Have you heard the latest idea to come out of Washington D.C. and the Obama Administration? Pass a law requiring banks to let everyone automatically refinance their houses at the current low interest rates.

Wow, that Obama and his cohorts are such geniuses. Why didn't we think of this before? 

People often say: “Never, ever do business with friends or relatives.”

The precaution is worth noting. 

Columbus did not seek a new route to the Indies in response to a majority directive.

-- Milton Friedman

The most important principle of leadership is convincing people that they can do what they believe they cannot. American history is full of such leaders. George Washington convinced his troops that they could win against virtually impossible military odds. Thomas Jefferson convinced people that a nation founded on liberty and individual rights was in the realm of the possible. James Madison convinced his fellow leaders that a Constitution grounded in limited government could stand the test of time. Lincoln convinced skeptics that the Union could be preserved, and that slavery could actually be abolished.

Today, it's different. We face challenges that, in their own way, are just as grave as those prior ones. As politicians and glorified bureaucrats tinker with our financial system, our government and our economic life are at stake. As Iran builds nuclear bombs and prepares to use them, Western civilization as we’ve known it is at stake. Many are in denial regarding the particulars, but I believe most people sense that we’re in a very bad place. Doomsday preppers are springing up across the country, and superstitious types focus on the coming economic collapse which will spell the end of the world as we know it.