Why does Government Always Fail US?

Why is it that a major airplane crash gets so much press coverage? The main reason is that it is so rare. A century ago, flying in an airplane was very risky; now there is almost no way you can spend your time in greater safety. Why this remarkable change?

Early on, those in the airline industry realized that to greatly increase the number of potential passengers, they had to change the perception that flying in a little metal tube far above the earth was dangerous. To change the perception, they changed the reality. Whenever there was a crash, or even a failure of an aircraft part or system, government and industry experts spent the necessary time and money to find out why, and then made the necessary corrections so it would not happen again. Decades of failure identification and then mitigation have resulted in the safest transportation system ever devised by man.

Contrast this model with failure in government. Government failures, starting with war, public health, crime, the economy and almost everything else the government touches continue on and on with endless empty promises from the political class that “we are never going to let this happen again.”

Airplane pilots and mechanics undergo rigorous training before being given responsibilities for people’s lives — and their knowledge, skills and health are monitored and evaluated on a regular basis. There are numerous procedures to identify potential problems with key personnel and aircraft parts and systems to make sure action is taken before a tragedy occurs.

There are no 80-year-old pilots in commercial aviation for good reason. We retire senior military officers from direct line command after so many years because they tend to lose their sharpness, among other things, yet we have no age limit or test of cognitive skills for the commanders-in-chief.

Businesses normally hire, promote or fire people on the basis of the expertise they bring to the job and their ability to fulfill the goals of the company. Only in government are people routinely hired for their political connections rather than their expertise or demonstrated past accomplishments. The result is the U.S. now has a secretary of energy who appears to know little about energy or even understands the laws of supply and demand. The Secretary of Transportation seems to know little about transportation, nor does he have any background in the field. Similar comments can be made about many other members of the Biden Cabinet.

Part of the problem is the incentive structure where people are often rewarded more for saying what those in political control want them to say, rather than what good theory and data would indicate. The Fed is supposed to be independent, but often Fed chairs — and other members and even staff — are bullied by presidents, members of Congress and even editorial writers, leading them to make erroneous inflation and other economic forecasts. If the Fed got out of the forecast business and instead used the mean projections of leading private sector forecasters who have good track records, performance — and policy — would likely be improved.

Government agencies often suffer from mission creep, leading them to intrude into areas where they have no or little expertise while decreasing their focus on the core mission. The Fed was originally established to ensure price stability, and then creating full employment was added to their mandate — even though the goal of price stability can conflict with the goal of full employment. Now, the Biden administration has added environmental sustainability and worker diversity to the Fed’s task — not only for its own actions but for those it regulates. These additions are both vague and subjective.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has just announced that all businesses that it regulates must now prepare reports to explain the environmental impact of all of its various activities. This may well double or more the costs of businesses complying with SEC mandates. The new mandate is not explicitly based on congressional delegation of authority to the SEC, nor does it contain any commonly agreed-upon methodology for such reporting.

Fortunately, there is hope for improvement. The Supreme Court has just ruled that the EPA was not given the authority by Congress to regulate all CO2 emissions.

One major way to improve government governance is for Congress to make the dozens of administrative agencies that have acted like independent authoritarian governments strictly limited in mission to only what Congress has explicitly granted. And that these agencies can no longer serve as prosecutor, jury and judge for alleged offenses that those they regulate may or may not have committed.

If people are discriminated against because of gender, sexual preference, race, national origin or religion and they have less liberty than many of their fellow citizens, they may seek redress. Likewise, if a government imposes financial restrictions or financial reporting requirements on certain citizens but not all, they have lost some of their liberty — particularly if the restriction is not based upon competent cost-benefit analysis, which is also true if a government restriction interferes with a fundamental right explicit in the Constitution.

Governments increasingly employ diversity officers. Is it not equally important for governments to employ “liberty protection officers” — to help restrain the excesses of government employees and agencies?

• Richard W. Rahn is chair of the Institute for Global Economic Growth and MCon LLC.

How Did Truly Bad People Rise to the Top in America

Why do bad people get ahead? They didn’t. The fact that moronic, empowered criminals make it “to the top” simply means: What we assume to be “the top” no longer is.

For corrupt, goofball, social climbing sociopaths to rise to the seat once held by Jefferson, Washington and Lincoln, something had already gone horribly wrong. Be real.

America as we know it is over. That’s ok. The spirit and reality of the Constitution and the individual rights it once protected are timeless and eternal. The good guys will rise again. But not here and now, not in the existing, poisoned system. We have to withdraw from the sewer represented by these awful people and find a way to start over.

I cannot predict how and when; but we can be certain it will happen.

Michael J. Hurd, Daily Dose of Reason

The Camp of the Saints is the Book of Our Time

The Camp of the Saints is an accurate description of the fate of the Western World. We are experiencing that fate now. If you dare to know your future and that of your children and grandchildren, you can read this novel that correctly predicted our future in 1973. The book was a best seller, but the rot had already set in. Today the book is suppressed. You can read it here:

The white ethnicities are the most insouciant of all peoples. They comprise a small minority of the world population, and every white country is wallowing in guilt about people of color and have opened their borders to immigrant-invaders.

The Israelis have no problem putting up a wall to wall off Palestinians from the Palestinians’ own country, but President Trump was prevented by the Democrat Party from walling off millions of immigrant-invaders coming across the Mexican border unimpeded into our country. The Democrats think that the peoples of color will vote for them, thus insuring their rule. They will for awhile, but it will dawn on the peoples of color that they don’t need the white Democrats.

The British now have their former colonial subjects as ministers of state and could soon have an Indian prime minister. The population of London, the British capital, is minority ethnic English.

Germany, whose women were massively raped by Russian, French, and British soldiers following Germany’s defeat (the Americans didn’t have to rape as they had the silk stockings, cigarettes, and chocolate that the women wanted), is only partly German, and this watered down population has been infused with Turks and refugees from America’s Middle Eastern and African wars.

Parts of Paris are now Muslim. In France mosques, not Christian churches, are being built.

Canada is a Tower of Babel, as is the US where Spanish is now a rival language to English. Efforts to make English the official language failed. In the US if you telephone a bank, credit card company, utility, or almost any large business, you are answered in English and Spanish. In other words, the people who created America are now only a part of it.

Even nordic Sweden is overrun, and newspapers report that 25% of Swedish ethnic women are afraid to leave their home in fear of being raped by immigrant-invaders.

Italy is overrun, just as was Rome. Indeed, all of Europe is overrun.

Russia, the world’s largest country, is a collection of ethnicities. The white population was devastated by World War II.

People accustomed to poverty breed easier than overtaxed white ethnicities struggling to maintain a middle class living standard, a more difficult feat to achieve in the Western world than previously. Demographics project a nonwhite Western world. And the situation seems to have worsened as a result of fertility problems caused by Covid “vaccine.”

Considering that peoples of color have been taught by Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and all the rest along with the New York Times “1619 Project” that world history consists of the oppression of peoples of color by white racism, the future for white minorities looks bleak.

What is extraordinary is that the few white leaders who found the courage to sound the alarm have been demonized and driven from the political and intellectual scene. As far as the white intellectual world is concerned, there is no greater crime than the defense of white people. It is simply not permitted. White school districts teach critical race theory to white kids. In other words, white children are raised and educated to have a negative attitude toward white people, meaning themselves and their parents. When white parents sometimes object at school board meetings, they risk being beaten by white cops and arrested. Democrat school districts have tried to impose laws that prevent parental input.

So, what we have is every white ethnicity fighting as hard as it can to terminate itself.

It might happen sooner than the white liberals hope. A handful of Zionist US neoconservatives, who are accused, probably correctly, of using US foreign policy, which they control, in Israel’s interest, have the US and the NATO puppets headed, via the Ukraine conflict, into war with Russia. As neither Washington nor Moscow can accept defeat, the conflict would end in nuclear Armageddon.

One would think that the remains of the white ethnicities, threatened as they are internally by their guilt-driven immigration open borders policy, would unite in avoiding a conflict that will eliminate the white population from the Earth.

The war that is being orchestrated, a war that will result in any white survivors being species visited in a zoo, is being orchestrated by the neoconservatives who are wedded to US hegemony to protect and expand Israel’s geographic interests.

It is extraordinary that in the United States there is no foreign policy debate, much less one that approaches the debate during Cold War I. Objective Russian experts such as Steven Cohen no longer exist. To get the grant that keeps him in business, a foreign policy professor must adhere to the narrative: Russia evil; US good.

White people did their best to destroy themselves in World War I and World War II. In World War III they will succeed.

Alex Epstein’s “Fossil Future: Why Global Human Flourishing Requires More Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas—Not Less”

I am a scientist (psychology), so I know how science works even though I am not a climatologist. But for many decades I have read widely in many fields including the physical sciences. I have read about twenty books and scores of articles on climate issues. For many years I suspected that something seemed wrong. There were so many contradictions. Everyone seemed to report findings, using selected data, which supported their side but not findings that contradicted it. It seemed that a political agenda was constantly mixed in with a science agenda.

Soon one view became dominant: that fossil fuels were destroying the earth, maybe even in the next ten years, and needed to be abandoned to prevent a worldwide catastrophe. People who disagreed with this could be harassed, mocked, and even risked job loss. Scientific findings could only be published in some journals if they came out with the “right” results. Organizations were pressured to sell their oil stocks. Reporters for many leading newspapers learned quickly that only certain types of articles were acceptable. Opposing oil became a moral crusade, a virtual dogma. Eminent catastrophizers included: Paul Erlich, Al Gore, James Hansen, Paul Krugman, Bill McKibben, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

There have been many distortions of scientific data. But since our Constitution says we have a right to freedom of speech, all critics of the anti-oil crusade could not be silenced. Some catastrophizers openly advocate being dishonest in order to further their agenda. Epstein refutes all the critics. He presents a list of recommendations for evaluating climate claims.

Epstein’s book is a brilliant antidote to the assault on fossil fuels. Its theme is that fossil fuels are one of the greatest benefits to human civilization ever and that there is, for now, no viable substitute. Epstein covers all the relevant issues from every angle, so I will only give a brief summary here.

  1. The earth, absent the benefits of machines powered by fossil fuels and electrical energy created by fossil fuels is a very dangerous place, characterized by mass poverty, recurring starvation, death from the cold, poor medical care, poor sanitation, exhausting manual labor, bad water, inadequate shelter, devastating natural disasters, and low life expectancy.
  2. The nations that suffer the most today are those that lack such technology. Without fossil fuels, people who lack them will keep suffering because they will stay poor.
  3. Coal, oil, and gas are responsible for almost all the energy created today– about 80%. Solar and wind provide only about 3%. Fossil fuels have allowed humanity, insofar it has advocated reason, to master nature (following the laws of nature and science) thus enabling the human race to multiply and thrive.
  4. Fossil fuels are abundant in nature: plentiful, cheap, and reliable when production and transportation are not opposed by government regulations. They supply on-demand electricity.
  5. The championed substitutes for fossil fuels are: wind, solar, and batteries. Epstein notes, as have others, the many problems with these sources. Windmills do not work without wind. Solar panels do not work without sunlight. Batteries are nowhere near cost-effective enough or efficient enough to store and provide sufficient energy when the wind isn’t blowing enough and the sun isn’t shining enough. So in practice, solar, wind, and batteries are not replacements for fossil-fueled grids, they are inefficient, cost-adding add-ons to fossil-fueled grids.
  6. Epstein calls the idea that all power would be created by wind, solar, and batteries to be divorced from reality, just from the aspect of cost alone.
  7. What about pollution? Epstein shows that it has been decreasing for decades thanks to technology. Further, he identifies the ways that side effects can be mitigated.
  8. What other alternatives are there for power? Epstein favors two: waterpower from dams and nuclear. Both are safe, dependable, non-polluting, and do not take up much land or harm birds and animals. Unfortunately, both are roundly opposed by the public. He shows that biomass and geothermal are at least decades away from becoming even significant supplements to fossil fuels, let alone replacements.
  9. There is a long section on dealing with climate side effects including evidence that fossil fuels lead to fewer storm-related deaths, e.g., floods. Sea level rise today is radically less than in previous history (and can be coped with) and the danger has been greatly exaggerated as with the case of ocean acidification.
  10. The book ends with a call for freedom of production and a critique of companies, including oil companies, which have conceded the anti-fossil agenda.

I consider this book to be, by far, the best—most honest, most accurate– statement of the fossil fuel issue written so far. But each reader will have to decide what to believe by using their own rational judgment.

Explore Fossil Future: Why Global Human Flourishing Requires More Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas–Not Less.

Failing Isn’t Always Failure

Success is great. We all want it. But the road to success can be blocked by failure. Detouring around those roadblocks can be a challenge, but it’s not without its rewards.

In her article “Inspirational Stories of Famous Failures and Their Future Success” at associatedcontent.com, Janeen Elite writes about how the Vice President of Columbia University told a young actor that he would never make it in the business. That actor was Harrison Ford. Another example is John Grisham, whose first book was rejected by 12 publishing houses and sixteen agents. Years ago a record company passed judgment on a young rock band, saying, “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” The band was The Beatles.

When people are discouraged, I always suggest that they watch or read biographies. There are few better ways to see how failure can actually set the stage for success. Successful people don’t achieve everything they attempt on the very first try. In fact, they often have more failures, simply because they take more risks. Risks (at least well-thought-out risks) are the key to living life to its fullest. They also come with setbacks and disappointments. It’s all part of the package.

Families, friends and teachers can sometimes be emotionally and verbally abusive. But that won’t stop a truly successful person. Elite goes on to write about how Charles Darwin was told by his father that he would be a disgrace to himself and his family. Beethoven was told by a music teacher that he was “hopeless” as a composer. Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper because he “lacked imagination and had no original ideas.” Albert Einstein wasn’t able to speak until he was almost 4 years old and his teachers said he would “never amount to much.”

Success usually evolves gradually. Most successful people don’t walk around thinking, “I’m successful.” They’re too busy doing what made them that way in the first place; namely, concentrating on doing the things they love. Success begins the moment you commit to something valuable: being an entrepreneur, an artist or musician, advancing a cause, or whatever your passion.

Thomas Edison was told by a teacher he was “too stupid to learn anything.” Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade. Isaac Newton did poorly in school and failed at running the family farm. Michael Jordan was cut from the high school basketball team, went home, locked himself in his room and cried. Marilyn Monroe was told by a producer she was “unattractive” and could not act. Julia Roberts auditioned – unsuccessfully – for “All My Children.” Obviously, rejection has little to do with eventual success.

The authors of the book series, “Chicken Soup for the Soul” were told by publishers that “anthologies didn’t sell” and that the book was “too positive.” It was rejected 140 times. It has now expanded to over 65 different titles and has sold more than 80 million copies. Philosopher Ayn Rand’s novel “The Fountainhead” was rejected by 12 publishers before being accepted. It became a classic, followed by the author’s landmark novel, “Atlas Shrugged.” Library of Congress surveys have ranked it as the most influential book in people’s lives, second only to the Bible. Richard Bach’s “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” was rejected 18 times before it was published and sold well over a million copies.

Rejection doesn’t prove anything. In fact, it often proves the opposite. Successful people take risks and are undaunted by rejection. If you like what you’re doing and you know it’s of value, then it’s only a matter of time before you’ll find others who feel the same way. You might use that wisdom to abandon a floundering project in favor of a better one, but never give up on yourself.

Michael J. Hurd, Life’s a Beach