Monday, April 26, 2021

"Spinning Our Wheels"

"Spinning Our Wheels"
By Bill Bonner

YOUGHAL, IRELAND – "Last week, we got a better look at how the Biden team aims to remake American society. The biggest announcement was the goal of turning the U.S into a “net zero” economy. Here’s CBS News: "In his opening remarks, Mr. Biden [at the virtual Leaders Climate Summit] said the U.S. can reach the emissions target through his jobs plan – a $3 trillion infrastructure package meant to revitalize the nation’s energy grid and create a net-zero economy."

An ambitious agenda. And at least as idiotic as it is aggressive. Will the world be a better place if the program is implemented? Nobody knows. The whole plan is based on theories and models that are impossible to prove… and bound to go out of style in the years ahead.

Today’s Great Cause: But climate change is today’s bugaboo – like religion was for many centuries. It gives meaning and purpose to peoples’ lives… It’s a source of jobs and profits… And it helps the elite keep the masses in line. After all, people will build pyramids in the hot desert sun… or attack Russia in the wintertime – when it is for a Great Cause. Anyone could already take up a Green Agenda on his own, attach solar panels to his house, plant a garden, put on a sweater, and buy an electric car.

But History – bless her heart – wants grandiose spectacles. And that means forcing everyone to go along with your asinine misadventure. Everybody talks about the weather, for example, but now we’re going to do something about it! The climate experts claim to know what the temperature should be… And by golly, they’re going to bully us all until we get there. Of course, this is very unlikely to have the slightest effect on the weather.

Marching Backwards: But it should have major consequences, nonetheless. For while human beings have never intentionally modified the climate of Planet Earth by even a fraction of a degree, they have proven that they can wipe out centuries of wealth in just a few years. The process is simple and well known. You do it by marching backward, from civilized to uncivilized… by murdering, destroying, robbing… by squandering time and resources… and by interfering, meddling, and prohibiting win-win deals (in which people cooperate with each other and make each other’s lives better).

One of the great recent examples of wealth destruction was achieved in the Soviet Union. The Great Cause then was to create a workers’ paradise by eliminating all traces of traditional bourgeois capitalism. To that end, private property was confiscated and millions of people were starved, shot, or sent to the gulag… And the whole economy was rejigged. Hey, you can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs, Lenin is said to have remarked.

Spinning Wheels: But when you start cracking shells, pretty soon, you’ve got a big mess on your hands. In little ways and big ones, things begin to go bad. Heavy industries, driven by quotas, produce inferior products that people neither want nor need. Shopkeepers, with no need to please their customers, forget to smile.

In the Soviet Union, taxi drivers, for example, were no longer allowed to do win-win deals with passengers. A whole new system was set up… controlled by the government. The taxis were allotted only a certain amount of gasoline. They were supposed to use it to help people to get around. At the end of the week, they had to show their odometer readings to prove that they had done the job. But they found that it was more profitable for them just to spin their wheels.

They drove into a vacant warehouse, jacked up the rear of the taxi, and let the wheels spin until they had clocked the necessary miles. This greatly economized on gasoline, which they were then able to sell on the black market. But then, the workers went about on foot. And as the whole economy was reorganized in this enlightened manner, everyone – except for the elite – walked backward.

And now… with the future of Planet Earth at stake… Team Biden is on the case. Every energy-using aspect of American society will be reconfigured.

Who Pays? But wait… This is an expensive make-over. How will we pay for it? The White House proposes to put the burden on the rich. Reuters adds detail: "Erica York, an economist at the Tax Foundation, said the proposal would put U.S. capital gains taxes at the top of the global charts. Average capital gains taxes in Europe are around 19.3%, and the highest rate there is in Denmark, which collects 42%. France and Finland charge 34%.

For residents of some states and cities that assess their own capital gains levy, Biden's plan would push the total capital gains rate to more than 50%, York said. The rate would rise to 56.7% in California, 58.2% in New York City and 57.3% in Portland, Oregon, York said.

Let’s see, capital gains come from increases in wealth (at least, in theory). The feds will take away money from the people who’ve earned it, and who have thereby proven that they can increase wealth. They will spend the money on projects that these productive people didn’t think were worth doing. (Otherwise, there would be no need for the feds to get involved.) Time and resources will be wasted. Boondoggles will come and go. Real wealth will decrease. And wheels will spin."

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