Monthly Archives: September 2012

Open letter to President Obama (Part 144)

September 21, 2012 – 6:29 am

John Stossel – Influence of Milton Friedman

President Obama c/o The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is going on out here.

When I think of the last 4 years and where the federal government has gone crazy spending our money trying to be “fair,” it makes me realize how wise Milton Friedman was when he talked about how to best achieve equality:

Here are some quotes from Milton Friedman that I thought you would enjoy:

  • Spending by government currently amounts to about 45 percent of national income. By that test, government owns 45 percent of the means of production that produce the national income. The U.S. is now 45 percent socialist.
  • The stock of money, prices and output was decidedly more unstable after the establishment of the Reserve System than before. The most dramatic period of instability in output was, of course, the period between the two wars, which includes the severe (monetary) contractions of 1920-1, 1929-33, and 1937-8. No other 20 year period in American history contains as many as three such severe contractions.
    This evidence persuades me that at least a third of the price rise during and just after World War I is attributable to the establishment of the Federal Reserve System… and that the severity of each of the major contractions — 1920-1, 1929-33 and 1937-8 is directly attributable to acts of commission and omission by the Reserve authorities…
    Any system which gives so much power and so much discretion to a few men, [so] that mistakes — excusable or not — can have such far reaching effects, is a bad system. It is a bad system to believers in freedom just because it gives a few men such power without any effective check by the body politic — this is the key political argument against an independent central bank…
    To paraphrase Clemenceau, money is much too serious a matter to be left to the central bankers.

  • I know of no severe depression, in any country or any time, that was not accompanied by a sharp decline in the stock of money and equally of no sharp decline in the stock of money that was not accompanied by a severe depression.
  • The Federal Reserve definitely caused the Great Depression by contracting the amount of money in circulation by one-third from 1929 to 1933
    • National Public Radio interview (Jan 1996)

One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programmes by their intentions rather than their results.

______________

Thank you so much for your time. I know how valuable it is. I also appreciate the fine family that you have and your commitment as a father and a husband.

Sincerely,

Everette Hatcher III, 13900 Cottontail Lane, Alexander, AR 72002, ph 501-920-5733, lowcostsqueegees@yahoo.com

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Milton Friedman, President Obama | Comments (0)

“Friedman Friday” Quotes from Milton Friedman (part 1)

September 21, 2012 – 6:27 am

Milton Friedman  discusses collectivism

Uploaded by on Aug 20, 2010

Despite its dismal track record, collectivism continues to hold appeal for some. Professor Friedman discusses this dynamic.

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People should have more of their own money to spend than they do now. We have gone from the federal government spending less than 5% of our money 80 years ago to spending 24.8% of GDP today.

Here are some quotes from Milton Friedman that I thought you would enjoy:

  • I think the government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem and very often makes the problem worse.
    • An Economist’s Protest (1975), p. 6; often quoted as “The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.”
  • I want people to take thought about their condition and to recognize that the maintenance of a free society is a very difficult and complicated thing and it requires a self-denying ordinance of the most extreme kind.It requires a willingness to put up with temporary evils on the basis of the subtle and sophisticated understanding that if you step in to do something about them you not only may make them worse, you will spread your tentacles and get bad results elsewhere.
  • I say thank God for government waste. If government is doing bad things, it’s only the waste that prevents the harm from being greater.
    • Interview with Richard Heffner on The Open Mind (7 December 1975)
  • One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.
    • Interview with Richard Heffner on The Open Mind (7 December 1975)
  • In this day and age, we need to revise the old saying to read, “Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.”
    • “Bureaucracy Scorned” in Newsweek (29 December 1975), later published in Bright Promises, Dismal Performance : An Economist’s Protest (1983)
  • Industrial progress, mechanical improvement, all of the great wonders of the modern era have meant little to the wealthy. The rich in ancient Greece would have benefited hardly at all from modern plumbing — running servants replaced running water. Television and radio — the patricians of Rome could enjoy the leading musicians and actors in their home, could have the leading artists as domestic retainers. Ready-to-wear clothing, supermarkets — all these and many other modern developments would have added little to their life. They would have welcomed the improvements in transportation and in medicine, but for the rest, the great achievements of western capitalism have rebounded primarily to the benefit of the ordinary person. These achievements have made available to the masses conveniences and amenities that were previously the exclusive prerogative of the rich and powerful.
    • Free to Choose (1980) p.148
By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Milton Friedman | Comments (0)

Open letter to President Obama (Part 143 B)

September 21, 2012 – 6:08 am

President Obama c/o The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is going on out here.

The flat tax is the way to get the job creators in our nations geared up. Is there any better way to get job creation started?

Curtis Dubay

May 10, 2012 at 2:30 pm

There he goes again. It seems that President Obama just can’t help himself. He keeps pushing Congress to pass policies it has rejected in the past or has foolishly passed to little beneficial effect.

The latest recycling of policies comes from the President’s Post-It note to-do list for Congress. If only Congress’s actual to-do list was so small.

Besides leaving out the most pressing issues facing the country—reforming entitlement programs and full-scale tax reform—the President’s to-do list for Congress curiously leaves off the most urgent issue it needs to tackle right now. That would be Taxmageddon and the $494 billion tax hike that will slam the economy on January 1, 2013, unless Congress and President Obama act soon to stop it.

In addition to calling for an extension of the Wind Production Tax Credit and an expansion of the 30 percent tax credit for investments in clean energy manufacturing, the tax polices the to-do list contains are a credit for small businesses that hire new workers and the President’s misguided “insourcing” agenda.

Really? Again with this hiring tax credit stuff? We’ve been there, done that, and have no jobs to show for it. In 2010, Congress passed and President Obama signed into law a tax credit for businesses that added new workers. It failed to create jobs then, and repeating it will fail to create jobs now.

Hiring tax credits do not work, because businesses add new workers when those additional employees will increase profitability over the duration of their tenure. A temporary one-year credit does little to tip this basic calculation in favor of adding new positions, because most businesses expect to retain workers for longer than a year.

The President first proposed his insourcing plan earlier this year. It would take away tax deductions for businesses that supposedly move jobs overseas and reward businesses that move jobs here. The whole premise of the idea is fatally flawed, and his pushing this plan shows that President Obama fundamentally misunderstands how the global economy works.

U.S. businesses rarely pack up their operations here and move them overseas. Instead, they open new operations in other countries as a way to chase growing demand for their goods or services in new, emerging markets. This is nothing but good news for the U.S. An American business finding a new market for its product means more jobs created at the business’s U.S. headquarters and more income flowing back to America. Why would President Obama want to discourage this?

By punishing companies that seek opportunity abroad and rewarding those that happen to bring jobs back, Obama assumes that those businesses doing the latter are better for the economy and are creating more jobs. But he cannot possibly know which businesses are better or which create more jobs.

The government can never know which businesses are better at creating jobs, because it does not have access to the broad range of information available to the diffuse network of individuals and businesses that comprise the free market.

It is time for President Obama to stop rehashing and recycling old, failed tax policies for perceived narrow political benefit and focus on the tax policies that would be broadly beneficial to the economy. First, stop Taxmageddon right now. Second, implement fundamental tax reform along the lines of the New Flat Tax.

Now that fits neatly on a Post-It note.

______________

Thank you so much for your time. I know how valuable it is. I also appreciate the fine family that you have and your commitment as a father and a husband.

Sincerely,

Everette Hatcher III, 13900 Cottontail Lane, Alexander, AR 72002, ph 501-920-5733, lowcostsqueegees@yahoo.com

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in President Obama, Taxes | Comments (0)

SEC football as strong as ever

September 20, 2012 – 7:13 am

Arkansas defensive tackle Jared Green (57) and linebackers Alonzo Highsmith (45), and Tenarius Wright (43) attempt to tackle Alabama running back Eddie Lacy (42) as offensive lineman Barrett Jones (75) looks on during second quarter action of an NCAA college football game in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/David Quinn)

Arkansas defensive tackle Jared Green (57) and linebackers Alonzo Highsmith (45), and Tenarius Wright (43) attempt to tackle Alabama running back Eddie Lacy (42) as offensive lineman Barrett Jones (75) looks on during second quarter action of an NCAA college football game in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/David Quinn)

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When you look at the conference at this point in the season you have to conclude that with 6 schools in the top 25 that the SEC is as tough as ever. Some people want to conclude that since Tennessee and Arkansas dropped out of the top 25 that the conference is somehow down. I disagree.

Miss St jumped into the top 25 this week when Tennessee dropped out. Arkansas could not be expected to play with Alabama when the Hog’s quarterback Tyler Wilson was out. I said before the game that with Tyler Wilson that the Hogs had a 20% chance to beat Bama but without him they had a 2% chance.

Do I think the SEC will win the national championship this year? No I do not. Why? Our luck has just been too good lately. We have won 6 in a row and it must end sometime. I am guessing that Oregon will get lucky this year and beat a SEC team in the final game of the year.

Of course, at this point in the season we are looking better than any other conference since the two top teams in the country are from the SEC. No other conference can say that. Unfortunately both of those teams are the in SEC West and my Razorbacks just got beat by Bama 52-0 in Fayetteville and we have #2 LSU still on our schedule too.

SEC looks and is good, just not top to bottom

DAVID BRANDT – AP Sports Writer (AP)

Originally published 06:43 p.m., September 19, 2012
Updated 09:44 p.m., September 19, 2012

The mighty Southeastern Conference has six schools in the Top 25, with Alabama and LSU atop the rankings and the toast of college football once again.

An impressive eight SEC teams have managed to break into the Top 25 this season.

But while it seems everyone in the SEC is enjoying success, that’s not the case. The bottom half of the league has had some downright embarrassing moments.

Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen said even the SEC can’t win every game.

“I know as a league, we have a lot of pride. We expect to win every game no matter what,” Mullen said. “That’s a good thing. But in today’s college football, that’s not always possible.”

Not even when teams are playing at home.

Louisiana-Monroe went on the road and shocked Arkansas and had Auburn on the ropes while Western Kentucky stunned Kentucky in overtime in Lexington. Mississippi was crushed 66-31 by No. 14 Texas at home; the Rebels haven’t given up that many points since 1917.

Vanderbilt’s loss to Northwestern on the road was certainly disappointing for a program trying to build a better reputation under second-year coach James Franklin. Mississippi State barely escaped an upset at Troy.

But the surprising losses and close calls haven’t done much damage to the SEC’s reputation as it goes for a sixth straight BCS championship.

The six SEC teams in the Top 25 are more than any other conference. It seems when one SEC team drops out of the rankings, another pops in.

After Arkansas was knocked out, Tennessee moved up. Once the Vols fell out of the rankings, Mississippi State was there to take their place.

LSU center P.J. Lonergan said he’s been surprised by some of the early season scores, but points out that underestimating any SEC opponent is a bad idea. The No. 2 Tigers travel to face Auburn on Saturday.

“Arkansas losing to (Louisiana-Monroe) was unexpected. Auburn struggling has been unexpected,” Lonergan said. “But I’ve been here for games against opponents when you are not pumped up for because you think they are not up to your level. You get a surprise.

“Everybody is good in the SEC. The record doesn’t matter.”

Maybe, but some are much better than others.

And the problems have contributed to the perception that the SEC is top heavy. Mullen disagrees.

“I think that’s just football,” the coach of the 23rd-ranked Bulldogs. “There’s a lot more balance in college football than there used to be. There are very few teams who can just roll the ball out there and play. If you don’t play well, you’re probably not going to win the game and it really doesn’t matter who is on the schedule.”

Even most of the league’s struggling teams seem to have reason for hope.

— Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson, who has been out since suffering a concussion against Louisiana-Monroe, is expected to return soon — though Wednesday morning he hadn’t been medically cleared for contact. His presence will immediately make the Razorbacks a factor in all their remaining games.

— Ole Miss has proven to be one of the league’s most explosive offensive teams, ranking second out of 14 teams with 500.7 total yards per game. The Rebels just have to find ways to stop opponents.

— Vanderbilt appears headed in the right direction even after the Northwestern loss. The Commodores nearly knocked off South Carolina in the season opener and have another chance to break through this weekend at Georgia.

— Kentucky has looked inept, but sophomore quarterback Maxwell Smith leads the league in passing, throwing for 966 yards, eight touchdowns and four touchdowns. The Wildcats are much like the Rebels in that an inexperienced defense is the main problem.

One problem for SEC teams that struggle is the poor performances are magnified by nearly flawless efforts by the league leaders. Alabama has outscored its first three opponents 128-14. LSU has a 145-31 advantage.

But Arkansas coach John L. Smith isn’t complaining.

“I think it’s good for the league,” Smith said. “Again, anytime you have that power at the top … We all strive to get there. I think it makes us all better — the entire league.”

_____

AP Sports Writers Kurt Voigt, Brett Martel, John Zenor and Gary Graves contributed to this story.

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Dear Senator Pryor, why not pass the Balanced Budget Amendment? (“Thirsty Thursday”, Open letter to Senator Pryor)

September 20, 2012 – 6:31 am

Mark Levin and Senator Hatch discuss the balanced budget amendment and it’s importance.

Uploaded by on Jan 28, 2011

Mark Levin interviews Senator Hatch 1/27/2011 about the balanced budget amendment. Mark is very excited about the balanced budget amendment being proposed by Senator Orin Hatch and John Cornyn and he discusses the amendment with Senator Hatch. Senator Hatch explains the bill it’s ramifications and limitations. Senator Hatch actually worked on this bill with renowned economist Milton Friedman. This ammendment is the first big step in saving our country.

_______________

Dear Senator Pryor,

Why not pass the Balanced  Budget Amendment? As you know that federal deficit is at all time high (1.6 trillion deficit with revenues of 2.2 trillion and spending at 3.8 trillion).

On my blog www.HaltingArkansasLiberalswithTruth.com I took you at your word and sent you over 100 emails with specific spending cut ideas. However, I did not see any of them in the recent debt deal that Congress adopted. Now I am trying another approach. Every week from now on I will send you an email explaining different reasons why we need the Balanced Budget Amendment. It will appear on my blog on “Thirsty Thursday” because the government is always thirsty for more money to spend.

I really wish we would restraint the growth of the federal budget and the only way to do that is to pass the Balanced Budget Amendment. My favorite economist was Milton Friedman and he discusses that below:

 

Written By : John Hawkins
February 25, 2012

 

Yesterday, I did a twenty minute interview by phone with Milton Friedman. Of course, Mr. Friedman has an INCREDIBLE resume. He won the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize for economic science, won the “Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988 and received the National Medal of Science the same year”.

He was also an “economic adviser to Senator Barry Goldwater in his unsuccessful campaign for the presidency in 1964, to Richard Nixon in his successful 1968 campaign, to President Nixon subsequently, and to Ronald Reagan in his 1980 campaign.”

There is much, much, more I could add. But I think the fact that Mr. Friedman finished in a tie for the 15 slot when RWN had conservative bloggers select, “The Greatest Figures Of The 20th Century gives you some idea of Mr. Friedman’s stature.

Enjoy the interview!

John Hawkins: Slate’s Chris Suellentrop has pointed out that Howard Dean has said “that he would demand that other countries adopt the exact same labor, environmental, health, and safety standards as the United States” if they wanted trade agreements with us (Dean said something similar to the WAPO). If that policy were ever implemented, what sort of damage do you think it would cause to the US economy?

Milton Friedman: I think it would cause immense damage, not to the US economy, but to other economies around the world — much more to the others than to us.

John Hawkins: Really? So you don’t really think it would hurt the US economy that much?

Milton Friedman: It would hurt the US economy, but it would be disastrous for the countries that are smaller than we are. World trade depends on differences among countries, not similarities. Different countries are in different stages of development. It is appropriate for them to have different patterns, different policies for ecology, labor standards, and so forth.

From my point of view, we in the United States have gone overboard in respect to the extent of regulation and detailed control of labor standards, industry, and the like. It’s bad for us, but fortunately we had two hundred years of relatively free development to provide a strong basis to sustain the cost. But to impose this on other countries that are not at that stage would be a disgraceful thing to do.

John Hawkins: Because it would keep them from ever getting to the point we’re at?

Milton Friedman: That’s right.

John Hawkins: Do you think George Bush, with the economy being as it was, did the right thing by cutting taxes?

Milton Friedman: I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it’s possible. The reason I am is because I believe the big problem is not taxes, the big problem is spending. The question is, “How do you hold down government spending?” Government spending now amounts to close to 40% of national income not counting indirect spending through regulation and the like. If you include that, you get up to roughly half. The real danger we face is that number will creep up and up and up. The only effective way I think to hold it down, is to hold down the amount of income the government has. The way to do that is to cut taxes.

John Hawkins: Now let me ask you about that. In the Reagan years, we cut taxes and it ended up leading to economic growth which increased the amount of revenue that came into the government.

Milton Friedman: Well, economic growth will inevitably increase the amount of revenue coming into the government. But so far as the Reagan years were concerned, we have to be careful there. There were initial cuts in 1981-1982 and then there was a very good income tax law in 1986. But in between that, there were increases in taxes as well. So it’s not an entirely clear picture that you can attribute the growth in revenue entirely to the tax reductions. But it’s a hard thing to disentangle the effects of several things happening at the same time. In particular, there’s no doubt that growth is very favorable to government revenue.

John Hawkins: Well let me ask you a related question about holding down the deficit. Really, I’m not seeing much political will on either side of the aisle to hold down costs. Do you think we should consider a Balanced Budget Amendment?

Milton Friedman: What we should consider and what has been considered is a Tax And Spending Limitation Amendment, an amendment to hold down total spending. I don’t think it needs to be in the form of a Balanced Budget Amendment, but that’s one form it can take.

John Hawkins: So would you favor for example a 3/5th’s majority to raise taxes like they suggested in the “Contract with America”?

Milton Friedman: Yes, but the example that comes to mind really is the Colorado Tax And Expenditure Limitation Amendment that requires the spending to increase no more from year to year than population and inflation. Also, it requires that any revenues in excess of spending have to be returned to the taxpayers.

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Milton Friedman, spending out of control | Comments (0)

The primary cause of higher hospital care and education costs in the USA is?

September 20, 2012 – 6:14 am

Is Washington Bankrupting America?

Uploaded by on Apr 20, 2010

Be first to receive our videos and other timely info about economic policy. Subscribe at http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
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According to a recent poll, 74 percent of likely voters are extremely or very concerned about the current level of government spending. And 58 percent think the level of spending is unsustainable.

Is the public right? Is Washington bankrupting America? Some facts from the video:

Spending per household has risen over 40 percent in the last 10 years and is set to do so again in the next 10 pushing debt (and interest on the debt) to unprecedented levels. But that’s just a result of PAST spending…

Our government owes $106 trillion in FUTURE spending commitments – that cannot be paid for.

We can solve it, but politicians will have to make tough choices. Increasing taxes can’t do the trick ($106 trillion is equivalent to taking all of the taxable income from every American nine times over), nor is it fair to saddle taxpayers with a problem created by government irresponsibility.

We need real spending reform. Merely returning to the spending per household levels of the 1990s would balance the budget in three years.

____________

David Boaz has rightly noted:

The fact that “the price of hospital care and higher education” has risen much faster than the cost of other goods is not an exogenous variable. Why do those costs rise so much faster? Because the government purchases them, reducing or eliminating the normal effects of supply, demand, and competition.

The Cost of Government

Posted by David Boaz

In today’s Washington Post Lawrence Summers demonstrates with mathematics that you can’t shrink the federal government — as long as (he doesn’t say) you don’t change the tasks you assign to it. True enough, if the government is still going to engage in “sustained deployments” of our military across the globe, and provide retirement income and health care to tens of millions of people, then the size of government isn’t going to shrink. But surely those are the issues we should be debating.

Michael Cannon below notes another key point in Summers’s argument:

[I]ncreases in the price of what the federal government buys relative to what the private sector buys will inevitably raise the cost of state involvement in the economy. Since the early 1980s the price of hospital care and higher education has risen fivefold relative to the price of cars and clothing, and more than a hundredfold relative to the price of televisions.

I would elaborate on Michael’s response. The fact that “the price of hospital care and higher education” has risen much faster than the cost of other goods is not an exogenous variable. Why do those costs rise so much faster? Because the government purchases them, reducing or eliminating the normal effects of supply, demand, and competition. I wrote about this in a 1994 article reprinted in my book The Politics of Freedom responding to an argument made by the economist William Baumol and the scholar-statesman Daniel Patrick Moynihan:

Moynihan identifies a number of services afflicted with Baumol’s disease: “The services in question, which I call The Stagnant Services, included, most notably, health care, education, legal services, welfare programs for the poor, postal service, police protection, sanitation services, repair services . . . and others.” He points out that many of those are provided by government and posits that “activities with cost disease migrate to the public sector.”

But maybe he has it backwards. Maybe activities that migrate to the public sector become afflicted with cost disease. The conservative magazine National Review, which, surprisingly, seems to accept Moynihan’s thesis, has inadvertently supplied us with some evidence on this point.

Ed Rubinstein, National Review‘s economic analyst, writes, “For more than three decades health-care spending has grown faster than national income. . . . The trend in health-care costs is no different from that of other services.” He cites education and auto repair as examples. However, the numbers Rubinstein provides don’t support his–or Moynihan’s–point. Look at the accompanying figure.

The cost of auto repair, a service provided almost entirely in the private sector, has barely outpaced inflation. The cost of medical care increased twice as fast as inflation. Government’s share of medical spending increased from 33 percent in 1960, when the chart begins, to 53 percent in 1990. Meanwhile, the cost of education, almost entirely provided by government, increased three times as fast as inflation–despite the constant complaints about underfunded schools.

The lesson is clear: Services provided by government are afflicted with Baumol’s disease in spades. Services provided in the private sector, where people spend their own money, are much less likely to soar in cost.

Medical care is a good area in which to test this theory because over the past 30 years it has been paid for in three different ways: out-of-pocket spending by consumers; insurance payments, mostly provided by employers; and government payments. As out-of-pocket spending declines in importance, medical inflation heats up. And private-sector spending on medical care rose only 1.3 percent a year between 1960 and 1990, while government spending rose more than three times as fast–4.3 percent a year.

When services are provided privately, and consumers can decide whether to purchase them, or choose another provider, or do without, there’s a powerful incentive to improve productivity and keep costs down. Stagnant productivity in government-run services reflects not so much Baumol’s disease as what we might call Clinton’s disease, the notion—even now, in 1994—that government can provide services more efficiently and cost-effectively than can the marketplace.

Now, I think Larry Summers knows this. He knows that when consumers don’t face full costs for services, they tend to consume more of them without worrying about the cost. So he knows that these costs could come down, if only we moved these services into the market, or at least found ways to get consumers directly concerned with costs. He should rethink his claims about the inevitability of more expensive government. These realities are in fact choices, decisions that voters and taxpayers can change.

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events, Healthcare | Tagged | Comments (0)

Randy White speaks to Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 2

September 19, 2012 – 8:19 am

Randy White spoke at the Little Rock Touchdown Club yesterday. He did a great job. I have always been a big Dallas Cowboy fan.

Here is a story from Arkansas Sports 360:

HOW ‘BOUT THEM COWBOYS: The Touchdown Club welcomed Randy White to town this Monday. The former Dallas Cowboy defensive tackle is one of the most honored college and pro football players to play the game and he has a place in both the College and NFL halls of fame. He’s also a great storyteller, with most of what he told Monday being true.

He mentioned running the Las Vegas strip after his playing days with the likes of former Razorback and Chicago Bear Dan Hampton and former Washington Redskins star John Riggins. Riggins and White were part of two teams that absolutely hated each other in the 1980s, but away from football they found they had a bond.

White didn’t realize it, but he brought up another former Razorback in offensive lineman Greg Koch, now a lawyer in the Houston area who played for the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. White said Koch “used to crack me up” trying to get under his skin. Lately, they’ve struck up a friendship over the phone as Koch also is a Houston area sports talk show host and often has White on his program.

White, who retired before Jerry Jones took over the ownership of the franchise, said the Cowboys appear headed in the right direction. He had high marks for Coach Jason Garrett while noting that after an impressive opening victory at New York, the Cowpokes “kinda stubbed their toe” in losing at Seattle on Sunday.

The formula for all that success in the Tom Landry era in which he played was fairly simple, White said. The team “cared about each other.” In 1975, quarterback Roger Staubach made an effort to greet all 12 rookies, including White, and told them they mattered in the team’s success, and Dallas went on to post a surprising run to the Super Bowl against Pittsburgh. Everyone on the roster had drive, White said, and they all had a strength to react positively when times were tough.

Arkansas fans today can probably see where little of that is happening with the Razorbacks after week three of what was supposed to be a special season.

White said that when he stopped playing, he contemplated being a coach, but Jimmy Johnson had already put together his own staff for the Cowboys. “I started doing Miller Lite commercials, and that was that,” he said with a laugh.

Someone in the audience asked him if he was interested in a job opportunity in Fayetteville. He laughed again.

Later, he said, “To me, recruiting talent is more important than being a great coach. If my guys are better than your guys, I can make some mistakes as a coach but I’m still probably going to win.”

Email: jharris@abpg.com. Also follow Jim on Twitter @jimharris360

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Howard Schnellenberger speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 4

I got to hear Howard Schnellenberger speak on Sept 4, 2012 at the Little Rock Touchdown Club. I did not know that he played football for the University of Kentucky. In fact, just last year Kentucky ended a long losing streak to Tennessee by winning in Lexington. Schnellenberger was responsible for catching the winning touchdown […]

Howard Schnellenberger speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 3

I got to hear Howard Schnellenberger speak at the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Tuesday Sept 4, 2012. Schnellenberger was good at building programs. Ex-coach enjoyed building programs By Jeff Halpern Posted: September 5, 2012 at 5:10 a.m. Staton Breidenthal Howard Schnellenberger speaks Tuesday at the Little Rock Touchdown Club. LITTLE ROCK — Howard Schnellenberger […]

Howard Schnellenberger speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 2

I got to hear Howard Schnellenberger talk on Sept 4, 2012 at the Little Rock Touchdown Club. Schnellenberger said that Bear Bryant had the greatest ability to both instruct a player with criticism but then build him up also. He made a point of making sure he did both during a practice. Under Schnellenburger direction […]

Howard Schnellenberger speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 1

I got to hear Howard Schnellenberger speak on 9-4-12 at the Little Rock Touchdown Club. I enjoyed hearing his stories about Bear Bryant and what he learned from the Bear. Here is a story by Jim Harris that discusses these too things. Jim Harris: Spirit Of Arkansan Bear Bryant Runs Through Schnellenberger’s Veins <!– 23 […]

Hogs benefit by trading Kentucky for Tennessee in 2012 football schedule?

Photo by Amy Smotherman Burgess Tennessee wide receiver Justin Hunter (11) reaches for a catch under pressure from North Carolina State defensive back Juston Burris (11) during the Chick-Fil-A Kick Off Game at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Friday, Aug. 31, 2012. Tennessee won the game 35-21. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL STAFF) ____________ Tennessee […]

USC’s John Robinson speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 6

1972 USC Football Highlights vs. Notre Dame Uploaded by 63utuber on Jun 14, 2011 No description available. I got to hear Coach Robinson speak in Little Rock on August 27, 2012. Little Rock Touchdown Club Week 2: Hall Of Fame Coach John Robinson by Zack Veddern on Aug 28, 2012 9:07 AM CDT   robinson […]

USC’s John Robinson speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 5

1972 USC Football Highlights vs. Notre Dame Uploaded by 63utuber on Jun 14, 2011 No description available. ________- Hearing John Robinson at the Little Rock Touchdown Club was very enjoyable. Earlier I posted about asking him the question: “Do you remember John McKay’s halftime speech at the 1974 Notre Dame at USC game?” Did you know that […]

Who deserved the 1978 national championship: USC or Bama?

John Robinson of USC should have an opinion, but no one asked him on August 27, 2012 when he spoke to the Little Rock Touchdown Club.  Wikipedia reports USC’s results that year: The 1978 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season. Following the season, the […]

USC’s John Robinson speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 4

USC vs. Tennessee 1980 Uploaded by yankeefanintenn on Jan 5, 2011 Hate that we lost, but I love watching games from this era. Fans were really into the games and it was a great game. All video footage is copyright of the University of Tennessee, but legally reproduced here in conjunction with Fair Use laws. […]

USC’s John Robinson speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 3

2005 USC Trojans vs Arkansas Part 1 (Rewind) Uploaded by NHBI007 on Oct 13, 2008 2005 USC Trojans vs Arkansas __________ I really enjoyed Robinson talk on 8-27-12. Robinson talks past UA, USC matchups JEFF HALPERN Former football coach John Robinson was 3-2 in his career at Southern California and UNLV against the Arkansas Razorbacks. […]

USC’s John Robinson speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 2

On August 27, 2012 I got to hear John Robinson speak at the the Little Rock Touchdown Club and he was a great speaker. Jim Harris: Former Southern Cal Coach John Robinson Wins In Little Rock <!– 23 –> by Jim Harris 8/27/2012 at 1:59pm College Football Hall of Fame coach John Robinson recalled some […]

John Robinson was offensive coordinator for USC when Hogs beat them 22-7 in 1974

    2006 USC Trojans vs Arkansas Part 1 Uploaded by NHBI007 on Mar 29, 2009 2006 USC Trojans vs Arkansas Today John Robinson told some funny stories at the Little Rock Touchdown Club and some interesting trivia facts. Did you know that USC won several national titles under John McKay with Frank Broyles defensive […]

USC’s John Robinson speaks at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 1

USC-ND ’74 – The Anthony Davis Game Uploaded by sckego on Aug 6, 2006 Notre Dame was killing USC 24-0 with a minute left in first half of the 1974 game in Los Angeles. Anthony Davis caught a TD pass to close out the half, then returned the 2nd half kickoff for a touchdown, and […]

Mark May at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 5

I always enjoy the Little Rock Touchdown Club meeting and August 20th was better than I expected. Mark May did a great job. I thought his answer concerning Tennessee being a sleeper team was an excellent description of them. I have not heard many commentators talking about the Vols challenging for the SEC East conference […]

Mark May at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 4

Too bad for Ohio State they had to forfeit the Sugar Bowl victory in 2011. I got to hear Mark May speak at the Little Rock Touchdown Club on August 20, 2012 and he did a great job. May sees hurdles for Hogs in SEC By Jeremy Muck Tuesday, August 21, 2012 LITTLE ROCK — […]

Questionable calls between Arkansas and SEC opponents

In the last 5 minutes of this video you can see some key plays from the 1971 Liberty Bowl and it shows Tom Reed recovering the ball for the hogs. There are lots of questionable calls in the past and at the bottom of this post you will find a fine article from Arkansas Sports […]

Mark May at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 3

I went to hear Mark May speak at the Little Rock Touchdown Club on August 20, 2012 and he did a great job of giving some insights into the Penn St case and he also looked into the SEC race this year. I do think that May has some good insights and I think his […]

Mark May at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 2

Wally Hall wrote a fine article on the Little Rock Touchdown Club meeting yesterday that I got to attend. It was moving when Mark May got choked up responding to a question about the Penn St scandal. Wally refers to that. LIKE IT IS: ESPN analyst starts LRTC talks with bang Tuesday, August 21, 2012 […]

Mark May at Little Rock Touchdown Club Part 1

Reggie Herring is featured in this video above about the 1980 Florida St victory over Pitt. Mark May did a great job at the first Little Rock Touchdown Club meeting of the year. Jim Harris of Arkansas Sports 360 did a good article on it and I agree with what Wally Hall wrote on his […]

 

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Woody Allen quotes on “Woody Wednesday”

September 19, 2012 – 7:19 am

Here are some good ones:

Email this Quote to a friend I’m very proud of my gold pocket watch. My grandfather, on his deathbed, sold me this watch.
– Woody Allen

Email this Quote to a friend In California, they don’t throw their garbage away – they make it into TV shows.
– Woody Allen

Email this Quote to a friend In my house I’m the boss. My wife is just the decision maker.
– Woody Allen

Email this Quote to a friend Intellectuals are like the mafia; they only kill their own.
– Woody Allen

Email this Quote to a friend Interestingly, according to modern astronomers, space is finite. This is a very comforting thought – particularly for people who cannot remember where they left things.
– Woody Allen

Email this Quote to a friend Is sex dirty? Only if it’s done right.
– Woody Allen

Email this Quote to a friend It is impossible to travel faster than light, and certainly not desirable, as one’s hat keeps blowing off.
– Woody Allen

Email this Quote to a friend It’s not that I’m afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.
– Woody Allen

Email this Quote to a friend It’s worse than dog eats dog. It’s dog doesn’t return dog’s phone calls.
– Woody Allen

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Current Events | Comments (0)

Responding to the liberals at the Arkansas Times concerning tax policy

September 19, 2012 – 7:17 am

Spending Restraint, Part I: Lessons from Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton

Uploaded by on Feb 14, 2011

Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both reduced the relative burden of government, largely because they were able to restrain the growth of domestic spending. The mini-documentary from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity uses data from the Historical Tables of the Budget to show how Reagan and Clinton succeeded and compares their record to the fiscal profligacy of the Bush-Obama years.

____________

On 9-18-12 I noted on the Arkansaas Times Blog:

The federal government has how much money? Negative 16 trillion I believe. How can they pay for all our medical needs in the future without turning everything around on us at the state level? I guess liberals are the only ones dumb enough to believe Obama’s empty promises. He took over when there was a federal debt of around 10 trillion and now it is over 16 trillion. I guess we could do even better if we gave him his Obamacare and re-elected him. The only alternative is to elect a Republican House and Senate and President and kill Obamacare. I sure that sounds heartless to the liberals. Everything is working so good right now why change course.

Couldn’t be better responded with a good point,  “Interesting, Saline, that Republicans ran up that $10 trillion in the national debt during good times when they should have been paying it down or totally writing it off.”

I totally agree that Republicans have also had a lot to do with running up the debt. They have got us into wars that we have not budgeted for and we continue to pay for Japan and Germany’s defenses when they are wealthy enough to do it on their own.

However, what is the answer to getting us out of this budget mess? Is raising taxes the answer? Let’s see what the Clinton Administration had to say about that. Below is the last portion of an article by Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute:

Debunking Myth after Myth in Financial Times Column by Former Clinton White House Economist
September 18, 2012 by Dan Mitchell

Even though I have remarked on many occasions that the burden of government was reduced during the Clinton years, that doesn’t mean Bill Clinton was in favor of smaller government. And it definitely doesn’t mean that his appointees believed in economic liberty.

Consider the case of Laura Tyson, who served as Chair of Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers. She recently penned a column for the UK-based Financial Times that is riddled with disingenuous assertions.

Even though it deserves to be ignored, I can’t resist the temptation to make corrections.

Tyson myth:

The US economy needs efficient and progressive tax reform and it needs more revenues for deficit reduction. Revenue increases have been a significant component of all major deficit-reduction packages enacted over the past 30 years.

Factual correction:

This is remarkable. I assume Ms. Tyson reads the New York Times, so perhaps she overlooked or deliberate forgot the column that inadvertently revealed that the only successful deficit-reduction package in recent memory was the one that cut taxes instead of raising them.

Interestingly, that successful package was implemented during the Clinton years, but only after she left office.

During Tyson’s tenure at CEA, we did get a tax increase rather than a tax cut. But the Clinton Administration admitted 18 months later that the tax hike was a failure and was not going to balance the budget.

Yet she wants to push the same failed class-warfare tax policy today.

_________

Spending Restraint, Part II: Lessons from Canada, Ireland, Slovakia, and New Zealand

Uploaded by on Feb 22, 2011

Nations can make remarkable fiscal progress if policy makers simply limit the growth of government spending. This video, which is Part II of a series, uses examples from recent history in Canada, Ireland, Slovakia, and New Zealand to demonstrate how it is possible to achieve rapid improvements in fiscal policy by restraining the burden of government spending. Part I of the series examined how Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were successful in controlling government outlays — particularly the burden of domestic spending programs. http://www.freedomandprosperity.org

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Bill Clinton, spending out of control, Taxes | Comments (0)

Open letter to President Obama (Part 143)

September 19, 2012 – 6:58 am

Milton Friedman discusses J.D. Rockefeller

________________

President Obama c/o The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

I know that you receive 20,000 letters a day and that you actually read 10 of them every day. I really do respect you for trying to get a pulse on what is going on out here.

Government officials always think they know better how to spend money than the private individual. We have a huge government deficit today that demonstrates that the government does not know best. Below are some wise words from Milton Friedman:

  • “The strongest argument for free enterprise is that it prevents anybody from having too much power. Whether that person is a government official, a trade union official, or a business executive. If forces them to put up or shut up. They either have to deliver the goods, produce something that people are willing to pay for, are willing to buy, or else they have to go into a different business.”
    • “Free to Choose” (1980), segment 2 of 10, “The Tyranny of Control”

Here are some quotes from Milton Friedman that I thought you would enjoy:

  • Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.… A steady rate of monetary growth at a moderate level can provide a framework under which a country can have little inflation and much growth. It will not produce perfect stability; it will not produce heaven on earth; but it can make an important contribution to a stable economic society.
    • The Counter-Revolution in Monetary Theory (1970)
  • On the level of political principle, the imposition of taxes and the expenditure of tax proceeds are governmental functions. We have established elaborate constitutional, parliamentary and judicial provisions to control these functions, to assure that taxes are imposed so far as possible in accordance with the preferences and desires of the public — after all, “taxation without representation” was one of the battle cries of the American Revolution. We have a system of checks and balances to separate the legislative function of imposing taxes and enacting expenditures from the executive function of collecting taxes and administering expenditure programs and from the judicial function of mediating disputes and interpreting the law.
    Here the businessman — self-selected or appointed directly or indirectly by stockholders — is to be simultaneously legislator, executive and, jurist. He is to decide whom to tax by how much and for what purpose, and he is to spend the proceeds — all this guided only by general exhortations from on high to restrain inflation, improve the environment, fight poverty and so on and on.

  • The political principle that underlies the market mechanism is unanimity. In an ideal free market resting on private property, no individual can coerce any other, all cooperation is voluntary, all parties to such cooperation benefit or they need not participate. There are no values, no “social” responsibilities in any sense other than the shared values and responsibilities of individuals. Society is a collection of individuals and of the various groups they voluntarily form.
    The political principle that underlies the political mechanism is conformity. The individual must serve a more general social interest — whether that be determined by a church or a dictator or a majority. The individual may have a vote and say in what is to be done, but if he is overruled, he must conform. It is appropriate for some to require others to contribute to a general social purpose whether they wish to or not.
    Unfortunately, unanimity is not always feasible.There are some respects in which conformity appears unavoidable, so I do not see how one can avoid the use of the political mechanism altogether.

    • “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits” in The New York Times Magazine (13 September 1970)
  • So the question is, do corporate executives, provided they stay within the law, have responsibilities in their business activities other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible? And my answer to that is, no they do not.
    • Interview “Milton Friedman Responds” in Chemtech (February 1974) p. 72.
  • There is no place for government to prohibit consumers from buying products the effect of which will be to harm themselves.
    • Free to Choose (1980), segment Who protects the consumer?
  • “The strongest argument for free enterprise is that it prevents anybody from having too much power. Whether that person is a government official, a trade union official, or a business executive. If forces them to put up or shut up. They either have to deliver the goods, produce something that people are willing to pay for, are willing to buy, or else they have to go into a different business.”
    • “Free to Choose” (1980), segment 2 of 10, “The Tyranny of Control”
  • Governments never learn. Only people learn.
    • Statement made in 1980, as quoted in The Cynic’s Lexicon : A Dictionary Of Amoral Advice‎ (1984), by Jonathon Green, p. 77
  • With some notable exceptions, businessmen favor free enterprise in general but are opposed to it when it comes to themselves.
  • The broader and more influential organisations of businessmen have acted to undermine the basic foundation of the free market system they purport to represent and defend.
    • Lecture “The Suicidal Impulse of the Business Community” (1983); cited in Filters Against Folly (1985) by Garrett Hardin

______________

Thank you so much for your time. I know how valuable it is. I also appreciate the fine family that you have and your commitment as a father and a husband.

Sincerely,

Everette Hatcher III, 13900 Cottontail Lane, Alexander, AR 72002, ph 501-920-5733, lowcostsqueegees@yahoo.com

By Everette Hatcher III | Posted in Milton Friedman, President Obama | Comments (0)