Employment, jackals and the coming revolt
Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 01:26PM 
93% of Americans are working (I always like to look at the positive side). That's not good enough, but it's not terrible. New unemployment claims fell for the second straight week, but that's being written off as delayed claims because of the holidays.
It's difficult to determine the true state of the economy, including the shadow economy with people working outside the system, because all reports are so political and then there's the sensationalism factor with the media.
I wonder how the media will spin this same news in a couple of months? There will, no doubt, be an attempt by the media to timely report improvement so that Obama receives the credit, if things slightly improve, but I have a feeling the economy will be sluggish for some time to come.
We really aren't in THAT big of a crisis, if we had a free market. Some old industries need to go through a natural change and adjustment, but with 93% of the nation working, it's not the end of the world.
I think what's in trouble is government -- local, state and federal -- and the corporations that have fed off them. The rest of the economy, the huge part that wants to freely grow and produce, is going along in spite of obstacles. Cut government in half and let the fat corporations die or survive on their own and we ought to be okay by the end of 2009. Of course, this won't happen -- no, Obama's getting his FDR groove on and he's going to spend until he makes us sick. The Democrats are salivating like jackals over a limping wildebeest and it's up to us to stop them from prematurely attacking.
This is not a time to be begging for handouts -- it's time to buckle down and move forward. We aren't a nation of helpless dolts who need nickels and dimes from politicians. We've got two years of this stimulus nonsense, it appears, then a loud and clear message can be sent -- get out of the way and quit spending -- we've got it. It's too bad the Republicans have capitulated to statism, but I think in the next two years we'll see a move toward a more limited government. I might be full of it, but we'll see.
Equal, similar or close enough?
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 06:53AM http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/us/politics/05rights.html?_r=2
Most people don't want to be in a position that appears to oppose equal pay for equal work. Any reasonable person would say it's right to pay an equal amount to a woman if she's doing the same work as a man and producing the same results. This is how we get cornered into accepting government micromangagement of free enterprise.
Congress will now attempt to expand the Fair Pay Act, perhaps making each paycheck a new violation, but perhaps making it more likely that determining discrimination will be murky and subjective. If employers feel trapped by new language and simply hire less women, then they are open to other discrimination violations -- it they try to change job titles, the "similar" aspect comes into play. A consequence could be that any job held by a woman that is somewhere close to that of a man's in the same company will fall under the new legislation, thereby causing employers to pay inflated wages to avoid charges of discrimination.
This will all be good for lawyers, but it will cost companies a lot of money -- money they can't afford to waste on lawsuits in this economy. This legislation, if passed, will open the door to more micromanagement by government, strengthening the state's control over industry. Industry will try to get around the changes by eliminating whole categories of jobs and creating complex differentiations and will probably wind up hurting women in the long run -- and the truth will be in most cases that employers are not trying to get out of being fair, but merely responding to real criteria that determines pay based on experience, skills and results in individual cases. Just because a woman is a woman doesn't make her contribution equal to a man, and vice versa, so trying to equate job performance and contribution using the sole criteria of gender and similar job description is misleading and wasteful -- it's unfair to the superior performer if it begins to cap wages in general for a particular position, or similar positions.
(image from www.dminkler.com)
More intrusion into privacy
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 12:44AM http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2009-01-06-security_N.htm?csp=34
I've heard all the arguments for tighter security against terrorist threats, but liberty and privacy are more important than security. That's a difficult call to make, but the government can justify any intrusion into privacy by calling it security, so a line has to be drawn and risks accepted in a free country.
The Free Deal
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 09:32PM 
There's a good chance we'll see further signs of statist failure in 2009. The severity of the economic downturn, the real severity and the inflated severity hyped by an awfulizing media, has people rattled and it might take a long time for confidence to return. The media will likely report more upbeat news in an effort to support Obama, but the nation might not be ready to spend this year. The automakers will continue to bleed cash and the steel industry will suffer. The construction industry has little hope of any sudden turn around, and while the government financed projects will help some, housing doesn't seem to be moving upward any time soon. Small and medium size companies will absorb some of the unemployed, but overall there's a bleak picture for the economy.
It might take a drastic shock, something totally unexpected, such as government failure. By government failure I mean that the old ways of stimulating the economy might fail, bringing up the question -- What next? Government is quickly approaching a hard reality, one in which there's no luxury to implement statist methods of central control. The fastest way to turn around the country is to allow the country to turn itself around.
The favored regulations of the left are holding back progress and growth -- it's been building up for years and now the free market can't overcome the roadblocks. We have an opportunity to release American ingenuity on the problem of energy, yet too many regulations are obstacles to a full-fledged free market solution to energy needs. Government might be forced to roll back regulations.
We could see, if things get worse in the next couple years, drastic changes in the economy with an announcement that government is going to cut tax rates, eliminate capital gains and make deep spending cuts -- along with a major shift to privatization of everything that can be privatized and a plan to end all corporate welfare, thus releasing small and medium size businesses to compete. This would be a bold move for a libertarian-minded leader, but it might become a reality even without a libertarian-minded leader, out of desperation and need. I don't see how old methods of tinkering with stimulation plans is going to free the economy to produce and build again -- it will take a major change, one that truly allows the free market to act with confidence.
Investment will require confidence that there's a long-term strategy and that regulations won't hamper investment. I don't think government can push the problem down the road for a few years with road-building and bridge-building stimulation -- I think the problem is here and it's here to stay until the private sector is freed to generate good jobs that are consitent with the new technological reality. Most of the stimulous jobs will be filled by workers with strong backs, and while we need labor of all sorts, we're in a brain economy. We need private sector stimulous allowed by freedom to invest, grow and innovate without fear of government intervention once the movement starts.
We've had the New Deal, The Fair Deal, the Square Deal -- now we need the Free Deal.
Dr. Obama, paging Dr. Obama
Monday, January 5, 2009 at 08:39PM http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7811326.stm
Sometimes it's difficult to believe we have come this far in the statist trend to centrally control the economy. Politicians no longer have to hide their ideology -- at least during the Reagan years politicians were more careful to obfuscate their statist designs, but now it's out in the open and everyone is nodding in agreement urging the statists on to more and more intervention -- bail me out! Me, too! What about me? Spend over here! Spend over here! The biggest fear is there won't be enough intervention, or that it's the wrong kind.
The economy is not as sick as our spirit. Who will heal that?
America, heal thyself!