About This Blog

Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) was the greatest economist of my time. His greatest works can be accessed here at no charge.

Mises believed that property, freedom and peace are and should be the hallmarks of a satisfying and prosperous society. I agree. Mises proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the prospect for general and individual prosperity is maximized, indeed, is only possible, if the principle of private property reigns supreme. What's yours is yours. What's mine is mine. When the line between yours and mine is smudged, the door to conflict opens. Without freedom (individual liberty of action) the principle of private property is neutered and the free market, which is the child of property and freedom and the mother of prosperity and satisfaction, cannot exist. Peace is the goal of a prosperous and satisfying society of free individuals, not peace which is purchased by submission to the enemies of property and freedom, but peace which results from the unyielding defense of these principles against all who challenge them.

In this blog I measure American society against the metrics of property, freedom and peace.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Renaissance Man About To Fix Stupid!

What is it Ron White says? Here's a reminder...

Au contraire, Mr. White! Yes you can! You can fix stupid, and here's "Renaissance Man" who is about to prove it...
You see, the White House (no pun intended!) just announced a billion dollar government program guaranteed to "improve the nation’s manufacturing industry" which, apparently, is too stupid to improve itself on its own.

How is our modern day Leonardo da Vinci going to fix stupid in US manufacturing?

He's going to build a national "network of up to fifteen Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation around the country, serving as regional hubs of manufacturing excellence that will help to make our manufacturers more competitive and encourage investment in the United States."

Wow! I have to say that's super impressive. Remember, this is the same Renaissance Man who fixed stupid in our American energy industry earlier this year for a measly $14-million. Remember? In Florida? Earlier this year? Maximum Leader said: "You’ve got a bunch of algae out here, right? If we can figure out how to make energy out of that, we’ll be doing all right."

Our course we'll be all right. He's our Renaissance Man. If he can't do it, no one can!

Well, now it's on to bigger and better things than the energy crisis. The Renaissance Man's new plan will "encourage insourcing, support investment in our manufacturing sector, and create good jobs here in the United States." We'll be all right. He's got it figured!

(More good jobs created as an added bonus! I like that too.)

Renaissance Man could hardly contain his excitement yesterday as he explained his $1-billion plan by exclaiming: “These are going to be institutes of manufacturing excellence where some of our most advanced engineering schools and our most innovative manufacturers collaborate on new ideas, new technologies, new methods, new processes..."

KISS, right? Keep it simple, stupid! Collaboration!?! (Frankly, the plan is so simple I'm kind of surprised American manufacturers didn't think of collaborating with our most advanced engineering schools all by themselves. That's why the federal government needs to tax these bozos through the nose. Smart guys in Washington can make better use of private industry's capital every day of the week and twice on Sunday.)

Anyway, Renaissance Man and company aren't dilly-dallying around waiting for Congress to fund the plan. "We’re not going to wait," he said confidently. "We’re going to go ahead on our own later this year." Apparently, the White House found $45-million gathering dust in the Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce and the National Science Foundation. They're using it to set up a pilot program.

Why a pilot program, you ask? Don't they know what they're doing?

Hey, don't fret. Renaissance Man's brilliant ideas don't come to him fully fleshed out! However, his plan for fleshing out his plan is even more brilliant: competition. You know, like "American Idol" for inventors! “We’re going to choose the winner of a competition for a pilot institute for manufacturing innovation," Renaissance Man explained excitedly, "help them get started. With that pilot in place, we’ll keep on pushing Congress to do the right thing because this is the kind of approach that can succeed. We’ve got to have this all across the country.”

Duh! It never occurred to the stupid manufacturing bigwigs themselves that competition just might bring out the best in them?

Renaissance Man says his new proposal is sure to bring about a new golden age of American innovation, a "new renaissance of American inventiveness," as he put it.

No doubt! Remember, this is the same genius who in January of last year appointed a bunch of high powered, big business executives to "to counsel him on job creation." That little group has been up and running for over a year now. It's called the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

And we all know how that's working out.

2 comments:

LD Jackson said...

I can't help but wonder how Obama and team comes up with some of this stuff. Do they really believe American manufacturers need help from the government to be able to come up with new innovations in manufacturing? The government needs to just get out of the way and let them roll.

Sherman Broder said...

It's arrogance, Larry, and a basic distrust of the free market.