Jay Nordlinger conducted a wide-ranging interview with Mark Steyn, who was in fine form. It was followed by a panel on liberal media bias, run by John J. Miller and featuring John Fund, Cal Thomas, S. E. Cupp, and Jonah Goldberg.

At dinner tonight, we had the pleasure of having John O’Sullivan and his wonderful wife Melissa at our table, along with Milt & Sue Bird and Lou Dombro. Milt is almost 90 and looks better than most of us will hope to look at 70; Sue, whose family escaped from Nazi Germany in 1939 (after her father spent 6 months in a concentration camp) — and who remembers the day when she found all the windows smashed in her family’s home on morning — is likewise lovely.

We’re back at sea now, headed for San Juan, Puerto Rico, where we’ll arrive tomorrow afternoon. ..bruce..

There’s a late session tonight (with James Lileks, Andew Klavan, and S. E. Cupp), but I’m frankly worn out by the steady roll of the ship (due to steady 30+ knot winds blowing from the east) and we’ve got an 8:30 snorkling excursion in the morning (we arrive at Grand Turk around 7 am). I may yet run down to listen a bit, but I’m whipped. ..bruce..

…you probably just didn’t expect it to be so well done. Hat tip to American Digest. ..bruce w..

What Hitler is currently being quoted as saying:

“We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and take away their right to strike”
- Adolf Hitler, May 2, 1933

Problem is, as far as anyone can tell, Hitler never said that. On the other hand, and in all fairness, he (or his officials) did co-op and then abolish the existing trade unions, and at that point in time, mostly because he saw them as a threat to Nazi power. They were eventually replaced by the German Labor Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront, DAF):

Soon after the NSDAP came to power in 1933, all trade unions and worker organizations were declared illegal and the DAF was setup in their place as the sole labour organization of the German Reich. The concept of the DAF was to ensure the political stability and smooth operations of all German industry and commerce. It was through the use of mass organization, much like all other NSDAP-era organizations, that labour was to be formed into a single militarized group where “…a certain amount of well supervised misery, combined with daily work begun with drums beating and ended with drums beating…” would be used to solidify the labour front of the German Nation.

Membership in the DAF was voluntary, but any person who was a worker in any area of German industry or commerce more-or-less was a member by default. Membership dues were given in the range of 15 Pfenning to 3 RM, depending on the catagory a member fell into in the large scale of 20 membership groups. A substantial amount of money was raised through dues, in 1934, the total intake was 300,000,000 RM.

The DAF was composed of two main areas, the Nationalsozialistische Betriebsorganization, or National Socialist Factory Organization (NSBO) and the Nationalsozialistische Handels und Gewerbeorganization, or Natational Socialist Trade and Industry Organization (NSHABO).

Another major part of the DAF was the KdF, or Kraft durch Freude – Strength through Joy. This organization, as a subset of the DAF, was tasked with providing activities such as trips, cruises, concerts, and cultural activities for the German workers. These events were specifically directed towards the working class and it was through the KdF that the NSDAP hoped to bring to the “common man” the pleasures once reserved only for the rich. By opening the door for the working class to easily and affordably take part in activities once reserved only for the rich, it was hoped that the labor force could be lulled into being more flexible and productive. One of the most famous aspects of this were the numerous trips and cruises provided by the huge fleet of ocean-going liners controled by the DAF/KdF, such ships as the Wilhelm Gustloff, Robert Ley, and many others. The Volkswagon was also a partial product of the DAF/KdF organization as well.

Hitler, having co-opted the unions, turned his attention on business:

The business men, who had been so enthusiastic over the smashing of the troublesome labor unions, now found that left-wing Nazis, who really believed in the party’s socialism, were trying to take over the employers’ associations, destroy the big department stores [shades of Wal-Mart], and nationalize industry. Thousands of ragged Nazi Party officials descended on the business houses of those who had not supported Hitler, threatening to seize them in some cases, and in others demanding well-paying jobs in management. Dr. Gottfried Feder, the economic crank, now insisted that the [Nazi] party program be carried out — nationalization of big business, profit sharing, and abolition of unearned income and “interest slavery”. As if this were not enough to frighten the businessmen, Walther Darre, who had just been named Minister of Agriculture, threw the bankers into jitters by promising a big reduction in the capital debts of the farmers [shades of mortgage write-downs] and a cut in the interest rate on what remained to 2% [ditto].

– The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany, William A. Shirer, Simon & Shuster (New York, 1960), Volume I, pp. 203-204.

Note that Hitler also hated state governments and stripped them and their separate legislatures of all power:

Thus, within a fortnight of receiving full powers from the Reichtag, Hitler had … abolished the separate powers of the historic states and made them subject to the central authority of the Reich, which was in his hands. . . . “Popular assemblies” of the states were abolished, the sovereign powers of the states were transferred to the Reich, all state governments were placed under the Reich government, and the state governors were placed under the the administration of the Reich Minister of the Interior. As this Minister, Frick, explained it, “The state governments from now on are merely administrative bodies of the Reich.”

– Shirer, p. 200.

Contrary to the manufactured quote above, Hitler was focused on jobs and on improving the lot of workers:

“History will not judge us according to whether we have removed and imprisoned the largest number of economists, but according to whether we have succeeded in providing work.” [Hitler to the the Nazi state governors, July 6, 1933]

– Shirer, p. 206

And within a few years he had succeeded:

“…a newly arrived observer [Shirer himself moved to Germany in 1934] was somewhat surprised to see that the people of the country did not seem to feel that they were being cowed and held down by an unscrupulous and brutal dictatorship. On the contrary, they supported it with genuine enthusiasm. Someone it imbued them with a new hope and a new confidence and an astonishing faith in the future of their country.

Hitler was liquidating the past, with all its frustrations and disappointments. Step by step, and rapidly…he was freeing Germany from the shackles of Versailles, confounding the victorious Allies and making Germany militarily strong again. This is what most Germans wanted and they were willing to make the sacrifices which the Leader demanded of them to get it: the loss of personal freedom, a Spartan diet (“Guns before Butter”) and hard work. By the autumn of 1936 the problem of unemployment had largely been licked*, almost everyone had a job again and one heard workers who had been deprived of their trade union rights joking, over their full dinner pails, that at least under Hitler there was no more freedom to starve. “Gemeinnutz vor Eigennutz!” (The Common Interest before Self!) was a popular Nazi slogan in those days, and though many a party leader, Goering above all, was secretly enriching himself and the profits of business were mounting, there was no doubt that the masses were taken in by the new “national socialism” which ostensibly put the welfare of the community above one’s personal gain.

* From February 1933 to the spring of 1937, the number of registered unemployed fell from six million to less than one million.

– Shirer, pp. 231-232 [Footnote in original]

Oh, and contrary to the repeated assertions of Nazi Germany being a Christian nation:

Not many Germans lost much sleep over the arrests of a few thousand pastors and priests [by the Nazi government] or over the quarreling of the various Protestant sects. And ever fewer paused to reflect that under the leadership of Rosenberg, Bormann and Himmler, who were backed by Hitler, the Nazi regime intended eventually to destroy Christianity in Germany, if it could, and substitute the old paganism of the early tribal Germanic gods and the new paganism of the Nazi extremists. As Bormann, one of the men closest to Hitler, said publicly in 1941, “National Socialism and Christianity are irreconcilable.”

– Shirer, p. 240

So: nationalize unions, nationalize businesses, eliminate large department stories, mandate profit sharing of corporations, force banks to write down loan principles and lower interest rates, disband state legislatures, make state governments mere appendages to a strong central National government, put the common interest above self-interest, have Party leaders enrich themselves while promoting socialism among their followers, and control or eliminate all Christian churches. Who does that sound like? The Tea Party?

Note that in Mein Kampf, Hitler had good things to say about unions:

“In the present state of affairs I am convinced that we cannot possibly dispense with the trades unions. On the contrary, they are among the most important institutions in the economic life of the nation. Not only are they important in the sphere of social policy but also, and even more so, in the national political sphere. For when the great masses of a nation see their vital needs satisfied through a just trade unionist movement the stamina of the whole nation in its struggle for existence will be enormously reinforced thereby.”

– Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Volume II, Chapter XII

Time and again, the Left invents false quotes, mostly because history is not on their side. ..bruce w..
[Cross-posted over at Ace of Spades]

(Click on image for full size)

Honestly: our defense spending is high. We’re still embroiled in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and while we’re withdrawing from Iraq, it really is unclear (President Obama’s various pronouncements notwithstanding) when and under what circumstances we’ll actually leave. So, yes, if we weren’t spending the money we’re spending on defense, we’d have a lower deficit.

Maybe.

On the other hand, as the chart above — taken from Kleiner Perkins’ “USA, Inc.” report — shows, US defense spending is below the average for the post-war average up until we found ourselves in Afghanistan and Iraq. And that holds true all during the past decade of war. There’s a common liberal myth that those wars cost trillions of dollars and are entirely responsible for our current deficits. Kleiner Perkins begs to differ:

Not cheap by any means, though it’s hard to predict where we’d be and what we’d be facing if we hadn’t gone in when we did.  ..bruce w..

(Click on image for full-size version)

The Kleiner-Perkins “USA, Inc.” report offers possible solutions to the financial nightmare that the US Federal Government — and all of us taxpayers — are facing. I don’t agree with some of these — I think the empty results of the “Stimulus” pretty much negate the first item in #4 — but it’s telling how few of these are solutions that President Obama and the Congressional Democrats have been willing to entertain. The real question is: which ones are the rest of us willing to deal with?  ..bruce w..

Governor Dannel P. Malloy (D-CT) has a brilliant idea to help fix his state’s budget shortfall:

Got a coupon for 30% a Blu-Ray player? If the Connecticut governor gets his way, you’d still be paying sales tax on that player’s full price.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy isn’t earning many fans with his proposal, one of many measures his government is considering in the face of a huge budget shortfall.

“It’s true, it’s a new tax. It sucks,” the governor’s budget chief said. “Every single one of those, however many, 20-odd taxes is a new tax and it sucks. I don’t know how to hide it. These are new taxes.”

And as Dan Haar, a business columnist for the Hartford Courier, points out:

Rule No. 1 of business, taught to every 10-year-old at the knee of his parents, older siblings, aunts and uncles: The real price of the item you’re buying is the price you pay. There is no other price. There’s no such thing as a special deal.

And there’s no way to levy a tax on a price the buyer never would have paid. The problem is not that it’s unfair — it’s downright impossible. There are too many offers out there in too many forms, too many twists and turns.

The Jos. A. Bank website listed suits Monday for $169, regularly $550 – “3 Days Only.” Is that a coupon? Should the buyer pay a $24 sales tax on the difference? No, said Ben Barnes, Malloy’s budget chief, because it’s offered to everyone who goes into the store.

But lots of stores offer their cut-out coupon discounts to everyone. And the ad does use dotted lines. In reality, it’s not a $550 suit — never was, never will be. If the store ever charges it, it’ll throw in a suit or two extra, no charge.

What about employee discounts? What about cut rates for loyal customers? Or online discounts? Or matching competitors’ discounts? Or mail-in rebates, or automatic rebates like the ones we see for cameras, where no one pays full price?

I don’t know, and neither does Malloy.

Connecticut elected a Democratic governor (Malloy) for the first time since 1986. They’re stuck with Malloy until 2014. Good luck!  ..bruce w..

I’m going to continue to post graphs and slides from Kleiner Perkin’s “USA, Inc.” report for some time. Here’s some of their text that accompanies this graph:

Take a step back, and imagine what the founding fathers would think if they saw how our country’s finances have changed. From 1790 to 1930, government spending on average accounted for just 3% of American GDP. Today, government spending absorbs closer to 24% of GDP.

It’s likely that they would be even more surprised by the debt we have taken on to pay for this expansion. As a percentage of GDP, the federal government’s public debt has doubled over the last 30 years, to 53% of GDP. This figure does not include claims on future resources from underfunded entitlements and potential liabilities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs). If it did include these claims, gross federal debt accounted for 94% of GDP in 2010. The public debt to GDP ratio is likely to triple to 146% over the next 20 years, per CBO. The main reason is entitlement expense. Since 1970, these costs have grown 5.5 times faster than GDP, while revenues have lagged, especially corporate tax revenues. By 2037, cumulative deficits from Social Security could add another $11.6 trillion to the public debt.

Yep. As the famous saying goes, the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money. Read the whole report, if you haven’t already. ..bruce w..

Most anyone in the IT industry for any length of time knows about Kleiner Perkins, one of the most successful venture capital firms in modern times. Well, as it turns out, Kleiner Perkins put its own people to work analyzing the US Federal Government as if it were a business, one that Kleiner Perkins might invest in.

It is a wonderful, if sobering and in places horrifying document, with page after page of slides and tables laying out just how fundamentally unsound the US Federal Government is as a going concern. Here’s another typical example:

You can download the full PDF report here. I suggest you send it to your Representative and to your Senators, but only after you’ve read it yourselves. ..bruce w..