Things that should be Obvious Part II

Part 1

Corporations don’t Pay Taxes

This is pretty rampant, but also pretty easy to understand. A corporation is not a living being, it is a collection of people: employees, owners (shareholders) and customers. When the government taxes a ‘corporation’ it taxes these three through lower wages, less income and or higher prices.

The Government shouldn’t be able to do anything Citizens cannot do

According to the Declaration of Independence the government derives its, “…powers from the consent of the governed.” Even a quick glance at the constitution will show that is was written to constrict the powers of the government. With this in mind how does one explain why the government has more rights than the citizens of its country?

Welfare is Immoral

Considering that government cannot do anything a citizen can do, how do you explain taking money away, by force, from the people who earned it to give it to other people, the other people decided by a third party?

Most of the Congress should be tried for Perjury

The Oath of Office for the Senate is:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

So for example anyone who voted to give the President the power to declare war, which is unconstitutional, should be tried for perjuring himself while saying the oath of office.

The War on Drugs is worthless

Does anyone really believe that government regulations stop people from buying and doing drugs?
Why then is a black market created where gangs get huge profit margins and start gang wars over territory? Not to mention a lot of drugs are not pure, which makes them more dangerous.

The Vice President does not matter

The Vice President’s job is basically to break a tie in the Senate and take over if the President dies.

Thus, Sarah Palin and Joe Biden are (should) not (be) meaningful to either campaign.

It wouldn’t be that bad, tax-revenue-wise, if the income tax was repealed

This was taken from Congressman Paul’s book; if the amount of tax revenue from income (40%) were taken away the size of the government would be the same it was in 1997.

I’m not sure which is worse: people believe this would end the world, or that the government has grown 66% since 1997.

Concerning Abortion, rape and incest shouldn’t matter

The main argument for being against abortion is that it is murder. Why then should it matter if the baby is the result of incest or rape? Should orphans be put to death? Children whose father is sent to jail?

Basic Economics is a more vital class than 11 and 12th grade English and Computer Technology, and most other High School Classes

In 11th and 12th grade English I can honestly say I did not learn anything that I will use later in my life. I started an excel class in college this year, and we did 75% of my high school computer tech class in an hour and a half.

Basic Economics, on the other hand, is a subject where the majority of US adults are extremely deficient in the most elementary aspects of Economics; this subject could immensely help America.

There is not a reason for Religion and Creationism classes not to be taught in public schools

I understand there should be a separation of Church and state, but one can teach a subject without necessarily endorsing it.

Roark is the Pseudonym of a College Student living in Slat Lake City, Utah. This blog is the result of his daily struggle, dealing with ignorant students, some who refuse to drink bottled water. For more on his visit our about page.

Things that Should be Obvious

I’ve been at college for a few days now, and though I have abstained from getting into any political debates, I’ve heard a lot of nonsense, thus far. Here I will attempt to bring common sense, reason or logic (whatever you want to call it) into issues, currently lacking them in the mind of the average American.

Oil Prices aren’t a result of Speculators

This is one I find the strangest, because it's hard to believe that if Speculators could drive up the price of a commodity, one as huge as oil wouldn’t be a problem, and after they chose one with a small volume of trades, Special Interest agricultural groups would have forced legislation through putting regulations on commodity trading.

For those not familiar, ‘Speculators’ trade contracts, where they say in the future I’ll be willing to pay you X for Y, for this privilege I’ll pay you a premium of a percent of X. Basically, they cannot have an effect on oil, because they trade derivatives of its price.

Or Oil Companies

I covered this in an article already. Here’s the gist of it: there is competition in the gas industry, so there’s no way a can be up the prices just to increase their margin.

If you walked into a super store to buy shoes and they were all basically the same, but one pair was $50 while the rest were $25 the company selling the $50 shoes would go out of business pretty quickly, unless it dropped the prices. Similarly, if the shoes were all sold for $50 a new shoe company could come into the market (and would to get the profits) and undercut the rest of the industry selling his shoes for $25 a pair, this would cause the rest of the companies to drop prices.

Minimum Wage Increases Unemployment

If the government decides to raise the price each worker gets paid, employers won’t be able to hire people who could do jobs that would be worth less than this wage.

It’s easy to understand.

Taxes Always Hurt the Economy

When you tax something you’re taking it away. This means, everything it could have been used for, buying food, buying a car, investing in a company, cannot be done. Also, because of compound interest, the economy as a whole is very worse off because this money was taxed away.

Taxation is Theft

How would you answer this question: What is income tax? Here’s how I would: The government forcibly takes your money. You may not think there’s any force involved because it is just withheld from your paycheck, but try not paying your taxes and you will see force pretty quickly.

With that established how would you answer: What gives the government have the right to steal from people who live within its borders? Your answer may be: because we’re a Democracy and we voted to give it that right, but then you would be incorrect.

The US was not intended to be a Democracy and the Founding Fathers mocked this form of government. It states explicitly in the constitution that the state cannot tax the income of the people. Unfortunately about 90 years ago a new amendment was voted in to allow this theft.

‘The Poor’ is not a class

Regardless of how politicians will pander it is important to know that the poor of this country are not a class, but are actually, for the most part, an age group.

According to Thomas Sowell’s great work, Basic Economics, the income and wealth differences of this country are very biased based on age. This makes a lot of sense, when you’re young you don’t make very much money, but as you gain experience and move up you make more money, and by saving establish more wealth.

The Rich are Taxed Enough

I will never get over this. There is no logical basis for taxing the rich more than others. This is literally the equivalent to making the basketball team who is winning at halftime put weights in their shoes – it is punishment for success.

There is Military Occupation Blowback

If the US goes into the Middle East and bombs countries occupies Muslim Holy Lands and kills 500,000 women and children, the Muslims will be pissed, and the bin Ladens of the world will take advantage of this to convince the ready to go to war.

This does not, however, justify more occupation and fighting in the Middle East, the opposite actually seems more suitable.

The current situation in Iraq is a form of Socialism

Let’s look at this logically: Americans are forcibly taxed so their income can be redistributed to the Defense (yes, it is DE-fense) and companies in Iraq that are making it a ‘democracy.’

So basically the money is taken from those with the ability to earn it to give to those who need it.

I believe Karl Marx said, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

It is a contradiction to be, “Personally against Abortion,” but ‘Pro-Choice’

Other than the fact that a life is being taken, I don’t see a reason for being against abortion, considering this, there should no choice for a woman on whether or not she can take a human life, murder is illegal.

It is also a contradiction to be Catholic and Pro-Choice

Nanci Pelosi seems to believe there has been controversy in the Catholic Church on when life begins; this is probably why her book sold less than 3,000 copies in the first two weeks.

As a Catholic I’ve never met another Catholic who is Pro-Choice. However to put to rest any of this non-sense, it says in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that life should be protected from conception, and it says in the Bible that it would be better for a man spill his seed into a prostitute than on to the ground.

Government Regulations are not really ever good

Let’s look at a few things that are regulated: marijuana, alcohol to those under 21, the speed of a car, the quality of roads, the quality, speed and locations in relation to first-class mail, airports.

Here are all of those regulations that have improved the situation: .

Therefore it does not make sense to be moderate on economic issues

Either one thinks government needs to ‘help,’ or that it will make things worse, there is no issue where one can use his philosophy to change his opinion.

Get a Clue High School Students!

This article appeared in my school newspaper last month, some of the info may be a little dated.

The coming election and two hotly contested runs to win the nomination make knowledge more important than ever. Despite this fact Pleasant Grove students seem to know little about what affects their lives, but much about things that don’t.
In a recent poll 68% of students correctly answered who won the super bowl and 55% knew how many children Britney Spears has, but barely six percent could correctly answer the amount of experience leading democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has.
German Poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action.”
In an attempt to correct this, the following article will cover four subjects: the constitution, the economy, the leading candidates, and other issues.

The Constitution

Perhaps, one of the most common misconceptions around is that the United States is a democracy – also wrong is that the United States should export democracy. It says nowhere in the constitution or the Declaration of Independence that the United States government is a democracy, Woodrow Wilson was the first president to even mention democracy in his state of the union. In fact, founding father Benjamin Franklin said, “Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner.”

Next, is income tax which will hopefully become a big issue in the near future. Other than during the Civil War there was no income tax before 1914. As a matter-of-fact income tax was ruled unconstitutional, and congress republicans tried to kill a bill starting income tax by refusing to vote in favor of it unless a constitutional amendment allowing income tax was added.

A bill is currently in congress that would correct this and stop the government from stealing the money of the citizens with the withholding income tax. It is called the fair tax, under the fair tax a 23% sales tax would be added to all items and services sold in the United States – currently 22% is the average amount of tax embedded in the price of all goods and services, so the average price of goods and services would not be inflated in the long-term.

This would jumpstart the economy by allowing Americans to take home 100% of the paycheck while the government would receive the same amount of revenue. For more information of the Fair Tax bill visit fairtax.org

Finally, an explanation of the electoral system is needed. US citizens do not have a right to directly vote for the President or Vice President. Electors are chosen by party in the state which holds the majority, these electors than vote for the president.

The Economy

The Economy is the system of activities related to the production and exchange of goods and services in a country. Basically, it is the flow of money in a country.

The poll asked what affects the economy, of the 77 students polled only four answered taxes which is perhaps the most debated factor between liberals and conservatives.

Liberals tend to try to inflict voter’s emotions by stating that tax cuts serve just to help the rich and add to the national debt. Whether it is their own ignorance or blatant dishonesty this stance alone should prove the candidate to be faulty, but back to the article.

When the government cuts taxes taxpayers get a refund on taxes originally withheld from their paycheck. The taxpayers then go out and spend the money refunded to them by the government; this influx of money into the economy creates a greater demand for goods which in turn causes employers to hire more employees in reaction to the increased demand. This leads to economic growth and in the end greater tax revenues to the government.

This theory was put in action and proved during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, while he was president tax rates fell from as high as 91% to 28%, but by the end of the 1980’s the tax revenues had doubled.

Trade deficits are another tactic liberals use in an attempt to play with voter’s emotions. According to the liberal ideals trade deficits with China and India are sucking money out of the US economy and the outsourcing of jobs is hurting Americans.

This subject was mentioned by eight of the 77 polled, who called it imports or exports, a trade deficit is when the imports from a country exceed the exports to that country.

A common analogy used by Free Market Economists to combat the liberal viewpoint is this: Should a doctor find what his trade deficit is with every restaurant in town and then change his eating habits so that all his money isn’t suckled up by the restaurants? Obviously not, his trade deficit with the restaurants is offset by his trade surplus from the hospital where he works.

In the same way the US trade deficits are partially counterbalanced by surpluses with places such as Australia and Hong Kong.

The net deficit could not stay that way forever, because dollars are used to pay for goods from other countries they have to somehow make their way back to the US economy – unless someone is just hiding them all under his bed, they don’t disappear – if they don’t the exchange rate between the two countries will eventually rise to the point that it would be more logical to buy products from a different country.

Finally, the stock market was named by eight people as a factor which affects the economy. The inverse is true: the economy affects the stock market. Each stock is partial ownership in a corporation, the stock price rises and falls as people will pay more or less to own part of the company. The sentiment of people who want to buy the stock is because of their view of how the current economy will affect the stock in the future, their positive or negative views push the stock price in the corresponding direction.

Leading Candidates

Currently, it looks like Barack Obama will be the Democratic candidate and John McCain will be the Republican candidate. Conservatives too quickly follow the whims of talk-show hosts and authors and think McCain is liberal while Liberals make up for the fact that Obama has no experience or record to speak of by explaining their rationale of voting for him by calling him the second coming which could be the most ridiculous statement uttered yet this political season.

First, to tackle McCain’s ‘liberalism.’ McCain has never voted for a tax increase, has the most pro-defense spending stands, and according to the Cato Institute is one of just 16 free traders in the senate – all conservative views.

In fact, other than McCain’s strange hate for the first amendment and global warming stance he is conservative. The fact the liberally biased press likes McCain and calls him a ‘Maverick’ is most likely the reason behind conservative talking-heads calling him a liberal.

This, however, does not mean McCain is a great candidate for president he has a strangely strong like for Teddy Roosevelt and seems to want to got to war with every country that crosses the US. Also, he supports one of the biggest waste of money in government history – using congress to evaluate steroid use in baseball.

Obama is frankly, a joke. He has little experience – only four years operating at the federal level he was a state senator before – and has no legislative record to speak of. His stances are pretty much no different than that of Dennis Kucinich and though he advocates ‘change’ one would have to search long to find any difference in his positions than those of the democrats for the last forty years.

In his speech after winning the Iowa caucus Obama mentioned that the government needs to stop saving money for the rich while adding to government debt with unnecessary tax cuts. There are two things strongly wrong with this statement: One, as before shown tax cuts do not add to government debt. Secondly, why should the government punish the rich for being more successful than the poor? Higher tax rates on the rich serve only to force them to attempt to lock-up their money in low tax investments – instead of investing it in ventures that could help the economy.

Whether Obama is too incompetent to realize this or if he is being dishonest to play with the emotions of voters he does not belong in the Oval Office.
The other candidates aren’t exactly great alternatives:
· Huckabee knows next to nothing about foreign affairs
· Hillary is a socialist who could possibly be a bigger threat to Americans than terrorism
· Ron Paul has extreme views that turn off a lot of America
· And the Libertarian candidate may be too quick to pull American forces out of foreign countries

Other Issues

First, there is a misconception the author would like to dispute. Many people like to blame the high gas prices on oil companies saying they are price gougers - Hillary Clinton even went as far as saying she would propose legislation that would take the income form oil companies and put it into a government run fund to find alternatives to oil if an ordinary citizen did this he would be in jail for the rest of his life, but according to Hillary the government could do it, the definition of this is socialism. This is completely false. Oil company Exxon-Mobil has a profit margin of just 9.5% (this means that for every dollar of sales Exxon only gets 9.5 cents after all expenses and taxes). This margin is lower than much of the S&P 500 and a third of Microsoft’s.

However, Microsoft does not deal with calls from newspapers and politicians of price gouging.

Health care is a big issue in the coming election – Hillary Clinton talks about it a lot. Politicians talk about a way that the government could make health care available to all citizens. But, instead of taking money away from tax payers and using it to pay for others medicine, there is a better solution – one that does not have the same risks of government scandals.

The solution is less government – not more. If the government were to kill restrictions on midwives and nurse practioners and make the health care market more free it the prices would correspondingly fall on competitive pressures.