Slave Labour

The Chinese are very innovative, even in slave labor:

As a prisoner at the Jixi labour camp, Liu Dali would slog through tough days breaking rocks and digging trenches in the open cast coalmines of north-east China. By night, he would slay demons, battle goblins and cast spells. Liu says he was one of scores of prisoners forced to play online games to build up credits that prison guards would then trade for real money. The 54-year-old, a former prison guard who was jailed for three years in 2004 for "illegally petitioning" the central government about corruption in his hometown, reckons the operation was even more lucrative than the physical labour that prisoners were also forced to do.

In video game jargon this is called "farming." I think we need tariffs against virtual gold. We need to allow our young people to be competitive in video games! If we Americans can not be competitive in playing video games, how can we be competitive anywhere? 

Help!

Conrad Black has written an excellent piece that highlights a point from my last post. While things are in trouble in America, things are pretty bad everywhere:

The EU is in hot contention with the United States for title of Sick Man of the Great World Economic Powers, because less than 40% of Eurozone citizens work, and over 60% are on benefits of some sort. But not to be discounted in this gripping Olympic contest for total fiscal immolation is geriatric, debt-ridden, stagnating Japan, a great but terribly beleaguered and demoralized country.

So if you decide to immigrate, where do you go? Most European countries are in worse shape than America. While I see the desirability of a tropical paradise, unless you have millions to invest and live off the interest, it is not a practical choice. Will your employment transfer to your new country? This is doubtful. Of course if you are young enough, and talented enough, then it might make some degree of sense. There is a lot of buzz about emigrating to Chile. But unless you have a flair for language, you will always be an outsider. In the troubling times we have ahead, you do not want to be an outsider. I will blog more about this soon as it is a mostly overlooked aspect of the troubling times ahead.

Bill Clinton and Mitch McConnell (Republican Minority Leader)  agree about a major source of our problems. So does Conrad Black: 

The cost per capita of U.S. medical care is $7,000 compared to the average among Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom, of $3,000; 70% of the people have immensely generous plans that they love with passionate attachment and don’t pay for, either as contributors or as taxable benefits, and the political class won’t touch this. Unfortunately, much of the other 30%, 100 million Americans, get what amounts to emergency health care only, and much of it is uninsured and is billed to the recipient until the patient is out of money, and only then provided gratis. Most of the largest states are bust; Social Security, student loans, Medicare (for the elderly in the U.S.) are all, also, in desperate need of an utterly cacophonous national conversation.

How can one prepare for these multiple crises? Getting out of debt seems a good start. I will also blog about this in the near future, as soon as I am out of debt!

When Mark Steyn read Conrad Black's article he had the following quip that deserves as much publicity as possible:

"The entire western world is approaching the point at which Wile E Coyote looks down and realizes there’s nothing under his feet."

I think the west believes that like the Roadrunner they are exempt from gravity.

Truth, Justice, and the American Way

One thing you can say about DC comics is that they are trendy. There is a lot of buzz among the "hard money" types about the desirability to revoke one's US Citizenship. But for Superman—the stand-up guy for truth, justice, and the American way—to give up his citizenship is shocking. I know what you are thinking. He was born on Krypton and has no American birth certificate. While it is true he can't run for president, Superman is "as American as apple pie." In fact he was given citizenship in the Kennedy administration—so he could give it up if he wished. (Yes I know, Clark Kent and Lois Lane never age, but hey, no comic is perfect.)

Is Superman right? Should one renounce one's US citizenship? Many people could do it if they wished. All that is required is a new country. You can become a resident of Paraguay, but not a citizen, by depositing $5000 dollars in the Bank. St Kitt and Neva (and who would not want to live in a tropical paradise!) require $200,000 to $400,000 in investment in the country. I am eligible for citizenship in Russia as my wife is a citizen. But the big flaw in any of these plans is the question, "Why is anyplace else any better?"

Since the whole world is a part of Babylon the Great, there is really no place to go. The analogies people draw are not valid. While it is true that 1/2 of pre-WWII Germany's Jews saw "the handwriting on the wall" and left, is that a valid analogy? Yes, the 1/2 that did not leave died in concentration camps. But while the paranoia of the supposed FEMA camps is driving a lot of immigration, is this really a valid concern? While I see no reason for those able to get a second legal passport not to do so, I also see no reason to leave one part of Babylon the Great for another. Of far greater importance is to leave Babylon spiritually. Do you really think that if troubling times come, being a foreigner in another country is really a good choice?

So while it might be tempting to make the ultimate political point, it seems pointless to me. Prudence might indicate that those who are eligible for a second passport get one. But remember that although Superman gave up his citizenship, Clark Kent did not.

Magna Carta

While Prince John was the stereotypical evil prince, he was in fact evil, and continued this when he became king when his brother Richard died without any children. The 25 most important Barons of the land were in open revolt against King John. The English kings’ hold on the throne was always a little tenuous, but John was less popular than most. This probably explains how and why the Robin Hood legend came to be and grew so strong. The English Barons got together and forced John to accept certain limits to his power. For the first time the king would be subject, theoretically at least, to the laws of England. One of the rights given, not just to the Barons (eventually) but to every man was this:

29. NO Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right.

While the Magna Carta was in effect for only a few months, various version of it were signed by various kings over the centuries. The Magna Carta led to the 4th amendment of the American Constitution:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

In other words your home is safe from government unless there is a probable cause or a warrant signed by a judge. That was the law until recently. Now, at least in Indiana, that is no longer the case. The government can, for no reason, enter your home illegally and you can do nothing about it. Here is how the New York Times describes it:

Overturning a common law dating back to the English Magna Carta of 1215, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police entry into their homes. In a 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David writing for the court said if a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the officer's entry.

In the words of one blogger we are less free today than in Medieval England. 

To return to our boiling frogs analogy: Do you feel the heat as the water gradually boils away our freedoms? I have posted several outrages on my facebook page.  

The church fined $4000 dollars for trimming their own trees on their own property.

A modest raiser of rabbits in Nixa, Missouri, is facing a fine of $90,000 for raising rabbits without a federal license. If the fine is not paid immediately, the fine will be raised to $4 million. They sold $4600 worth of bunnies over the years.

Magicians who pull a rabbit out of their hat need a government license.

A farmer threatened with a $100,000 dollar (Canadian) fine if he removes carp from his flooded field without a fishing license.

Or the man who spent years in prison for importing lobsters in plastic bags instead of boxes.

Finally, here are 12 absurd government regulations.  

Do you feel the heat yet? The fact we are not approaching our government with metaphorical pitchforks in hand tells a lot about us Americans and how we are deceived by Babylon the Great.

Folks, when will we wake up?

A New Robin Hood

Robin Hood is a popular icon. Even my Russian wife knew who he was, as they read Ivanhoe. We don't read Ivanhoe, but they do!

Robin Hood is a popular icon around the world. To quote my wife: "He lived in the forest and robbed bad people." This is a good summary and very fitting with the old Soviet Union's philosophy. "To rob from the rich and give to the poor" could actually be used to summarize many of the political pundit class—the talking heads on Sunday morning "news" shows. These pundits actually express the sentiment with different words. Since they do not wish to admit to "robbing," better talking points are used. Somehow not robbing them is the same as giving them money! But what the government actually does is rob from one kind of rich in order to help one kind of poor. This is what Robin Hood did too.

There is a strong ethnic component to the Robin Hood story. William the Conqueror in 1066 invaded England and defeated the Saxon King Harold. William and his men replaced the Saxon aristocracy with their own men. They were from northern France and spoke French. (As an aside the reason it is pig in the farm but pork on the plate is that the Saxon peasants kept their word—pig—but the Normans kept their word—pork, and both stayed in the resultant English language.)

So Robin Hood would rob the Normans, and give to the Saxons. Robin Hood was actually a part of the aristocracy himself—just the Saxon part of the aristocracy. The reason for the rebellion was that Richard the Lion Hearted was off fighting his wars, and ignoring the people. The “King far away” was a figure of awe, but his brother, Prince John, being close at hand was the stereotypical evil brother. Prince John eventually became King John, as Richard, to put it politely, was not interested in women and had no children. (I will write about King John in my next blog post.)

Our modern Robin Hood government robs some rich people, but gives subsidies and tax breaks to other rich people. Let me give you two examples. If you or I speculate in the stock market we face a maximum tax rate of about 50% (Federal and State). But if someone has a spare $5 million lying around they can give it to a hedge fund, which makes the same kind of investments, but pays a tax rate of 20%.  Estate tax is another way this is done. The wealthy person is subject to the tax, but the very wealthy person is not. The Kennedys have their money in a generation-skipping trust fund headquartered in the Fiji islands. They pay no estate tax.

Another aspect of the “robbing from the rich” is that those active in the robbing, Robin and his Merry Men, needed to eat too. So naturally they kept a portion of the money stolen for themselves. As the Robin Hood in Shrek tells us:

Merry Men: [singing] Ta da, da da da da - whoo! 

Monsieur Hood: I steal from the rich and give to the needy... 

Merry Man: He takes a wee percentage...

Monsieur Hood: But I'm not greedy - I rescue pretty damsels, man I'm good!

Merry Men: What a guy, ha ha, Monsieur Hood!

I am not sure why Robin Hood in Shrek is French, but it is funny. What is not so funny is the growing percentage the government takes to feed the government's many merry men. The original Robin Hood stole from the government and gave to the victims of the government. Today our modern Robin Hood government steals from everyone, stealing less from the favored classes, keeps a huge percentage, and yes, does help people. But most of this help is giving to the middle class not the poor. The middle class votes more often.

We need a new Robin Hood like the original story book hero, who robs from the government and returns it to the taxpayers.