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Misery
Loves Company - Especially When It Is Time For Bailouts
by
Theresa Fritz Camoriano
If
you expect to be harmed or injured, I strongly recommend that you do it in
a large group. Not only will
you have lots of people with whom to share your misery, but, if you share
your fate with enough other people, politicians almost surely will rush to
give you lots of the taxpayers' money.
The
people who died in the September 11 attacks not only will receive
voluntary donations of money from many generous donors; but they will also
receive large sums of U.S. taxpayer money, which the U.S. government has
no Constitutional authority to give.
(See
Not yours to give by Davy Crockett http://www.jeffersonreview.com/articles/2000/03
1300/notyours(3-13-00).htm
and references to support by Madison and Cleveland for limited federal
government powers
http://www.reason.com/speeches/js100799.html)
People
who lost loved ones in the Oklahoma City bombing are questioning why they
were not similarly compensated, since their situation is virtually
identical. But the problem is
that the Oklahomans don’t understand the guiding principles behind
government bailouts.
The
fact is, in America today, if you suffer injury along with a large enough
identifiable group of people, you will receive payments from the
government. Your suffering
does not have to be due to a failure of U.S. intelligence and law
enforcement, as it was in the World Trade Center and in Oklahoma City. The important thing is the number and visibility of the
victims. Be a victim of a
hurricane along with thousands of others, and you’ll have money poured
on you. Be a victim of a huge
flood or tornado, and the same will happen.
But
don't expect any government bailouts if you suffer in a small group or
alone. If you and a few
neighbors have your homes flooded or burned down, you will just have to
depend upon your own insurance and the kindness of others.
You will not hit the big government bucks. If you suffer injury at the hands of a robber, murderer or
rapist who was let out early on parole in order to make room for a
marijuana grower, you won’t get so much as a sympathy card from Uncle
Sam. Your suffering simply
will not carry enough votes to be worth buying with other people’s
money.
But,
you say, "This is not fair!" Of course not. Once the government gets into the business of plunder, it is
never "fair". The
rules of government plunder are not much different from the rules of
plunder by Mafia or other criminals -- benefit yourself as much as you can
at the expense of others. That's
what plunder is all about!
Unfortunately,
most of the American people no longer understand that plunder is wrong,
whether it is being done by a criminal or by the government. Now that government has taken over the schools, Americans no
longer learn that a major purpose of the U.S. Constitution, with its
enumerated powers, was to prevent the government from becoming a plunderer
of the people. Instead, most
Americans accept the politicians’ approach that plunder is fine as long
as the group being bailed out is large enough to buy enough votes, and the
group being plundered is large enough that it doesn’t notice the pinch
too much and doesn’t make much noise.
Fairness
and justice, of course, have nothing to do with it. Once plundering is permitted, it is always used to benefit
those in power. So, for
example, the government no doubt is plundering hard-working Americans with
minimum wage jobs, who are barely making ends meet, in order to make
payments to wealthy families who lost loved ones in the attack or whose
mansions were damaged in a hurricane.
Similarly, government regularly plunders wealthy people who would
otherwise have used their money to create jobs and profits for others.
Plunder by government is harmful to society, but it is great for
those with political power.
Of
course, this political approach is not limited just to bailouts from
injuries due to crime or natural disasters.
It also operates in the arena of corporate welfare, in regulations
to benefit labor unions at the expense of American consumers, and
elsewhere in the political arena. So,
as we have just seen, it is okay to create forced subsidies for peanut
growers and sugar cane growers at the expense of consumers, because the
farmers pay back the politicians in a big way, with votes and campaign
contributions, and the consumers don’t really notice that they are being
ripped off. Same with
purchases of light rail
systems that cost $36,000 per rider.
Plunder by government is great as long as it benefits the
politicians!
So,
if you are going to buy a house in flood plain, make sure it is a big
flood plain where you will have plenty of company when you suffer.
If you plan to be injured by a terrorist, be sure to position
yourself in a large building, where thousands will be killed, not in a
smaller building with only a couple hundred. If you will make sure that you suffer with lots of company,
then the politicians will make sure to take care of you (and themselves)!
Bush details plans to bail out insurance industry for
terrorism claims
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nyt/20011017/bs/bu
sh_details_plan_to_help_insurers_on_future_terr
or_claims_1.html
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