Article Response #6

Article:
http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=73117

Response:

I think the thing that gets me is the lack of desire to understand the CAUSE of whatever income gap might exist. There appears to be an assumption that this is the natural order of things in an open, free market and since there is a lack of rules about such things, it continues to propagate. Thus, the conclusion reached from such an assumption is that rules are needed. And this is exactly where Ashley goes, ignoring the cause and jumping straight to 'there ought to be a law', "The point of the story is not to get hung up on the past, rather, it's to look forward to the types of legislation that could prevent another economic collapse..."

Consider the possibility that another regulatory law won't fix the problem and that perhaps the cause of the income gap is primarily corporatism. That some, with connections, are able to gain by influencing laws, rules, regulations, and mandates toward their benefit. Those of us with a philosophy of smaller, limited government view this as a tragic abuse of government to reach beyond its defined limit.  We believe that more often than not, the expansion of government into regulation of areas of personal and economic liberty lead to MORE problems, not less.

So again, consider that possibly, just maybe, the best, the best way to fix the inequity is to eliminate government favors for some at the expense of others. Eliminate subsidies, eliminate bailouts, eliminate tax breaks, credits, incentives, loopholes, and exemptions, eliminate excessive regulations required to enter the market, allow businesses that are poorly managed or that come under difficult times, or that are faced with a changing environment to deal with those problems on their own merits, and yes, allow them to fail if need be. It's better to let the phoenix to die and be reborn than to toss first twigs, then branches, then logs and entire trees to attempt to rekindle the flame. Eventually you'll find that while you've kept it from extinguishing, it's cost you the forest.

The core problem of this type of life support is that the two people that are benefiting are the poor being sustained by the hand of others, or the wealthy being given advantages. So who are being hurt the most by this setup? Those in the middle. Those who work day to day, spend time with their families and simply look to make each day slightly better than the last. Too well off to get handouts, still expected to pay taxes, but not wealthy enough to have excess. No wonder we have such an income gap.

Article Response #5

Article:
http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=72835

Response:

I'm no fan of Bush. I'm basically a libertarian. I have MANY issues with his policies, but at the same time, this article uses cherry picked items to indict Bush while skipping things that . By picking a 2000 DJIA point and then comparing it to now is extremely misleading and omits the fact that the 14K+ record was set during Bush's time. Same with the median income. 1998 was during the height of the boom economy. It's again misleading to compare incomes then with incomes during a recession while leaving out that there were higher incomes in 2006 & 2007. There are many things to complain about with regard to Bush, we need not cherry pick things to do so.

There are a several comments on that article. A couple of those sparked my response. I'm reposting them here for less confusing chronology and better readability using names submitted to the public forum.

By POR Economy:

The Pelosi-Obama-Reid (POR) economy kicked in during the latter part of June 2007, when its Congressional architects — Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, and Harry Reid — decided that starving the economy of energy by refusing to allow more offshore drilling in the face of $4 gas prices was a winning political position. Pelosi claimed that because we couldn't totally "drill our way out of this," we shouldn't increase drilling at all. Reid put an exclamation point on Pelosi's stubbornness by insisting that fossil fuels are "making us sick." Well, they only thing sickened by their policies was the US Economy. FDR tried massive public works programs during the Depression. All he did is prolong it for seven years. Japan tried government stimulus for 10 years running in the 1990s. It only resulted in "the lost decade." What Pelosi, Obama, and Reid should do is expand the tax cut element of the stimulus plan to include all incomes, ditch almost all of the alleged "investments," open up oil and gas exploration, and, eventually, watch the royalty money pour in. I know; that's way too much to "hope" for. 

Response to POR Economy:

I personally believe that while the internal energy embargo definitely put a cap on the economy's ability to grow, it was the increase in the minimum wage that lit the fuse of our current issues. In an economy beginning to struggle for real growth, already in a bubble, shifting the entire wage scale (which is what we should really call a minimum wage increase), was the tipping point that halted any growth and began to exacerbate the tearing where it was already stretched thin.

By Jared:

Ashley: Great editorial, but I think its time we stop talking about how bad Bush was as President. But essentially, the 00's basically proved that neoconservative and inherently conservative policies do not work. When you essentially tell regulatory agencies to stop regulating, financial giants are free to break the law and prey upon their customers. When you spend more than all past presidents combined while enacting exceedingly high tax cuts, you drive up the deficit to dangerous levels. When you go to war against one country based on an ideology while the real war is denied resources, terrorism spreads. I honestly think that the world is experiencing a global transition where the focus of power lies between China and the US, rather than just the US. The road may be tough, and lower class Americans may be left behind as China's middle class grows. Bob--you are an exception to the rule. Thrift is not a trendy word these days. Between the cars people own, the clothes they wear, to the college they go to, its more of a competition than what is practical. Being financially secure should be the equivalent of having that big-screen plasma HD TV, however it is not. 

My Response:

What free market ideas were actually tried that didn't work? When did we have limited government? Bush cut taxes in 2001 and the recession bottomed out (even with 9/11). Outside of that and working to increase trade with foreign countries (though even this was more protectionism than it was free trade), I'm hard pressed to really think of anything significant that Bush did that was free market, limited government oriented. No Child Left Behind - Nope, bigger govt spending and regulation. Prescription Drug Benefit - Nope, bigger govt spending and regulation. The Bailouts - Nope, bigger govt spending and regulation. Sarbanes-Oxley - Nope, massive increase in regulation. Even things like his proposed social security reform was nothing more than moving from tax&spend to a forced savings account (he even suggested lifting the FICA tax cap to pay for it). Please show me where government spending was reduced (even minus the wars), government programs were cut (and a "cut" of an 8% increase to a 3% increase doesn't count), or the pages of government regulations were reduced. The whole "compassionate conservatism" was, I feel, a ploy to get conservatives to THINK he was for free markets and limited government while it was basically just slightly slower government growth than what liberal Democrats would have done. The 00's didn't prove free market, limited government policies to not work. We didn't HAVE a free market and limited government. However, if you don't believe that the 00's show that expansive spending and strict control by government do not create prosperity, if we continue along the path we're traveling, the 10's may prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

Jared:

I wonder how many of you have actually gone to IU in some academic capacity, especially POR? Copying Fox News articles does not mean you know what you are talking about. In fact, it means the opposite. If you can show me objective, peer-reviewed analytical proof that FDR's policies protracted the Great Depression I might actually read the rest of your BS. Ever hear of a Hooverville? For now, put down the glue and put your nose in a book.

My response:

I don't like worshiping at the alter of "peer-reviewed" primarily because I'm aware of the flaws in the peer-review process. However, if you are going to be condescending and refuse to open your mind unless you get what you want, I will try to satisfy you. If you don't like the hundreds of historical descriptions of the cause and effect relationship of FDR's policies and the lengthening of the Great Depression (also read what Milton Friedman says about it), here's a paper that analyzes exactly what you apparently consider to be hallucination induced fantasies: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/421169 As for a Hooverville, I hope you're not suggesting that Hoover was the sole cause of the Depression. He certainly shares in part of the blame due to his massive spending attempts to "stimulate" the economy (sound familiar?). In fact, Hoover spent so much in an effort to right the ship that FDR actually ran his campaign against him on a platform of fiscal responsibility, though obviously his actions did not match his promises.

Jared:

Your comment that you don't "worship the alter of 'peer-reviewed'" says all I or anyone else needs to know in how you gather and analyze the information you use to form your opinions. Granted, some articles may have poor analytical methodologies, but when you form opinions about complex topics, I suggest you have facts to back them up while also taking into account the inadequacies in your own arguments. I've learned at least in introductory US History classes that Hoover thought that the severe downturn in the economic was simply part of a larger "economic cycle." As a result, he earned the nickname "Do Nothing Hoover." He thought that the market would simply correct itself over time. Although he did rack up the largest peace-time federal deficit in history at the time, it was not enough.

My Response:

You're exactly wrong on two accounts. Firstly, the reason I don't worship at the alter of peer-reviewed is NOT because I think they're all wrong or have "poor analytical methodologies". But many times, errors in peer-reviewed papers DO slip through, despite reviewers. Beyond that, peer-reviewed papers can be completely wrong and still get published simply because of things like the reviewers agreeing with the premise of the paper or the technology or understanding of the time doesn't provide for good criticism. You have to admit, the peer-review process itself has problems: http://tinyurl.com/y9e64s8 or http://tinyurl.com/n5dbdz But my point was that I don't think 'peer-reviewed'='absolutely true' any more than 'found on the internet'='absolutely false' and that it is close-minded for you to demand peer-reviewed material to even consider that you may be misinformed. And regarding how I gather the information on which I base my opinions, I find your assumptions based on "poor analytical methodologies." Secondly, maybe you need to do some reading beyond what you learned in your Intro US History before you get condescending with people. The name "Do-Nothing Hoover" was started by opponents of Hoover! But looking at the facts, nothing could be further from the truth http://tinyurl.com/dbdbq5 He spent large amounts of money and used the government as the mechanism to try to bolster the economy: http://tinyurl.com/ye38el9 or http://tinyurl.com/lr2g56 And in the end, Hoover himself indicated that he had ignored those who recommended "do-nothing" and that it was he who initiated the interventionism: http://tinyurl.com/ydhbp3x Actually, I'm curious how you explain the contradiction in your own last sentence. If his plan was "do nothing", how and why did he rack up such massive deficits?

The Core Problem with Collectivism

"Concentration of money and authority in any single entity NECESSARILY attracts those who would abuse that power for their own selfish interest."

- Ryan Roland

I say this to those who believe that centralized planning can work; that government control is not only necessary in some instances, but better and preferred in many; that the free market and decentralization just doesn't work. Beyond the fact that such management is necessarily a direct and intolerable restriction on freedom, here's my core problem with the theory.

Let us assume that Barack Obama (or someone) were to create a more centrally planned America. And even more surprisingly, let us assume that it works. That somehow, everything is balanced, everything runs, everything is regulated, everything is allocated, those that can, produce, and those that need, receive. And in this instance, despite all the real world evidence and all the logic and common sense, the collectivists' dreams are realized. Let us say that it came about through genuine compassion and thoughtful prudence and planning. These planners were genuine in their desire to better mankind and designed a system that provides for all. For a decade after their ideas were initially put into action, they gave their system careful tending, feeding and nurturing and it all went smoothly.

Now what?

Well it is my belief that things would eventually turn sour (and relatively quickly). The reason for this is that even if the creators of such a Utopian dream had the very best and genuine of intentions, eventually those who created and nurtured the system would be replaced.  They might die or retire or simply be replaced by someone else. This is where things get hairy.

The economy is a complicated system. Therefore, the system put in place to organize, plan and coordinate it would not only be large, but would necessarily be even more complicated and intricate. By creating such an almighty redistributive machine, they have created massive channels of money and it requires oversight and regulatory agencies with phenomenal powers of authority. This type of power is like honey to flies for those that seek power. And unfortunately, many of those that seek power, wish to use that power to "help" themselves and those around them. And I don't even need to go into detail to describe (since we see it happen all the time) the means by which a corrupt person placed in a position of power, can cause problems.  And as we see with most politicians, even if things start to go wrong because of their interference, they would only blame someone else.

Even innocent incompetence can wreak havoc. Central planning leads to "central" points of failure. A mis-allocation of money, an error in quota requirements, a mistake in regulatory restrictions can cause a chain reaction that negatively affects the huge swaths of the economy.

In the end, no matter how well you plan an economy, it will fail with central management because of the attraction that power would have on those who would abuse it. To me, argue all you want about central economic planning, about incentives, subsidies and credits or penalties, fees and taxes. It just doesn't make sense to restrict freedom to that degree and to create that type of temptation in order to create an economy that requires perfect planning to avoid potentially massive negative outcomes.


PS: For those that think that some combination of capitalism and socialism is the way to go, same argument applies. There will always be the debate of what should be free and what should be planned.  And in that situation, you're creating the temptation for people to come in and advocate for more and more to be controlled. Something fails in the free market: requires government oversight. Something fails in the controlled economy: requires MORE government oversight. I believe that is how we have found ourselves with the chimera of an economy we currently have.

Article Response #4

Article:
http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=72488

Response:
1) Sanders is a proclaimed socialist. To merely state he's an 'independent' because he isn't a Democrat or Republican is misleading. In fact, the fact that both Bunning and Sanders both wish to hold Bernanke's reappointment should be telling.
2) Why is it just assumed fact that his actions (and those of Geithner and Obama) made things better? Economics is about balance, like supply and demand. When one changes, it exerts a force on the other (and possibly over many other things). Over the course of decades, more of the US, both government and personal finances were based on debt (largely due to the artificially low interest rates of the FED). When enough of that debt manifest itself in bad investments (i.e. subprime mortgages), a chain reaction of revoking credit began. This whole "bubble" was not only allowed, but encouraged by manipulation in the market by the FED. Now that that bubble burst, as the market began to divest itself of these poor investments and bad debt, as we started the difficult climb from badly extended credit to more sound investments, what did Bernanke do? He lowered interest rates, began printing of MASSIVE amounts of money, and intentionally TRIED to make credit, borrowing, and debt to get going again. This is what led to the crisis to begin with!!! Note that since he got approval to print trillions, has lowered interest rates to effectively 0% and Obama has injected billions into the economy, it's not surprising we've seen the short-term improvement we have. However, throwing money at the situation doesn't necessarily fix it. Remember that GDP has, as part of its measure, Government spending. So say the government were to massively raise taxes and spend trillions on welfare and unemployment handouts, GDP may actually increase. Would that realistically represent actual growth in our economy? Of course not. So just because we seemed to have a sliver of growth doesn't mean that we're on our way to recovery. And as for the evaluation of Bernanke, we cannot start with an assumed premise (things would have been worse had he not done what he did) and then go from there. Remember, Obama said that if we did NOT pass the stimulus, unemployment might get up to 8%, but that if we did pass it, it wouldn't rise past 7%. I'm not so confident in their prognostication abilities.

Article Response #3

Article:

http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=72300

Response:

This is a pretty one-sided article to have been written as a communal editorial by the staff. Also, "watching the earth suffer"? Suffer how? How exactly has the earth "suffered" from an average temperature increase of a fraction of a degree? There are predictions that negative things may happen in the future if things continue, but those dire things aren't happening yet (and simply claiming any change is "suffering" doesn't work). More importantly, however, and the reason I chose to comment was to point out that there was no mention of the recent release of emails, code, data and other files from a key climate data organization. Even if you believe the "nothing to see here" attempts to dismiss this revelation, it should at least make us question the true openness of the process. With an issue this potentially significant, whose prescribed solution has such a monumental impact, it only makes sense that all science involved be open, the data available, and the methods described. If scientific experiments and models cannot be recreated by others, then it shouldn't be considered valid and definitely should not be considered as a resource to guide policy. The evidence coming out of the unearthed files indicates the exact opposite of this. It shows intentional efforts to stifle release of data, methods and processes. It contains intentional attempts to eliminate information contributing to the IPCC which is the gold standard reference for all who see global warming as requiring immediate action.

The primary reason this data was as significant as global warming skeptics claim is that for years these skeptics have complained that the scientific process was being abused. They have claimed that scientific journals were influenced in a particular direction, that grants were consistently given to those pushing the agenda, that data was being misused and misrepresented and poorly constructed predictive models based on poor data were being treated as scientific fact. These complaints were usually dismissed as either simply conspiracy theories, or that the complainers were paid by oil companies. With the exposure of these files, at the very least, it reveals that their complaints have some merits. We need to reopen the discussion, verify the data, reevaluate the models and conclusions. It is becoming apparent that the scientific peer-review process is fraught with problems that can lead to significant (and conclusion altering) errors entering into "peer-reviewed studies" that then go on to be referenced across the scientific, media, and political worlds.

From a university paper, and in the wake of this revelation, the editorials should consist of demands that the scientific process relating to global warming be completely opened, transparent, and requiring critical assessment and reproduction by others. We need to make sure that the case for global warming is completely iron proof before we implement measures which would have astronomical effects. If we as a people choose to pursue actions to stop greenhouse emissions, it will be so much more significant than I believe most realize. It will affect individual people so much more than simply shopping with a cloth bag, inflating our tires, and buying energy efficient products. It will be a huge increase on the cost of ALL things. We need to be absolutely positive that it is absolutely essential.

Letter to Congressmen

Revelations of anti-scientific behavior at the CRU (Climatic Research Unit) undermines the justification for cap and trade. The case for human-caused global warming depends on claims made by the UN's IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), which in turn depend on so-called research by the CRU. 

But please take note . . . 

Emails from the CRU reveal that key advocates of the global warming hypothesis may have knowingly corrupted the scientific process. 

For example… 

CRU researchers may have manipulated temperature histories in order to get the results they wanted. They have systematically refused to expose either their data or their manipulations to testing by the wider scientific community. This kind of testing is a crucial component of the scientific process.
 

Real scientists wouldn't behave this way.

CRU researchers explicitly advised other scientists involved in climate research to delete emails regarding to the UN's IPCC report in an intentional effort to avoid Freedom Of Information (FOI) requests. This is a blatant attempt to cover their tracks and avoid exposing bias, misrepresentation or outright fraud.

Real scientists wouldn't behave this way.

CRU researchers have also demonstrated a keen desire to silence critics by influencing scientific peer review process, as well to thwart and resist FOI requests for the data involved and the methods used in their studies which advocate for global warming legislation like cap and trade. The scientific process requires peer critiques.

Real scientists wouldn't behave this way.

The hypothesis that rising atmospheric CO2 should lead to global warming seems plausible. However, it's not an open and shut case, and the scientific process is famous for refuting seemingly plausible ideas. Now the practices of the CRU have set back the global warming hypothesis many years – perhaps to its starting point. The C02 hypothesis needs further, OPEN testing. It can't be taken for granted because it sounds reasonable, nor because it came from people with titles and degrees.

Your responsibility in this matter seems clear . . . 

You must reject the cap and trade bill, and craft no further policy until we all have better evidence from which to work.

In fact, I believe it would be reasonable that all government funded (i.e. grant) studies release not only the full results of their studies to the public, but also the entire set of data, methods and source code used to attain their conclusions. This would allow those that are skeptical to recreate the experiments, and to confirm or disprove the findings. It would also allow more sets of eyes to "peer review" the study. With the possibility of studies pushing policy, we need to ensure that there is some means to limit the impact of politicians who have an agenda from pushing money to organizations that share their views, whose studies reinforce the agenda of the politicians. 

I will be watching to see if you act responsibly on this matter, and I will be discussing your re-election with fellow voters in light of how you handle this issue.