I would say that celebrities to some degree do have a responsibility to be positive role models.  But there are two problems here.  First, television and the media love to portray derelict celebrities as being cool and as being successful.  This gives young people the wrong idea; they think they can be rich and famous by being derelicts as well.  This is quite a moral hazard.  Second, parents are the best role models for their children.  They can’t subrogate responsibility for raising their children right and teaching their children morals and values to someone else.

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Consume less.  If we consume less material goods, we’ll have less trash which ends up in landfills.  Ever think of how much garbage you create in a day’s time?  The average person creates about 4.3 pounds of garbage per day.  That’s over 1,500 pounds per person per year.  This ends up in landfills which results in methane gas emissions and pollutants in the groundwater.  Cut down on your consumption, and you cut down on your impact on the environment. Continue reading →

No.  Let me make that an emphatic, ‘No.’ Government financial assistance is first and foremost for citizens and taxpayers of the United States.  Why would we give any type of benefit to someone who comes to this country, particularly if they come here illegally, and who isn’t a citizen?  Illegal immigrants don’t have the same rights as U.S. citizens just because they found a way to sneak into the country or came here on a visa but then didn’t leave.  They certainly aren’t entitled to anything, except maybe a one way deportation ticket.  We can’t put the burden of taking care of these people and their families on the shoulders of hardworking Americans, some of whom are struggling themselves.  If someone is hurt or seriously ill and needs to go to the emergency room for a life threatening injury or condition, they should get treated but it shouldn’t be free.  If the illegal shows up with a cold and wants treatment, they should have to pay on the spot or be turned away. Continue reading →

I’m not opposed to something like that but our military is becoming less human capital intensive and more technology intensive.  I’m not sure there’s a need for these people to be in the military.  If you want to load up the military and put them on the border, maybe that’s an option but I don’t think they should get military benefits or pay; they work in exchange for room and board.  But listen, I don’t think military service is the answer.  I think the real issue is getting some kind of service out of these illegal immigrants, many of whom want to become citizens at some point.  The service we get out of them doesn’t necessarily have to be military service.  I say we give them a choice between deportation and work.  If they choose to work on selected projects for five years and at the same time become proficient in English, they can take the citizenship test at the completion of their five years of service. Continue reading →

Yes, but I don’t think most Americans would be willing to do that.  I find it ironic that the environmentalists are often the ones driving the SUV and the gas guzzlers and they’re the first to bemoan high gas prices.  I’ve spoken at length in the past as to the benefits of higher gas prices.  As gas prices increase, you have fewer people on the roads or people begin to drive less.  Higher gas prices change consumers’ behavior.  If you chart the price of gasoline and gasoline consumption, you’ll find that as prices rise consumption does, in fact, decline.  When gas prices spiked back in 2008, gasoline consumption declined by about 3%.  Prices fell in 2009 and 2010 then rose again in 2011.  When prices rose in 2011, consumption fell by about 3% again.  This doesn’t seem much, but it does illustrate that as prices rise, consumers drive less.  When the gas prices rose to over $4 per gallon, public transportation ridership increased.  It doesn’t seem much in percentage terms, but it equates to about two or three hundred thousand barrels per day.  How much would consumption decrease if we did get to $5 per gallon?  My contention is that the higher gas prices go the sharper the drop in consumption. Continue reading →

I want to start by mentioning something that has been mentioned at this symposium in the past.  Keeping the peace is always harder than winning the war.  The situation in Iraq is a classic example.  It’s been a long and hard effort to keep the peace there after we deposed Saddam Hussein, and I think it’s going to become increasingly difficult to keep the peace particularly as we scale back our presence there. Continue reading →

I don’t think we should bargain with terrorists at all.  It’s a losing proposition.  If you give into them once, you’ll be giving into them forever, and you’ll never go back.  Bargaining with terrorists sets a dangerously destabilizing precedent.  It gives them a sense of legitimacy and makes other terrorists think that we’ll come to the bargaining table with them.  Frankly, going to the bargaining table with terrorists is a sign of weakness.  You can’t negotiate with people who think you’re weak; that’s a one-sided negotiation and the terrorists would come out ahead.  You have to deal with these people from a position of strength.  If they say we’re going to kill the hostage unless you give us ten of the prisoners from Guantanamo Bay and then we give them the prisoners, they’re going to go get another hostage and make the same deal or a better deal, and remember that there is no guarantee that we’ll get the hostage back alive.  Chances are that they’re going to kill the hostages anyway.  But let’s say we do make a deal; then, they’ll keep pushing the envelope.  Our position should be that we’re not going to negotiate at all and that if you kill one of our people we’ll hunt you down and kill you and all your terrorist friends.
Now, here’s a sad reality.  This is going to end up costing the lives of the hostages.  These people don’t deserve to die.  I don’t like the idea of sacrificing them, but it’s the sad reality that it’s what we need to do.  They were probably just doing their jobs and got caught up in the crossfire so to speak.  However, they assumed the risks of going to countries in conflict or countries that harbor terrorists whether they went their willingly or reluctantly as part of their job.  They may be workers who didn’t have a choice, but I would hope that their employers would provide adequate security contractors for their protection. Continue reading →

The following is the transcript of Digger Cartwright’s opening remarks and responses to the question and answer session from Thinking Outside the Boxe’s Annual Symposium held in Orlando from December 26-31, 2014. Continue reading →