Yankee Tag Blog

I went to a gun show last weekend. I was really excited, I had been looking forward to it for awhile. I got there and looked around for an hour or so before I overheard one of the vendors ask a customer if her address was correct on her driver’s license. Apparently, if you don’t have a current ID issued by the state of Oregon, you can’t buy a gun at a gun show in Oregon. I was pretty disappointed because I’ve been wanting to buy a skeet shotgun, but I haven’t yet updated my driver’s license since moving.

I went back to the gun show the next day with my buddy, Colin. I didn’t see anything particularly exciting on the first day, but now with Colin I found the perfect gun at a great price. I asked the guy running the stand what the rule was specifically. It’s a very fun rule: if you buy a gun at a gun show from a dealer then you need current Oregon ID. If you buy a gun at a gun show from a private collection (non-dealer) then you need current Oregon ID. If you buy a gun from a dealer outside of a gun show you need current Oregon ID. But, if you buy a gun from a private collection outside of a gun show you don’t need ID. It’s a pretty stupid law, but hey, you voted for these guys.

So, my buddy Colin hooked me up. He bought the gun. For himself. And then we left the gun show and went to a parking lot across the street. All of the sudden, he decided (quite unsolicited), that he wanted to sell the gun. Fortunately for him, I happened to be interested, and it was now legal for me to buy it. So… my new gun:

I think economics is interesting, which is why most people don’t like me. Ok, that’s not why they don’t like me, but I imagine it doesn’t help. Nevertheless, I’ve been appalled in recent weeks over the announcement of various politicians promoting “economic stimulus packages” (Like this, this, or that). So, in light of the ongoing debate, I’d like to throw my two cents into the mix: you’re all idiots. Here’s why…

First, understand that the US economy is a market of over $14 trillion (that number looks like: $14,000,000,000,000). The economic “stimulus” is estimated to be at $150 billion ($150,000,000,000). That sounds like a lot until you consider that it’s only about 1% of the total economy. If everything went on sale by 1% would you go out on a shopping spree? No. It’s not enough to greatly influence spending. That’s why stores don’t have 1% off sales. They have 10% off sales, or 20%, or 30% (which would require $1.4 trillion, $2.8 trillion, or $4.2 trillion respectively).

Second, the whole idea of a “stimulus” is misleading to begin with. A stimulus is an outside force that creates a reaction. But what outside force are we talking about here? The $150B has to come from somewhere within our economy. The proposals take money from one hand to place it in another. It sounds nice, it creates nice news clips, but it’s meaningless. It’s like taking a bucket of water from the deep end of the pool and dumping it in the shallow end: you don’t end up with a higher water level.

Finally, I challenge this notion that the politicians even know what they’re doing. They aren’t economists (at least not most of them) and they’re likely to cause more harm than good. If it were possible to “stimulate” the economy, why did they wait til now? Shouldn’t they have been stimulating the economy all along? The notion that your favorite politician has a “quick fix” up his (or her) sleeve is a fallacy. There is, however, one exception: Ron Paul.

Ron Paul proposes to cut tons of government spending (i.e. waste) to create a budget surplus (which would go to paying off the national debt). He proposes to cut income tax by 100%. This equals more money in your pocket. More money means you can buy more. If you buy more people need to make more, and if they make more they need to hire more people who will also not pay income tax and who also will go and buy more. This is the invisible hand that governs the economy. It’s not the one attached to Bush II, Clinton II, or Obama.

So yesterday my mom calls me up and asks, “What did you order from al-[insert generic Islamic organization name]?”

I replied, “Hi mom, it’s nice to talk to you, too. What are you talking about?”

And her: “You just had a package delivered from al-[insert generic Islamic organization name]. It’s pretty big. What is it?”

Me: “I don’t know mom, it got sent to your house? For me? From al-[insert generic Islamic organization name]? Don’t open it!” (I’ve made a few too many Mohammad jokes to take opening packages from Muslims lightly.)

Her: “I wasn’t going to open it… I was just wondering what it is.”

Me: “I’m not saying you’re snooping, I’m just saying… well, is it ticking or anything?”

Turns out, it was just a Qur’an. I say just as if the Qur’an isn’t dangerous. Probably more dangerous than a bomb, now that I think about it, but nevertheless I’m glad isn’t wasn’t a bomb (Praise Allah!). Anyway, now I have a Qur’an. And I need to figure out who sent it to me. I have a couple of guesses…

This segment went unaired on Larry King. Unfortunately the candidate with the most important message isn’t getting the press coverage he deserves. I aim to remedy this by broadcasting the segment on my site instead. I’ll give Larry King a run for his money.

Here are some interesting facts that you might want to know about Ron Paul:

• Ron Paul wants to eliminate the IRS (yep, no more income taxes!)
• Ron Paul wants a smaller government (when was the last time you heard about layoffs in the government?)
• Ron Paul wants our troops out now. Out of Iraq. Out of Afghanistan. Out of every country not called: The USA.

Go find out more about Ron Paul at www.RonPaul2008.com