Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; (D&C 98:10)

Saturday, February 24, 2018

The Most Effective Machine for Eliminating Poverty

"Milton Friedman - Poverty and Equality", https://youtu.be/fKc6esIi0_U

Partial transcript from "Milton Friedman: Government's Responsibility to the Poor", Jadranko Brkic

Student:

In reference to your own talking about government's role in a free society you mentioned some of the market failures, and I think that you may have just passed over one that is of utmost importance and that is in poverty. I would like to refer to what president Kennedy said that if a free society cannot help the many why are poor, you canot save a few more who are rich. And to say that well we are the government of the people and when there is a large sector of the people who are hurting, perhaps it is responsibility of this government of the people to help out. My question is regarding how free are the poor, how free are the unemployed, and how free are those people who are disadvantaged, and so in reference to that, what is government's role?

Milton Friedman:

First of all... I'm glad to see one vote for the poor. First of all, the government doesn’t have any responsibility. People have responsibility. This building doesn’t have responsibility. You and I have responsibility. People have responsibility.

Second, the question is how can we as people excersice our responsibility to our fellow man most effectively? That is the problem. SO far as poverty is concerned, there has never in history been a more effective machine for eliminating poverty than the free enterprise system and the free-market.

The period in which you've had the greatest improvement in the lot of the ordinary men was the period of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Those of us in this room are the heirs of that. We benefited from the way in which our parents and our grandparents were able to come here, and by virtue of the freedom that was offered they were able to make a better lives for themselves and us.

But next, if you look at the real problems of poverty and denial of freedom to people of this country, almost every single one of them is the result of government action, and would be eliminated if you eliminated the bad government failures. Let me be precise and specific: Why do we have so high unemployment rate among black teenagers? It's a disgrace and a scandal. Why do we have so high unemployment rate? First of all, because we give them lousy schooling through governmental schools, which make them unqualified to hold decent jobs.

And second of all, we require employers to discriminate against them, by not hiring them unless their productivity is enough to justify a minimum wage. The minimum wage rate is the most anti-negro law on the books. And it's an anti-negro law because it precisely having first not enabled the young blacks to have a decent schooling so that they can have productivity, we next deny them the onto job training that they might get if you could induce employers by being able to hire them for relative low wages to give them on the job training that would make them qualify for a higher payment and higher productivity.

And in the third place, we have constructed a governmental welfare scheme which has been a machine for producing poor people. We have induced people to come under control of welfare, we've..., I'm not blaming the people, don't misunderstand me, it's our fault for constructing so perversed and so ill shaped a monster as a whole set of welfare programs we have under which we encourage people, families to break up, we encourage people from one part of the country and come to another, under which we have in effect made many people poor. And yet when all this is said and done... have I ever been where?

Crowd: Have you ever been poor?

Milton Friedman:

Ofcourse. Ofcourse, more so than most of the people in this room. How many of you have worked a twelve hour a day and goten paid 78 cents? But let me go back to the...but you know that's all irrelevant. Is there one of you who's going to say that you don't want a doctor to treat you for cancer unless he himself has had cancer? I could go down the line, but when all is said and done, while there are people in this country who are worse off than other people, by an large even the poorest people in this country are relatively well-off compared to the conditions in many other countries in the world.

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Is Our Military Budget too Small, or Is Our Mission too Large?

"EXCLUSIVE–Rand Paul: Is Our Military Budget too Small, or Is Our Mission too Large?"

Is our military budget too small, or is our mission too large?  Since 2001, the U.S. military budget has more than doubled in nominal terms and grown over 37% accounting for inflation.  The U.S. spends more than the next eight countries combined.


Friday, February 16, 2018

There's a way to stop mass shooting, and you won't like it

What is the solution for all the mass shootings?

What is the cause?
Loneliness is what causes these shooters to lash out

This article makes so much sense to me. It reminds me of Moroni 7:45-48.

The pure love of Christ never fails.

“When persons manifest the least kindness and love to me, O what power it has over my mind, while the opposite course has a tendency to harrow up all the harsh feelings and depress the human mind.”
Joseph Smith Jr.

--
Also this article "One Teacher’s Brilliant Strategy to Stop Future School Shootings—And It’s Not About Guns" By Glennon Doyle Melton

What can I do to reduce, "The idea that shooting a bunch of people with a gun would be an effective way to show how the world how much you hate it"? ("An Unpopular Opinion on What Causes School Shootings", James Goldberg)

"A Gun-Control Measure Conservatives Should Consider", David French, Feb 16, 2018, National Review

From Fox 13 SLC:

The President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints weighed-in on the national gun control debate last weekend during remarks to youth in Las Vegas.
Video posted on YouTube shows a portion of President Russell M. Nelson’s remarks on February 17,  in which he says that God gave humanity free agency, and that free agency has been used to pass laws that let people who should not have guns obtain them.
Nelson says in part:

“I know your hearts are heavy as is mine as we contemplate those ruthless killings in Florida this last week. I think of Alaina Petty, 14-year-old Latter-day Saint, her life snuffed out by that sniper’s bullet…. you and others to say, ‘how could God allow things like that to happen?’ Well, God allows us to have our agency, and men have passed laws that allow guns to go to people who shouldn’t have them.” 
("LDS Church President on Parkland shooting: ‘Men have passed laws that allow guns to go to people who shouldn’t have them’", YouTube Video)

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Conservative Kentucky congressman powers entire home with a Tesla car battery

This is a great story. As soon as it is cheaper to love off the grid a revolution will happen.

"Conservative Kentucky congressman powers entire home with a Tesla car battery"

“Constitutional Conservative with an MIT Pedigree” congressman Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) posted a YouTube video over the weekend illustrating how he recently experimented with powering his entire home off of a used Tesla car battery.

Monday, February 5, 2018

Who should replace Trent Franks?

2018-02-10

Here are the list of candidates that say they would vote against the spending bill that passed.
Steve Montenegro, Mark Yates, Clair VAN Steenwyk (I am presuming) (See My FB Post)




2018-02-05
Who are you voting for to replace Trent Franks?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona%27s_8th_congressional_district_special_election,_2018

My initial gut feeling is for Steve Montenegro. I have voted for him for the state legislature.

Voting Record https://votesmart.org/candidate/106507/steve-montenegro

On Immigration:
"Montenegro said if elected to Congress, he will fight for the Constitution and personal liberties and will work with like-minded Republicans to end illegal immigration.

Asked by a Facebook viewer if he can “handle the liberal media and the fake news," Montenegro said he he has been the subject of false reporting.

“I’m public enemy No. 1 with Spanish-language media because I don’t fit the characteristic they want me to fit,” he said. Montenegro supported controversial religious-freedom legislation in 2014, as well as anti-illegal immigration measures seen as an affront to the immigrant community.

“I will continue to stand for legal immigration, and I will continue to stand against illegal immigration,” said Montenegro, adding his family came to the U.S. legally."
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2017/12/11/state-senator-steve-montenegro-joins-race-replace-congress-trent-franks/940667001/



I disagree with Steve Montenegro's vote for HB 2556 of 2016
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/written-explanation
https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/52leg/2r/bills/hb2456p.pdf

If the bill becomes in force, the electoral college system would effectively become a popular vote. So while it is technically not against the electoral college. It would turn the electoral college system into a popular vote system.

I do not have strong feeling about the electoral college. It was initially created to keep the large states from overpowering the small ones.

Sunday, February 4, 2018

Arizona's 8th congressional district

The Wikipedia article for Arizona's 8th congressional district
Here is a map of District 8

Feb 2018
"5 Arizona Republicans running for Congress debate at azcentral.com"
My FB post trying to figure out who I should vote for.
My gut pointed me to Steve Montenegro

Saturday, February 3, 2018

A pretty good summary of the true state of the science on climate change

"This is a pretty good summary of the true state of the science on climate change." Geoff Biddulph

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/02/things_your_professor_didnt_tell_you_about_climate_change.html


"Can Climate Models Predict Climate Change" PragerU
https://youtu.be/qZN2jt2cCU4