VA Classical Liberal writes:

If John Maynard Keynes and F.A. Hayek got into a fight, who’d win?

If it was a real knock-down, drag-out brawl, my money would be on Keynes. At 6’ 6”, he’s got the size, the weight and the reach. Hayek couldn’t lay a glove on him.

But what if they were cutting heads and throwing down rhymes? Then, Keynes could have a real fight on his hands.

You can read the rest of the discussion, and comment, here.

Look at the facts, these days government dictates how to make a product, the government dictates what to put in a product, the government dictates shipping methodology if the U.S. Postal Service is used, the government dictates working conditions with OSHA, the government dictates minimum pay for employees and who to hire with EEOC laws, the government dictates salaries and bonuses for management in some industries, and, at the end of the day, for its efforts, the government will be on hand to collect its fair share of the company’s profit through taxation if a company is fortunate enough to make a profit on its transactions.

Now the government wants to dictate to companies what they will charge for their products. 

What decision making is left for a company under this administration? Helping pick the color of tablecloths in the company mess hall?

This proposal will be the final nail in the de facto take-over of American business. And it neatly avoids the messiness and expense of actually having to buy or run companies ala General Motors or AIG. Free companies! What socialist politician wouldn’t be giddy with excitement over the prospect?

You just gotta admire that crazy Capitalist Socialism.

Roosevelt understood that he must apply the full force of federal power to suppress the natural desire for gold in troubled times. The Emergency Banking Act, signed into law March 9, amended the Federal Reserve Act by adding a new subsection (n), which empowered the secretary of the Treasury to demand that all Americans surrender their gold and receive paper money. The following day, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6073, which made it illegal for Americans to take gold out of the country.

In his first “fireside chat,” delivered on March 12, Roosevelt didn’t say a word about his backstage maneuvering to seize gold. He remarked that “hoarding during the past week has become an exceedingly unfashionable pastime.”

Less than a month later, on April 5, 1933, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6012, which expropriated privately owned gold. He ordered Americans to surrender their gold to the government by May 1, 1933. Violators would be subject to a $10,000 fine or as many as 10 years in prison.

Read the article here.

Quotes of the Day:

American Colonel: “How dare you relax our rationing system, when there’s a widespread food shortage?”

Ludwig Erhard (German economics minister):“But, Herr Oberst. I have not relaxed rationing; I have abolished it!”

This seems like a powerful argument, but it isn’t. Here’s why . . .

* Free market prices are flexible, negotiable, and respond to consumer choice
* Prices set by the government are inflexible, non-negotiable, and respond only to back-room lobbying, or to the whims of the bureaucrats who set the prices or do the rationing

Free market price send signals to produce more or less of things, according to consumer demands. By comparison, government rationing only reflects what the politicians want.

Is healthcare different? It is not. Healthcare responds to free market prices, or to government dictates, in exactly the same way as all other goods and services. Consider . . .

* America’s half-socialized health care system is already having trouble maintaining an adequate supply of primary care doctors. Many of them are quitting their practices because the prices they’re paid by government programs, or by government-distorted insurance policies, aren’t worth it.

* Meanwhile, America’s half-free-market health care system still leads the world in medical innovation. Americans have won 11 Nobel Prizes in Medicine in the last 10 years, 26 in the last 20 years, and 39 in the last 30 years. No other country even comes close to this. What’s left of free-market pricing in America is keeping the health care of the entire world afloat.

* Healthcare procedures not covered by government programs, or by government-distorted insurance policies, show us that true free market pricing could give us ever-improving care at ever-lower prices.

In addition . . .

* In a free market, if you can’t afford the cost of a treatment, and can’t find a cheaper alternative that’s nearly as good, your doctors may decide to lower the cost, or even provide the treatment pro bono

* But will doctors be as flexible and generous when healthcare decisions are dictated by the federal Comparative Effectiveness Board, and there are fewer doctors seeing more patients because prices no longer reflect market realities?

If free market prices are really the same as government rationing . . .

* Why have societies run by government rationing and price fixing always had shortages and long lines?
* Why did the Soviet Union fail?
* Why did China adopt a free market economy?
* Why did the post-WWII German Economic Miracle begin precisely when the German authorities abandoned government rationing, over the protests of the occupying powers (see our quotes of the day above)?

It’s a simple fact: human beings have experimented with government rationing and price-fixing over and over again, always getting the same catastrophic results. Must we do it yet again before we finally learn our lesson?

If anyone tells you free market prices and government rationing are the same thing, don’t let them get away with it. Don’t let the politicians get away with it either. Please keep telling them you don’t want their Big Government healthcare scheme. It’s simply impossible for you to send Congress too many letters on this issue. Send them another one now by going here.

Use your personal comments to tell them you will be very angry if they pass any bill that authorizes any kind of “comparative effectiveness” rationing in any way.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army. To see how fast your Army is growing please check out the Keeping Score report below my signature.

Perry Willis
Communications Director
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

KEEPING SCORE REPORT

Your Downsize DC Army has grown by 199 net new members since our last regular Keeping Score report on August 19th. This brings our total growth for the year to 3,716. The Downsize DC Army now stands at 28,065, nearly 7% of the way between 28,000 and 29,000.

YOU can make the army KEEP GROWING by following our quick and easy instructions for personalized recruiting.

We can also grow faster by spreading the word through the media. Please help us do this by starting a monthly credit card pledge — it can be as low as $5 a month (which is just 17 cents per day). You can start your pledge using our secure online contribution form.

Please let us know if its okay to advertise your support here:

NEW MONTHLY PLEDGERS IN SEPTEMBER: Jim Lorenz, Chelsea Moller, 1 unlisted — (3 new pledgers total) PLEDGERS FROM AUGUST: Glen Ihrig, Gary J Leidy, David Bergland, Gary T Gorski, Don J Crites, 8 unlisted — (13 new pledgers total)

Or, you could make a one-time donation. Please let us know on our secure contribution form if its okay to advertise your support here:

NEW ONE-TIME DONORS IN SEPTEMBER: Nathan Bailey, 1 unlisted — (2 new donations total) DONORS FROM AUGUST: Sharon Mears, John Matthews, Patricia Barnum, Brian Travis, Sarah Franke, Dirk Doebereiner, James Wahler, Meredith Weaver, Stephen Moffett, Matthew Whitlock, Dan Litwin, Russell Kominski, Veronica Arnold, Michael Bayback, Ann & Todd Secoy (in memory of Julia Bitner), James Marranca, Kay Samalin, David Hyatt, Douglas Steinschneider, Lily Riker, Nicholas C. Beason, Mr. Marlin, Edward J. Krieger, Lynnette Thompson, 17 unlisted — (41 total)

If a tax deduction is important you can get one by contributing to the educational outreach efforts of the Downsize DC Foundation. Contribute at the Foundation’s secure contribution form.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

Quotes of the Day:

“You could theoretically design a co-op plan that had the same attributes as a public plan.” — Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services

“Well, I think in theory you can imagine a co-operative meeting that definition.” — President Barack Obama

The President and Congressional leaders have responded by appearing to surrender.

President Obama claims the so-called “public option” (tax funded health insurance) isn’t crucial. They would settle for something called a co-op instead.

Beware of politicians appearing to surrender. They’re almost always “Greeks bearing gifts.” The co-op alternative to the “public option” is a Trojan Horse.

Michael F. Cannon sums it up perfectly:

“On a practical level, it makes no difference whether a new program adopts a “co-operative” model or any other. The government possesses so many tools for subsidizing its own program and increasing costs for private insurers, and has such a long history of subsidizing and protecting favored enterprises, that unfair advantages are inevitable.”

So let’s update the formula we’ve been using to describe where all this will lead . . .

Co-op = public option = single-payer, tax-funded health care = health care decisions made by bureaucrats = no consumer choice or free market competition = declining health care.

We also want to repeat our warning . . .

It will take years for the public option/co-op to bring about a politically controlled single payer system, but it will happen, as surely as night follows day.

It’s also crucial to understand that . . .

* The small amount of consumer choice and free market competition that still exists in America is what drives improved health care not only for YOU, but for the whole world.

* The more socialist systems that exist elsewhere are fundamentally dependent on the INNOVATIONS created by the small remaining sliver of American free market health care.

American health care is the proverbial goose that lays the golden egg. Kill that goose and the whole world will suffer.

We must not be fooled by the politicians’ Trojan Horse surrender. We must only accept unconditional surrender. We must demand that . . .

* Every aspect of the Big Government health care bill be defeated
* Concrete steps must be taken to restore consumer choice and free market competition (including, but not limited to, an expansion of Health Savings Accounts and an end to government mandates that drive up the price of health insurance).

Please use DownsizeDC.org’s Educate the Powerful System (sm) to tell your Congressional employees what you want.

Use your personal comments to say that the co-op plan is just as bad as the public option, and must be rejected.

To stay on pace to exceed the 50,802 messages Downsizers sent to Congress last month we must send 2,694 messages today.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army. To see how fast YOUR ARMY is growing, please check out the Keeping Score Report below my signature.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

KEEPING SCORE REPORT

Your Downsize DC Army actually shrunk yesterday, by a net of 2, bringing us to 3,517 net new members for the year. The Downsize DC Army now stands at 27,866 — nearly 87% of the way between 27,000 and 28,000!

YOU can make the army KEEP GROWING by following our quick and easy instructions for personalized recruiting.

We can also grow faster by spreading the word through the media. Please help us do this by starting a monthly credit card pledge — it can be as low as $5 a month (which is just 17 cents per day). You can start your pledge using DownsizeDC.org’s secure online contribution form.

Please let us know if its okay to advertise your support here:

NEW MONTHLY PLEDGERS IN AUGUST: Gary J Leidy, David Bergland, Gary T Gorski, Don J Crites, 4 unlisted — (8 total) FROM JULY: Barbara Greenhouse, Henry Wood, Donald B. Fox, Mickey Adams, Mary E Sullivan, Raul A., Michael Jones, Alan Farrar, Emma Flores, Michael S Gerlica, John C Matthews, Cheston E Unnewehr, Val Grayson, Arlene Aquino, Susan Varey, Chris Sengenberger, John DiLiberto, 3 unlisted — 20 total.

Or, you could make a one-time donation. Please let us know on our secure contribution form if its okay to advertise your support here:

NEW ONE TIME DONORS IN AUGUST: Michael Bayback, Ann & Todd Secoy (in memory of Julia Bitner), James Marranca, Kay Samalin, David Hyatt, Douglas Steinschneider, Lily Riker, Nicholas C. Beason, Mr. Marlin, Edward J. Krieger, Lynnette Thompson, 7 unlisted — (18 total) FROM JULY: Robert Lonaberger, Lucy Cole, Donald E Forward, Steven J Lavelle, Karen Glasgow, Brian Keith, Susan Thomas, Chelsea Moller, Michael Herman, Bonnie Hofer, Anita Binns, Brian O’Neill, Richard E Camp, Travis Walston, Donald Grahn, Sonja Thompson, 16 unlisted — 32 total.

If a tax deduction is important you can get one by contributing to the educational outreach efforts of the Downsize DC Foundation. Contribute at the Foundation’s secure contribution form.

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

Quote of the Day: “A centralized democracy may be as tyrannical as an absolute monarch.” — James Anthony Froud (1818-1894) British author and historian Source: Short Studies on Great Subjects, 1872

* Banks
* Insurance companies
* Car companies
* And, as we reported yesterday, they now fund the majority of state government expenditures

But it isn’t just companies and state governments. The Feds want to nationalize YOU too.

It’s important for our new members to know that Congress is weaving a net that will ensnare all of us in a centralized database that could not only track where you go and what you do, but also . . .

What YOU spend on health care, and the kind of treatment YOU receive.

This scheme started with the so-called REAL ID Act, which would standardize state drivers’ licenses to make a de facto National ID card. You’ll need this card to cash a check, hire a baby sitter, board a plane, or engage in countless other activities. You’ll need it TO BE A PERSON.

Now that may not sound so different from today. You already need a driver’s license and a Social Security number to do many things. But your drivers’ license isn’t centralized at the federal level, and that makes all the difference. Here’s why . . .

The federal government has a huge problem with the Medicare program. They’ve made trillions of dollars in promises they can’t keep. But they have a plan to control costs . . .

* All of us will have REAL ID cards, issued by the states, but tracked in a centralized database
* The Feds will then force us to have electronic medical records too (this process is underway now)
* Your electronic medical records will be connected to the centralized REAL ID database
* The government will then start dictating which medical treatments you can receive and which you cannot

This last stage in the process is also being planned now. The supposed purpose is to protect us from ineffective treatments, but the real purpose is to control costs. In effect, the politicians will turn the entire country into a giant HMO. Do you want your health care needs being dictated by the same Keystone Gang who passed . . .

* The misguided lead regulation?
* And the self-defeating fossil fuels bill?

Well, here’s where all the threads tie together to create a net that will eventually strangle you. Twenty two states have refused to comply with the first step in this disaster scenario, the REAL ID Act. But how long do you think they’ll hold out now that . . .

The federal government funds half their budgets?!!!

Oh, what a tangled web the politicians weave when first they practice to intervene.

Many things are needed to unravel all the interventions by which the politicians have ruined our health care system. But we must also, at the same time, stop things from getting worse. High on this list is the need to repeal the REAL ID Act.

Don’t let Congress nationalize you. Use our quick and easy Educate the Powerful System to tell your Congressional employees to repeal the REAL ID Act.

Use your personal comments to tell them that . . .

* You oppose mandatory electronic medical records too
* You don’t EVER want federal bureaucrats to use REAL ID and/or electronic medical records to dictate what treatments you can and cannot receive
* You don’t want federal aid to the states to be used either to bribe state governments to comply with REAL ID, or punish them for failing to comply

We pounded Congress with more than 31,730 messages in April. To beat that number this month the Downsize DC Army needs to send at least 1,589 messages today. You can send your message at DownsizeDC.org’s “Repeal REAL ID” campaign page.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army. To see how much we’re growing please check out the Keeping Score report below my signature.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

Keeping Score

You can’t change the government by yourself. You’ll need a huge “army” to help you. That means these numbers must grow constantly . . .

The Downsize DC Army now stands at 25,225. It’s grown by 876 net new members so far this year, and 66 net new members so far this week. We’ve gone nearly 23% of the way to 26,000 in a little over a week, whereas previously it took us 176 days to get from 24k to 25k. The Army’s growth is accelerating!

YOU can make the army grow even faster by following our quick and easy instructions for personalized recruiting.

We can also grow faster by mailing recruitment letters to potential DC Downsizers. If you can start a monthly credit card pledge to help make this happen please let us know on the secure contribution form if its okay to publish your name here . . .

NEW MONTHLY PLEDGERS IN MAY: Nancy Kovar, Ryan Ackroyd, WM Michael O’Brien, John C Houghton, James Alan Speedie, ONE unlisted

Or, if you’d prefer to make a one-time donation please let us know if its okay to publish your name here . . .

NEW ONE TIME DONORS IN MAY: Ernest P. Eusea, Chris Reulman, David Anthony, Christopher T Wagner, Thomas Sartwelle, Jr, FOUR unlisted

D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
is the official email list of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation

• HR1690 – To amend the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to authorize the Secretary of Commerce to make grants to coastal states to support voluntary State efforts to initiate and complete surveys of coastal waters to identify potential areas suitable for the exploration, development, and production of renewable energy, and for other purposes.
• HR1691 – To require that health plans provide coverage for a minimum hospital stay for mastectomies, lumpectomies, and lymph node dissection for the treatment of breast cancer and coverage for secondary consultations.
• HR1684 – To preserve the rights granted under second amendment to the Constitution in national parks and national wildlife refuge areas.  [Why do we need a bill to repeat what the second amendment already says?  Simply hang (for treason) all those who violate their oaths to uphold, protect, and defend the Constitution.]
• HR1692 – To amend the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act to exempt ordinary books from the lead limit in such Act.
• HR1693 – To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for the coverage of marriage and family therapist services and mental health counselor services under part B of the Medicare Program, and for other purposes.
• S-672 – A bill to amend the Natural Gas Act, the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978, and the Federal Power Act to modify provisions relating to enforcement and judicial review and to modify the procedures for proposing changes in natural gas rates.
• S-674 - A bill to amend chapter 41 of title 5, United States Code, to provide for the establishment and authorization of funding for certain training programs for supervisors of Federal employees.
• S-675 – A bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to prohibit the sale of dishwashing detergent in the United States if the detergent contains a high level of phosphorus, and for other purposes.
• S-677 – A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to require wealthy beneficiaries to pay a greater share of their premiums under the Medicare prescription drug program.
• HR1677 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend and expand the benefits for businesses operating in empowerment zones, enterprise communities, or renewal communities, and for other purposes.
• HR1678 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a bad debt deduction to doctors to partially offset the cost of providing uncompensated care required to be provided under amendments made by the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.
• HR1680 – To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to promote professional retrofit installation of fire alarm detection systems and other fire detection and prevention technologies in nursing homes, hospice facilities, and other appropriate facilities.
• S-678 – A bill to reauthorize and improve the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, and for other purposes.
• S-679 – A bill to establish a research, development, demonstration, and commercial application program to promote research of appropriate technologies for heavy duty plug-in hybrid vehicles, and for other purposes.
• S-680 – A bill to limit Federal emergency economic assistance payments to certain recipients.  [Such a Bill should not be necessary.  No person or entity should receive emergency economic assistance.  Read Davy Crockett vs. Welfare.]
• S-681 – A bill to provide for special rules relating to assistance concerning the Greensburg, Kansas tornado.

• S-682 – A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to improve mental and behavioral health services on college campuses.
• S-683 – A bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide individuals with disabilities and older Americans with equal access to community-based attendant services and supports, and for other purposes.
• S-684 – A bill to provide the Coast Guard and NOAA with additional authorities under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, to strengthen the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and for other purposes.
• S-685 – A bill to require new vessels for carrying oil fuel to have double hulls, and for other purposes.
• S-686 – A bill to establish the Social Work Reinvestment Commission to advise Congress and the Secretary of Health and Human Services on policy issues associated with the profession of social work, to authorize the Secretary to make grants to support recruitment for, and retention, research, and reinvestment in, the profession, and for other purposes.
• S-1694 – To amend the American Battlefield Protection Act of 1996 to establish a battlefield acquisition grant program for the acquisition and protection of nationally significant battlefields and associated sites of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, and for other purposes.
• HR1696 – To amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to permanently prohibit the conduct of offshore drilling on the outer Continental Shelf in the Mid-Atlantic and North Atlantic planning areas.
• HR1697 – To ensure the coordination and integration of Indian tribes in the National Homeland Security strategy and to establish an Office of Tribal Government Homeland Security within the Department of Homeland Security, and for other purposes.
• HR1698 – To establish the Green Bank to assist in the financing of qualified clean energy projects and qualified energy efficiency projects.
• HR282 – Recognizing the 30th anniversary of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel
• HR283 – Recognizing the 30th anniversary of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel
• HR284 – Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that all Americans should participate in a moment of silence to reflect upon the service and sacrifice of members of the United States Armed Forces both at home and abroad.
• HR285 – Congratulating the people of the Republic of Lithuania on the 1000th anniversary of Lithuania and celebrating the rich history of Lithuania.
• HCR78 – Expressing the support of the Congress regarding the need to facilitate State innovation in national health care reform.
• S-687 – A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to permit direct payment under the Medicare program for clinical social worker services provided to residents of skilled nursing facilities.
• S-688 – A bill to require that health plans provide coverage for a minimum hospital stay for mastectomies, lumpectomies, and lymph node dissection for the treatment of breast cancer and coverage for secondary consultations.
• HCR79 – Expressing the sense of Congress that a commemorative postage stamp should be issued to honor Wilton “Wilt” Chamberlain.
• SR84 – A resolution urging the Government of Canada to end the commercial seal hunt.
• HCR80 – Authorizing the use of Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center for an event to celebrate the birthday of King Kamehameha.
• HR1682 – To amend title 23, United States Code, to require States to develop and implement highway bridge management systems.
• HR1683 – To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by requiring a Federal emission permit for the sale or use of greenhouse gas emission substances, and for other purposes.
• HR1685 – To provide for the acquisition, construction, and improvement of child care facilities, and for other purposes.
• HR1687 – To designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at McKinley Avenue and Third Street, SW., Canton, Ohio, as the “Ralph Regula Federal Building and United States Courthouse”.
• HR1689 – To accelerate the development and early deployment of systems for the capture and storage of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel electric generation facilities, and for other purposes.

Each bill introduced takes countless hours to be drafted, typed up, disseminated, put through the various stages of the process, all costing time and money.  Do you want your tax dollars being spent on this stuff?

Please take a couple of minutes out of your day to contact your representatives via telephone simply to tell them that you support or oppose a particular bill.  It’ll most likely take you less than two minutes, and it’s so very important that we stand up to our increasingly tyrannical government.

If you don’t know who your Senators are, or how to contact them, click here to found out.

If you don’t know who your Representatives are, or how to contact them, click here to find out.