‘Muslim Reformers’: Forever Talking the Talk, Never Walking the Walk

Due to its rarity, it’s always notable whenever a top Islamic leader publicly acknowledges the threat of Islamic radicalism and terror. And yet, such denunciations never seem to go beyond words—and sometimes not even that.
Read the complete article by Raymond Ibrahim at: FrontPageMag.com.

Increasing Economic Growth Means Shrinking the Size and Scope of Government

Once the level of total government spending as a percentage of GDP reaches a tipping point, additional expansion crowds out private productive investment and slows economic growth. Economic freedom is diminished and private exchange opportunities are lost.
Read the complete article by James A. Dorn at: The Cato Institute.

If the Supreme Court Breaks Obamacare, Will Republicans Fix It?

If the justices strike down the law’s subsidies, voters will demand a fix. But who in Congress is going to give?
Read the complete story at: National Journal.

(Hat tip: www.obamacarereporter.com)

Video: The ObamaCare Battle

A panel discussion “The ObamaCare Battle” featuring Michael Reagan, Tom Fitton and Larry Kawa took place at the David Horowitz Freedom Center’s 20th Anniversary Restoration Weekend.
See the complete story at: FrontPageMag.com.

Public Turning Against Democrats On Education

As recently as 2012, voters trusted Democrats over Republicans on education by 25 percentage points or more. Now, that advantage has shrunk to only eight points.
Read the complete story at: California Political Review.

Tortured Reasoning

If you knew that there was a hidden nuclear time bomb planted somewhere in New York City -- set to go off today -- and you had a captured terrorist who knew where and when, would you not do anything whatever to make him tell you where and when? Would you pause to look up the definition of "torture"?
Read the complete article by Thomas Sowell at: Townhall.com.

He’s Mad as Hell, Files to Open Rare New Bank

Bill Greiner is fed up with banks. But instead of quietly seething or complaining to customer service, the 48-year-old is taking a more radical approach: He is trying to launch his own lender.
Read the complete story at: The Wall Street Journal.

Small businesses dropping insurance coverage due to Obamacare

With insurance rates rising, many small businesses of fewer than 50 employees are opting to drop their coverage and have workers purchase their insurance through the Obamacare website.
Read the complete story by Rick Moran at: AmericanThinker.com.

Howard Hyde's 2nd Appearance on California Edition TV

Brad Pomerance interviews Howard Hyde on the 2014 election results on the California Channel.
Watch the YouTube video at: http://youtu.be/yVpG57s5Kj4.

Prior interview on California Edition, discussing Obamacare: http://youtu.be/XM1DoKwxVqE.

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California’s Water Blockage

The White House threatens to veto even modest drought relief.
Read the complete story at: The Wall Street Journal.

Regnery’s 2014 Book Gift Guide

In the department of "We-don't-get-paid-for-this-but-we-should", here's a shameless plug for an outstanding publisher's current lineup. Personal favorite: 'The Undocumented Mark Steyn'.
Read the complete story at: www.Regnery.com.

Ivy League Professors, Staff Donated Mostly to Democrats in 2014

Employees at Ivy League schools donated more than $2 million in the 2014 election cycle, largely favoring liberal candidates, committees and causes.
Read the complete story Kathryn Watson at: The Daily Signal.

Adding to the Lies Obamacare Supporters have told us

Here are eight of the most brazen from Prof. Gruber and his bosses.
Read the complete story by David Hogberg at: The American Spectator.

Obamacare blamed for killing hospitals

Eighteen acute-care hospitals across the United States shut their doors in 2013.
Read the complete story by Paul Bremmer at: World Net Daily.

Correction officers’ union claims ObamaCare will bankrupt them

The union representing the New York City's correction officers has quietly filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, claiming ObamaCare will bankrupt its health-care fund.
Read the complete story at: The New York Post.

(Hat tip: www.obamacarereporter.com)

The Many Failures of Single Payer

Vermont’s struggle to implement single-payer health care shouldn’t be a surprise. Such systems are failing to deliver affordable, quality care all over the world. And ordinary citizens are starting to notice.
Read the complete story by Sally Pipes at: NationalReview.com.

Texanomics vs. Taxifornia

When conservatives and liberals talk about Texas, they are talking about two different things. Conservatives think Texas is important because its booming economy shows how limited government, low taxes and light regulation can create prosperity. Liberals, by contrast, see Texas as the poster child for conservatives’ refusal to provide a sufficient safety net for the poor.
Read the complete review of Richard Parker's book 'Lone Star Nation' by John Daniel Davidson at: The Wall Street Journal.

The Protecting the Integrity of Medicare Act (PIMA) of 2014

A bipartisan bill has been introduced by House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Ranking Member Jim McDermott (D-WA).
Read the complete story at: The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPSOnline.org).

Howard Hyde appears TODAY on California Edition TV

Howard Hyde on California Edition with Brad Pomerance, discussing the results of the November 4 2014 election.

Thursday, December 4 2014 at 8:00AM, repeated at 8:00PM on The California Channel (in Southern California, Channel 177 on Time Warner Cable).

Sunday, December 7 2014 at 5:00AM on KDOC (Channel 56 on Dish Network)

Previous (October 2014) interview on the same show, discussing Obamacare, is availabe on YouTube here: http://youtu.be/XM1DoKwxVqE

Renewables Not Renewable

Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, not the key driver of global warming or climate change, but a boon to all plants (and thus all life). It is clean and green.
Read the complete story at: AmericanThinker.com.

Who’s Afraid of Cheap Oil?

The Saudis know they cannot kill U.S. shale output, even if the news media don’t.
Read the complete story by Holman Jenkins at: The Wall Street Journal.

See also: The Global Shakeout From Plunging Oil

Chris Rock Stopped Performing for Students Because Everything Offends Them

University administrators are teaching students that it is proper for them to crave insulation from contrarianism and controversy. The result is de facto censorship.
Read the complete story by Robby Soave at: Reason.com.

(See also: Political Correctness Run Too Amok Even for the Grown-up Left.)

Government Officials Flip-Flopped on Obamacare Subsidies Story

New Report “Beyond Gruber” Shows government officials originally planned to offer Obamacare tax credits only on state-established insurance exchanges, and only changed their minds after dozens of states refused to set up exchanges.
Read the complete story at: The Competitive Enterprise Institute.

The president rewrites the ObamaCare law — again

On Thanksgiving eve, the Obama administration dumped reams of mind-numbing ObamaCare regulations into the Federal Register — including yet more unilateral rewrites of the Affordable Care Act.
Read the complete story by Betsy McCaughey at: The New York Post.

(Hat tip: www.obamacarereporter.com)

Hundreds of Police Killings Are Uncounted in Federal Stats

FBI Data Differs from Local Counts on Justifiable Homicides
Read the complete story by Rob Barry and Coulter Jones at: The Wall Street Journal.

War on Poverty Turns 50: Are We Winning Yet?

The failures of the War on Poverty should serve as an object lesson for policymakers today.
Read the complete story by Michael D. Tanner and Charles Hughes at: The Cato Institute.

A Cadillac (Tax) For Everyone

Obamacare may require ordinary Americans to pay ever-greater sums for health insurance — and then penalize them for following the law.
Read the complete story by Sally Pipes at: Forbes.com

Feds Sue Companies For Complying With ObamaCare

The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) has filed lawsuits against Honeywell International and two other companies because of their wellness programs that they implemented, as encouraged by the ACA. The problem is, wellness programs are in direct violation of the American’s With Disabilities Act, which prohibits medical screening as part of employment.
Read the complete story at: Downtrend.com

(Hat tip: www.obamacarereporter.com)

State Monopolies Aren’t What They Used to Be

As governments expand their control over society, it can be easy for liberty advocates to get discouraged. But in many ways, freedom is on the rise.
Read the complete story by Julian Adorney at: The Mises Institute

Thomas Sowell: Opinions Versus Facts

Everyone seems to have an opinion about the tragic events in Ferguson, Missouri. But, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan used to say, "You're entitled to your own opinion but you're not entitled to your own facts."
Read the complete story by Thomas Sowell at: Townhall.com

A 'Perspicacious' Reading of ObamaCare

It’s amusing to hear Democrats squawk about the possibility that their grand scheme for taking over the American healthcare system could be knocked down by the Supreme Court because of a strict reading of ObamaCare when President Obama, Democrats in Congress, the law’s architects, and assorted flunkies have all been lying to the American people for years about the nature of their ill-conceived little law.
Read the complete story at: AmericanThinker.com

Government-backed Education Mafia rubs out Private Competitors

Unions and handsomely profitable so-called 'non-profits' dismember a privately owned chain of colleges, with the government's blessing.
Read the complete story at: The Wall Street Journal

More Reasons to Repeal ObamaCare

If you like your weak economy, you can keep your weak economy.
Read the complete story at: The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPSOnline.org)

AT: Two Americas

There is a big problem with comprehensive welfare: it destroys the role of men in the community and this was disproportionately true of the black community. There is nothing worse than taking away a person’s mission in life, making that person unnecessary and thus unwanted. That is evil. And today we see the results of that evil.
Read the complete story by Greg Richards at: AmericanThinker.com

AT: Uber Libertarians

Uber is the rapidly growing transportation service that connects cars willing to provide rides for a fee with individuals needing a ride. It has addressed a need that the current highly regulated cab industry is failing to meet.
Read the complete story by Henry Oliner at: AmericanThnker.com

Another ObamaCare Miscalculation

On November 13th, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report finding that that enrollment for the state-operated Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP), created by the Affordable Care Act, was significantly lower than expected.
Read the complete story at: The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPSOnline.org)

WSJ: The Global Shakeout From Plunging Oil

New supply—rather than demand—is dominating the market, and OPEC has been caught by surprise.
Read the complete story at: The Wall Street Journal

It is a crackup that Obama and the Democrats could not leverage low gas prices to their advantage in the recent election, because cheap oil has become anathema to their vision of a fossil fuel-free world.

WSJ: Iraqis Who Served U.S. Seek Visas … and Wait

After U.S. Suspends Refugee Processing in Baghdad, Thousands Who Helped Americans and Want to Immigrate Are in Limbo
Read the complete story by Miriam Jordan at: The Wall Street Journal

Chief Justice Roberts on Pivot Again as High Court Weighs Obamacare

For the second time since 2012, the nation’s highest court will decide the fate of the most divisive issue in U.S. politics: Obamacare.
Read the complete story by Greg Stohr at: Bloomberg.com

(Hat tip: www.obamacarereporter.com)

Obamacare's Approval Rating Drops as Premiums Climb

In early October, President Obama said that the midterm elections would be a referendum on his policies. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) went so far as to predict that Obamacare would be a “winner” at the polls. The voters had other ideas.
Read the complete story by Sally Pipes at: Forbes.com

FWIW, the Editor's family's premium in California is increasing 25% from 2014 to 2015. How about yours?

The Democrats Lost The Election Because of Obamacare

The third-ranking Democrat in the US Senate, Charles Schumer, shocked fellow Democrats and reporters this week when he placed the blame for the Democrat’s disastrous defeat in this fall’s election squarely at the feet of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
Read the complete story by John C. Goodman M.D. at: Forbes.com.

Most Popular Articles on www.CitizenEcon.com for November 2014

Following are the most popular articles linked on www.CitizenEcon.com (formerly HHCapitalism.com) for the month of November 2014.


Illinois’s Pension Absurdity (jumped to #1 in a single day and still counting...)
A judge rules that all benefits are forever, no matter the public cost.


Dr Walter E. Williams on Black Unemployment (#2, sustained since October 1)
Black unemployment has been double that of white Americans for more than 50 years. The black youth unemployment rate is more than 40 percent nationally. In some cities, unemployment for black working-age males is more than 50 percent.


Political Correctness Run Too Amok Even for the Grown-up Left (#3, sustained popularity since May 20)
Conservatives and Republicans are appalled by the depths to which political correctness has sunk on college campuses. But to their credit, prominent intellectuals of the Left also see the ridiculousness in how far the censorship has gone.


Howard Hyde Interviewed about Obamacare on Califonia Edition TV (#4)
Also: If you get the California Channel (in Southern California, Channel 177 on Time Warner Cable), tune in Thursday December 4 at 8:00AM or 8:00PM for another interview on the same show, discussing the results of the recent election. The YouTube link will be posted as soon as it is available.


Quote of the Day - Thomas Sowell (#5)
A few words of wisdom from one of this site's intellectual godfathers.


Obamacare is terminally ill. What next? (#6)
There are and always have been plenty of alternatives to socialized medicine. The task now is to get those alternatives into the public consciousness.


Technology enables leftists to win without courting center (#7)
The Democrats and the institutional left have a new political tool that allows them virtually to ignore moderates yet still win elections.


Obamacare bulldozes 250,000 health plans in Virginia (#8, sustained popularity since September 18)
Last week roughly 250,000 Virginians began receiving notices that their health insurance was being canceled because it failed to meet all the mandates and other regulatory requirements of Obamacare.
FWIW, the Editor's family's premium in California is increasing 25% from 2014 to 2015. How about yours?


Obamacare and the Gruber Firestorm: 17+ Stories (#9)
17 top stories about the MIT professor who pretended to be an unbiased scientist while concealing key truths about Obamacare, in order to advance the Obama agenda; and getting paid handsomely for it.


The Best of Post-Election 2014 Analysis (#10)
Two dozen of the best articles deconstructing the results of the recent election.

CEOs Threaten to Pull Tacit Obamacare Support in 'Wellness' Spat

Leading CEOs, angered by the Obama administration's challenge to certain "workplace wellness" programs, are threatening to side with anti-Obamacare forces unless the government backs off
Read the complete story at: NewsMax.com

Top Democrat Senator Schumer says Obamacare was a Mistake

At a speech before the National Press Club in Washington on Tuesday, Senator Charles Schumer said Democrats made a mistake by entering into a fight over health care after they passed the 2009 economic stimulus.
Read the complete story by Brett Logiurato at: Fusion.net.

California Pension System Under Scrutiny

CalPERS board compensation, executive bonuses, shady deals and funding troubles raise eyebrows.
Read the complete story at: California Political Review

Illinois’s Pension Absurdity

A judge rules that all benefits are forever, no matter the public cost.
Read the complete story at: The Wall Street Journal

Seven Things Americans Should Be Thankful For This Thanksgiving

(Better late than never...) Cultivating an attitude of gratitude is a wonderful practice. Studies have shown that being grateful can increase one’s well-being and happiness and lead to increased levels of energy, optimism, and empathy.
Read the complete story by Heather Laskin at: WesternJournalism.com

The Seven Lean Years: California's Misguided Prop. 30

Prop. 30 has reduced the return from saving, investing, and working in California, and is, consequently adversely influencing labor force participation and investment decisions.
Read the complete study by by Wayne Winegarden at: The Pacific Research Institute

Black Residents Armed With Assault Rifles Stand Guard Outside White-Owned Business During Ferguson Riots

A group of black Ferguson residents armed with high-powered rifles stood outside a white-owned business in the city during recent riots, protecting it from rioters that looted and burned other businesses.
The men said they felt indebted to the store’s owner, Doug Merello, who employed them over the course of several years.
See the complete article at: www.inquisitr.com

Veterans Still Betrayed: Nothing has been Fixed at the VA

So far, only three senior executives have been fired despite corruption in at least a dozen VA facilities.

Read the complete article by Betsy McCaughey, Phd at BetsyMcCaughey.com.

See also: Fire the Real Boss of the VA, by Howard Hyde

Media Ignore 224 Teenagers Killed in Chicago Since Michael Brown's Death

Since August, Al Sharpton and MSNBC, CNN, the big three networks, and all the righteous protesters and Anonymous hacktivists have been using the death of Michael Brown as a basis to claim that our society is prejudiced against black teens. But since then 244 teens have been killed in Chicago, most of them black males, and not a word has been said about this death toll.

Read the complete article at Breitbart.com.

'Lost' IRS Emails Found

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen is pulling off the impossible task of destroying what little credibility that bureaucracy has left.

Read the complete article at The Wall Street Journal.

What's Wrong with our Health Care Safety Net?

In spite of California expecting to enroll 2.6 million additional low-income families in its Medicaid program this year, the total number of people with Medicaid coverage may actually go down. Why? Obamacare.

Read the complete article by John C. Goodman M.D. at Forbes.com.

For more on Health Care policy, see the Obamacare page.

Evangelicals with gay children challenging church

Christian parents of gay children are increasingly staying in the church and, in protesting what they see as the demonization of their sons and daughters, presenting a new challenge to Christian leaders trying to hold off growing acceptance of same-sex relationships.


Read the complete article at Kitsapsun.com.

Jonathan Gruber Called to Testify on Capitol Hill

Jonathan Gruber has been called to testify on Capitol Hill before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in December, a hearing that will almost certainly turn into an airing of grievances over Obamacare and his statements about voter stupidity.

Read the complete article at Heartland.org.

HHCapitalism is now CitizenEcon.com!

Regular visitors to this site have noticed that we’ve had a makeover in the past few days, culminating with the launch of our new domain name CitizenEcon.com, the title ‘Citizen Economics’ and the byline ‘Because Every Voter must be a Citizen-Economist’. This represents our commitment to keeping you informed via the most thoughtful analyses of current events and educated in the principles of political economy that have the most relevance to the non-professional economist, the citizen-voter. This is the place for the informed lay person, the public official, the candidate for office, the workaday Joe and the entrepreneur alike to recharge their mental batteries and take charge of their destiny, in world full of politicians all too ready to promise you anything in exchange for your liberty, your prosperity and your culture.

California: The Land of Double Taxation for Small Businesses

Only 18 percent of the Democrats who control both houses of California’s full-time legislature worked in business, farming or medicine before being elected. The remainder drew paychecks from government, worked as community organizers, or were attorneys.

Read the complete article at California Political Review.

The US Government’s Assault on the American Economic System

Over the course of several generations, the US government has taxed away trillions upon trillions of dollars that otherwise would have been saved and invested and thereby added to the capital of the American economy.

Read the complete article by Dr. George Reisman at http://georgereismansblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/pikettys-capital-wrong_28.html.

WSJ: The Other Ferguson Tragedy

Homicide is the leading cause of death among young black men, and 90% of black murder victims are killed by other blacks.

Read the complete article by Jason Riley at The Wall Street Journal.

Beware of our Betters

Jonathan Gruber's several videotaped remarks about the gross deceptions that got ObamaCare passed in Congress should tell us a lot about the Obama administration.

Read the complete article by Thomas Sowell at TownHall.com.

Black by Popular Demand: Dr Walter E. Williams on Black Unemployment

The most popular post on HHCapitalism for the past 30 days, and 4th most popular in 8 years!

See: http://www.hhcapitalism.com/2014/10/dr-walter-e-williams-on-black.html.

Obamacare adviser warned of premium increases as Obama vowed savings

While President Obama campaigned on a promise that his universal health care plan would lower premiums, his controversial adviser and plan architect [Jonathan Gruber] was privately warning the state of Wisconsin that Obamacare was poised to massively increase insurance costs for average residents, internal documents show.

Read the full article at The Washington Times.

Obama’s Immigration Enablers

Regrettably, the Office of Legal Counsel’s made-to-order legal analysis is shockingly flawed in five major respects.

Read the full article by David B. Rivkin and Elizabeth Price Foley at The Wall Street Journal.

Thomas Piketty’s Policies On Economic Inequality Aren’t Selling

The idea that the rich get richer while everyone else doesn’t gets pretty wide agreement in the polls. So does the Democrats’ one redistributionist policy — raising the minimum wage. As a policy to address inequality, though, it’s rather pathetic.

Read the full article by Michael Barone at WesternJournalism.com.

Post-Midterm Obamacare Prognosis: Hold the Champagne

Conservatives and citizens concerned with the direction of the country under Democrat rule turned out in sufficiently large numbers on Election Day to return the Senate to Republican control. But if you think this marks the beginning of the end of Obamacare, think again.

Read the full article by Richard Amerling, M.D. at The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.

Dodd-Frank: A Bad Law And A Big Mess

Dodd-Frank insulates regulators from democratic accountability. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a creature of Dodd-Frank, is not even funded by our elected representatives, but instead gets financed directly from the Federal Reserve. Translation: If the “middle class” ever decides that Congress should relieve it of the CFPB’s ministrations, they will be unable to exert any influence.

Read the full article by Mona Charen at WesternJournalism.com.

Obamacare’s Jonathan Gruber and the Superhero Oath

Gruber has admitted that the 40 percent tax on “Cadillac” company insurance coverage was really a hidden way to tax affected workers while ensuring that employers would receive the blame for expensive plans. Every economist knows that who the tax is legally imposed on does not change who actually bears the burden. Gruber and others used this knowledge to mislead Americans into thinking someone else would pay, and so many supported a policy they would have opposed had they not been deceived.

Read the full article by Gary Galles at The Mises Institute.

The Obamacare Opportunities

The pending U.S. Supreme Court ruling on ObamaCare coupled with a small provision buried in the law could give Republicans in the new Congress the opportunity to power-boost free-market health reform.

Read the full article by Grace Marie Turner at The Galen Institute.

Scientific Misconduct: The Manipulation of Evidence for Political Advocacy in Health Care and Climate Policy

Science is increasingly being manipulated by those who try to use it to justify political choices based on their ethical preferences and who are willing to suppress evidence of conflict between those preferences and the underlying reality. This problem is clearly seen in two policy domains, health care and climate policy.

Read the complete article at The Cato Institute.

Door Opens For Scrutiny of Federal Reserve

The new Republican majority in the Senate opens a door for a new level of scrutiny of the Federal Reserve, the quasi-public organization that largely controls U.S. monetary policy behind closed doors.

Read the complete article by Bob Unruh at World Net Daily.

What Happened to American Medicine?

America once had the best healthcare system around, but no longer. We still have the best doctors and nurses, but they are stymied and frustrated by a system that hampers rather than helps them when they try to care for us. Why?


Read the complete article by Deanne Waldman at AmericanThinker.com.

What the Inequality Warriors Realy Want

Inequality may be a symptom of economic problems. But why is inequality itself an economic problem?

Read the complete article by John H. Cochrane at The Cato Institute.

WSJ: How Life Teaches Us Basics of the Economy

Knowledge of economics is not acquired in a Choom Gang environment or as a student on “scholarship” at privileged schools or as a community organizer or politician.

Read the complete article at The Wall Street Journal.

The Midterm Miracles

By Burt Prelutsky
Perhaps because I define myself as a optimistic pessimist or a pessimistic optimist, I was blindsided by the election results. As much time as I devoted to poring over the Senate races, I just couldn’t see how the GOP could wind up with more than 51.

The (Post-Election) Schadenfreude Edition

By William Saracino
Webster’s defines schadenfreude as “pleasure derived from the misfortune of others”, and boy do they have my mood pegged.

Bittersweet Victory

By Howard Hyde
Watching the returns on election night, it was difficult not to be thrilled by what can only be characterized as the best election for Republicans in at least a decade, and in some ways, in nearly a century.

The Best of Post-Election 2014 Analysis

The Best Post-Election 2014 Analysis from the Wall Street Journal (and a few others)
In case you missed it, we recently had a midterm election in the U.S. in which Republicans and their agenda made some of the greatest gains in a generation.

Best of HHCapitalism.com

Here is a sampling of the most popular posts on HHCapitalism over the past few years.

• Video: Howard Hyde Interviewed about Obamacare on Califonia Edition
  • Howard Hyde interviewed by TV Journalist Brad Pomerance on 'California Edition' on the California Channel.
• Books on Capitalism and economics
  • If you want to be an informed citizen; if you want to stop being at the mercy of manipulators in politics and the media; or even if you want to preserve and expand socialism and intellectually arm yourself against the capitalist pigs!; then the books listed here need to be in your library.
• Obamacare bulldozes 250,000 health plans in Virginia
  • Roughly 250,000 Virginians began receiving notices that their health insurance was being canceled because it failed to meet all the mandates and other regulatory requirements of Obamacare.
• Where do Jobs Come From?
  • A primer on employment economics that you won't get in college.
• Obamacare Self-Destructing
  • Our federal government: hopelessly overextended, devoid of caution and chock full of hubris.
• Dr Walter E. Williams on Black Unemployment
  • Black unemployment has been double that of white Americans for more than 50 years. The black youth unemployment rate is more than 40 percent nationally. In some cities, unemployment for black working-age males is more than 50 percent.
• Technology enables leftists to win without courting center
  • The Democrats and the institutional left have a new political tool that allows them virtually to ignore moderates yet still win elections.
• Obama's Health Care Vietnam
  • Talk to the average physician about trying to care for patients in the United States today, and you’ll hear exactly the same sorts of sentiments as those expressed by American soldiers faced with the task of “winning the war” in Vietnam some fifty years ago.
• What is Capitalism?
  • Most of the controversy over Capitalism stems from disagreements and ignorance of just what Capitalism actually is.
• Video: Howard Hyde Speaks at Annual Meeting of Association of American Physicians and Surgeons
  • Howard Hyde presented his vision and strategy for defeating Obamacare at the annual meeting of the AAPS.
• Post-Obamacare Reform
  • Obamacare is Dead. Here's what to do next.

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Obamacare is terminally ill. What next?

Rumors of Obamacare's viability were greatly exagerated. There never was majority support for it, and now that the American people know what's in it, they like it less and less with each passing day. Every Republican Senator who unseated a sitting Democrat senator in the election just past ran on a Repeal-and-Replace, anti-Obamacare platform.
But if Obamacare is dead, what do we do now?
We proceed incrementally but inexorably to reverse all of the destructive provisions of the ACA and implement free market-oriented reform. There is bipartisan agreement on things like repealing the medical device tax; we can start there.
Republicans should not shy away from putting bills on Obama's desk that he is likely to veto. Let him show his true colors to the American people and demonstrate the need for a differently-oriented president come the 2016 election.
As I wrote in detail last February in Front Page Magazine, there are and always have been plenty of alternatives to socialized medicine. The task now is to get those alternatives into the public consciousness, before the liberals promote Single Payer as the only viable option.
Read the full article at FrontPageMag.com.

Townhall: BLS Jobs Report Points To the "Meh" Economy

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released their report on non-farm payroll jobs ... and estimated that the American economy added 214,000 jobs - pointing to an economy that continues to be sluggish. The workforce participation rate is unchanged from a year ago, at 62.8%. The unemployment rate edged slightly downward over the past month, though, and now sits at 5.8%.
Read the full article at Townhall.com.

Wall Street Journal: Latinos Lag Under Health Law

One quarter of Hispanics in the U.S. lack health insurance, the highest rate for any racial or ethnic group.
Read the full article at The Wall Street Journal.

Wall Street Journal: Health-Law Enrollment in 2015 Won’t Meet Forecast

Millions fewer people will enroll in private health plans under the Affordable Care Act next year than the Congressional Budget Office had predicted.
Attracting new enrollees to the health law’s insurance exchanges has proven more difficult than advocates had predicted, and a slice of those who do sign up for plans haven’t kept up with premiums.
Read the full article at The Wall Street Journal.

Forbes: Obamacare Ushers In Pile Of New 2014 Tax Forms

Now that the Obamacare 2014 individual health insurance mandate is in effect, many taxpayers will face confusion over tax penalties, exemptions, premium tax credits, claw backs of subsidies (advanced credits) and extra tax-preparation fees to comply with Obamacare on 2014 tax filings.
Read the full article at Forbes.com.


More Obamacare stories linked at ObamacareReporter.com.

The Hill: Small businesses were an afterthought in Obamacare

Since the passage of and initial implementation of Obamacare, small businesses have been ill-served – delays, confusion, and higher costs characterize their experience with the law to date. After one year, a report card for the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) created by Obamacare would have a failing grade, and a non-partisan study this week shows the problems are even worse than expected.
Read the full article at TheHill.com.


More Obamacare stories linked at ObamacareReporter.com.

New York Times: Cost of Coverage Under ACA to Increase in 2015

The Obama administration on Friday unveiled data showing that many Americans with health insurance bought under the Affordable Care Act could face substantial price increases next year — in some cases as much as 20 percent — unless they switch plans.
Read the full article at The New York Times.

Obamacare and the Gruber Firestorm: 17+ Stories

We can all take off our tin-foil hats now. We don't have to apologize anymore for being skeptical at best that the Affordable Care Act was passed with the best of intentions, through honorable and constitutional channels, and above all informed by impartial, unbiased and disinterested expert advice.
Take your pick of the following stories from just the past few days.
The Obamacare cheerleaders must be grateful that this information only gained wide exposure after the recent election was safely over; otherwise the Republican tnsumami might have been even greater.

• Wall Street Journal: Jonathan Gruber’s ‘Stupid’ Budget Tricks
• Daily Caller: Krauthammer: Gruber Obamacare Comments Are ‘True Voice Of Liberal Arrogance’
• Conservative Byte: Obamacare Architect Admits Deceiving Americans to Pass Law
• Conservative Videos: Obamacare Architect: We Passed the Law Thanks to the ‘Stupidity of the American Voter’
• Conservative Videos: A 3rd Video Emerges of Obamacare Architect Bragging About How to Exploit the American Voter
• Truth Revolt: Obamacare Architect: 'Lack of Transparency,' 'Stupidity' of Voters 'Critical' to Passing Law
• Clash Daily: IT WAS ALL BS: ObamaCare Architect Admits Deceiving Americans to Pass Law
• Front Page Magazine: Howard Dean: ObamaCare Created by “Elitists” Who Don’t Understand Americans
• Front Page Magazine: ObamaCare Architect: ObamaCare Exploited 'Lack of Economic Understanding of American Voter'
• The Federalist: Four Questions And Answers About Jonathan Gruber’s Obamacare Lies
• Washington Examiner: Obamacare's foundation of lies a warning for new Supreme Court case
• Heartland: What They Really Think of Us
• World Net Daily: Grubered again! 'Stupid' Americans 'falling off a building'
• World Net Daily: Obamacare guru shocks again with abortion boast
• Heartland: The Agony of Jonathan Gruber
• Heartland Consumer Power Report: Obamacare's Broken Promises, Job Losses and 8 more...
• 50 more at http://ObamacareReporter.com

Howard Hyde Interviewed about Obamacare on Califonia Edition

UPDATE 3PM: Here is the direct link to the video:
http://youtu.be/XM1DoKwxVqE

Howard Hyde will be appearing on California Edition, a news and interview program hosted by Brad Pomerance on the California Channel, next Thursday, November 13 at 8:00 AM and again at 8:00 PM. The topic is the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.

In Southern California - on Charter, the California Channel is broadcast on Channel 177. On Time Warner Cable, the California Channel broadcasts on Channel 229. In Central California, on Charter, the California Channel is broadcast on Channel 90. In Sacramento, the California Channel is broadcast on Comcast Channel 108. Through Cox Communications, the California Channel airs on Channel 3, 18 or 23.
Otherwise, for local listings, please check www.calchannel.com/local-listing/.

If your carrier doesn't have The California Channel, look for the video on YouTube:
http://m.youtube.com/user/CharterLocalEdition

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you at the next meeting of the Southern California Republican Women and Men, Saturday, November 22 at 11:30 AM at the 94th Aero Squadron Restaurant, Van Nuys Airport
16320 Raymer Street, Van Nuys, CA 91406. Featured panel: Republican Candidates for Los Angeles City Council

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Dr Walter E. Williams on Black Unemployment

Black unemployment has been double that of white Americans for more than 50 years. The black youth unemployment rate is more than 40 percent nationally. In some cities, unemployment for black working-age males is more than 50 percent.
From 1900 to 1954, blacks were more active than whites in the labor market.
I doubt whether anyone would argue that the reason for lower unemployment, higher labor force participation and shorter duration of unemployment among blacks in the first half of the 20th century was that there was less racial discrimination. I also doubt whether anyone would argue that during earlier periods, blacks had higher education and greater skills attainment than whites.

Read the full article at TheACRU.org.

Whither the replacement for Eric Holder?

Maybe this is the Democrat's chance to confirm Jeremiah Wright as Attorney General.

Quote of the Day - Sowell

"A successful insurgency often puts leaders of the insurgents into closer contact with knowledge that was either unavailable or not so vivid when the insurgents were outsiders, and thereby forces correction of plausible beliefs that will not stand authentication."
-Thomas Sowell, Knowledge and Decisions

Technology enables leftists to win without courting center

The Democrats and the institutional left have a new political tool that allows them virtually to ignore moderates yet still win elections.
This tool, the Catalist database, was employed in the 2012 election. That election defied conventional wisdom: Mitt Romney sought and won independent voters overwhelmingly, but still lost. If you wondered why the conventional wisdom about independents and moderates didn’t seem so wise in 2012, the answer is Catalist.

Read the complete article at PJMedia.com.

Obamacare bulldozes 250,000 health plans in Virginia

Last week roughly 250,000 Virginians began receiving notices that their health insurance was being canceled because it failed to meet all the mandates and other regulatory requirements of Obamacare. They are likely to be just the first in a new wave of Americans who are being thrown off their current insurance plan — even if they like it, to recall President Obama’s now inoperative promise.
...It should be noted that, as with previous cancellations, those Americans who lose their plans because of Obamacare will most likely find new insurance. But a new study from the National Center for Public Policy Research found that, on average, Obamacare plans were worse than the plans they replaced, in terms of both providers covered and cost-sharing.
Read the complete article by Michael Tanner at NationalReview.com
.

Obama's Health Care Vietnam

Obama's Health Care Vietnam
By Douglas A. Perednia, M.D.
Talk to the average physician about trying to care for patients in the United States today, and you’ll hear exactly the same sorts of sentiments as those expressed by American soldiers faced with the task of “winning the war” in Vietnam some fifty years ago. For those on the front line of fighting illness, it is apparent that the Democrats' war on American medicine is not a path to cheap quality care, but a quagmire of rules and complexity that can make even the most basic care difficult to deliver. Now that ObamaCare has directly or indirectly wormed its way into every aspect of care and payment, many patients are beginning to feel the pain as well. Examples are as close as your nearest clinic or doctor’s office, where medical experts with decades of training are now routinely required to obtain insurance approval for even the most basic tests, procedures, and medications.
Read the complete article at AmericanThinker.com.

Forbes: Overview of Obamacare Provisions

The PPACA contains a number of requirements to which insurers and individuals must adhere. Here is a list of the major changes under Obamacare.

• Guaranteed Issue
  
• Minimum Standards
  
• Individual Mandate
  
• Health Insurance Exchanges
  
• Low Income Subsidies
  
• Medicaid Expansion
  
• Medicare Payment a Reforms
  

Read the complete article at Forbes.com.

Obamacare: Does Failure to Collapse Constitute Success?

Health insurance premiums rose by double-digit percentages on average from 2013 to 2014, and are estimated to continue rising by 7 to 8 percent in 2015. But because Obamacare hasn't 'collapsed' and because some people are shielded from the rate increases by subsidies, the Left is declaring victory.
Obamacare was supposed to reduce the cost of healthcare to the average family by $2500. Instead those costs have surged, with no reduction in sight. Nice 'victory' if you can move the goalposts at will.

Read the complete article by Avik Roy at www.Forbes.com.

Obamacare Website Price Tag: $840 million and Counting

Healthcare.gov would have been much easier and cheaper to build if they had simply stitched together the IRS tax filing system with the FBI's criminal background check system.
Read the full story at The Wall Street Journal.


P.S. Some content is still worth paying for, even in our everything-is-free era. The Wall Street Journal is one example (how I wish I could get paid to say that!).

Mission Accomplished, Mr. President?

Barack Obama's January 28, 2014 State of the Union speech is worth re-reading, not least of all for gems like this one:
"Tonight, because of the extraordinary troops and civilians who risk and lay down their lives to keep us free, the United States is more secure. When I took office, nearly 180,000 Americans were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, all our troops are out of Iraq. More than 60,000 of our troops have already come home from Afghanistan. With Afghan forces now in the lead for their own security, our troops have moved to a support role. Together with our allies, we will complete our mission there by the end of this year, and America’s longest war will finally be over."

Right. Sorry you didn't vote for Romney yet?

Read the complete speech at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/28/president-barack-obamas-state-union-address.


Or watch the video at: YouTube.com.

John C. Goodman M.D. on Obamacare vs. Jobs

John C. Goodman M.D. writes in Townhall on the impact of Obamacare on the job market. A few excerpts:
Why can’t people find a job? Three Federal Reserve Banks – in Philadelphia, New York and Atlanta – have released business surveys that confirm what many of us have been predicting. The new health law is discouraging a significant number of firms from hiring and is also pushing workers into part-time, rather than full time jobs.
Philadelphia Region:
18.2% of employers say they cut workers versus 3.0 percent who hired more.
18.2% say the proportion of part-time workers is higher versus 1.5% who say it is lower.
New York Region:
21% of manufacturers say they are reducing employment, while 3% are increasing their workforce.
Among manufacturers, 19.3% say they are increasing the proportion of part-time work, while 3.5% say they are reducing it.
Almost three-fourths of employers are increasing the employee contribution for health insurance;
84% are increasing the deductible;
79% are increasing copayments; and
40% are reducing the range of covered benefits.
Atlanta Region:
34% of businesses planned to hire more part-time workers than in the past, mostly because of a rise in the relative costs of their full-time colleagues.

Read the complete article at Townhall.com.

Policy, Liberty and Coalitions

[Previously published as the 'President's Message' in the August 2014 newsletter of the Southern California Republican a women and Men]
By Howard Hyde
Politics and public policy are overrated.
So says an author, speaker and activist on political economy and president of a prominent political club.

By that I mean, we put more trust than we should in government and regulation to achieve what we could (and in many cases must) just as well do via voluntary cooperation, mutual initiative and free markets. We despair too much if policy doesn't meet our preferences, forgetting that policy isn't the last word as to what happens and what we may do. And the 'we' I refer to is not limited to any one political party.

For example, regarding the current border crisis, if we implemented a policy of rapidly processing all of the asylum claims and swiftly returning denied claimants back to their parents in Honduras, that would displease people of the Open Borders and 'baby Jesus' persuasion. But it would not prevent any American who wants to, from compassionate liberals to Glenn Beck, from providing whatever support, assistance, adoption or sponsorship they see fit to any of the migrant children, whether here or in their home countries. If all government poverty programs were abolished, that would not prevent any Americans who wanted to from taking care of poor people and organizing charitable activities, job training, rehabilitation or whatever is required. Even though abortion is legal, that fact alone doesn't prevent pro-life conservatives from influencing their own families and communities, to persuade women not to have abortions, and to organize and raise funds to provide support services for women in crisis pregnancies. Even if abortion were made illegal, private voluntary initiatives like this would still be absolutely necessary.
The great difficulty of political choices, as opposed to free-market economic ones, is that the former are by nature categorical, all-or-nothing, take-it-or-leave it. If you like one candidate's position on foreign policy, you can't have it unless you also accept his or her position on taxes, gay marriage, abortion and health care. It's an indivisible package. Moreover, you only get one chance vote every two to four years and can't change your mind a few months later (as many Obama/Obamacare supporters now wish they could).

It is no wonder then that politics, campaigns and elections are so contentious, and in many parts of the world, bloody.

Contrast that with what you observe in any market. Hundreds, or even millions of individuals come together who don't know each other, may not like each other, and yet they exchange freely, with the result (assuming no fraud or coercion) being the greatest all-around satisfaction possible on an imperfect earth. The contents of every individual's or family's shopping basket is unique and distinct from every other individual's or family's. This one contains two gallons of milk, a pound of broccoli and 3 pints of Ben & Jerry's. That one has one gallon of milk, a half dozen eggs and two loaves of bread. The choices are incremental and adjustable from day to day or even minute to minute. It is the most virtuous circle ever invented.

The great challenge of politics then (at least as we conservative libertarians see it) is to minimize conflict by permitting more choices to be made incrementally and fewer needing to be categorical. It is very difficult to reconcile this view with the liberal progressive paradigm of having the government involved comprehensively in every aspect of citizens' lives, from public transportation systems that require massive subsidies to birth control, which apparently according to liberals, also requires massive subsidies. But it ought to be possible to reconcile the warring factions of the Republican movement, from the 'establishment' to social conservatives to Tea Partiers to libertarians. If the size and jackboot print of government were reduced through lower tax rates, lighter regulation and reduced spending, then each segment of our movement should find greater scope of freedom within which to exercise personal and social preferences.

Even the tension between the anti-interventionist libertarians and the defense-hawk conservatives would be relieved by having a smaller state in which Defense occupies a greater relative percentage of the budget, because with fewer distractions, there can be greater citizen oversight over what our military and intelligence agencies are doing.

In any case, the warring factions of the Republican movement need to actively seek what we all have in common in order to do battle with the greatest threat to our constitutional republic in its history. Let us tolerate differences of opinion within our common framework, not be small-minded, and unite to defeat anti-constitutional leftist socialist progressivism.

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A 'Best of' on Jobs and Employment

By Howard Hyde
My November 2013 article 'Where Do Jobs Come From?' asked and explained the fundamental mechanics of job creation and growth, which are not taught in schools or universities today; not even, it seems, in economics degree programs. The article hasn't lost any steam in the 10 months since it was first published.

Here is a sampling of the responses:
"Howard, excellently done. You lay out in simple language that anyone can understand the dynamics of job creation. This essay should be required reading in high schools (and middle schools) throughout the country." - Gary Aminoff

"There are economics and business majors across the USA (and probably Canada too) who will graduate in May or June of next year. And they have not yet read one article like this. It is not in the curriculum. Nor have they had one of their professors (more like Teacher's Assistants these days, I think) lecture the points made here." - Fernando

"Excellent article, Mr. Hyde, it should be required reading and re-reading...each & every year for all youngsters from Jr. High, Sr. High and throughout their college, trade school and / or apprenticeship years of education." - KansasCindy

"This article is an exemplar of clarity, logic, and structure, in its advocacy of literacy in fundamental market economics. It deftly shows how -- with nary a care -- the winds of government caprice or malice can blow down the tenuous structure of businesses large or small, startup or established. If students understood these straightforward concepts -- why would third grade be too early to introduce them? -- we'd be producing better-educated, more self-reliant, capitalism-oriented adults." - Dernan_Ruton

"Mr. Hyde, you get an AAA+ for this article! I cannot tell you how many times I've needed this information." - ATMember

Read the full article at AmericanThinker.com.

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Obamacare Reporter Rocks Too

"A one-stop resource for print, web, blogs and videos about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's implementation as covered by media - compiled from hundreds of news sources, news feeds, and searches."
Visit the site at: http://www.obamacarereporter.com.
Twitter:@OCareReporter

Real Clear Policy Rocks for Obamacare News

The Health Care page of the Real Clear Policy website is an excellent resource for news related to health care policy, Obamacare etc. Articles by leading writers on the subject such as Avik Roy, author of How Medicaid Fails the Poor, Michael Cannon of The Cato Institute
and John C. Goodman M.D., author of Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis and Living with Obamacare: A Consumer's Guide and many more are linked there. HHCapitalism.com recommends you bookmark it.

Click to visit: RealClearPolicy.com.

Bonjour la France!

Of all the countries from which comes traffic to this site, France is #1 today, #3 for the week and #4 for the month.
Si vous êtes Français et ce site web vous interesse, je vous prie de m'écrire a HHCapitalism@gmail.com. Vous pouvez m'écrire en Français, puisque j'habitais Paris pendant quatre ans dans les années quatre-vignt.
Aves-vous lu L'Obsession Anti-Americaine, par Jean-Francois Revel?
Merci,
Howard Hyde

On Libertarianism and Republicans

[From the President's Address to the members and guests of the Southern California Republican Women and Men, April 26, 2014, by
Howard Hyde:]

Today our meeting competes with the California State Convention of the Young Americans for Liberty at USC and coincidentally, my talk today is about Libertarianism and Republicans. I did not know about that event before I planned my presentation. I don't pretend to know anything in detail about that organization, but I do know something about Libertarianism from my own perspective, and with just enough serendipity today I hope to make a positive contribution to the discussion.

People sometimes ask me if I am a Liberarian, to which I reply, well, yes, I have some libertarian tendencies, but it's not like I have a meth lab in my Winnebago or anything. To clarify, I say that when I am elected President of the United States, Ron Paul will be my Czar in charge of the decommissioning of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, The Community Reinvestment Act, Dodd-Frank, Sarbanes-Oxley, Section 1706 of the 1986 Tax Equity and Fairness Reform Act or TEFRA, and the Fed. On the other hand, as it pertains to foreign policy and geo-politics, my nominations for Ambassador to the United Nations and Secretaries of Defense and State are, in no particular order, John Bolton, John Bolton and John Bolton. In the unlikely event that Mr. Bolton is unequal to all three commissions simultaneously, my alternates are Allen West and Benjamin Netanyahu (it shouldn't be difficult to procure a credible birth certificate for Ben, considering precedent).

Almost half of the attendees of CPAC (the Conservative Political Action Conference) were under the age of 26, and a plurality of these are libertarians or members of the liberty caucus. This is an international movement of youth who have opened their eyes and realized that as a generation they have been screwed by the collectivist members of their parent's generation, and are determined to do something about it. In libertarianism they see the solution.

Is this good or bad for Americans in general and Republicans in particular? In my opinion it is on balance very good, with the caveat that like anything else, the thing needs to understood by all at a greater than sophomoric level, or, like anything else again, it could just as easily lead to catastrophe.

So, what exactly is libertarianism? What do we need to understand about it?
The modern libertarian movement has its roots in the Austrian School of economics, which began in the late 19th century with Carl Menger and reached its apogee in the works of Friedrich Hayek (Nobel Laureate) and his mentor Ludwig Von Mises, whose 93-year lifespan overlapped with Menger's from 1881 until 1973, after Nixon had declared that "we're all Keynseyans now." (Come to think of it, that's probably what killed him.)

Like classical liberalism and modern American conservatism, libertarianism holds that the best model for political economy is that characterized by the most limited interference in the decisions of citizens, low taxes and light to no regulation beyond preventing and punishing murder, assault, robbery, theft, fraud, rape, persecution and conspiracy. Conservatives may call this being guided by the Ten Commandments; Libertarians might consider it plain common secular sense.
The Austrian school was the most radically minimalist in its view of the appropriate role of government, and that minimalism was taken to its radical extreme in the work of Mises' disciple Murray Rothbard, who posited that government wasn't even necessary for police and defense, as these services could be bought and sold on the free market just like bread and haircuts.

In 1963 Rothbard wrote a book on the Great Depression that I consider one of two absolutely required reading for anyone wanting to know just how President Franklin Delano Roosevelt did NOT save the country from the Great Depression but rather worsened the crisis, and how Herbert Hoover was no free-market, laissez-faire pro-capitalist president; the other required reading being Jude Wanniski's (of Wall Street Journal fame) How the World Works. In the same book Rothbard also wrote the most clearly articulated presentation of Austrian business cycle theory (or the theory of booms, busts and crashes), a theory to which the financial crisis of 2008 fits like a textbook case.

The two dominant branches of Libertarianism in America today are represented by the Cato Institute on the one hand, based in Washington D.C. and focused on practical, policy-oriented research and lobbying, and the Mises Institute on the other, deliberately based away from the centers of power in Auburn Alabama in order to remain more purely focused on theory and academic freedom. While Murray Rothbard and the Mises Institute's president Lew Rockwell have carried Mises's theoretical torch forward in many ways admirably, in many other cases they have made assertions that Mises never did and probably never would have, and have done so dogmatically and intolerantly.

My infatuation with Rothbard ended abruptly when I read the op-Ed piece that he had written at the conclusion of the Reagan Administration. "Eight years, eight dreary, miserable, mind-numbing years of the Age of Reagan, are at long last coming to an end." he groaned in a piece titled 'Ronald Reagan, an Autopsy' -- fifteen years before the Gipper's actual passing. It was a littany of accusations worse than Thomas Jefferson's indictments of King George III in the Declaration of Independence. Nancy Pelosi could not have penned a more bitter diatribe. The only thing Rothbard gave credit to Reagan for was lifting the 55 mph federal highway speed limit.

Now, Ron Paul is derived from Rothbard, and in many respects in a good way. It was Rothbard who first penned the academic The Case Against the Fed from which Paul's more populist End the Fed is derived. I am mostly in agreement with these positions on domestic economic issues, as is John Allison, current president of the Cato Institute, bank president for 25 years and author of The Financial Crisis and the Free-Market Cure.

So again, while I am wary of extremists of any stripe, my only quarrel with Libertarianism as such is the role and character of America's diplomacy and armed forces in the world; on the latter I stand firmly with Ronald Reagan. Otherwise I look forward to the day when we'll say that "We're all (conservative) libertarians now". That's much better than being all Keynseyans, or progressives, or all socialists. Maybe the young people can help us bring that about.

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California's Golden Goose Getting Throttled

By Howard Hyde
[Previously published as the 'President's Message' in the May edition of the Newsletter of the Southern California Republican Women and Men.]

We are honored to have as our featured speaker for May 24 Stephen Frank, political consultant and editor of California Political News and Views.

As our once Golden state continues to bleed entrepreneurs, productive citizens, large businesses like Toyota and small businesses too numerous to count, Frank is one of the courageous and persistent individuals who keep us informed and educated in ways not otherwise available. As is stated on the About page of the site: 'The purpose of the CPNV is to provide information the mainstream media either downplays, misleads or denies existing.'

In case you've been asleep for 30 years, California's economy is not what it used to be. A generation ago, California had the sixth most productive economy in the world as compared to other nation states. That position has slipped to ninth, and for anyone with an inkling of knowledge of economics and the indispensibility of free markets, it's not difficult to understand why.

California state income taxes are the highest in the nation, topping out at 13.3% (on top of federal income tax rates). After income is earned, it is taxed at the checkout stand with sales taxes ranging from 7.5% to 10%. The corporate income tax rate - 8.84% -- is the 5th highest in the nation, while the $800/year business tax, imposed without regard to profits or losses, kills companies in their cradles.

Professional atheletes such as DeMarcus Cousins of the NBA comtemplate the half-million extra tax dollars it costs him every year to play for a California team instead of being traded - or moving the whole team - somewhere else, say, Seattle.
That's the tip of the tax iceberg. Here's a tip of the results iceberg: Golfers Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson bug out. Bank of America and Wells Fargo lay off California workers. Mattel ships 100 jobs from El Segundo to New York. Campbell Soup closes its oldest facility in the country and shifts production to North Carolina, Ohio and ... drumroll please ... Texas. Boeing announces it is laying off 1,000 workers at its Long Beach facility in 2015. Apple Inc. expands domestic manufacturing...everywhere but California. Raytheon pulls out of El Segundo for...Texas.

Not all businesses are leaving for other states. Superior Industries of the San Fernando Valley relocated to Chihuahua Mexico. Apparently a nation under siege from drug cartel wars is a more hospitable place for business than California. Low hourly wages alone cannot explain dumping some of the most productive workers in the world; the excessive costs of employing Californians over and above their wages and salaries has to be recognized.
In all, between 2011 and 2012 Bloomberg estimates a loss of 73,000 businesses in California, a 5.2% drop. The tax and regulatory environment has not improved since then, so there's little reason to expect change for the better.

All these businesses leaving California leaves California with one of the highest unemployment and poverty rates in a nation with an already abysmal average, thanks to the most anemic recovery in 50 years fostered by unprecedented hostility to wealth creation and entrepreneurship emanating from our nation's capital. The unemployment rate might be higher except that thousands of productive, employable people are leaving the state along with those thousands of businesses, for greater opportunity elsewhere.
And the taxes keep coming. Proposition 30, Assembly Bills (AB) 8 and 241, and Senate bills 622, 782, 768 and many more (see Bill's Bills) continue to pile taxes upon taxes.

Oh, and did I mention public employee pension liabilities, the budget deficit, and our children and future citizens held hostage to the most powerful syndicate in the state? Sorry, I'm out of room here.

So are we doomed?

We still have Proposition 13, in letter and in spirit. And there is growing opposition to increased taxes in places that are not Republican strongholds. Richmond is 26% black and voted 67% against Proposition 30, as did 77% of the residents of El Monte, which is 69% Hispanic. Proposition A was defeated in the City of Los Angeles.

These are the small seeds we have to cultivate, which points up our failing and our challenge as Republicans: to reach out and recruit beyond our traditional base into the evolving demographics of our once and future great state.

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The Conservative Solution to Poverty and Inequality

A talk by Gary Aminoff
[Previously published in the June edition of the Newsletter of the Southern California Republican Women and Men.]
This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the “War on Poverty” as announced by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, along with his “Great Society” program. These two programs were experiments in using the massive power of the Federal Government to radically lift the poor out of poverty and to improve the lives of Americans everywhere.

Fifty years later, or $20 Trillion later, depending on how you count, is a good test of its effectiveness, and has given us the time to conclude that it has totally failed.

The result of the War on Poverty has been to lessen some of the effects of poverty but not to reduce poverty itself. What has happened is that government programs have made the poor more secure in their poverty. Because the government has put a safety net under their poverty through massive entitlement payments, it has eliminated the incentive for most of the poor to attempt to rise above the poverty level.

Because the “War on Poverty” and the “Great Society” were ideas of the left, and since they have demonstrably failed, it is time for the political right to take on for ourselves, based on our own principles of self-responsibility, free people and free markets, making it possible for more people to pull themselves out of poverty and into the middle class, and from the middle class to wealth.

We have to do it because a) the Left has pretty much given up doing anything about poverty at this point in time, other than fostering hate against those who have been successful, and b) we owe it to our fellow citizens to show that free market principles really work, and that capitalism is not a dirty word. We need to show that you are truly free to rise, of your own effort, to climb the ladder of financial success, and that it is really possible to do so.

The conservative plan for how to achieve that will be the subject of my talk on Saturday, June 28.

Ayn Rand on Money

[From the President’s Address to the members and guests of the Southern California Republican Women and Men, May 24, 2014, by Howard Hyde:]
We’re going to take a digression for just a few minutes now. One of the things we do here every month is take a little time to step back a bit from the clanging issues and petty quarrels to contemplate and reinforce our philosophy, our theory and our principles. A reconsideration of economic theory was indispensible to my own personal conversion from Liberal-Socialist-Progressive-Democrat to Constitutional-Conservative-Libertarian-Republican, and a review of principles will strengthen all of us in our ability to persuade our fellow citizens of the validity of our policy and candidate recommendations. As the German-American psychologist Kurt Lewin said, there is nothing more practical than a good theory.
Today’s speech writer is Ayn Rand, and her speaker is Francisco d’Anconia, a character in her novel Atlas Shrugged, which tells the tale of mid-20th century America in which the confiscation of wealth and liberty by the political power-broker class becomes so intolerable that the great industrial entrepreneurs themselves go on strike.
Ayn Rand challenges us to think more than superficially about the nature of that much maligned medium of exchange in a post-barter economy, MONEY. I will be reading an abridged version [950 of the original 2700 words], but you are encouraged to read the complete one (for that matter, read the whole novel).
“Francisco’s Money Speech”
“So you think that money is the root of all evil?” said Francisco d’Anconia. “Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?
“But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made–before it can be looted or mooched–made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can’t consume more than he has produced.’ […]
“But money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. It will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires. Money is the scourge of the men who attempt to reverse the law of causality–the men who seek to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind. […]
“Money is your means of survival. The verdict you pronounce upon the source of your livelihood is the verdict you pronounce upon your life. If the source is corrupt, you have damned your own existence. Did you get your money by fraud? By pandering to men’s vices or men’s stupidity? By catering to fools, in the hope of getting more than your ability deserves? By lowering your standards? By doing work you despise for purchasers you scorn? If so, then your money will not give you a moment’s or a penny’s worth of joy. Then all the things you buy will become, not a tribute to you, but a reproach; not an achievement, but a reminder of shame. Then you’ll scream that money is evil. Evil, because it would not pinch-hit for your self-respect? Evil, because it would not let you enjoy your depravity? Is this the root of your hatred of money?
“Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it. […]
“Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter. So long as men live together on earth and need means to deal with one another–their only substitute, if they abandon money, is the muzzle of a gun. […]
When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion–when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed. […]
“Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked, ‘Account overdrawn.’ […]
“If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose–because it contains all the others–the fact that they were the people who created the phrase ‘to make money.’ No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity–to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created. The words ‘to make money’ hold the essence of human morality. […]
“Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips and guns–or dollars. Take your choice–there is no other–and your time is running out.”
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand may be purchased at Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Shrugged-Ayn-Rand/dp/0452011876

Political Discussion and Debate Forum Breaks Records

By Michael Lerew
[Previously published in the June edition of the Newsletter of the Southern California Republican Women and Men.]
Greetings, politically active, involved and interested readers! Last month we had a lively discussion during our club's open issues forum. Having a good attendance of some forty people helps, I think! In considering how to present the forum report this time, I thought it might be useful to set down the questions that were discussed. This might be useful to those who perhaps have never attended one of our meetings, and wonder what we are all about!
During the forum portion of our club meeting, the moderator (yours truly, or some other brave soul, if I am not there--as will be the case in June) poses questions on issues of local, state or national interest, which have to do with politics in some way. If you would like to comment, raise your hand, and you will be called on, and have three minutes. No one else may interject or interrupt while you are speaking. If someone wishes to pose a question to you based on your comment, then your reply may be as much as two minutes. In the interest of decorum, there is no direct back-and-forth allowed between those who wish to speak--everybody has to wait for their turn and be recognized. After eight years of being moderator, I can attest to the wisdom of this policy. It has a certain calming influence if talk gets heated!
If you would prefer to listen and not speak, that is fine. That is the preference of many of the folks who attend our meetings.
Now, the topics from last time:
In a little over a week, the California primary election will take place. Are there any races which you find especially interesting? Are there any on which you would like to comment?
An issue much in the news is that of problems with the Veterans Administration hospitals. Any comments on this? (We heard from people who had good experiences, and not-so-good. I would say more people mentioned good experiences than otherwise).
Since our last meeting, Toyota announced they would leave the South Bay for Texas, costing California 3,000 jobs. Comments?
At a recent debate of candidates for supervisors, seeking to replace Zev Yaroslavsky, several of the Democrats running said that the most important issue facing the county is to improve the troubled child welfare department. Do you agree?
Another big issue facing the county is whether to build a new, modern jail, with much better facilities for handling the large number of mentally ill inmates. The cost estimates for this project are as high as two billion dollars. What do you think about this?
Those were our main topics of discussion in May. Sometimes we focus much more on state or national issues, but last time it happened that we had plenty to talk about on local issues! Also, if there is a particular topic you would like to hear discussed, you can let me know, and I will try to make sure it comes up. Some of our members are especially interested in: public education issues, including budgets; veterans issues; right to life issues; Second Amendment issues; increasing Republican turnout in elections; races for elective office in the City of Los Angeles; races in other parts of L.A. County; and we have had the privilege of having candidates for statewide office, also, attend and speak to us about their races.
I know that it is inspiring to me, to hear someone in that big room in the restaurant stand up and speak with passion about why they are seeking an elected office. It is a very tough and often thankless and expensive effort, and I admire all those who have the strength and courage to do it! The Founding Fathers of our country would be proud of all you candidates. Getting to meet and know such bright and interesting people is one of the benefits of coming to our meetings!
Michael Lerew is a Vice President and former President of SCRW&M.
Email to: shakspryn86@yahoo.com.

Resources for California Voters

By Howard Hyde
[Previously published as the 'President's Message' in the June edition of the Newsletter of the Southern California Republican Women and Men.]
Few things illustrate just how much some California voters are not paying attention than the fact that one candidate for Secretary of State, who had not only withdrawn from the race, but is under indictment by the FBI for bribery and trafficking shoulder-mounted rocket launchers in a high-profile criminal corruption case, nevertheless placed third among eight candidates with almost 290,000 votes, or 10% of the total: California State Senator and leading gun control activist Leland Yee.
All we can say is, those 290,000 voters aren’t members of SCRW&M and don’t read this newsletter, because if they were, they would make better choices.
We pride ourselves here at SCRW&M for being a training ground for leaders, a place for informed voters to become even better informed, from fundamental principles to the particulars of specific races and legislation. Our meetings provide the opportunity for grassroots Republicans to speak and be heard, to learn and to teach, and to connect with other activists, candidates and party officials. There are no low-information voters here.
We recognize that getting good information about what’s going on politically and economically in California can challenging. The typical sources of news are either hopelessly biased toward a liberal-progressive-socialist agenda or they lack important information, focused on local traffic accidents and bank robberies, events in Washington or international geo-politics, diplomacy and war. Good information about our state, the ninth largest economy among nation states in the world, is harder to find.
For this reason we will offer some valuable resources here.
Flashreport.org provides “California’s most significant political news”, compiled from dozens of sources including The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Sacramento Bee, The Santa Cruz Sentinel, the Orange Country Register and more. Columnists published on FlashReport.org include Larry Elder, Dennis Prager, Charles Krauthammer, Thomas Sowell and Steven Greenhut (columnist for the OC Register and author of Plunder: How Public Employee Unions are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives and Bankrupting the Nation).
For example, regarding the 290,000 votes for the indicted alleged Mafioso, see Katy Grimes article: Californians Prove This Is The Crazy State: http://www.flashreport.org/blog/2014/06/04/californians-prove-this-is-the-crazy-state/
Another invaluable resource for California politics is California Political Review at www.capoliticalreview.com, at which our featured speaker at the May 24 meeting, Stephen Frank, is Senior Contributing Editor and our own club Treasurer William Saracino has been a contributing editor for 24 years.
The news isn’t all bad. For example, at CAPoliticalReview you can read Carson Bruno’s article: The Week’s Other Political Earthquake – In California, Naturally:
http://www.capoliticalreview.com/top-stories/the-weeks-other-political-earthquake-in-california-naturally/
The California Permanent Employment Statute, which grants lifetime tenure to teachers after just 18 months of service and makes it prohibitively costly (on the order of hundreds of thousands of dollars) to fire incompetent teachers, has been declared unconstitutional (violating the California Constitutional rights of students to a quality education) by Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Rolf Treu, in the case Vergara vs. California. It remains to be seen how this ruling will hold up on appeal. Meanwhile, the two surviving candidates for Superintendent of Public Instruction have weighed in. Tom Torlakson, the Democrat backed by the CTA to the tune of $3 million, has expressed ‘support for the teachers’. Marshall Tuck has emphasized the rights of the students.

Finally, for the serious student of California history, politics and political economy, there are the books:
• Crazifornia: Tales from the Tarnished State: How California is Destroying Itself and Why It Matters to America, by Laer Pearce.
• Taxifornia: Liberal’s Laboratory to Bankrupt America, by James V. Lacy.
• Eureka! How to Fix California, by Arthur B. Laffer, PhD
For information on election results in California, see: http://vote.sos.ca.gov

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