"Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others."

"One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary."

Ayn Rand

Rand put it best in her 1973 article, “Censorship: Local and Express”:

“The conservatives see man as a body freely roaming the earth, building sand piles or factories -- with an electronic computer inside his skull, controlled from Washington . The liberals [the Democrats] see man as a soul freewheeling to the farthest reaches of the universe -- but wearing chains from nose to toes when he crosses the street to buy a loaf of bread.”

Further on, she notes:
“…Each camp wants to control the realm it regards as metaphysically important; each grants freedom only to the activities it despises….. ‘Control,‘ to both camps, means the power to rule by physical force. The conservatives want to rule man’s consciousness; the liberals, his body.”

Friday, July 10, 2009

Stimulus Insanity

Commentary by Robert Tracinski (TIA Daily)

Stimulus Insanity

The Democrats are about to provide proof that they are insane: they are considering another giant stimulus bill, spending hundreds of billions more dollars that the federal government doesn't have.

If insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, then a second stimulus—justified by the fact that the first one didn't work—is economic insanity. And a second stimulus is also political insanity. It is the best thing the Democrats could do to really inflame the tea party movement—which would mobilize all-out against the bill—and earn that movement a wider following.

...

But of course the purpose of the "stimulus" was never to stimulate the economy—even if massive government spending were capable of doing that, which it isn't. Instead, the stimulus had two purposes: to permanently increase funding to a whole wish list of favorite leftist entitlement programs, and to deliver lots of goodies to constituents just in time for the mid-term election, so that congressmen can buy votes by pointing to all of the loot they brought back to their districts. That's the real reason most of the "stimulus" spending doesn't kick in until the middle of next year—too late to prevent the recession, but just in time to "stimulate" votes for Democratic congressmen.

Somehow, this time I think it's going to backfire on them.
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