.
.
This is an intellectual exercise, so relax and clear your thoughts and put your thinking cap on. Today we are going to look at a politician's vote on one bill and analyze that bill and that vote in the context of who this politician really is. Next, we will analyze you the voter in the context of who you think this politician is. I don't like picking on individual persons as there are so many targets in Washington that it's like shooting fish in a puddle, but in this case it is necessary for the point to be made.
The bill in question is HR4 of the 109th Congress in August of 2006. As always they gave it a wonderful name that we can all get behind; The Pension Protection Act (PPA) of 2006, signed into law by President George W. Bush on August 17, 2006 (1). Now on the initial reading most Americans would be perplexed as to why I would pick this bill to write negatively about. After all it simply allows the government to force businesses to honor their pension plans and to ensure that the plans are being properly funded for the obligations for which they are liable. And therefore the politician in question voted for this bill. In fact a Republican house member sponsored the bill. I feel better already. The federal government is going to make sure that my pension plan is solvent. Really? Not so fast. As with all things politic, there is more here than meets the eye. This is complicated and I apologize if your brain hurts should you have the intellectual fortitude to actually read the bill and other references here and see the true depth of the issue.
This bill allows the federal government through law and tax code to force private businesses to fund pension plans as the government sees fit, specifically setting minimum contributions dependent on fund liabilities. It also limits the benefits that certain members of a business can take at certain times. Of course it's only the 'rich' guys we're after here so we can all get behind that as well. This bill was a typical Washington D.C. knee jerk response to the United Airlines default on their pension plan in 2005. After this incident the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) was required to pick up the pension liabilities. The PBGC was created as part of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974 (2). ERISA was created to force businesses to file reports with the federal government concerning their pension plans. The enforcement wing is of course the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as usual. I could go on, but this is hard enough as is so lets wrap it up.
What we have here is a government program ERISA set up to make business accountable for their pension plans to the federal government. This bill required the creation of another government body PBGC to in turn guarantee said pension plans in case the company defaulted. As always these kinds of government interference create unintended consequences. In this case you have a corporation run by the government to guarantee pensions, therefore, the incentive for business to ensure solvency is actually lessened. After all, the fund will be bailed out by the taxpayer if it should default. So guess what? They began defaulting. This in turn caused more regulation to prevent the PBGC from having to pick up the tab. And for good measure let's make sure that company bigwigs can't gain from plans about to default. Again, what may sound good is not so good. At the core is the federal government having power over the way businesses are run. This requires businesses to make large donations to politicians to gain access into the writing of future bills. This makes politicians beholding to the big money men. This type of legislation is typically much more destructive to smaller companies thereby diminishing the competition for the larger ones. While these bills appear to be punishing large business they always have caveats to allow the companies liability to be taken over by the government and are therefore ultimately beneficial to the bigwigs in the corporation that we think we are punishing. Further research shows that many organizations want changes to the latest legislation (3). And that in turn will require future regulation to fix whatever they come up with next. It never ends, and more importantly, it never fixes the original problem; it simply diverts liability to us the taxpayer, because once government gets involved, then government is responsible. Currently there is a real danger that the PBGC will itself default leaving us to once again pick up the tab (4).
Now, lets review. We have a politician who votes for a bill to allow federal control of private business pension plans. The stated goal of all of the government interference is to protect the public from defaulting plans. Plans have been defaulting at an ever greater rate. The government programs themselves are becoming insolvent. Ask yourself, what kind of a politician does this? One of three. Socialist. Short sighted career politician. Idiot. For sure, it is not a small government conservative or traditionalist libertarian. So who is this politician? Senator John McCain. And the bills sponsor? None other than John Boehner the current Republican minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. Now I ask you; is this the impression that these gentlemen have given to their constituents over the years? Ones who believe that the federal government has the constitutional authority and expertise to run the pensions for all American business? Or do they pretend to be small government conservatives, especially around election time?
And now to you the voter. Who did you think these men were? John McCain won the presidential primary for President of the United States in the Republican party; the party of small government. John Boehner continues to win handily, usually unopposed in his district. Again, a Republican. Obviously, there are enough conservatives out there who believed that these men were small government conservatives. They are anything but. What, you may ask, is the conservative solution to pension problems? The constitutional solution is that fraud is against the law and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. If individuals within a business knowingly underfund a pension for the purpose of increasing their own profit, they should go to prison for a very long time. Lawsuits should be filed to recover whatever assets possible to cover a pensions liabilities. But wait, officers of corporations are exempt from some of this liability. In most cases their personal assets cannot be used to pay these lawsuits. And who gave them that illogical protection? Why the federal government of course. The question for you the voter is this; is the cure better or worse than the problem? In 99.9% of the cases where the federal government gets involved, the answer is no. In fact government intervention requires more government intervention until the inevitable complete collapse and bail out by the tax payer. The damage really can't be quantified because it must be taken congruently with the increase of power by politicians who turn around and do it all over again in another aspect of our lives, while being bribed by people who want them to use that power to their benefit.
The above demonstration of the complete inadequacy of government to solve problems is complicated. The solution is simple. If your legislator votes for a single bill that exceeds the constitutional authority of the U.S. government, they should be summarily voted out of office. Shouldn't they get one or two breaks if they are otherwise voting right and going to prayer breakfasts? If your pet relieves themselves on the rug, do you only punish them occasionally? If so, I understand why your pet relieves themselves on your rug. No; one strike and your out! All voters need to review their expectations of the federal government. The job of the government is to level the playing field and give you the opportunity to have your day in court. Otherwise, they should stay completely out of private business. If you do not understand the damage done by the voters returning these people to power, this republic will fall. Future generations will lose their liberty and prosperity. Millions will suffer. In the end it will only be returned by the sacrifice of much blood and treasure. Is your temporary comfort worth that cost?
by: Keith D. Rodebush
References:
(1) - http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:H.R.4:@@@D&summ2=m&
(2) - http://aging.senate.gov/crs/pension7.pdf (The 'Summary' takes 76 pages)
(3) - http://www.nysna.org/images/pdfs/union/ppa_info/ppa_brochure.pdf
(4) - http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/government/pbgc-line-ask-bailout/
June 13, 2010
June 3, 2010
The Founders Depended On Us.
I contend that the most important public activity in the history of Man has also been the most ignored. It is the United States primary process. How tiring to hear the pseudo intelligencia spew their drivel about the inadequacies of the Founding Fathers. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Samuel Adams et al, (in no specific order) were millenia ahead of their time and had more collective knowledge in my opinion than 80% of the college professors amongst us today. Okay, it's really 97% but I was trying to be kind as Jesus charges me to be. Nevertheless, they knew that we would go through exactly what we are experiencing today. Now, I'm not going to drone on with a bunch of quotes to impress you with my breadth of knowledge. I prefer to leave that to you, the reader. I hope that what I write will inspire you to engage in a modicum of research to see just exactly what the truth about these men and women really is. Yes, I said women. Abigail Adams is as much a Founding Father as any of the aforementioned males. If you don't know this, then indeed, research is prudent. Alas, I have strayed from the main point of this post. The Founding Fathers were consumed with the ideal of chaining government and protecting personal liberty. The structure of our government is not happenstance. It is a meticulously crafted system in which no tyrant can long survive. I could go on for hours on the nuances of this system of checks and balances but for the purpose of this writing I will concentrate on one thing only; the length of term of the House of Representatives.
To think that the Founding Fathers did not understand politics, even as it is engaged in today is at the very least naive. They understood very well the naked aggression and constant positioning required by the politic at any given time. The two year term of the House was specifically designed so that little harm could be done even by the worst tyrants imaginable. Of a two year term, it is understood that a significant aportionment would be dedicated to campaigning for re-election. While they may not have foreseen year long campaigns or even more, they certainly knew that it would be a substantial amount of the term. Now; sit back, relax, and put on your thinking cap. (Seriously, read the next slowly....) If you were designing a system of government, and your intent was for that government to be very active in the lives of the people, would you set the term of office, such that a significant portion of the time would be spent seeking re-election?
Of course not. Therefore logic and reason infers, that the opposite is true. Their intent was that government would never become integral to peoples daily lives. Now, to the patriot, this is obvious from any dispassionate reading of the Founding Fathers extensive musings on government, but many a recent historian (term used very loosely) has attempted to retard diminish the intent of our founders. So what are we to learn from this historical fact? The United States of America was founded on the principle of individual freedom and the concept that all government is force and corruption; therefore the will of the people can only be preserved by the continual overturn of legislators whose true motivation is the money and power associated with their prospective position. It's not complicated folks. They get power from their positions and they turn it into money. The only means we have to stop them is to diminish their power. We do that by making their positions short term. Understand? A person with power for two years in Washington D.C. has no real power. One with power for 20 years is a real player. Do you know a single life time politician who is not very wealthy?
Do You See Where I'm Going?
You could vote against the incumbant every time and on balance you would be better off.
Politicians have successfully convinced us that they are soley qualified to hold their positions. The truth is that anybody with a clear understanding of history and the U.S. Constitution will know how to vote on almost any bill. The truth is that complicated 2000 page bills are unnecessary and are long and complicated precisely to hide their true intent. Anyone with a little common sense would vote against any such bill and rightly so. The truth is that any decent politician today would go to Washington D.C. to repeal legislation not write more. Our laws are unnecessarily complicated. Our tax code is oppressive. Government programs are insolvent. Government work has become a national joke about lazy workers with attitudes who never miss a break. Unions have corrupted the hiring and firing process to the point that it's almost practicle to fire everyone and start all over. In our hearts the vast majority of us know this. And yet, the very people who give us this abject failure; the very people who perpetuate this corrupt, unethical and incompetent system come to us every two years and ask for our vote. And at least 95% (1) of the time we say, "Sure. Do some more damage,please!" Why? Why on earth would a people return these idiots to office over and over again? The only logical answer is that we the people as a bloc have become completely uneducated when it comes to government, it's role in our lives, and the process of diminishing power to the federal legislators.
The long term solution is educating our children on the truth of our founding and the miraculous gathering of such great minds in one place at one time, all so well read in history as to understand human nature and it's relation to governance. We must teach them that liberty is the greatest gift of the Creator and it must be protected at all costs. We must teach them that all of the truly good accomplishments by civilization to date have been done by free thinking virtuous people. We must teach them that to reach their potential they must be unfettered by government, but bound by God. In the meantime we must educate ourselves to break out of the sheep mentality that has been programmed into our subconscious minds. Most importantly, we must learn the lesson of the last century. That giving power to a centralized government is to put ourselves in chains and enslave our minds and potential with disastrous affect on future generations worldwide. All government is inherently corrupt. That is not to say that all politicians are so. It simply means that human nature is what it is. It means that with power comes the potential for corruption. The more power, the more potential. History has shown over and over that human nature will succumb to that temptation. Therefore, all logic and reason tells us that our only hope to secure our freedom and thereby this great nation, is to keep the chains on government instead of ourselves. There is a price to pay for freedom as well, but the cost is nowhere near the cost we pay for a tyrannical government.
Recent history shows us what happens when we simply vote for the other party when we are disgusted with our legislators. We foist upon the people an even greater evil. We must work within the party that more closely represents our principles and protects our liberty. We must change within. If you hire a builder with a proven technique that has been successful for hundreds of years and it turns out that he/she doesn't have the ability to build your house; does it make sense to then hire another experienced builder with a different technique that has been proven many times over to be a complete failure? Of course not. You would hire someone else with the same technique yet more ability. Work within your party.
The designers of this Constitutional Republic of the United States of America gave us the chains to put on government, the two year term of the House of Representatives. The party system enhanced this tool with the primary process. We the People, in order to preserve liberty and prosperity for future generations, are duty bound to use these tools to protect our rights at all costs. Every primary should be eagerly and vigorously engaged in by all members of the precincts in which we live to ensure that career politicians become an antiquated novelty of a past ignorant and indifferent age, giving way to a modern age of renewed enlightenment and sweet freedom.
by: Keith D. Rodebush
1. http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/richard.holden/papers/Incumbents%20JOP.pdf
To think that the Founding Fathers did not understand politics, even as it is engaged in today is at the very least naive. They understood very well the naked aggression and constant positioning required by the politic at any given time. The two year term of the House was specifically designed so that little harm could be done even by the worst tyrants imaginable. Of a two year term, it is understood that a significant aportionment would be dedicated to campaigning for re-election. While they may not have foreseen year long campaigns or even more, they certainly knew that it would be a substantial amount of the term. Now; sit back, relax, and put on your thinking cap. (Seriously, read the next slowly....) If you were designing a system of government, and your intent was for that government to be very active in the lives of the people, would you set the term of office, such that a significant portion of the time would be spent seeking re-election?
Of course not. Therefore logic and reason infers, that the opposite is true. Their intent was that government would never become integral to peoples daily lives. Now, to the patriot, this is obvious from any dispassionate reading of the Founding Fathers extensive musings on government, but many a recent historian (term used very loosely) has attempted to retard diminish the intent of our founders. So what are we to learn from this historical fact? The United States of America was founded on the principle of individual freedom and the concept that all government is force and corruption; therefore the will of the people can only be preserved by the continual overturn of legislators whose true motivation is the money and power associated with their prospective position. It's not complicated folks. They get power from their positions and they turn it into money. The only means we have to stop them is to diminish their power. We do that by making their positions short term. Understand? A person with power for two years in Washington D.C. has no real power. One with power for 20 years is a real player. Do you know a single life time politician who is not very wealthy?
Do You See Where I'm Going?
You could vote against the incumbant every time and on balance you would be better off.
Politicians have successfully convinced us that they are soley qualified to hold their positions. The truth is that anybody with a clear understanding of history and the U.S. Constitution will know how to vote on almost any bill. The truth is that complicated 2000 page bills are unnecessary and are long and complicated precisely to hide their true intent. Anyone with a little common sense would vote against any such bill and rightly so. The truth is that any decent politician today would go to Washington D.C. to repeal legislation not write more. Our laws are unnecessarily complicated. Our tax code is oppressive. Government programs are insolvent. Government work has become a national joke about lazy workers with attitudes who never miss a break. Unions have corrupted the hiring and firing process to the point that it's almost practicle to fire everyone and start all over. In our hearts the vast majority of us know this. And yet, the very people who give us this abject failure; the very people who perpetuate this corrupt, unethical and incompetent system come to us every two years and ask for our vote. And at least 95% (1) of the time we say, "Sure. Do some more damage,please!" Why? Why on earth would a people return these idiots to office over and over again? The only logical answer is that we the people as a bloc have become completely uneducated when it comes to government, it's role in our lives, and the process of diminishing power to the federal legislators.
The long term solution is educating our children on the truth of our founding and the miraculous gathering of such great minds in one place at one time, all so well read in history as to understand human nature and it's relation to governance. We must teach them that liberty is the greatest gift of the Creator and it must be protected at all costs. We must teach them that all of the truly good accomplishments by civilization to date have been done by free thinking virtuous people. We must teach them that to reach their potential they must be unfettered by government, but bound by God. In the meantime we must educate ourselves to break out of the sheep mentality that has been programmed into our subconscious minds. Most importantly, we must learn the lesson of the last century. That giving power to a centralized government is to put ourselves in chains and enslave our minds and potential with disastrous affect on future generations worldwide. All government is inherently corrupt. That is not to say that all politicians are so. It simply means that human nature is what it is. It means that with power comes the potential for corruption. The more power, the more potential. History has shown over and over that human nature will succumb to that temptation. Therefore, all logic and reason tells us that our only hope to secure our freedom and thereby this great nation, is to keep the chains on government instead of ourselves. There is a price to pay for freedom as well, but the cost is nowhere near the cost we pay for a tyrannical government.
Recent history shows us what happens when we simply vote for the other party when we are disgusted with our legislators. We foist upon the people an even greater evil. We must work within the party that more closely represents our principles and protects our liberty. We must change within. If you hire a builder with a proven technique that has been successful for hundreds of years and it turns out that he/she doesn't have the ability to build your house; does it make sense to then hire another experienced builder with a different technique that has been proven many times over to be a complete failure? Of course not. You would hire someone else with the same technique yet more ability. Work within your party.
The designers of this Constitutional Republic of the United States of America gave us the chains to put on government, the two year term of the House of Representatives. The party system enhanced this tool with the primary process. We the People, in order to preserve liberty and prosperity for future generations, are duty bound to use these tools to protect our rights at all costs. Every primary should be eagerly and vigorously engaged in by all members of the precincts in which we live to ensure that career politicians become an antiquated novelty of a past ignorant and indifferent age, giving way to a modern age of renewed enlightenment and sweet freedom.
by: Keith D. Rodebush
1. http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/richard.holden/papers/Incumbents%20JOP.pdf
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