Let’s go back to Saturday. I took the boys out to a burger place and let them play on the little indoor playground thing for a few hours while I takked away on the laptop. I’m constantly working it seems. Does that make me a workaholic? I do make/take time for family and other areas of life, so I suppose not. Then we headed out to Wal Mart to pick up some fruit.

I am working on the Terradons for the Lizardmen army, which will complete that force. Everything is done for the entire 3000 pts, even movement trays. It’s a really nice army. I’m proud of it.

My wife went out grocery shopping Saturday night, which is an all afternoon affair. I am well aware that this is a time for her to get away from her regular routine. She likes to do it. We are always well stocked. She doesn’t shop for shoes or clothes. She shops for food. So that’s a good thing.

I spent a good part of the afternoon making army lists and dreaming of a new army. Wood Elves? Kroot? What would be fun to play? But best to concentrate on a new round of Pandora’s armies. I am very excited for the second run, which I will open the door for this Monday.

The whole house finally conked out around 11pm. We just sort of dropped where we were in random beds or couches. I woke up at 2am, and momentarily refreshed watched my favorite episode of Star Trek ever. It always brings a tear to my eye. The Inner Light.

When I was a boy of about twelve, we had just moved back from Alaska and were living next to my father’s best friend. They had an enormous house, four levels in all. He was a woodworker and was constantly improving the home with decks, balconies, and add-on rooms. During the summer I would go over there and watch Star Trek, a small pile of penny-candy on my lap. The mother, Marilyn, was dark-haired and with a warm face, always kind and ready with cookies and milk and a kind word.

I am hoping that my own kids will discover Star Trek, dusting off my DVD-seasons of them.

For young people reading this I give a word of encouragement. Keep an eye on the horizon. Things will get better in ways that you do not envision at this time. You are worthwhile.

Since Obama signed the stimulus into law, the economy has lost more than 2 million jobs and the unemployment rate has climbed higher than the White House predicted it would have ever reached without the stimulus.

Some companies say stimulus money helped avoid layoffs. Independent government auditors found that stimulus aid to states helped keep teachers off unemployment lines. But overall job numbers continue to suffer.

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I offer this humble insight. Whenever government acts, it must proportionately suppress in another area. This is a very real phenomenon for Blue Table Painting. Every month I get a little slip from my accountants. It has a dollar amount on it. The dollar amount is equal to about 15-20% of the total payroll. Half of it represents “with-holding”, the tax levied on the labor of the worker. This effectively means that for every ten working years, they must spend one of those laboring for the Federal Government. The other half represents the “employer contribution” which is the matching portion that the company pays.

The “employer contribution” is a business expense that indirectly holds down wages, in my estimation. If that money were freed up, I believe that the free market would see most if not all of that money into the pockets of the workers. If you do not believe this, then you need to explain why every job in existence doesn’t pay minimum wage (the free market is what lets you earn $15.00 an hour when the law says only $7.25).

So, I go in every month to the bank (shudder) to turn over the fruits of our labors. One army in every six we paint goes to the government. And not the government that provides police, roads, firemen (that’s local government, or paid by gas taxes). If I did not pay that money I could hire one or more new workers. But those sweet BTP jobs in the private sector never materialize because the money is funneled elsewhere. We have to make do with a smaller studio, buy less materials, and spend less on advertising. Less jobs for all the people that provide those things.

The tax accountants (who are in the floor above us, and now next to us) took over two-thirds of our studio space even though they produce no good nor service that anyone would want were the sixteenth amendment (income tax) to be repealed. They grew and I shrunk. How can that be? Plus I have to pay them for the privilege. I pay for my own tax collector’s wage.

The Federal Government has told my workers that the with-holding money is safely put in a trust for them in the case of disability or old age. Do you believe it? Take a look at your last Social Security statement. It says, effectively, the program is going to be broke before they get benefit from it.

The generation before me stood idly by while the Social Security program (remember that little slip that I take to the bank with a bag of money every month?) was added to the general fund. The Feds then blew the money on other things.

What can you do about it? Use your power of communication to spread sound principles to other humans. And vote independent. And vote for candidates that will shift power of any kind to a more local level. The real problem in my estimation is a lack of education on the part of the common man. I count myself guilty here. For twenty years I waved my little flag and exulted in a feeling of “patriotism” instead of asking questions.

So, there you have it. Everytime you see a bridge built by the government, there is another project (which may have actually been demanded and needed by private citizens) that was destroyed/aborted/obliviated by taxation.