Frank W. Hardy's Blog
Posted by Frank W. Hardy
My first passenger and paternal grandmother, whose body gave out 4 years ago at the age of 104, often told me about the way things were. A time when families desired nothing more than a swift horse and a sturdy buggy and a wire next to a railroad track was considered “instant” communication.
We talked for hours about the past and what she saw come to fruition in her life (including her grandson becoming one of those magnificent men in a flying machine.) But her gaze never focused on that past! She explained, as only she could in all her beauty, the paradigms of the future and the fear it brings.
Halley’s Comet and the Telescope
Nana, as five generations of grandchildren called her, explained to me the universal awe of the future. Seeing Halley’s Comet in 1910 at the inspiring age of 5, she proclaimed, “People were scared. None of us knew about Einstein and only preachers and your Great-Uncle Grant understood the heavens.”
My Uncle Grant (43 years Nana’s senior and a self educated former slave) was the Hardy family’s Einstein at the turn of the century. In 1986 Nana called and reminded me of her future predictions – my very small Meade telescope proved her correct.
The Fear of Change
Nana used the old Negro phrased, usurped in the movie Guess Whose Coming to Dinner, “Franklin when we started seeing those Tin Lizzies rolling the streets of Conshohocken, all hell done broke loose with those blacksmiths for no dag-burn reason.”
Nana knew that future jobs would be plentiful; however, the paradigm would only benefit those who understood the future. She saw those blacksmiths become auto mechanics. Train conductors become air traffic controllers. Buggy salesmen became car salesmen and those bicycle guys (Orville and Wilbur) became pilots.
She had no idea what the future jobs would be, but she knew they would benefit those fastidious enough to grab them.
Posted by Frank W. Hardy
We think nothing of the fact that fire, police, air traffic control and military services are a right of existence in American society. No one expects fee for service when calling the firemen to a burning building. And while we pay in the form of taxes, we never expect to be mailed a bill from LAX’s Tower for landing at grandma’s during Christmas. Why then do we accept healthcare fees for grandma’s hospital stay after a heart attack?
The words of the United States’ Declaration of Independence, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness state we shouldn't. Jefferson takes these words directly from John Locke’s Second Treatise of Civil Government, “…no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions….” Locke defines life and health in the statements, “But though this be a state of liberty…yet he has not liberty to destroy himself….” He continues, “…there cannot be supposed any such subordination among us, that may authorize us to destroy one another…or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the health…of another.
In this statement, John Locke, and by inference Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers, clearly state that health too is a natural right directed by a higher power. Life and health are fundamental inalienable rights granted by God and enforced by men. “And that all men may be restrained from invading others rights, and from doing hurt to one another…the execution of the law of nature is…put into every man's hands….”
The for-profit American healthcare system is known for its inequality. Rising costs leave millions uninsured and millions more underinsured as businesses flounder in uncompetitive environments due to rising health costs. With their words the Founding Fathers explain that America’s system is not only broken but also unjust, immoral and unconstitutional.
Posted by Frank W. Hardy
The package is not protectionist by design. It has one stated purpose – to stimulate the American Economy by, as stated by President Obama:
- Increasing domestic job growth &
- Free domestic consumer capital
Free markets allow market consumers to choose, for whatever reasons, between manufacturers. This stimulus package isn’t artificially limiting consumers’ choices by protecting US companies at foreigners’ expense. It has nothing to do with market consumers and their choice but makes the American tax-payer the consumer without choice.
The primary argument against Buy America is the package will be financed with debt purchased by other nations. The dispute makes an erroneous assumption that other nations won’t buy that debt.
- Only 38% of
- The
- The Euro and Rubble are at all time lows
The USA GDP is $14.3 trillion. She has a total $3.09 trillion in outstanding debt, with a current trade deficit of $790 billion. Her total indebtedness is 27% of her annual GDP – the best on the planet. If nations don’t buy the world’s largest consumers’ debt they won’t develop their economies.
References:
http://www.ustreas.gov/tic/mfh.txt
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/highlights/toppartners.html