Early Retirement = Unpatriotic?
The Albuquerque Journal chooses to run some pretty odd articles from time to time. I understand that articles dealing with local topics may not always be the most well-written, but at least they deal with topics relevant to Albuquerque or at least New Mexico residents. The Albuquerque Journal chooses to run some pretty odd articles from time to time. I understand that articles dealing with local topics may not always be the most well-written, but at least they deal with topics relevant to Albuquerque or at least New Mexico residents. This was the case on Sunday when it ran an article from Andrew L. Yarrow of the Baltimore Sun who argued that Americans who retire early from the work force are both “selfish and unpatriotic.”
Why is that? For starters, Yarrow argues, people who retire at 55, 62 or even 65 have many good, productive years of work yet and those people should be contributing to the nation’s economy and paying taxes. He goes on to make a few somewhat more valid points about our overburdened Social Security and Medicare systems and even discusses some incentives that could get older people to work longer.
While Yarrow makes some valid arguments about the problems with Social Security and Medicare, these are not really the fault of people who retire early. These programs are flawed in their very design and, if policymakers wish to alter their incentives, they must change them. The only way in which these people are being “greedy” is if they vote for and support policies that preserve the broken Social Security and Medicare programs rather than supporting market-based reforms that will benefit their children and grandchildren. Yarrow doesn’t even touch on real reforms to either of these programs.
Ultimately, Yarrow’s mistake is in approaching the entire issue from the collectivist perspective. In other words, he believes that Americans must work harder to strengthen the nation and preserve these government programs. He should be encouraging policymakers to find ways to alter these programs in ways that allow individuals to make the decisions that are best for themselves, without unfairly burdening others. That is the best way to ensure America’s future strength and make sure that Americans live long, productive, and fulfilled lives.
“Celebrating the New Deal”
In case you missed the recent reporting, New Mexico is “celebrating” the 75th anniversary of the New Deal this year.
According to the state’s Historical Preservation Division, “Nearly every town in New Mexico has a building, structure, artwork, roadway, park or infrastructure built between 1933 and 1942 that would not have been possible without the New Deal.” The Division is hoping to compile a list of New Deal resources in towns throughout the state. By the end of 2008, HPD wants to round out its New Deal Register nominations so each of the 33 counties has at least one listed resource, which will result in there being more than 100 New Mexico New Deal resources listed.
Thankfully, while bureaucrats and those in the government celebrate the New Deal, Jonah Goldberg has an excellent new book out now which details the truly fascist nature and negative short and long-term impacts of the New Deal. These include its failure to bring America out of the Great Depression and its legacy of an eviscerated Constitution which haunts us today.
Wal Mart Response to Katrina Illustrates Government’s Failure
“A lot of you are going to have to make decisions above your level,” was Scott’s message to his people. “Make the best decision that you can with the information that’s available to you at the time, and above all, do the right thing.” This quote from Lee Scott, the chief executive officer of Wal-Mart, was made to his employees shortly before Hurricane Katrina made landfall illustrates the mind set the company took prior to the greatest natural disaster in American history which allowed the company to succeed where the Federal Emergency Management Agency failed.
According to a new study by Steven Horwitz, an Austrian-school economist at St. Lawrence University in New York, the entrepreneurial mentality of Wal Mart’s employees allowed them to excel while indecision paralyzed their highly-paid, “expert” colleagues in the federal government. A few of the specific acts of “heroism” or at least tremendous individual initiative on the part of certain Wal Mart employees:
In Kenner, La., an employee crashed a forklift through a warehouse door to get water for a nursing home. A Marrero, La., store served as a barracks for cops whose homes had been submerged. In Waveland, Miss., an assistant manager who could not reach her superiors had a bulldozer driven through the store to retrieve disaster necessities for community use, and broke into a locked pharmacy closet to obtain medicine for the local hospital.
Among the recommendations of Horwitz’s study designed to improve the response to future natural disasters:
1. Give the private sector as much freedom as possible to provide resources for relief and recovery efforts and ensure that its role is officially recognized as part of disaster protocols.
2. Decentralize government relief to local governments and non-governmental organizations and provide that relief in the form of cash or broadly defined vouchers.
3. Move the Coast Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) out of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
4. Reform “Good Samaritan” laws so that private-sector actors are clearly protected when they make good faith efforts to help.
Georgia On Verge of Adopting Education Tax Credits
While New Mexico’s Legislature failed to pass legislation that would allow individuals and businesses to take a credit against their state taxes for donations to organizations that offer scholarships to children in K-12 schools, another state, Georgia, is on the verge of adopting such a law. All that is necessary at this point is a signature from the conservative, Republican Governor who is expected to sign it.
As was repeatedly pointed out (here and here) in the debate over tax credits in Georgia, tax credits for education will improve education by offering choices to children in those who might not otherwise have a choice over their educations. New Mexico should follow Georgia and other states that include Arizona, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania in adopting education tax credits.
Feds Propose Increased Financial Regulation
On Monday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson disclosed a plan to massively increase the powers of the Federal Reserve to regulate private financial institutions. The unveiling comes 11 days after House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank proposed a “Financial Services Risk Regulator” which would be managed by the Federal Reserve and would have the “capacity and power to assess risk across financial markets regardless of corporate form and to intervene when appropriate.” (Frank Calls for Increased Regulation, Wall Street Journal)
Paulson’s plan would “allow insurance companies to opt out of state regulation in favor of a newly created federal insurance regulator” (Treasury Proposes Financial Overhaul, McClatchy Newspapers), further outsourcing our capacity to self-govern to the federal government.
“The proposals would broadly expand the powers of the Federal Reserve, merge the regulation of stock and commodities markets, fold savings and loan institutions under the umbrella of bank regulation and allow insurance companies to opt out of state regulation in favor of a newly created federal insurance regulator.
For consumers, Mr. Paulson’s plan would create a new super-regulator whose powers would cut across financial services with overarching responsibility for protecting investors and consumers.
The plan also would create a new federal entity to oversee the mortgage origination process.”
What we need is less regulation, not more, and especially not at the federal level when it comes to financing.
The third Federal Reserve attempt was successfully enacted in 1913. America had dissolved the first one and, under vehement opposition from President Andrew Jackson, the federal charter for the second one expired. One of the supposed objectives of the Fed is to prevent financial panics like the one in 1907 that slashed the value of stocks in half.
Unfortunately, 16 years after the creation of the Fed, we entered into the most severe economic depression of our nation’s history. It would seem that giving even greater power to the Federal Reserve might create more problems in the long-term than it would solve.
Reasons Your Taxes Will be Going Up
An article linked to from Yahoo’s main page caught my attention “9 Reasons Your Taxes Are Going Up.” While you never know what you are going to get and what the ideology of the story’s author, it is hard to argue with most of the author’s points.
Particularly relevant are number four, Congress’s lack of willingness to reform Social Security and Medicare and our deteriorating infrastructure. Both problems could easily be solved by free market reforms.
The only cause of future tax hikes that I fail to see is number six, “White House’s Free Market Nonaction Policies.” Not surprisingly, the author fails to describe exactly what he is referring to here. Bush and the Republicans have become a big spending, heavy regulation party. This certainly doesn’t fit the “laissez faire” profile.
Unfortunately, it looks like Americans’ tax burdens are going up unless dramatic change takes place in Washington.
Is Paying Your Taxes Voluntary?
As we approach Tax Day, April 15, you should probably know that the IRS claims that paying your taxes is “voluntary. No, I know it is April 1, but this is not an April Fool’s Joke.
A filmmaker and friend of mine from the Washington, DC area managed to get an interview to discuss the “voluntary” nature with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid View the 4 minute long video here.
Weigh In on New Mexico’s “Comprehensive Health Plan”
Socialists and government bureaucrats have a knack for framing policy discussions in terms of more or less socialism rather than emphasizing individual freedom. This has certainly been the case in the debate over health care. Now, the state wants input on a “Comprehensive Health Plan” and is holding meetings around the state to get public comments.
Certainly, those of us who understand how markets and individual freedom work will probably be turned off by the very concept of a “comprehensive” plan put forth with the state intimately involved in the process. After all, we’d rather have a dispersed and decentralized health care “system” in which individuals retain control over such important decisions. Nonetheless, if advocates of free markets and less government involvement in health care ignore such meetings, we have no excuse when the socialists make policies we don’t like.
If you can’t go to the meeting, you can offer your comments here.
In: Uncategorized
Happy “Turn Out the Lights Day”
Environments are sometimes their own worst enemies. Today’s celebration of “Earth Hour” during which major cities across the country turn off the lights for an hour is one of those examples. Thankfully, Mayor Marty hasn’t signed Albuquerque up for this ridiculous stunt, but if the concept catches on, I bet he’ll be first in line.
So, why does turning out the lights hurt, not help the enviros? Simply put, there are many people who generally support “helping the environment.” But what most hard-core environmentalists fail to realize is that for most people the environment is just not their highest priority. In this recent poll the environment is the top priority of only 4 percent of the US population far behind health care, Iraq, and gas prices.
The really dumb blunder of the enviros is that they seem to prefer radical steps like simply turning out the lights (will crime rise in darkened cities?) over more mundane efforts like pricing energy in such a way as to account for peak demand and shift demand to non-peak hours. Anyway, like NBC’s wacky experiment with turning out the lights during its Sunday Night Football broadcast last year, people are going to react negatively to such extreme measures as turning out the lights.
In the battle between regular people and their governments over control of energy, the greens may be our best allies.
In: Uncategorized
One Boondoggle to Another
We’ve certainly discussed the extremely flawed capital outlay process a few times before in this space. So, we read with interest the Albuquerque Journal’s recent stories on the capital outlay money that was shifted from some projects to others (especially the Unser Museum) recently. Tthe articles are for subscribers only and can be found here and here, but essentially what happened is that the Governor redirected $1.5 million to the Museum.
I’ve been to the Unser Racing Museum and I can vouch for the fact that it is both a nice facility and that it is poorly attended. In fact, it averages only 30 customers per day. Oh, and of course the Unsers are big contributors to Richardson.
So, do I begrudge the Guv? To be honest, not really. The capital outlay process is a disaster in need of reform. And, while the Unser Museum may be a money pit, at least it is not spurring the creation of additional even bigger goverrnment. In other words, Richardson actually saved Albuquerque taxpayers money (and preserved property rights) by redirecting $174,000 away from Mayor Marty’s hoped for arena and diverting $700,000 from a planned “extreme sports park” at the Big I which would have involved the City forcibly taking land from a private company currently located there.
Were the vetoes political? Probably. Is the capital outlay process a disaster? Definitely. Were the vetoes good for taxpayers and property owners regardless of their motivation? The answer to that is most likely “Yes.” Particularly in these tough economic times, I think most New Mexicans would rather see that money remain in their own pockets.
