The looters are growing in number and power. A nation of economically ignorant people are letting their government take more power not apportioned to it, all in the name of a crisis. To add insult to injury, there are those pointing to this as a sign of the supposed failure of capitalism. This has nothing to do with capitalism, rather it is the direct result of government interference through actions like the Community Reinvestment Act. Blaming capitalism for the current crisis would be akin to blaming a baker for making a bad cake, after you forced him to add ingredients he did not want to add in the first place. Strike that, because this situation is worse. Not only are you blaming the baker for the results of your interference, you are now clamoring to find new ways to, “improve” upon your already disastrous recipe.

Have we officially reached that pivot point where we are choosing to forsake the economic system that created more wealth and prosperity than any other system in history, in exchange for socialism? Have we truly become a nation of infants, ever dependent on the government to solve all of life’s problems? Do the vast majority of Americans truly believe, that a Democrat or Republican in Washington can do a better job of managing their lives and money than they can? Should we never have to face the consequences of our own actions, painful as they may be?

I will be the first to admit that I am prone to hyperbole, so only time will tell if I am over reacting. For now, I sit and wonder, where is John Galt? Where are Hank Rearden and Dagny Taggart? The looters are here and they are having their day. It is time for Atlas to shrug.

On Friday I had decided to go try the new Volcano Taco at Taco Bell. Surely with Taco Bell being watered down Mexican food for the masses, this taco was not going to be the fiery meal it promised. The red corn shell was not fooling me as an indicator of hotness. So when lunch time rolled around, I knew my mission. The plan was going to be executed without any problems, or so I thought.

Now, as any pro-eater will tell you, having stuff in your pockets while eating is just going to slow you down. Being one who isn’t going to question this logic, I decided to remove my iPhone from my front pocket. My hand goes into my pocket, grabs my iPhone, pulls it out and oops… it slips out of my hand landing face first on the pavement.

“Don’t panic, Matt”, I thought to myself. “You’ve dropped your phone before and each time it didn’t even leave a scratch.”

Lulled into this false sense of security, I reached down to pick it up still hoping for the best. However, when I flipped it over to see the screen, there it was. The glass of the screen was cracked in several places. It was at that moment that I felt a small part of me die. Those of you that know me realize the enormity of this. My iPhone never leaves my side, like crack to an addict (no pun intended).

What do I do now? From what I read online, Apple wants $240 to repair a cracked screen while buying a new one will cost me $200. The phone is still functioning, but I am rarely turning it on in an attempt to prolong what life it may have left before the glass starts falling out.

Perhaps I should write the government requesting a bail out. Yes, that is it! My iPhone is, “too big to fail”! I figure if we are going to choose to become socialists by nationalizing private companies and passing these unconstitutional bailouts, I should at least get a new phone out of the deal. Sure, we’ll have less freedom and will face a much longer depression/recession than if we didn’t, but at least I will have my phone. After all, I shouldn’t be held responsible for my own negligence and risky behavior that I engaged in by not keeping my phone in it’s rubber case.

The government is there to make sure I never have to face the consequences of my own actions. If I build my house on a beach where hurricanes are, take out an adjustable rate mortgage without doing any research, or run my company into the ground, I can rest assured that the government will be there to bail me out. Never mind that it will come at the cost of those who are responsible individuals, and will result in a net loss of freedom for all. No, I shouldn’t concern myself with such details. Why use logic and reason when we have the magic of government? Right?

So now that I have my plan, I should start writing my request to the government for an iPhone bailout.

“Dear Asshats, …”

10. Beer. “The cause of and solution to, all of life’s problems.” – Homer Simpson
9. Steve Jobs and his wonderful iPhone, without whom this post would not have been possible.
8. The annual, “Friends Of The Library” book sale. Yeah, that’s how I roll.
7. My friend Terry’s seemingly endless supply of coupons for free McDonalds Chicken Biscuits.
6. Having friends that are not disturbed or horrified that I do not care about OU football, or sports in general.

5. Having friends who agree that most of the beers made by the big three American brewers are a crime against beer.
4. That despite the predictions from scientists in the 1980′s, neither myself or anyone I know has been killed by killer bees.
3. Taco Bueno, even when its surly employees, perplexed by the complexities of Muchaco engineering, make my Muchaco with the shell inside out.
2. A wife who carries Tabasco sauce in her purse and loves my beer.
1. The fact that whales cannot fly.

My good friend has an excellent blog called SelfishReasons.com. Last week he reported on a story involving one of my favorite locally owned Itallian eateries, Falcone’s. In short, the owner, Danny Falcone, placed a sign inside his newest location in Edmond, banning two city officials and one quasi-official from his restaurant. The reason behind the sign? He wished to paint his awning with the colors of the Italian flag, as is the trademark of his other locations. Being the owner of his business, one would think this would not be an issue. Instead, Falcone was denied “permission” from doing so by the city of Edmond. You can read the original story here: SelfishReasons.com.

“We respectfully reserve the right to refuse service to the following people: Suzy Thrash and Ingrid Young of the Edmond City Planning Commission, Lydia Lee of the Edmond Neighborhood Alliance. You are not welcomed here, please take your business elsewhere and do not come back on our property. Thank you”

The loss of individual liberty seems to be of little concern to most people I encounter. Especially when that liberty belongs to a business owner. The successful demonization of capitalism by collectivists over the last century is largely to blame. It has created a strong, irrational perception that all business is forever trying to pull one over on the “common man”. Ignoring the fact that the majority of businesses in this nation are small businesses created by the same, “common man”. These business owners are your neighbors next door, your friends or perhaps your family. Each trying to act in his own rational self interests by creating a source of income, by which he can survive. Not only is he in pursuit of a means to sustain his life, he is also in the pursuit of happiness. The very happiness referred to by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. Yet, because he is a business owner, in the eyes of far too many today his pursuit is not protected.

More times than not, the denial of the inalienable pursuits of business owners, is done through laws created, “in the name of public health”, or the ever popular “for the children”. The motivation behind these laws is often full of good intentions. Other times, there are more sinister motivators at hand. In both situations the results are the same: the loss of freedom and property rights. Be it the ever so trendy effort among nanny-state legislators to ban smoking in, “public places” (even though they are privately owned establishments), the recent trans-fat and foie gras bans, or situations like Danny Falcone’s, all are instances where government has taken away individual liberty it had no moral right to take. By removing these freedoms, government is actively interfering and destroying the ability of business owners to make decisions which affect their livelihood. What is more obscene is that the proponents of such measures claim their actions will bring no harm to the people directly affected.

Those who would abuse entrusted power to impose their arbitrary whim, in turn forfeit their right to individual liberty. In the city of Edmond, Oklahoma, Suzy Thrash, Ingrid Young and Lydia Lee are guilty of just that and are ultimately working towards the loss of freedom for all through such actions. Their inability to grasp even the most basic precepts of what made our nation great is not only shameful, it is un-American.

Kudos to Danny Falcone for taking a stand and publicly banning these dim witted termagants from his establishment. His already amazing food will be that much more enjoyable for me, knowing every bite I take is helping to counter their efforts.

Nothing draws ire so quickly today, as the price of gasoline. Accusations of price gouging and collusion on the part of oil companies run rampant from water coolers to Congress. I have grown accustomed to hearing the same specious arguments from the same people, groups and parties. However, I was shocked recently when a friend, whom I would consider to be an intelligent man, made the following statement when it was mentioned that the government’s taxation on oil is a significant portion of the price paid at the pump:

“Just because the government rips us off doesn’t give the oil companies the right to do it too.”

The oil companies do not have a right to charge what they wish for their product? Their rights as the owners and producers of said product entitle them the ability to set the price they wish to charge. It is their product, they own it. When you voluntarily pay for a product, you are not being ripped off for two reasons. First, you paid money in exchange for gasoline and received just that. Had you paid for gasoline and received Kool-Aid, then you could justly proclaim that you were ripped off. Second, no one applied coercive force to make you purchase gasoline. The fact that you had a choice not to purchase means you were not ripped off. The vast majority of consumers do not seem to realize that non-consumption is still a choice. Non-consumption often comes at a higher cost than consumption, especially in the case of oil, yet the fact remains it is still an option.

The people who are truly being ripped off are the oil companies whose profits are pilfered by the US government, which in turn affects we the consumer because that loss has to be made up somewhere. The oil companies are justified in passing on their increased cost of doing business to us, just as any business would. Have we lost all touch with reality, where we shame a company for daring to make the greatest profit possible? So many today are of the belief that corporations are moral entities with an obligation to community and the welfare of all. Corporations are amoral bodies whose sole purpose is to deliver a profit to its shareholders. Even the president of a corporation is not tied to a moral duty, as he is acting as an agent for the principals, the shareholders, to secure a profit. Asking a business to disregard the pursuit of profit is asking for their suicide.

Our economically illiterate electorate encourages legislators to continue enacting new taxes on the oil companies, neglecting to see that it is to their own detriment. What educated person could honestly think that taxing the profits on the sale of a product, would lower the cost of the same?