Josiah Schmidt

Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 12/7/2010

2010-12-07T13:27:00.001-08:00

DHS Retires Its Stoplight of Terror
The Homeland Security Department's much-joked-about "stoplight" consisting of different colors for different levels of terrorist threat--which few people paid attention to, few people clearly understood, and the rationale for the changing of whose colors was rarely explained by DHS--has quietly disappeared, with no appreciable diminution in the security of the American people.
US to Host World Press Freedom Day 2011?
After the way the US government has treated Wikileaks, how can it even pretend to have an ounce of respect remaining for the First Amendment? The freedom of speech and the freedom of the press are to be unabridged. Period. The federal government has no Constitutional authority to prosecute Wikileaks or any other messenger of information, even if that information is the most confidential of State secrets. If the State is too incompetent to hold on to its own secrets, that's its own fault.
Govt Workers Told Not to Read Wikileaks
Why doesn't the government want its own employees to know the truth? Half of the time, the official line is that the Wikileaks revelations were so damaging because they destroyed the US government's reputation and credibility (which implies that the leaks revelations were pretty bad). The other half of the time, the official line is that the Wikileaks revelations didn't reveal anything truly bad at all. Which is it?
Chavez Blames Capitalism for Heavy Rains
Early socialist "utopias" started as a very mystic, practically religious phenomenon. From the prophetic claim that the course of history would inevitably lead to pure communism, to the promise that in the socialist utopia the oceans would turn to lemonade (not even joking), socialism has always represented an atavistic reversion to the naive, discredited ways of thinking of ancient, failed civilizations.
UK Govt Subsidizing Prostitutes, Lap Dances
If you're depressed, you could get a subsidized lap dance, one-night-stand, or gambling trip from the UK government. The best way to achieve a sense of purpose and self-worth, however, is to be a self-supporting, productive member of society. Instead of further destroying private industry and increasing Briton's dependence on one another, the UK government should slash their welfare state and taxes.
Obama: Jobless Benefits a Priority
Comments David Shellenberger: "The two wings of the Socialist Party [the Republicans and the Democrats] have decided to reinstate the estate tax and extend unemployment benefits thirteen more months, while concocting a mess of temporary tax provisions. There was a better alternative: drastically cut federal spending, permanently end the estate tax, and permanently simplify and lower corporate and income taxes."

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 12/6/2010

2010-12-06T14:10:00.000-08:00

Young Americans in Debt Crosshairs
Writes Dustin Siggins: "The debt commission['s]...recommendations are the best effort since the 1990s to at least take a stab at real deficit and debt reform. Young Americans should thank the Commission for being this courageous, especially in the face of our nation's current and impending fiscal crisis. Estimates of our national debt obligations range from a few tens of trillions to National Review's Kevin Williamson's estimate of $130 trillion. Merely cutting non-defense discretionary spending, or dealing with earmarks, won't cut it."
100s of Wikileaks Mirror Sites Appear
Cracking down on Wikileaks seems to be more of a game of Whack-a-mole for the feds. The question does have to be asked: if Wikileaks, which is merely a messenger of information, deserves to be prosecuted and silenced, don't all the major media outlets that also report the leaks deserve to be treated like terrorist organizations too? Or any individual who reads or disseminates the leaked info? After all, "information is warfare," right?
77 Years Without Prohibition
Yesterday marked the 77th anniversary of one of the few good things FDR accomplished: the repeal of Alcohol Prohibition. With the end of Prohibition, we saw the end of much organized crime, ineffective government spending, and the enabling of police to stop real crimes. When will we make the same connection to the present-day prohibition of even less harmful drugs?
Govt Propaganda at Walmart Checkouts
Walmart is joining the corporatist bandwagon in agreeing to display government propaganda videos at checkout lanes, as part of a new DHS campaign. While many conservatives may feel the message Big Sis wants to display in this instance is harmless enough, this gives the government a disturbing foot in the door. How long until the government is using these screens to brainwash consumers into supporting causes conservatives don't agree with?
Pump Prices Hit 2-Year High
Bernanke is eager to crank up the monetary printing press to avoid "deflation," yet anyone who is paying bills for health care, education, energy, gasoline, or government programs will tell you prices are going up, despite what the government's official numbers say.
Web-Based Learning Revolutionizes India's Education
Comments David Shellenberger: "This is another insightful article by Matt Ridley. One reason to remove government from education is to allow experimentation in approaches to teaching and learning. Only a free, competitive market, unencumbered by politicians, bureaucrats, and unions, will allow the best ideas to be discovered."

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 12/5/2010

2010-12-05T14:34:00.000-08:00

State Dept Buying Surface-to-Air Missiles
Will the government never be able to grasp the most basic economic concepts? In an effort to rid the world of Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS), the US State Department is using your tax dollars to buy them up and destroy them. Only problem is, this is only increasing the profits of MANPADS producers, which in turn is causing them to produce more MANPADS. ...Yeah.
Schumer Wants End to TSA Storing Scans
Sen. Schumer (D-NY) wants to pass a bill that fines TSA workers who store or distribute nude scan images. While laudable on Schumer's part, we need to be realistic. This is the same TSA who told us the bald-faced lie that not only were nude scan images not being saved, it wasn't even possible to save the scans. A leak of hundreds of saved scans from Orlando debunked that deception. What guarantee is there that the TSA would actually abide by this law? What we need to do is abolish the TSA entirely and allow private firms to provide security once again.
State Legislators Bolt Democratic Party
State lawmakers are defecting to the Republican Party, following last month's GOP electoral wave. In one case (Louisiana), the defections have actually caused the state legislature to flip from a Democratic to a Republican majority. The number one reason these ex-Dems are giving for their switches? Economic philosophy. The Krugmaniac Keynesianism of the Democratic Party is crumbling.
14 y.o. Drug Cartel Hitman Nabbed
Another tragic symptom of the Drug Prohibition: a 14-year-old kid was found working as a hitman for a drug cartel in Mexico. Does anyone really think that people would be sawing off other people's heads for marijuana, if marijuana were allowed to be a boring, old consumer good, sold in stores alongside alcohol and cigarettes?
KKK Snowman Causes Controversy
I can't condemn this strongly enough, but I also hope that this hateful racist's neighbors respect his private property and his right to free expression. In the words of Thomas Jefferson, let even vile racists like this man "stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it."
Censured Rangel "Still Loves Congress"
Comments David Shellenberger: "The harm Rep. Rangel has done to the country goes beyond his ethical violations. The National Taxpayers Union gives him a grade of 'F' on his votes on taxes, spending, and debt for every year in the period of its ratings, back to 1992."

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 12/4/2010

2010-12-04T14:23:00.000-08:00

The Newest Gateway Drug: Nutmeg
The clamor to "do something about" the latest "gateway drug" is already rumbling. Turns out everyone's favorite holiday spice, nutmeg, is what some kids are using to get "high". Guess we'll have to call for a government prohibition on this too, despite all of nutmeg's non-drug uses, just as we must endure a government prohibition on hemp, despite all its non-drug uses.
Cops Launch War on Bad Haircuts
Armed police burst into barber shops throughout Orange County, California, recently, handcuffing barbers in front of customers. Thirty seven arrests were made (mostly black and Latino). What heinous conspiracy was brewing in these barber shops? "Barbering without a license". Of course, this isn't really about protecting consumers from bad haircuts. It's about scaring barbers into paying the State its "taste".
Principal Enters Truant Student's Home
Mirroring a scene from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," a NY principal snuck inside a sleeping student's home to wake him up and drag him to school. The principal is being charged with trespass, but what really stands out to me is how revealing this is of the compulsory schooling system. These days, students "belong" to the government school system, and the State is justified in all manner of rights violations to control "their" kids.
FTC Goes After Online Dating
The Federal Trade Commission is now using your tax dollars to go after online dating, since individuals clearly aren't smart enough to handle their own romantic affairs. If you meet someone online and want to contact them through a personal email address, if you claim feelings of love too soon, if you claim to be an American overseas, or if you make plans to visit your romantic interest but have to cancel, then be careful, because the FTC will have its eye on you. How long until the government tries to regulate offline dating as well?
Busted for Playing Chess
Watch where you move that pawn. Seven elderly chess-players in a NY park were busted by police for not being accompanied by a small child, as the law dictates. The regulation is supposed to deter pedophiles, but I'm not that only letting into the park adults who are accompanied by small children is the best way to keep out pedophiles. Cops say they were following the "broken window" theory (the theory that says if there's a broken window, it creates an atmosphere that encourages worse crimes), but will old men playing chess in a park really make thugs feel more comfortable mugging or raping, in the same way that a dilapidated building might?
US, S.Korea Agree on Trade Deal
Comments David Shellenberger: "People need protection from their own governments, not from trade. Protectionism is an immoral use of government power to force the public to support uncompetitive industries, at great cost to the general economy. Rather than entering into trade agreements, and accommodating special interests, countries should simply remove their own barriers, enjoying unilateral free trade."

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 12/3/2010

2010-12-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

9.8% Unemployment
When will we learn from history? All the economic crises that are responded to with loads of government intervention become long, drawn out depressions. All the economic crises that are left to the free market correct themselves within short order, and are actually forgotten about by most historians. Jobs will not begin appearing again until the market is allowed to work through all the malinvestment, free from government meddling.
Japan Leaves the Kyoto Treaty
The government of Japan has refused to extend the Kyoto Treaty. And why should they? The Kyoto Treaty was not about conserving the environment--it was designed as a way for countries who were wallowing in socialist impoverishment to eat the wealth of the freer, capitalist countries. There is a reason why socialist countries are the most polluted on Earth: enforcement of property rights is the answer to the pollution problem, and that is precisely what socialist countries lack.
Govt Surveillance Legally Out of Bounds
Previously secret government documents obtained by the ACLU after a court battle show that the State has repeatedly overstepped its legal limitations in spying on American citizens. If the government can pry into the most private and sensitive areas of our life, why should citizens not be able to do the same to the government?
City Cuts Police & Fire by Half
Camden, New Jersey, the "second worst" city in the nation for crime, is cutting 50% of its police and fire departments, in an effort to balance its budget. Hopefully the government allows citizens, freshly unburdened by the taxation that was previously used to support these public services, to invest in private security and property protection services. If the market is allowed to provide these services instead, Camden will enjoy an immediate improvement in safety.
Govt to Disable Cell Phones in Cars?
Some in the government want to put devices on all of our cars, that would disable all cell phone usage within the vehicle. This is, of course, highly problematic, for obvious reasons. The most obvious being: what if there is an emergency? In reality, people would quickly find a way to circumvent these disabling devices I'm sure, rendering the whole endeavor a complete waste of money.
Chinese Govt Tries to Rein in Private Lending
Comments David Shellenberger: "The problem in China is not that lending is taking place outside the control of the government. It is that the government maintains too much control through its ownership of banks and its regulation. The government's effort to dictate the allocation of credit is just another component of its central planning, based on the myth that government is wiser than the market."

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 12/2/2010

2010-12-02T18:14:00.000-08:00

Taxes Hiked on $250k Earners
Congress passed an extension of Bush's "middle class" tax cuts, but neglected to pass an extension of the "high income" tax cuts (for people earning over $250,000). Regardless of the fact that most people earning $250,000 are small business owners who take home only a small fraction of that amount after paying taxes, bills, and payrolls, the notion that taxing the people who provide the jobs will not be a tax on "lower classes" is ludicrous.
Palin Wants Assange Dead
Sarah Palin says no distinction should be made between Wikileaks spokesman Julian Assange, and Taliban or al Qaeda. Calling for Assange to be assassinated without a fair trial or due process of law, because Assange is exercising the freedom of speech and the press (which the US federal government is absolutely forbidden to abridge in any way), shows that Palin could use some brushing up on the text of the Constitution.
McCain: Keep DADT
John McCain think US soldiers are not ready to handle serving side-by-side with openly gay troops. He obviously feels that American soldiers are less mature or emotionally sensible than the soldiers of all the other modern, Western countries that allow gays in the military, since other militaries seem to have no problem with it.
Boehner Tries to Block Ron Paul from Chairmanship
According to House rules, Ron Paul, as the senior member of the subcommittee on monetary policy, is due to become the chairman of that subcommittee. Soon-to-be House Speaker John Boehner, however, is looking at ways to subvert the rule to keep the House's most prominent Federal Reserve critic from acquiring the chairmanship. Looks like we shouldn't be expecting any real reform from a Boehner House.
Portlanders Condemn FBI Tactics in Bomb Plot
The main goal of terrorism is not actually to destroy people and property. The main goal is to terrorize. Destruction is a means toward that end. Portlanders are condemning the FBI for singling out a Somali-American kid, convincing him to try to commit an act of terrorism, and then providing him with fake resources. Residents say this tactic created far more terror in Portland than if the kid had been merely left alone (unconvinced and unequipped to become a terrorist) and watched by the FBI. In this case, it appears the FBI are the real terrorists.
Economists Hunt for Post-Crash Model
Comments David Shellenberger: "No model will enable central banks or government policy makers to succeed at steering the economy. The free market is always superior to central planning. Central banks should close down, and governments should stop interfering in our lives."

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 12/1/2010

2010-12-01T20:34:00.000-08:00

Foreign Banks Got Most Fed Aid
The Federal Reserve, originally only intended to be a lender of last resort for American banks, has taken "moral hazard" to a whole new level. Turns out the biggest beneficiary of the Fed's trillions of dollars worth of printing were foreign banks. Now foreigners know they too can take all sorts of wild gambles and fall back on the American taxpayer if their investments don't pan out. Thanks Bernanke.
Biden Botches Senate Swearing-In
As though it would make a difference. Why don't we just forget the whole swearing in thing altogether? Senators usually break their oaths with the first vote they cast, so it's not like oaths mean anything anymore. If they did, then we would be trying legislators for perjury the moment they cast their first unconstitutional vote.
Courts May Gut Obamacare
A federal judge in Virginia may soon declare that Obamacare's central element--the purchasing mandate--is unconstitutional and void. Yes, I'm aware that the federal government has, at times, forced Americans to purchase things as far back as the George Washington administration, but as Raoul Berger put it, "Usurpation, the exercise of power not granted, is not legitimized by repetition." Let's hope our courts still have some integrity left in them, and overturn the mandate.
FCC Wants Internet Control
Over the past twenty or so years, the Internet--with extraordinarily little government involvement or oversight--went from a handful of bland webpages that took minutes to load, to the ultimate information resource where virtually any piece of data you want can be accessed within a few seconds or less. And Internet service continues to get faster and faster. The government, of course, thinks it can improve on this (or rather, it feels compelled to try to control and suffocate an incredible and vibrant free market phenomenon, because of the State's libido dominandi).
Treasury Bills Fall to Record Low
Comments Peter Rudolph Zidek: "For the first time ever, the rate on 30-year mortgages slipped below that of 30-year Treasury bonds. In effect, the market was saying that an individual looking to borrow against his home is a better credit risk than the US government."
Deficit Commission Wants More Taxes, Less Spending
Comments David Shellenberger: "The plan naturally is focused on maintaining big government, rather than freeing the American people from it. The commission, merely tinkering, ignores the reality that most federal government programs are inherently not only a waste of taxpayer money, but also destructive of our freedom and economic well being. The commission’s bias is reflected in its caution that "budget cuts should start gradually so they don’t interfere with the ongoing economic recovery." To the contrary, huge budget cuts should be made immediately, to help restore both the economy and our liberty."

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/29/2010

2010-11-29T18:39:00.000-08:00

Rep. King Wants Wikileaks Declared "Terrorist Org"
Rep. Peter King (R-NY) wants Wikileaks declared a "terrorist organization" and tried under the Espionage Act, for exercising the freedom of the press. While the claim is that Wikileaks has "blood on its hands" (it doesn't), the real reason the government is so mad is because it's embarrassed. Embarrassing the State is equal to blasphemy in this day and age. King even said a physical terrorist attack against actual American civilians would have been preferable to Wikileaks's embarrassment of the US government. The State's true colors show.
TSA Faces Lawsuit Barrage
The TSA is being hit with a barrage of lawsuits from violated passengers, including a woman whose breasts were exposed and then laughed at by TSA agents during a patdown, a man who is being fined $11,000 for choosing to be escorted out of the airport rather than be groped or nude-scanned, and a pregnant woman whose breasts were also exposed and whose husband was arrested for protesting his wife's treatment. The best of luck to these courageous passengers in their pursuit of justice.
8 Million Stop Using Credit Cards
While the borrow-and-spend Keynesians are, I'm sure, horrified at the prospect of people starting to cut back and save, this is a positive development. Excessive credit is what got us into this economic mess. In order to rebuild our economic infrastructure, we need capital, and in order to invest in capital, we need savings.
Population Control the Centerpiece of Hillary's Foreign Policy
State Secretary Hillary Clinton is launching a $63 billion initiative promoting population control measures around the world. While I'm sure taxpayers will be outraged at the fact that their dollars are funding foreign abortion clinics and supporting China's One Child Policy, I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that the problem with the world is not "too many people". More people = more labor, which = more goods. The problem is governments not allowing people to be free to provide for themselves and become successful.
Leslie Nielsen Dead at 84
Leslie Nielsen, comedy/drama/action/sci-fi actor, passed away Sunday evening at the age of 84. I'm always far more saddened by the passing of someone who offered a good or service that other people voluntarily wished to buy, than by the passing of some self-glorifying State "leader" who lived in high style off the backs of taxpayers. Private sector heroes like Nielsen should receive more honor than any president, legislator, or bureaucrat.
US Aid to Pakistan Was Wasted
Comments David Shellenberger: "There is an issue more fundamental than the transparency of aid to Pakistan. It is the question of why U.S. taxpayers are providing any aid. Pakistan's government suppresses the economy through poor policies including subsidies, price controls, trade and investment barriers, and maintenance of state-owned companies. Pakistan needs reform, not aid."

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/28/2010

2010-11-28T16:17:00.000-08:00

Holocaust Survivors' Kids Speak Out Against TSA
Calling the TSA's dehumanizing and unconstitutional searches and seizures "Nazi-like," the children of Holocaust survivors are having their say. Just as Hitler labelled all Jews as "enemies of the State," so the American government now treats all Americans as de facto "enemies of the State," assuming guilt until proven innocence. It is terribly sad that many of thoze who fled Nazi Germany to escape this very sort of treatment must now witness the same totalitarianism that once consumed Europe begin to take root in America as well.
Senators: Prosecute Wikileaks for Mega-Leak
Senators McCaskill and Graham want the heroic Wikileakers to be prosecuted for exercising the freedom of the press. Though no Wikileaks dump has ever been shown to have brought harm upon any single informant, the government that starves women and children with economic sanctions, blows up civilians with sloppy predator drone strikes, and routinely betrays its friends and allies, accuses Wikileaks of having "blood on its hands." That's rich.
Newsweek: The Triumphant Return of Hayek
The economic wisdom of Friedrich Hayek and his likeminded colleagues seems to emerge triumphant from the aftermath of every government-caused economic disaster (whether it was the Great Depression that Hayek and the Austrians predicted, or the Great Stagflation that almost destroyed Keynesianism entirely, or the Great Recession of today), yet the politicians and economists insist upon returning to the vulgar Keynesianism of Bernanke and Krugman every time the good times start to roll again. Hopefully we've all learned our lesson now: the booms caused by central banking are the problem and the busts are the solution.
Houston Judge Overrides Vote to Take Down Spy Cams
I'm all for the judiciary protecting the liberties of citizens when threatened by the tyranny of the majority, but if the public votes to protect the liberties that should belong to them in the first place, the judiciary ought to respect that. Houston went to the polls in the last election and said they'd had it with the government spy cameras on their streets, but a judge ordered them to stay up. I'm beginning to see more and more truth in Emma Goldman's saying: "If voting could make a difference, it would be illegal."
Man Charged for Covering Head During Police Beating
Police in Miami responded to an unruly crowd, where they picked out a man named Gilberto Matamaros and proceeded to beat the unresisting man to unconsciousness (he had to be hospitalized for his injuries). Since he kept putting his hands over his head to soften the blows, he has been charged with "nonviolently resisting arrest". There was no reason for this to happen. If cops can't subdue one "nonviolent" guy without bludgeoning him half to death, then they don't deserve to be cops.
US Africa Command Still Without a Home
Comments David Shellenberger: "The best place for the U.S. Africa Command is oblivion. Rather than imposing soldiers on the continent, the U.S. should enhance trade with it by removing its own trade barriers and agricultural subsidies."

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/27/2010

2010-11-27T20:21:00.000-08:00

The View Hosts Call Anti-TSA Protestors "Terrorists"
As outrageous as these ladies' remarks seem to civil libertarians, we must resist the temptation to demonize them, or anyone else who opposes us ideologically. They're not evil people--they want what we want. Safety. It's up to us to try to explain to them why returning security to the private airline companies (who must have safe and happy customers in order to survive) will result in greater safety than keeping security procedures in the hands of an impersonal bureaucracy (who would just get more funding if a terrorist attack were to succeed).
Big Sis Starts Shutting Down Websites
The DHS has launched a campaign to seize domain names from websites who promote copyright infringement, even if they don't engage in copyright infringement themselves. Regardless of your thoughts on IP law, this is a very dangerous power to allow the government. A). Because the determination of what constitutes a site whose "central" purpose is copypright infringement is entirely subjective, and B). Because this opens the door to further Internet censorship.
NYC Cig Taxes Create Black Market
Just one of the consequences to be expected of prohibition (and stiflingly high taxes on a good are a form of prohibition): they create black markets. Since black market cigarettes are a third cheaper than taxed cigarettes, the city isn't even getting the tax revenue from their absurdly high taxes. If NYC would lower their cigarette taxes, they would--ironically--get more tax revenue, since people wouldn't be as willing to bother with the black market.
FAA Grants First Commercial Space Travel License
The government is already trying to get its fingers into the burgeoning commercial space travel industry, before it even gets off the ground. While it's a positive thing that the Federal Aviation Administration is allowing one private company, SpaceX, to re-enter Earth's orbit after traveling into outer space, one can only imagine the amount of regulations and red tape these courageous enterprises will have to navigate. If Lewis and Clark had had to jump through as many bureaucratic hoops as the commercial space exploration companies of our time do, we'd probably still be settling California right about now.
Taliban Negotiator was Phony
Yet another failure of the government's preposterously misguided strategies in the War on Terror. The idea that the Taliban would actually negotiate with Westerners and what are perceived to be their puppet regimes should have been transparent to anyone with the least bit of knowledge about our enemies. No talks, bribes, or threats will dissuade these people from attacking us. They will continue to fight us as long as our government's troops remain on their "holy" soils, and as long as our government provides material and moral support to the corrupt regimes of the Muslim world.
UK's NHS Won't Back Cancer Drug
Comments David Shellenberger, "The decision of the U.K.'s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to decline to recommend a cancer drug, based on cost concerns, stands as another warning of the reality that ObamaCare will lead to rationing of health care. The market, not government bureaucrats, should determine the availability of medical treatment."

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/26/2010

2010-11-26T22:39:00.001-08:00

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.

Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/24/2010

2010-11-24T20:57:00.000-08:00

TSA Turns Off Porno-Scanners on Opt Out Day?
While official TSA spokespersons emphatically deny that the TSA has ordered all porno-scanners turned off today--on the day when many outraged passengers were planning to opt out, en masse, of the nude x-ray machines at aiports--there are tons of reports coming in from passengers all over the nation that all the porno-scanners have been shut down and roped off, and that only the traditional metal detectors are being used. The TSA doesn't want to admit it, but they no longer have the public's support or consent.
China and Russia Dump the Dollar
The governments of China and Russia have announced they will no longer do bilateral trade in US Dollars. This is the beginning of the end for our currency. As demand for our watered down Dollar disappears, so too will its value. And as the value of the Dollar plummets, the prices of everything else denominated in Dollars will skyrocket. Gold gained another $18 on the weak Dollar news today, inching closer to $1400. As the Dollar collapses, gold will continue to rise: make sure you have some.
FAA Shields Staff From Libertarian Sites
Word from FAA workers is that libertarian and anti-TSA websites have been blocked for employees there, because such sites have "malicious content". Is this anything other than a blatant censorship of opinions, merely for the reason that FAA heads disagree with the content? Why doesn't the government even want its employees to be exposed to anything but the official State dogma? The government is afraid that its employees will side with the American public against the power elite. Let's hope they're right.
Anti-Texting-While-Driving Laws Cause MORE Crashes
Turns out the laws against texting while driving merely cause drivers to try to hold their cell phones lower, out of the sight of law enforcement, therefore resulting in MORE accidents. Another lesson in the unintended consequences of government laws. There are a lot of things, such as texting while driving, that might not necessarily be good, but that doesn't always mean that the force of government is the appropriate solution.
Al Qaeda Leader Dined at Pentagon, Just Months After 9/11
Another sad example of the government's incompetence. A terrorist leader, literally right under their noses, and he gets away scot-free. The government needs to open its mind to other options in prosecuting the War on Terror. It's pointless to continue to rely so heavily on huge, noisy, American-flag-plastered squadrons of heavy combat troops that would never be allowed to cross the border into Pakistan, where all the bad guys are. We will never catch bin Laden and al Zawahiri with that kind of strategy. Time to bring back the Letter of Marque, as authorized in the US Constitution. Grant these Letters of Marque to bounty hunters willing to infiltrate Pakistan et. al., and stealthily bring these terrorists to justice immediately.
Having Taken Two Steps Forward, China Takes A Step Back
Comments David Shellenberger: "China['s government] blames the rise in commodity prices on 'hoarding' and speculation, neglecting the benefits of buyers’ accumulation of reserves, and speculators’ contribution to the efficiency of markets. It condemns 'profiteering' by companies for charging more than the price set by the government, while the shortages are an inevitable result of price controls. Finally, China demonstrates confusion on the cause of inflation. Inflation is a monetary phenomenon resulting from government mismanagement of the money supply. Stifling growth or controlling prices does not address this."

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Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/23/2010

2010-11-23T22:42:00.000-08:00

Passenger Privacy Backlash Targets TSA Workers Personally
While the TSA's physical molestation of passengers is far more onerous than any verbal abuse passengers may sling at the TSA, we ought to make sure our anti-TSA movement is a civil one. Think Rosa Parks. The TSA agents themselves are, after all, human beings like us. By making our opposition to the TSA a personal attack against the employees themselves, we drive them to unite with the government passing down the orders. But if we remain respectful, we might be able to sway the individual TSA agents to disobey the orders they are receiving from above.
TSA Gropes Could Spread STDs
This is an issue civil libertarians have been raising for some time now, but which has curiously not really caught on. What kind of risk is there that diseases like herpes might be spread due to TSA workers touching hundreds of people a day with the same blue gloves? If you're participating in the Opt-Out Day, then perhaps on top of opting out of the nude scanners, you should also ask any TSA worker that wants to touch you to at least put on clean gloves first.
Obama Pledges American Blood to Defend South Korea
While well-intentioned, Obama's promise of American lives in defense of South Korea is unnecessary. The South Korean military can wipe the Northern government off the map with ease, if it so desires. Let the recent hostilities serve as ever more reason to get our 30,000 troops out of that delicate situation. This is not our battle. Hopefully the current situation on the Korean peninsula can be solved with as little bloodshed as possible, and hopefully the North Korean government falls as soon as possible.
Virginia Battles For Its State Rights
Legislators in Virginia are pushing for an Amendment to the Constitution that would allow federal laws to be repealed by a two-thirds vote of the states. This would be a wonderful idea, but, in fact, it would be superfluous. If the state government of Virginia feels a federal law is wrong, they have the right to nullify it, just as the Northern states nullified the fugitive slave laws in the 1800s.
Revealed: Julia Child Loved McDonalds
I'm with Julia Child on this one. Fast food chains like McDonalds and Burger King are wonderful creations. They provide the lower and middle classes with good-tasting sustenance at very affordable prices, just as Walmart does in the realm of consumer goods. And to those who say McDonalds food is "not sustenance," I ask: who would live longer--someone in the middle of the desert with no food whatsoever, or someone in the middle of the desert with a supply of Big Macs? Sure, McDonalds isn't the healthiest food in the world, but to say that it doesn't sustain you (not "real food," as they say) is pure nonsense.
UK Caps Foreign Workers
Comments David Shellenberger: "The U.K. is making the same mistake the U.S. has made in limiting the number of skilled workers allowed to enter the country. Both skilled and unskilled workers enrich a country, and their immigration should be welcomed. The protectionist policies are counter-productive, since employers will move operations to the countries where labor is available and markets are freer."

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Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/22/2010

2010-11-22T14:22:00.000-08:00

Unknown Number of Child Molestors Working for TSA
Another child rapist was found working for the TSA. As I've said before, the TSA had better get much more selective about their hiring process, because a job that allows you to look at nude photos of and touch the genitals of small children without their consent would be a dream job for a pedophile.
TSA at Trains and Subways Next?
The tentacles of the TSA are stretching ever further and curling ever tighter. Big Sis wants to make nude scans or genital gropes mandatory for anyone using the mass transit system, because--according to statist logic--any place that lacks the new security screening will just become the new target for terrorists. The logical conclusion of this reasoning would be for the TSA to install nude scanners over the doors of our house, to inspect us for weapons every time we leave our home.
Ron Paul Will Not Join Tea Party Caucus
Congressman Ron Paul, whose supporters were holding Tea Party protests months before Rick Santelli ever ranted, has decided he will not be joining the Congressional Tea Party Caucus. Not because he doesn't support the goals of the Tea Party, but because he doesn't want the government to co-opt a healthy, anti-government movement. While I think the Tea Party congressmen have good intentions, I share some of the same trepidation as Rep. Paul. I had the same sour feeling when I heard the government of Virginia might produce Tea Party license plates. The moment the Tea Party becomes accepted by the political establishment is the moment when we know the establishment no longer fears it.
GOP '12 Darkhorse Still Nameless
This Washington Post article attempts to put a name to that candidate that will come from nowhere to become a household name. Perplexingly, it features a photo of Tim Pawlenty, and recites already thoroughly discussed names such as Santorum, Pence, Brown, and Rubio. I think they miss the point of what a darkhorse candidate is. A real darkhorse candidate would be someone nobody is talking about, and very few have heard of right now. For instance, fmr. OK Gov. Frank Keating, PR Gov. Luis Fortuño, ID Sen. Jim Risch, or NE Sen. Mike Johanns.
Senate Awards $1.15b to Black Farmers
While I'll be the first to say that the government doesn't have the right to discriminate against anyone for anything on the basis of skin color, I don't see how the Senate's approval of $1.15 billion for black farmers sets the world right again. Government handouts to farmers should have never been given out in the first place, whether the farmers were "white," "black," or otherwise. Merely giving out more farm welfare does not solve the problem. A real solution would be to abolish all handouts to farmers, period.
Gore Regrets Ethanol
Al Gore shows a rare spark of candor in admitting what everybody else has slowly figured out: corn ethanol was a horrible idea. The Corn God was nothing more than a worthless idol for presidential candidates to kiss. We should have known from the beginning, however, that this was the case. If there is truly a more efficient manner of harvesting and using energy, the market will have every incentive to utilize it. Any product that needs government subsidies to get off the ground necessarily represents a diversion of resources from more worthwhile projects to less worthwhile projects.

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Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/21/2001

2010-11-21T14:26:00.000-08:00

Republican Governor Takes on TSA
Former two-term New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson has a bold, new op-ed in The Daily Caller calling for the federal government to return security functions to the private airline companies concerned. Gov. Johnson makes a good point: that no government bureaucracy has more of an interest in keeping passengers safe and secure (while maintaining their comfort and dignity) than the airline companies themselves. Why not let airline companies choose what level of security they want to employ, and then let passengers choose which airlines they feel safest flying?
Gates: Strike on Iran Would be Counter-Productive
Defense Secretary Robert Gates actually has some sage advice for those itching to make war against Iran: tread carefully. As it stands now, there is no alliance between Iran and al Qaeda, the Iranian people in general are sympathetic to Americans, and there is no such thing as an Iranian suicide bomber. All that could change. A war against Iran risks (other than bankrupting America and overstretching the US military) uniting the general Iranian populace against the West, and spurring the Iranian government to seek a nuclear weapon (something it is questionable whether they are actually doing right now).
Buffett Wants to Pay Higher Taxes
Just the other day, I was pondering where the Rockefellers and Fords went, and why they were replaced by sniveling, government-butt-kissing corporate welfare queens. Warren Buffett is Exhibit A. Buffett would feel so much better about himself if he and the rest of the job-creators payed higher taxes. Of course, his altruism is only skin deep, since higher taxes on the job-creators means less jobs for us "little folks".
LA Times: "Anti-Fed Movement is Racist"
Jacob Heilbrunn, of the LA Times, tries to connect the dots between the anti-Federal Reserve movement and anti-Semitism, because a couple of forgotten Fed-critics from the 1940's were anti-Semites. Nevermind that the most cogent Federal Reserve critics in history have largely been Semites: Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, Milton Friedman, to name just a few. I'll tell Mr. Heilbrunn what. Let's make NYU Prof. Israel Kirzner the next Fed Chairman. I'm sure Prof. Kirzner can dismantle the Fed in the most non-anti-Semitic way possible.
Feds Offer Faux Privatization for Airport Security
The feds have finally given in and allowed airports to opt out of the TSA! Wait... or have they? Creator of the TSA, Rep. John Mica, says there is a secret clause in the legislation that allows airports to give the TSA the boot and hire private security screeners. Except, airports can only choose one of five "private" contractors handpicked by the TSA. And the "private" security screeners will operate under TSA supervision. And the "private" security screeners have to follow all the same TSA procedures as before. Well, nevermind.
Denver School Board Floats Voucher Plan
Writes David Shellenberger: "The critics of choice laud the 'common cultural experience' provided by government schools. This experience is indoctrination in historical, legal, and economic mythology, conditioning to obedience to government, and acceptance of the mediocrity that comes with government services. A truly 'bold step' would be to get the government entirely out of education--not only its provision, but also its funding. This would allow maximum educational freedom, without the restrictions government will impose even with a voucher system."

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Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/20/2010

2010-11-20T15:05:00.000-08:00

Woman Sexually Assaulted by TSA
Yet more reports streaming in that the TSA has indeed received orders to begin actually, literally putting their hands down (or up) passengers pants, running their fingers between skin and clothing hem, and then giving a "pat" to the genitals and a "pat" to the buttocks. If this doesn't qualify as sexual assault, I don't know what does. This has been a point of objection to the "enhanced patdowns" for some time now: what kind of psychological effect will these forced gropings have on people who were victims of sexual assault at some earlier time in their life?
1 in 5 Americans "Mentally Ill"
The definition of "mental illness" these days is so broad. While I acknowledge that there are people with mental illnesses, I'm personally a bit of a mental illness skeptic. It seems like anyone who has changing emotions instantly diagnoses themselves "bipolar". Anyone who likes to keep to themselves must have "Aspergers". Anyone who ever gets sad is now "clinically depressed". Energetic kids now have "Attention Deficit Disorder". A hundred years ago, people probably would have just called these things "life".
Strident Anti-libertarian to Become GOP Chair
Michigan Republican Saul Anuzis, who infamously tried to get Congressman Ron Paul barred from the Republican debates because of his unorthodox opinions, has thrown his hat in the ring to become national GOP Chairman. With many Republicans drifting further into the libertarian corner and the GOP establishment finally making a home for the large numbers of independent libertarians, making Anuzis GOP Chair would be about as smart as making Rick Santorum the GOP Chair.
Clinton Hearts Bush
Bill Clinton reveals he had always been a George W. Bush fan. Once again: two peas in a pod. Bush did everything Clinton wished he could do, but couldn't, because of the Republican Congress in the '90's. Both Clinton and Bush were lovers of big government and big spending (though Clinton's spending habits were reined in by the GOP House), were eager to get our troops stuck in useless battles, and were pathologically dishonest.
Geithner Warns Republicans Not to Touch the Fed
Geithner has vowed to oppose any attempts to strip the Federal Reserve of any of its powers, and warns Republicans against "politicizing" the Fed. Despite the fact that, unfortunately, the US Constitution does grant Congress the sole power to "regulate the value" of money (Article I Section 8), it's laughable to think that the Fed currently has any non-political independence worth defending. The Fed's leadership is appointed by politicians, helps those politicians get re-elected, and then bails out the politicians' buddies on Wall Street. If we wanted to make the Fed truly independent, we'd make it a private bank like any other, with no government attachments, and force it to sink or swim on its market merits.
Cop Gets $185 Fine for Paralyzing 14 y.o.
A cop going 56 mph in a 30 mph speed zone, hit a 14 year old boy, making him a brain-damaged quadripilegic. The cop will, of course, pay the hefty price of $185 for his actions. (I got fined $110 a year ago for improperly clearing the snow off my back windshield during a 30 second drive down the road to the post office.) This raises the question I ask so often: Why are officers of the law held to a lower standard, rather than a higher standard, than the rest of us? If this man wasn't an employee of the State, he would have been dealt with in an immeasurably harsher manner. Shouldn't police officers who do these things know better? And because they know better, shouldn't they receive harsher punishments when they do these sorts of things? Are government employees our servants, or are they a privileged class? It's time we made that decision once and for all.

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Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/19/2010

2010-11-19T11:33:00.000-08:00

TSA Creator Turns Against TSA
Congressman John Mica, co-creator of the TSA, regrets his own creation, saying it has gone out of control and strayed entirely from what it was originally intended to be. Hopefully if even the TSA's daddy says its time to retire the program, there is hope for Congress to act in abolishing the organization and returning security procedures entirely to the private companies concerned.
Coburn Defends Rand Paul Against McCain
Senator-elect Rand Paul, whose belief that the war budget needs to be on the table for cuts recently took a tongue-lashing from John McCain, has found support in Sen. Tom Coburn, who stated: "Nothing is sacrosanct, it can't be." Coburn and Paul have it right. Bigger Pentagon budgets do not = a better national defense, any more than throwing more money at the Education Department = a better education system.
Senate Committee Wants AG to Have Website Kill Switch
A bill to give the Attorney General the power to "shut down" websites that appear to promote copyright infringement (even if they do not actually engage in any illegal activities) has sailed through committee. Very saddening to see some of the names that voted in favor of this blatant contradiction of the First Amendment. The AG is given a huge power whose justification is almost entirely subjective. Whether the promotion of copyright infringement is "central" to a website is about as objective as "porn" being "you'll know it when you see it."
Perry Wants War in Mexico
Texas Gov. Rick Perry thinks we should deploy US troops into Mexico to fight the Drug War. This would, of course, be a good idea if we were intent upon bankrupting our country, worsening the drug problem, stretching an overstretched military even thinner, and creating a destabilized narcostate on our Southern border. A better solution would be to legalize marijuana and make it a boring, old, taxed and regulated product like alcohol or tobacco. Instead, a move like this would drive up drug prices and make the trade even more lucrative.
Taxpayers in Deep Water on GM Bailout
Looks like all that taxpayer money the government dumped into Government Motors--excuse me, "General Motors"--hasn't exactly turned out to be the most worthwhile "investment." Of course, even if GM had paid back all the money, taxpayers would still be in just as deep of water, since GM would be paying it back to the government (which would just spend the repaid money on other things, as they have done with the repaid Wall Street Bailout money), not to the taxpayers.
Michelle the Salad Bar Crusader
The bankrupt government is adding 5,000 salad bars to schools. Nevermind the fact that salads have been shown to be potentially just as salty, fattening, and calorie-rich as some fast food. The most cost-effective way the government could fight childhood obesity would be to revoke the legislation requiring kids to go to an institution where they are forced to sit on their butts for half the day.

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Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/18/2010

2010-11-18T16:43:00.000-08:00

Southwest Airlines Sick of TSA
Southwest Airlines is growing audibly agitated with having the TSA forced on them and having their passengers "molested" (their word, not mine). And why shouldn't they be agitated, when the government's DMV-style "security" process is losing them millions in flights, billions in revenue, and has provoked a day of protest on the busiest flying day of the year (Nov. 24)? The private airline companies could provide better security themselves, and they know it, but can't do anything about it until Congress acts.
McCain Takes Swipe at Rand Paul
McCain is willing to throw his arm around the shoulder of Russ Feingold or Joe Lieberman, but don't even ask him about fellow Republican Rand Paul. Like most establishment Republicans, McCain is willing to go along with the whole limited government talk, except when it's actually proposed to limit government. By the way, where on earth does McCain get off implying Rand Paul is a "protectionist"?
GOP Could Make Trouble For Google
Republicans in Congress rightly want to look into Google's buddy-buddy relationship with the Obama administration, but where were they when Dick Cheney's buddy Halliburton was getting first dibs on oil contracts in freshly "liberated" Iraq? Let's hope they've learned their lesson. And while a separation of state and private industry is good, it seems Republicans are also worried about "consumer privacy." They should be more worried, however, about citizen privacy (like repealing the Patriot Act, abolishing the TSA, and ending the Drug War) than the privacy of people who voluntarily use a private service they can opt out of at any time.
Palin Supports a Gold Standard?
Sarah Palin was on FOX Business's Freedom Watch recently, where she expressed concern that our currency was "not backed up by anything." This seems to be a blatant swipe at the whole concept of fiat currency (money whose value a government declares by fiat, as opposed to a real money whose value is set by the market). Could Sarah be reading Austrian econ?
Wikileaks Founder Wanted for Rape
The heroic Julian Assange, who has risked his life and safety to inform Americans of what their government is doing in their name, and who, despite all fear-mongering to the contrary, has not put any info source's life at risk, is a threat to the perceived legitimacy of the current federal government. This may help explain why he is being accused of rape again (despite the fact that there was no evidence to back up the last rape accusation). The CIA has already promised to try to "crush" him. If Assange is truly guilty of rape, then let him face the full punishment of the law, but something about these allegations just seems too convenient for feds looking to shut him up.
Obama: Child Soldiers are A-OK
Obama has shocked the international community by failing to condemn the use of child soldiers in at least four countries. Why? Because these child soldiers are often used to fight "America's" enemies. While I am not one who feels the government is constitutionally authorized to spend its time wagging its finger at the internal affairs of other countries anyway, this really gives a window into Obama's mindset. Obama has missed the point entirely (as usual). The US government should have the highest standards in the world for decency and human rights. Even if it "benefits" us, the US government should not condone military dictatorships, torture, or child soldierism.

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Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/17/2010 (TSA Edition)

2010-11-17T15:28:00.000-08:00

CAUGHT IN LIE: Porno-Scanners CAN Save Images
Just the latest scandal in the long chain of abuse and deception comprising "Gropegate". It turns out the claim that porno-scanners can not save images to a harddrive is a complete lie, as evidenced by a leak of 100 saved nude scans from Orlando, Florida. What's more? An attorney says that the 100 leaked images comprise only a small fraction of the 35,000 saved nude images from that single location.
Twitter Users Deluge CNN with TSA Question to Obama
Reddit.com has started a campaign urging Twitter users to Tweet: "@cnn Mr. President: Would you send Michelle/Sasha/Malia through TSA screening? Naked photos or invasive genital groping, you get to pick." It will be interesting to see whether CNN notices this, and attempts to get an answer from the President. How appropriate does Mr. Obama see these latest TSA measures, if they must be applied to him and his own family?
TSA Aims to Make Life Miserable for Porno-Scan Resister
John Tyner, the man who only flew through San Diego airport because their website had said they did not employ porno-scanners (yet, when he arrived at the airport, not only were there scanners there after all, but he was pulled out of line to be sent through one of them), and who refused to be either scanned or groped, is now the victim of an $11,000 fine. The TSA is claiming that once he entered the security area, he was not allowed to leave (even though TSA agents told him he was), and that he HAD to be either scanned or groped. If Mr. Tyner DID have a bomb, what good would it have done to drag him back to a crowded area? In any case, this unreasonable fine clearly has nothing to do with keeping anyone secure, and everything to do with scaring citizens into submission.
TSA Makes Handicapped 4 y.o. Walk Through Security Without Leg Braces
As someone with a younger sister who has prosthetic feet, the issue of the TSA exposing people's private health conditions for all the world to see has always made my blood boil. This goes beyond the pale, however. But what do we expect when security services are wrenched away from private companies that are accountable to passengers, and placed in the hands of an unaccountable bureaucracy?
Chertoff Got Sweetheart Deal Selling Porno-Scanners to TSA?
Turns out the guy making the big bucks selling these porno-scanners to the TSA is none other than old Michael Chertoff. This whole scandal is beginning to stink to high heaven.
Sen. McCaskill: TSA Groping = "Love Pats"
The head of the TSA concurs with Ms. Clare McCaskill: the TSA's genital-groping pat downs are "love pats". Despite how creepy that sounds, all I have to say is: if TSA groping = "love pats", then rape = "love making".

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Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/16/2010

2010-11-16T14:18:00.001-08:00

TSA Putting Hands Down Fliers' Pants
Big Sis doesn't back down in the face of a massive public outcry against the government's infringements upon basic human decency and individual liberty. In fact, she steps it up a notch. Reports from passengers are starting to come in that the TSA has received orders to begin actually, literally putting their fingers in between some passengers' skin and pants-waists. Perhaps the feds think this will shock people into submission, but I have a feeling it is helping to awaken a giant that has been sleeping since 1781.
Gay Activists: "Et Tu, Barack?"
Gay rights activists chained themselves to the White House fence because they, like many of those who helped Obama get elected, are waiting for the answer to the question: Where's the change? Obama ran on a gay-friendly platform, and promised in his SOTU to get DADT repealed. So why are Obama's lawyers fighting to reinstate DADT? Here's your opportunity, Republicans.
No Safety for Christians in Democratic Iraq
Iraq's 2000-year-old Christian community is on the verge of extinction. Since the "liberation" of Iraq, Christians have been the targets of persecution both militaristic and political. It seems Iraq has changed from an authoritarian dictatorship that allowed one small group of people to terrorize all the rest, into an authoritarian democracy that allows everyone to terrorize everyone else. Christians that are not being slaughtered in the country are being driven out by the policies of the ballot box.
NJ Judge Jails Responsible Gun Owner
Brian Aitken is facing seven years in prison because of some weird gun technicality that no one seems to understand but the stridently anti-gun Judge James Morley. Aitken had made a thoroughly good-faith effort to comply with NJ's gun laws when he moved from Colorado, where had legally purchased his firearms. When he started feeling depressed because of marriage troubles, his mother, a social worker who had been trained to always call the police first if there's any suspicion someone could be a danger to themselves, called the cops to make sure everything was all right with her son. Well, everything was all right, but when they searched his car and found his guns (which were properly disassembled and locked up), they took him in, not believing that he was merely transporting them from one residence to another. The moral of the story?: Police (and the entire government for that matter) are not your buddies, and should only be called upon as a very last resort.
Govt Stamps Out Youth Entrepreneurship
Two 13-year-old aspiring entrepreneurs got a taste of government bureaucracy in New York recently, when their $1 bake sale was busted up by cops, thanks to the nosey beak of New Castle Councilman Michael Wolfensohn. The boys didn't have a business license, i.e. they hadn't given the govermafia its cut. Nowadays we wonder why the Rockefellers and Fords have been replaced by sniveling, government-butt-kissing corporate welfare queens.
Your Tax $: Ditching People on Mars?
NASA's latest idea for spending your paycheck: dropping people off on Mars for the rest of their lives. While this (and most other NASA missions) might sound "cool", are there no better uses of our money? NASA has become like a thief that steals money from people to finance aspiring artists. Sure, maybe the art that is produced is "profoundly inspiring", but that misses the point. American workers should be free to spend their money how they see fit. If people want to spend their own money on space exploration, so be it, but otherwise the necessity of a government space exploration institution is questionable at best.

Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/15/2010

2010-11-15T18:18:00.000-08:00

Rhodes Economist: Private Airline Security Would be Safer
Says Prof. Art Carden in Forbes, there is no reason for the feds to monopolize airport security, and certainly no reason for the feds to have to look at you nude, or touch your private areas. Prof. Carden calls the TSA not "security," but "security theater." A determined terrorist could easily get through security if he wanted to. All terrorist incidents in the air, from Flight 93 onward, have ultimately been stopped by courageous passengers, not the TSA's spotty, knee-jerk reaction policies.
SCOTUS May Ditch the Constitution
The United States Supreme Court will soon issue a landmark decision on the validity of the Constitution. Judges' disregard for the Constitution has been becoming bolder and bolder over the centuries, and they may be bold enough now to just come right out and flaunt their anti-constitutionalism. The SCOTUS will decide whether federal judges can "void" the Constitution. If they say "Yea," expect an even greater explosion of federal overreach.
W: I Wanted To Endorse Obama
George W. Bush says he would have endorsed Obama if the Obama camp had had the guts to ask him. No surprise. Bush and Obama are two peas in a pod. Obama has basically taken everything that Bush began and continued or magnified it. Obama still has us in Iraq, he intensified the Afghanistan war, continued the bailouts, did even bigger stimulus packages, printed even more money, outdid Bush's record deficits, re-authorized the Patriot Act for another 15 years, and his administration has fought to defend the Drug War and DADT policy that Bush supported. Surprised?
Ron Paul to Become Bernanke's Worst Nightmare
As the senior Republican on the domestic monetary policy subcommittee in Congress, Fed opponent Ron Paul will likely have the chairmanship. As such, he will be able to initiate a subpoena of Ben Bernanke and other Fed officials, and will have much greater ability to get a real audit of the Fed passed. The Fed can't keep hiding behind its laughable "independence" (as though an institution whose leaders are appointed by politicians, and who routinely help bail out the politicians' buddies on Wall Street is "independent" from politics). It's time for them to open up.
City Workers Treat Human Corpse Like Trash
Yet another reason why the government should not be involved in services private firms are just as capable of providing. NYC morgue workers dragged a dead man's body on the floor and down a flight of stairs, and then hoisted it into a truck like a garbage bag. What should we expect from an organization that doesn't have to satisfy customers to stay in business?
How A Business Should Not Be Run
Don Otto's Market in Boston's South End went out of business recently, and published a scathing criticism of the community for not buying its products. Well, if a business doesn't offer consumers what they want at prices they can afford, it's going to go out of business. Duh. It's a business's job to adjust to the customer, not customers' jobs to adjust to the tastes of the business. That's the beauty of the market.

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Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/14/2010

2010-11-14T17:51:00.000-08:00

TSA Backlash Costing Airlines 41M Flights/$9.4B
Citizens are in revolt. A U.S. Travel Association survey found that growing backlash against Gropegate is costing airlines millions of flights, and billions in lost revenue. A November 24th "National Opt Out Day" movement is encouraging people to opt out of airport porno-scanners en masse, on the busiest flying day of the year. Airlines are taking notice and are pleading with HS Sec. Napolitano for some sanity. A showdown is coming.
Palin to Freshmen Reps: Avoid Cutting War Spending
Sarah Palin's sage advice to newly elected congresswomen and men was mixed with some other, questionable marching orders. She advised them to avert their gaze from the massive war budget in their zeal for fiscal responsibility. I understand she's honestly looking out for the nation's safety, but Sarah must understand that a bigger war budget does not = a stronger defense, any more than throwing more money at the Department of Education = a better educational system. Republicans should heed Sarah's good advice to repeal Obamacare, stand strong against tax increases, and get serious about cutting spending, but they should include bloated war spending near the top of their list of budgets to slash. The debt is now a bigger national security threat than any group of terrorists.
Secret Walmart Survey Shows Inflation Is Here
Inflation has been here all along. Monetary inflation affects different sectors of the economy to different degrees. Prices have been skyrocketing in the key areas of education, health care, and energy, for instance, for years. Walmart says inflation is now making its way down to even the lowest-order consumer goods. As I've been saying since the Fed first started slamming down on the monetary printing press's pedal a few years ago, now is the time to invest in gold and commodities.
Woman Loses Access to Driveway in Tax Dispute
An elderly woman paying for chemo therapy treatments was unable to afford Connecticut's stiflingly high taxes, and the city foreclosed on a couple acres of her land (specifically, her driveway). Her driveway is now chained off, and she must walk through the woods to get to her car. She is effectively blockaded from rescue personnel in the event of a medical emergency, and though the local news station has picked up her story, the city government refuses to talk about it, except to say that "the easiest and quickest solution" is for her to buy a different adjacent plot of land and build a new driveway to a different street. No, the easiest and quickest solution would be for the city to return her stolen property.
"Keep the Govt's Hands Off My Social Security!"
Social Security recipients are getting worried about the budget scalpel that's inching closer to their entitlements. While they are justifiably upset, since they feel they have paid into a system that is trying to scam them out getting their own money back, we need to start coming to terms with the fact that the State has spent and wasted all the money retirees have paid in. The money is not there. There is no easy solution. While payments to current Social Security recipients should arguably be the last thing to cut (except for recipients who are already very wealthy), entitlements must be on the table. All reputable statistics show that entitlement spending is set to entirely consume the federal budget within a matter of decades.
Post Office Runs $8.5B Deficit
The deficit is up from $3.8 billion last year. Time to privatize the post office. Losses are the market's way of informing us that value is being destroyed for society. The US Postal Service has given back to society a product that society judges to be $8.5 billion less valuable than the resources the US Postal Service used up. There is no reason government has to run the postal service--FedEx and UPS have shown the market is capable of delivering physical mail. Supporters of a State-run postal system fear that private enterprise would not be able to offer first-class mail delivery for a mere 46 cents an envelope, but they do not take into account that we also pay in taxes and inflation the entire budget (including the deficit) of the Postal Service.

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Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/13/2010

2010-11-13T12:38:00.000-08:00

TSA Screener Molests 3 Year Old Child at Security Checkpoint
The public backlash against the TSA's ridiculously invasive screening procedures is rightly growing. The latest video is particularly bizarre: a TSA agent insists on thrusting his or her (I can't tell) hands in between a traumatized three year old's body parts, while the child pleads with the agent to stop touching her. Not even a doctor would behave in such an insensitive and intrusive way with another human being. The only other type of person who would dare act in such a way toward a young child is an aggressive pedophile. Let's hope the TSA's background checks are thorough, because this type of airport screening would be a dream job for anyone who happened to have a fetish for underaged children. I will be doing my part in defending basic decency and individual liberty, by refusing to fly through any airport that employs pornographic scanners or invasive body search techniques.
$27 Light Bulbs Billed Under Stimulus?
We shouldn't be surprised. Paul Krugman would actually be cheering such a thing. This is the direct result of the Keynesian philosophy that things like "consumer demand" can be aggregated into one big homogenous lump, and that all one needs to do to increase prosperity is to "increase aggregate demand." According to Keynesians like Krugman, it doesn't matter what you spend money on, so long as you push that line to the right on your tidy little graph. Austrian School economists would beg to differ.
New York Officials Seek to Ban Alcoholic Energy Drinks
New York City seeks to join the ranks of a few remaining rural counties (so-called "dry counties") that time forgot, in inching closer back to the Prohibition Era. Do NYC legislators really think people are incapable of putting some liquor in their morning coffee? If so, what good will this law do, other than to destroy more jobs? Even the otherwise big-government FDR had enough sense to change his position from a pro-Prohibition candidate to a pro-Freedom-of-Consumption candidate when he became President.
Government Watchdog Planned for Online Privacy
Talk about putting the fox in charge of the hen house! The same government that authorized itself to read your emails, document your web surfing history, listen to your international phone calls, and even enter your physical home, without a written search warrant from a judge, now claims to be concerned about privacy. The government should worry about curtailing its own privacy infringements, before it worries about the privacy of Internet-users voluntarily submitting their personal information to Facebook or Google (services that anyone can at least opt out of at any time, unlike the US government).
Pay to Protect: Sheriff Cutting Services to City Over Late Payment
One of the most repeated arguments against privatizing local police or firefighting services has always been that the most cash-strapped among us would be unable to afford protection. However, it seems every instance we've seen of people being refused property protection has been people being refused by the government. Private security or firefighting firms are always willing to work with customers or potential customers to ensure services are provided, because private firms' very existence relies on satisfied customers, whereas government can always fall back on a tax increase. Perhaps the city of Lauderdale Lakes would not be so heavily indebted to the Broward Sheriff's Office if they weren't paying the always-exorbitant prices that government so loves to charge.
7 of 10 Richest Counties Surround DC
Government programs are wealth redistribution programs. They redistribute wealth from working Americans to government employees. While Washington's policies make the entire country poorer, they make Washington richer. We've had a NASDAQ bubble, a housing bubble, and an oil bubble. We now have a government bubble. When the government bubble bursts, the value of the government's assets will plummet, especially its currency. As federal employees enjoy the purchasing power of the massive amounts of newly printed money, everyone else necessarily loses purchasing power.

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

Why There's A Boom-Bust Cycle

2010-11-11T17:57:00.000-08:00

A week ago, I challenged newly empowered Republicans to learn economics. Educating ourselves on this oft-ignored subject is necessary if we want to prove our worth to voters. So let's talk about the most enigmatic economic phenomenon there is: the business cycle.

Sun flares, harvests, and vague "animal spirits" have all been proposed by respected economists as possible causes for the "boom-bust" cycle--that mysterious wave of countless entrepreneurs who all make similar mistakes at the same time, followed by the equally mysterious wave of business failures brought about by the nearly simultaneous exposing of these errors.

Business errors are normal. Everyone makes mistakes. But why isn't there just a more-or-less steady flow of entrepreneurial mistakes? Why do we constantly see tons of businesses making the same errors at the same time, and why do businesses realize their errors at the same time? Where do bubbles come from, and how do they get so big?

Since this is a problem that affects the entire economy, we ought to turn our focus on the institution that can affect the entire economy in one fell blow: the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve (the "Fed") is a central bank that can create money and manipulate interest rates. What happens when the Federal Reserve injects money into the economy?

Well, the first obvious point is that prices go up. But all prices don't rise to the same extent when new money is printed. Prices first rise to the greatest extent in the area of the economy that first receives the new money. If the Fed gives new money to Person A, then Person A goes to the store and spends the money on certain goods, causing the prices of those goods to go up, while the prices of other goods still remain the same. Other prices may rise as the new money disperses itself throughout the economy, but the effects of new money are felt most strongly in the areas that the new money first touches.

What happens when the Fed injects newly printed money into the loan market, where entrepreneurs go to get loans with which to build factories and machinery and buildings and such? Well, the price of loans (i.e. the "interest rate" on loans) is going to go down, because there is more money available to loan out. The same thing happens when there are more apples to sell: the price of apples goes down.

Since it becomes easier to get loans, businessmen tend to take out more loans to use on projects they wouldn't have been able to afford before. However, businesses don't just build for the sake of building stuff. They build things to satisfy consumers' demands. Has consumer demand changed? No. Businessmen aren't building more things because consumers are demanding more things, but merely because the Fed has made business loans artificially easy to get.

Normally, when consumers are ready for bigger projects that take more time to complete, they save more money. Because there's more saved money available to be loaned out, the price of loans (the "interest rate" on loans) falls. In this case, consumers have legitimately provided entrepreneurs with the resources to build bigger things that take more time to produce. But in the case of the Fed, because consumer saving has not provided entrepreneurs with an increase in actual resources with which to build things, entrepreneurs must eventually hit a wall, where they realize that there's not enough resources with which to finish their projects. They realize that consumers were not ready for these projects in the first place.

This is like a house builder who uses too many bricks on the foundation, and runs out of bricks when he's building the upper part of the house. This can be seen, literally, in buildings like the Dubai Tower or the abandoned home construction projects in America.

Entrepreneurs hit this wall when the flow of free dollars from the Fed slows down, usually due to fear of price inflation. When this point is reached, the Fed must either stop printing money, causing these malinvestments to crash... or they can try to print more money to keep the bubble expanding, but they do so with the ever-increasing risk of hyperinflation--runaway price rises that eventually cause people to abandon the currency and revert to a barter economy until a new currency can be established.

Republicans must understand how the boom-bust cycle works, and why inflation is not the answer to our problems. The bust is not the problem. The bust is the correction of the problem. The boom is the problem. To avoid artificial booms (i.e. "bubbles"), we must limit the ability of the Fed to inject money into the economy as much as possible (and, of course, the most complete limitation of the Fed's ability would be to abolish the Fed entirely).

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Published at RightOSphere.

Hardcore Capitalist's Perspective - 11/11/2010

2010-11-11T00:25:00.000-08:00

Deficit Panel's Leaders Push Cuts
This is a good start! The recommendations could be stronger though, considering what we need to do. It shouldn't take 5 years to get the deficit down to 2% of GDP, nor should it take 27 years to balance the budget. I'm also surprised anyone is planning for Social Security in 2075, as though it will still be around then. It is encouraging to see them tackling entitlements and proposing some much-needed benefit reductions and retirement age hikes. We could get huge savings from freeing the education system from federal control, allowing people to grow and consume marijuana (which is less harmful than alcohol), and from relocating our troops from WWII-era military bases in Europe and Asia to our own borders. Let's hope the government actually follows through, and the deficit panel's recommendations don't go the way of Pay-Go.
DeMint: We'll ban earmarks right away
Looks like banning earmarks will be on the top of the agenda for Republicans. While I recognize that banning earmarks won't save one single penny, since any money that's not earmarked by Congress will just go straight to Obama, I've decided this is a good idea, since once earmarks are no longer an issue, Republicans will no longer be able to use it as a distraction from making actual, meaningful budget cuts.
Stranded on a Carnival cruise ship
The passengers on this cruise-from-hell have gotten a lot of deserved sympathy (plus full refunds and free cruise tickets), but as a hardcore capitalist, I always feel bad for the company too. Carnival Cruises has run thousands of flawless cruises, but because of one mess-up, their reputation may have been irreparably devastated. As someone who has cruised with Carnival before and had a great time, I hope the company doesn't take too big a blow.
Flight attendants union upset over new pat-down procedures
A workers' union finally does something helpful, for once! The airline workers union has told the TSA: no more naked scanners, no more groping. Airline security is important, but we need to draw the line somewhere. Would you want your spouse's or child's naked image being gawked at or their private areas being felt up by some random bureaucrat? (In the name of "national security" of course.)
Law curbs McDonalds Happy Meal toys
The government has taken over vast swaths of the health care industry, the government has forced children into compulsory schooling institutions where they've been fed one or two government-approved meals every day, and the government has engaged in a monetary policy that enables massive consumption without the corresponding hard work. It now wonders why there is an obesity epidemic. The government's solution?: ban Happy Meal toys, since it's clearly all McDonalds's fault.
China may be bigger economy than US within 2 years
China has enjoyed huge economic growth while the US begins an economic descent. We can learn a lot from our Asian friends. They have achieved spectacular growth with high savings rates, little consumption, little money-printing, low taxes and tariffs, few and weakly-enforced regulations, and living within their means. The US government has taken the exact opposite strategy, and is now moving in the opposite direction. Perhaps the "Communist" (capitalist) Chinese can give Obama a lesson in economics!

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

Republicans Must Learn Economics

2010-11-07T16:49:00.000-08:00

Voters have given the GOP the opportunity to make an unbelievable difference in the history of our nation. Let's not waste it!

The economy is the most important issue right now, and it will continue to be for the forseeable future. The Republican Party has taken great interest in foreign policy and social issues, but we've forgotten not only what makes an economy thrive, but why. Our party's politicians voted for record-breaking deficits, prescription drug entitlements, and stood by quietly while Greenspan and Bernanke floored the monetary printing press. Republicans didn't stand up against these actions because they didn't understand precisely why they were wrong.

Learning economics--real economics--is the only way we survive, both politically and financially. The conservative movement has a great tradition of economic wisdom. The arguments for low taxes, low spending, and low monetary inflation are sound, tested, and proven.

When the Federal Reserve's first bubble economy popped in 1921, unemployment soared to almost 12%. The Republican Harding administration took a complete laissez faire approach: no stimulus, no bailouts, no "quantitative easing". Within three years, unemployment returned to nearly 2%.

When President Reagan inherited from Carter an economy on the brink of inflationary depression, Reagan and Fed Chairman Volcker stopped the monetary printing press, raised interest rates, cut taxes, and put the brakes on spending. The economy suffered a brief recession, got the muck out of its system, and returned to a decade of a solid growth.

On the other hand, every time government tries its hardest to intervene in and stop a recession, the recession gets drawn out into an economic catastrophe. Hoover and FDR's New Deal (yes, it was a joint effort) turned the 1929 crash into a Great Depression. Ford and Carter's interventionism gave us the Great Stagflation. Bush and Obama's New New Deal (lest we forget that the bailouts and stimuli and inflation were Bush's ideas) has turned the routine popping of an asset bubble into a Great Recession.

There is a reason why free markets work and interventionism doesn't. Markets work because people are allowed to come together and coordinate their wants and desires through mechanisms such as prices and interest rates. Because no central planners can ever possibly know what consumers want and need better than consumers know for themselves, central planners are doomed to failure. Where ever governments intrude, they merely distort and black out these market signals, making it impossible for buyers and sellers to coordinate their activities.

We need to become experts on economic history, and we must be able to articulate how an economy functions.

I challenge you, the reader, to go read at least one book by each of these three authors, and to try to finish the books before the next Congress reconvenes on January 3rd:

•Any one book by Murray Rothbard. (My personal suggestion: What Has Government Done To Our Money?)
•Any one book by F. A. Hayek. (My personal suggestion: Individualism and Economic Order)
•Any one book by Milton Friedman. (My personal suggestion: Free to Choose)

We can make a tremendous difference, and make 2010 an unforgettable year of right decisions in our nation's history. We just need to learn what works, what doesn't, and why.

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Published on RightOSphere.com.

This Could Be Huge

2010-11-03T23:01:00.000-07:00

The single most important vote that our new Senators will have to decide, when they convene in January, is whether or not to raise the national debt ceiling. The government will continue to spend without limit, so long as the ceiling keeps rising. One senator, however, is all it takes to stop it.

One senator can filibuster the raising of the national debt ceiling, single-handedly forcing the government to stop spending our money, forcing the government to default on its debt and work out a realistic plan for repaying its creditors, and forcing the government's credit rating to be lowered, thereby ending its ability to borrow without limit.

Extreme courage is a must for any senator who would think of doing such a thing. Taking our medicine will be painful initially, but we must do it if we want to start building an economy on a solid foundation, and not on a foundation of debt and inflation. And default is the only option. Either the government defaults on its debt honestly and hammers out a genuine solution for repayment, or the government defaults on its debt by paying it back in increasingly worthless, newly-printed money (i.e. hyperinflation). The first option will cause tons of unsound businesses to fail and workers to be relocated at first, but will allow us to return to real growth. The latter option will fuel a bubble economy until the breaking point, ultimately destroying sound and unsound businesses and jobs alike, as well as making the Dollar completely worthless.

If a Republican filibusters the debt ceiling, I will be frank in saying: Yes, it will probably hurt the GOP's chances in 2012. However, the economic readjustment it would allow can work very quickly if not hindered. The country will breathe an enormous sigh of relief when a huge chunk of the debt load disappears (the governments of China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia will not, but they should have known better than to lend to the US government anyway). Yet, many government programs and businesses being supported by subsidies or monetary inflation will inevitably die.

Filibustering will take guts. Fortunately, there are a few senators who might be willing to stand up for We The People in this way.

If you feel as I do, please email the following four Senators/Senators-elect, and ask them to filibuster the raising of the national debt ceiling:

* Rand Paul: http://www.randpaul2010.com/contact/
* Mike Lee: http://www.mikelee2010.com/contact/
* Jim DeMint: http://demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=CommentOnLegislationIssues
* Tom Coburn: http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactform

I've chosen Coburn, DeMint, Lee, and Paul, because they seem to be the most principled fiscal conservatives the Senate can claim. However, if you feel it would be worthwhile to urge other Senators as well, please do so.

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Published at RightOSphere.

Danger

2010-10-22T01:56:00.000-07:00

Fed Chairman Bernanke has been making the rounds drumming up support for a new bout of monetary inflation, and warning of the grave dangers of falling prices (just look at how stagnant the computer industry is!). The following charts show how seriously we need to take his warnings:

1. We're in danger of serious price deflation!

2. The money supply is dwindling and needs liquidity injections!

3. Bernanke's first round of money-printing fixed the stock market!

4. The US Dollar is too strong! We need to devalue it to be competitive!

Questions anyone?

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

Thank God For Google

2010-10-21T21:09:00.001-07:00

Grab your pitchfork and join the lynch mob: someone is making money.

That's what Matt Drudge would have us do, at least. He accused Google of "robbing" the government of $60 billion in a headline on his site this week. How'd they pull off a heist like that, you ask? By doing their best to legally avoid America's suffocatingly high corporate tax rates.

Opponents of a federal income tax warned us about this kind of mentality when the 16th amendment was being debated. The government owns everything you produce. They let you keep what's left over in your paycheck out of the goodness of their heart. After all, they're free to take 100% of your income if they want.

All wealth belongs to society (i.e. government), according to this collectivist philosophy. Thus, any wealth the State lets you keep is a cost to society (i.e. government). Taxes don't cost you anything, but tax cuts rob the public (i.e. government). This "logic" obscures the fact that if Google paid more taxes, the American people wouldn't be any better off. Just the government would.

Collectivists reason that since the college student who started Google received a government scholarship, there's no question that the government should own everything Google ever produced. But nobody applies such a silly standard to the wealth earned by other successful firms that got started thanks to a loan or gift of money from a benefactor. Why should the benefactor have a claim to all the wealth that firm produces?

Instead of cooking up ways to eat productive businesses like Google, we ought to thank them for the tons of awesome services they provide for free. How often do you use Google's search engine, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Earth, Blogspot, YouTube, or any of the other products they host--products that would have blown your mind, fifteen years ago? And how many times have you ever had to pay a fee? How many of those things do you think they would be able to provide, if they were paying 35% in taxes rather than 2.4%? Heck, they might not be in business today if they had been paying such high taxes. Better 2.4% of something than 35% of nothing.

The government won't crack down on Google's tax dodging, if they know what's good for them. Unless they want to run some of the world's greatest companies out of the States altogether. We the public would do well to zip our "eat-the-rich", populist rhetoric as well, and recognize how lucky we are to have top-notch firms like Google in our backyard.

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

Here Are The Jobs

2010-10-20T18:58:00.000-07:00

"Where are the jobs?"

John Boehner's refrain is the de-facto slogan of Republicans looking to win big this year. Democrats took over Congress in 2007 and the White House in 2009. It's almost 2011. What do they have to show for it? Unemployment remains at 9.6%, and it's stayed above 9.5% for 14 consecutive months. Two and a half million jobs have disappeared since the government "stimulated" the economy.

Republican lawmakers should not forget, however, that the current recession started on their watch. The GOP cannot pin Bush-Greenspan's reckless inflationism on the Democrats, any more than the GOP can absolve itself of the pre-2009 bailouts and record deficit spending. Yet, we've enjoyed two full years of Democrat rule, and matters show no signs of improvement. It's time for the Democrats to take responsibility, and voters will definitely hold them responsible next month.

If Republicans win a majority in the House and a majority or near-majority in the Senate, they must take care not to promise voters too much. Republicans can unshackle the economy and bring down the unemployment rate, but not painlessly.

This recession began because of the easy money policies of the Bush-Greenspan Federal Reserve. Cheap credit served as a potent liquor, impairing the judgment of financial institutions. Inebriated lenders poured all this new money into crazy gambles in the mortgage market, enticed by the Treasury's implicit guarantee of Fannie and Freddie. This distortion of market signals diverted capital into all sorts of construction projects that nobody really wanted, and starved the areas of the economy that actually needed capital.

The Fed's monetary spigot started sputtering in 2008, and the mortgage market cringed in the first rays of reality's cold, harsh light. The gig was up for these malinvestments. Now, truly profitable, worthwhile businesses hunger for capital, so they can hire and produce again.

Wasteful businesses must fail and sell off their assets, allowing worthwhile businesses to buy up capital and labor for productive purposes. America needs more unemployment--at least temporarily. All these "stimulus" jobs, bailouts, and cheap loans simply keep resources from returning to sensible uses. Lawmakers insist, however, upon preventing this painful but necessary adjustment period.

The market will begin to realign, if Republicans take over and end these destructive government interventions. Market adjustments involve pain, unfortunately. The unemployment rate will rise, as government jobs expire and unprofitable businesses close up. Republicans must resist the temptation to respond with knee-jerk interventionism. If they truly do the right thing, unemployment will spike, but eventually begin a steep descent.

Normality can return within a year or two, as every historical indication shows, if government steps back and allows the market to clean up the politicians' mess. Unemployment soared to 11.7% when the (newly-created) Federal Reserve's first bubble economy popped in 1921. The Harding administration stood back and did absolutely nothing, and by 1923, unemployment plummeted back to 2.4%. Reagan and Fed Chairman Paul Volcker had the good sense to plug the monetary spigot and slash taxes, when they inhereted from Carter an economy teetering on the verge of inflationary depression. High interest rates and a bout of unemployment ensued, but quickly reversed for a healthy decade of economic growth.

Republicans can give Americans a job-producing economy back, but they'll need to wrangle the government down for the free market to function again. That means a lot of unproductive employment must initially disappear, but if government stays out of the way, work will soon reappear in productive and sustainable forms. Only then can we truly say, "Here are the jobs."

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

China's Capitalist Revolution

2010-10-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

Could a pro-market, pro-free trade, pro-civil liberties public figure become President of China? It certainly appears so.

The post of Vice Chairman, almost always a stepping stone to the presidency, has been filled by Xi Jinping. Xi is a corruption-fighting, market liberal who vociferously denounced the Tiananmen Square massacre, and whose father Xi Zhongxun was purged from Chairman Mao's regime for abandoning his socialist beliefs. Xi has kept quiet on a lot of issues, but his reformist leanings are a sort of unspoken secret that everyone knows. Choosing Xi allows the Chinese government to make a politically "safe" choice, while still moving in the direction of liberalization.

Xi's selection reflects a much larger trend in both Chinese culture and government policy. His rise to prominence also echoes that of a similar reform-minded leader from China's past: former Party Leader Deng Xiaoping. Deng, who had often butted heads with Mao's hardline communism, returned to the public policy sphere after the Chairman's death in 1976. He eventually took his open-minded, pro-business philosophy (immortalized by his saying, "I don't care if it's a black cat or a white cat, so long as it catches mice") to the top of the Party leadership, setting China on a completely new path.

Since Deng Xiaoping's leadership, government power has been significantly decentralized, contract-responsibility has been ingrained in the trade sector, subsidies have been slashed, the industrial sector has largely been privatized in all but name, and citizen entrepreneurship has been legalized and encouraged. Private companies are allowed to compete with state institutions, free trade zones have been established, and tariffs have been taken from a rate of 41% (in 1992) to 6%.

Up until recently China had no minimum wage (they now have one, though it is still one of the lowest in the developed world), Chinese citizens enjoy tax rates up to 30% lower than Americans, tax evasion goes largely unpunished, and there is minimal welfare or social security. Three years ago, the Chinese government passed strong pro-property protections, and lending standards remain very sensible, unlike in the United States, where the government interfered to demolish lending standards, helping result in a massive bubble.

The Chinese people also seem to appreciate this philosophy: they have put Henry Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson, F.A. Hayek's Road To Serfdom, and CATO's Toward Liberty on their best-seller list. According to a 2005 Globescan poll of twenty countries, China has the highest proportion of respondents in the world who agree with the statement that "the free market economy is the best system on which to base the future of the world." Seventy four percent of Chinese said yes to this, while 71% of Americans agreed. A Chicago Council on Global Affairs survey in 2006 also found that 87% of Chinese people supported globalization (compared to 60% of Americans), while 65% of Chinese people wholeheartedly support free trade (compared to 30% of Americans).

These increasingly liberal sentiments and policies, combined with the Chinese people's industrious work ethic and prodigious savings rate, have caused virtually all economists to agree that China will soon become the biggest economy in the world. There definitely remain serious depredations upon economic and personal liberty in China (internet censorship, the government's monopoly on labor negotiations, and the fact that even though property in China is treated as private property, it is all still technically referred to as being "on lease" from the State, to name a few of the biggest ones), but Xi Jinping's almost inevitable nomination seems to indicate that CHINA is more and more coming to stand for "Communist Homeland In Name Alone".

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

Careful, Mitch...

2010-10-16T12:52:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, Indiana Governor and potential presidential candidate Mitch Daniels sent the conservative blogosphere chattering with suggestions of implementing a Value Added Tax and tariffs on oil imports. Though he suffered some scathing criticism and endured reports that his 2012 prospects had been ruined, Mitch had his heart in the right place when he said those things.

Mitch, like many conservatives, feels concern that America has become a land of consumption without production. He watches as we consume efficiently-manufactured goods from China and other Asian countries, while we sell nothing in return except for our increasingly suspect paper IOUs. He wants America to stand up on its own two feet and start making things again, rather than just plunging further and further into debt.

However, Mitch must keep in mind that government solutions can only strike at the symptoms. Real solutions must come from the free market.

I'm sure that when Mitch proposed a VAT and oil tariffs, he had in mind a revenue-neutral rearrangement of the tax system. He would know better than to think that slapping such measures on top of all the other taxes and tariffs we already have wouldn't further cripple our lumbering economy. But he must realize that when the government imposes itself upon the market in order to solve one problem, it inevitably creates other problems elsewhere. In fact, oftentimes the government solution has the exact opposite effect of that which was intended, and actually makes everything worse all around.

Mitch feels that by taxing consumption rather than production, Americans will stop buying things they don't need and will start building up the lifeblood of savings that our capital starved productive sector desperately requires. However, we must remind ourselves that when the government taxes our money, the money doesn't go into a spending-proof savings box. The money goes into the government's coffers. Now, the savings rate of the American public is indeed an anemic 5% (the Chinese save around 50%), but the savings rate of the American government is, well, non-existant. Negative, in fact. Extremely negative.

So a tax on the American people's consumption, in this political environment, basically amounts to a transfer of money from a group of individuals who save very little to a group of individuals who save nothing and spend every penny they get on consumption. It may seem counterintuitive that a tax on consumption could actually increase consumption, but we take this risk when we entrust an institution as profligate and undisciplined as the State to try to tell us how we ought to manage our pocketbooks.

We must also keep in mind that, even if government could save our money better than we could ourselves, saving still only represents one side of the coin. The necessary flip-side of "saving" is "investing". We save so that we can invest. How would government, an entity far removed from the intricate market processes that created all that wealth to be saved in the first place, know where to invest that money better than the wealth-creators themselves?

As for oil tariffs, while they may cause us to produce more of our own energy, there lie many potential perils here as well. Not only would it risk sparking a trade war, but it would certainly cause prices at the pump to skyrocket for American consumers (and this would not help the shortage of savings). Furthermore, the law of comparative advantage tells us that some products should just be left to other countries to produce, and that we should not feel compelled to produce every single thing for ourselves.

We ought not to blame Mitch for agreeing with Bill Simons that a nation should "have a tax-system that looks like it was designed on purpose," but Mitch ought to also bear in mind the words of one of his professed intellectual heroes, F.A. Hayek, who said:

"The argument for liberty is not an argument against organization, which is one of the most powerful tools human reason can employ, but an argument against all exclusive, privileged, monopolistic organization, against the use of coercion to prevent others from doing better."

In other words, freedom can often be much more purposeful than any designs of government.

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

Can the State Be Trusted with Our Children?

2010-10-15T16:54:00.000-07:00

In the midst of this week's joyous celebrations over the reunion of thirty-three trapped Chilean miners with their families, the news media gave very little attention to the reunion of an infant named Cheyenne Irish with her parents.

"Baby Cheyenne," as she has come to be known during the highly emotional ordeal, was confiscated by the state of New Hampshire almost immediately after birth. The state social services agency offered nebulous reasoning for this action, but specifically mentioned that the baby's father, John Irish, affiliated himself with a group called the "Oath Keepers," a so-called "militia".

The Oath Keepers immediately denied the charges of being a "militia," and even a cursory perusal of their website reveals a decidedly non-violent, non-controversial group of active and former servicemen, firefighters, and emergency responders who take seriously their oaths to uphold and defend the US Constitution. Yet, the very fact that the father's political beliefs played any role at all in the government's decision to take away the Irish family's daughter has sent chills down the collective spine of those paying attention to the story. The notion of the State snatching people away for political motives seems like something to be expected of Hitler or Stalin's regimes, but not of the republic founded by Jefferson and Madison.

While the social services agency eventually returned Baby Cheyenne to her family with a sheepish and mumbled apology about confusing her father with a different "John Irish", unconfirmed reports are surfacing that would have terrifying implications if indeed they are true. The infant girl seems to have been returned in rather poor health, with evidence of possible sexual abuse while in state custody, as the parents have revealed in a recent radio interview. This could add a whole new layer of horror to this scandal, which threatens to rock the nation to its core.

As a result of Cheyennegate and other similar incidents, many Americans have begun to seriously rethink the government's self-appointed role of national caretaker. This rising doubt comes not only from chilling tales of government social worker misconduct, but also from the questionable results that the increasingly expensive public education system has produced. Many attribute the breakdown of the family structure in America to the State's encroachments upon the traditional parenting roles of mothers and fathers. At the very least, this country is long overdue for a healthy inquiry into whether an institution comprised of notoriously disreputable politicians and infamously inefficient bureaucrats should have so much say in what happens to society's most vulnerable members.

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Published at RightOSphere.com.

How to Win Libertarian Converts and Influence Voters

2010-10-12T15:33:00.000-07:00

We are at a crossroads in history. People are increasingly unhappy with the State and are losing faith in its ability to solve major problems. Yet, at the same time, those Americans who say they want limited government are also the ones who want Social Security and Medicare to be untouchable. Support for government spending on defense, health care, anti-poverty measures, and pork for the home district is just as high as it was ten years ago, and in some cases even higher.[1]

Libertarians have a real opening here, but we need to acknowledge that our current strategies are just not cutting it. The liberty movement has made great strides in the past decade, thanks largely to Ron Paul and the Ludwig von Mises Institute. However, when we look at the unrestrained growth of government over the past century, what do we as libertarians have to show for ourselves? We have more Austrian economists around today than ever before, but can we name one government program that we have been able to get curtailed or abolished? One significant liberty that we have fought for and won?

We have a marketing problem.

The first step to improving our strategy is by admitting that our present tactics really aren't working.

We've become very good at engaging in high-minded academic debates and writing wordy articles and treatises, but we have utterly failed in making the ideas of liberty popular and accessible to the average person.

I'll be offering some suggestions in this article, and much of what I have to say takes inspiration from a classic book entitled How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie. I've come to the conclusion that this book may be the single most important piece of literature for the liberty movement.

I believe this is one of the fundamental paradigm shifts the liberty movement requires: we need to view everyone--and I mean everyone, including the Glenn Becks and Keith Olbermanns of the world--as a potential friend. Rather than being an angry, cynical, disgruntled movement, we need to be a movement that reaches out to people and makes people want to be a libertarian.

1. Let's understand people, not criticize

We libertarians have a nasty habit of talking down to people and scolding them. But all this does is put people on the defensive and cause them to strive even harder to justify themselves. At the end of the day, we only incur resentment because of it.

Instead of calling people taking government assistance "welfare queens," or calling people working for the government "bureaucratic leeches," we need to understand that these individuals are people, just like us. They genuinely feel like they're doing the best they can. People on unemployment or food stamps are fathers and mothers trying to provide for their children on a limited income--an income that they might scrounge up after working long hours at multiple jobs.

We can recognize the fact that the welfare state is a totally counterproductive mechanism for helping those who are struggling to provide for their families, but we can recognize this fact without treating these people like scum.

When we encounter people with whom we disagree, instead of calling them "shills" or "sheeple", let's understand why they think the way they do. The vast majority of people who support the War in Iraq or think Social Security was a good idea don't do it because they just love destroying other people's lives. They do it because they honestly believe they're doing the right thing and looking out for the best interests of others. Instead of being angry with them, let's make a sincere effort to truly understand where they're coming from before we offer them our take on the issues.

We libertarians pride ourselves on being a smart bunch, but it takes a lot more intelligence to understand and sympathize with people than it does to look down our noses at them and scold them. We need to brand ourselves as the political clan that hears people and understands them, not as the one that sits in ivory towers and merely preaches to them.

2. We need a message that makes people feel good about themselves

Instead of making people feel stupid or lazy or evil, let's appeal to their sense of self-respect. Instead of trying to goad people into doing what we want them to do by pointing out their every flaw, let's find where people are going in the right direction and heap praise upon them where praise is due.

All too often, I'll come across someone who calls themselves a "conservative," and when I ask them to explain their political philosophy, it will go something like this: "I'm tired of all the pork and welfare spending, and we need to have a strong, well-funded military, and we need to make sure the politicians don't cut our Social Security or Medicare, and we need to stop trading with cheap goods producers like China." Of course, the last three things they support (an expensive military-industrial complex, loads of entitlements, and trade protectionism) are all forms of "welfare," which they claim to oppose.

But instead of snarkily pointing this out, we should strengthen our common ground with them and pat them on the back for understanding that so much of the money that Congress spends on various projects is all about winning re-election and not about really benefiting taxpayers, and for understanding that programs like unemployment insurance only serve to incentivize poverty and that what people really need is a hand up, not a hand out. These are important principles that not everyone understands, and rather than angrily inquiring why this person is too "retarded" to apply these same principles to other areas, we should lavishly praise the fact that they adhere to these principles in the areas where they do, and encourage them to continue to apply these principles consistently in all areas.

3. Make people WANT to be libertarians

In How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie makes the point that although strawberries and cream may be his favorite food, he doesn't put strawberries on the hook when he goes fishing. He attracts fish by putting worms on the hook, because that's what fish like. We as libertarians must take this lesson to heart. Instead of talking about the issues that we think are most important, we must practice speaking in terms of what the listener wants.

Often, we libertarians will rant to people about the Federal Reserve and inflation and bond bubbles and what-have-you. But the average person doesn't normally care about things like that. And can we blame them? Most people probably don't even understand what we're talking about. But what everyone understands is the rising prices at the gas pump, or the rising price of food at the grocery store, or the fact that something you could get for a quarter as a kid may now cost five or ten bucks. These are things that people can relate to, in terms that real people can understand.

One person who is an absolute master at talking to people in their own terms is Judge Andrew Napolitano. One of the most famous examples is when the Judge brought Sarah Palin on the June 12th, 2010 episode of his FOX Business show, Freedom Watch. He spent the whole show building up common ground with Gov. Palin on issues like personal responsibility and fiscal discipline and lean government.

He then recounted to Gov. Palin the experience she had during the 2008 campaign, when a hacker infiltrated her email account and exposed all sorts of personal messages, without her knowledge or permission. He sympathized with her and agreed how terrible it feels to have one's privacy compromised, and then asked her if she thought the Patriot Act should allow the federal government to do the same thing. "No, of course not," she answered. Bam. By simply making the issue applicable to her personally, Judge Napolitano had gotten Sarah Palin to criticize a key component of the Patriot Act--a sacred cow for Republican politicians. (He also did the same thing with the marijuana prohibition, getting her to call for de-facto decriminalization!) [2]

Judge Napolitano could have criticized Gov. Palin and argued with her all day about the Patriot Act, and she probably would have never budged from the standard neo-conservative line. In fact, she probably would have gone even farther into the neo-conservative corner in an attempt to defend herself, and likely would have left the show full of resentment for Judge Napolitano and his annoying questions. Yet, instead, he called attention to her inconsistent views indirectly, and got her to take stances far more in the direction of libertarianism than many other major Republican figures would be willing to go.

By spending the whole first half of the interview praising her commitment to individual liberty and fiscal responsibility, he gave her a good name to live up to--and she preferred to try to live up to that good reputation he had built up for her, even if it meant going out on a limb and saying things a normal Republican politician might not be expected to say.

Another aspect of making people want to be libertarians is being enthusiastic. Why should people want to be libertarians when they see us constantly moping around, making snide remarks, wailing about the dismal future of the country? Regardless of the truth of our statements, no one wants to believe things that are going to make them miserable. Nobody wants to get involved with a group of cynical mopers.

If you were a non-libertarian, which of the following approaches would make you more likely to investigate Austrian economics and libertarianism:

A). "Leviathan is out of control, the country is headed down the tubes, and if you want to have any chance at surviving hyperinflation, you need to pick up some Rothbard and buy some gold. Watch this video of Peter Schiff's terrifying predictions if you want to know just how screwed we are."

or

B). "Do you want to know how to prosper and provide for your family, even during rough times? Check out the amazing track record of this financial analyst named Peter Schiff! He thinks that East Asia is a new land of opportunity, and he's been saying for decades that storing your savings by buying gold would be a great way to hedge against rising prices. Boy, was he ever right on the money!"

Yeah, my wording of B isn't perfect, but wouldn't you be far more interested in learning Austrian economics if someone approached you with B, rather than A?

4. Become interested in other people as human beings

When I was helping drum up support for Ron Paul's HR 1207 bill to audit the Federal Reserve, I called my Representative's office a few times over the course of a couple months. The first time, I made a point to sound serious and stern. I was an upset constituent and my Congressman needed to listen to me! The voice of an older woman was on the other end. She sounded tired and weary. "Good!" I thought. She must be getting lots of angry calls from people like me! I told her I supported Ron Paul's Audit the Fed bill and wanted to make sure my Congressman did also. She said she wasn't sure and that she'd let the Congressman know how I felt. I rolled my eyes, certain that my message would never really get to my Congressman, thanked her, and hung up.

After a few weeks and no news from my Congressman, I called back again, this time angry. The same older, tired woman picked up. I demanded to know where my Congressman stood on the issue. She sensed the anger in my voice and got snippy as well, telling me curtly that he hadn't taken a position on it.

Another few weeks later, still with no news from my Congressman as to his stance on the Audit the Fed bill, I decided to call again. But this time, a different voice picked up. Tired and weary, but a slightly younger sounding woman. I decided I would try something different. She began with the standard office greeting. I introduced myself, told her I was calling about HR 1207, but then asked "How are you?" There was an immediate change in her voice. After presumably listening to hundreds of angry calls all day, she sounded relieved to hear someone who treated her like a human being.

"Oh, you know," she said. "About what you'd expect."

I chuckled a little and teased, "Yeah, I bet you've been dealing with angry citizens like me all day."

"You have no idea," she said, and began to relate to me a couple of the more ridiculous calls she had taken earlier that day. I laughed with her and empathized with her and listened to her. I treated her like a real person. Our little tangent conversation only lasted for a minute, but by the end of it, her voice sounded lighter.

"You were calling about the Audit the Fed bill?" she asked.

I responded in the affirmative, and asked if she could pass along a message of my support to the Congressman.

"Of course!" she responded, as though I were an old friend of hers, asking for a small favor. She took down my name, address, and email, and asked me again to make sure she was writing down the bill number correctly. "I'll write him a note and personally hand deliver it to his desk."

I thanked her enthusiastically, wished her a nice evening, and hung up. I didn't really think much of the conversation. The next day, I was astonished to receive a personal email from my Congressman. And not just one of those generic form emails, thanking Constituent's-name-here for expressing their concerns and blah-blah-blah, either! It was an actual, personal email from my Congressman, stating that he had decided not only to support Ron Paul's Audit the Fed bill, but to become a cosponsor. I was thrilled!

I don't know how much influence I personally had on my Congressman's decision to cosponsor that legislation, but it's clear to me that it's much easier to get somebody to do something if you treat them like a real human being.

5. How to argue with people

We libertarians are typically of the opinion that all we have to do is argue with everyone and headbutt them with our impeccable logic over and over again, and surely they will eventually agree with us, because, well, we're right. Unfortunately, the vast majority of arguments end with both parties more convinced than ever that they are correct. The person with whom you are arguing will probably never be swayed by your arguments, and even if he is, his pride and his fear of losing face will prevent him from admitting it.

The best way to start out an argument is by not arguing. Instead, ask the other person what they think--and be genuinely interested in it. Try to see things from their point of view...honestly. Be respectful of their opinions and hold your tongue for just a little while, even if they say things you think are just flat-out wrong or idiotic. Let the other person do the majority of the talking and choose your words wisely. Don't say much, but when you do say something, make sure it's very well thought out and full of humility.

When it's your turn to talk, don't immediately draw attention to the idealogical conflict(s). Rather, start out by finding the common ground you share with your opponent. The most helpful tool is one that the famed libertarian interviewer Jan Helfeld is known for using: the "Socratic method."

This can begin by getting the other person to say "Yes" to something, and then leading them on a trail of "Yesses," and letting them arrive at the correct conclusion on their own. They won't always allow themselves to come to agree with you. They may very likely realize where it is going half-way through, and end the conversation prematurely. But you will certainly have more success this way than you will be simply yelling your positions at each other over and over again, and more importantly, you will have made the other person think through your argument and see how you came to arrive at your conclusion. Your position will not seem quite so crazy or outlandish to them anymore, and if you're really tactful, you might even get them to adopt your position (often with them believing that it was their own idea to begin with--but hey, who cares, right?).

For instance: You could pontificate all day about how it's not an economic benefit when a war strikes a country and all the houses are bombed and must then be rebuilt. The person you're arguing with might simply respond by repeating a line like, "World War II got us out of the Great Depression! Just look at the statistics!"

Well, wouldn't it be more effective if, perhaps, you started out by asking, "If you're on a desert island, and you spend a whole lot of time building nets and spears and a hut, you would be poorer if a strong wind came along and knocked down your hut, wouldn't you?"

The other person will more than likely respond, "Well... yes."

"And if there happened to be another person beside yourself on this island, who was good at building huts? Let's say you catch the fish to feed the two of you, and in exchange he builds the huts to house the two of you. If a strong wind came along and knocked down your huts, you guys would be poorer. You'd be poorer because your friend has to work extra to rebuild the huts and you have to work extra to catch more fish so that he has the extra energy needed to accomplish this difficult task. Correct?"

"Yes. Sure."

"Well, what if the huts were destroyed by a bomb rather than a strong wind? That would make no difference, right?"

"Yes, okay."

"And what if instead of 2 people on the island, there were a different number of people on the island? Perhaps 3 people, or 10 people, or 1 million people? That would be irrelevant to the fundamental nature of the issue, correct?"

"Yes, I suppose that's correct. I see your point now."

Now, the dialogue might not go that smoothly, but by helping the other person along in a friendly and respectful manner, aren't you more likely to get the other person to truly understand where you're coming from, rather than if you just stand there and pontificate to them? And a word of caution: if you should succeed in converting someone to your point of view, don't gloat: "Nya nya nya I told you so" or "Ugh, why couldn't you recognize something that simple in the first place?" Let the other person save face.

6. The best way to sell something is to give it away for free

This has come to be known in libertarian circles as "Tucker's Law," named after Jeffrey Tucker, the editor of Mises.org. Mr. Tucker took a page out of Leonard Read's playbook. When most other libertarian theorists were struggling to sell their books and literature, Leonard Read decided to just give his away for free. It is no surprise, therefore, that Read's literature spread like wildfire and he became one of the most well-known and respected libertarian writers of his time. Likewise, Jeff Tucker has been getting a hold of classic libertarian and Austrian School texts, putting them into the public domain, and posting them on the Internet for anyone to download for free.

To this I owe everything I know about Austrian economics. It is because of Mises.org's loads of free literature that I was able to go from knowing nothing about anything about economics, to having devoured literally hundreds of books on economics and political theory, including Ludwig von Mises's Human Action and Murray Rothbard's Man, Economy, and State.

One of my most inspiring memories from the Ron Paul 2008 campaign was when a group of Ron Paul supporters stood outside a local Republican gathering on a blistering cold night and offered free hot chocolate to attendees as they exited. They also offered Ron Paul for President leaflets. Warmed by the generosity of these Ron Paul supporters, Republicans who might have otherwise quickened their pace to avoid being proselytized by one of those crazy libertarian people actually stopped to chat friendly politics with these Paulites. That group of Paul supporters ended up making tons of connections and doing a world of good for the Paul campaign that night. Let's face it: people love free stuff. Especially when it's honest-to-goodness free stuff, with no strings attached.

If you want someone to read Economics In One Lesson or America's Great Depression, don't just hector them into buying it. Lend them your copy, or better yet, give them your copy. Don't worry about when they'll return it, just be happy they've agreed to read it, even if they don't get around to cracking it open right away.

Conclusion

We libertarians need to come to terms with the fact that the cards are stacked against us. The tentacles of the State reach everywhere, and the nature of the State is to constantly seek more power and glory for itself. Trying to convince people that the State is not the solution but the problem pits us in direct opposition to many of the most powerful organizations in the world. We are going to have to use better tactics than other schools of political philosophy.

We've been at work for a long time now, and to be brutally honest, we have little to show for it. It's not that we haven't been putting forth enough effort. We don't have a quantity issue; we have a quality issue. Our efforts don't just need to be increased. Our efforts need to be of an entirely different nature than they currently are.

We need, in effect, a compassionate libertarianism. Not a libertarianism that compromises our principles, but a libertarianism that makes a better effort to understand other points of view, that makes it clear that we see people as real, good-intentioned human beings, that builds bridges rather than creates enemies, that makes people enthusiastic to be a libertarian, that--instead of just arguing with people all the time--helps people understand libertarian theory on their own, and a libertarianism that is approachable and down-to-earth.

There's no easy way forward in our battle against the State, but with a major attitude readjustment and a more emotionally intelligent presentation, we can be a lot more successful at winning libertarian converts and influencing voters. We only need to be brave enough to first admit that a change in strategy is long overdue.

Sources:

1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/09/AR2010100903308.html
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoiwXJCdX_A