Hands Off!

There is a difference between Trump's tax and Hoover's tax. Trump's reciprocal taxes were imposed as if he were the legislative branch, declaring a national emergency. The Smoot-Hawley tariffs were passed by our representatives in the legislature. Isn't that quaint, a law passed by lawmakers? Well, we got over that antiquated idea. Requiring the legislative branch to write law was always getting in the way. Oops, getting sarcastic. The effect was the same, a crashing stock market.

Now we have agencies to make rules. It looks like congressmen (and women) are mostly there to explain on TV the laws the agencies make, not research and debate them beforehand. Look at it objectively for a moment. EPA bureaucrats make rules such as the dust limits from combines. Farm state legislators are outraged at this rogue agency imposing on their donors. When we had a combine with no air conditioning, oh how I would have loved combining without dust. Depending on the wind, I would open the door one way and after turning around had a nice clean and quiet sauna on the way back.

The news is so bizarre I want to throw up my hands. Republicans are defending tax hikes. Democrats are defending war (when they notice). States are making laws against bad mouthing Israel's genocide while it's okay to complain about our own country. Protesters are being whisked away and hauled off to camps like in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

“Day one” has come and gone and Ukraine is still working on their second million dead bodies. Yet the “Hands Off” protests are about firing park rangers, and the right to hire unqualified people.

We coached little league for a while and there was always a tendency to ask for a “just this once” exception to the rules so a kid could feel good. Well that has gone ballistic. All this fairness that the “Hands Off” folks have gotten used to is finally being questioned by the people who pay the bills. DOGE is acting as a long overdue enforcer and the shock incites the Trump haters like my eczema incites a scratch. Back when The Rolling Stones made good music they said “everybody needs somebody to love.” We are finding the same thing holds true for hate. The bombastic and incompetent Trump “team” is an easy target.

Trump says his tariffs will “bring in” a trillion dollars next year. Americans will pay the government a trillion dollars, $2,900 for each person in America. Of course, domestic producers with less competition will keep prices the same. Just kidding.

Speaking of competition, let's go back in time and discuss “Hands Off.”

Two things happened in 1913 that brought us to where we are today. A private bank called the Federal Reserve was created by a consortium of bankers and industrial moguls. It came about in the guise of stabilizing the economy. In collaboration with the US Treasury it has “loaned” dollars to the government at no interest in order to fund it without tax increases. It is political. The funding props up the image of the current administration and prevents challenges from opponents.

As if that wasn't enough, the federal income tax came about that same year. If looked at objectively, it makes law that enforces slavery measured by the percentage of income stolen from each of us.

The throngs of people in the present “Hands Off” movement are protesting because they have grown dependent on the confiscatory state that has evolved thanks to these disastrous developments. Withdrawals are painful for junkies and alcoholics and anyone who has gotten used to calling something their own that isn't legitimately theirs. I sympathize.

Unions and over-regulation have moved manufacturing overseas. It's not because of foreign countries cheating, stealing, and robbing. Trade with foreign producers has been good for consumers. The most ridiculous thing in all this is the president with his chart claiming that trade deficits are tariffs. He simply divided trade balances in half and called them tariffs.

India actually charges a 17% average tariff (the highest of any major trading partner), but Trump calls it 52%. China, at 7.5% is now called 67% by these crazy calculations. This wouldn't be so bad but there's millions of people whose invested savings have evaporated after years of hard work and sacrifice, based on lies.

I've heard over and over these protesters claiming Trump will eliminate Social Security and Medicare. Not that we can believe anything anymore, he never said that. We have to return to these programs' inception again to take a bigger view at their effects. Dawn added up her dad's contributions to Social Security and his benefits. His benefits were identical to what he paid in, without any interest. Health care costs soared after Lyndon Johnson instituted Medicare. Having everyone over 65 (almost everybody with regular doctor visits) subject to medicine devoid of market discipline allowed out of control costs. These programs may have sounded like a good idea at one time but replacing willing savers and borrowers and a competitive medical insurance model with socialism should have had educated people shouting “hands off” my earnings. Now it's “hands off” my loot.

But like Dawn's mom used to say, “We're here now.” The cold turkey elimination of affordable goods and useless jobs will hurt a lot of people. It doesn't take a long look to see federal property and obligations are bloated beyond any reason, in a country whose greatness is based on individual achievement and private property. It's counter to human nature to excel solely out of the goodness of our hearts. What has gotten us in trouble has been a belief that force (or policy) can overcome man's basic motivation.

So we should find a way to return to ethical ideals by compensating people for the loss of government favors by selling unconstitutionally acquired federal assets. Good luck with that, and good luck with continuing to rob our children and grandchildren because we are too cowardly to do the right thing.

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