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Graduates: Be selfish and serve mankind.

It’s graduation season and that means commencement addresses. Recently President Obama spoke at the commencements of Arizona State University and the University of Notre Dame. All across the country, distinguished alumni and other major and minor luminaries are speaking to the Class of 2009. A common theme in commencement addresses is that graduates, armed with degrees that frequently cost more than all but the very nicest homes, must leave college and go forth to serve...

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It’s not the rich who are powerful.

Weekend before last, I attended the annual shareholders meeting of Berkshire Hathaway. For those of you not familiar, Berkshire Hathaway is the company headed by legendary investor and perennial competitor for title of wealthiest man in the world Warren Buffet. The Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting has been called “the Woodstock of Capitalism.” Unlike most annual meetings, the Berkshire meeting is an event. More than 35,000 people, mostly middle-aged, middle class owners of as little as...

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The Administration to lenders: Go along or else.

You have probably never heard of Thomas Lauria. I never had until yesterday. But if he is to be believed (and I believe him), then our government has taken a huge step toward gangster-style thuggery and we should all, Democrats and Republicans, be very afraid. Thomas Lauria is a lawyer who represents a number of investment banks that hold the senior commercial paper of Chrysler Corporation. Senior commercial paper is what you and I would...

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Let my people fail.

“…in the good Providence of God, apparent failure often proves a blessing.” — Robert E. Lee It is often said that we in America take our freedoms for granted. Our founders assured us of freedom to worship as we see fit, freedom to speak our minds, freedom to pursue our dreams, freedom to own the fruits of our labor and freedom to criticize and, if necessary, change our government. If we take these freedoms for...

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A Stronger America: Part 5 – The federal government

This is the last in a five part series on things that I would do today to be assured of a stronger, freer, more prosperous America 25 years from now. Our previous installments have dealt with radically overhauling the U.S. tax code, reasserting the role of fathers in a stable society, returning control of schools to the neighborhoods and communities that they serve and getting our national energy policy right by reducing the role of...

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A Stronger America: Part 4 – Energy

This is the fourth in a five-part series on things I would do today in order to be assured of a stronger, freer, more prosperous America 25 years from now. In our previous three installments we have talked about overhauling the tax code, reasserting the role of fathers in a stable, free society and repairing the public education system. Today, we’re going to talk about energy. My daughter loves Cheez-its crackers. She came by that...

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A Stronger America: Part 3 – Education

This is the third in a five-part series on things I would do today to be assured of a stronger, freer and more prosperous America 25 years from now. Two weeks ago, we talked about dramatically overhauling the tax code. Last week we talked about seizing upon the historic fact of Barack Obama’s election and his successful marriage to Michelle to re-establish the legitimacy and necessity of fathers. This week, we’re going to discuss schools....

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A Stronger America: Part 2 – Up with fathers.

This is the second of a five-part series on the things that I would do today in order to be assured of a stronger, freer, more prosperous America 20 years from now. Last week we discussed a radical federal income tax overhaul. This week we’ll revisit a topic we’ve discussed on previous occasions and I beg your forgiveness. But this is important and it can’t be left out of any plan to improve our nation....

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A Stronger America: Part 1 – Fix our tax code.

Because our country is in pain like many of us have never felt, I’m going to spend the next five of these broadcasts talking about what I would do today to assure a stronger, safer and more prosperous America 20 years from now. I am going to start with taxes. We should never go like sheep to the slaughter when it comes to paying taxes but all too often we do. Quick, what percentage of...

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The miracle we take for granted.

The market has been dropping like a stone, incinerating trillions of dollars worth of wealth in the process. To begin to understand why, let’s go to the grocery store. I love the grocery store. The grocery business is so intensely competitive and the margins are so razor thin that you have to be very, very good at what you’re doing to succeed in grocery retailing in America. As a consequence, our grocery stores are just...

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Spending a trillion dollars used to take time.

I hate talking numbers. If you’re not careful, talking numbers in a forum such as this can become a crashing bore. But the times dictate a conversation on numbers and I’m going to do my best to keep everyone engaged. Let’s talk money. We’re going to play a little time and money game. Imagine that you are spending money at the rate of one dollar a minute. But instead of moving forward in time with...

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Sometimes nothing is the right thing to do.

The U.S. economy has entered a stall. Some would say it has entered a spin. But just like a Cessna 152, the U.S. economy is designed to fly. The best thing our policymakers can do is let it.