NEGATIVITY

By Dave Buhlman

In the 1972 presidential campaign, Democratic nominee, Senator George McGovern, presented the idea of a negative income tax, an idea so left wing it was not even listed in Karl Marx's Ten Planks in his Communist Manifesto. McGovern was scoffed at and went on to lose 49 states to Richard Nixon. McGovern, not surprisingly, took Massachusetts. I remember the headline in the San Francisco Examiner soon after the election in November 1972, "The Bay City Salutes the Bay State." Today, after many years pushing hard and Massachusetts approving same-sex "marriage," that headline could read, "The Gay City Salutes the Gay State." Nice sentiment.

But McGovern's crazy idea was soon thereafter enshrined in federal law as the Earned Income Credit, whereby the federal government sends money to people who paid no federal taxes. Of course the federal government had been doing that for years with corporations, so maybe it wasn't that big a leap.

To continue on that theme of giving, and given the devaluation of the dollar, the federal government might decide to give negative interest to borrowers with bad credit histories. That is, a shaky borrower would be paid a certain percentage by the government to borrow money instead of having to pay it back in full. So, under this scheme, if you borrow $10,000 at minus five percent interest, the federal government sends you a one-time payment of $500. You still need to make some payments to the lender, but that will pass quickly as the negative interest erodes the amount of the principle you owe. This plan has a few bugs, and was also not included in the Communist Manifesto, but the wacky Earned Income Credit became part of America, so maybe this can too.

On another front, it is a joy to see Senator Barack Obama beating Senator Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton in the Democrat primaries. All three are, at a minimum, socialists, but this show is still interesting to follow. And presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, will pretty match both of them stride for stride in the march for socialism in America, so there's not a lot of difference between the two major parties. One thing disturbing about Senator Obama is that, so far as I know, he and those close to him, only emphasize that he is Black. But his mother was White, so why isn't that emphasized at all? Of course, it can't be racism because all involved are liberals. Of course.

Dave Buhlman is a former New Hampshire State Representative, published author, and supporter of our return to the Constitutional Republic.