The Adventures of Citizen X: Recent Comments

Comment on The War on Toyota

2010-03-10T03:01:25Z

Gee let's see Ford, GM, and the military all use the same product..but the government doesn't have sticky fingers in Toyota (yet) so Toyota has a major problem and we should not drive them.
OK shall we take a look at what that really means. YOU A UNFREE AMERICAN MUST BUY FROM Government OWNED COMPANIES ONLY.OR THE Government WILL MAKE YOU BY RECALLING THE OTHER GUYS PRODUCT.
I also think its a little iffy that so many companies use the same product, but the government owned companies have no product failure, I smell sabotage. I think the government sabotaged the product being sent out to Toyota. which would make the government responsible for the related deaths of innocent Americans. It is called industrial warfare, and anyone can see that it is happening if they chose to look at the facts.

Comment on The U.S. No Longer Has a "Free" Economy

2010-03-10T02:38:09Z

Well X as usual this country is sinking lower. What is it gonna take for people to wake up! we need to take back our rights our freedom and our country!
We need to shut everything down goverment wise, including the green back dollar; I'm not saying life would be easy cause it won't be. BUT if we shut it all down for six months go back to the barter system for that period. we can rebuild this country the way it was ment to be. I know it would be tough, but it would be worth it.

Comment on More on Scott Brown

2010-03-06T19:06:57Z

The reason that greed become so prevalent is that government policies have eliminated risk from the market. Without risk, the market will not function properly. How is it that the private sector is greedy, but the government sector is not. Once someone becomes a politician, does he automatically become altruistic? Witness all the corrupt, graft, and malfeasance in government at all levels for the answer to that.

American ingenuity has been powered by people in search of a profit--the private sector. More government involvement will hamper, not help, innovation.

"An expansion in social services is a logical job growth area." Where does the government get the money to fund social services? Of course, either through taxation, borrowing (deferred taxation), or inflation (taxation by debasing the currency). The goal of an economy should not be jobs, but productivity--producing things that people want at the lowest possible price. Digging ditches and filling them back up again will result in jobs, but will it increase productivity?

Like the Republican agenda, the Democrat agenda makes sense. They are interested in getting votes. The Republicans promise to protect us from bogeymen; the Democrats promise to take care of us. Both are mirages. Who is promising to protect individual liberty? Oh yeah, in order to further either agenda, the sanctity of the individual must be suppressed for the needs of the collective.

Comment on More on Scott Brown

2010-03-06T02:49:06Z

I don't have a problem with big government. Two reasons: 1) I don't trust the private sector. Have witnessed too much greed. 2) American ingenuity has logically led to more efficient production and lessened the need for a large manufacturing workforce. An expansion in social services is a logical job growth area, particularly in the field of health care. Thus, the Democratic agenda makes sense.

Comment on The War on Toyota

2010-03-05T15:26:53Z

Hey X, i live in Wales in the UK and we have had the same thing. Government inducing mass hysteria even thought it has been widely stated that the defects do not affect UK models. On another note i think the work you do is astounding. Please run for office, it would make America and the world a better place. Nobody outside of the US trusts Obama anmore than they did Bush and i think we need someone on the world stage who isnt just after the lime light.

Comment on The U.S. No Longer Has a "Free" Economy

2010-03-04T23:48:27Z

When one takes into account things like veteran's benefits and long-term care, maintence of the nuclear arsenal (under the Department of Energy), interest on the national debt due to wars, etc., the federal government spends in excess of $1 trillion yearly. That doesn't include much of the cost of the wars which has been emergency supplemental spending. It also doesn't include stuff like lost productivity due to the transfer of resources from the private sector to the government, which is impossible to estimate much less measure.

To answer your question, literally a trillion dollars has been spent with trillions more to come. War is the health of the State.

Comment on The U.S. No Longer Has a "Free" Economy

2010-03-04T04:20:03Z

Speaking of government spending, where do you think the U.S would rank if your government haven't spent all of that money sending troops over to the middle east?

Comment on The U.S. No Longer Has a "Free" Economy

2010-03-03T19:17:13Z

What struck me the most about this list is that there's very little correlation between economic freedom and the country's quality of life, GDP, or any concrete economic statistic.

Ireland and Iceland are both ranked highly, but those countries are bankrupt! And the taxes in Hong Kong and Singapore are low and it's easy to start a business, but would any of you rather live there than in America?

The Heritage list feels more like a ranking of tax shelters than a measurement of economic strength, because in a discussion of "positive social and economic values such as per capita income, economic growth rates, human development, democracy, the elimination of poverty, and environmental protection" how the heck are Saudi Arabia and France (I know, I know) interchangable?

Comment on It's Time to Let The Teachers Report, and The Students Decide!

2010-03-01T13:20:39Z

I also believe that education everywhere could do with a good overhaul and started to read your musing with interest, up to your mention of the Evolution/ID madness which seems unfortunately rampant in American education. However, I'm afraid you are not comparing like with like.

Evolution is serious science, based on the rigorous application of the Scientific Method, and has been confirmed with every new discovery in Geology, Biology, Paleontonlogy and Paleoanthropology since 1859 (publication of 'Origin of Species') whereas ID (a real oxymoron, I feel) is faith, which by definition does not need proof.
In addition, there is that little semantic problem: how do you define 'theory'? Simply put, in science it is the best you can get. You have some ideas, you formulate a rule that you think applies to your ideas, you collect lots of data to see if you're right, and if so you publish your finds so that others can reproduce your results. If lots of others can reproduce those results, then you have formulated a scientific theory by applying the Scientific Method. But for the average non-scientist, a theory is just a general opinion or supposition.

But I digress. The fact is that I have problems even understanding modern American society. The fact is I grew up in continental Europe, went to some excellent schools, all free (my family was working-class), and thanks to a very generous grant from my government I had a wealth of choice as to which university in which country to attend, and am now by training a Biological Anthropologist. Looking back on my own education, I just don't get why it is not the same everywhere. Ok, that might be a rather naive question, and I freely admit that I haven't got the foggiest about politics or economics. But education is always dear to my heart, hence prompting this comment.

Anyway, great website, highly thought-provoking, thank you.

Comment on Obama's College Plan

2010-02-28T13:55:48Z

Here in Louisiana, our governor is encouraging a bill that will allow universities to raise tuition to allow them to become more competitive with out of state colleges. By doing this, the state awarded scholarship that my daughter has worked very hard to receive, will no longer cover the price of tuition. In addition to this, budget cuts have affected the awarding of scholarships as well. All students who meet the qualifications will NOT receive the scholarship as they have in years past. Now they must apply and be awarded on a first come, first serve basis. How can a government preach the need for continued education, when they in turn make it so hard to pay for it!!?? I myself have been out of college for 14 years and will be paying off my student loans for at least another 11. They are consistently being sold to different lenders which effects my monthly payments. Sometimes it is easy to see why a life of welfare is so attractive to some!