The Man Behind the Curtain Is...Barack Obama

My blog "The Man Behind the Curtain Is...Barack Obama" appears on the Republican Liberty Caucus Blog.

>We all remember the scene in the movie version of Frank Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz when Toto pulls the curtain aside and the Wizard turns out to be none other than the snake oil salesman from Kansas. In William Leach’s wonderful history of consumerism, Land of Desire*, Leach points out that Baum was one of the earliest store window designers for Wannamaker’s Department Store in Philadelphia and that Baum’s American fairy tale was an allegory for the concept of consumerism. The snake oil salesman was the Wizard of consumerism who could grant everyone their dreams.

Within a few decades of Baum’s publication of Wonderful Wizard of Oz American politics took a particular turn. A snake oil of illusory democracy and equality were sold to the American public by a series of Wizards who managed to transfer increasing quantities of wealth to Wall Street and the banking industry while, at the same time, convincing Americans that they were doing so in the interest of the poor and middle class.

Americans have traveled the Yellow Brick Road for more than seventy years while the snake oil has done its work. During that time, both conservatives and “liberals” have played their part. The conservatives, keying off the social Darwinism of the late 19th century, have claimed that “liberals” are soft on the poor and do not recognize the importance of incentives. They pretend to libertarian views on government, but when push comes to shove conservatives advocate a key role for big government in the form of Soviet-style central planning by the barbaric relic known as the Federal Reserve Bank. The “liberals” say that the conservatives are greedy and indifferent to income inequality. Both sides agree that big government is needed and neither questions the Federal Reserve Bank’s existence.

The faux debate has left open an opportunity for the RLC: a benign libertarianism where freedom works in favor of the poor; government serves to oppress them; and freedom (as opposed to border fences or wealth transfers) provides the opportunity for achievement. This is the authentic American dream that both conservatives like Sean Hannity and “liberals” like Paul Krugman have deserted.

The use of illusion is fundamental to Keynesian economics and its argument for Soviet-style planning by Fed economists. On page 8 of his General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money Keynes writes:

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Teaching Employees How to Fish

My article "Teaching Employees How to Fish" appears in the March 19, 2009 issue of of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Career Insider.

"I would argue that the softer benefits — especially job search, networking and outsourcing advice — are more important than severance dollars in helping employees. These can be provided more cheaply in-house and provide more bang for the buck than SUB, severance or other benefits.

"My point that education is more important than direct dollars is based on the saying of an ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu: 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.' It is beneficial to both employers and employees to encourage the development of skills by which employees who are laid off can cushion the blow and recover easily."

Read the whole thing here.

RLC Has A Great Opportunity: Just Ask Anyone on the NYC Subway

My blog "RLC Has a Great Opportunity: Just Ask Anyone on the NYC Subway" appears in the Republican Liberty Caucus Website here.

"...Increasingly, Brooklynites as well as Americans in general have been asking questions about the Federal Reserve Bank. If one of the parties decides to take this issue by the horns, it will be winnable. This is so in part because the statist media will have trouble responding to it. They can trot up Keynesian economists to argue, but the economists themselves can be made to be part of the issue. They are themselves, after all, on the special interest Fed gravy train."

Read the whole thing here.

New Stimulus Plan Proposal for Congressman Hinchey

Dear Congressman Hinchey:

I have a stimulus plan and I urge you to propose it to Congress. My plan is that Congress, the President and the US Supreme Court ought to convene in Guantanamo Bay, remaining there for the next twenty years.

They could occupy the cells left by the departed terrorists. Their decisions would be limited to Guantanamo Bay.

The three branches would then be able to begin to mend the damage that they have caused to this country.

Sincerely,


Mitchell Langbert

Cc: President Barack Obama, Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand