In yet another obvious breach of anything that could be considered “transparency”, Congress proceeded to push the health care bill/debate forward. The Republicans, at least, voted unanimously against moving forward on a debate and eventual vote, while the Democrats and Independents all voted to proceed. We have been repeatedly assured that the bill would die in the Senate, allaying fears after its surprising pass in the House, but such assurances seem more and more shaky.

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Conventional wisdom would indicate that a minimum wage increase would help those who make very little, those who work jobs that pay minimum wage. Unfortunately, conventional wisdom does not look closely or deeply enough. The implementation of a wage minimum has an artificial effect on the cost of labor. The idea, of course, is to make sure that workers are not being taken advantage of by employers, and finding themselves working long hours but still making too little to live. The problem is, if employers cannot afford labor, they will either replace labor with technology, or do without the functions that labor would have provided in order to stay in business. It is either that, or they go out of business. Either way, the lower skilled jobs are cut out entirely, meaning that the people who depended on those jobs for some type of income find that they have no income at all.

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The Obama Administration seems to havebacked off on their reactionary attitude slightly. Its not much, but at least its something. The first stimulus was devastating to our dollar value and debt, a second would have been a disaster.

Obama always has been quick to change his mind. I think he may have seen the evidence int eh world summit that continued spending has not fixed Europe. If only he would see the same thing about Cap and Trade. The environmental aspects of the summit were still jsut as ridiculous as always, although they at least made it more talk than reality, agreeing to drop emmissions by 80% over the next 40 years but not lining out any forced methods for doing so.

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Any of you who have followed any of my writing know that I am no fan of the Cap and Trade concept. I find it abhorrent that it even made it to a vote. Unfortunately it looks as though it is likely to pass, despite the outcry of the public, at least the productive public, against it.

Cap and trade represents the largest overall tax increase in our history. It will hit everyone who uses fuel or buys products from companies that use fuel. That means everyone in the country. That means rich and poor. That mean Obama’s talk about not increasing taxes on anyone but the rich is an absolute lie. Suprised?

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So, in part two of this subject, we will address more clearly the next steps, the mechanics of moving towards a more minimal and freedom supporting government. Clearly Social Security is not economically viable in its current state. Regardless of the intentions, if a system is bound to fall apart and fail the people who depend on it, then it is not a compassionate concept. Alternatively, it is both politically impossible and ethically harsh to simply pull the plug. So, that leaves us with determining the best way to move in the direction we need.

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