Government Friend on Facebook

When you receive a friend request from someone in the government, what will you do? The day is coming nearer when the marketing department and pr firm for the White House determine that the most effective way to control and dictate regulations and policies is through the internet. My apprehension is: “I thought the internet represented a virtual freedom, much like the first amendment in the Constitution.” Soon enough, there will be a controversy over this freedom and whether or not we are ever really free from the veil of an expanding government body.

The Obama administration utilized the internet effectively to run a successful campaign for Barack that ultimately succeeded. His virtual campaign was run with the assistance of some of the most powerful social media platforms in the world Facebook and through his Google SEO analytics. For the lamens, SEO is the search engine optimization that ensures you are lead down a pathway that is given to the highest bidder, or in this case the favored candidate.

The campaign presented two ideas about the use of the internet in campaigns for any office, or the marketing of any product: 1. It is the most effective way to reach the widest possible audience (251,290,489 internet users in North America alone), which is about 74% of our population. 2. The content can be controlled and data can be manipulated, which means that no one’s identity is safe unless protected by a serious technology security force like the tech task team Obama recently put together. That’s right, do you think it was just coincidence that he is beefing up his team of internet security advisors?

Considering the administration currently had the company Twitter postpone updates to keep open the channel for Iranian protestors, I can only imagine the next time the government wants Twitter or for that matter Facebook to hand over private data about its users. If all of our information is now in cyberspace, and the government is attempting a massive increase in the size of government, what do you think those new employees jobs will be? Perhaps, identifying revenue opportunities amongst certain demographics, ethnicities, and races? The administration may choose to takeover one of these internet companies and utilize their tools and data to generate a program that runs itself based on our inputs. A system that uses us as test subjects, where leverage comes from personal correspondences, data analysis, and outcomes of new laws are no longer left to chance. Is this a more efficient system, or an opportunity to solidify control of the country by controlling the information?

So when you receive the friend request from a government employee, or are followed on Twitter by some unnamed WH222 user, just remember that it was inevitable.

Sources:
Internet User Data Source:
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
Other:
http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4892

The Crumbling of a Free Market Economy and a Return to Socialism

Is this really happening? Can the best solution to the recession be increased government spending, and expanding control over private industry? Many of my economic heroes who have come and gone over the years say no. Those heroes including Milton Friedman, Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernake, Reagan, and Ayn Rand, who were all purveyors of the free market system. In Rand’s case, she rejected this dictatorial government attitude after having witnessed the repressed entrepreneurial efforts of her father by the Bolsheviks in Russia. Even she could not brace herself for the current overpowering efforts of the Obama administration and it’s socialist innuendo. Frankly, neither can I.

The free market system saved us in the Great Depression of 1928, and unfortunately we will have to deal with the same feeble government intervention that occurred back when the market crashed in the 20’s, and let the government relearn the lessons of natural laws inherent in the monetary system once again. Arguably, the various forms of capital infusion into the economy have done a sufficient job at cushioning the market free fall that occurred in early 2009. However, was the added liquidity only another new constraint on the markets rebound? In the depression we saw interest rate increases lead to less borrowing, today we see increased credit restrictions that lead to less borrowing. In either case, the Federal debt has ballooned because of the lack of actual cash in the system.

The solution under Obama is to create a more efficient federal budget and reallocate money into government spending programs. The recent earmark studded bill passed by his administration shows us that the liquidity shortage is only a problem on Wall Street, and for the fed under Geitner he will follow Zimbabwe and print more money. I expect that as long as Obama stays focused on his social programs and spending the taxpayer’s money, Wall Street will come back with a vengeance and usurp the nationalizing of private industry the President has in his sights. As Milton Freedman, the greatest purveyor of the free market system stated, “A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that a group (government) thinks what they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.”

Can we blame Obama for relishing in “hope” we instilled in him with our vote based on his popularity… I don’t think so. Every powerful dictator has started with nationalizing the banking system and then moved on down to the auto, energy, and healthcare sectors. It happened in Russia, Cuba, and recently Venezuela. It seems to make perfect sense if you want to control the whole country, to take away the entrepreneurial spirit of America and replace it with unionized labor and a Government department to run your household.