“The state—or, to make the matter more concrete, the government—consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can’t get, and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time it is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.” H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
With the release of Vice President Kamala Harris’ economic agenda on Friday, August 16, 2024, she has promised to give certain groups something they can’t get for themselves, which if fulfilled, would represent an “advance auction sale of stolen goods.”
The promises Harris is making today—to overcome the problems the Bidden-Harris Administration caused in the first place—could have been done anytime over the past 3 ½ years, including this week, since she is the current Vice President. Why wait, you wonder? Truth be told, many of the promises will not happen and be “worth nothing.” That’s the reality that Harris is lying about!
Why would the American people want to elect a professional politician—Kamala Harris as President—with “no special talent for the business of government” rather than a successful businessman? Unfortunately, H.L. Mencken has the answer, “No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.”
The late great historian, Dr. Will Durant agreed with Mencken, “Democracy is the most difficult of all forms of government, since it requires the widest spread of intelligence, and we forgot to make ourselves intelligent when we made ourselves sovereign. Education has spread, but intelligence is perpetually retarded by the fertility of the simple. . . It may be true, as Lincoln supposed, that ‘you can’t fool all the people all the time,’ but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country. . . The great experiment [in individual freedom] has just begun, and it may yet be defeated by the high birth rate of unwilling or indoctrinated ignorance.”
Only two of the economic policies Harris proposed would make any sense economically; and those two proposals—No Tax on Tips and the Child Tax Credit—were both stolen from the TRUMP-VANCE campaign! But even her No Tax on Tips proposal is negated by her call to raise the Minimum Wage, which would result in less employment, higher prices, and less tip income. Her $25,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers just increases the cost of housing by a minimum of $25,000 where the demand already exceeds the supply!
Much more outrageous is the Harris proposal to help Congress pass a national ban on “price gouging” for food and groceries; and authorize the Federal Trade Commission and prosecutors to go after companies that they determine are price gouging. When Harris was reading her speech from the teleprompter, she apparently had no idea what she was talking about, since she said, “price gaging” not “price gouging.” Both The New York Times and The Washington Post provided critical perspectives on Harris’ proposal for federal price controls to combat price gouging on groceries, which does not exist.
The New York Times featured comments from Jason Furman, a former Obama Administration economist, who labeled the proposal as “not sensible policy.” Furman expressed hope that the proposal would remain rhetorical rather than becoming a reality.
The Washington Post columnist, Catherine Rampell, criticized the proposal, suggesting it risks validating accusations of “communism” due to its sweeping nature. Rampell argued that such controls could lead to shortages, black markets, and hoarding.
The Biden-Harris Administration is responsible for the problems we face today! Yes, Harris is responsible. As she stated numerous times, she was the last one in the room with Biden, and she approved of ALL their decisions. As bad as things are today, if Harris gets elected things will definitely get much worse.
Harris and the Democratic Party must be defeated on November 5, 2024, if we want any hope of avoiding another revolution. Spread the word… don’t let your family, friends, neighbors, and associates be “useful idiots.” Don’t let this “great experiment . . . be defeated by . . . indoctrinated ignorance.” Save the American Dream for your children and grandchildren, rid the U.S. of antisemitism, and support the State of Israel, as former President Donald J. Trump wants to do, and he will succeed at it!
Dum Spiro Spero—While I breathe, I hope.
Slàinte mhath,
Robert (Mike) G. Beard Jr., C.P.A., C.G.M.A., J.D., LL.M.