Something I like to do when I meet with groups is to hand out copies of Frederic Bastiat’s “The Law”. This is one of my favorite books, and I encourage everyone to read it at least once. The folks over at FEE (Foundation for Economic Education) have done a great job making selected writings available online for free.
Click here to go to Frederic Bastiat’s “The Law“. You’ll be glad you did.
I just recently wrote about the squalid conditions in Haiti mostly bereft of any substantive results, despite billions in aid and donations flowing into Haiti.
This report on the one-year anniversary of the Haitian earthquake disaster confirms my belief that a majority of the donation funds are being misused. Highlights, from the article:
A year later, Americans are still seeing images of Haitians living in tents and wondering why. Their $10 dollar text donation may have helped pay for those gray tents with the black stripes. But Ben Smilowitz from The Disaster Accountability Project (www.disasteraccountability.org) says if donors want to know, they should ask.
His watchdog group did just that, asking 200 aid organizations operating in Haiti to detail how much money they raised and how they are spending it. Only 38 of them responded to the survey. Those 38 collectively raised 1.4 billion dollars and say they’ve so far spent about 700 million of it. However, Smilowitz says many refused to state clear goals and provide a breakdown of how they are spending donor money. He says transparency among aid groups is key to evaluating success in Haiti, but realizes it could also point out some flaws.“Flaws could lead to less donations. Do we want honesty and a more effective relief effort? Or do we want groups to amass just huge sums of money and not spend half of it?”
High taxes are also a hindrance to helping hands. Haiti tacks a 40 percent import tax on to everything that crosses the country’s border, from eggs to automobiles. That often forces aid groups to make the hard decision between importing much needed medicine and the means with which to deliver it.
Adam Marlatt of Global DIRT (Disaster Immediate Response Team, www.globaldirt.org) says he’s seen brand-new, fully donated pick-up trucks designated for aid groups sitting idle at the airport for so long, weeds grew up to the windows. The aid groups the trucks were sent for can’t afford, or choose not to spend, the thousands of dollars they would have to pay the Haitian government to use them. It’s like winning a free car, but you can’t afford to pay the taxes on it.
Aid groups are eligible for a tax exemption, but obtaining the exemption is a long and lengthy process. A year later, few who were not operating in Haiti before the quake are eligible for the tax break.
Ben Smilowitz says paying what it takes to operate – and accounting for it – will make a difference. “If these organizations don’t spend the money they have, then what kind of urgency is it for countries to give more?”
The Haitians don’t need any more monetary donations; they need, and deserve, a restructuring of their government and its leaders.
The criterion for charitable giving in recent years has become based on emotion rather than responsibility. An glaring example of this trend is the millions of dollars blindly poured into US and UN charities in response to the Haitian earthquake disaster. Never mind that most of these organizations are racked with corruption. Those who support their continued existence are implicitly liable for compounding the misery that still exists in Haiti nearly a year later.
The recent fraudulent elections – held just a month ago – have perpetuated another cycle of abuse. But where is the current outrage about the results among those who purport to care about the misfortune of the Haitian people? It’s easy to for Americans to donate to a faceless organization and feel good about helping, yet ignorant generosity has unintended consequences.
The government of Haiti and the organizations that prop it up are racked with dishonest leaders; the monetary contributions that flow from misguided donors only serve to feed their corruption. Haitians must strive to purge the body politic – but this can only be achieved by severing the financial support systems currently in place.
Mary O’Grady’s recent article in the WSJ highlights the graft running rampant in the import business being conducted at Port-au-Prince. Yet the US and UN have turned a blind eye to the devastating effects the extortionists have on the business and economic growth. Is it any wonder then, that the response to reports of election fraud by the Clintons, Valenzula, or the UN have been equally and exceedingly lackluster?
Examining the state of the Haiti recovery effort, one can only conclude that by and large, the US and UN aid organizations are in collusion with the current depraved governing body in Haiti. Billions of dollars in contributions have only lined the pockets of the leadership while keeping the Haitian people in involuntary squalor.
I have proudly not contributed to Haiti because I believe in the idea of responsible giving. Sadly, the consequences of Haitian donations have been severe. Starving the Haitian government of monetary aid is the only opportunity to cripple their fraudulent behavior, weaken their power, and give dignity and hope back to the Haitian people. People who truly wish to aid and not exploit those whom they seek to help would do well to know the history and politics of the organizations and their leaders before they contribute.
A recent Op-Ed in the New York Post by John Faso, discusses the shrinking population in New York State and its implications for the future.
Faso surmises that New Yorkers are fleeing the state — most famously Rush Limbaugh — because of high taxes and dismal job prospects. Our state is nearly bankrupt and has been increasingly burdensome and hostile to businesses in recent years. The population decline means a loss of two more seats in the House of Representatives. More importantly, this means that New York is no longer as powerful as it has been in terms of policy.
Faso reminds us about the challenges we as New Yorkers face and what we can do to surmount them.
U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson in Virginia has ruled the individual mandate portion of the Health Care bill is unconstitutional. Virginia’s Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, filed the lawsuit last year shortly after Obamacare was passed. Cuccinelli argued that the federal government did not have the constitutional authority to impose the requirement to purchase insurance or pay a fine.
“Neither the Supreme Court nor any federal court of appeals has extended Commerce Clause powers to compel an individual to involuntarily enter a stream of commerce by purchasing a commodity in the private market. In doing so, enactment of the Minimum Essential Coverage Provision exceeds the Commerce Clause powers vested in Congress under Article I.”
Hudson is the first judge to rule against Obamacare.
You can’t make this stuff up. This Democrat temper tantrum was reported by RollCall.
“Following several hours of floor speeches hammering the GOP, a handful of Democrats including Sens. Bob Menendez (N.J.), Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Debbie Stabenow (Mich.),Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Jack Reed (R.I.) and Jeff Merkley (Ore.) attacked Republicans in a press conference, repeatedly using the word “hostage” to characterize the status of middle-class tax cuts.
“Do you allow yourself to be held hostage and get something done for the sake of getting something done, when in fact it might be perverse in its ultimate results? It’s almost like the question of do you negotiate with terrorists,” Menendez said when asked whether he and other Democrats would accept a compromise with Republicans.
To give credit where credit is due, Congressman Menendez is merely following in the footsteps of President Obama, who frequently employs the word hostage with regard to issues. Obama is following the lead of LBJ, who began the modern day use of the word hostage in partisan politics ; every president since him has done so. Luckily for us, Obama has waxed eloquence with the word quite often this year — sixteen times and counting — so we know just how dire the situation is.
This is one fight I hope the “terrorists” win.
It’s worthwhile to periodically re-read a good book. Hayek’s “Road to Serfdom” is a mere 31 pages long.
The book itself can be downloaded here.
A longer version (96 pages) with commentary can be downloaded here.
Take a few minutes to read it this weekend. You’ll be glad you did.
In just another example of the federal government cooking their books in ways that the SEC would say are criminal, lets look at the Roth IRA conversion.
Individuals are flocking to convert their traditional IRA’s to a Roth, paying full current income taxes on the amount converted in exchange for the potentially huge benefit of never having to pay taxes on future distributions – neither on the principal, nor any income or gains earned in that account.
But what is really going on here? The taxpayer is simply being asked to pay now for a tax bill that is not due until well into the future. This “advance payment” is indisputably simply a loan to our government. But the federal books do not reflect it as a loan – it is reflected as a tax receipt. If that is not bad enough, the “interest cost” on this tax receipt – the foregone tax on all the income that will ever be earned on that account – will never be recorded as a cost at all!
The effect of this is that future generations will lose the revenue from these IRA conversions since the taxes are being collected now. This creates lower tax receipts for our children and grandchildren, who will undeniably be saddled with incredible tax burdens to make up the difference.
Yes, our deficit and debt burden is again being increased in a deceitful way – so what else is new?