To: Friends of reason on several mail lists. There must be magic in my writing, of which I am oblivious, that ties a knot in some people's knickers. In my 99-09-23 note, "Welcome to America," to Vald as Anelauskas and friends on several mail lists, I wrote: >> Since you are being well paid to paint the depressing picture of the U.S., perhaps you should balance the scales by doing some pro-bono research and publication on that systemic defect which is common to every industrial nation that fails to make an adequate investment in its developing human assets. Europe needs such research and publication more than the United States does. Without it, Europe will revert to the condition it enjoyed between World War I and 1945. << I should have completed the thought by adding: "On the other hand, without such research, the United States will continue for many more decades in the super-power condition it has enjoyed since 1945. If the U.S. establishment cannot be persuaded to correct the systemic defect (the 5% of GNP deficit in purchasing power among parenting families) in the U.S. economy by applying the same corrections adopted in 1946 by Japan under Douglas MacArthur, by Germany under John J. McCloy, and by the smaller European nations on their own initiative, those 1946 corrections will soon cease to be effective anywhere and will be be lost to human memory. To date, Robert S. McNamara is the only member of the American establishment who has admitted that he might have been mistaken. A few more members need to be persuaded that sustaining the status quo in America will ruin them also, soon after it has ruined everyone else in the world." I concluded that 99-09-23 note to Valdas Anelauskas as follows: >> I have taken the liberty of adding your address to my copy list. Let me know if you want to be removed. << Much to my regret, on 99-10-06 Mr. Anelauskas wrote: >> Subj: Re: Two ways to lower your taxes and raise your income Date: 99-10-06 01:25:46 EDT From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Valdas Anelauskas) To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dear Mr. Anonym ("WesBurt" doesn't look like a human name) I just want to let you know that I'm not interested in lowering my taxes (simply because I prefer not to pay any taxes at all) or in raising my income (according to you, I'm already making top $$$ by writing books about Amerikkka as it is). Therefore, please stop sending me your letters. I don't want to be on any of your mail lists. Sincerely, VALDAS ANELAUSKAS << Spoken like a true Libertarian in the style of Ayn Rand, Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman. Mr. ANELAUSKAS was promptly removed from my copy list. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now, back to the business of America, which, as Calvin Cooledge said, is business. If any of you want to refresh your understanding of America's present condition, I highly reccommend the contents sheet of Mr. ANELAUSKAS' home page at URL <http://www.efn.org/~valdas/content.html>. I found myself in agreement with each of the articles listed and particularly enjoyed the long list of comments to Mr. Anelauskas' writings. He confirms what I have been saying for thirty years about America losing ground, but he says it more eloquently. The following excerpt from one comment illustrates the public opinion in America which perpetuates the status quo by withholding from working parents what it grants to "needy" parents. >>The people who are better off have to limit the size of their families because it costs too much to raise children, it interferes too much with job success, and they want to make sure they can provide properly for the children they have. The U.S. government has made it profitable for the needy to keep reproducing like farm animals because they are given additional money monthly for each new child. Perhaps welfare reform will change this, I don't know. I used to work in a lab and if you put too many rats in a cage they will attack and destroy each other. Uncontrolled reproduction of the unskilled and impoverished here has the same result. Iris, USA, 08/01/96 << Give a moments thought to how this problem would be solved by a farmer from Mars, by a sound businessman, or by a European intellectual engaged in raising Americans as a cash crop. Each of them would cull out the "needy" parents, their off-spring, and the elderly like so many weeds and invest all available funds in the productive working parents. Now a kind hearted society would also want to support its "needy" families and its elderly persons, but who taught us to withhold 50% of our investment in our productive working families while subsidizing the "needy" and elderly? Who else but those European Royalists and their intellectual camp followers who have always regarded the United States and its founding institutions as a thorn in their side. We are "free to Choose." We can have a Global economy of third world nations in the Twenty-First century by sustaining the status quo. Or, we can have a Global economy of Switzerlands in the Twenty-First century by finding out how the Swiss capitalize the development of their most productive assets, their people. Will a Swiss citizen please address this issue before it is too late? Thinking of you, WesBurt