Voters gravitate to Zero

[Wolf DeVoon]

Basic principles, please. Reality is not negotiable or amenable to a show of hands. It's tough enough to discern factual circumstances without blinding ourselves with goofy whims and fairy tales. Consider Tesla electric cars, for instance. Three pertinent questions are routinely waved away. Where does electricity come from? Would cheap electric cars exist without penalizing manufacturers of internal combustion cars and subsidizing Tesla owners? What happens environmentally when toxic lithium batteries have to be replaced? You could ask similarly awkward questions about SpaceX. Would it exist without government spending? What's the business plan? Does it make financial sense to explore space? Hell, no.

Voting for stupid projects is routine. It costs you nothing to vote. Most people vote for whim fulfillment: higher wages, cheaper food, world peace, universal success and sacrifice for the public good, death for our enemies without hurting civilians, a cure for cancer and affordable medical care that's free for the indigent. If I understand the Trump sales pitch correctly, he proposes to grow the economy so we can spend more on stupid shit, pay people to sup from the public trough and drink from the public Kool Aid fountain. Does he plan to cut welfare? Nope. Social Security or Medicare? No. Government pensions? Hah. Those are mandatory spending obligations that voting cannot reverse, about 2/3 of the Federal budget. Nonprofit education, medical care, and roads are 2/3 of state spending that voters demand more of. Cities and localities are in the nonprofit public water and sewage business, borrow to build schools, public housing, money-losing public transport, police and fire pensions, courts, jails, public parks, civil rights lawsuits, and a palace for clerks to process paperwork.

Oh, good -- that's only 2/3 of government spending, Federal, state, and local. Lemme think. What else can we vote for? How about military bases, national guard training, disaster relief, dams and bridges, foreign aid, social work, prisons and probation, airports and sports arenas. Compliance with regulation costs private employers $1 trillion a year, public agencies zero. Voters like cheap money and cheap mortgages, Federal student loans and affirmative action hiring. Does anyone propose to end redistricting so imbecilic black Democrats lose seats in Congress? How about voter ID laws? Separate bathrooms for men and women? Hell, no, not any more. The Supreme Court has nixed all three.

Parenthetically, I happened to meet Lt. Col. Allen West at a private fundraising event in Houston a couple years ago when he was running for reelection to Congress. He lost, because his seat was redistricted out of existence, had to beat a Democrat in a Democrat plurality. I liked West very much. My daughter stood next to him as he spoke about doing the right thing for future generations, cut government spending, let freedom ring. No wonder he lost. Allen West for president? -- sure, absolutely! Not a hope in hell. Never, ever. Battle-tested Army officer, he was criticized for firing his gun near the head of a captured enemy to make him talk.

What did Obama do in Iraq? Nothing. What did Obama do in the Illinois legislature or U.S. Senate? Nothing. The perfect zero.

Now voters will choose his successor, Hillary Clinton the odds-on favorite, darling of foreign dictators and Wall Street hedge fund managers. What has she done as First Lady? Nothing except cover for Bill, excusing perjury under oath as a consequence of Bill's grandmother's behavior. What did U.S. Senator Clinton do for New York? Nothing except recommend Hasidic felons for clemency. And as Secretary of State? Nothing except take donations from foreign billionaires. No interest in what the Espionage Act says about classified information. Another zero, like Obama, although Mrs. Clinton deserves a minus sign for stealing.

Is it conceivable that voters will choose Donald Trump instead? Hell, no. That's why the Bushes and Mormons and Congressional Republicans are stumping for Clinton or a 3rd party boob, so they can continue happy talk bi-partisan negotiations to maybe gently think about fixing Social Security and Medicare for the third time since LBJ. Mandatory spending is only one of TWO truculent conundrums that voting cannot solve. The much larger problem is Interest Expense on $20 trillion of U.S. bonds. If -- and it's a big if -- we return to historically average rates, it will result in immediate default by the Treasury, which will crash the world economy.

So, the discount rate has to remain at zero. We need to elect another zero to do nothing. I realize that's annoying. Most voters agree that government is annoying, not doing enough to please them. We The People believe they are entitled to order government around -- do this, do that, do the third thing, whether or not it is achievable in reality, regardless of cost or consequence. America is $20 trillion in debt because we told government to do things, and various zeroes in suits went along with the program because it paid well.

I'm very fond of Donald Trump, who reminds me a lot of Dwight Eisenhower gene-spliced to David Bowie, maybe. A better Hugh Hefner, if you can imagine Hef sober. I like Trump's kids. Everyone does. Unfortunately, we're not voting for the Trump kids, however handsome and winsome. The question is whether to elect goofy old grandpa to be President of the United States of America. He speaks his mind, tells jokes, winks at women, and lives on a big private jet aircraft. One wonders in awe what goes on with Melania on board? Jeez, grandpa.

Those of us who hail from the Objectivist tradition think of Midas and maybe Faulkner or Wynand -- lots of super rich self-made action heroes. Is that who Donald Trump is? Hell, no. He's Episcopalian or Presbyterian or some shit, nothing for him personally, everything for We The People, just as it's always been. Trump built skyscrapers and resorts and casinos for us, and he negotiated with politicians by making large campaign donations. I like Gail Wynand but don't want him as President.  A zero is safer. Even a net negative is safer, because all Hillary cares about is loot. No plan to upset our cushioned slide down to penury and default, which we hope to postpone another 8 years. Given a choice between chaos and postponed chaos, voters are With Her, determined to avoid thinking as long as possible, because it complicates their wish list of Skittles, Puppy Dogs, and Rainbow LGBTQ with Adoption or Abortion, Your Right to Choose.

The 2016 presidential election is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. We're halfway into the Winston Tunnel, stalled, waiting for economic crisis and war to hit us. The crew have already made their escape to obscurity (including me). We The People are crowded in the dining cars, demanding safe transportation and more free lunch.

I call the election for Hillary, maybe 46 states. That implies a Democrat majority Senate.

An activist U.S. Supreme Court for decades to come.
Ka-boom! no more We The People.

 

[BaalChatzaf]

6 hours ago, wolfdevoon said:

 

What did Obama do in Iraq? Nothing. What did Obama do in the Illinois legislature or U.S. Senate? Nothing. The perfect zero.Now voters will choose his successor, Hillary Clinton the odds-on favorite, darling of foreign dictators and Wall Street hedge fund managers. What has she done as First Lady?

 

First Lady is NOT a political office  defined by the Constitution.  It makes more sense to ask  how well she functioned as Senator or Secretary of State.

[Wolf DeVoon]

5 hours ago, BaalChatzaf said:

First Lady is NOT a political office

I guess I should have said co-President. When they were in office, I referred to them as Hillary and her talking hamster.

Quote

To keep this discussion on a sensible basis, let's define our terms. Bill Clinton is not a scoundrel. He's an assistant floorwalker, employed by Hillary Inc. to smile and look harmless on television -- a job, by the way, that Clinton does reasonably well, since it doesn't require any personal initiative whatsoever. Bubba is an obedient Boy Scout who's too dense to work in the pirate sector and who enjoys snoring through prayer breakfasts six days a week, singing the national anthem instead of thinking.

Laissez Faire Law, p.53

...and that’s the tragedy of government. It’s so fucking boring and picayune that it draws desperately empty barracudas like Hillary Clinton and her talking hamster.

An Eggshell Armed With Sledgehammers, p.61