"Don’t Comply? Go To Jail. The Obama Administration’s Approach to Compliance"

The text of my talk last week in Lake Tahoe begins . . .

"Henry Clay called government "the great trust," but most Americans today have little faith in Washington's ability to deal with the nation's problems. Indeed, public confidence in government is at one of the lowest points in a half century. According to a survey from the Pew Research Center. Nearly 8 in 10 Americans say they don't trust the federal government and have little faith it can solve America's ills, the survey found.

The survey also found that just 22 percent of those questioned say they can trust Washington almost always or most of the time and just 19 percent say they are basically content with it. Nearly half say the government negatively affects their daily lives, a sentiment that's grown over the past dozen years.


The focus of the talk is why we have so little faith and focusing on one of the major reaons -- government's need for money and a willingness to get it any way they can -- trying to balance the budget through aggressive enforcement -- through fines and threats of imprisonment for matters that not long ago were not even considered criminal.

Everything from labor laws to financial regulation to investment to something ostensibly as simple and innocent as taking money out of your account at the bank has been criminalized and people who never thought of themselves are criminals are now going to jail.

This talk details the "why's" and "how's."

If you would like a copy of the entire talk, e-mail me at: jimkarger@mac.com

Best for the week,

Karger