(From Volume 18, No. 23 of the Liberator Online. Subscribe here!)
DOUBLE TROUBLE: “The federal budget has doubled in size in 12 years, from $1.9 trillion in 2001 to $3.8 trillion this year.” — David Eldridge, Washington Times reporter, “Rep. Nancy Pelosi: Nothing left to cut in budget…” Washington Times, Sept. 22, 2013.
CALLING MR. ORWELL: “…incorrect promise…” — New York Timesdescription of President Obama’s bogus vow that under Obamacare Americans “will be able to keep your health care plan, period.” (“Obama in Bind Trying to Keep Health Law Vow,” November 12, 2013.) Earlier, the Times reported that Obama “misspoke.”
GOV’T THINKS WE ARE IDIOTS: “In 1950, I was 14 years old and applied for a work permit for an after-school job. One of the requirements was to obtain a Social Security card. In bold letters on my Social Security card, which I still possess, are the words ‘For Social Security Purposes — Not For Identification.’ That’s because earlier Americans feared that their Social Security number would become an identity number. According to the Social Security Administration website, ‘this legend was removed as part of the design changes for the 18th version of the card, issued beginning in 1972.’ That statement assumes we’re idiots. We’re asked to believe that the sole purpose of the removal was for design purposes. Apparently, the fact that our Social Security number had become a major identification tool, to be used in every aspect of our lives, had nothing to do with the SSA’s getting rid of the legend saying ‘For Social Security Purposes — Not For Identification.'” — Walter Williams, “Do Americans Prefer Deception?”, syndicated column, Nov. 20, 2013.
MINIMUM WAGE MYTHS: “Arguably the most important thing in the debate about the minimum wage is that hardly anyone makes it. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics less than 3 percent of all workers take home $7.25 or less an hour and half who do are 24 years old or younger. And the vast majority — 77 percent — of minimum wage earners belong to households that are above the poverty line. So when Fast Food Forward declares, ‘We can’t survive on $7.25!’, the good news is that very few people have to (and to the extent that they do, their income is supplemented by anti-poverty programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, food stamps, and housing subsidies). Staying at the minimum wage is also usually mercifully short-lived. For instance, between 1977 and 1997, two-thirds of full-time workers had moved on to higher pay within a year.” — Nick Gillespie, “Big Labor’s Big Mac Attack,” The Daily Beast, Dec. 4th, 2013.
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE: “Libertarianism is growing fastest among the young, and groups like Students for Liberty give me hope. These young people certainly know more about liberty than I did at their age. Maybe they will avoid prior generations’ big-government mistakes.” — libertarian journalist John Stossel, “The Libertarian Era?”, syndicated column, Nov. 13, 2013.
UH-OH: “Members of the Tea Party gathered outside the White House to demand President Obama’s impeachment. The president said he appreciated their views and he is setting up a new website where they can voice their opinion.” — Conan O’Brien, Nov. 20, 2013.
“They Said It…” is compiled by Liberator Online editor James W. Harris.
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