Okay, let's look at it without ideology

The modern liberals and the moderates are keen on suggesting that ideology creates closed minds and stunted viewpoints, so let's drop ideology and look at the potential effects caused by taxing the rich, especially the current push to tax companies that make overseas profits.

Asia, for the most part, is moving forward economically by implementing capitalist principles and making their economic environment friendly to business, even if their human rights record leaves a lot to be desired. Europe in reeling from years of statism and is loosening it's business mindset to focus more on economic growth and less on soaking the rich.

As the global economy heats up and as statism reaches its limits and threatens to collapse whole economies, the trend will likely be for countries that need wealth to continue attracting companies by loosening regulations and lowering taxes, as America heads in the direction of increased regulation and higher taxes on the producers of wealth.

At one time, the Keepers of the American State could say that businesses have no place to go in the world because America is the most secure nation and the friendliest toward businesses, so the government could charge their fees to American companies for the privilege of operating in such a grand business environment. The world has changed, and, as time goes on, it will change rapidly as Asia continues to grow and Europe gets its groove back. The global economy will offer options for corporations more attractive than America's offerings -- much lower overhead and less government intervention combine for an attractive alternative to America's rising cost of doing business and undereducated labor market.

This has nothing to do with ideology -- it has to do with economic and business reality.

Paul Krugman on ABC's This Week

As much as I disagree with Paul Krugman, I've come to respect him more than most on the left because he sticks to his guns and actually seems to believe what he says and willing to stand firm. Krugman has not veered from his insistence our economic problem is one of insufficient demand and that the stimulus was too small. There's the possibility Krugman knows he's incorrect and simply promotes statism for the sake of power and control, and that he's being stubborn beyond reason, but he appears to believe his Keynesian position. The problem with his position is that it doesn't answer some important questions -- the first question being that if the stimulus was too small, how can this be determined if it hasn't all been spent?

The second question has to do with stimulated, short-term demand and is a two-part question -- will an infusion of money into the economy give consumers confidence to buy big ticket items and businesses confidence to expand and hire? It seems to me that consumers and businesses are looking for long-term confidence that government actions will not interfere with long-term plans and contracts. If the mid-term elections create a split government, this might give businesses the confidence that regulations and policies, interference in general, will slow to a crawl, and consumers might feel more secure about going into debt, although they will probably be cautious for quite a while.

Where I think Krugman is wrong is in his insistence that demand is the answer. Short-term stimulus will likely be used in ways that help some but do very little to create an environment of confidence and enthusiasm for long-term prospects --- by long-term, I mean 5-10 years down the road -- and although Keynes said that in the long run we're all dead, for those in their 20s, 30s and 40s, they will be likely be quite alive, and they don't want to be in bankruptcy begging government for a few bucks to get a bowl of soup.

Vicious political climate

The Daily Kos guy's book came out comparing the right to the Taliban, and it's getting rave reviews from liberals. This coincides with the recent Ground Zero controversy. The right is vicious, too, but the left is going overboard. It's hysteria.

Democrats know they are in big trouble when the midterm elections get here, so they are implementing a scorched earth campaign. In the meantime, there's a paucity of good jounalistic analysis of the economy and the statist legislation which has crippled the economy.

Let's not forget the stimulus, the healthcare law and the financial bill that passed. These three statist monstrosities are sending ripples of destruction through the economy, and no one seems to be appropriately alarmed. Fannie and Freddie ae still bleeding, and it's getting worse.

The regulations haven't even been written for the financial take-over. The war in Iraq shows signs of heating back up -- the Afghanistan government is corrupt to the core, and we have brave young men and women dying so these drug-dealing thugs can continue their operation. We're sinking and the press is worried about mosques.

Government is responsible for high unemployment and bad economy

We need to keep beating this drum, because if we don't, all we'll hear and read about are immigrants, mosques and same sex marriage. The main cause of high unemployment and the economic downturn is taxation, government spending and government protection of special interests at the expense of the middle class and the poor. Government has siphoned off limited resources from the private market, taxed away investment and saving and blocked small and medium size businesses from developing and giving the poor a way out of poverty. This has been going on for quite awhile, and it's being accelerated presently.

Government can help turn around the economy by abolishing or lowering taxes. The middle class and lower middle class pays taxes to support subsidizes going to the rich, such as farm subsidies and bank bail-outs and auto company bailouts and support of Fannie and Freddie. The stimulus was a misdirection of resources which could have helped a lot of people now out of work. The private market will invest capital in more productive ways than government stimulus. But lowering taxes is not enough.

We need to end all corporate welfare. We need to end the wars and stop the insane spending on the military/industrial complex. We need to make it easier for the poor and middle class to start their own small businesses. Once government cuts back on wasteful government programs, the talent now wasted in government -- scientists and engineers and such -- will be available for productive work in the private market.

We need to stop wasting resources on the UN and foreign aid which winds up in the hands of dictators. We need to go after corruption and waste in government with a vengeance. By doing all these things and by abolishing or drastically reducing taxes, we can expand the economy and produce new wealth. Producing new wealth is the only way out of our present economic crisis. Poverty will be reduced by creating more opportunities in the private market.

These are the concerns we should be talking about -- not whether a mosque should be built in NY city. Murray Rothbard and Frank Chodorov were recommending these changes decades ago, but now moreso than before, we've got to allow the private market to work. Something as simple as changing licensing laws so that peddlers can make a living and small businesses can be created without red tape will make a big difference, but it will require a comprhensive effort to get government out of the way.

The American public, and especially the poor, should be fighting for these changes. The poor, relatively speaking, have more to gain from a free market than the rich -- these changes will make a bigger change in the lives of the poor than the rich. A good job with good pay, or the ability to start a successful small business, can be life changing for someone in poverty, yet the status quo blocks this progress, and, instead, offers crumbs through the welfare state. It's time for a change, and this is what the professional politicians fear the most - prosperity and independence.

The path to a free market

In order to establish a free market, radical changes need to be made:

1. End all corporate welfare. The practice of big corporations lobbying Washington DC for favors and protection has harmed small and medium size businesses who find themselves at a competitive disadvantage.

2. Cut all business taxes to the bone. Then, after five years, end all income tax -- repeal the 16th amendment.

3. Go through all regulations, utilizing the business expertise of America's best business minds, which burden companies, entrpreneurs and investors and rescind these regulations.

4. The president and congressional leaders need to jointly address the nation and announce that government is getting out of the economy-management business, and that rules and regulations, after removing burdensome regulations, will remain stable, and no business will be bailed out regardless of  size. Announce that the court system will be reformed so that big companies don't have an advantage in cases of citizen rights violations. Individual rights, justice and punishment will be the regulators of business practices.

5. End public education. Private schools will offer diverse educational opportunities which will boost our economy and meet the needs of technological change.

6. Declare a clear and comprehensive separation of State and Economy.

I wonder if any politician will run on this platform? Surely the limited government candidates will embrace it.