UN Internet Tax and shovel ready jobs

View 727 Friday, June 08, 2012

The headlines say

U.N. could tax U.S.-based Web sites, leaked docs show

Global Internet tax suggested by European network operators, who want Apple, Google, and other Web companies to pay to deliver content, is proposed for debate at a U.N. agency in December.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57449375-83/u.n-could-tax-u.s.-based-web-sites-leaked-docs-show/

And earlier it was

U.N. takeover of the Internet must be stopped, U.S. warns

A U.N. summit later this year in Dubai could lead to a new international regime of censorship, taxes, and surveillance, warn Democrats, Republicans, the Internet Society, and father of the Internet Vint Cerf.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57444629-83/u.n-takeover-of-the-internet-must-be-stopped-u.s-warns/

Both of which are frightening enough. It’s certainly true that the UN and its various bureaucratic agencies, most of them ruled by “one nation – one vote” international organizations dominated by small “developing” countries would like to get in on the Internet game. They do make money out of long distance telephone calls, and they don’t get anything from the Internet; the impulse to collect money from anyone who has it can be considerable.

It’s also true that bureaucracies being what they are, they will always try to shake down anyone or anything they believe they can get money out of. They are also perfectly capable of working with fellow bureaucrats in other nations, and they have a fair amount of money to spend on such operations.

The remedy for all this is to be aware of it. The UN bureaucrats don’t have any means of enforcement, nor do they actually control the wired and wireless connections that make the international part of the Internet work. We could, in a fit of absentmindedness, give them such control, but we aren’t likely to so long as enough people remain aware of the threat, But it’s hardly surprising that they’d try. And of course such fantasies illustrate why a significant part of the United States wants to “Get the UN out of the US and the US out of the UN,” a political goal that surfaces periodically.

Sentiment for getting the US out of the UN is generally labeled ‘extremist’ by the media, not entirely without reason – the John Birch Society was a hard supporter of the idea – and there hasn’t been serious debate on the subject for a long time, but that hasn’t always been the case. The Bricker Amendment debates during the Eisenhower administration were quite serious, and Bricker;s bill failed by only one vote despite the opposition of President Eisenhower. Since that time Supreme Court decisions have accomplished much of what Bricker’s amendments intended to do, namely to make it clear that the US cannot give away the Bill of Rights by treaty.

It may be time to renew that debate, given the voraciousness of international bureaucracies.

The fallout from the Wisconsin election is not over. One Republican state senator was apparently defeated by some 700 votes, but there is widespread belief that some of the votes were questionable. It’s another confirmation of the importance of getting out the vote. A hundred precinct workers who each brought in ten voters would have made the difference.

Self government requires work. Those who would have self government must be willing to do some of the work of governing.

Are you ready for this one?

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"It is absolutely clear that the economy is not doing fine. That’s why I had a press conference," Obama said.

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http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/08/12127428-obama-it-is-absolutely-clear-that-the-economy-is-not-doing-fine?lite?ocid=twitter

Maybe next he can introduce legislation to Congress that would legally bind the economy to do fine, or else we would have to penalize the economy? That might preclude the need for more press conferences…

It gets better:

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The president’s initial remarks were intended to portray the relative weakness in public sector hiring — an outgrowth of spending cuts at the federal, state and local level — versus the private sector. The drop off in public employment has been a drag on the overall employment picture; the economy added just 69,000 jobs last month, a number that was so low, in part, because of anemic public sector hiring.

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So the answer is *more government*? The only reason the jobs report is ever positive is because of all the public sector viz. government jobs and the accounting tricks they play with those numbers. So, they’ve run out of options to "cook the books"? I suspect we’ll be seeing a lot more press conferences if these are seen as a solution to our problems.

It gets even better:

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"You know, and what I’m interested in hearing from Congress and Mr. Romney is what steps are they willing to take right now that are going to make an actual difference?" Obama asked. "And so far, all we’ve heard are additional tax cuts to the folks who are doing fine, as opposed to taking steps that would actually help deal with the weaknesses in the economy and promote the kind of economic growth that we would all like to see."

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You know, I’d be interested in hearing what you plan to do to make this better. So far, all you’ve done is restrict capital, regulate business into near non-existence, and now you propose to tax the only people who might actually invest in economic growth. I hate to bust up your policies, but when you give more money to the poor, the poor do not invest in new businesses or economic growth. The people whose taxes you’re trying to raise are more likely to do that. If you think wealth redistribution works, you should take a look at the Soviet Union or China under Mao. But, then again, these Marxists always have some excuse why it didn’t work there and why it would certainly work this time: that is, until it doesn’t and then they blame someone else for their lacks of policy.

I can’t wait for the next press conference…

—–

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

Obama is now calling for ‘investment’ in the infrastructure of the country – this after TARP and other bailouts, the Obama Stash giveaways, etc.. We continue to borrow money to pay grownup civil servants to attend magic shows to be certain that stage magicians have federal licenses to use rabbits in their shows – or that they kill the rabbit as part of the act, in which case no license is needed. Presumably that is one way to build infrastructure?

Next we will hear about shovel-ready jobs. Just send money to Obama.

And I am hearing on the radio that they are going to have a  tax on wire coathangers. As it happens, last night at LASFS I saw a copy of Avram Davidson’s Or All the Seas with Oysters. 

Actually the radio story is vague, and may be based on something older http://www.thefreemanonline.org/features/dry-cleaning-economics-in-one-lesson/.  On the other hand, the government may be back looking  for more money. The ability of government to absorb money will always exceed what it collects.

I have a great amount of mail on this subject; thanks to all who reminded me.

Re: "Take Back Your Go’vt" being out of print

That is true, but Baen books has it out as an e-book. With your forward in it I believe, and notes. I someone brought this up to you a while back and you printed the letter with comments somewhere on your site. They also have several of your books as e-books there as well… I think I bought everything that they offered of your work.

Anyhow, here’s a link to where you can get the e-book "Take Back Your Government"

http://www.baenebooks.com/p-1154-take-back-your-government.aspx

I read it while over in Afghanistan and found it to be really entertaining, and informative. I had looked for an old paperback copy for years and years before I found the e-book version and I’m glad I shelled out the five bucks to get it, a bargain in my opinion. It’s relatively difficult to get a decent priced used copy.

Well enjoy and etc.

Patrick

 

And I’ll have a mailbag shortly, but here’s the picture of the day:

Titan and Saturn

Jerry,

A picture of Titan and Saturn

<http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/rawimagedetails/index.cfm?imageID=259213>

….taken on May 06, 2012 and received on Earth May 07, 2012. The camera was pointing toward TITAN at approximately 475,131 miles (764,649 kilometers) away….

Regards, Charles Adams, Bellevue, NE