My Response to the venerable Matthew…

Ok, Matthew has forced me to take this more seriously than I originally intended.  First, let me say that I appreciate Matthew’s comments regarding the infancy and maybe subsequent very late-term abortion of my blogging career.  I have taken to heart his valid criticism regarding the format of my soapbox.  Also, I will address his concerns point-by-point with references that explain my point of view which is not as kindergarten as some would think.  

Regarding the originality of the idea:  I thought a command economy directed by the needs of the country and limited by potential tax revenue was a novel thought.  I at least thought the juxtaposition of the buzz words would tantalize the progressives.  Just be glad I didn’t call for getting back on the gold standard (which I think we should slowly do–like a 50 year plan).  There is a good reason my ideas aren’t entertainingly radical:  they are mostly in-step with conservative ideology that, by nature, doesn’t change as rapidly or vapidly as our tv-fixed brains might prefer.  Despite the revisionists opinions, the Reagan and Clinton tax cuts worked (yes an oversimplification, but not an untrue one), the 1st Bush tax increase (GHWB) was a failure that cost him re-election (remember–its the economy, stupid).  What exactly is novel about the tired tax-and-spend agenda the President is advocating?  I would argue it is the unbelievable scale and nothing more (I admit, I have not read the proposed budget; I am speculating–and I did start reading it today).  By the way, President Obama promised in his non-state of the union address that there was not one dollar of earmarks in the stimulus package.  Note:  everyone agrees there are earmarks and plenty of special pork to go around.  Don’t let me paint this as Rep v Dem either.  Instead of standing up to the earmarks (which seem consistent with a conservative ideology), greedy republicans are coming up with and defending their own spending in the bill just like they have become accustomed to.  The point is that Barrak Obama is a liar just like EVERY previous president, which in my opinion, is not change I can believe in (I did not vote in this previous election).  Having said that, I want him and the new government to spend as little money as possible because I don’t trust professional politicians to manage it.  I didn’t trust GWB/Cheney to tap my phones, why would I trust this government with trillions of dollars.

Yes, I realize the Federal government has the constitutional power to tax the public.  This is why my plan focuses on federal taxes and possibly revamping a tax code that is so complicated that CPAs and lawyers are routinely employed to interpret it.  Surely, this level of complication is not what the founding fathers would see as prudent.  How do you have time to pursue your own happiness when you have to tally up all the deductions and worry about whether its even legal?  

The second line of the twenty-fourth amendment is completely relevant, but in my non-professional opinion, it should be interpreted not as a widely sweeping power (as it has been), but in terms of what it pertained to.  To me, it is a difficult stretch to equate the obvious problems  with a poll tax(these are FREEDOM problems) to the complicated and nuanced problems associated with broad, black hole topics like “education.”   Matthew correctly points out that this amendment has been used to expand the power of the Federal government to previously unfathomable levels.  It is not ignorant to disagree with interpretations of the constitution as almost all Supreme Court cases contain written, dissenting opinions.  Furthermore, because the document is considered dynamic, it is not unreasonable for me or anyone else to demand proper and sober interpretation and even reversals when we go down the wrong path.  Yes!  I just compared the injustices done to black Americans to the potential injustices that could be done to all of us in a Federal government drunk with power.  Fragments of one amendment do not necessarily trump fully realized and different amendments even if the fragments chronologically come later.  There has been no amendment that declares the tenth amendment unconstitutional and it is worded plainly!  The tenth amendment is part of the bill of rights and the twenty-fourth is not.  Which do you think is more fundamental?  I stand by my plea to tear down any unconstitutional colossus. 

I will not apologize for supporting state’s rights.  This is a core belief in my frame of reference.  President Obama recently used a state’s rights argument to end raids on medical marijuana clinics in California, however he has chided Governors for any attempt to refuse stimulus money.   Bush no doubt used loose interpretations of the constitution to justify his justice department’s now defunct raiding power in the same clinics.  Claiming state’s rights on one issue and rejecting it in another with the constitution draped all over you is convenient and dishonest and all politicians do it.

I’m not sure what the problem with local education is.  Matthew is still bitter because he feels he got the short shrift growing up in a backwards town.  I couldn’t disagree more (I like weatherford myself).  I grew up in public school in San Antonio, then private school there, and finally public school in Bowie, TX, and then to several colleges.  All were different experiences.  I have noticed people like Matt who hate where they come from leave and go somewhere they are happier.  Also, as a student and a teacher, I notice that kids who actually want to learn have no obstacles in their way.  There is some responsibility for the student to learn despite the blathering  rednecks sitting next to them.  It is true that its easier to be a lazy student in Bowie than in a more demanding atmosphere.  However, who is to say that the mindset in a community is inappropriate (This is elitist).  Its easy to pick out the shortcomings, but seeing the beauty of a rural education is more subtle.  The diversity among communities is an American strength, not something to ridicule.  The “regional neuroses” of a Bowie, TX still manages to graduate future doctors, lawyers, pro athletes, veterinarians, farmers, speed freaks, and anything else you can imagine.  The desire to re-route rural attitudes is as pompous as it is futile.  Do we really want big brother telling Bowie Texas they have to do it the same as Seattle Washington?  Matt has identified somethings in education he wants to avoid and has moved to one of the best school districts in the area in an attempt to give his son a head start.  This is exactly what American freedom is about.  However, Matt, if you ever want your son to be a rancher or an auto mechanic, he might actually be at a disadvantage in Plano.  A one-size-fits all approach is, in my opinion, not best for a country as diverse as America; especially since we can come and go as we please.  There is nothing wrong with a father wanting his child to have a local education, as there is nothing wrong with a family moving to New York and paying those taxes for that local education.  The idiots do not need to be protected from themselves or each other.  In fact, with the glut of idiots in America, the most expensive program I could think of would be a National Idiot Control.  I prefer a more Darwinian approach.

Ok, feeling better now.  I’m positive the credit crisis is not fully an illusion, but the notion that all credit markets have dried up is not accurate.  Specifically, people are still getting 0% interest plus incentives purchasing automobiles.  I’m specifically referencing Ed Wallace because last May he absolutely outed the speculation in deregulated dark markets that led to $4.00/gallon gas while everyone including Goldman Sacs was calling him a fucking ignorant asshole and promising it was just a supply problem.  I believe his dogged reporting on the matter forced changes that led to the eventual slashing of oil/gas prices.  Also, it is no secret that the housing markets are bad in some places but less affected in others like our own Texas because of our relatively modest consumer debt coupled with housing values that weren’t unreasonably over-inflated when this all started.  I appreciate the perspective of Matt as he peruses unqualified loan after unqualified loan, but I believe there is plenty of money to lend to people with good credit, however I do agree that people are simply not making as many major purchases.  Regardless of the reason(s), people are unable or unwilling to spend as much right now and I’m not convinced that is a horrible thing.

Matt, there simply ARE good Americans who run their own businesses.  I think you are one of them.  There have always been assholes but this is not a uniquely American trait.  The exploitation of the American worker or the Indian worker or any other worker is a function of the fact that we are a nation of laws.  Business routinely and intentionally challenge the boundaries of those laws in order to gain a temporal competitive advantage while the cases are being decided because that is the system.  I think President Obama is correct to end tax loopholes for businesses that ship jobs overseas.  I couldn’t agree more.  I think NAFTA + CAFTA = SHAFTA (I got that from a knife salesman).  There is no doubt that Americans can and should shoulder a bigger moral burden when it comes to business practices for we are still the standard bearer for the entire world.  All capitalists are not evil.  I categorically reject that notion and find your statement, “The history of American entrepreneurship does not exist separately from the history of economic exploitation of working classes, who are often actively kept at stagnant wage levels,” to be a cynical and gross misstatement.  I would speculate that most American business employ Americans at reasonable wages.  How else could the standard of living be better in every succeeding generation (except for ours) if all our labor was enslaved and all our wages were stagnant?  I do agree that many abhorrent business practices have historically found their laboratory in the heart of American business, but it is an unavoidable evil of progress.  Look at our daily problems:  my $5 coffee is too bitter; that public bathroom smelled a little stinky; did that asshole just light a cigarette near my baby!  What I’m saying is that it is directly because of naked capitalism (even in its most abrasive forms) that have bestowed upon us the most diverse freedoms and arguably highest standard of living with almost limitless possibilities for the motivated.  Yes, I agree that corporations have almost limitless greed, and the motivation for engaging in dubious practices stems from the need to “maximize shareholders’ profits.”  I’m not saying there aren’t problems with the system for it is the very system that makes it necessary to have jobs or some form of income.  Some people are ill-equipped to handle the system.  But America is not just faceless corporations, it is obviously also the smaller business; the dentist, the law firm, the energy shake shop on the corner, the ebayer.  Not all people wish to participate in the entrepreneur system or the corporate system.  Those people can teach or write tickets or become professional students.  That is what America is about–freedom.  Freedom supercedes equality and that is something hard for some progressives to agree with.  There is always a balance between freedom and equality and the two are not always compatible.  I would rather be free than forced to be equal to everyone.  I don’t know if that last part makes sense, but it will be my next blogging topic. 

I am in no way the entrepreneur our nation needs–nor do I desire to be.  But, thats ok because there are plenty of them.  There is nothing wrong or hypocritical in my support of them.  I’m not a soldier either, but I want our soldiers to be professional bad-ass motherfuckers.  I’m not a doctor, but I acknowledge the need for competent doctors in America.   My paycheck comes from state tax revenue (and some filthy federal tax money–which gets taken right back out) but mostly from tuition paid by students like myself.  In fact, my paycheck basically covers my tuition and not much more.  Right now, I’m paying over $5000 this semester just to write my own thesis, so don’t give me a lecture about where my fucking dime comes from.  I’m currently making personal sacrifices to try to eek out a slightly better future for myself.  Also–backtracking a bit, if education was that bad in America, why do we have the best university system the planet has ever seen (barring the one in Atlantis, of course)?  

In closing, I’d like to send a couple of shots across Matt’s bow.  Matt is one of the smartest dudes any of you could ever meet, he never fails to deliver insightful, complex and layered arguments.  He is better read than anyone I personally know.  However, he chooses to use his prowess as his fortress.It justifies his admitted elitism.  Embittered by the unfairness of life-in-general, he focuses on the shortcomings of anyone he disagrees with in order to discredit their message.  He has thrown out more babies than bath water.  Alternatively, he gives a generous pass to his philosophical messiahs.  What I have outlined is a plan based on my belief that all politics and politicians are corruptible for power, but that with the right incentives, we as a country can work together despite our imperfections.  

What I don’t understand is how anyone including someone as smart as Matt could believe for one second that the money being contemplated by our corrupt Federal government will be efficiently transformed into near-utopian results.  By the way, I got “Newsflashed” on a recent email.  Well, Newsflash–all this spending is bullshit and it has the potential to bankrupt the country–even if it doesn’t, it will again directly expand the power of the federal government.  So then, what happens when we elect another GWB?What happens when a less equipped steward comes along who has line-item-veto by then?  Will we want a do-over on this whole government power thing?  Maybe, because you can always recall a tax break, but it is almost impossible to reverse course on spending.  Once its in the budget, it historically just increases and those spending increases provide the precedent and legitimacy for future spending and government growth. The power of the executive branch grows as well.  What we are embarking on is a Government Bubble that is sure to pop at some point.  Everyone who is intellectually honest with themselves has to acknowledge a real risk with a plan that deliberately spends money that hasn’t even been borrowed or printed yet.  The money does not even exist yet.  How is that sustainable?

Love