Archive for April, 2009
Other people’s thoughts on chaos and anarchy
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009Depends on what you mean by "chaos" and "anarchy"... There are two words that really separate us hard-core libertarians from small-government Republicans and civil-liberties-focused Democrats: Chaos and Anarchy. Libertarians love chaos and anarchy, while most Americans still cringe from these words. For most folks, chaos is some Road ...
On murder rates in Stateless societies
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009Professor Long is pretty much awesome. I would say that of all living political philosophers, his ideas and conclusions about liberty, government, economics, and society match my own (and, in fact, have helped me enunciate my own) more than any other. I don't consider myself very much of a cultural ...
Quote of the day
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009Roderick Long, on the recent anti-tax tea parties: Whichever party is out of power always begins to emphasise its libertarian-sounding side in order to divert anti-government sentiment toward support of that party rather than toward genuine radical opposition to the entire establishment. By the same token, the party that’s in power employs ...
Discrimination is usuallly fine!
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009Some people are so sensitive to political correctness that they behave way too sensitively and believe some stupid things. They see racial or sexual discrimination everywhere, underlying nearly all of society's ills, and therefore conclude that if only people were prohibited from making choices and taking actions that exhibited "discrimination" ...
Consumer and tourist spending
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009One of the many fallacies I hear people on TV and radio repeat is that anything that increases consumer spending should be lauded because it's good for the economy. Tourism spending, sports-event-related spending, and the like are presented as being healthy and a great boon to the host city or ...
Cost of freedom at all-time high
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009My Onion page-a-day calendar contained this news-in-brief article a couple days ago: WASHINGTON, DC—According to a report released Monday, the cost of American freedom has soared from its previous 1779 high of bravery, sacrifice, fighting for what's right, and 25,071 human lives, up to a record bravery, sacrifice, fighting for what's ...
The Krugman Depression
Monday, April 13th, 2009This economics blagger asks: What name would you give to this econo-geddon? The Great Recession? Global financial meltdown? The Bush–Obama Depression? My answer: the Krugman Depression. I want to start calling the depression of 1929-1945 the Keynes Depression and the current one the Krugman Depression. Oh, our professional criminal class bears ...
Quote of the day
Sunday, April 12th, 2009In light of all the gun-control talk that's out there in response to recent public shootings: Please get this through your head once and for all: regarding the individual right to own and carry weapons, there is no "allowed". Government has nothing to say about it. This basic human right predates ...
Obama starts inflating the auto bubble
Saturday, April 11th, 2009I don't believe it. Well, of course I do, because I predicted it: The Obama regime has begun inflating the automotive bubble by purchasing 17,600 "green" automobiles from GM, Ford, and Chrysler as part of its counterproductive $787 billion stimulus plan. It will spend $285 million on the automobiles by ...
Non-cooperative tax havens
Saturday, April 11th, 2009The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development published a blacklist of countries that it considers "non-cooperative tax havens" in an attempt to call them out, shame them, and sanction them into compliance with the more enlightened, tax-happy governments of the world. On Thursday, G20 leaders agreed to take sanctions against tax ...
Obamaism is Statism
Friday, April 10th, 2009Out of some strange curiosity I decided to peruse The New Yorker, probably because it is supposed to be a source of good artistic criticism, cultural-political commentary, and humor. One of the first things that caught my eye was "Obamaism" by George Packer. It is supposed to be a commentary ...
Obama DOJ: Government officials are above the law
Friday, April 10th, 2009Literally. This is the legal doctrine the Obama regime's Department of Justice [sic] is invoking in its recommendation that Jewell v. National Security Agency be dismissed. Kevin Carson, in his column National Security: The Last Refuge of Scoundrels is incisive: If the Obama Justice Department’s legal doctrine is allowed to stand, ...
Books
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009When I leave my career in science research to produce something useful for the world, I want writing to be at the center of my professional endeavors (and still a major hobby as well). Analyzing policy, or economics, or science, or something else for some think tank, media outlet, biotech ...
Blagnet.net’s quiz of the day
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009Who said the following? It must be understood that toil alone makes for accomplishment and advancement, and righteous possession is the reward of toil, and its incentive. There is no progress except in the stimulus of competition. When competition—natural, fair, impelling competition—is suppressed, whether by law, compact or conspiracy, we halt the ...
Accidental SEO
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009Uh, somehow my post of the Debt Star picture that I yoinked from David Z. is the number-1 Google search result for "debt star". Somehow it isn't anywhere near the first Google image search result, though... No wonder that post has been getting so many hits lately. This website really ...
Blagnet.net’s link of the day
Sunday, April 5th, 2009Despite the fact that I hardly have time to read and write as much as I want about political economy and philosophy, I am trying to make an effort to frequent my less-frequented blags, find new blags worth frequenting, and read about something other than economics (in both web pages ...
Facebook “thoughts” of the day
Saturday, April 4th, 2009A friend's Facebook status: "...says its about time the government passes some serious gun control laws. to hell with the right to bear arms." Her friends' responses: "hear hear!" "No guns and arms? That settles it, no more gym." (admittedly, kind of funny) "But then what the hell am I going ...
Quote of the day
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009"Perhaps the President or Fed Chair or SecTreas could answer why, if these assets are so terrible that the banks (who bought them voluntarily) shouldn't hold them, why the American public should be forced to." —Tim Kern, in a comment on this article at Mises.org
The next two bubbles
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009Based on the Obama regime's policies, both implemented and proposed, I think there is good reason to expect the American economy to experience unsustainable bubbles in the automotive industry and the "green" technology fields. There is ample reason to believe neither one is justified in receiving as much investment or ...