Clueless

Upon the Stoa this day, I marvel at the ongoing idiocy on display in the MSM concerning these interlopers urinating on the sidewalks of Wall Street. So many misdirected, misinformed, lazy, clueless, unwashed...I could keep going...losers in our society; unable to form a critical thought in their heads if they had to.

What is the goal of these modern day sit-in hippies? Redistribute the wealth? Are you kidding? There has been more of that since Obama slid into office than at any other time in the planet's history. Still not enough for ya?

Who is to blame for the high unemployment? Perhaps the unions for making the business climate in the country too expensive. Perhaps the Federal and State governments with Regulations and Taxation policies. Perhaps?

What causes unemployment? For starters, a company does not exist to employ YOU. No, it does not. Not even YOU hiding in the bushes over there doing only God knows what. It exists to supply a good or service to another individual or company. Period. It does not exist to provide pensions, bonuses or healthcare; though those are good incentives to hire top notch employees.

Unemployment comes about when the cost to provide that good or service exceeds the revenue generated by that good or service. Quality can be cut, but at the risk of driving away the customer. Other expenses can be reduced, but the biggest bang for their buck comes from reducing the staff; and when I say staff, I mean YOU. You and your costly benefits structure.

The government distorts the market by placing layer upon layer of regulation upon whatever industry in lays it rheumy eyes upon. When the private sector has to spend $1.6 TRILLION to comply with regulations, then that is money they ARE NOT using to expand. And when I say expand, I mean employing YOU, and your costly benefit baggage. Think on that. Think really hard.

Regulations are meant to protect a wide variety of things. People, the environment, both. However, in a free market economy, companies that build products that are shoddy or do not do what they promise they will do, will go out of business as the consumer takes their dollar elsewhere. Poof, problem solved.

These unwashed masses sitting in at banks, Federal Reserves and such only want money. Turns out most of all the money that Obama vaporized over the last three years went overseas or directly into the coffers of Federal and State unions, Federal and/or State budgets. Very little of it came our way. The only thing in front of us is a growing bill that will have to be paid.

"Create Jobs" they write on their signs (at least they can spell). A company will only create a job if there is a reason for that job. How silly are you? Jobs just are not willed into existence. They are borne from need. Think on that one again. If the free market needs more widgets, and the company can not make those widgets fast enough, they will hire more people to make those widgets. There is no "Social Contract" between business and labor. The relationship is based on mutual needs. If you are working at McDonalds, you are not bound to McDonalds. If Pig in a Polk is offering more money and better hours, you are free to leave McDonalds without so much as a goodbye. On the other hand, if vegetarianism has wiped out the profit margin for McDonalds and they need to cut staff to keep their heads above water, they are free to do so...once they have navigated an ocean of regulatory paperwork.

No Social Contract exists between labor and capital. Period. If you mess around with that concept, you get the mess the whole world is in right now.

I'm off now, to make my little part of the free markets system more free.

Live well.

--Zavost

Known by the friends we keep

This bright morning from the Stoa I wish to attempt to untangle the threads that bind politics, economics, and good old common sense together.

Let's start with the situation in Syria. Power-hungry elite that controls the economy, the media, the military, the judiciary, and the legislation has been cracking down on the citizens who are demanding more freedom (or in this case, the desire to sink deeper into radical Islam). The United States, itself partially controlled by the above factors, FINALLY decides to sponsor and refer Syria to the Security Council in the UN for censorship. This does not help the poor schmucks getting creamed on the ground, but it makes everyone feel better who does not live in Syria.

Syria is economically poor. It does not have much in the way of resources and gets much of its funding from Iran, Russia, and China. Boy, that list just makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. It never was a real powerhouse of trade and has always relied somewhat on immediate border trade and weapon's deals to bring capital into the nation.

Common decency, let alone common sense, dictates that Syria not be permitted to butcher the innocent in the streets like this.

Unfortunately, the Arab/Islamic cultural values ARE different from ours. It does not make their acts any less heinous, but we must view the situation with clear lenses. Power is what makes their world revolve. Concessions are just an admission that you do not have to power to rule them. Think on that very, very carefully before you rebut.

I believe very strongly that all humans wish to live in freedom. We all wish similar things for our children and for ourselves. Culture gets in the way, though. Their religion is the antithesis of freedom. Their history is one of repression, forced conversion, and genocide. Since the fall of the Romans, life has been decidedly short and violent.

Russia and China both are ruled by power restrictive Oligarchies that have no interest at all with sharing power with the masses. They too are willing to go to great lengths to maintain that power. They have no desire to harm a trading partner or a loyal ally. They also see no reason to knock off an ally and replace him with an unstable Theocracy. They are not stupid. A bit on the evil side, but not stupid.

The United States is what it is. We do not deal with nor trade significantly with "evil" nations. Nixon opened the door on China and they have grown very, very rich on wealth transfers from the United States. What did we get? Affordable rubber dog poo, apparently. Did we see a lesson there? In an attempt to split the alliance of China and the USSR, we compromised our ideals. We split the alliance, which was very shaky to begin with, and set the stage for a world-menacing China. Way to go Nixon.

We have woven our beds close to Russia and China and we can not simply pull everything, however, we must remember who we are what we stand for. No compromise.

If China sponsors terror, either directly or indirectly, then we need to pull our economic assets out of China. Ditto for Russia. Unrestricted Capitalism is just as bad as restricted Capitalism. We do not allow the sale of items that can be used to develop weapons, but we sell the technology to launch missiles more accurately. Error.

If we continue to work closely with China and Russia on "common" goals then we are no different then they.

Think on that. Listen to your Great-Grandmother. We ARE known by the friends we keep.

Live well.

--Zavost