Episode 04 - All Or Nothing

Our political leaders always give us choices when it comes to solving the nation's problems.

Two of them: All or nothing.

Mass shooting? What we need are more guns. Or none. Too many abortions? Ban them. Or put no restrictions on them. Cop killing? We need more police. Or less. Healthcare too expensive? The government should pay for all of it. Or none of it. Gas prices too high? Drill for oil everywhere. Or quit using fossil fuels.

When your only choices are all or nothing, there's a good chance you'll get nothing.

The dogs and I dig into why these are the only answers we're ever given, and why the solutions to America's problems are so diametrically opposed on this episode of I'm Not Allowed To Watch The News.

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Episode 9 - Ben Franklin Bets on America

America’s wisest old man was writing his last will and testament. Benjamin Franklin had followed his own life advice and been frugal with his money, unlike some of the more debt-ridden big spenders of the Revolutionary generation like Thomas Jefferson, who asked the state of Virginia to let him conduct a lottery in order to pay off his $170,000 in debt, which would be about two million dollars today. And this in spite of his free labor force and a number of high-paying government jobs. He had plenty of people to leave his fortune to – his son William Franklin, former royal governor of New Jersey. His grandson, Temple Franklin, who had been Ben’s secretary during the negotiations with France that got the colonies some much-needed assistance with that whole “give the British a whuppin’” thing. Sally Bache, his daughter. Benjamin Bache, Sally’s son. Or even his sister Jane Franklin. Everyone in the family got a little something. William got debt-forgiveness for all the money he had borrow

Episode 05 - If It's For Sale Let's Buy It

The dogs and I are starting a GoFundMe campaign to raise five billion dollars. We have a pretty big purchase in mind. We’re going to buy the Congress of the United States. Get your credit cards out and start making your legislative wish lists, as the dogs and I plan to purchase one of America’s three branches of government on this episode of I’m Not Allowed To Watch The News.

Episode 07 - The National Debt

In the early days of the American Republic, Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, argued that a certain amount of national debt was a good thing. There was no way a country that was four days old was going to be able to raise the tax revenue it needed to pay the president or build a navy or anything like that. So it had to borrow. Probably from the Dutch. During the American Revolution, the French sent ships, the Dutch sent money, and Belgium sat the whole thing out, too busy perfecting their chocolate recipe to help establish the world’s first republican-style democracy or support freedom from tyranny. Just you wait, Belgium. You’ll get what’s coming to you. America started borrowing money while the ink was still wet on the Declaration of Independence, but that was to serve the British Empire with its eviction notice from the colonies. Once the Constitution was ratified, we needed cash to fund laws like the one calling for lighthouses to be built along the coast, an

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