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Happy New Year!

By Theresa Fritz Camoriano

With the start of a new year, we tend to take stock of where we are and take steps to plan our future.  With luck, we also put things into perspective and prioritize.  For what it’s worth, here are a few of my perspectives.

1.  Tsunami -       The horrible death toll due to the tsunami is another indicator that poverty is a great killer.  The poverty in the area struck by the tsunami meant that there was no early warning system to give people a chance to get away before the tsunami struck.  If people had been given just one hour of warning, the vast majority of them could have saved themselves.  Poverty and lack of infrastructure probably also will make it difficult to get help to outlying areas, resulting in more deaths.  While some kooks are saying the tsunami was caused by global warming and the failure of the U.S. to join the Kyoto protocol, that clearly is not true.  Even if global warming exists and is a man-made phenomenon, which is in serious doubt, it could not have caused the tsunami.  In fact, it is the tremendous waste and misallocation of resources caused by government entities like the U.N. and its Kyoto protocol that promote poverty and expand the misery from a natural disaster like this tsunami.  If the U.N. weren’t so busy wining and dining itself on the backs of its member countries, undermining capitalism and private property rights around the world, and causing other mischief, the people in places like Sri Lanka might be wealthier and better able to protect and rescue themselves by building their own early warning systems and better infrastructure.

While the death toll from the tsunami is difficult even to imagine, it still is not as great as the number of people recently murdered in Darfur; it is dwarfed by the number of people who have died from malaria since DDT was outlawed; and, of course, it is dwarfed by the millions of citizens murdered by their own communist, socialist, and fascist governments in the 20^th century.  All of the foregoing are  man-made disasters.  There is much that can and should be done to prevent many such deaths in the future.  Fortunately, the same remedy will help prevent a repeat of all these problems – respect for private property, a rule of law, and respect for individual liberty – because they will make people all over the world wealthier and better able to take care of themselves. 

2.  A Level Playing Field?      The next time I hear someone talk about trying to “level the playing field”, I think I will scream!  The playing field is not level.  Get over it!  Some people are born smarter than others; some richer; some more athletic – so what?  The important thing is that we all should have the opportunity to use our talents, to offer our services, to be creative and to reap the rewards from our efforts.  All the talk and efforts at leveling the playing field are simply efforts by elites to deprive those they disfavor of such opportunities – punishing some for the benefit of others.  Nothing could be more unfair. 

3.  The Green-Eyed Monster One of the most destructive human forces is envy.  It often is used to pit one person against another or one group of people against another.  It is used as justification for theft and numerous other vices, often in an effort to “level the playing field” (see above).  If we could eliminate envy as a force, we would all be much better off.  Why can’t we all just mind our own business and not worry about someone else having more than we do?

4.  Don’t Wait      Many people who are currently in the process of making their own assessments of the state of the world are drawing very depressing conclusions.  Things are a mess.  There are lots of bad guys beating up on lots of good guys.  The world is going to hell in a handbasket.  However, this has been the condition of humankind throughout history!  While it is always easy to see the problems in the world, we also ought to look at some of the bright spots.  Humankind is much better off than it has been at any time in history.  More people are being well-fed, housed, clothed, and have better medical care than ever before.  More people have opportunities for a decent life than ever before.  This is no time to throw in the towel.  Instead, it is time to appreciate what has made all this progress possible and to encourage more of it in order to expand opportunities for all people.  If we are waiting for things to be perfect before we jump in and participate, we are just making excuses for our own laziness.  Things will never be perfect, but, with our participation, they can be a lot better.

5.  Social Security?       We will all be much more secure when we stop depending on the government to “take care of us” in our old age.  We will be much better off putting our own money into our own retirement accounts that the government can’t take away from us.  Our own accounts will be assets that we use in our old age and then pass on to our children or other loved ones, not an empty, unenforceable promise that can be taken away at any moment, which is what we now have under the current social security system.  The fact is that the current system already is bankrupt, because it has far more obligations than it ever will be able to meet.  The sooner we convert away from the current system, while protecting those who are at or near retirement, the better off everyone will be.  There is no reason the government cannot sell some of its assets, such as some of its vast land holdings, to come up with the money for privately owned annuities to guarantee retirement income to those who are at or near retirement.  Those who argue that we are too stupid to invest our own money for retirement can’t seriously think the government bureaucrats, who pay out our “contributions” as fast as they come in, are doing a better job for us.  No, they just like the idea of the government having control over all those funds rather than the people.  They want continue shearing us to we can continue to be dependent little sheep.

This year, let’s finish killing off the class envy and elitist, socialist, collectivist notions that cause so much poverty and destruction, and let’s help our fellow citizens understand why everyone will be better off when private individuals and their property are respected.  Happy New Year!

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