John Berman
Historical Details
Position on Issues
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should the federal government combat inflation by requiring budget cuts to match any new federal spending?
"The price of a 'thing' rises because the FED prints too much money (inflates the money supply too fast), and the demand for the thing rises faster than the supply. The FED has been bailing out the stock market openly ever since 10/15/98 when Greenspan made his surprise double interest-rate cut. The most recent BIG PRINT by the FED was in response to Covid. There has been a ton of bailout money printed over the last three decades. That printed money was an existing, huge inflation of the money supply when the Ukraine invasion sparked the enormous price increases over the last six months. The economy is probably especially unstable now. One thing the govt must do is force the FED to stop the one-way-up focus on the stock market. I have described my real time FED portal. If we had something approaching actual free markets, there would be (would have been) a lot of selling as stocks went up because there would have been fear that gains would evaporate. Whether cap gain taxes -- assuming we could restore something resembling free markets -- would be enough to shrink the deficit, stabilize the economy, etc, etc. I don't know. I do know that perpetuating the same FED print-and-bailout 'policy' (if you can dignify it with that term) will keep us on track for the cliff."
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should the federal government combat inflation by capping price increases by large businesses?
"The price of a 'thing' rises because the FED prints too much money (inflates the money supply too fast), and the demand for the thing rises faster than the supply. The FED has been bailing out the stock market openly ever since 10/15/98 when Greenspan made his surprise double interest-rate cut. The most recent BIG PRINT by the FED was in response to Covid. There has been a ton of bailout money printed over the last three decades. That printed money was an existing, huge inflation of the money supply when the Ukraine invasion sparked the enormous price increases over the last six months. The economy is probably especially unstable now. One thing the govt must do is force the FED to stop the one-way-up focus on the stock market. I have described my real time FED portal. If we had something approaching actual free markets, there would be (would have been) a lot of selling as stocks went up because there would have been fear that gains would evaporate. Whether cap gain taxes -- assuming we could restore something resembling free markets -- would be enough to shrink the deficit, stabilize the economy, etc, etc. I don't know. I do know that perpetuating the same FED print-and-bailout 'policy' (if you can dignify it with that term) will keep us on track for the cliff."
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should the federal government combat inflation by decreasing tariffs on imports from foreign countries?
"The price of a 'thing' rises because the FED prints too much money (inflates the money supply too fast), and the demand for the thing rises faster than the supply. The FED has been bailing out the stock market openly ever since 10/15/98 when Greenspan made his surprise double interest-rate cut. The most recent BIG PRINT by the FED was in response to Covid. There has been a ton of bailout money printed over the last three decades. That printed money was an existing, huge inflation of the money supply when the Ukraine invasion sparked the enormous price increases over the last six months. The economy is probably especially unstable now. One thing the govt must do is force the FED to stop the one-way-up focus on the stock market. I have described my real time FED portal. If we had something approaching actual free markets, there would be (would have been) a lot of selling as stocks went up because there would have been fear that gains would evaporate. Whether cap gain taxes -- assuming we could restore something resembling free markets -- would be enough to shrink the deficit, stabilize the economy, etc, etc. I don't know. I do know that perpetuating the same FED print-and-bailout 'policy' (if you can dignify it with that term) will keep us on track for the cliff."
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should the federal government eliminate qualified immunity, which generally shields law enforcement officers from lawsuits?
"Before qualified immunity should end for police, the so-called 'absolute immunity' for judges should end. (And it is not actually absolute, but because judges judge the judges, they do whateverTF they want.) As I identified in Hennepin County, Minneapolis on the public record on April 15, 2020, there was a 'military regime' operating in Minneapolis, where a twerp-dictator, corrupt phony-judge would simply make royal declarations, and the Minn. appeals court would 'affirm' them as NOT an 'abuse of discretion.' Such absolutism is, by definition, an abuse of discretion and is the province of despots, not US judges -- in theory. The reality is that judges do whatever they want, and they get away with it. Six weeks after my April 15 declaration, Mr. Floyd was dead under the 'boot' of the Minneapolis military regime. I have written a ton about this on my sites; and how I declared for US Senate in Kansas and Minnesota, the week following Mr. Floyd's death. Also, I was falsely arrested in a jurisdiction where the 4th Amendment is ignored, and the federal courts don't do a thing (a fact I identified prior to my arrest). This isn't over, and I'm practicing some circumspection right now, but the bottom line is that bad cops have their antennae up to receive the 'anything goes' signal from corrupt judges, like Burke in Hennepin. Good cops -- like the heroes who rescued me after my plane crash -- suffer retribution. They retire (en mass as in Minneapolis) rather than risk blowback as a result of the lawless, corrupt courts letting bad cops do whatever they want. The courts and their abuses of power and corruption -- rooted in 'absolute immunity' -- are the root cause. Getting the press to pay attention is very difficult. They and the lawyers are, in the great majority, incompetent problem solvers; they like extolling their power in influence while ignoring that they have no practical understanding of the real world. They are polysci majors who do their homework in a bar, arguing useless political theories. The vast majority of lawyers and judges have no contact with real-world problems and solutions. They believe their so-called 'rhetoric' ends debate and 'resolves the case' -- logical contradictions be damned. Anyone who has a real-world job -- cutting metal, troubleshooting engines, electronic or electro-mechanical hardware (and more) -- knows that words count for diddly. Solutions are in diagrams, numbers, and the equals sign -- the garlic and wooden stakes of the vampire lawyers and their brethren, the media. With the lawyers infecting government, media, and finance it's no wonder that problems multiply along with corruption. Judges with 'absolute immunity' have absolute power to do anything they want -- like put a false arrest warrant out on me, across country where the judge had no jurisdiction -- so the absolute power leads to absolute corruption, quelle surprise."Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should the federal government limit certain firearm purchases to residents over age twenty-one?
"The goal here is to prevent or substantially-reduce mass shootings by those 18-20. Before the feds look at abridging the rights of this age group -- and it is their existing right to purchase and own, whether people like it or not -- they should analyze the evidence in the shootings. In the Ulvalde and Boulder, CO shootings, there were strong indicators of aberrant behavior. One solution (or a good step towards a solution) is to make it easy to report aberrant behavior in schools anonymously -- with statistical safeguards. I've been working on an solution, and will say more when I have it in prototype. I'm going to submit this survey even though I'm not done with it, because it appears that one has to submit it in order to get any responses posted. I will see if I can go back and answer the omitted questions. If not, I'LL POST MY ANSWERS AT MakeUSAgeeky.com ."Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should the federal government lower the corporate tax rate?
"Quite possibly, BUT there are at least two things that must be addressed first: 1) the Federal Reserve's transformation of the stock market into a retirement piggy bank, i.e. it has been protected and socialized into a statistical debt instrument (a bond) that is statistically 'guaranteed' to return some profit over 'some period longer than 5 years,' which has become the mantra of the financial advice mills. Greenspan's "intellectually" (a phony) bankrupt (and bankrupting) theory was to protect the stock market and not permit it to behave in ways that actual free markets behave...like going way down and staying down long enough to cause people to find elevated windows to exit. Real free markets are brutal, but the Greenspan Social Transform (perpetuated by his successors) has been an insurance policy for (a gift to) public corps and shareholders. The stock market(s) is unrecognizable as anything like a free market. Before you can figure out corporate tax rates, you must take steps to remove the FED's huge bias upward for the stock market. This must be done very carefully or enormous economic disruptions are in the cards (and it may already be too late). My proposal (detailed on my site and elsewhere) is a transparent portal from the FED, showing its real time market action that responds BIDIRECTIONALLY to the current (not predicted), broad price-earnings ratio; and dampens market accelerations (like a dashpot on the accelerator pedal) both down and up. (Greenspan began the one-way up elevator.) The market would then watch the FED portal as closely as corporate announcements. This could have prevented the runaway markets fueled by cascading, hyped corporate announcements that fueled the dotcom bubble. (Greenspan maintained that bubbles cannot be recognized beforehand, and can be cleaned up afterwards; false, you can calculate a bubble's probability and give real time indications to the market -- not just end-of-day 'open market actions' and FOMC meetings every six weeks; and the long-term damage from the bubble cleanups (money injections) has been the fuel that has propelled prices -- sparked by the Ukraine invasion -- even higher than they would have been otherwise.) To those who would say this solution is 'socialism,' we already have a manipulated, socialized, monolithic stock market. When free markets are a mythical false assumption, all bets are off. At this point, there needs to be a bidirectional damper on markets over-accelerating, to try to begin the process (if it's possible) to restore some actual 'freedom' to the stock market. Shareholders will then do some selling on the way up because they know their clock can be cleaned by the true -- and brutal -- free market. You then get capital gains and taxes to pay for government, instead of more debt to pass on. 2) end the lawyer monopoly, which requires corporations to be represented by the restricted supply of lawyers. The lawyer-monopoly's inflated fees hit small corps especially hard. The damage-multiplier from the lawyer monopoly is huge (just look at Congress, stuffed with lawyers, who are, with a small minority of exceptions, failures at problem solving). These two points address monopolies -- concentrations of power -- which are anti-freedom. New Hampshire is a state quite-highly aware of freedom. "
Against| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should the government legalize marijuana at the federal level?
"To quote the Car Guys on CO poisoning: 'it makes you stooopid, and you don't know you're getting stooopid.' In my blogs, I quoted this with respect to 'low temperature delirium' (hypothermia), as the hospital psych described my bad judgment at 9000 ft, preceding my plane crash. I've seen enough behavior over time (especially decades ago) by those who messed with pot, to see that it obviously dulls one's faculties with residual effects. No one I knew (and saw) in the hard sciences and labs where I was a summer student (and then through grad school; and in machining and FAA powerplant classes I took) messed with it. And I never had any desire to. Those who want to understand how the physical world works (and want to build and fix real things) must pay close attention to what's going on. Pot dulls the very faculties that must be as sharp as possible to build and fix things; and therefore to move civilization forward. A doc recommended CBD oil for my neuropathic agony (prior to my getting to Loma Linda for their outstanding neuropathy-treatment program), but I didn't go for the CBD because: 1) FAA regs mandate loss of pilot license for any such thing; and 2) I was focused on getting to Loma Linda; and 3) prior to Loma Linda, I was managing the oxycodone opioid at a minimal dosage, only as needed, as I accepted, but battled, the neuropathic agony (torturously imposed on me by lawyers extortionately withholding my money from me, which I needed for the treatment). The bottom line is that pot dulls judgment and has residual effects. It is correctly disqualifying for aircraft operations. It should be disqualifying for on-road vehicle operations and anything where attention, sharp-thinking, and quick reactions are required. For medically-prescribed relief from pain (and I know relentless, agonizing neuropathic pain and praying for any measure of relief), it is probably legit, but there are obvious problem-loopholes. At this time, we have enough problems with drunk driving and resultant tragedies, which are enormous burdens on states and individuals. Adding to those burdens with federal legalization doesn't, at this time (if ever) make sense. I acknowledge that the uncertainty resulting from conflicting federal and state laws is un-Constitutional: a 'statute which either forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application violates the first essential of due process of law.' (Connally 1926.) A 'statute [that] prescribed no standard of conduct that it was possible to know…violated the fundamental principles of justice embraced in the conception of due process of law.' (Collins, 1914.) The same principle necessarily applies to a conflict between federal and state law, which must ultimately be resolved."For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should the U.S. build a physical wall between Mexico and the U.S.?
"The fundamental problem with politicians (of both major parties) is that they redefine things: a border isn't a border if it's hopelessly porous; a student loan (or any other loan) isn't a loan if it's 'forgiven.' (This problem with definitions comes from lawyers, who are math/real-world incompetents in the huge majority; they think their 'rhetoric' -- such as it is -- outweighs logic, Dr. McCoy.) On the GOP side, 'free markets' and 'the rule of law' are myths. Ultimately, the views of Texas, Arizona, and California must be given the most weight on the wall. As a hardware engineer, I lean towards building a real (not virtual) wall, at least in stretches where remote sensing is less reliable and enforcement-response would be slow. I don't know all the technical details of real and virtual wall-building, but the simple solution -- and viable enough -- is to build the hardware, the solid wall; and add technology as necessary. There have been enough tragedies over the years -- such as an illegal-immigrant driving on the wrong side of an interstate and taking out a family (yes, multiple such events) -- and other costs, that those who don't account for such tolls simply want selective law enforcement; and they haven't experienced the brunt of lawless governments. They'd be happy in many countries that selectively-enforce their laws -- Russia and China, to name a couple. And many courts and prosecutors in the US, as well."For| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should the U.S. government continue to provide military aid to Ukraine (without putting U.S. soldiers on the ground)?
"It was clear from the beginning that this was WW III. The very short answer is that Ukraine and every other civilized country must oppose Putin's psychopathic foray. I was in Ukraine for 6 weeks in 2019. I know a fair number of people there, and have posted some messages on my site, including: 'I never thought that it may be possible in the 21st century. And all the world doesn't do anything, just watching this new blockbuster.' The bitcoin-boy NH candidate, Fenton, added another dimension to his ignorance-space by comparing Zelensky to bin Laden. I'd be glad to debate this simpleton on anything (or any other candidate on anything). Physics-types/hardware engineers (plus FAA powerplant and machining) always analyze the real-world and look for viable solutions. The risks for the world, of events in Ukraine, are still of a global catastrophe. There are few comparable events in world history (especially given instant pics by internet of the incinerations and other horrors there), and anyone shaping policy, who doesn't see that -- and who makes off-the-wall statements like Fenton's -- is a real hazard. And that doesn't even address Fenton's gross misunderstanding of bitcoin. And don't ask me what I really think. BTW, I'm not going to be nice -- Minnesota 'nice' or otherwise, in case you don't notice. The ruble at a 7 year high on oil prices, while Russia is thumbing its nose at its debut default, shows that there's no, simple external solution to this war. There may be a simple internal solution."Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Do you support a new wealth tax that would require households worth over $100 million to pay a 20% tax on their income and unrealized capital gains?
"I don't understand the first part of this question: 'worth over $100 million to pay a 20% tax on their income.' Anyone who's worth $100M and can't scrape up $40k in income -- the 20% bracket -- must have a huge mattress stuffed with $100 bills. As for unrealized cap gains, this is what I wrote in response to the same question from a newspaper:
"Free markets are a myth, certainly with our stock market, which has been socialized into an (illusory) retirement piggy bank, thanks to Alan Greenspan (I discuss this a lot in my blogs, as you might guess). We have had highly-manipulated markets ever since Greenspan made clear—on 10/15/98 with his surprise double-interest-rate cut to 'save' the crashing stock market right before the close—that he would not allow any significant market downer. Then it was off to the dotcom bubble races. Then rinse and repeat the shampoo for more bubbles—subprime, etc. The tax code is matched to free markets, which have real risk. The tax code gives capital gains preferences for holding a stock longer because the stock owner takes on greater risk during that extended holding period. If the stock market had real risk, there would be significant selling on the way up=>cap gain=>tax. Voilà. Money to pay for government, rather than a debt with which to screw over someone later—like your kids. Greenspan (and his successors, all clones) began the price manipulations that postponed and distorted risk. The tax code then became mismatched to the markets—like a mini-bike transmission attached to a top-fuel dragster, the Greenspan, one-way markets. Needless to say, that transmission could not extract any power (tax money). Free markets are a false premise here. A false premise means all bets are off. BEFORE government starts capital controls (e.g. rationing gasoline or heating-fuel/electricity or groceries or Charmin) in order to 'control prices' (Google-search Nixon wage price, for those who don’t know), then a Liz-and-Bernie double-tax might be on the table. I should be really clear: a double-tax (which incudes a tax on unrealized capital gains) has been Liz-and-Bernie’s stopped clock forever; and for any market with real risk, this is communistic confiscation of property. However, it might well be correct to go after the prime beneficiaries of the Greenspan fraudulent, manipulated, one-way-up, anything-but-free markets—before New Hampshire citizens live, freeze, and die with blue lips and sky-high utility bills."
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should the federal government combat inflation by raising taxes to reduce the budget deficit?
"The price of a 'thing' rises because the FED prints too much money (inflates the money supply too fast), and the demand for the thing rises faster than the supply. The FED has been bailing out the stock market openly ever since 10/15/98 when Greenspan made his surprise double interest-rate cut. The most recent BIG PRINT by the FED was in response to Covid. There has been a ton of bailout money printed over the last three decades. That printed money was an existing, huge inflation of the money supply when the Ukraine invasion sparked the enormous price increases over the last six months. The economy is probably especially unstable now. One thing the govt must do is force the FED to stop the one-way-up focus on the stock market. I have described my real time FED portal. If we had something approaching actual free markets, there would be (would have been) a lot of selling as stocks went up because there would have been fear that gains would evaporate. Whether cap gain taxes -- assuming we could restore something resembling free markets -- would be enough to shrink the deficit, stabilize the economy, etc, etc. I don't know. I do know that perpetuating the same FED print-and-bailout 'policy' (if you can dignify it with that term) will keep us on track for the cliff."
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should the federal government combat inflation by repealing or revising the Jones Act to allow more foreign involvement in shipping between U.S. ports?
"The price of a 'thing' rises because the FED prints too much money (inflates the money supply too fast), and the demand for the thing rises faster than the supply. The FED has been bailing out the stock market openly ever since 10/15/98 when Greenspan made his surprise double interest-rate cut. The most recent BIG PRINT by the FED was in response to Covid. There has been a ton of bailout money printed over the last three decades. That printed money was an existing, huge inflation of the money supply when the Ukraine invasion sparked the enormous price increases over the last six months. The economy is probably especially unstable now. One thing the govt must do is force the FED to stop the one-way-up focus on the stock market. I have described my real time FED portal. If we had something approaching actual free markets, there would be (would have been) a lot of selling as stocks went up because there would have been fear that gains would evaporate. Whether cap gain taxes -- assuming we could restore something resembling free markets -- would be enough to shrink the deficit, stabilize the economy, etc, etc. I don't know. I do know that perpetuating the same FED print-and-bailout 'policy' (if you can dignify it with that term) will keep us on track for the cliff."
Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should Congress revise Section 230, a federal law that shields social media companies from lawsuits over content that appears on their platforms?
"I think the common carrier approach makes a lot of (rather obvious) sense, but I haven't studied the issue enough to know whether I've read all the arguments."Other| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
Should the federal government combat inflation by supporting further Federal Reserve interest rate hikes?
"The price of a 'thing' rises because the FED prints too much money (inflates the money supply too fast), and the demand for the thing rises faster than the supply. The FED has been bailing out the stock market openly ever since 10/15/98 when Greenspan made his surprise double interest-rate cut. The most recent BIG PRINT by the FED was in response to Covid. There has been a ton of bailout money printed over the last three decades. That printed money was an existing, huge inflation of the money supply when the Ukraine invasion sparked the enormous price increases over the last six months. The economy is probably especially unstable now. One thing the govt must do is force the FED to stop the one-way-up focus on the stock market. I have described my real time FED portal. If we had something approaching actual free markets, there would be (would have been) a lot of selling as stocks went up because there would have been fear that gains would evaporate. Whether cap gain taxes -- assuming we could restore something resembling free markets -- would be enough to shrink the deficit, stabilize the economy, etc, etc. I don't know. I do know that perpetuating the same FED print-and-bailout 'policy' (if you can dignify it with that term) will keep us on track for the cliff."
Undecided| Read My Position
Citizens Count Issue Survey, 2022
