America Today …item 2.. A Key Economic Lesson (1.2.13 @ 6:07AM) …item 4.. Tallahassee Used Bookstore Owner Arrested — Hart called the charges “hurtful.” (7:33 PM, Jan 09, 2013) …
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In Brave New World, a prophetic novel published in 1932, prior to Stalin’s purges and before Hitler came to power in Germany, Huxley described a tyrannical future where totally controlled and dehumanized slaves would “love their servitude.”
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…..item 1)…. The Culture of Entitlement and Dependency … www.briantracy.com …
Brian Tracy’s VIEW ON THE NEWS …
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Current Events | October 24th, 2012 |
www.briantracy.com/view/current-events/the-culture-of-ent…
We have reached the turning point in America today. You can have one of two world views about Americans and America. You can either believe that Americans are a proud, free, self-responsible, self-reliant, creative and a pragmatic people, possessed of optimism and confidence in an ever unfolding and abundant future, or you can take the other world view.
You can believe that Americans are weak, dependent, not capable of accepting responsibility for themselves, not capable of making their own choices in any areas, including virtually everything that they eat, drink and consume, and that they must be put under the control of those who are superior to them, elected politicians and the bureaucrats in charge of the thousands of government departments. These are the choices. You are either proud, free and self-reliant, or you are weak, dependent and incapable of providing for yourself. These are the two world views represented by the two political parties. You can pick the one which best represents your world view and vote for the candidates of that party. But whatever you vote for, you know what you are going to get in advance.
After spending fifty years of studying psychology and human nature, I have concluded that people are neither good nor bad. They are merely expedient. Human nature simply says that people seek the fastest and easiest way to get the things that they want right now, with little concern for the long-term consequences of their actions. This has always been true, and is the driving motivator of virtually all of human behavior. If you boil all economic activity down into a simple word, it would be “improvement.” Every person acts to improve their life, work, family, health or finances in some way, in whatever way they possibly can.
And because people value their time and leisure, they seek the easiest way to get the things they want. Because people are impatient, they seek the fastest way to get the things they want, as well. And because people are motivated toward immediate gratification, they take very little concern for the long term future or for the consequences of their actions. Most people are more concerned about the immediate pleasures that they will enjoy rather than the long-term consequences of what they do, or what they ought to do.
People are neither good nor bad. They are merely expedient. This explains most of what is going on in American society, and throughout the world today. As they say; if you throw money in the street, do not be surprised if people bend over and pick it up. If you offer people free money, or money with very few strings attached, a certain number of people will reach for that money. And afterwards, more and more people will reach for that money until it can become a feeding frenzy, with everyone trying to get more and more money the fastest and easiest way possible with the least amount of effort, and little or no concern for the long-term consequences of their behavior.
— America’s History of Entitlement
This is a very simple and concise explanation of the entitlement and dependency culture that has developed in America, and throughout the western world, especially Europe.
From the 1950’s onward, America enjoyed a burst of prosperity that had never been seen before in human history. With high tax rates and growing wealth and prosperity, government began taking in enormous tax revenues that they quickly developed an irresistible urge to spend in all directions and on all possible projects. By the mid-50’s, the entire interstate highway system was developed and under construction, building thousands of miles of big new roads and highways criss-crossing the entire country.
Then in 1965-66, the politicians in Washington concluded that with so much potential wealth, poverty could be eliminated completely, and a new age of mankind with wealth and prosperity for all, whether or not anyone worked for it or deserved it, could be ushered in by government regulations and legislation. Thus began the “War on Poverty” and the massive growth of the entitlement state.
The entitlement state was based on offering people money which they had not earned and which they did not deserve. By the 1960s, virtually every ethnic American group, including the African Americans from the south, were moving upward and onward, into the middle class, getting their own homes and cars, and putting their children into better and better schools. Crime rates were declining, illegitimate births were declining, rates of welfare and dependency were declining, and more and more new jobs absorbed virtually all the members of the work force who wanted to work.
And then came the curse of the entitlement state. Governments began offering people money for not working. Tens of thousands of people went to work for the government with the sole job of going out and finding people and convincing them to take a government handout rather than working. Meanwhile, the politicians discovered that they could buy people’s votes with their own money. They could tax people with one hand, and give them free money with the other hand, and get them to vote for them in the next election.
As James Buchanan, the noble prize winning economist concluded, you can tell how a politician will vote by simply looking at the issues that are most popular in his constituency in the weeks prior to the election. Therefore, politicians have no morals, values or principles aside from re-election, and they will do or say whatever it takes to get back into office one more time.
Elections then became like auctions, with politicians trying to beat their competitor by offering more and more free money, to ever greater constituencies. Soon, national politics, and then statewide and local politics, began a gradual race to the bottom. How much free money could you offer how many people to get elected one more time?
— Stages of Civilization
As it happens, throughout the history of mankind, every civilization goes through several phases. It starts as a frontier society, and then becomes an agrarian society, then industrial, and then it grows in wealth and affluence and becomes an entrepreneurial society. It then becomes an industrial and then a service society, and then, it develops so much wealth that politicians think that they have enough to give to prospective voters without hurting the overall economy. The society then becomes an entitlement and welfare economy. Just as ancient Rome was the wealthiest entrepreneurial economy in the world, with the most powerful armies on earth at that time, it eventually devolved into a dependency and a welfare state, more focused on “bread and circuses,” and free money and entertainment, and eventually Rome had declined, fell apart, and disappeared as a society.
The challenge with giving voters free money is that there is never enough. If you offer them free money to vote for you this time, at the next election, they say, “What are you going to do for me now?” Free money is like a narcotic. When you first take it, it has a certain effect. But after a while you must have more and more free money to get the same amount of pleasure. This is why people who get free money from government are never satisfied. They are never grateful. All they want is more and more free money, and they will become angry if they don’t get it, and quickly vote for someone else who promises to give it to them.
However, government has no money of its own. The only money that government has is money that it taxes out of the pockets of working men and women. Even government jobs create little or no wealth. Government studies show that it takes between three and ten people in the government sector to do the same amount of work as one person in the private sector. And in order to buy public sector unionized votes, politicians have increased the salaries, benefits and pensions of unionized public sector workers to the point where they are paid an average of ,000 a year, when the average American earns ,000 a year.
Not only that, but hundreds of thousands of government servants can retire in their 50s on full pensions, based on their last year of work, with full benefits for themselves and their families for the rest of their lives, which may be 20 or 25 years. As a result, America is now bankrupt. It owes trillions of dollars worth of pensions and benefits to government unionized workers that can never be repaid without bankrupting the cities, states and eventually the federal government who has promised all this money.
— Face the Facts
So what is the solution? The solution is first of all to face the facts. It is to be honest and look at the situation as it truly is. Second, we need to begin to make changes at the margins that raise the retirement age for government service, lower the pensions for them, raise the age of retirement for people in the private sector, and puts them on 401k plans where their retirement income is tied to the health of the economy as a whole.
I bet you didn’t know that virtually all politicians have golden parachute retirement plans that are completely separate from what happens to the government or the economy, complete with cost of living increases and fabulous medical benefits for the rest of their lives, and their family’s lives. Politicians have set themselves up so that no matter what happens to the economy they will be living the fat life after they leave government. This gives them no incentive at all to limit entitlements and welfare while they are in office, because when the chickens come home to roost, it will have no effect on their own personal income.
You have a choice. You can vote for the continued growth of government, and the continued growth of the entitlement and welfare state, which always and inevitably leads to national impoverishment and bankruptcy, or you can vote for freedom, opportunity and economic growth accompanied by limited government, lower taxes, and diminished regulations.
You can go on one of two paths, upward toward the light or down toward the darkness. You can go upward toward national prosperity, hope and opportunity, or downward toward national entitlement, welfare, and dependency on ever-growing government with ever higher taxes and ever worse regulations.
The choice is up to you.
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…..item 2)…. The American Spectator … spectator.org …A FURTHER PERSPECTIVE
A Key Economic Lesson
By RALPH R. REILAND on 1.2.13 @ 6:07AM
Good intentions and bad results in the never ending war on poverty.
spectator.org/archives/2013/01/02/a-key-economic-lesson
“If there is any lesson in the history of ideas, it is that good intentions tell you nothing about the actual consequences,” stated Thomas Sowell, economist at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
Similarly, Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman warned of the mixture of good intentions and big government. “Concentrated power,” he cautioned, “is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.”
French writer Albert Camus (1913-1960) was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. “The evil that is in the world,” he asserted, “almost always comes from ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.”
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), British essayist and novelist, stated it more boldly: “Hell isn’t merely paved with good intentions; it’s walled and roofed with them. Yes, and furnished too.”
In Brave New World, a prophetic novel published in 1932, prior to Stalin’s purges and before Hitler came to power in Germany, Huxley described a tyrannical future where totally controlled and dehumanized slaves would “love their servitude.”
In the forthcoming society envisioned by Huxley, a technologically proficient and well-intentioned government replaced self-reliance and individual freedom with security, dependence, safety, and drug-induced happiness — plus an abundance of carnal pleasures, commanded by the state’s “everyone belongs to everyone else” decree.
What’s required for the establishment of this Brave New World is putting the state up front in all matters and assigning individuals to the back burner. What’s essential for implementation is for man to be precast, molded, and enslaved to the program.
Launched in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the “unconditional war on poverty in America,” now in its 49th year, might arguably be the most expensive and longest running example of Thomas Sowell’s warning that “good intentions tell you nothing about the actual consequences.”
From 1964 until now, the federal, local and state governments have spent trillion in the War on Poverty — trillion by the federal government and trillion by state and local governments.
In “The American Welfare State: How We Spend Nearly Trillion a Year Fighting Poverty — and Fail,” Michael Tanner, director of health and welfare studies at the Cato Institute, reports that the 2012 poverty rate “has risen to 15.1 percent of Americans, the highest level in nearly a decade.”
In 2012, “the federal government will spend more than 8 billion on at least 126 different programs to fight poverty,” in addition to “welfare spending by state and local governments which adds 4 billion to that figure,” writes Tanner.
On a per capita basis, this roughly trillion a year in welfare spending “amounts to ,610 for every poor person in America, or ,830 per poor family of three,” explains Tanner.
In contrast, the Census Bureau reports that the median household income in the United States dropped to ,054 in 2011, the latest figure available, down 8 percent from 2007, the year before the recession began.
“Welfare spending increased significantly under President George W. Bush and has exploded under President Barack Obama,” states Tanner. “In fact, since President Obama took office, federal welfare spending has increased by 41 percent, more than 3 billion per year. Despite this government largess, more than 46 million Americans continue to live in poverty.”
Bottom line, “the poverty rate is perilously close to where we began more than 40 years ago,” after trillion in spending, Tanner reports. “Clearly, we are doing something wrong.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ralph R. Reiland is the B. Kenneth Simon professor of free enterprise and an associate professor of economics at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh.
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…..item 3a)…. youtube video … A .Copland – "Fanfare for the Common Man" … 3:48 minutes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVDOeUah9x4
Uploaded on Jul 31, 2011
RSO-Vienna, D.R.Davies; Salzburg Festival 2001, Timps: Gerald Fromme; Gerhard Windbacher
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…..item 3b)…. youtube video … Fanfare for the Common Man – Emerson, Lake & Palmer (Olympic Stadium … 9:49 minutes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK92hdp6u18
Uploaded on Jan 29, 2012
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Thanks, in advance, for your understanding!
From "Works Volume One- 1977" (at the Olympic Stadium Montreal)
– Keith Emerson: Yamaha GX1 polyphonic synthesizer
– Greg Lake: 8-string bass
– Carl Palmer: percussion, drums
"Fanfare for the Common Man" is a 20th-century American classical music work by American composer Aaron Copland. The piece was written in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under conductor Eugene Goossens. It was inspired in part by a famous speech made earlier in the same year where vice president Henry A. Wallace proclaimed the dawning of the "Century of the Common Man". Several cover versions have been made and fragments of work has appeared in many subsequent US and British cultural productions, such as in the musical scores of movies.
Copland’s fanfare was used in 1977 by British rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer on the album Works Volume 1. The track became one of the band’s biggest hits when an edited version was released as a single that year. It peaked at No. 2 in the UK. Keith Emerson had long been an admirer of Copland’s American style, previously using Copland’s Hoedown on the band’s Trilogy album in 1972.
In a BBC Radio interview, Copland relayed his reaction to the piece:
"Interviewer: Just before I left London, I heard a piece of music of yours, Fanfare for the Common Man, which had been taken by a rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer. How do you feel about that?
Copland: Well, (laughs) of course it’s very flattering to have one’s music adopted by so popular a group, and so good a group as Emerson, Lake & Palmer. A lot depends on what they do with what they take, and naturally since I have a copyright on such material, they’re not able to take it without my permission; so that in each case, where I have given my permission, there was something that attracted me about the version that they perform, which made me think I’d like to allow them to release it. Of course, I always prefer my own version best, but (laughs) what they do is really around the piece, you might say, rather than a literal transposition of the piece, and they’re a gifted group. In that particular case, I allowed it to go by because when they first play it, they play it fairly straight and when they end the piece, they play it very straight. What they do in the middle, I’m not sure exactly how they connect that with my music but (laughs) they do it someway, I suppose. But the fact that at the beginning and the end it really is the Fanfare for the Common Man gave me the feeling I ought to allow them to do it as they pleased.
Interviewer: I know your original work is just over three minutes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer have managed to turn it into a nine minute work.
Copland: (Laughs) Exactly, well, it’s those six minutes in the middle…(laughs)"
www.emersonlakepalmer.com/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerson,_Lake_%26_Palmer
pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerson,_Lake_%26_Palmer
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…..item 4)…. Tallahassee Used Bookstore Owner Arrested … WCTV News … www.wctv.tv/home
Posted: Wed 1:05 PM, Jan 09, 2013 … Reporter: Department of Revenue, Julie Montanaro Email
Updated: Wed 7:33 PM, Jan 09, 2013 …
www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/Used-Bookstore-Owner-Arrested-…
January 9, 2013 by Julie Montanaro
The owner of one of Tallahassee’s most popular used book stores is accused of failing to pay thousands of dollars in sales tax.
The owner of the Paperback Rack was arrested this week and accused of theft of state funds. A Department of Revenue spokeswoman says Lisa Wyartt-Hart failed to pay more than 5-thousand dollars in sales tax dating back to 2010.
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img code photo … Lisa Wyartt-Hart
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Hart called the charges "hurtful." She admits to owing the state money, but says her business has been struggling to stay afloat for the past few years.
"I don’t know why they use the word ‘stealing.’ We are struggling. The last three years have been really, really tough," Wyartt-Hart said.
"If I had it," she said, "it would be paid."
The Paperback Rack has been in business for more than 25 years.
Department of Revenue Release: Leon County Bookstore Owner Arrested
Lisa M. Wyartt-Hart, the owner of the Paperback Rack, a used bookstore located in Tallahassee, Florida, has been arrested on charges that she stole more than ,000 in sales tax she collected from customers, but failed to send in to the state, the Florida Department of Revenue announced today.
Ms. Wyartt-Hart, 45, who also lives in Tallahassee, was arrested by the Leon County Sheriff’s Office January 8, 2013 on felony and misdemeanor charges relating to theft of state funds, failure to file six consecutive return and refusal to file and pay taxes due. If convicted, she faces up to 5 years in prison and up to ,000 in fines, as well as possible payment of penalty and investigative costs. Paperback Rack is located at 1005 N. Monroe Street in Tallahassee.
According to Revenue Department investigators, Ms. Wyartt-Hart collected tax from customers at her bookstore. However, during various periods beginning in 2010, lasting through periods in 2012, she failed to send in to the state all of the sales taxes that were collected or file tax returns as required by law.
“It is an honor to serve the vast majority of Florida businesses who comply with State tax requirements,” said Marshall Stranburg, Interim Executive Director, Florida Department of Revenue. “For those that don’t, it is our job to enforce the law and ensure honest businesses are not placed at a competitive disadvantage by those who ignore the law or intentionally collect and steal taxpayer dollars.”
If you have information about tax crimes, please call the Florida Department of Revenue Investigations office in Tallahassee at (850)922-2671.
Note: Due to the confidential nature of taxpayer records, generally the information found in this release is the only information available from the Department of Revenue concerning this matter. Other information may be available through the arresting agency and the local Clerk of Court.
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Comments are posted from viewers like you and do not always reflect the views of this station.
— Ivan Sondel • 11 hours ago
I’ve known Lisa Hart for 18 years. There is no way on earth that she is guilty of the things she’s being charged with. Marshall Strandburg has the records that the taxes were not paid. I understand that. But to say she is dishonest, or that she intended to "steal taxpayer dollars" is a gross defamation. The Paperback Rack is the best book shop in Tallahassee and yet it has been on the brink of closing more than once in the past year, but has been saved by heroic measures by Lisa and her wonderful staff. She is the one put at a competitive disadvantage by the likes of Goodwill who receive their stock for free. Lisa has to buy or barter for stock. There are days when the store hardly sells enough to keep the doors open or pay part time staff minimum wages; I’m sure every penny collected at the register right back into the store – just to keep it open. Perhaps my friend made a mistake. It looks that way on the face of it. But there is a great difference in making a mistake, or acting in a way that benefits your employees regardless of self, and being called dishonest and a thief. If an individual fails to make enough salary in a year, they are not required to pay income tax; why doesn’t the same apply to a small business? And we’re talking about such a small sum – ,000 – it’s not like she was going to take that money and flee to Belize. The quote makes my dear friend sound like some nefarious scam artists like Bernie Madoff. Remember folks that between 2008 and 2011, 26 major American corporations paid no net federal income taxes despite bringing in billions in profits – General Electric and Verizon. So let’s put this all into proper perspective. God bless you Lisa – God save The Paperback Rack.
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