I got a kick out of noticing that a study at Harvard noticed that I was one of the top owners of .US domain names.....

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/archived_content/people/edelman/dotus/US-topregistrants.html

I have a domain name registrar at http://www.gogarnet.com

Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)
David Cay Johnston

$24.95(USD)

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The bestselling author of Perfectly Legal returns with a powerful new exposé

How does a strong and growing economy lend itself to job uncertainty, debt, bankruptcy, and economic fear for a vast number of Americans? Free Lunch provides answers to this great economic mystery of our time, revealing how today’s government policies and spending reach deep into the wallets of the many for the benefit of the wealthy few.

Johnston cuts through the official version of events and shows how, under the guise of deregulation, a whole new set of regulations quietly went into effect— regulations that thwart competition, depress wages, and reward misconduct. From how George W. Bush got rich off a tax increase to a $100 million taxpayer gift to Warren Buffett, Johnston puts a face on all of the dirty little tricks that business and government pull. A lot of people appear to be getting free lunches—but of course there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and someone (you, the taxpayer) is picking up the bill.

Johnston’s many revelations include:
• How we ended up with the most expensive yet inefficient health-care system in the world
• How homeowners’ title insurance became a costly, deceitful, yet almost invisible oligopoly
• How our government gives hidden subsidies for posh golf courses
• How Paris Hilton’s grandfather schemed to retake the family fortune from a charity for poor children
• How the Yankees and Mets owners will collect more than $1.3 billion in public funds

In these instances and many more, Free Lunch shows how the lobbyists and lawyers representing the most powerful 0.1 percent of Americans manipulated our government at the expense of the other 99.9 percent.

With his extraordinary reporting, vivid stories, and sharp analysis, Johnston reveals the forces that shape our everyday economic lives—and shows us how we can finally make things better.

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The book talks a lot about companies getting minor slap on the wrist for safety violations. If the freight railroads can save $2.4 billion on safety of the lines passenger trains ride on, and only one survivor of an Amtrak derailment can successfully sue them for $50m in negligence, it is profitable to be negligent. But, they were smarter than that, they had already gotten a law that said Amtrak would be entirely responsible for any damages. Guess who ended up paying the $50m? That's right, the tax payers that fund Amtrak. Such things happened under the watch of Democrats as well as Republicans.

Last chapters I read were talking about huge no-tax subsidies for sports team stadiums, and wal-marts, and how the promised benefits never materialize. But they've become pros at telling our politicians "Well, you can either give us a tax amnesty for several years where you get no sales tax money, or we can locate somewhere else, where you won't get the tax money anyhow. So do you want a chance at the illusory benefits our lobbyist reports are waving in front of your and the citizens to be pro-jobs, or shall we talk to the politicians in another city?" They usually go for the subsidy, thus shoving out other area businesses that got no tax break. The city looses the tax revenues in subsequent years that would have been paid if residents bought the same items from those other unsubsidized businesses.

He also talked about eminent domain, and how the surpreme court, instead of arguing about what the 5th amendment actually means, instead argued about procedural issues of whether the home owner or a business owner had a right to sue if she couldn't show actual damages from having her house taken away to give as part of a free tax package to expand a Chrysler plant. More lawyers making rules so complicated that no ordinary person can understand them. While complaining about the rich manipulating the rules, the author seems to miss the biggest point: Government isn't supposed to be in these kinds of giveaways in the first place! He's too busy pointing out how much good the extra money would be for the government so it could hand out more money to the poor, he misses the whole question about if the government didn't hand out these subsidies, taxes could be lowered on regular citizens. But that wouldn't make politicians and bureacrats feel valuable, it would lessen their power.

If this guy is a liberal now, it doesn't matter. He's writing about things that should be of concern to any conservative. The government is handing out all kinds of handouts in areas at both ends of the spectrum, areas where it has no constitutional business to be involved. It tramples on private property for whatever some politico imagines is "the greater good". The constitution and laws of legislatures may give us freedom from government interference, but the money hungry regulations and programs of unelected bureaucrats take it away.

As I was reading this book, I started thinking about an opportunity I have as a little guy to cash in on a government program, to get some welfare, and it occurred to me why it's wrong....

Should car owners wanting to get rid of their cars be allowed to use state car buyback programs reach into the pockets of taxpayers?

I'm reading "Free Lunch - How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With The Bill)". By David Cay Johnston.

As I was reading this book, I started thinking about an opportunity I have as a little guy to cash in on a government program, to get some welfare, and it occurred to me why it's wrong:

A friend of mine wants me to see if I can qualify for a state run program that will buy back my old 1983 Nissan for $650. This is the kind of 26 mpg small car whose Kelly bluebook value is going up because of the spectacular recent increases in the price of gas, the kind of car the government should probably encourage to stay on the road.

The state buyback program is kind of stupid: it won't take my car if it has failed a smog check, or is unregistered, or on non-op status. In other words, if they've already figured out a way to take away the enjoyment of my property, then they aren't interested in helping me get rid of it. That's probably well and good, since the program runs out of money well before the end of each year, and if the state can get people to first register those non-op vehicles, they get a little bit of the tax money back.

To qualify, the car must be currently registered, operable, driveable under its own power, have all safety equipment, and not too far past it's last smog check. If I meet the requirements, certain authorized dismantlers are authorized to reach into the state's pocket and pay me $650 for my car. Do you wonder about what it took to get "authorized"? Is this another example of corporate welfare for big well connected auto-dismantlers, to give them a free source of metal to export to China?

But here is the real question from the standpoint of my self-interest:

Why should you and all the other tax payers be paying me through the state to give my car to certain "authorized" auto dismantlers? If my car passes all the above requirements, why shouldn't I try to sell it on the open market, since with its new $250 set of four tires, and the much higher price of gas, it's probably worth at least $1000, if not the $1800 I paid for it a few years ago. Why should I need to take money out of taxpayers pockets, the pockets of people who are already overburdened with taxes and will get no benefit from their money being used to buy my car? Why shouldn't I seek a willing buyer for my car, someone who will pay me from their own earned money and who will get something in return that benefits them?

Most people today will encourage their friends to do whatever it takes to get a government handout. Other great handouts: Unemployment and sometimes disability benefits. Never mind the qualifications, just sign the form, and get every extension too, after all you paid into these programs, say well-meaning friends. We've become cynical of the system, if we can't benefit great, but if we can't, we don't mind so much seeing our friends taking unemployment benefits while they aren't actually looking for a new job, or disability benefits when they could actually work a simple job. At least they are getting something back out of the system. If they can make it through the government gatekeepers, all the more money to them we often say.

We've voted ourselves all kinds of benefits from the public trough. Your friends look at you like you are stupid if you don't join the others at the trough. This lack of citizen-based self-interest is killing us at both ends of the spectrum, one handout at a time.

Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)
David Cay Johnston

$24.95(USD)

---

The bestselling author of Perfectly Legal returns with a powerful new exposé

How does a strong and growing economy lend itself to job uncertainty, debt, bankruptcy, and economic fear for a vast number of Americans? Free Lunch provides answers to this great economic mystery of our time, revealing how today’s government policies and spending reach deep into the wallets of the many for the benefit of the wealthy few.

Johnston cuts through the official version of events and shows how, under the guise of deregulation, a whole new set of regulations quietly went into effect— regulations that thwart competition, depress wages, and reward misconduct. From how George W. Bush got rich off a tax increase to a $100 million taxpayer gift to Warren Buffett, Johnston puts a face on all of the dirty little tricks that business and government pull. A lot of people appear to be getting free lunches—but of course there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and someone (you, the taxpayer) is picking up the bill.

Johnston’s many revelations include:
• How we ended up with the most expensive yet inefficient health-care system in the world
• How homeowners’ title insurance became a costly, deceitful, yet almost invisible oligopoly
• How our government gives hidden subsidies for posh golf courses
• How Paris Hilton’s grandfather schemed to retake the family fortune from a charity for poor children
• How the Yankees and Mets owners will collect more than $1.3 billion in public funds

In these instances and many more, Free Lunch shows how the lobbyists and lawyers representing the most powerful 0.1 percent of Americans manipulated our government at the expense of the other 99.9 percent.

With his extraordinary reporting, vivid stories, and sharp analysis, Johnston reveals the forces that shape our everyday economic lives—and shows us how we can finally make things better.

---

Well, it used to be we had boats and airplanes as gate keepers. Kind of hard for illegal immigrants to come from Europe without making a significant commitment to stowaway or buy a one way ticket.... Now there are a lot more just walking across our border, which is unfortunately a much more dangerous transit.

The really bad thing is that many of those walkers do not have this nation's best interests at heart. There are a lot of things fundamentally different from the immigration of the past.

The immigration of the past involved people coming here to make a new life here. They had no plans to return to their own country. This was it. They were also coming here to work, they didn't expect a safety net, they didn't come to take from the system. Now politicians out-do themselves to see how many programs they can give out with other people's money. The big guys are evil and greedy and taking from the public trough, so why not also programs to give to the little guys.

Many of the immigrants coming here are not coming here to stay. There are now news reports lamenting the fact that increased border surveillance is causing many of these illegal aliens to stay longer than their previous seasonal visits. Many just want to come in, live people to a house or apartment, make money and send it back home. Some estimates say that they amount they cost our economy in public services is equal to the amount they are sending home, instead of paying in taxes. Haven't you heard the pleas from hospitals being forced to close down because of the burden of caring for all these extra illegal immigrants? Limiting immigration to what we can actually absorb and take care of would be much more humane for the people in this country.... The surge of unplanned extra illegal immigrants depress wages, and is ruining the quality of services they are depending on. They send the money they earn back home to build big villas which they want to move back to. Great for them, if only we can be sure they're paying the same taxes on their wages as I'd pay on mine in order to save up to build a villa in a foreign land.

Some come here to bring crime here to take advantage of us, with drugs, and gangs.

All these things cause many problems: Often they don't integrate. They often don't try to learn our language. They live like sardines in apartments or houses, pooling their money to pay a higher rent than the place would command from a single individual or family, driving up rents for everyone. They may not pay taxes. They show up in emergency rooms for free treatment. (Go to a foreign country and try to show up in their emergency room for free treatment, and see what happens.) They demand free education and medical for their children, stuff I can't qualify my kids for even when it was only a single parent was working at an entry level job. Why? Because we had a documented income, and they often don't. Plus since she is a legal immigrant, I'm on the hook to pay the government back for any public expense she might qualify for, but at least I can hold her to responsible behavior so she isn't a drain on the public. At least I was able to make the choice to be on the hook for that commitment. This is unlike the illegal immigrants whose public expenses have to be taken from people who don't know them, people who are unable to hold the illegals to accountable responsible behavior, like saving up for a $100 trip to a private doctor instead of just dropping in for a $1500 visit to an overcrowded taxpayer funded emergency room.

These new aspects to immigrants today are very different than the immigrants of decades ago .... Many of those statements may be unfair as blanket statements, but each one does apply to incredibly large numbers of illegal immigrantds, large enough numbers to be causing our cities and states real problems. Sure there are many exceptions. But a proper immigration system would weed out the exceptions and allow them to stay, and say no to the ones that aren't exceptions to the problems above.

You're right, the current immigration system is very cumbersome. I've been through it with way more red tape due entirely to bad advice by the bureaucrats who don't even know their own rules. But we need ways to keep the criminals out, and the various others that we as a nation can't afford. We need to take care of our own before we allow even more people we can't take care of. We need ways to keep out the people who will be a drain on public services. That might sound cruel, but can we afford to let in every foreigner who can get here with AIDS or tuberculosis, or other public health menaces, into the country because San Francisco city might offer them sanctuary and free meds?

And don't blame the republicans for being drunk on cheap labor and being the cause of the illegal immigration. Some of the big increases in outsourcing have taken place under democrats as well. It's the oligarchy, ruling by the moneyed globalist class. Whether they put a D or an R behind their name is largely irrelevant. Our democracy and freedom has been replaced with something else.