Monthly Archives: August 2017

Liberal elite, it’s time to strike a deal with the working class – The Guardian

Posted: August 25, 2017 at 4:30 am

To build a coalition, everyone has to give a little. Photograph: AZP Worldwide/Alamy

Abortion rights are central to my identity. As an ambitious teenager, I wanted to have both a vital career and a vibrant intellectual life, and I felt that having a baby at the wrong time would doom me. I went on to a both a full career and motherhood. It all worked out for me, but only because I could control my fertility.

My life has centered around what the sociologist Mary Blair-Loy calls call the norm of work devotion. Work has provided me with joy, social status, dignity, and financial stability. To me, the image of the stay-at-home mom epitomized oppression and thwarted self-fulfillment. Abortion rights are crucial to the logic of lives like mine, which is why I and about two-thirds of college grads support them.

But only about half of Americans without college degrees do. The logic of their lives is different. They fault white-collar professionals for unhealthy work worship and a failure to understand that family comes first. Elites think they are so high and mighty, but its we who keep the world in moral order, the working class believes.

Republicans have top-to-bottom control in 24 states Democrats in only six. Purity may feel good but its not working

The demise of blue-collar jobs means that many families face a daily scramble between two not-very-fulfilling or well-paid jobs, with Mom working one shift and Dad working a different shift, and with each parent caring for the kids while the other is at work.

Tag-team families are under such pressure, and these parents see each other so rarely, that they have three to six times the national divorce rate. In the light of this harsh reality, its no wonder they look back with yearning at the breadwinner-homemaker family, supported by the husbands blue-collar job.

This helps explain why abortion rights look different to those with good jobs and education and those who are struggling. To women like myself, they are the bare minimum of human rights. To working-class women, who often see motherhood, not work, as the key source of social honor, obsession with abortion rights among well-off women is selfish, exemplifying lack of an adequate devotion to family. Seen in this light, opposition to abortion rights becomes, for high-school educated women, a way of claiming social honor.

Thats why research since the 1980s has found class differences in the levels of support for abortion rights. The fight over abortion becomes a fight over what it means to be a good person. Thats why things get ugly really fast. When elites dismiss abortion opponents as mindless misogynists and non-elites dismiss abortion rights advocates as selfish careerists, class conflict becomes acute.

Debates over guns and gun control are similarly visceral, again because identities are at risk. To me, the ready availability of guns is associated with killings among young black men without a future, struggling to find dignity in a society that offers them precious little. Guns mean Sandy Hook and other horrors, and living in a country where mentally unstable kids regularly murder their classmates.

But even as I feel so strongly, I understand how other Americans feel differently. If the abortion debate involves ideals of femininity, guns involve ideals of masculinity. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of women but less than half (43%) of men support stricter guns laws.

Theres also a dramatic class gap: 57% of people with post-graduate education say gun ownership endangers safety; only 35% of those with high school education or less agree. Where I come from, said John Edwards in 2004, guns are about a lot more than guns themselves. They are about independence independence that intertwines with masculinity.

Studies of white working-class men depict the role of hunting in mens lives. Joseph Howell recounts setting off on a hunting trip with Barry Shackelsford, the hard-living, alcoholic, good-hearted hero of Howells Hard Living on Clay Street. Barry does not cling to his guns. Hunting provides him with a way of relating to nature and indulging his love of the countryside; it is a bonding experience he enjoys sharing with close friends and his son.

Jennifer Sherman, in a book written about 40 years later, recounts how men in rural California many on disability due to the lack of jobs often hunt to supplement their families income. These rural white men, in a very different way from inner-city men, use their relationship to guns to claim a full measure of masculine dignity. To them, guns represent pleasure, power, and providing key ingredients of the masculine role. One reason some people hated Hillary Clinton so much is that she wants to take our guns away. Not too subtle, whats going on there.

No one gets their way all the time: thats called a coalition

Look, I wish masculinity worked differently. But whether youre poor or privileged, being a man is something that has to be earned, over and over again. Working-class mens relationship to guns is similar to attitudes in the supposedly enlightened Silicon Valley, where work is a masculinity contest and harassing women is just one way of keeping score. Too often, critiques of manliness deride blue-collar men but are silent about educated mens chosen ways of enacting masculinity.

This is the relevant context for the debate over whether Democrats should make abortion and guns into litmus tests: whether the national party will support candidates who are opposed to abortion rights and strict gun laws. These issues highlight the way the Democratic party has taken sides in the culture clash between the sincerely held truths of folks like me and the sincerely held beliefs of non-college grads, fueling class conflict that leads to Republican victories.

The Democrats have become a regional party, confined to blue coasts and blue-dot islands, leaving an ocean of Republican rural and rust belt red in between. This outcome has not helped abortion rights. Republicans now control so many state legislatures that 87% of American counties have no abortion provider and Roe v Wade may well be overturned. We already have a situation where access to abortion depends on where you live which is what the Roe v Wade decision sought to avoid.

Gun control has not fared any better. Some advocates for a litmus test act as if Democrats just wanted gun control a little more, it would happen. If only that were true. Though polls continually suggest broad support for specific gun control policies the NRA wins time and time again. Clearly, the polling data is not giving us the full picture, noted one writer in Politico.

Whether its the influence of the NRA, that gun control opponents are more likely to vote on single issues than proponents, or both, or neither, who knows? The result is the same.

For Democrats to make progress in that sea of Republican red, we need to be willing to address whats fueling economic populism: economics. When Montanas governor, Steve Bullock, asked Trump supporters what Democrats needed to do to win their votes, a 27-year-old apprentice in a metal shop answered: Get us good jobs. Plain and simple. Seems like I got to work my butt off, and I barely get by.

This sounds like an accurate description to me, as a labor rights advocate. The pollster Stanley Greenberg found the same thing in focus groups of Trump voters who also voted for Obama: Hes trying to create jobs, trying to keep jobs in the United States. Counties that swung for Trump tended to have high levels of white non-college voters dependent on low-skilled jobs and vulnerable to structural economic change.

Democrats need to prioritize good jobs for non-college grads affected by or alarmed about the hollowing out of the middle class ahead of some issues that matter more to me personally, notably abortion rights and gun control.

That strikes me as appropriate for tactical reasons, because now what we have is geographically limited access to abortion, no serious gun control, and a Republican president, Senate, House, and Republican control of 68 out of 99 partisan legislative chambers. Republicans have top-to-bottom control in 27 states; Democrats in only eight. Purity may feel good but its not working.

But we need to prioritize good jobs for low-income and poor people not just for tactical but also for ethical reasons. Americans without college degrees of all races are falling further and further behind economically because we havent cared enough to provide good jobs for them.

For those who say thats impossible in a globalized world, I have a one-word response: Germany. Germany has retained large numbers of blue-collar jobs for a simple reason. The 1930s taught its people just what were learning now. This is vital for social peace.

People who are in low-paying jobs or are unemployed just want what most college-educated people have already: jobs that yield their vision of a solid middle-class life. Providing those jobs, to me, is a pressing progressive priority. Thats why the Democrats Better Deal is an important first step in the right direction.

Democrats need to thread a necklace that includes four overlapping groups: the liberal-to-moderate college-educated elite, the white working class, communities of color, and the progressives and millennials who flocked to Bernie Sanders. Good jobs hold deep appeal for both communities of color and the white working class. College-educated liberals and moderates will vote Democratic regardless.

Sorely needed is something concrete to inspire the millennials who flocked to Sanders. I support single-payer health insurance but thats counterproductive as a campaign issue: it just sets us up for defeat again as Big Government Liberals. Why not focus on college debt relief?

Thats the maw millennials see gobbling up their future, and the current trajectory of college debt is unsustainable anyway. We dont need to design a program: people dont vote on policy details. People vote because, as Kamala Harris once pointed out, youve connected with what keeps them up at night. Economic issues do that.

To build a coalition, everyone has to give a little. But saying abortion should not be a litmus test is very different from saying the party is backing off support for reproductive rights. Democratic leaders last spring failed to articulate this distinction clearly, given Nancy Pelosis statement that abortion rights are kind of fading as an issue and loose talk by Bernie Sanders, too. Great lets give up what matters very deeply to progressive women but not so much to progressive men. Thats what many heard.

What litmus tests should mean is that we wont hold candidates in red districts to progressive purity. Whose issue should we trade off? Trade-offs should be balanced and situational. Announcing that you are always going to abandon the most cherished priority of a single group is a recipe for discord.

The Democratic National Committee should make a considered assessment of who the most viable candidates are in a given district, and make trade-offs about whom to run so that no one groups ox gets gored consistently.

No one gets their way all the time: thats called a coalition. And its coalitions that win, folks. If you want purity, become a priest. Politics is for people not afraid of the messy business of living peaceably with people whose most fundamental truths clash with your own.

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Liberal elite, it's time to strike a deal with the working class - The Guardian

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Fiscal Freedom | Prometheism.net – Part 38

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Peer-Reviewed Papers (published in academic journals):

1994|1996|1997|1998|1999|2000|2001|2002

2003|2004|2005|2006|2007 |2008 |2009 |2010 |2011

Other Papers Related to Economic Freedom: 1998-2007

If you know of any other papers current or forthcoming that should be included on this page, or have further information about any of these papers or authors, please write to freetheworld*at*fraserinstitute.org.

de Vanssay, X. and Z. A. Spindler (1994). Freedom and Growth: Do Constitutions Matter. Public Choice. 78, 3-4: 359-372.

This paper empirically investigates whether certain constitutional enumerations matter for economic growth. We find that negative (positive) rights tend to have a positive (negative) effect on economic growth, and that structural constraints have a more significant and larger effect than procedural constraints.

Uses the Scully and Slottje Index as an independent variable. (See: Scully, GW and Slottje, D, (1991) Ranking Economic Liberty Across Countries Public Choice 69, pp. 151-2). The model estimates the steady-state solution of an (institutionally) augmented Solow growth model. The dependent variable is the logarithm of per-capita income. This is a cross-section analysis covering 100 countries.

de Vanssay, X. and Z. A. Spindler (1996). Constitutions, Institutions and Economic Convergence: An International Comparison. Journal for Studies in Economics and Econometrics. 20, 3 (November): 1-19.

Abstract: This paper explores empirically whether constitutional enumerations and economic freedom indexes affect economic convergence. Some constitutional features and economic freedom do affect convergence, though economic freedom is by far the more influential.

Uses the Scully and Slottje Index as an independent variable. (See: Scully, GW and Slottje, D, (1991) Ranking Economic Liberty Across Countries Public Choice 69, pp. 151-2). The dependent variable is the average annual per capita growth rate. This is a cross-section analysis covering 109 countries.

Islam, Sadequil (1996). Economic Freedom, per Capita Income and Economic Growth. Applied Economics Letters 3: 595-97.

Examines the effect of economic freedom on income and growth in high-, middle-, and low-income country sets and finds that economic freedom is significant for a sample of all countries but only in some subsets.

Uses the precursor to Economic Freedom of the World, Measuring Economic Freedom, by James Gwartney, Walter Block and Robert Lawson, a chapter in Stephen Easton and Michael Walker (eds.), Rating Global Economic Freedom (Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, 1992). Measuring Economic Freedom is the main data source for institutional variables.

Paul, C.W.; Souder, W.E.; Schoening, N.C. (November 1996). The influence of government policies on innovation and technological advance. Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research of India. 55 (11): 851-859.

Petersmann, E.U. (June 1996). International competition rules for governments and for private business The case for linking future WTO negotiations on investment, competition and environmental rules to reforms of anti-dumping laws. Journal of World Trade. 30 (3): 5-35.

Ali, Abdiweli M. (1997). Economic Freedom, Democracy and Growth. Journal of Private Enterprise 13 (Fall): 1-20.

This paper takes advantage of newly constructed measures of economic freedom to show the importance of economic freedom on growth. I find that economic freedom is a more robust determinant of growth than political freedom and civil liberty.

Uses summary ratings from Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 as one variable in a comparison of a number of institutional variables.

Anwar, S.T. (1997). Economic freedom of the world: 1975-1995. Journal of International Business Studies. 28 (4): 872-878.

Dornbusch, R. (1997). Brazils incomplete stabilization and reform. Brookings Papers on Economic Accountability. (1): 367-404.

Easton, Steven T., and Michael A. Walker (1997). Income, Growth, and Economic Freedom. American Economic Review 87 (2) (May): 328-32.

Finds that economic freedom is an important explanatory variable for steady-state levels of income. The addition of a variable for economic freedom is also shown to increase the explanatory power of a neo-classical growth model.

Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 is the main data source for institutional variables.

Goldsmith, Arthur A. (1997). Economic Rights and Government in Developing Countries: Cross-National Evidence on Growth and Development. Studies in Comparative International Development 32 (2) (summer): 29-44.

The paper finds that developing countries that score better in protecting economic rights also tend to grow faster and to score higher in human development. In addition [the paper finds that] economic rights are associated with democratic government and with higher levels of average national income.

Uses summary ratings from Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 as one of a number of institutional variables.

Hakura, F.S. (April 1997). The Euro-Mediterranean policy: The implications of the Barcelona Declaration. Common Market Law Review. 34 (2): 337-366.

Hanke, Steve H., and Stephen J.K. Walters (1997). Economic Freedom, Prosperity, and Equality: A Survey. Cato Journal 17 (2) (Fall): 117-46.

The article compares several institutional indexes for content and explanatory power: Gerald Scullys studies, The Fraser Institutes Economic Freedom of the World, Freedom Houses Economic Freedom Indicators, The Heritage Foundations Indices of Economic Freedom, The International Institute for Management Developments World Competitiveness Yearbook 1996, The World Forums Global Competitiveness Report 1996. Compares liberty and prosperity, equality and foreign policy implications. They find that economic freedom is positively correlated with per-capita GNP.

Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 is used as one variable in a comparison of a number of institutional variables.

Jordan, Jerry L. (1997). Jobs Creation and Government Policy. Cato Journal 16 (3) (Winter): 287-94.

Argues that employment-creating initiatives or job-creation policies hinder the creation of new technology and the process of creative destruction. Also argues that the role of government monetary intervention in the economy should be limited to creating stable monetary policy.

Makes reference to the general conclusions of Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 regarding economic freedom and income and growth.

Download the paper. (PDF)

Mbaku, J.M. (December 1997). Africa in the post-Cold War era: Three strategies for survival. Journal of Asian and African Studies. 32 (3-4): 223-244.

Park, Walter G., and Juan Carlos Ginarte (1997). Intellectual Property Rights and Economic Growth. Contemporary Economic Policy 15 (July): 51-61.

The authors have compiled an index of intellectual property rights, and examine its effects on growth and the factors of production (investment, schooling, and R&D). The paper finds that IPRs affect economic growth indirectly by stimulating the accumulation of factor inputs like R&D and physical capital.

Uses summary ratings of Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 as a control variable for market institutions in the analysis.

Trebilcock, Michael J. (1997). What Makes Poor Countries Poor?: The Role of Institutional Capital in Economic Development. Chapter in The Law and Economics of Development, edited by Edgardo Buscaglia, William Ratliff and Robert Cooter. Greenwich: JAI Press.

Discusses the general conclusions regarding economic freedom and growth found in Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995.

Ayal, Eliezer B., and Karras Georgios (1998). Components of Economic Freedom and Growth: An Empirical Study. Journal of Developing Areas 32 (Spring): 327-38.

The paper uses regression analysis to examine the effect of the components of economic freedom on growth, output and investment and finds that economic freedom enhances growth both via increasing total factor productivity and via enhancing capital accumulation. It also identifies components that have the highest statistical effects on these variables, with the aim of informing policy makers.

Uses component ratings from Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 as the main data source for institutional variables.

Download the paper. (PDF)

Chafuen, Alejandro (1998). Estado y Corrupcion. In Alejandro Chafuen and Eugenio Guzmn, Corrupcin y Gobierno (Santiago, Chile: Fundacin Libertad y Desarrollo): 45-98.

Finds that corruption is negatively related to economic freedom.

Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 and Transparency International are the main data-source for institutional variables.

Dawson, John W. (1998). Institutions, Investment, and Growth: New Cross-Country and Panel Data Evidence. Economic Inquiry 36 (October): 603-19.

This paper outlines the alternative channels through which institutions affect growth, and studies the empirical relationship between institutions, investment, and growth. The empirical results indicate that (i) free-market institutions have a positive effect on growth; (ii) economic freedom affects growth through both a direct effect on total factor productivity and an indirect effect on investment; (iii) political and civil liberties may stimulate investment; (iv) an important interaction exists between freedom and human capital investment; (v) Milton Friedmans conjectures on the relation between political and economic freedom are correct; (vi) promoting economic freedom is an effective policy toward facilitating growth and other types of freedom.

Uses Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 as the main data source for institutional variables.

De Haan, Jakob, and Clemens L.J. Sierman (1998). Further Evidence on the Relationship between Economic Freedom and Economic Growth. Public Choice 95: 363-80.

Primarily investigates the robustness of the index of economic freedom devised by Gerald Scully and D.J. Slottje and determines that the robustness of results depends heavily on how freedom is measured. Finds that some specifications are robust predictors of the growth rate of real per-capita GDP (1980-1992) but few are robust for investment share of GDP.

Empirical analysis on Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 is limited to correlation with the Scully and Slotjies index. Suggests further empirical work be done on Economic Freedom of the World.

Elbadawi, I. and Schmidt-Hebbel, K. (December 1998). Macroeconomic policies, instability and growth in the world. Journal of African Economy. 7: 116-168 Suppl. 2.

Farr, W. Ken, Richard A. Lord, and J. Larry Wolfenbarger (1998). Economic Freedom, Political Freedom and Economic Well-Being: A Causality Analysis. Cato Journal 18 (2) (Fall): 247-62.

The paper uses Granger causality analysis to demonstrate that economic freedom causes economic well-being and economic well-being causes economic freedom. Additionally, the authors argue that economic well-being causes political freedom but that there is no causation flowing from political freedom to economic well-being. The paper also finds no evidence of a casual relationship in either direction between economic freedom and political freedom. Indirectly economic freedom causes political freedom through its effect on economic well-being.

Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 and the Freedom House index of political rights and civil liberties are the main data sources for institutional variables.

Download the paper. (PDF)

Ford, John B., Kiran W. Karande, and Bruce M. Seifert (1998). The Role of Economic Freedom in Explaining the Penetration of Consumer Durables. Journal of World Business 33 (1): 69-86.

The study examines the link between economic freedom (a measure of government intervention) and the penetration of three durable goods (televisions, radios and automobiles) across countries.

Cites conclusions of Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995; uses other indexes of economic freedom for empirical work.

Grubel, Herbert G. (1998). Economic Freedom and Human Welfare: Some Empirical Findings. Cato Journal 18 (2) (Fall): 287-304.

The paper compares economic freedom to income, growth, unemployment in the OECD, the UN Human Development Index, life expectancy, literacy, poverty, and income distribution. It finds that economic freedom does not have a cost in terms of income levels, income growth, unemployment rates, and human development.

Economic Freedom of the World: 1997 Annual Report is the main data source for institutional variables.

Download the paper. (PDF)

Gwartney, James, Randall Holcombe, and Robert Lawson (1998). The Scope of Government and the Wealth of Nations. Cato Journal 18 (2) (Fall): 163-90.

The paper examines the effect of the size of government in OECD countries upon economic growth. This paper draws on the authors Joint Economic Committee Study, The Size and Functions of Government and Economic Growth.

Makes reference to the general conclusions regarding economic freedom and income and growth as published in Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 and Economic Freedom of the World: 1997 Annual Report.

Download the paper. (PDF)

Henderson, David (1998). The Changing Fortunes of Economic Liberalism. London: Institute of Economic Affairs.

A comprehensive review of the trends in economic liberalism in the last century. The book covers economic liberalism in thought and practice as well as discussing how the climate of political and popular opinion has both helped and constrained the development of liberal policy. One section uses the Economic Freedom of the World to discuss the progress made by countries engaging in economic reform and the appendix discusses the derivation, benefits, and limitations of the Economic Freedom of the World.

Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 is the only quantitative source for institutional variables.

Johnson, James P., and Tomasz Lenartowicz (1998). Culture, Freedom and Economic Growth: Do Cultural Values Explain Economic Growth? Journal of World Business 33 (4): 332-56.

The paper discusses which cultural values are associated with economic freedom, drawing on two international quantitative cultural indexes.

Uses the summary ratings from Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 as one of a number of institutional variables.

Johnson, Simon, Daniel Kaufmann, and Pablo Zoido-Lobaton (1998). Government in Transition: Regulatory Discretion and the Unofficial Economy. American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings (May): 159-239.

Empirically studies the effect of institutional quality on the share of the unofficial economy in GDP.

Uses the component, Equality of Citizens under the Law and Access of Citizens to a Non-Discriminatory Judiciary, of Economic Freedom of the World: 1997 Annual Report as one of a number of institutional variables.

Kealey, T. (April 1998). Why science is endogenous: a debate with Paul David (and Ben Martin, Paul Romer, Chris Freeman, Luc Soete and Keith Pavitt). Research Policy. 26 (7-8): 897-923.

Lim, Linda Y.C. (1998). Whose Model Failed? Implications of the Asian Economic Crisis. Washington Quarterly 21 (3): 25-36.

The paper examines the conflicting interpretations of the role of governments and economic freedom in the success and subsequent crises in Asia.

Cites conclusions of Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995.

Mbaku, John Mukum, (1998). Constitutional Engineering and the Transition to Democracy in Post-Cold War Africa. The Independent Review 2 (4) (Spring): 501-17.

Discusses the constitutional guarantees necessary to secure economic freedom and why such guarantees are important. Focuses specifically on Africa.

Makes reference to the general conclusions of Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 regarding economic freedom and income and growth.

Milhaupt, Curtis (1998). Property Rights in Firms. Virginia Law Review 84: 1145-94.

Discusses how differences in property rights and corporate governance systems arise within differing institutional frameworks.

Uses the Property Rights component of Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 as one of a number of institutional variables in case-study analysis.

Nelson, Michael A., and Ram D. Singh, (1998). Democracy, Economic Freedom, Fiscal Policy and Growth in LDCs: A Fresh Look. Economic Development and Cultural Change 46 (4) (July): 677-96.

The study examines the effect of democracy on economic growth after controlling for a number of variables for the size of government and institutions. The study finds that it is not the redistributive policies of democratic governments that hinder development in developing countries but the lack of economic freedom.

Uses the precursor to Economic Freedom of the World, Measuring Economic Freedom, by James Gwartney, Walter Block and Robert Lawson, a chapter in Stephen Easton and Michael Walker (eds.), Rating Global Economic Freedom (Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, 1992). The summary ratings of Measuring Economic Freedom are used as one variable in a comparison of a number of variables for institutions and the size of government.

Norton, Seth W. (1998). Poverty, Property Rights, and Human Well-being: A Cross-national Study. Cato Journal 18 (2) (Fall): 233-45.

The paper compares property rights to indicators of development and determines that the well-being of the worlds poorest inhabitants [is] sensitive to the cross-national specification of property rights. The paper shows that well-specified property rights enhance the well-being of the worlds most impoverished.

Economic Freedom of the World: 1997 Annual Report and the Heritage Foundations Indices of Economic Freedom are the main data source for institutional variables.

Download the paper. (PDF)

Norton, Seth W. (1998). Property Rights, the Environment, and Economic Well-Being. In Peter J. Hill and Roger E. Meiners (eds.), Who Owns the Environment (Rowman & Littlefield): 37-54.

Investigates whether countries with better property rights have better performance on environmental measures.

Uses the summary ratings of Economic Freedom of the World: 1975-1995 as one of four measures used as proxies for property rights.

Porket, J.L. (1998). Is the state in retreat? Politicka Ekonomie. 46 (6): 805-815.

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Fiscal Freedom | Prometheism.net - Part 38

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September Will Be a Mess in Congress; Budget, Spending and Debt Fights Ahead – Indian Country Today Media Network

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TRAHANT REPORTS September is going to be a mess. Congress must sort out some really complicated fiscal issues. There is the budget, an increase in the debt limit, how much to spend on federal programs and services, and, if theres time, tax reform.

This should be easy in a one-party government. Republicans come up with a budget plan. Then the House acts, the Senate does its thing, and President Donald J. Trump signs the idea into law. Easy. Except there is no Republican majority in Congress (other than the R listed by members names.)

The House is made up of at least three factions, or parties, and no majority. (The three groups are: Republicans, Democrats, and the more conservative House Freedom Caucus.) So in order to gather enough votes to pass a budget, or any other of the challenges, at least two of the three factions have to agree on a plan.

Download our free report, Intergenerational Trauma: Understanding Natives Inherited Pain, to understand this fascinating concept.

The Senate has its own divisions within the Republican Party. (The very reason why a Republican replacement for the Affordable Care Act has not yet become law.)

And the White House is not on the same page either. The president proposed a stingy budget thats been pretty much rejected by members of the House and the Senate (except the more conservative elements such as the House Freedom Caucus.)

Courtesy Trahant Reports

Mark Trahant, Trahant Reports

For example the Trump administration proposed budget calls for$4.7 billion for the Indian Health Service, a cut of some $300 million or 6 percent of the agencys budget. But a House spending plan calls for anincrease of $97 million over last years levels. Indeed,the Appropriations Committeethat funds IHS and the Bureau of Indian Affairs plans to spend a total of $4.3 billion more than the president requested on programs under its jurisdiction. (In general: The presidents budget reflects significant budget cuts across Indian country,according to analysis by the National Congress of American Indians.)

The Senate will come up with its own spending plan. Then, in theory, the two houses will resolve their differences and agree on how much the federal government should spend next year (and the president can go along or veto the legislation and start all over).

But no. Thats not how Congress is actually legislating these days. More often Congress agrees to a temporary spending plan based on last years budget, the Continuing Resolution. Thats an easier sell to members because it represents a last minute, throw up your hands, and do something, approach. The other alternative is a government shutdown. President Trump tweeted in May that our country needs a good shutdown in September to fix mess!

Yes, the budget is a mess. Period. Even take the word, budget. Thats a proposal from the president. But in Congress a budget is a spending limit that Congress imposes on itself. It sets a ceiling that each of the 12 Appropriations subcommittees have to live with. And, more important right now, the budget sets the rules for debate so the Senate can pass some legislation (such as the health care bill) with only 50 votes. (Most bills need 60 votes to stop a filibuster from stopping the process.)

Back to the congressional budget. Last month the Budget Committee approved a plan that would cut domestic spending by $2.9 trillion over the next decade. The full House will vote on this plan when it returns. Its a bleak document that would end up slashing many of the programs that serve American Indians and Alaska Natives. Remember the appropriations committees would still spend the money; but the budget would act as an overall cap.

This budget plan starts off withhistorically low federal spendingfollowed by even more severe budget cuts between now and 2027. To show how out of touch this budget is, it includes program cuts for Medicaid that were a part of the failed health care legislation. (Whats changed? Nothing.) This bill tips toward the conservatives who want more spending cuts to be sooner, as in right now.

That makes the problem political. There are probably not enough votes to make this budget so. A few Republicans dont see this harsh approach as good government. And even if the votes are found in the House, the Senate is another story. Think health care.

And if this budget cannot pass, its not likely there is another one that would.Democrats in the House say: Congress cannot continue to underfund these crucial investments (and) without relief from these spending caps, vital government programs are facing significant cuts for fiscal year 2018 that would have significant effects on American families all across the country.

And the budget is only one fiscal crisis. Another issue that is immediate and serious involves the debt limit. Thats the amount of money the federal government can borrow is currently set at $19.85 trillion (federal debt exceeds that level now, but the Secretary of Treasury can basically shuffle money from different accounts). Conservatives want spending cuts as part of any deal to increase the debt limit. As Rep. Tom Cole, R-OK, and a member of the Chickasaw Tribe, told MSNBC. A debt limit increase without spending cuts is like having a credit card and saying, Ive reached my limit, Im just going to change the limit higher without changing any of my spending habits.

But, like on the budget, the votes are not there. (Especially in the Senate where 60 votes will be needed.)

Download our free report, Intergenerational Trauma: Understanding Natives Inherited Pain, to understand this fascinating concept.

This is tricky because the Republican administration understands what failure could do to the country. Budget director, Mick Mulvaney, is now supporting a debt limit increase. But when he served in Congress, Mulvaney said he was willing to risk a default to force a discussion on spending.

In both the House and the Senate votes from Democrats will be needed to pass the debt limit. But will there be enough Republicans.

If Congress does not pass the debt limit, the United States would be catastrophic. And, almost immediately, this failure would impact federal budgets because interest rates would spike upward. Interest rates are already the fastest growing part of the federal budget and a sharp increase in rates would add significantly to the total federal debt. In other words: By voting against a debt limit increase, Congress would make the debt problem worse. Far worse.

But Republicans have campaigned against a debt limit increase for a long time. Its going to be one tough vote.

In case youre keeping score:

So yes, September is going to be a mess. And after the budget, spending bills, and debt limit is complete, theres still tax reform on the agenda. Yet another mess.

Mark Trahant is theCharles R. Johnson Endowed Professorof Journalism at the University of North Dakota. He is an independent journalist and a member ofThe Shoshone-Bannock Tribes.OnTwitter @TrahantReports.

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September Will Be a Mess in Congress; Budget, Spending and Debt Fights Ahead - Indian Country Today Media Network

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Austin Petersen: Why I became a Republican – Washington Examiner

Posted: at 4:30 am

To the casual observer, it certainly seems like the Republican Party is in an identity crisis. After years of consensus and sweeping the 2016 national elections on the promise of repeal and replace of Obamacare, Republicans in a stunning 11th-hour failure failed to pass even the so-called "skinny" repeal.

Amid this failure and the apparent chaos in Washington, many have drawn the conclusion that Republicans are in disarray and unable to govern. Others wonder if we are witnessing the end of the GOP. Many people I've met on the campaign trail have asked me why at a time like this I would choose to join the Republican party.

It's a fair question. For years, I was a big-L Libertarian, competing in a crowded field for the party's nomination for the presidency in 2016. Changing parties especially at this time might seem like a counterintuitive move.

But although turncoats like John McCain and Susan Collins have taken center stage and confused the party's image, several Republican leaders remain faithful to basic conservative principles. Leaders like Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Mike Lee in the Senate and the Freedom Caucus in the House have refused to budge on Obamacare and have made their dedication to individual liberty and limited government clear.

I'm running for Senate from Missouri as a Republican in order to work alongside leaders like these. At its core, the Republican Party is supposed to be a liberty party that's why it was the party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. For a Republican, so long as you are not violating the lives and liberties of other human beings and that includes the lives of human beings in the womb the government should give you the freedom to do as you see fit. The party strives to put the trust and the power back in the hands of the people instead of handing it over to unelected bureaucrats.

I believe in these core conservative principles. I've spent my whole career speaking on and fighting for freedom the freedom to spend as you see fit, worship as you see fit, study as you see fit, and speak as you see fit. And I'm eager to partner with liberty-loving Republicans and President Trump in restoring federalism, freedom of faith, and fiscal responsibility in this country.

Above all, however, I found that a move to the Republican Party was the move my fellow Missourians wanted me to make. Before launching my campaign, I called hundreds of Missourians to lay out the principles of liberty that form the bedrock of my political beliefs and to ask for their support. Not only did I receive a consistently positive response, but I also was asked by many to run as a Republican instead of as a Libertarian. They want to beat Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., as badly as I do, and what better than to replace a Democrat with a liberty-loving Republican?

Missourians want and deserve the kind of Republican who will stick to his guns, both literally and figuratively. They want a Republican in the model of the Freedom Caucus, Cruz, Paul, and Lee a Republican who has the grit to withstand the pressures of political gamesmanship and special interests and the gumption to vote by principle and for the people every time.

I know I can be this kind of leader, and I'm ready to represent my fellow Missourians faithfully from within the GOP. And I know that by working together, we can bring about real reform.

That's why I'm a Republican. And it's why I'm asking my fellow Missourians to join me in restoring the GOP and returning the country to the constitutional principles of justice and liberty for all.

Austin Petersen is a candidate for the United States Senate. Learn more at austinpetersen.com.

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Focus on long-term growth – The Mountaineer (subscription)

Posted: at 4:30 am

RALEIGH So far in 2017, North Carolina is adding jobs at a slower pace than the national and regional averages. Thats a noticeable change from recent trends but its a reason only for concern, not for panic or pontification.

Through July, the states economy has added about 32,000 net new jobs this year, with total employment growing by .7 percent. Thats a rate of increase lower than the national average (.9 percent) and the average of the 12 Southeastern states (1.1 percent). During 2016, by contrast, North Carolinas rate of job growth exceeded both averages. The same is true for the longer-term trend, measured from 2012 to 2016.

Republicans might like to pin our job-creation slowdown on Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who took office in January. But that would be premature. Regardless of whether you like Coopers picks or policies, its too soon for them to have affected significantly a state economy estimated at $530 billion in goods and services.

Democrats might like to blame the Republican legislatures conservative fiscal and regulatory policies, which began in 2011 and then dramatically expanded in 2013. But that would be logically incoherent. Did these policies first boost North Carolinas job-creation rate above the national and regional averages, and then suddenly pull it down in 2017?

Moreover, it would be odd to attempt to disprove the economic benefits of smaller government, lower taxes, and less-burdensome regulation by pointing to the higher employment growth being enjoyed by regional competitors such as Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee, as these states rank even higher than North Carolina does on measures of economic freedom.

So trying to turn the states relatively weak performance in job growth since the beginning of the year into a political bludgeon is unjustified and unhelpful.

I would similarly urge North Carolinians against panic. The future of the state, and the prosperity of its residents, can be neither measured nor determined in seven-month increments of time. We face significant challenges, due primarily to structural changes in the national and international economy. Some jobs and industries that were viable in the past are no longer viable and politicians who tell you otherwise are fooling you, themselves, or both.

What we should focus on is a comprehensive, long-term strategy for encouraging sustained economic growth. Governors and legislatures dont control the money supply, set trade policy, or run fiscal deficits. They affect economic growth by influencing the creation and deployment of valuable capital assets that make it much easier and less expensive to produce goods and services, make those goods and services much higher in quality, or some combination of the two.

Some of these assets are physical ones. Others are forms of human capital, such as the education and skills of workers and entrepreneurs or the social trust that allows households and businesses to make plans and strike deals with confidence.

Governments clearly have a role to play in building and maintaining physical assets such as highways. Governments also have a role to play in human capital, such as funding schools and establishing a fair and consistent system for enforcing contracts and adjudicating disputes.

But most capital assets are privately created, privately owned, and privately managed. The private sector is the lead actor in the story of economic growth and job creation, with the public sector playing an important but supporting role. Fiscal conservatives never forget that when governments collect taxes to spend on a public program, that removes dollars from the pockets of their original owners, at least partially supplanting an investment that would otherwise be made voluntarily and skillfully.

North Carolinas future rests on wise investment by both the public and private sector, with a strong emphasis on the latter and on innovators hatching new ideas and turning them into new industries.

State leaders have prudently built up the governments cash reserves, just in case the current slowdown in job-creation rates leads to something worse. More importantly, however, they have enacted policies to welcome and foster private investment in North Carolina over time.

John Hood is chairman of the John Locke Foundation and appears on the talk show NC SPIN. You can follow him @JohnHoodNC.

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Solutions 4 Financial Independence: 8/22/17 – WDTV

Posted: at 4:30 am

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV)- Question: My dad recently passed away. He had a Roth IRA as well as a 401(k). As a non-spouse beneficiary, can I roll over the accounts into my personal Roth IRA and 401(k) accounts?

Answer (John Halterman, Beacon Wealth Management): "Let's start with, can you roll the money over into your personal account? That answer is actually no. Only spouses can roll over a Roth IRA into their own Roth IRA and a 401(k) can be rolled over into your own Ira. But in this type of situation since you are not a spouse, what do you need to do is what we call an inherited Roth IRA or an inherited IRA. So both of those can be rolled over into an account, it's going to be in your name, just not going to be in your personal Roth IRA and 401(k)."

Q: How with the taxes affect me?

Answer (John Halterman, Beacon Wealth Management): "The Roth IRA, because it's a Roth IRA, it's actually going to be tax-free in the future to him. When you rollover money into an inherited, you do have to take what we call the required minimum distribution. But in the Roth portion, because of the tax for account there will be no taxes. Now for the 401(k), because it's going into an inherited IRA, and you have to take required minimum distributions, those will be taxed as ordinary income. One's tax-free and one's going to be taxed."

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Unexpected Financial Planning Lessons From My Dog – Kiplinger – Kiplinger Personal Finance

Posted: at 4:30 am

Given the right training, dogs (and their owners) can do almost anything. Heres what my dog, Gopher, helped me learn about finances.

What does a dog have to do with financial planning? As a proud dog owner, I can confirm that animals are often far more effective teachers than books, classes and neighbors combined. Their lessons include the importance of choosing wisely, being patient and understanding that we all start out as beginners all of which applies to financial planning.

Three years ago, I was visiting my family in rural Minnesota. It was October, frigid and lacking any big-city entertainment. One day, I decided to go look at puppies. There I was: freezing, without Internet, and thinking that I have been considering getting a dog for some time now. The stars were aligned.

The outcome of that day was entirely predictable. If you are looking at puppies, chances are you will get one. In my case, the winner was a 3-pound ball of fuzz and energy, an accidental mix of cocker spaniel and pincher. Given his Minnesotan roots, the name Gopher fit him perfectly. With some food, a leash and a carrier, the pup was ready for his trek to the sunny shores of Southern California.

I adored my new puppy. They say that pet owners take more pictures of their pet than their family members, and that certainly applied to me. Along with my pet duties, I also had a demanding job. The two factors combined to produce the perfect storm. In retrospect, it is clear that I had set myself up for a no-win situation. At the time, all I could do was shut my eyes and keep moving forward.

I was at work all day. Little Gopher did not know what to do with all his spare time. A bored puppy in an empty apartment was a recipe for disaster. One day, he chewed off the window blinds. Over the next few months, I went through eight phone chargers. I was at a loss for what to do. Giving the dog up was never an option, but I had to wonder how many more sets of blinds and chargers I would have to replace.

Eventually, I enrolled Gopher in obedience classes. Fitting weekly training sessions into my packed calendar was tough, but the effort paid dividends. Our trainer, Lynn, opened the first day of training with a bit of advice. "We as humans would do so much better communicating with our animals if we just shut up," she said. I took that to mean actions speak louder than words, so Gopher and I got to work.

Taking the trainers words to heart, Gopher surprised us with his progress. I always knew he was a smart dog, but he really blossomed through training. We completed the basic obedience classes, then the Canine Good Citizen training course. Currently we are doing agility training. I cannot imagine stopping. Our bond is stronger than ever, and my blinds and phone charges are safe at last.

Now what does this story have to do with financial planning? I learned three critical lessons from Gopher that are rather applicable in our own financial lives.

Remember the risks of looking at cute puppies? Chances are, you will get one. The situation parallels your search for a financial adviser. Plenty of professionals will try to "sell" you, so its important to be clear on your wants and needs.

People who work with dogs for a living often put a puppy or an adult dog through an assessment prior to adoption. Is this dog motivated by treats or toys? Is he calm and friendly with strangers? Does he show aggression? The goal of the assessment is not to label the dog as good or bad but to help evaluate a dozen of parameters that describe him. What is his temperament, prey drive, degree of focus on the handler? There is no right or wrong dog, but there are better and worse fits for everyones situation. A Navy Seal K9 candidate will be far different from your standard family pet.

Just as there are dozens of pups in your local rescue shelter, there are dozens of financial advisers in your area. Some specialize in a niche, while others offer broad expertise. Each adviser has a unique mix of communication style, approach to planning and personality. Knowing what you need is critical for finding your perfect fit.

An apartment safe from puppy teeth, Gophers Canine Good Citizen award and our stronger bond were all made possible by our amazing trainer. She took stock of our situation, found a way to teach us better habits and inspired us to be better versions of ourselves. I cannot thank her enough for her contribution to the relationship between Gopher and me.

A financial planner can have the same impact. Your relationship with money is meant to be mutually beneficial, yet so many of us are terrified to open credit card bills and dont keep good saving habits. An independent professional can point out your blind spots, tune your spending patterns and help put you back in charge of your financial situation.

Our trainer was wonderful, and still Gopher and I had to start with the simplest of basic steps. Sit. Stay. Leave it. The lack of instant progress was downright frustrating. In a way, early training days with Gopher were very similar to working toward a major financial goal, like saving for a vacation or retirement.

The lesson to learn here is that everyone starts out as a beginner. Some start earlier than others, but no one gets to skip the basics. As you master the first steps toward financial independence, you can expand your habits and make your way to the top. We all want to be comfortable with money, and its important to remember that big goals take patience along with time and effort.

I believe that animals can be our best teachers. My dog taught me about the importance of making good choices, hiring the right professional and being patient without saying a word.

As with obedience training, financial planning is all about creating the right outcomes. Approach your choice of financial planner thoughtfully. Through good advice and a foundation of constructive habits, our trainer worked a miracle for Gopher and me. Imagine what the right financial planner could do for you!

William Rassman is a Certified Financial Planner and Vice President Wealth Adviser for the independent investment and insurance firm Centric Capital Advisors. He began his career in NYC at Smith Barney in 2008.

Comments are suppressed in compliance with industry guidelines. Click here to learn more and read more articles from the author.

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

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How to Invest Smart and Dream Big! – HuffPost

Posted: at 4:30 am

My Stock Market Dream- How to Invest your Money Smarter in Stocks and Bonds.

Sadly I know that when a crash happens (you can define a crash for yourself some people freak at drop of 1%, 10%, 20% or when there is actually a full blown crisis like we had around 2008) more people will get cold feet and pull money from the market. Basically doing the opposite of what will help you build wealth: Buy High, Sell Low.

As a fiduciary financial planner my goal is to help people make smarter financial decision today and tomorrow, with that in mind to help them avoid the mistakes that leave many people just one missed paycheck away from financial ruin.

If day in and day out ignoring the apocalyptic headlines from the 24 News Cycle and making smart financial decisions were easy people may actually get better results, and feel happier with their investment choices. If that wasnt bad enough we are not deluged with an onslaught of fake news via social media like Facebook and Twitter.

My favorite part of my job is when Im helping clients make smarter financial decisions. I say smarter: this is time when we are choosing between a few options that all have benefits (and potential drawbacks) and are moving them towards their personal financial goals. Sadly, many people are fighting against making dumb financial decisions. If it was a multiple choice question all four answer you can choose from are bad for your finances. Not a great position to be in.

If I had to guess Id say 95% of working adults in America need to be saving more (anything is more than ZERO), and 99.99% could benefit from smarter financial decisions along the way. You dont have to be perfect to achieve financial independence but you do have to be proactive. Am I perfect financially my husband would say no hes too cheap. I prefer Money Maximizer (aka frugal) I know I tend to hoard money, am getting better at taking my own advice to LIVE FOR TODAY, BUT SAVE FOR TOMORROW. Get started now- the first million is the hardest.

Volatility is written into the DNA of the market. In fact, volatilityisthe market. The market may be up today, and down tomorrow or vice versa. As a financial planner Im here to tell you that volatility is par for the course when investing. Temporary declines can only be turned into permanent losses if you make some of the big investor mistakes. Embrace volatility and be aware that it is by no means the same as investment risk.

I liken speculating to gambling, you are hoping that some stock will go or down some amount over the short term. Day Traders are speculating. They often boast of amazing results when time are good, and more likely to be decimated when times are bad.

Investing is more like being the Casino. You diversify your risk across a portfolio and dont need to win on every single hand all the time. Past performance is not indicative of results, but the stock market has trended up over the long term. Bottom line, dont treat you investments or financial plan like a drunken weekend in Vegas, or you may end up with a rough Financial Hangover.

Many people often confuse these two. If you hear a hot stock tip at a party and rush out and buy it, you are most likely speculating. If you have a diversified portfolio and are putting away money on a regular basic you are more likely investing for some future goal.

Investments are just a tool to help drive a financial plan. If you are working with a Fiduciary Financial Planner you may be presented with different investment choices made for different financial goals with different taxation and time frames.

We all want great returns, but that can be relative. I often use risk based portfolios for my clients, if you are saving for a house in a few years you would most likely want to take much less risk in that portfolio that you would in your accounts for retirement that may be decades away.

Bottom line, a financial plan is road map of often simple action steps to take to get you on track for your various financial goals. Including things like investing, tax planning, estate planning, protection planning and even sometime fun stuff like spending plans. We have to have money to travel right?

Face your Financial Fears:

Procrastination is one of the biggest issues keeping people from Financial Success. The day to day movements of the stock dont really mean much for your odds of achieving financial success. If you arent invested at all they really mean nothing to you.

Not doing anything is a choice as well. Save ZERO dollars, and having ZERO dollar grow by ZERO percent will leave you with ZERO income from those investments regardless of how fabulous or successful you have been, or even how long you have delayed retiring.

Make 2017 the year you get your financial house in order, and more importantly keep it that way. Sit down with a fiduciary financial planner like David Rae to make sure you have a plan in place to stay on track for your various financial goals.

DAVID RAE, CFP, AIF is a Los Angeles-based retirement planner with DRM Wealth Management and Independent Registered Investment Advisor. He has been helping friends of the LGBT community reach their financial goals for over a decade. He is a regular contributor to the Advocate Magazine, Investopedia (named 100 Most Influential Financial Advisors) and Huffington Post as well as the author of the Financial Planner Los Angeles Blog. For more information visit his website http://www.davidraefp.com

#investin #speculation #fiduciary #financialplanner

The opinions voiced in this article are for general information only. They are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual and do not constitute. To determine which investments may be appropriate for you, consult with your financial professional. Please remember that investment decisions should be based on an individuals goals, time horizon, and tolerance for risk. Investment in stocks will fluctuate with changes in the market conditions and indices are unmanaged measures of market conditions. It is not possible to invest directly into an index nor does past performance guarantee future results. Diversification help you spread risk throughout your portfolio, so investments that do poorly may be balanced by others that do relatively better. Neither diversification nor rebalancing can ensure a profit or protect against a loss. Article Originally Published on the Financial Planner LA Blog.

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Could this miner help you secure financial independence faster than … – AOL UK

Posted: at 4:30 am

With its story capturing the imagination of so many private investors, it's no real surprise that 1.2bn cap polyhalite producer SiriusMinerals(LSE: SXX) remains one of the most traded stocks on the London Stock Exchange.

Last week's interim results made reference to "excellentprogress" being made on the company's Woodsmith Mine and associated infrastructure with development progressing on time and on budget.

Having completed all highways and enablement works and most of the preparations at the site, CEO Chris Fraser stated that the company now eagerly anticipated the commencement of shaft sinking activities. He also reported that Sirius was continuing to engage with commercial partners around the globe and that interest in the company's POLY4 product "remainsstrong".

Of course, there's still a very long way to go and many hurdles to overcome before the mine becomes operational, which probably explains why the share price is still struggling to stay above the 30p mark. Nevertheless, I remain bullish on Sirius and its ability to grow its investors' wealth steadily over the next few years, particularly with the company now comfortably occupying a space in the relatively stable FTSE 250 index following its move from the junior market.

For those who simply can't wait for next four years to elapse however, there may be an alternative.

It may be a minnow compared to Sirius butBluejayMining(LSE: JAY) is quickly winning friends thanks to the potential of its relativelylow-cost Pituffik Titanium project in Greenland --independently verified as being the highest grade ilmenite mineral sand deposit in the world.

According to today's interim results, Bluejay's work programme for the year is now "welladvanced" with managementaiming to begin constructing the mine plant in early 2018 and a full exploration licence expected during H1.Offtake discussions with potential customers are progressing and likely to conclude within the next 3-6 months.

Thanks to the levels of visible ilmenite concentrations being so great, Bluejay's proof-of-concept bulk sampling programme is also "exceedingexpectations" to such an extent that stockpiling is now forecast to begin far earlier than planned assuming production rates can be maintained. This puts Bluejay in an excellent position to begin selling its product as soon as the relevant licence is received.

Like Sirius, Bluejay's project has been warmly received by the local community as well as many government and environmental agencies. June's oversubscribed placing -- allowing Bluejay to boast a net cash balance of 5.8m at end of H1 -- also means the company's popularity among institutional investors (including Prudential plc) continues to grow.

The shares have climbed over 200% since last August, leaving the company with a market cap of 136m. Based on comments from CEO Rod McIllree however, the coming months could be "equallytransformative". In time, he believes that the Pituffik project could completely transform the titanium industry. All this before Bluejay's wider asset portfolio in Greenland and Finland is even considered.

While mining projects carry significant risk, both Bluejay and Sirius could be excellent medium-to-long term investments for those determined to become financially independent. That said, while the North Yorkshire Moors are a far more hospitable environment than that faced by Bluejay, it could be that the latter's relatively simple production model could reward holders a lot sooner.

With their ability to generate huge capital gains for investors, it's no surprise that mining stocks appeal to those investors keen to secure financial independence sooner rather than later.

Despite this, there are also far less risky ways of obtaining financialfreedom, some of which are outlined in a BRAND NEW special free report from the Motley Fool's analysts.

The Foolish Guide to Financial Independence is available completely FREE of charge and comes without any obligation.

Grab your copy here.

Paul Summers owns shares in Sirius Minerals. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes

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Minerva Reefs Wikipedia | Prometheism.net

Posted: at 4:28 am

Republic of Minerva Micronation

Flag

Motto:Land of the Rising Atoll

Minerva Reefs

President

Declared

The Minerva Reefs (Tongan: Ongo Teleki), briefly de facto independent in 1972 as the Republic of Minerva, are a group of two submerged atolls located in the Pacific Ocean south of Fiji and Tonga. The reefs were named after the whaleship Minerva, wrecked on what became known as South Minerva after setting out from Sydney in 1829. Many other ships would follow, for example the Strathcona, which was sailing north soon after completion in Auckland in 1914. In both cases most of the crew saved themselves in whaleboats or rafts and reached the Lau Islands in Fiji. Of some other ships, however, no survivors are known.

It is not known when the reefs were first discovered but had been marked on charts as Nicholsons Shoal since the late 1820s. Capt H. M. Denham of the HMS Herald surveyed the reefs in 1854 and renamed them after the Australian whaler Minerva which collided with South Minerva Reef on 9 September 1829.[1]

The Republic of Minerva was a micronation consisting of the Minerva Reefs. It was one of the few modern attempts at creating a sovereign micronation on the reclaimed land of an artificial island in 1972. The architect was Las Vegas real estate millionaire and political activist Michael Oliver, who went on to other similar attempts in the following decade. Lithuanian-born Oliver formed a syndicate, the Ocean Life Research Foundation, which allegedly had some $100,000,000 for the project and had offices in New York City and London. They anticipated a libertarian society with no taxation, welfare, subsidies, or any form of economic interventionism. In addition to tourism and fishing, the economy of the new nation would include light industry and other commerce. According to Glen Raphael, The chief reason that the Minerva project failed was that the libertarians who were involved did not want to fight for their territory.[2] According to Reason, Minerva has been more or less reclaimed by the sea.[3]

In 1971, barges loaded with sand arrived from Australia, bringing the reef level above the water and allowing construction of a small tower and flag. The Republic of Minerva issued a declaration of independence on 19 January 1972, in letters to neighboring countries and even created their own currency. In February 1972, Morris C. Davis was elected as Provisional President of the Republic of Minerva.

The declaration of independence, however, was greeted with great suspicion by other countries in the area. A conference of the neighboring states (Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, Nauru, Samoa, and territory of Cook Islands) met on 24 February 1972 at which Tonga made a claim over the Minerva Reefs and the rest of the states recognized its claim.

On 15 June 1972, the following proclamation was published in a Tongan government gazette:

PROCLAMATION

A Tongan expedition was sent to enforce the claim the following day. It reached North Minerva on 18 June 1972. The Flag of the Tonga was raised on 19 June 1972 on North Minerva and on South Minerva on 21 June 1972.[4]

Tongas claim was recognized by the South Pacific Forum in September 1972. Meanwhile, Provisional President Davis was fired by founder Michael Oliver and the project collapsed in confusion. Nevertheless, Minerva was referred to in O. T. Nelsons post-apocalyptic childrens novel The Girl Who Owned a City, published in 1975, as an example of an invented utopia that the books protagonists could try to emulate.

In 1982, a group of Americans led again by Morris C. Bud Davis tried to occupy the reefs, but were forced off by Tongan troops after three weeks. In recent years several groups have allegedly sought to re-establish Minerva. No known claimant group since 1982 has made any attempt to take possession of the Minerva Reefs.[citation needed]

In 2005, Fiji made it clear that they did not recognize any maritime water claims by Tonga to the Minerva Reefs under the UNCLOS agreements. In November 2005, Fiji lodged a complaint with the International Seabed Authority concerning Tongas maritime waters claims surrounding Minerva. Tonga lodged a counter claim, and the Principality of Minerva micronation claimed to have lodged a counter claim. In 2010 the Fijian Navy destroyed navigation lights at the entrance to the lagoon. In late May 2011, they again destroyed navigational equipment installed by Tongans. In early June 2011, two Royal Tongan Navy ships were sent to the reef to replace the equipment, and to reassert Tongas claim to the territory. Fijian Navy ships in the vicinity reportedly withdrew as the Tongans approached.[5][6]

In an effort to settle the dispute, the government of Tonga revealed a proposal in early July 2014 to give the Minerva Reefs to Fiji in exchange for the Lau Group of islands.[7] In a statement to the Tonga Daily News, Lands Minister Lord Maafu Tukuiaulahi announced that he would make the proposal to Fijis Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola. Some Tongans have Lauan ancestors and many Lauans have Tongan ancestors; Tongas Lands Minister is named after Enele Maafu, the Tongan Prince who originally claimed parts of Lau for Tonga.[8]

Area: North Reef diameter about 5.6 kilometres (3.5mi), South Reef diameter of about 4.8 kilometres (3.0mi). Terrain: two (atolls) on dormant volcanic seamounts.

Both Minerva Reefs are about 435 kilometres (270mi) southwest of the Tongatapu Group. The atolls are on a common submarine platform from 549 to 1,097 metres (1,801 to 3,599ft) below the surface of the sea. North Minerva is circular in shape and has a diameter of about 5.6 kilometres (3.5mi). There is a small sand bar around the atoll, awash at high tide, with a small entrance into the flat lagoon with a somewhat deep harbor. South Minerva is parted into The East Reef and the West Reef, both circular with a diameter of about 4.8 kilometres (3.0mi). Around both reefs are two small sandy cays, vegetated by low scrub and some trees.[dubious discuss] Several iron towers and platforms are reported to have stood on the atolls, along with an unused light tower on South Minerva, erected by the Americans during World War II.[citation needed]

Geologically, Minervan Reef is of a limestone base formed from uplifted coral formations elevated by now-dormant volcanic activity.

The climate is basically subtropical with a distinct warm period (DecemberApril), during which the temperatures rise above 32C (90F), and a cooler period (MayNovember), with temperatures rarely rising above 27C (80F). The temperature increases from 23C to 27C (74F to 80F), and the annual rainfall is from 170 to 297 centimeters (67117 in.) as one moves from Cardea in the south to the more northerly islands closer to the Equator. The mean daily humidity is 80percent.

Both North and South Minerva Reefs are used as anchorages by private yachts traveling between New Zealand and Tonga or Fiji.[9] While waiting for favourable weather for the approximately 800-mile (1,300km) passage to New Zealand, excellent scuba diving, snorkelling, fishing and clamming can be enjoyed. North Minerva (Tongan: Teleki Tokelau) offers the more protected anchorage, with a single, easily negotiated, west-facing pass that offers access to the large, calm lagoon with extensive sandy areas. South Minerva (Tongan: Teleki Tonga) is in shape similar to an infinity symbol, with its eastern lobe partially open to the ocean on the northern side.

The Tuaikaepau (Slow But Sure), a Tongan vessel on its way to New Zealand, became famous when it struck the reefs on 7 July 1962. This 15-metre (49ft) wooden vessel was built in 1902 at the same yard as the Strathcona. The crew and passengers survived by living in the remains of a Japanese freighter. There they remained for three months in miserable circumstances and several of them died. Finally Captain Tvita Fifita decided to get help. Without tools, he built a small boat from the wood left over from his ship. With this raft, named Malolelei (Good Day), he and a few of the stronger crew members sailed to Fiji in one week.

Coordinates: 2338S 17854W / 23.633S 178.900W / -23.633; -178.900

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Minerva Reefs Wikipedia

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Minerva Reefs Wikipedia | Prometheism.net

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