What happened to the ethos of “you are only as good as your weakest link”. I hear a lot of lectures about community and taking care of the poor these days. But, I don’t see a lot of action around it. I am reminded of Milton Friedman.
This morning, I was reading the editorials in the Financial Times. I read that paper for different perspectives. This editorial is Example A on the attitudes of the elites versus everyone else.
I will reprint the beginning of it in all its glory:
Financially it will be a bleak winter for many poorer Britons. A combination of higher gas prices, the withdrawal of pandemic income support schemes and rising prices more generally will lead to a higher cost of living and squeezed household budgets. A mooted cut to the rate of tax levied on gas heating would, however, be the wrong way to help families. It would be poorly targeted and undermine the government’s drive to lower carbon emissions shortly before it hosts the COP26 climate summit.
You poor people out there, bundle up! We have a COP26 climate summit to organize and host, and we want it to be a good show!
The editorial goes on to say the wealthy would benefit the most from any VAT tax cut since they have big homes that are drafty. Maybe the government should supply wool socks, sweaters, and down coats to poor people in the UK so they can stay warm? Check that, down coats would mean killing a defenseless goose.
It seems every solution the elite have to a problem is carried on the backs of the poor. The wealthy are oblivious and can’t be bothered. Poor people have been devastated by the Covid shutdowns.
Across the pond here in the US, our President walks maskless through a restaurant, oblivious to the fact that all the servers, or should I call them subjects, are wearing masks and would lose their jobs if they didn’t.
Yesterday, Washington State’s football coach lost his job because he didn’t want to get the vaccine. This is despite all the data showing that the vaccine doesn’t stop you from getting or spreading Covid. In case you didn’t know, that’s a job paying multi-millions per year. With mandates, it will be hard for Coach Rolovich to get a job anywhere else.
He isn’t the only one. NBA player Kyrie Irving lost his job for the time being too. So have many other people.
All over the country, bureaucrats and politicians are exempt from mandates while the great unwashed have to submit. In my hometown of Chicago, mandates don’t extend to aldermen. It reminds me of the Obama health care policy. The public got to experience the shafting while Congress was exempt.
Are you willing to lose your career in the name of freedom and liberty? Yesterday, in a courageous act, California physicist David Lomps stepped down from his position simply because his organization was open to censoring free speech and inquiry.
“Oh, just go and get the vaccine. How can it hurt?”. That’s what a lot of people would say. Go along to get along. Except, in a minority of cases the vaccine does more harm than good. That along with the fact it doesn’t make a difference if you are healthy with Covid outcomes makes the incentive to get it a lot weaker than if it actually stopped you from getting Covid. Like the measles, mumps, polio, or smallpox vaccines. Remember those? They actually stopped you from getting the disease. You were “immune”. Never forget, 99.98% of people recover from Covid with or without the vaccine.
If it ever gets to the point where they round up the liberty lovers like they seemingly are in Australia, my acquaintances that are adamant about masks and vaccines will probably be the ones that put the finger on anyone who values freedom over the centralized state.
Today, the San Francisco Department of Health closed all In and Out restaurants. Why? Because In and Out didn’t want their hourly employees to be turned into the modern-day Stasi. They also didn’t want their employees to enforce segregation rules. You might remember those, “colored” versus everyone else drinking fountains, restaurants, waiting rooms, and other parts of society where we all had to be together. Segregation is back baby! It just came in a different flavor.
In New York City, despite what the rich elites are saying, the restaurant business is down 40-60% and fast food restaurants have closed their dining areas. The elites in NYC love it because they don’t have to scrap for a reservation. When it gets freezing outside, they will either hire a chef to dine in their apartment or take off to warmer climes. Probably Miami where there are no mask mandates and people are living normally. Florida has one of the lowest Covid infection rates in the US right now. That’s where “Tough on Covid” Illinois Governor JB “Toilets” Pritzker and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s families went.
All of these infringements on your personal freedom and liberty are being codified into mandates in the name of safety. Plus equity!
Some faceless centralized bureaucrat with a guaranteed defined benefit pension is making the decisions for you. Cola isn’t a drink for them.
It would be different if the vaccine and masks actually worked like vaccines are supposed to work. Except they don’t and people know it. The more politicians go with the charade, the less credibility they will have.
Right now, politicians and bureaucrats are trying to use the power of the state to get the private sector to enforce their will on the people. I remember when people used to call that “fascism”.
Makes sense that the SF swine went after in-and-out hard, an openly Christian organization. The war is on.