Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/26/2010

• TSA Begins to Crumble Amidst Legitimacy Crisis
  The TSA has lost the consent and support of the governed. They caved in and shut down the porno-scanners on Opt Out Day, and have decided to stop patting down the genitals of children under 12 years old, but angered passengers are pushing the TSA to retreat further. We should not stop pressing forward until the TSA has completely retreated and airport security is returned to the private airline companies.
• Spanish Woman Owns Sun, Will Charge Users
  A woman in Spain has registered the Sun at a local notary public as being her property, and plans to charge people for its use, giving half the proceeds to the Spanish government and 20% to the country's Social Security system. It is, of course, a completely unenforceable and meaningless claim, but it goes to show the importance of the homesteading principle in the institution of private property. Unless you can, as Locke said, "mix your labor" with something, how can it become anyone's private property?
• DeLay Convicted over Campaign Contributions
  Once a Republican leader in the House of Representatives, Tom DeLay was convicted over charges that he illegally funneled money from corporations and individuals to Texas Republican campaigns. While there are many things DeLay should be punished for, this is not one of them. The US Constitution gives the federal government no right to control what individuals can do with their own money (whether they do it as individuals or as a corporation of individuals).
• Hardcover Book for 1 Penny?
  That's right. If you want a hardcover book for 1 penny, Amazon.com has it. The title of the book? "Why the Real Estate Boom Will Not Bust," published in early 2006. Of course, housing prices did bust, and so did the price of this book. If you really want a worthwhile way to spend your money, might I suggest "Crash Proof 2.0" by Peter Schiff, the guy who predicted the bust?
• CNBC: We're All Austrians Now
  In an echo of Nixon's famous utterance, "We're all Keynesians now," the Senior Editor of CNBC, John Carney, counters, "We're all Austrians now." By this he means the "Austrian School of economics"--the free market school of economic thought that traces the boom-bust cycle to the institution of central banking, and emphasizes the futility of central planning and the importance of allowing buyers and sellers to coordinate their activities through the price mechanism. It seems most major thinkers have now accepted the Austrian business cycle theory in some form or another, and there are probably more Austrian School adherents today than ever before in history.
• Bill Gates: Africa Needs More Handouts
  Comments David Shellenberger: "Africa does not need aid, much of which is counter-productive. It needs the institutions of liberty: limited government, free markets, free trade, property rights, the rule of law, and civil and political freedom. These allow the development that overcomes poverty and disease, and lead to the prosperity that maximizes individual opportunity."

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Published at RightOSphere.com.