Free Golf Cart, Anyone?

A thank you to Josiah for pointing out the Post Office. Yeah, they're the cheapest option right now, (that I know of) for sending letters to girlfriends or checks to missions organizations etc. If they disappeared, could not a UPS type organization pick up the slack? Would we get as much junk mail then? Keep pointing out beneficial government programs to me, I need encouragement.

Free golf cart thanks to the government.

Some excerpts:

"The federal credit provides from $4,200 to $5,500 for the purchase of an electric vehicle, and when it is combined with similar incentive plans in many states the tax credits can pay for nearly the entire cost of a golf cart."

"In South Carolina, sales of these carts have been soaring as dealerships alert customers to Uncle Sam's giveaway. 'The Golf Cart Man' in the Villages of Lady Lake, Florida is running a banner online ad that declares: 'GET A FREE GOLF CART. Or make $2,000 doing absolutely nothing!'"

Don't walk, run to your nearest cart dealer!

Positive Examples?

Are there any positive examples out there of a government program truly benefiting people as it was intended to? The kind of thing I am looking for is the sort of long term, without-it-we'd-be-complete-goners type of testimony. Do government programs like welfare, Medicaid, Medicare help people in the long run? I need some help on this because my own perspective on government's ability to actually help people is increasingly negative.

Discuss.

Of course, I have a blog post brewing about private enterprise doing government's job, but I'll save that one for tomorrow.

End the Federal Reserve?

I just finished Ron Paul's new book "End the Fed." It's short, sweet and to the point mostly. In it he presented a couple of compelling arguments to rid the US from control of a central bank. I am still uneducated on the issue, but plan to learn more about it. On principle I disagree with the existence of the Fed. Reasons being: every day the Fed exists and prints more money, the less our savings are worth due to inflation, it permits the government to print money in order to fund programs it should not be involved in or promote, it is hardly controlled and allowed far too much power without adequate oversight.

Ron Paul brought up the valid point that if we can't print money, why should the Fed be allowed to? If we do it, it's counterfeiting, but if they do it, it's legit.

Ever since its inception, it has failed to do what it was created for, namely, provide a foundation for a stable economy. There have been nearly two dozen recorded recessions since 1913 when it was founded.

It's an interested read.

My Man Hayek

"The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design." F. A. Hayek from The Fatal Conceit.

Amen and amen.

Tax Tax Tax!

I sort of liked Thomas Friedman until recently. His latest kick is the environment, I preferred his stuff on globalization and business.

But now he's all government, all the time, government is the answer.

Check this out from his latest article "Real Men Tax Gas": "Such a tax would make our economy healthier by reducing the deficit, by stimulating the renewable energy industry, by strengthening the dollar through shrinking oil imports and by helping to shift the burden of health care away from business to government so our companies can compete better globally. Such a tax would make our population healthier by expanding health care and reducing emissions. Such a tax would make our national-security healthier by shrinking our dependence on oil from countries that have drawn a bull’s-eye on our backs and by increasing our leverage over petro-dictators, like those in Iran, Russia and Venezuela, through shrinking their oil incomes."

Oh yeah, it'll turn out exactly that way. I mean, we've never complained about gas being $1 higher per gallon. (Granted, I'm not sure if he was promoting that $1 rate per gallon or barrel or what). Let's give more money to the government so it can solve our problems like governments have been doing since the dawn of time. Wait...

Tim Keller

Found this article by Tim Keller on the importance of hell. It's an excellent article. Not too long either.

From the conclusion:

"The doctrine of hell is crucial-without it we can't understand our complete dependence on God, the character and danger of even the smallest sins, and the true scope of the costly love of Jesus."

Spiderman Ride at Disneyland?

Disney to Buy Marvel Entertainment

Cost

All this talk of health/medical care reform got me thinking about the issue of cost. Nothing comes for free in this world. There seems to be this popular notion that whatever the government provides is "free." Any new type of program instated costs something, usually money. Health care for example is being pushed now with the objective to drive down the cost of health insurance across the board and to provide a low cost option to those who otherwise could not afford it. Sweet. Sounds good. But wait. How is this going to be paid for? Somewhere, somehow the cost will be absorbed by someone. The government will need to increase taxes or people under the Big Gov plan will pay for it in waiting periods or people will pay for it with lost jobs due to false competition, etc. Nothing is free!

There is this mental blank spot, somehow, in our collective thinking that seems to differentiate between every commodity and necessity we purchase with time and/or money and government spending. For some reason, the government is exempt from this very basic thought. Government builds a road? Sure! Government runs a mail service? Sure! Government provides doughnuts for everyone? Sure! I'm not paying anything! Oh wait. You are. Every year, Americans work more and more of the year just to pay off taxes. Tax Freedom Day is April 13, meaning that Americans' paychecks are going straight to taxes until that day. Let's apply some common sense to how we think about cost and government spending.

2-D Love

Check out this article by the New York Times on a phenomenon going on in Japan involving romantic relationships people are having with pillow cases, essentially.

Knots

I undo a lot of tangles as a fly fishing guide. A lot of the knots are my own creation, yet I also untangle a lot snarls that guests create themselves. With tangles, there are no shortcuts. Anytime you pull one end, you'll probably make it worse. Anytime you try and flick the rod to undo the snarl, it'll just make it worse. It's a type of puzzle and definitely a patience builder. I get the most irritated when the knots are my own creation.

But then you catch a fish and it's all better.