WMDs in Iraq: Liberal Ignorance

Liberals are fond of saying there were no WMDs in Iraq.  They think this is the perfect argument for not doing anything militarily based on intelligence. This premise is ludicrous.  It ignores the basic facts of Iraq’s WMD history.  There WERE weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.  Saddam used all of his WMDs killing his own people before we got there.  In a way, we just lost count.  Saddam killed 3,200 to 5,000 Kurdish civilians in one poison gas attack alone, on Halabja, Iraq, on March 16, 1988.  He injured 7,000 to 10,000 more.  Intelligence analysts knew this history, even if liberals today forget or ignore it.  Bush knew it too when he made the decision to invade.  Congress did too when both houses voted to authorize the attack.  The One had no congressional vote on his Libyan attacks. Bush had bipartisan authorization for Iraq.  Liberals' ignorance never fails to impress this redneck.

Illegal Because Legal Immigration Too Hard

As the Gang of Eight's massive immigration bill is in the spotlight, I have a sense of deja vu.  It's just like Obamacare all over again.  Again, we have to pass it to see what's in it? 867 pages? Please stop playing the liberal game of "comprehensive" solutions with hundreds or thousands of pages, developed by small groups and passed in the dead of night. I think a lot of the illegal immigration problem is that legal immigration is an extremely difficult obstacle course. We need 2 simple bills. 

First, provide expanded H1B visas for professionals with jobs who want to work here and pay taxes. Right now, the H1B program sells out in a few days for an entire year's allotment of visas. It's run as a lottery. Raise the price to companies and increase the numbers from 65,000 to 300,000 to 400,000. Make it easier for H1B holders to visit home and to get green cards. Eliminate any national origin limits. In my job I work with a lot of programmers who would like to stay here and work, if they could get a visa for longer than 6 months at a time. We need a lot of younger folks like these guys who will pay for my social security. 

Second, we need a new guest worker program, so low skill workers and their families can come here and stay as long as they are not on welfare, food stamps, medicaid or any other government assistance. We had a guest worker program, the Bracero Program, from 1942 to 1964. During this time illegal immigration was minimal. Workers came for the harvest and went home. In 1964 the AFL-CIO had it killed because guest workers are hard to organize. We could expand the program from the previous program to include agricultural factory work like meat processing and service jobs like janitorial work. For both of these programs there should be provisions to allow illegal residents as well as those outside the US to apply. The House could pass both bills, then let the Democrats explain why they won't vote for either. It would be good, rational legislation that would solve GOP political problems without giving away the store.

Article on Immigration:

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/347282/what-immigration-polls-show

Bracero Program Information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracero_Program

Prevent Mega Bank Bailouts

I had a really strong reaction to an article about mega banks that are too big to fail.  The only way to make sure there are no more mega bank bailouts is to make sure that mega banks are sufficiently capitalized that they can absorb massive losses and that their management has mega incentives to be careful.  The 12 mega banks ought to have 8 to 10 percent of assets in equity capital or convertible bonds that can be turned into equity when needed to absorb losses.   If stock and convertible bond holders are on the hook for a really big chunk of losses, they will force management to be much more careful.  Also, mega bank management compensation above that of the president of the United States and all of the outside directors' compensation should be reclaimable back 3-5 years in the event that a bailout is needed for any mega bank that's too big to fail.  Requirements like this will reduce the number of mega banks, or at least make sure their managements and stock and convertible bond holders have a LOT of skin in the game.  Bottom line is make moral hazard a lot more painful for all involved.

Original Article on the Mega Banks:

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2013/04/30/too-many-too-big-to-fail-banks/

Unexamined Academic Assumptions

Thomas Sowell had a great article this week on unexamined academic assumptions.  It really spoke to me.  The reason I have a BS in Math and MS in Statistics is because I wouldn't buy into the liberal mindset in Economics class.  I avoided soft subjects, like History, because I would not use Hegel's Dialectic to analyze historical events.  Also, when I was in college during the Viet Nam War, professors taught war was by definition futile.  I thought the professors were nuts to think that "war never solved anything."  It sure solved Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, not to mention Rome's Carthage problems.  I read history for fun now, but knowing too much makes me uncomfortable listening to people who believe the government is more efficient than private enterprise in running things like health care.  If I object that historically governments are usually very bad at running almost everything, the resulting argument provides a lot more heat than light.  Leftism in higher education is at least partially the result of draft deferments granted to the baby boomers who stayed in college to avoid Viet Nam.  I find the liberals who look down on my education generally have never had any of their assumptions questioned.  They think everybody knows liberals are the good guys, and folks like me are ignorant rednecks.  This attitude does not make for informed dialogue.  So I think Dr. Sowell's article matches my general experience with average "liberally" educated citizens. 

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/347003/academias-unexamined-assumptions