Most readers are familiar with evil King Noah in the Book of Mormon. He is the prototype of the evil king, as we all know. My question is: where did the people in his kingdom come from?

Here’s the history: we read in Mosiah 9:1–7 of Zeniff, who was King Noah’s father. This is about 200 BC.

Zeniff took two trips from Zarahemla to Nephi. The first ended in failure because of infighting. During the second trip, Zeniff took “as many as were desirous to go up to possess the land” and headed back to Nephi. This time, they were “smitten with famine and sore afflictions.” Nevertheless, a few of them arrived at Nephi and convinced the king of the Lamanites to “depart out of the land.”

So, this group of Mulekite-Nephites possesses the land, repairing the walls of the city of Nephi (also called Lehi-Nephi) and the city of Shilom. My question is: how many people came with Zeniff, and how did they grow into a kingdom by the time of King Noah?

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The president tried to run some victory laps on Friday after the official unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent. This is a bit like the guy who came in last claiming he won. Let’s take a look at the real numbers.

Below is the labor force participation rate. This is the percentage of the population that works. You will see that it is at historic lows. When the economy grows, new jobs are created, and people who wouldn’t work otherwise go find work. When the economy is in a recession (or depression), people stop looking for work and drop out of the labor force. Based on the labor force participation rate, which of the two things is happening, a growing economy or a receding economy?

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HT: BCC.

We all owe some thanks to Jon Stewart, who has made it clear that anti-Mormonism simply isn’t cool, whether it comes from the right or left.

Here is the link:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-may-2-2012/mormon–mo–problems

Take a look and let us know what you think. There are several LDS-related articles up, and others that Mormons will find worth perusing.

www.religionandpolitics.org

CATO notes that austerity measures in Europe have not worked up to this point, but caused a deeper recession.  The reason?  The austerity measures have been against private business and investment.  For example a tax increase on first time home buyers implemented in Italy has simply slowed down spending and investment.

So, now Italy recognizes that they need to cut spending by the government. Their new austerity package mostly focuses on cutting their government by several billions of Euros.

Here in the USA, we have also found that austere impositions against the private sector just slows down the economy.  Threat of punishment, more taxation, or regulation keeps businesses from expanding.  Such also keeps over $2 Trillion of money overseas.  Why did Apple pay less than 10% tax? By moving lots of its money overseas in legal loopholes.

Reality is, Medicare and Social Security are going bankrupt.  It is easier to fix them now, rather than wait until they go over the brink. Do we tell 80 year olds now that they cannot have a hip replacement, or do we tell their grandchildren that we cannot afford to deliver a baby or perform a life saving operation on a young person later?

Spending more money has not fixed the economy. As insistent as Paul Krugman is, the world is not going to forever lend us money to spend on everything and anything. Of course, he possibly gave the same advice to Enron. And his advice of borrowing more and more, and entering into greater and greater debt worked until everyone found out that the Emperor had no clothes, and the collapse came swiftly afterward.

It is time we return to small government and free markets.  Let’s insist our Congress and President go in this direction, or replace them.

CATO article