Civil society on the retreat in Pak
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
The Chimera of a Perfect State of Mankind - Ludwig von Mises - (Audio)
The Chimera of a Perfect State of Mankind - Ludwig von Mises - Mises Media (Audio File)
I wonder how Mises would have reacted to me interpreting The Bible as a parable of the rise and fall of crime and state (so long as he did not stomp off in disgust!) - I have some idea (speculative, I did not know him personally) how Rothbard might have reacted, i.e. "with glee" :) especially if done with the rigor and depth I admire so much in the masters - for the first time in my life I am actually becoming enthused by the prospect of full time scholarship for a few years, as a libertarian framework for interpreting the Mahabharata is also quite spontaneously beginning to take shape in my mind - both books are about the birth of nations, the conflicts and contradictions of state formation and empire, and both offer magnificent insight into the human and economic dynamics at work - this is some really fun stuff to do, I hope I get to do it soon
(others have remarked that when the bug of liberty bit them it inspired a whole slew of new labors out of them - in my case, the Bible book was started with the intention of making Leonard Howell's framework for Bible interpretation more widely accessible to the Rastafarian movement - making this stuff thorough enough for Mises and Rothbard is a whole other level of labor, which I actually enjoy a lot)
I wonder how Mises would have reacted to me interpreting The Bible as a parable of the rise and fall of crime and state (so long as he did not stomp off in disgust!) - I have some idea (speculative, I did not know him personally) how Rothbard might have reacted, i.e. "with glee" :) especially if done with the rigor and depth I admire so much in the masters - for the first time in my life I am actually becoming enthused by the prospect of full time scholarship for a few years, as a libertarian framework for interpreting the Mahabharata is also quite spontaneously beginning to take shape in my mind - both books are about the birth of nations, the conflicts and contradictions of state formation and empire, and both offer magnificent insight into the human and economic dynamics at work - this is some really fun stuff to do, I hope I get to do it soon
(others have remarked that when the bug of liberty bit them it inspired a whole slew of new labors out of them - in my case, the Bible book was started with the intention of making Leonard Howell's framework for Bible interpretation more widely accessible to the Rastafarian movement - making this stuff thorough enough for Mises and Rothbard is a whole other level of labor, which I actually enjoy a lot)
Was Gandhi a libertarian? one libertarian pundit thinks so
the libertarian pundit Riggenbach making a preliminary case for Gandhi the libertarian
The frustration some libertarians feel about people swallowing the FDR illusion is the very same frustration I feel when I read (or hear) things like this, especially from people who can easily relieve themselves of the error with a little more study - shouldn't libertarians always look into the revisionist literature as well as the court versions? I really wish he had taken Gandhi a shade more seriously and looked into it just a bit more.
I probably belong in the class of online "pontificators" Riggenbach derides as not understanding all pacifism to be libertarian in essence, because indeed I do not have such an understanding, no doubt due to my ignorance and lack of education. The attention given to Gandhi is inextricably related to the widespread fallacy that his movement was responsible for the independence of India, while I give the greater credit by far to Subhash Bose of the Indian National Army who was the second most popular leader in India by only a few % points, while everyone else, like Nehru, trailed very far behind those two.
Gandhi's "civil disobedience" methods did not in fact achieve much else except a mobilization of the middle classes, and an energization of the ambitious statists like Nehru. Other historical forces were at play, not least WW-II. In my view, as also of some revisionist scholars, the refusal of the soldiers to obey orders, to let their generals be executed for treason - the crisis that actually brought the empire down - was the most libertarian act of all in those events. Gandhi was responsible for needlessly conceding to the act of partition, something that caused human suffering, mayhem and death on a scale unknown in peacetime India before. When courageous statesmanship was needed Gandhi failed.
My big problems with Gandhi are his sabotaging of the democratic process again and again, and his eventually deadly introduction of religious politics into the movement for self-rule. He imposed his will on the Congress by the veiled threat that if he was disobeyed he would take it to the streets, where he had carefully cultivated a saintly image. That is a type of coercion he never chose to apply against any other unjust institution in India. The self-governing village republics that must sound so idyllic to libertarians like Riggenbach would in fact have been caste states, no less coercive for their "social" method of law enforcement. Only in profound ignorance of hindu tradition and social realities could one entertain that Gandhi's 'Ram Rajya' represents a type of libertarian utopia.
Riggenbach's error is commonplace, so I forgive him. Gandhi's hypocrisy, the gap between what he admired - the Thoreau, the Tolstoy, the Christ - and the actions and decisions he took only become visible when one gets beyond the official 'saintly' Gandhi. The liberty he himself demanded from the brits was not the same he was willing to share with his own people, but this Riggenbach was understandably not able to grasp.
The US is a republic that practised slavery and "manifest destiny" and "jim crow" and today practises "war on drugs" and "war on terror" and so on, so perhaps there may not be the same sense of urgency about the total abolition of caste, rather the sense that through gradual reform the thing will slowly disappear. This would be gross error, as the history of India is littered with reform movements, one of which became Buddhism, and another intitiated by the christian king Ram Mohan Roy gave birth to the Congress, yet caste has persisted and remains a brutal reality today from which the ONLY relief the people have received is via the democratic, republican, liberal, humanist constitution written by Dr. Ambedkar.
What we call "independence" is a transfer of state power from one imperial class to another older, even worse, more inhumane one, and the man who supervised the transition, at the cost of the horrors of partition, and the man who endorsed the only bolshevik as the prime minister, is who our libertarian pundit wishes to embrace in the libertarian tradition. Gandhi may have been a "pacifist", Mr. Riggenbach, but he fails that other important test - he gave in to evil. Do we look into what a politician does, or only what he says?
I respectfully disengage from the embrace of Gandhi issued by the Mises Institute.
The frustration some libertarians feel about people swallowing the FDR illusion is the very same frustration I feel when I read (or hear) things like this, especially from people who can easily relieve themselves of the error with a little more study - shouldn't libertarians always look into the revisionist literature as well as the court versions? I really wish he had taken Gandhi a shade more seriously and looked into it just a bit more.
I probably belong in the class of online "pontificators" Riggenbach derides as not understanding all pacifism to be libertarian in essence, because indeed I do not have such an understanding, no doubt due to my ignorance and lack of education. The attention given to Gandhi is inextricably related to the widespread fallacy that his movement was responsible for the independence of India, while I give the greater credit by far to Subhash Bose of the Indian National Army who was the second most popular leader in India by only a few % points, while everyone else, like Nehru, trailed very far behind those two.
Gandhi's "civil disobedience" methods did not in fact achieve much else except a mobilization of the middle classes, and an energization of the ambitious statists like Nehru. Other historical forces were at play, not least WW-II. In my view, as also of some revisionist scholars, the refusal of the soldiers to obey orders, to let their generals be executed for treason - the crisis that actually brought the empire down - was the most libertarian act of all in those events. Gandhi was responsible for needlessly conceding to the act of partition, something that caused human suffering, mayhem and death on a scale unknown in peacetime India before. When courageous statesmanship was needed Gandhi failed.
My big problems with Gandhi are his sabotaging of the democratic process again and again, and his eventually deadly introduction of religious politics into the movement for self-rule. He imposed his will on the Congress by the veiled threat that if he was disobeyed he would take it to the streets, where he had carefully cultivated a saintly image. That is a type of coercion he never chose to apply against any other unjust institution in India. The self-governing village republics that must sound so idyllic to libertarians like Riggenbach would in fact have been caste states, no less coercive for their "social" method of law enforcement. Only in profound ignorance of hindu tradition and social realities could one entertain that Gandhi's 'Ram Rajya' represents a type of libertarian utopia.
Riggenbach's error is commonplace, so I forgive him. Gandhi's hypocrisy, the gap between what he admired - the Thoreau, the Tolstoy, the Christ - and the actions and decisions he took only become visible when one gets beyond the official 'saintly' Gandhi. The liberty he himself demanded from the brits was not the same he was willing to share with his own people, but this Riggenbach was understandably not able to grasp.
The US is a republic that practised slavery and "manifest destiny" and "jim crow" and today practises "war on drugs" and "war on terror" and so on, so perhaps there may not be the same sense of urgency about the total abolition of caste, rather the sense that through gradual reform the thing will slowly disappear. This would be gross error, as the history of India is littered with reform movements, one of which became Buddhism, and another intitiated by the christian king Ram Mohan Roy gave birth to the Congress, yet caste has persisted and remains a brutal reality today from which the ONLY relief the people have received is via the democratic, republican, liberal, humanist constitution written by Dr. Ambedkar.
What we call "independence" is a transfer of state power from one imperial class to another older, even worse, more inhumane one, and the man who supervised the transition, at the cost of the horrors of partition, and the man who endorsed the only bolshevik as the prime minister, is who our libertarian pundit wishes to embrace in the libertarian tradition. Gandhi may have been a "pacifist", Mr. Riggenbach, but he fails that other important test - he gave in to evil. Do we look into what a politician does, or only what he says?
I respectfully disengage from the embrace of Gandhi issued by the Mises Institute.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Is Egypt’s military with or against Mubarak? former ambassador weighs in
it is not Mubarak, tomorrow another Mubarak will follow, because human nature will keep us supplied with a small percentage of people who gravitate to state power from greed - it is not important to cogitate on the personality of Mubarak, it is vital now to understand the structure which enables this to occur, exactly how this violent theft of a civilization is constructed, we must understand this and dictate accordingly to the state (until it "withers away" altogether) if we are to entertain any hope of bequeathing liberty and prosperity to our children
why? because of the destructive capabilities these idiots now possess, thanks to capitalism, we are not talking about bows and arrows, we are not talking about guns that kill one person at a time, we are talking about a tonnage of explosives that can blow up the whole planet many times over! this is a new experience for civilization, the perpetual terror of what states may do - the people have to maintain an "eternal vigilance" as Babasaheb Ambedkar said, or the problem of criminals in government will enslave you forever, because in a globalized system escape to freedom will not be possible, there will be no freedom left
military ordinance is the most TOTAL waste of a civilization's wealth that states ever invented, there exists absolutely NO way for them to be used in their normal course that the net economic yield or civilizational outcome is positive, absolutely NO way - it is up to an informed people to rid the planet of this menace (not to mention lost economic opportunity) by global popular demand - it is a survivalist aspiration of world civilization, I truly believe, and an inspiring goal for all who love liberty - take the guns away from these goons, let them go earn a living by adding value to the economy
Thursday, January 27, 2011
S&P cuts Japanese sovereign debt to AA-
S&P cuts Japanese sovereign debt to AA-
I think historians of the future will find it to be our generation's "blind spot" that such colossal economic fallacy - or disguised criminality, based upon your interpretation of events - could have persisted so long into the age of information
the history of states is littered with such blind spots nursed by the ruling elites for their convenience, but their efforts to conserve those advantages through inevitable crises results in the blind spots taking over the entire public discourse, the consequence being a catastrophic self-destruction in a few decades
I think historians of the future will find it to be our generation's "blind spot" that such colossal economic fallacy - or disguised criminality, based upon your interpretation of events - could have persisted so long into the age of information
the history of states is littered with such blind spots nursed by the ruling elites for their convenience, but their efforts to conserve those advantages through inevitable crises results in the blind spots taking over the entire public discourse, the consequence being a catastrophic self-destruction in a few decades
Egypt and Yemen make a charge for liberty, following brave Tunisia
Egypt makes a charge for liberty, following brave Tunisia
regime change by the people, what's not to like? this is the good stuff, it is up to the people to make the 21st century the century of freedom
Updates:
Mohd. El Baradei returns to join the peoples' agitation
the people of Yemen join the fight for freedom with gusto
Egypt cracks down, the US is dogged by contradiction of interest and principle
regime change by the people, what's not to like? this is the good stuff, it is up to the people to make the 21st century the century of freedom
Updates:
Mohd. El Baradei returns to join the peoples' agitation
the people of Yemen join the fight for freedom with gusto
Egypt cracks down, the US is dogged by contradiction of interest and principle
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Can Austrian Theory Explain Construction Employment? - Robert P. Murphy
Can Austrian Theory Explain Construction Employment? - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Daily
the foreign money was looking for 30-year debt to buy most, the Fed has some influence on the 30-year rate but not an absolute or automatic one, and in this case Greenspan's efforts in 04 and 05 to budge the rate upwards failed, revealing the fallacy of the "omnipotent Fed"; bondholders simply look at the Fed as ONE of their considerations even at the best of times - the "irrational exuberance" for indecipherable derivatives is best dealt with by markets, by letting the chips fall, letting companies die, letting banks die, letting gamblers burn, the last thing one would want is to institutionalize a grotesque concept like "too big to fail" and its' incestuous sister "systemic risk" - that is what Greenspan would not have bought, the whole TBTF argument, preferring to treat the whole thing as another bigger S&L or LTCM type issue, with a mechanism, a time frame, a projection of numbers, and as clear a roadmap for interest rates as possible, thereby not permitting uncertainty to descend like a heavy pall
I would place the greater proportion of the blame for "real resource misallocation" on Fannie, Freddie and the gamut of political weightage placed on single family home ownership, whereas the free market may have directed more of the capital into affordable apartment buildings, easing labor mobility, making realty more liquid and lowering the price bar of real ownership - a quite salutory result for workers, thus also from a political perspective I would think
can we imagine for a minute, just for a fun exercise, the result if the political weightage were placed on school ownership instead of home ownership? if parents had an economic interest in their schools they would suddenly begin to perform the quality control function the founding fathers wished to place in their hands, and which they have been persuaded to abdicate to the teachers' unions instead
it is quite pointless to speak of the unemployment without taking in context the colossal vanity inherent in attempting to central plan a society's labor requirements 50 years into the future, which is our infamous 'Brock Model'; it simply cannot be done without severe distortions resulting in the economy, and now the price is being paid in altogether needless pain by workers - the tragedy is not in the flight of manufacturing jobs to China, or the flight of clerical jobs to India (which I heard Dr. Kissinger call "strategic failure" today, perhaps from the conservative instinct to protect 'yesterday' against the uncertainty of 'tomorrow', one will have to wait and listen to the full interview on WSJ's friday night feature, "The Big Interview") - the tragedy is our inability to do the better jobs we are creating here and now, the sub-market speed of adaptation and innovation in education resulting from faulty fundamentals, I mean, does Apple have to open a college to teach people how to use iPads?
the foreign money was looking for 30-year debt to buy most, the Fed has some influence on the 30-year rate but not an absolute or automatic one, and in this case Greenspan's efforts in 04 and 05 to budge the rate upwards failed, revealing the fallacy of the "omnipotent Fed"; bondholders simply look at the Fed as ONE of their considerations even at the best of times - the "irrational exuberance" for indecipherable derivatives is best dealt with by markets, by letting the chips fall, letting companies die, letting banks die, letting gamblers burn, the last thing one would want is to institutionalize a grotesque concept like "too big to fail" and its' incestuous sister "systemic risk" - that is what Greenspan would not have bought, the whole TBTF argument, preferring to treat the whole thing as another bigger S&L or LTCM type issue, with a mechanism, a time frame, a projection of numbers, and as clear a roadmap for interest rates as possible, thereby not permitting uncertainty to descend like a heavy pall
I would place the greater proportion of the blame for "real resource misallocation" on Fannie, Freddie and the gamut of political weightage placed on single family home ownership, whereas the free market may have directed more of the capital into affordable apartment buildings, easing labor mobility, making realty more liquid and lowering the price bar of real ownership - a quite salutory result for workers, thus also from a political perspective I would think
can we imagine for a minute, just for a fun exercise, the result if the political weightage were placed on school ownership instead of home ownership? if parents had an economic interest in their schools they would suddenly begin to perform the quality control function the founding fathers wished to place in their hands, and which they have been persuaded to abdicate to the teachers' unions instead
it is quite pointless to speak of the unemployment without taking in context the colossal vanity inherent in attempting to central plan a society's labor requirements 50 years into the future, which is our infamous 'Brock Model'; it simply cannot be done without severe distortions resulting in the economy, and now the price is being paid in altogether needless pain by workers - the tragedy is not in the flight of manufacturing jobs to China, or the flight of clerical jobs to India (which I heard Dr. Kissinger call "strategic failure" today, perhaps from the conservative instinct to protect 'yesterday' against the uncertainty of 'tomorrow', one will have to wait and listen to the full interview on WSJ's friday night feature, "The Big Interview") - the tragedy is our inability to do the better jobs we are creating here and now, the sub-market speed of adaptation and innovation in education resulting from faulty fundamentals, I mean, does Apple have to open a college to teach people how to use iPads?
Monday, January 17, 2011
Is There a Conservative Case for QE? - Robert P. Murphy
Is There a Conservative Case for QE? - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Daily
no meaningful engagement with the history of economic thought can be derived from extrapolating our nuomenal abstractions onto it as a filter - "dialectical materialism", "class struggle", "mode of production", "primitive accumulation" "aggregate demand" "multiplier effect" (I'm starting to feel ill from repeating this nonsense, I'll stop now)
if one is honest and serious one must use the vocabulary of concepts common to all civilization, like money, property, price, savings, liberty, trade, finance ("usury"), taxation, excise, subsidy, and so on - all deriving from the human activity of exchange for mutual benefit, and none intrinsically presenting the challenge Lord Keynes felt to "revolutionize the entire field [of economics]" in a sustained fit of imperial arrogance and intellectual dishonesty called "pure genius" (Samuelson) - no other field attracts charlatans with such regularity as economics, for obvious reasons
(I mean, the guy was not even trying to win elections, like Marx was! in a century marked by gigantic hubris it is hard to find one more destructive of civilization than of Keynes)
no meaningful engagement with the history of economic thought can be derived from extrapolating our nuomenal abstractions onto it as a filter - "dialectical materialism", "class struggle", "mode of production", "primitive accumulation" "aggregate demand" "multiplier effect" (I'm starting to feel ill from repeating this nonsense, I'll stop now)
if one is honest and serious one must use the vocabulary of concepts common to all civilization, like money, property, price, savings, liberty, trade, finance ("usury"), taxation, excise, subsidy, and so on - all deriving from the human activity of exchange for mutual benefit, and none intrinsically presenting the challenge Lord Keynes felt to "revolutionize the entire field [of economics]" in a sustained fit of imperial arrogance and intellectual dishonesty called "pure genius" (Samuelson) - no other field attracts charlatans with such regularity as economics, for obvious reasons
(I mean, the guy was not even trying to win elections, like Marx was! in a century marked by gigantic hubris it is hard to find one more destructive of civilization than of Keynes)
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Joan Kennedy Taylor and the Rediscovery of Libertarian Feminism (Audio File)
Joan Kennedy Taylor and the Rediscovery of Libertarian Feminism - Jeff Riggenbach - Mises Media(Audio File)
essence of her message on feminism is that it springs from individuality, because women are just as individual as men the equality of rights must apply to them - those who wish women to vote like a herd of cows by using some buzzwords like 'abortion!' or 'daycare!' are actually insulting their intelligence and the sum total of their interest in the public life
essence of her message on feminism is that it springs from individuality, because women are just as individual as men the equality of rights must apply to them - those who wish women to vote like a herd of cows by using some buzzwords like 'abortion!' or 'daycare!' are actually insulting their intelligence and the sum total of their interest in the public life
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Geithner warns of future bailouts
Geithner warns of future bailouts
a case of "don't say we didn't warn you" - here is what I think is important, turning a profit! if you borrow from the people but you are able to turn a profit and make them whole, THAT is not a big problem for the people, trust me on this one, you'll get some mumbling and grumbling and that's about it - the economically erroneous perceptions that the people, fed by hysterical media, can sometimes hold as gospel truths must be gently and firmly dispelled with the facts (there was a time when americans had a high degree of capitalist common sense which has been quite tragically lost through public education)
a case of "don't say we didn't warn you" - here is what I think is important, turning a profit! if you borrow from the people but you are able to turn a profit and make them whole, THAT is not a big problem for the people, trust me on this one, you'll get some mumbling and grumbling and that's about it - the economically erroneous perceptions that the people, fed by hysterical media, can sometimes hold as gospel truths must be gently and firmly dispelled with the facts (there was a time when americans had a high degree of capitalist common sense which has been quite tragically lost through public education)
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Grain prices soar after USDA cuts crops outlook
Grain prices soar after USDA cuts crops outlook
calling all farmers! let's grow food, people, the state is about to unleash hunger to push war... fight back, people, and feed yourselves! and check on your neighbors if you can, don't let people around you go hungry
calling all farmers! let's grow food, people, the state is about to unleash hunger to push war... fight back, people, and feed yourselves! and check on your neighbors if you can, don't let people around you go hungry
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
How is "empire" consistent with "liberty"? are you completely nuts?!
the big question facing American civilization is the one answered rather poorly by the great English civilization, are we going to make the same blunders or, are we going to get it right this time, that is the question - the way how the "empire of liberty" works is people join our union of their own free will because they see the superior benefits of the liberal way - where people are oppressed by states our duty is to open our doors, and for people of goodwill everywhere to open their doors and defend the rights of humans to desert their state, doesn't the UN recognize the human right to move about the earth and change nationality?
Pan-Africans for example are determined to offer a right of repatriation to the oppressed blacks of India, which I deeply appreciate, of course, but this is broader and covers any oppressed person anywhere - we must ask China to let Liu Xiabao and his family leave if they so desire, this is the moral stand consistent with Liberty, we must keep our doors open for Liu Xiabao, Dr. Binayak, whoever it is tomorrow, indeed our orgs should correspond with them accordingly
if the people wish to join the American union and are being prevented by state coercion and violence, THEN we have a just cause to use force in their defense, then it is indeed a liberatory exercise because the will of the proto-american people to join the union is served, no imperial transfer of wealth results, no prolonged occupation of the land by the liberating army is needed - another state is added to the Union, simple!
under the consummately elegant federalism gifted by the founding fathers, all of the civilizations of the world would gravitate to the liberal way, driven by the common human desire for prosperity and peace, while retaining all of the uniqueness of their spiritual and cultural heritage consistent with liberal humanism - if you look into it you will find that no civilization presents a contradiction to liberal humanism, none, only imperial ideologies and tithing ecclesiasties do! isn't that the whole point established by King Solomon? isn't that why he is today a worldwide synonym for wisdom? what had caused King David's armed uprising in the first place?
Pan-Africans for example are determined to offer a right of repatriation to the oppressed blacks of India, which I deeply appreciate, of course, but this is broader and covers any oppressed person anywhere - we must ask China to let Liu Xiabao and his family leave if they so desire, this is the moral stand consistent with Liberty, we must keep our doors open for Liu Xiabao, Dr. Binayak, whoever it is tomorrow, indeed our orgs should correspond with them accordingly
if the people wish to join the American union and are being prevented by state coercion and violence, THEN we have a just cause to use force in their defense, then it is indeed a liberatory exercise because the will of the proto-american people to join the union is served, no imperial transfer of wealth results, no prolonged occupation of the land by the liberating army is needed - another state is added to the Union, simple!
under the consummately elegant federalism gifted by the founding fathers, all of the civilizations of the world would gravitate to the liberal way, driven by the common human desire for prosperity and peace, while retaining all of the uniqueness of their spiritual and cultural heritage consistent with liberal humanism - if you look into it you will find that no civilization presents a contradiction to liberal humanism, none, only imperial ideologies and tithing ecclesiasties do! isn't that the whole point established by King Solomon? isn't that why he is today a worldwide synonym for wisdom? what had caused King David's armed uprising in the first place?
Monday, January 10, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Is the "empire of Liberty" in safe hands? tea party strikes terror in the 'professionals'
"We expect politicians to exaggerate, distort and mislead when they are campaigning.... But once they get in office, we should expect them to remember the difference between politicking and reality" - oh, really? who is "we", Nutting? I expect, and indeed DEMAND quite the opposite from politicians, what shit hole do you have your head stuck in? you sound like a typical, demoralized apologist for imperial status quo - it is good to know one's own constitution, and it is even better to understand it in comparative relation to other nations of the world
it is the whole nuomenal assumption that the real meaning or 'intent' of the constitution can only be rendered through a lens of expertise not present in the voters themselves, i.e. the words may be interpreted with both hermeneutic freedom and contemporary prejudices! the explicitly opposite view to the one held by Jefferson and Madison, who intended for the constitution to be the 'common sense' of the country, understood by all citizens, as also to restrain government from crossing the boundary described (by Jefferson) as "the consent of the governed" - one has to be incredibly obtuse or operating from undisclosed motives to deny the minarchic essence of the constitution, its' zealous protection of individual liberties, especially from state infringement, made explicit in reserving ALL powers to the people not expressly granted to government
the implication here is that the 'tea party' right wing (loosely libertarian, but certainly not "conservative" as Nutting assumes) is professing a phony ideology for the purpose of winning votes, and what they really 'mean' is at least deceitful, if not nefarious - so this editorializing effort is to defend the accumulation of statism under "provide for... the general welfare", and to deny the people the right to tell their government what THEY see in the constitution, to tell their government what THEY mean by "provide for... the general welfare", to decide what constitutes a "necessary" condition for legislation, and what makes it "proper" as relating to the constitutional whole
as a point of clarity, the preamble refers to "provide for common defense, and promote the general welfare", so the distinction between "provide" and "promote" may not be glossed, whereas in article 1.8 regarding the power to impose taxes, levies, excise, etc. the word "provide" is used for both "defense" and "welfare" (d-uh! obviously) - like I said, one has to stretch way out into bewildering realms of un-americanity to construe this constitution as the presumptive platform for a welfare-warfare imperial machine! it is a GROSS misunderstanding, and the American people are not having it any more, simple
NO one can make me believe that the impoverishment of black people from a rising 4% of GDP share to less than a falling 0.1% of GDP share is a case of "effectively promote the general welfare"! or, that it was "necessary", or that it was "proper" - people like Nutting have to realize that their beloved government programs like Medicaid and Social Security mean nothing to 21st century people, who want freedom, opportunity, wealth, growth, in short capitalism! they have seen through the "progressive" propaganda and now realize it is the same statist 'friends and family' plan as ever, great if you happen to be "in", and really sucky if you're out
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Abolish the Senate, says Nutting at MW
Commentary: Tyranny of the minority has no place in America
fine, let us get on with this debate, "a crisis is a terrible thing to waste", right? fine, I'm all for a national reasoning, let us investigate the structural anomalies that we need to fix --- campaign finance comes to mind! --- if 'intent' and 'reality' are to come into a better constitutional sync, and the people can go back to doing what they do best, create wealth! not agitate and gnash teeth to the point of desperate revolt against a recalcitrant state... that is NOT the point of this uniquely great constitution, it really is not... woe unto a nation unmindful of its' own constitution! "what a woe inna Babylon, what a woe..."
fine, let us get on with this debate, "a crisis is a terrible thing to waste", right? fine, I'm all for a national reasoning, let us investigate the structural anomalies that we need to fix --- campaign finance comes to mind! --- if 'intent' and 'reality' are to come into a better constitutional sync, and the people can go back to doing what they do best, create wealth! not agitate and gnash teeth to the point of desperate revolt against a recalcitrant state... that is NOT the point of this uniquely great constitution, it really is not... woe unto a nation unmindful of its' own constitution! "what a woe inna Babylon, what a woe..."
Global Food Price Index hits new record
Global Food Price Index Hits Record (WSJ)
this is what happens when ridiculous money printing by central banks meets market uncertainty, structural rebalancing and "capital hoarding" by private sector, i.e. it is a fallacy that a great surge in production of goods and services will result from an expansion of the money supply, unless of course the demand for credit accelerates past the point at which "systemic crisis" was reached
efforts to "manage" the inexorable law of demand and supply through manipulation of the currency are doomed to failure with "unintended consequences" like these: loss in quality of life for those on fixed incomes, malnutrition and starvation for the poor, and so on
a sound money free market will inevitably serve more customers with more affordable choices than any other system, and charity will easily cover the bottom fringe of the unemployed if one lets the local communities handle it with no bureaucracy - this insane, death-dealing, genocidal hunger can be ended with real quickness, people, the productive capacities exist today, not in the future, the agricultural innovations exist today to end world hunger rapidly
meanwhile, the state is becoming irritable at all this "capital hoarding" by cash-rich companies, as the other day Barack said, the private sector was not doing its' part in "creating jobs" by holding on to its' money too much! hey, why not build bridges to nowhere? the state salivates with the predictability of Pavlov's dogs when it sees a pile of money anywhere, and when it finds none it borrows, or robs another state! the appetite is inherently insatiable once the business model of buying elections through taxpayer monies is set in motion
the great calamity of 20th c. democracy was that the true promise of universal suffrage was not really delivered, rather exploited by the financial elites to subvert democracy to their own ends and interests; using the "progressive" movement as their political arm, using the cartelized media houses of the Rockefeller and Harriman groups as their propaganda arm, using the public funding of "wealth redistribution" economics in the academy as their ideological arm, and most importantly, of course, using the (technically unconstitutional) Federal Reserve system to finance the whole exercise through monetary inflation - or to put it more simply, THEFT!
this is what happens when ridiculous money printing by central banks meets market uncertainty, structural rebalancing and "capital hoarding" by private sector, i.e. it is a fallacy that a great surge in production of goods and services will result from an expansion of the money supply, unless of course the demand for credit accelerates past the point at which "systemic crisis" was reached
efforts to "manage" the inexorable law of demand and supply through manipulation of the currency are doomed to failure with "unintended consequences" like these: loss in quality of life for those on fixed incomes, malnutrition and starvation for the poor, and so on
a sound money free market will inevitably serve more customers with more affordable choices than any other system, and charity will easily cover the bottom fringe of the unemployed if one lets the local communities handle it with no bureaucracy - this insane, death-dealing, genocidal hunger can be ended with real quickness, people, the productive capacities exist today, not in the future, the agricultural innovations exist today to end world hunger rapidly
meanwhile, the state is becoming irritable at all this "capital hoarding" by cash-rich companies, as the other day Barack said, the private sector was not doing its' part in "creating jobs" by holding on to its' money too much! hey, why not build bridges to nowhere? the state salivates with the predictability of Pavlov's dogs when it sees a pile of money anywhere, and when it finds none it borrows, or robs another state! the appetite is inherently insatiable once the business model of buying elections through taxpayer monies is set in motion
the great calamity of 20th c. democracy was that the true promise of universal suffrage was not really delivered, rather exploited by the financial elites to subvert democracy to their own ends and interests; using the "progressive" movement as their political arm, using the cartelized media houses of the Rockefeller and Harriman groups as their propaganda arm, using the public funding of "wealth redistribution" economics in the academy as their ideological arm, and most importantly, of course, using the (technically unconstitutional) Federal Reserve system to finance the whole exercise through monetary inflation - or to put it more simply, THEFT!
SEC going after TIME's 'Man of the Year' Zuckerberg
SEC gets started on Facebook
a case of "what?! money?! and where is my share?! oh no, I'm sending the cops, buddy, you just went too damn far..."
An IPO when he's ready, not when the SEC is ready
Goldman pulls the plug on Facebook offering in the face of strong demand
a case of "what?! money?! and where is my share?! oh no, I'm sending the cops, buddy, you just went too damn far..."
An IPO when he's ready, not when the SEC is ready
Goldman pulls the plug on Facebook offering in the face of strong demand
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
ah, those pesky "unintended consequences"! loan sharking you say?
Dodd-Frank and the return of the loan shark (WSJ)
I see many a PhD paper in this "problem" here... yes, no, this cannot go on, something must be done, these loan sharks must be regulated... "I will appoint a panel of experts, I will demand a paper of policy recommendations, then I will appoint a special implementation Czar reporting directly to me... actually, no, the federal budget will be reduced in the process, I will have it no other way! I have made that known to the CBO that will crunch the numbers and revise them as necessary..."
I see many a PhD paper in this "problem" here... yes, no, this cannot go on, something must be done, these loan sharks must be regulated... "I will appoint a panel of experts, I will demand a paper of policy recommendations, then I will appoint a special implementation Czar reporting directly to me... actually, no, the federal budget will be reduced in the process, I will have it no other way! I have made that known to the CBO that will crunch the numbers and revise them as necessary..."
Monday, January 3, 2011
personal bankruptcies climb 9% in 2010 as 1.5 million file
people are doing what they have to
one cannot have healthy capitalism while the idea remains current that when borrowing money a range of other options are available besides paying it back; which idea is of course related to that other rentier fallacy that increased borrowing --- (the new, bad fractional reserve made up not of "thin air" as often stated, but of forcible theft of value from earners and savers!) --- results in increased real growth, and more rapid distribution of the benefits of capitalism to the lower sectors of the income chain...
there exists no such thing as "thin air" in economics, the "printing of money" or creation of currency credits is a type of theft for which death was once the punishment...
California clocking in at #2 with a 25% year-over-year increase
one cannot have healthy capitalism while the idea remains current that when borrowing money a range of other options are available besides paying it back; which idea is of course related to that other rentier fallacy that increased borrowing --- (the new, bad fractional reserve made up not of "thin air" as often stated, but of forcible theft of value from earners and savers!) --- results in increased real growth, and more rapid distribution of the benefits of capitalism to the lower sectors of the income chain...
there exists no such thing as "thin air" in economics, the "printing of money" or creation of currency credits is a type of theft for which death was once the punishment...
California clocking in at #2 with a 25% year-over-year increase
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