March 5, 2009 Wicked Stimulus

In an attempt to mimic the big international players running their economies into the ground Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd has decided that we too should enjoy a giant spending spree. Stimulus Package sounds appealing enough to the average punter who has been led to believe that increased debt and consumption can cure the current financial malaise – which was caused by excess debt and consumption in the first place.

And so our government is now throwing money around in a way that would embarass drunken sailors primarily in the vain hope they don’t have to report any negative economic growth and can therefore persuade the electorate to vote them back in at an early election in 2010. Remaining in power is the primary focus of all governments regardless of the damage they do to the people in whose interests they purport to be acting.

A stimulus package involves taking money from somebody who might otherwise put it to productive use and giving it to somebody else to blow on hats or beer or a nice new plasma TV from China. The clever ‘tax bonus scheme’ written into law on 18th February 2009 involves for the most part government taking money from your back pocket and placing it in your front pocket – minus their administration costs. But whilst some people are stimulated now, others will be severely disinstimulated well into the future. Children not yet born will pay for the current government’s malfeasance.

Government doesn’t produce anything, it is a deadweight loss on the civil economy so to give away money they must either borrow it, tax it or print it. We are now at the borrowing stage with the printing presses waiting in the wings ready to deal with the $200 billion that has been bandied about as the magical line of credit required to save us from ourselves. Taxation, of course, is one of the two certainties of life but the amount often varies in direct proportion to the incompetence of those who levy it.

Governments have always been a good source of other people’s money and there are many ways to get your hands on some. One way is to form a special interest lobby group and whinge and moan a lot or plead special needs or circumstances. Government also likes to hand out money to creative people so they can write about things like ‘The social significance of carbon molecule interspersion in the communal order’ or paint some crap pictures that wouldn’t see the light of day in the commercial world or make a movie about the evils of capitalism, despite the fact that productive capitalists pay for their indulgences.

Another good way to get free stuff is to live or operate in a marginal electorate prior to elections. In 2003 a hundred million dollars were being handed out to business in regional areas so we saw quite a bit of that spalshed around our part of the woods. As expected, lots of money went to established big business who could well afford their own capital expansion. You see it’s all about the ‘narrative’ – the fairy tale that government spins to make theft and redistribution appear honourable and indeed necessary. In this case they were buying votes under the guise of creating jobs.

But the absolute best way to get hold of other peoples money in enormous chunks is to badly manage a huge financial institution. Too big to fail is the government mantra as they shovel decades of future earnings of honest hard working people down the toilet. But I suppose the government should help them out because after all it was their loose monetary policy that allowed banks to loan easy money to anyone able to fog a mirror.

At Wicked Weasel we wish we could be like government and make ourselves look good by giving out lots of free stuff we stole from somebody else but that would end us up in prison. Unfortunately we have to live within our means and only spend what we earn. But like the government, we also have a bad case of ‘do-somethingism’ so we won’t be sitting on our hands during the crisis. No sir, we have decided that we will hand out our own Wicked Weasel Stimulus Packages. We are now accepting your submissions so let us know why you should get some free stuff. Up to ten packages will be awarded. (Competition now closed)

I will personally pick winners just like the government is trying to do. No need to be a WW customer or be particularly poor or needy. In fact you could own one of the largest car manufacturing businesses in the world and still qualify for some free stuff, even if you didn’t ask for it. Remember it’s the ‘narrative’ that matters. Truth is always optional.

Kevin Rudd might reckon that Pink Batts™ are the best medicine but at Wicked Weasel we’re going to throw some undies at the problem. History may well show that we are deluding ourselves but at least there’s a chance somebody will get properly stimulated when they receive some free Wicked Weasel stuff. Have you ever tried wearing Pink Batts?

Greens Senator Christine Milne said on TV the other night that it was important that the stimulus package “has a narrative that’s internally consistent”. I immediately thought of dining in a Chinese restaurant where everybody gets the same message in their fortune cookie. That sounded fair. So when we send out stimulus packages for your best narratives we’ll make sure everybody gets the same internal narrative from us. It’s all starting to make sense now. Maybe there really is hope we can change!

To quote from Sheldon Richman, editor of The Freeman: " … doing nothing is only the second-best option. We can do better. We need the government to do less than nothing. It should undo many things." Read the full article: Less than Nothing

Best wishes to all and thanks for your patience with our new site. It is not just a web site but a complete backend and database that serves our manufacturing and distribution from the web to our retail shops. It is a credit to Zubin and his crew that we now have a solid base on which to build our business future. There are bugs being fixed daily and constant improvement is assured. We take all suggestions and comments seriously and, as always, we appreciate your continued support.

Peter G.