J. Randal Matheny

Medicare is a scam. The people who designed and perpetuated it would be serving more jail time than Bernie Madoff if they pulled a fraud like it in the private sector. As it is for the victims Madoff swindled, so it is for we who’ve been swindled by Washington: The money is gone. We can make provisions for the needy elderly who are about to hit eligibility and have relied on Medicare in their assumptions. But the party is over — and the sooner we grasp that, the fewer victims there will be.

Preserving a scam in the vain hope of making it less offensive may be well-meaning, but it’s not right, and it’s not courageous.

When the Federal Reserve cites statistics to claim that there is not much evidence of inflation, we need to keep in mind that the statistics they rely on exclude food and energy prices. The cost of living is no sweat if you can do without electricity and food.

Says the magician in the hat and tails: Watch carefully, poof! No more inflation! Isn't that amazing!?

Government control of anything equals rationing, pure and simple

Seems to be a fair statement, and a huge reason to keep government's fingers out of as much as everything as possible. From John Hayward's article, "Return of the Death Panel," at link above.

Dilma Rousseff should follow his lead on economic policy, but not on foreign affairs.

We won't get our hopes up that president-elect Dilma, taking charge Jan.1, will change directions in foreign affairs. She'll probably play the fool like her predecessor. We just might hope for continued economic policy, but watch out for her social changes. Those promise to raise some stink. Meanwhile, the gospel continues to be preached.

And another interesting nugget from Gallup, a graphic representation of responses to the question of how Americans would respond “if someone asked you to describe the federal government in one word or phrase.” The words are sized according to the frequency of response:

Pretty graphic, eh?

I'm reminded of a pamphlet published in 1916 by an outspoken advocate for Liberty, William J. H. Boetcker. He entitled his tract "The Ten Cannots," and it fittingly contrasts the competing political and economic agendas of the right and left in this era: "You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence. You cannot help small men by tearing down big men. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income. You cannot establish security on borrowed money. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves."

What insight! I would have thought the author lived in our time. But the tendency of government, apparently, is the same in most places and times.

You see, that bastion of anti-agricultural sentiment that calls itself the Environmental Protection Agency wants to clamp down on one of rural life’s constant companions – the dust clouds that farm machinery kick up in fields and along unpaved roads.

Aside from the issue itself, the author knows how to write and is a pleasure to read. A shame that city folk want to impose such rules on farmers. It's all a part of the encroachment of government in our lives that seeks to limit freedoms.