empire of Japan.

    In willful and flagrant disregard of the unambiguous historical record of the past 75 years, the Japanese people remain in denial. They refuse to teach in their schools about the Rape of Nanjing and exclude it from their history books. They persist in ignoring, downplaying and obfuscating their atrocious record of racism and terror. Japanese children are not told the ugly truth about their fathers’ and grandfathers’ actions.

    To anyone who now wants to give Japan a pass on its WWII atrocities, my response is straightforward: Remember Pearl Harbor! Remember the Bataan Death March! Remember Nanjing! Remember the POW camps! Remember all the other horrors Japan promulgated and about which it has national amnesia! Above all, never grant the Japanese people redemption until their collective memory improves and all their children learn the truth about their ancestors. Finally, on this 71st anniversary of Nagasaki, let’s pledge to remember the 3 million lives saved by the atomic bombs.

The next post August 14 addresses Obama’s overtime and payday loan rules.

Hiroshima Revisited 

George Noga

American opinion about the use of atomic weapons on Japan has changed since 1945. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (George Santayana).

  By: George Noga – August 6, 2016

    Today marks the 71st anniversary of the US attack on Hiroshima. We reexamine the wisdom of using atomic weapons on Japan and include recently declassified top secret US war plans for the invasion of Japan. The next post on August 9th, the anniversary of the Nagasaki attack, is titled Without Remembrance There Can Be No Redemption; it catalogues Japanese WWII atrocities and the Japanese people’s ongoing refusal to face up to their past horrors like the Rape of Nanjing, slave labor and comfort women.

    There were many casualties in Hiroshima (65,000) and Nagasaki (45,000); the exact number is disputed (some believe they were much higher) and may never be known. For perspective, the conventional US bombing of Tokyo killed 100,000; the allied bombing of Hamburg, Germany 50,000; and the battle of Stalingrad saw 1.5 million killed. In all of WWII, 80 million people perished. Finally, in Nanjing the Japanese Rape brutally slaughtered 300,000 civilians – nearly triple the atomic deaths in Japan.

    Americans’ attitudes have changed. In a nationwide 1945 Roper poll, 53% agreed with the atomic bombings; 14% believed we should have dropped them on an unpopulated area; 4% believed they should not have been used; and 23% favored using even more atomic weapons. The Roper poll was replicated in 2016; this time 28% agreed with the bombings; 32% favored a demonstration; 15% would not have used the bombs at all; and only 3% would have used even more bombs.

    Today, progressive revisionists claim the bombs were unnecessary because: (1) The Japanese already had decided to surrender and had so communicated that to the US via Sweden; (2) the bombs were dropped to intimidate the USSR; (3) it was a racist act and we would not have used such weapons against Germany; and (4) it was a genocidal war crime similar to what the US did in Vietnam. All of these assertions have been thoroughly disproved before; however, they are once again shredded by the recent release of top secret US war plans for the invasion of Japan.

    Only recently have the war plans for Operation Downfall been declassified. They provide compelling evidence that without the atom bombs, Japan would not have surrendered and there would have been 3-4 million additional casualties – 2 million Japanese, 1 million American and up to 1 million Chinese as the war in China was still ongoing and the Japanese were continuing to slaughter Chinese at an alarming rate. Following are but a few snippets of data from the Operation Downfall war plans.

  • General MacArthur estimated 1 million American casualties; his staff placed the number much higher. Initially 1,000 men would die per hour.
  • Japanese forces would vastly outnumber Americans unlike in all prior battles; Japan had 28 million men remaining in its combat forces.
  • It was expected to be the biggest blood-bath in modern warfare.
  • Russia would have invaded northern Japan and partitioned it just like Korea.
  • Japanese casualties were estimated (including by Japan) at over 2 million.

     Use of atomic bombs saved at least 3 million lives – mostly Japanese. The casualties that resulted from these attacks represented .0014 of all WWII deaths and, to repeat, only about 37% of the Chinese civilians that were massacred by Japan in Nanjing – which really was pure racism. As shown by the 2016 Roper poll, many Americans cannot remember the past; let’s hope we are not condemned to repeat it.

The next post is August 9th – the anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing.

Transgenders, Dragons and Unicorns

George Noga

So, you believe you may know a little something about transgender issues? Think again! Do you know about PGPs, cisgender, gender fluidity, pangender, otherkin and unigender?

By: George Noga – August 1, 2016

      A transgender went to the store where xe bought apples for xemself; xe ate xyrs apples for xem lunch. A pangender went to the store where they bought apples for themselves; they ate their apples for their lunch. A gender fluid went to the store where ve bought apples for perself; sie ate ver aples for vis lunch. The preceding illustrates approved uses of PGPs, or personal gender pronouns, of which there are at least 45, or 30 more than I used in this paragraph. This is serious business. The NYC Commission on Human Rights decreed anyone failing to use correct PGPs can be fined $125,000.

    The 99.994% of us who are cisgender, i.e. our self identity conforms to our biological gender, have much to learn. Transgender is merely the proverbial camel’s nose under the gender identity tent. Following are some other forms of gender identity.

    Gender fluid: Since gender identity is entirely subjective and self determined, it stands to reason that a person is whatever gender he/she/they/zie/sie/ey/ve/tey/exe/per decide(s) to be at any given day, hour or moment. Young people in particular are gender nonconformists and gender defiant and resist fixed gender identities.

    Pangender: Those who believe they are all genders rolled into one are pangenders and must be addressed with plural pronouns. An Oregon pangender teacher claimed harassment when others failed to use correct pronouns; she (they) settled for $60,000.

    Otherkin: Some people identify as nonhuman – dogs, lions, etc. Some identify as creatures that do not even exist such as dragons and unicorns. Some otherkins have modified their bodies to be more like their otherkin identity.

    Once the Pandora’s box of self identity has been opened, it will not be limited to gender issues. There is nothing to stop anyone from self identifying as being (1) disabled; (2) of a different race, ethnicity, minority group or nationality; (3) of a different age; and/or (4) of a different income cohort. A young healthy rich white person could self identify as being a person of color, poor, old and disabled to qualify for disability, social security and other government benefits. Where does it all end?

    Just as there is much more to transgender than you thought, there also is much more to the issue than just restrooms. How about locker rooms, showers, dorms, fraternities, sororities, sports teams and who knows what else? Actions that once were crimes, such as exposure, flashing and voyeurism, now would be perfectly legal. Dirty old men no longer need to lurk in the shadows; they can walk into any restroom or locker room with teenage girls; indeed, it already has happened at public swimming pools.

    Solutions are elusive. One Oklahoma school district opted for single stall restrooms which anyone could use for any reason. The Obama Administration would not approve this sensible solution and threatened loss of all Title IX funding. Not to worry – MLLG has a solution. Anyone who feels threatened can simply claim to be a unigender, a new (made up) gender that believes it must be accorded privacy. Since gender identity is entirely subjective and self determined, unigender must be as valid as any other gender.

    The Obama Administration asserts teenage girls simply need to get over their discomfort at seeing naked men next to them or showering with them. They fail to grasp the pure paradox of their position. On the one hand, they assert gender and genitalia are wholly irrelevant and demand young girls accept anything in a public facility. On the other hand, they assert that for transgenders, gender and genitalia are not only relevant but supremely important and that they shouldn’t have to get over their possible discomfiture in using restrooms that conform to their birth gender.

The next post is August 6th – the 71st anniversary of the Hiroshima bomb.