November, 2012 | Capitalism Institute

Monthly Archives: November 2012

New UN Treaty Creates New Power Over Parents [Please Share]

November 28, 2012 Shaun Connell No comments

The UN has had a busy couple of months. They’ve attacked our gun rights, they’ve called for the overturn of different states choosing to legalize marijuana, and they’ve tried to regulate our own elections. The UN is one of the most corrupt, incoherent, nasty organizations on earth. It’s essentially the first step in a global government system fundamentally unaccountable to the people. It should be abolished.

It’s getting so bad that right now, it’s driving libertarians and far-right social conservatives like Rick Santorum to suddenly find themselves in a position where working together isn’t just useful, but is absolutely vital to any liberty we hope to retain from the UN. The reason is a new treaty that could very well pass in the near future.

The new treaty changes US law and states that the government can now decide what is in the “best interests” of the child, and not the parents. This is fundamental, structural, and the biggest development, legally, in decades. It means the government will have new powers over homeschooling, education, child-raising, medical care, and other basic rights. This treaty MUST die in the senate, or it will change the US legal structure.

Here’s a video of testimony of my personal friend Michael Farris before congress. He is the chancellor of a college, an expert in international and constitutional law, and has an LLM in international law from the University of London. Here’s his expert review of the new tyranny:

Here’s a quick summary: A new UN treaty is very close to being passed by the senate under the disguise of helping the “disabled”. Only the language states that the government will now have the power of deciding whatever is in the best interests of the child.

This means massive new powers that could impact private schools, homeschools, how you’re allowed to train your child, and everything about your family. Parental rights could become parental privileges. And if you speak out against it, they’ll say you hate disabled people. It’s sickening. Here’s a link with more information if you’d like to do more research.

Christian CEO Sues Obama: “We No Longer Have a Choice”

November 19, 2012 Shaun Connell No comments

Editor’s Note: The following is a message from Hobby Lobby’s CEO, explaining why they’re suing Obama because of Obamacare. Hopefully, more CEOs will stand up and sue the federal government for this attack on religious and economic liberty.

When my family and I started our company 40 years ago, we were working out of a garage on a $600 bank loan, assembling miniature picture frames. Our first retail store wasn’t much bigger than most people’s living rooms, but we had faith that we would succeed if we lived and worked according to God’s Word.

From there, Hobby Lobby has become one of the nation’s largest arts and crafts retailers, with more than 500 locations in 41 states. Our children grew up into fine business leaders, and today we run Hobby Lobby together, as a family.

We’re Christians, and we run our business on Christian principles. I’ve always said that the first two goals of our business are (1) to run our business in harmony with God’s laws, and (2) to focus on people more than money. And that’s what we’ve tried to do. We close early so our employees can see their families at night. We keep our stores closed on Sundays, one of the week’s biggest shopping days, so that our workers and their families can enjoy a day of rest.

We believe that it is by God’s grace that Hobby Lobby has endured, and he has blessed us and our employees. We’ve not only added jobs in a weak economy, we’ve raised wages for the past four years in a row. Our full-time employees start at 80% above minimum wage.

But now, our government threatens to change all of that. A new government health care mandate says that our family business MUST provide what I believe are abortion-causing drugs as part of our health insurance. Being Christians, we don’t pay for drugs that might cause abortions, which means that we don’t cover emergency contraception, the morning-after pill or the week-after pill. We believe doing so might end a life after the moment of conception, something that is contrary to our most important beliefs. It goes against the Biblical principles on which we have run this company since day one. If we refuse to comply, we could face $1.3 million PER DAY in government fines.

Our government threatens to fine job creators in a bad economy. Our government threatens to fine a company that’s raised wages four years running. Our government threatens to fine a family for running its business according to its beliefs. It’s not right. I know people will say we ought to follow the rules; that it’s the same for everybody. But that’s not true. The government has exempted thousands of companies from this mandate, for reasons of convenience or cost. But it won’t exempt them for reasons of religious belief.

So, Hobby Lobby and my family are forced to make a choice. With great reluctance, we filed a lawsuit today, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, asking a federal court to stop this mandate before it hurts our business. We don’t like to go running into court, but we no longer have a choice. We believe people are more important than the bottom line and that honoring God is more important than turning a profit.

My family has lived the American dream. We want to continue growing our company and providing great jobs for thousands of employees, but the government is going to make that much more difficult. The government is forcing us to choose between following our faith and following the law. I say that’s a choice no American and no American business should have to make.
The government cannot force you to follow laws that go against your fundamental religious belief. They have exempted thousands of companies but will not except Christian organizations including the Catholic Church.

Since you will not see this covered in any of the liberal media, pass this on to all your contacts.

Sincerely,
David Green, CEO and Founder of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.

Petraeus Bombshell: The Administration Censored The Benghazi Truth

November 16, 2012 Shaun Connell No comments

The Benghazi terror attacks were a concerted, organized attack by terror cells on the United States. It happened on 9/11 of 2012. It was, in a sense, the second volley of 9/11. Only this time, Mr. Obama was president, and he betrayed us all every step of the way, intentionally, for weeks. This is the true story of the Benghazi terror attacks.

Our readers will note that through the month of September, we were beside ourselves with the way the administration handled the attacks. First, they blamed the freedom of speech. Then, they “detained” the supposed director of a video making fun of Muhammad. Then, it turns out they essentially had originally forced the Marines and the ex-SEALs in the area to leave, requiring our ambassador to Libya be grossly undefended, before the attacks even began. Rand Paul correctly asked, “Where the hell were the Marines?”

But now, news is coming out that is worse than everything else, because it shows that this wasn’t just incompetent leadership. It was something darker and more sinister. General David Petraeus has testified that he knew the attacks were terror all along, but “someone” in the administration censored his message. In other words, the attacks on the video and the claims it was a “spontaneous riot” weren’t just wrong — they were lies.

So who changed the talking points? Everyone conveniently forgets. Rep. King says the administration apparently is having a memory problem:

“Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., told Fox News that intelligence officials who testified in a closed-door hearing a day earlier, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Acting CIA Director Mike Morell, said they did not know who changed the talking points. He said they went out to multiple departments, including the State Department, National Security Council, Justice Department and White House.”

So what does this mean? Considering Obama met with his security staff within minutes of the attacks, and that he obviously would keep up with his CIA director’s view of an attack that was plastering the news for weeks, this means only one thing: Obama intentionally tried to cover up the terror attack as just being a protest.

Why the lies? There’s no telling. Obama thought his election would “fundamentally transform” our foreign policy, even though he continued the interventions and dronings. Perhaps he just didn’t want the wildcard to impact the election. There’s no telling. And why there was a lie doesn’t change that there still was one to hundreds of millions of people.

At this point, we have the information we need to know what has happened. Will anything come of it? I have no idea. But one thing is certain: we’ve been lied to, they’ve been busted, and people need to lose their jobs over this.

When Obamacare Fails, They’ll Blame The “Free Market”

November 15, 2012 Shaun Connell No comments

Healthcare is already one of the most regulated and subsidized industries on earth. Everything is regulated from who can do what, to when it can be done, to how it can be done, to who can be sued depending on what happens. Some people get it for free, some people don’t.

Insurance is heavily regulated as well. If you live in State A, then you can’t buy insurance from State B. That inherently drives the price up and the quality down. That means fewer people get insurance — even though it’s lower quality. Welcome to the world of government destruction.

It’s the nature of politics. The free market operates with an extremely efficient “invisible hand” that guides peoples’ choices through prices. The price, in a free market, guides people to make the most efficient choices economically possible. What happens when you violate the free market? The economy is distorted, and wealth is destroyed. It’s inevitable. It’s an economic law.

Obamacare: Attacking The Free Market

When it comes to insurance, more regulations and subsidies are coming like never before because of the infamous Obamacare law.

What will Obamacare’s result be? The same as always:

The price will go up, the quality will go down, people are going to lose their jobs, people will get fewer hours to work, and people will get a lot less of what they already desperately need. Complete and total economic failure.

Then, we know what the statists will say. It’s inevitable; it’s almost like clockwork. They’ll say that the “free market” failed again, and we need full-fledged socialism in healthcare.

Harry Browne was right about these people:

“Government is good at one thing: It knows how to break your legs, hand you a crutch, and say, ‘See, if it weren’t for the government, you wouldn’t be able to walk.”‘

Secession: 34,000+ Americans Petition For Secession

November 12, 2012 Shaun Connell No comments

Could the South rise again? It feels surreal even to type those words. Over 34,000+ people have signed a petition on WhiteHouse.gov, demanding secession from the federal government. You can read and sign the petition here. The only question, of course… would it work? Or are our problems more fundamental than a “quick divorce” from the federal government?

We’ve written about secession before, mostly for fun, in our Why Did The South Secede? article. It’s a topic that horrifies many people who live in Eastern or Northern states, mostly because there simply isn’t a history or a culture sympathetic to secession or states rights in general.

Still, the idea that a secession would fix our problems is incredibly simplified. It might have worked 50 years ago, but our economy is now structured in such a way that breaking away from the union would lead to depression, economic hardships like we’ve never experienced, and who knows what else. This doesn’t mean we should never consider it — but only as a very, very last-case scenario option.

Is This Legally Possible?

Legally, whether secession is constitutional or not depends on how you interpret the constitution. Unless something radical and unexpected happens, the official position of the US federal government is that, no, it’s not legal for a state to leave the Union. They backed this up during the Civil War.

This matters, because unless Americans are willing to actually spill blood over this, it’s mostly just a theoretical discussion unless tensions get much, much higher.

Is This Economically Possible?

Quite frankly, we have to be honest that “red states” aren’t necessarily producing more than they consume. The entire US economy is based on a bubble that exists because of the dollar’s world reserve status — we simply have the ability to print more money than other people, to put it in simple terms.

This means leaving the union would pop a huge bubble that could very well lead to a depression or worse. We wouldn’t be able to fund the welfare that exists all throughout the secession-prone states, and there’s no telling what could happen because of backlash. If you want to see a real civil war, cut all entitlement spending and watch the blood flow.

This would be horrible, because huge wars essentially never lead to liberty in this manner.

Economically speaking, we have to leave the dollar for gold before secession would even be economically feasible without a large crash. Is this likely? Honestly, not very — unless we do our part and keep protesting the Federal Reserve and call for a return of the gold standard.

Is This Making Us Look Bad?

This probably largely depends on where you live. I live in Arkansas. Our flag is a confederate flag cut in two with the sides flipped. We’re not very subtle. In Arkansas law, it explicitly states that one of the stars in our flag stands for the confederacy. We’re still pretty bitter about the reconstruction.

In other states, however, this just looks weird. They have no idea why the South left the Union. They will probably watch the new “Lincoln” movie and believe the whole thing, even though it’ll likely be essentially fiction.

Should We Drop It?

I think we should talk about what happens if the US continues to get more and more divided. Federalism was our safeguard in the past. States would have the governments that their people wanted — this way California wouldn’t dictate to Texas what kind of law they had to have. It worked. Then we abandoned federalism, and every state is trying to force every other state to be “just like us”. It’s backfiring.

The division will get worse, and there are only three options: federalism, secession, or the people just hate their government. The last is most likely, the second is theoretically possible, but sticking with federalism would solve all of this without bloodshed or a “divorce”.

UN Gun Grab: What You Need To Know (Please Share)

November 10, 2012 Shaun Connell No comments

Within hours of president Obama winning reelection, the United States signaled to the UN that we wanted to begin talks about an international gun control treaty. The general argument was that we needed to stop bad guys from getting guns, so everyone should sign a treaty regulating firearms. They promised, however, that it wouldn’t impact us — they promise! Just those international arms dealers. Here’s the text of the treaty.

Those of us who believe in the Second Amendment know to always be suspicious when it comes to guns, because the general anti-gun movement is based on intellectual dishonesty, direct attacks on the constitution, and a desire to disarm us all. Unfortunately, some people are naive, and believe the treaty is “just” about international arms shipments. It absolutely isn’t.

But I’m not a lawyer or a constitutional or international legal expert. Thankfully, my friend Dr. Michael Farris happens to be both. He’s a renowned constitutional lawyer who has defended liberty in courtrooms across America, received his JD from Gonzaga University, has an LLM in international law from the University of London, is the founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association, and is the founder of Patrick Henry College. When he says anything about the law, it pays to listen. His thoughts are posted and explained below.

______________________________________

Reading the draft of the UN “Arms Trade Treaty” reveals that it is aimed not only at arms dealers—it is aimed at every “end user” of firearms. Yes, that means gun owners like you and me.

There are three sections of this draft treaty which make this clear:

1. Section IV(1) (p. 13) lists all regulated arms. Item 1(h) is

“small arms”, (i) is “light weapons” and (j) is “ammunition for use with weapons referred to in paragraphs (a) to (i).Thus all rifles, handguns, shotguns, and the ammunition for each of them is regulated by this UN treaty.

2. Section VI is the implementation section. Section VI(B)(1) requires state parties (i.e., nations which adopt treaty) to: “maintain records of all arms authorizations, transfers and denials. Such records may contain information, inter alia, on quantity, model or type, arms transfers authorized and refused, arms actually transferred, and details of transit State(s), recipient State(s) and end-users. Records shall be kept for a minimum of ten years.”

In other words, the UN requires the United States to make records and keep them for ten years, every time you buy a handgun, a shotgun, a rifle, or the ammunition for any of these weapons.

You are the end-user. And your records will be kept by the feds under the watchful eye and supervision of the UN.3. Section VI(C)(1) requires every nation to adopt legislation to “to prohibit the transfer of arms from any location under that State’s jurisdiction and control, unless authorized in accordance with the Treaty.”

It will be against the law for you to buy guns or ammunition unless authorized by the UN.

If anyone thinks that this UN treaty would never be used against private people—but only against arms dealers and terrorists, they need to read the following decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. [Editor: Click here to read more.]

A woman was criminally prosecuted under federal law for violation of the Chemical Weapons treaty for putting poison on a doorknob to seek revenge against her husband’s girlfriend.

Read about this case both in the Supreme Court and on remand to the Federal Court of Appeal in the link below. [Editor: This is the link mentioned.]

A woman was criminally prosecuted under federal law for violation of the Chemical Weapons treaty for putting poison on a doorknob to seek revenge against her husband’s girlfriend.

Treaties are deadly serious business. They will invade our lives even though they are sold to the Senate on the basis that we are “just dealing with terrorists.”

I, for one, will not stand by and let the Obama Administration, the Senate Democrats and any spineless Republican Senators give away American sovereignty on any issue—whether they want to take my guns, my children, or my freedom.
We must stop these treaties.Treaties are deadly serious business. They will invade our lives even though they are sold to the Senate on the basis that we are “just dealing with terrorists.”I, for one, will not stand by and let the Obama Administration, the Senate Democrats and any spineless Republican Senators give away American sovereignty on any issue—whether they want to take my guns, my children, or my freedom.

We must stop these treaties.

This is Why Obama Won The Election

November 07, 2012 Shaun Connell No comments

It’s important to understand that Barack Obama is not the problem all by himself. People who think he’s some kind of genius who is single-handedly bringing tyranny to America are giving him far too much credit. Obama is just a symptom. Nothing more. And he’s only one symptom of many.

He’s just a symptom of the disease of “statism”, or the religious devotion that people have for government. They believe that their government is magical, and that it can ignore the laws of economics to grant them their prayers.

Obama’s administration is what happens when people adhere to a philosophy of envy. It’s what happens when kids are lied to in schools, colleges, and by the media. It’s what happens when people believe that government is our God, and that it can fix poverty with the flourish of a pen, and cure diseases with a little activism.

It’s an evil philosophy, because the philosophy of statism has been behind every tyrant and every instance of the people’s rights being violated in history.

The philosophy of statism is what causes inflation. It’s what makes college so freaking expensive. It’s what allows the cronies at the Federal Reserve to ruin untold millions — or even billions — of lives. It’s what caused the Great Depression and it’s what caused the financial crisis. It caused all of these things.

If you want to fight Obama, you have to understand his ideas. Until we understand this, and we recognize that any candidate who agrees with him on these assumptions is just as twisted as he is, then there’s no hope.

Personally, I plan on fighting this for the rest of my life. I hate politics, but I love liberty, so I look forward to the struggle. I know I’m not the only one.

Slowly, there is a revival going on in the minds of Americans. It is like what John Adams said:

But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people.

Ignorance: The Government Is Causing Gas Shortages In NYC

November 03, 2012 Shaun Connell No comments

The ultimate politically-incorrect “evil” business practice is “price gouging”. The idea is that some wicked small businessmen raise prices during a crisis, and that this is horrible because they make extra money. Why is that horrible? Because nobody should be able to make money when things are rough, claim the politically correct camp. This outrage, of course, ignores essentially everything about economics.

The result? Huge gas lines and gas shortages all over NY City. Price “gouging” makes it more profitable for gas station owners to pay a little extra to order tons of extra gas — meaning there won’t be shortages. Prices going up also is a way of rationing gas so that only people who actually need it will buy it during the disaster.

The price controls by the governors of New York and New Jersey are economically insane. They’re threatening small business owners with huge penalties if they raise gas prices. The result of this? Less gas shipped in, and the gas that’s left isn’t rationed correctly… gas shortages. This isn’t rocket science, but the politicians couldn’t care less about economics. They’re more concerned with power, breaking stuff, and doing what sounds good to the ignorant. Ridiculous.

The problem is that the politicians are wrong once again. There’s nothing wrong with “taking advantage” of a situation if it’s with your own property, and especially not if it helps as many people as possible. And price gouging actually does that — though don’t expect to see the following explanation on a bumper sticker.

Why Prices Go Up: The Key To Understanding The Economy

Prices are essentially the entire market’s way of telling us which good and services we should focus on, in accordance with supply and demand. Prices could be seen as the invisible hand’s message to us, to help guide us when it comes to picking and choosing which projects we’ll work on next. If businesses just “follow the money”, the market becomes a tremendously efficient machine, connecting demand with supply in record time.

People generally get upset at prices, which is similar to “shooting the messenger”. We shouldn’t get upset at prices going up — we should understand why they are, and work to fix the underlying supply and demand issues that lead to higher prices. Don’t ban doctors from charging “too much; just train more doctors. This isn’t complicated if we just read through a textbook or two.

If prices are too high, then people who want it less will consume it less and suppliers will start to create more supply to make money. The end result is that the market works efficiently. Ignore this and you’ll have shortages.

Gasoline Price Gouging: More People Get Gasoline

Let’s say a hurricane is suddenly coming into New Orleans. The people then all rush to leave the city, and since gas is as cheap as usual, they fill up their tanks, and the gas station quickly runs out of gas — leaving people at the “end” of the line without the ability to leave town with a full tank of gas.

Let’s replay the scenario with the wicked “price gouging”. The prices go up because people are willing to pay more, and the people “first” in line are less likely to fill completely up — and are more likely to ration the gasoline, leaving more people with gasoline so they can make it to the other gas stations an hour or two away.

Price “gouging” is really just rationing. That’s what prices are. They ration who can get what — in the most efficient manner possible.

So when people talk about trying to force gas prices to stay the same as before or the same as places without the sudden surge in demand, just remember: those are the people causing the shortages.

Price controls NEVER work. Increases in demand should lead to an increase in prices because, well, of economics. When politicians revolt against this because it sounds “mean” or something, they’re just waging war on the laws of economics, and that’s one war they’ve always lost.

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Monthly Archives: November 2012

Share This: Obama Wants $1.6 Trillion Tax, Infinite Debt Limit

New UN Treaty Creates New Power Over Parents [Please Share]

Christian CEO Sues Obama: “We No Longer Have a Choice”

Petraeus Bombshell: The Administration Censored The Benghazi Truth

When Obamacare Fails, They’ll Blame The “Free Market”

Secession: 34,000+ Americans Petition For Secession

UN Gun Grab: What You Need To Know (Please Share)

This is Why Obama Won The Election

Ignorance: The Government Is Causing Gas Shortages In NYC

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IRS Chief Met With Obama 100+ Times During Tea Party Attack

IRS Cover Up: Top IRS Official “Pleads the Fifth”

Rand Paul Fights the Plan to Arm the Allies of Al-Qaeda

Rand Paul: Our Tax System Destroys Jobs

Obama Administration Retaliates and Targets Fox News Reporter