Most people do not know that the citizens of the USA used to be very rich. Did you ever wonder how the USA could have paid for all the big things that our government did without collecting much in taxes? I blogged before that one of the first taxes passed by our new government was the "Whiskey" tax. Do you remember that? Our new President George Washington had to organize a new army to put down the "Whiskey Rebellion". How did our new government pay for the transcontinental rail road? Ever think about that?
Here is how they did it. Remember that the whole North American continent was stolen from the Native Americans by a bunch of Europeans? That is what they did. Think about the value of a whole continent? Think of all that land and resources. It was worth just as much in 1790 as it is today, but all that value only had to be divided between a small number of USA citizens. That is why we were so rich back then. We let poor unskilled European come here and claim 160 acres of land for free. By todays standards, they were all instant millonares.
The new government owned billions of acres of land in North America and they used this land that they got for free from the Native Americans to pay for the transcontinental rail road. What they did was to give the rail road companies "sections" of land all the way across the country. This was a strip of land a mile wide all the way across the USA. Think about how much that land was worth? If we still had that land, it would be enough to pay off our national debit. That gives you an idea how rich we used to be and why we did not have to pay income tax or any other significant tax to pay the bills. Sorry, but those days of a "free ride" are over.
Today, we recognize Stanford University for its importance, but where did the money come from to build the university? Stanford was one of the guys in California who had connections with Washington DC and was able to get the contract to build the transcontinental rail road. Stanford did not put up any money, we gave him a mile wide strip of land across the USA. Sorry, but our government does not have anymore of that free land to use to pay the bills. Now we have to collect taxes from our "value added" labor. Not so good is it? The bottom line is that we are "not" as rich as we used to be and we are getting poorer every day.
Do you think that allowing more low skilled immigrants in is making us richer? Only a person who has a vacuum between their ears would think that. I could point out that our government paid the soldiers after the Revolution War with "free" land too. A soldier who served less than 6 months was paid with 160 acres of land valued at a million dollars. What do we pay our soldiers from our most recent wars? It is a lot less than a million dollars. We are too poor to pay soldiers the way that we used to. Did you ever look at it like that before?
The pie may have gotten bigger, but the size of the share per each citizen has gotten smaller. The more immigrants that we allow in will only make the per person share of pie smaller. If you can follow that simple logic, I ask how could you be in favor of more immigration? More immigration is going to make your grand children even poorer than you are now. Global warming is not our problem, it is too many people and too many immigrants.
PS---Remember the California gold rush of 1849? Poor low skilled immigrants came here to take the Gold that was already here to make themselves rich. What did they produce? Nothing!! How rich would they have been if there had been 10 times as many immigrants? Answer----1/10th! Simple isn't it?
Here is how they did it. Remember that the whole North American continent was stolen from the Native Americans by a bunch of Europeans? That is what they did. Think about the value of a whole continent? Think of all that land and resources. It was worth just as much in 1790 as it is today, but all that value only had to be divided between a small number of USA citizens. That is why we were so rich back then. We let poor unskilled European come here and claim 160 acres of land for free. By todays standards, they were all instant millonares.
The new government owned billions of acres of land in North America and they used this land that they got for free from the Native Americans to pay for the transcontinental rail road. What they did was to give the rail road companies "sections" of land all the way across the country. This was a strip of land a mile wide all the way across the USA. Think about how much that land was worth? If we still had that land, it would be enough to pay off our national debit. That gives you an idea how rich we used to be and why we did not have to pay income tax or any other significant tax to pay the bills. Sorry, but those days of a "free ride" are over.
Today, we recognize Stanford University for its importance, but where did the money come from to build the university? Stanford was one of the guys in California who had connections with Washington DC and was able to get the contract to build the transcontinental rail road. Stanford did not put up any money, we gave him a mile wide strip of land across the USA. Sorry, but our government does not have anymore of that free land to use to pay the bills. Now we have to collect taxes from our "value added" labor. Not so good is it? The bottom line is that we are "not" as rich as we used to be and we are getting poorer every day.
Do you think that allowing more low skilled immigrants in is making us richer? Only a person who has a vacuum between their ears would think that. I could point out that our government paid the soldiers after the Revolution War with "free" land too. A soldier who served less than 6 months was paid with 160 acres of land valued at a million dollars. What do we pay our soldiers from our most recent wars? It is a lot less than a million dollars. We are too poor to pay soldiers the way that we used to. Did you ever look at it like that before?
The pie may have gotten bigger, but the size of the share per each citizen has gotten smaller. The more immigrants that we allow in will only make the per person share of pie smaller. If you can follow that simple logic, I ask how could you be in favor of more immigration? More immigration is going to make your grand children even poorer than you are now. Global warming is not our problem, it is too many people and too many immigrants.
PS---Remember the California gold rush of 1849? Poor low skilled immigrants came here to take the Gold that was already here to make themselves rich. What did they produce? Nothing!! How rich would they have been if there had been 10 times as many immigrants? Answer----1/10th! Simple isn't it?
