Some of the Many Economic Myths Taught In Our Schools

Some of the Many Economic Myths Taught In Our Schools
(Don Boudreaux)

After reading my recent list of some commonly held economic myths – myths that spring from the widespread misconception that the economy is far simpler than it really is  you will begin to suspect that a vast majority of what people popularly believe about economic events is at least misleading and often wrong.  A few examples of such common errors are:
price controls prevent higher costs to consumers;
reducing unemployment necessarily requires creation of more jobs;
larger incomes for some people require smaller incomes for others;
free, or low, tuition reduces costs to students;
all unemployment must be wasteful;
stockbrokers and investment advisors predict better than the alternatives of throwing a dart at a list of stocks or the use of horoscopes;
taxes are borne entirely by consumers of taxed items;
employers pay for “employer provided insurance”;
minimum wage legislation helps the unskilled and minorities;
housing developers drive up the price of land;
foreign imports reduce the total of domestic jobs;
“equal pay for equal work” laws aid women, minorities, and the young;
economic efficiency is a matter only of technology and engineering:
agricultural and other surpluses stem from productivity outrunning demand;
capitalism requires a social “harmony of interests”–but also capitalism is the source of competitiveness and conflict;
property rights commonly conflict with human rights;
business people are self-centered and rapacious, while government people are self-sacrificing and altruistic;
labor unions protect the natural brotherhood and collective wellbeing of workers against their natural enemies, employers;
charging a higher price always increases the seller’s profits;
the American economy is increasingly dominated by monopolists who arbitrarily set prices as high and wages as low as they please;
rent control improves and expands housing;
there is unemployment because workers outnumber jobs;
fluctuating prices create wasteful uncertainty and rising prices constitute inflation, so government should make it illegal to raise prices;
we cannot compete in a world in which most foreign wages are lower than wages paid to domestic workers.
…….. and on and on and on.

“The Liberal Syndrome:”

                                                  “The Liberal Syndrome:”

It is a human trait to focus on cheap and lofty rhetoric rather than costly, earthy reality. It is a bureaucratic characteristic to rail against the trifling misdemeanor rather than address the often-dangerous felony. And it is political habit to mask one’s own failures by lecturing others on their supposed shortcomings. Ambitious elected officials often manage to do all three. The result in these hard times is that our elected sheriffs, mayors, and governors are loudly weighing in on national and global challenges that are quite often out of their own jurisdiction, while ignoring or failing to solve the very problems that they were elected to address.

Quite simply, the next time your elected local or state official holds a press conference about global warming, the Middle East, or the national political climate, expect to experience poor county law enforcement, bad municipal services, or regional insolvency.

And in de Blasio’s case, the biggest political obsession with horses since Caligula.

Victor Davis Hanson

Are we poor? Are we hungry? Are we underpaid

Another storm system coming?  No, according to a news reporter, “more energy is arriving.”  A rise in cyber Monday sales?  No, a “spike in on-line surges ( redundant).” To heck with the English language today, from football players, to coaches, to newscasters, to students, to Professors, to our President ( who has his special version of ISIS called ISIL. ????

Are we poor?  Are we hungry?  Are we underpaid? No, no, no. Facebook has extended parental-leave to 4 ( 4!!!) months for all employees globally which means more time off mostly for fathers and same-sex couples outside the U.S.  Facebook joins the idiot bandwagon already rolling along from Amazon, Netflix  and Microsoft. Profit and privilege are thus used not in the market place, but on a politically correct (wasteful and discriminatory) agenda. 

To heck with the English language today

Another storm system coming?  No, according to a news reporter, “more energy is arriving.”  A rise in cyber Monday sales?  No, a “spike in on-line surges ( redundant).” To heck with the English language today, from football players, to coaches, to newscasters, to students, to Professors, to our President ( who has his special version of ISIS called ISIL. ????

Are we poor?  Are we hungry?  Are we underpaid? No, no, no. Facebook has extended parental-leave to 4 ( 4!!!) months for all employees globally which means more time off mostly for fathers and same-sex couples outside the U.S.  Facebook joins the idiot bandwagon already rolling along from Amazon, Netflix  and Microsoft. Profit and privilege are thus used not in the market place, but on a politically correct (wasteful and discriminatory) agenda. 

“This Thanksgiving, Be Grateful for Property Rights. The Pilgrims Nearly Starved Without Them“:

John Stossel’s November 25, 2014, column, “This Thanksgiving, Be Grateful for Property Rights. The Pilgrims Nearly Starved Without Them“:

People associate property rights with greed and selfishness, but they are keys to our prosperity.  Things go wrong when resources are held in common.

Before the Pilgrims were able to hold the first Thanksgiving, they nearly starved.  Although they had inherited ideas about individualism and property from the English and Dutch trading empires, they tried communism when they arrived in the New World.  They decreed that each family would get an equal share of food, no matter how much work they did.

The results were disastrous.  Gov. William Bradford wrote, “Much was stolen both by night and day.”  The same plan in Jamestown contributed to starvation, cannibalism, and death of half the population.

So Bradford decreed that families should instead farm private plots. That quickly ended the suffering. Bradford wrote that people now “went willingly into the field.”  Soon, there was so much food that the Pilgrims and Indians could celebrate Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day message 1815 of James Madison

Thanksgiving Day message 1815 of James Madison

“No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the goodness of the Great Disposer of Events and of the Destiny of Nations than the people of the United States.  His kind providence originally conducted to them one of the best portions the dwelling place allotted for the great family of the human race.  He protected and cherished them under all the difficulties and trials to which they were exposed, in their early days.  Under His fostering care their habits, their sentiments, and their pursuits prepared them to a transition in the time to a state of independence and self-government. In the arduous struggle by which it was attained they were distinguished by multiplied tokens of His benign interposition…And to the same Divine Author of Every Good and Perfect Gift we are indebted for all these privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil, which are so richly enjoyed in this beloved land.”

Whose timely campaign speech?

        Whose timely campaign speech?

“The harsh facts of the matter are that as a nation we face a hard, tough course ahead for perhaps a generation or more but also, … that we have gone soft-physically, mentally and spiritually soft. … Profits are up, our standard of living is up, but so is our crime rate.  So is the rate of divorce and juvenile delinquency and mental illness.  So are the sales of tranquilizers and he number of children dropping out of school.”

       The time was 1959 and message was from John F. Kennedy. 

CULTURAL APPROPRIATION: YOGA & FOOD

CULTURAL APPROPRIATION:  YOGA & FOOD

Is it time to close the schools and send the students to the countryside to harvest rice?  Even Chairman Mao had a few good ideas. 

University closes down Yoga classes.  "Yoga has been under a lot of controversy lately due to how it is being practiced," and which cultures those practices "are being taken from."  The centre official argues since many of those cultures "have experienced oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy ... we need to be mindful of this and how we express ourselves while practising yoga."  The concept of cultural appropriation is normally applied when a dominant culture borrows symbols of a marginalized culture for dubious reasons -- such as the fad of hipsters donning indigenous headdresses as a fashion statement, without any regard to cultural significance or stereotype.

Acting student federation president Romeo Ahimakin denied the decision resulted from a complaint.  Ahimakin said the student federation put the yoga session on hiatus while they consult with students "to make it better, more accessible and more inclusive to certain groups of people that feel left out in yoga-like spaces. ... We are trying to have those sessions done in a way in which students are aware of where the spiritual and cultural aspects come from, so that these sessions are done in a respectful manner."

Food:  Several universities cancel ‘Taco Night’ and other ethnic food serving.  Claim  “food is appropriated when people from the dominant culture – in the case of the US, white folks – start to fetishize or commercialize it, and when they hoard access to that particular food.  When a dominant culture reduces another community to it’s cuisine, subsumes histories and stories into menu items – when people think culture can seemingly be understood with a bite of food, that’s where it gets problematic.

Colonization and gentrification are directly related to the appropriation of food. We also need to begin educating ourselves on issues and event that impact the communities that we’re drawing our meals from.

Close the schools!

What is meaning of life for a Frenchwoman?

What is meaning of life for a Frenchwoman?  Having lost a friend to the recent massacre at the hands of Islamist murderers, she regretted that her loss meant no more time to “share moments of culture and emotion.” Duh?  Life is obviously the here and now without a higher power here or hereafter. So sad! 

But could Europeans control their bladders if they had a gun.

Continuing Education on Paris ‘workplace violence’. As Obama would say.

But could Europeans control their bladders if they had a gun.

Armed Citizens May Be the Solution to Terrorism, Says Interpol Secretary General

Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said:

"Ask yourself: If that was Denver, Col., if that was Texas, would those guys have been able to spend hours, days, shooting people randomly?" Noble said, referring to states with pro-gun traditions. "What I'm saying is it makes police around the world question their views on gun control. It makes citizens question their views on gun control. You have to ask yourself, 'Is an armed citizenry more necessary now than it was in the past with an evolving threat of terrorism?' This is something that has to be discussed."

"For me it's a profound question," he continued. "People are quick to say 'gun control, people shouldn't be armed,' etc., etc. I think they have to ask themselves: 'Where would you have wanted to be? In a city where there was gun control and no citizens armed if you're in a Westgate mall, or in a place like Denver or Texas?'"

GUN FREE COUNTRY: VICTIMS LAY ON FLOOR WAITING TO BE SHOT!

GUN FREE COUNTRY: VICTIMS LAY ON FLOOR WAITING TO BE SHOT!

“It lasted for ten minutes. Ten minutes. Ten horrific minutes where everyone was on the floor covering their heads. We heard so many gunshots. And the terrorists were very calm. . . . They reloaded three to four times their weapons. They didn’t shout anything. They didn’t say anything. They were in masks. They were wearing black clothes. And they were shooting at people on the floor. And I was luckily at the top of the stage. The front of the stage. So people tried to escape . . . I found an exit when the terrorists reloaded their guns. And I climbed on the stage and we found an exit. ​And when I went on the streets I see 20 to 25 bodies lying on the floor. And people were very badly injured with gunshot wounds. . . . ​It was a bloodbath.”

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/427051/paris-attack-shooting-bombing-hostages

REMEMBER THE 3 AMERICANS WHO RUSHED THE JIHADI ON THE TRAIN COUPLE MONTHS AGO.  NOW FRENCHMEN LAY ON FLOOR WAITING THEIR TURN TO BE SHOT!

“organized massacre” of self-reliance

When I hear talk of another government program, a similar-sounding word pogrom often comes to mind. Are these two not similar in a perverted way?  What other than an “organized massacre” of self-reliance and independent living is a subsidized do-good effort which eliminates individual freedom?  

Which will kill you faster

One, two, three, four, what should we be rooting for? Which will kill you faster - drinking, smoking, drugging or eating processed meats?  If you take them all away, what will fill a person’s day? Just asking. 

My proof of the existence of God

My proof of the existence of God begins with the case of an atheist.  An atheist cannot love any person other than himself because if the loved one dies, as a human being he/she could not tolerate the thought that the loved one never be re-united with him/her in another world. The other world, perforce is the realm of God. So to deny God is to simply be in love only with one’s self.

   Where is the only true safe space on campus?  In your mind.

What is the only true “treat assessment team”? Again your brain cells

Innovation At The Speed Of Government!

Innovation At The Speed Of Government!

AND YET PEOPLE IN THE GOVERNMENT THOUGHT OBAMACARE WOULD BE EASY: A decade into a project to digitize U.S. immigration forms, just 1 is online. “Heaving under mountains of paperwork, the government has spent more than $1 billion trying to replace its antiquated approach to managing immigration with a system of digitized records, online applications and a full suite of nearly 100 electronic forms. A decade in, all that officials have to show for the effort is a single form that’s now available for online applications and a single type of fee that immigrants pay electronically. The 94 other forms can be filed only with paper.”

GOVERNMENT FORMULA: FAILURE = GREATER FUNDING + MORE POWER

GOVERNMENT FORMULA:  FAILURE =  GREATER FUNDING + MORE POWER

“The general lesson is that if some part of government fails in its function, it will most likely be given greater funding and power.  Of course, the purpose of this is not to reward failure; the thinking would be that more money and power will enable the agency to solve the problem.  But the effect is that government grows when social problems grow, and thus it is not in the government’s interests to solve society’s problems.”

from page 220 of philosopher Michael Huemer’s powerful 2013 book, The Problem of Political Authority 

David Boaz ask rhetorically about this reality: ‘Can you imagine a worse incentive system than one that rewards failure with higher budgets and punishes success with lower budgets?’  I can’t – yet that’s pretty much the prevailing incentive system for governments around the world.

Is there hunger in America?

Is there hunger in America? Can deprivation be true if 30% of pet owners are able to give their ‘darlings’ extra treats for Halloween?

Is our Secretary of State a blowhard? His latest words of ‘wisdom’ cinch the case when he claims to advocate for and concur with…”

What are the 5 deadly sins of America today ( and always)?  Power, wealth, pleasure, honor and freedom. Yes, freedom, absolute self-determination that is - the curse of the misguided.