Postcards From Hell: The Reason For Failed States
Postcards from Hell A terrifying photo essay from Foreign Policy on the world’s failed states. Note that with just a few exceptions, the 60 or so states the magazine had determined to be “failed” are located in tropical climates. Someone recently sent me this fascinating video related to the new book by sociologist Philip Zimbardo…
Invert The Tax System And Give Control To The States?
The wealthy states export leftism and money to the poorer states. This redistribution is hidden by the ‘money laundering’ that occurs when taxes are pooled then redistributed through the tax and legal bureaucracies. [callout]The wealthy states export leftism and money to the poorer states. This redistribution is hidden by the ‘money laundering’ that occurs when…
The Nonsense Alternative Called “Solidarity.” Throwing The Peasants A Bone.
This bit of ridiculously regressive Luddism was posted on a left leaning blog. It touts “A Solidarity Economy”. Which is a nice name for voluntary organizations that circumvent the pricing system. Yet another example of enduring marxist silliness. There is no alternative to free-market capitalism, Margaret Thatcher used to say, and about this, like so…
Krugman Watch: Paul’s Beginning To Admit Failure And Here Is Why
In a series of recent posts, Paul Krugman is starting to admit that he’s failing to be able to use his pulpit, position and his credibility to encourage government spending. What I find most interesting is that he argues that proletariat sentiments of inequality (injustice) are the driving social force, while failing to understand that…
Krugman Watch: Paul Thinks It’s Envy. (What is it with these people?)
Paul Krugman argues that envy and inequality pop the bubble. He asks “Correlation or Coincidence?” To which I reply: …. or completely unrelated causality. I don’t think you’re making any argument and I think you’re inventing a correlation, and hoping it sticks via the contrivance of sentimental association rather than reason. The cause isn’t income…
Why Are So Many Equatorial Nations ‘Failed States’?
This posting is in response to “Postcards From Hell: Images fom the world’s most failed states” and commentary on The Agitator. Why are so many equatorial nations ‘Failed States’? “All happy families are the same. All unhappy families are different.” Which means that a lot of things go into making a successful state, and there…
Who Was Hayek, What Are Austrians, And Why Should I Care? (In 1500 Words)
On Old School Economics, someone asks: Can anyone summarize the basic tenets of this school of economics and what are Hayeks contributions? I’ve been looking all over the place and have found some websites that are a bit confusing so if you could make a list, it would be helpful. Hayek is one of a…
A Tiff : Hoppe and Tom Fleming and My Response
Hans Hoppe posted what I thought was a sentimental statement on the five year history of his movement on the libertarian web site VDARE. It’s titled The Property And Freedom Society—Reflections After Five Years In this article, he gives us his interpretation of the history of his organization, the Property And Freedom Society. (of which…
Save Bradley? Maybe.
Save Bradley. The soldier who leaked the video to Wikileaks? Sorry. No dice. People die in war: People kill intentionally in war. All sorts of people die by accident in war. Guilty people die by accident. Innocent people die by accident. Innocent people die because of bad information. Innocent people may die simply because someone…
NYT On Libertarianism
The NYT posted an article today titled The Economics of Libertarianism, Revealed. And the usual NYT crowd followed with critical comments. Which is useful. Because we get to see what the proletariat think of a subject about which they know little to nothing. This is a very odd set of comments. Heresay on one end…
There is No End Of Data, Because There Is No End Of History
Regarding Tech and Storage, and the idea of ‘finite content’ as an allegory to the ‘end of history’: Humans are notoriously victims of boiling-the-frog biases: they cannot sense long term changes and discount prior (and forgotten) opinions for current ones. Inter-temporal cognitive biases are legion. We are going to store increasing amounts of data –…
An End To Nato? A Different Form For The Monarchical Role
An End To Nato, “Mike DiBaggio” from The Paleolibertarian Digest There was once a time when the US hated piracy so much they went to war over it, but that time has obviously come to an end. Israel’s attack on the Turkish aid ship has generated little obvious outrage in the US, but then again…
Hubris, Regulation, Artificial Life and Zombies
Mariam Melikadze at Adamsmith.org references the movie 28 Days in order to criticize irrational and premature regulation. “And so, much like of the opening scenes of an apocalyptic movie, science has reached a great milestone, … The era of bioengineered creatures has officially begun. … But in all apocalyptic movies the great invention inevitably goes…
Where From Comes The Collapse : The Schumpeterian Priesthood Profits From The Absence Of Calculability
Mark Thoma suggests that the government should both use Tax Cuts and Spending to improve an economy. Which is a pretty common sentiment among economists. Nothing new there. He is simply changing his mind on the value of Tax cuts because they help correct household balance sheets and therefore increase the likelihood of future spending.…
The Euro. What Will Happen?
Germany Moves East Germany and Russia are now more politically aligned because they are now economically aligned. Europe will have: 1) the German-Russian block, which will reclaim the eastern block countries. 2) the France and PIGS block (latins – portugal, spain, italy and greece over whom it can feel superior) 3) The UK trying to…
Russia And Germany Instead Of France And Germany? One Can Only Hope
Stratfor has released an article today that suggests that German and Russia have more to offer each other than does the rest of Europe. Russia has intelligent labor, and resources, but it has a terrible capital structure and little technology. Germany has technology, a terrific capital structure, but needs resources and labor. Better yet, the…
Payback Time? But what’s the fee?
Entitled “Payback Time”, this NYT article by Steven Erlanger states that “Crisis Imperils Liberal Benefits Long Expected by Europeans” I’d like to clarify this argument a bit with the following points: 1) It will take somewhere between 3-5% of GDP to correct the retirement funding problem given the current ratio of prices and payments. 2)…
The New York Times Is An Organized Crime Syndicate – And Misrepresenting Libertarianism Is Fraud And Theft.
THE NYT IS AN ORGANIZED CRIME SYNDICATE Why is the NYT an Organized Crime Syndicate? Because the NYT has committed as much journalistic fraud, at a greater scale, as any of the most controlled of state run media in modern history, and has brought to market a defective and harmful product, and profited from the…
Krugmanism Of The Day: The Debt-Slaver Strikes Again.
Latvia is often cited as an example for Greece as it undergoes a brutal internal devaluation while keeping its currency pegged to the euro….. Yes, that’s right: the oh-so-virtuous Baltics have done worse than Iceland. … But their money is sound. Well Paul, what do you recommend instead? If not unemployment, and social reorganization and…
Understanding Greece And Germany In Terms Of The Economics Of Human Action Rather Than Moral Sentiments And Class Envy
Over on Economists View, where the left seems to hang on like dirty ruffians intent on downgrading the local bar, Mark Thoma posts a misleading article: “About That Mediterranean Work Ethic” Do Greeks work less than Germans?, which states that Greeks work a lot of hours, perhaps more than germans. Which is a pointless and…
A Definition Of Morality
In taking a survey on liberal and conservative morality, I came across a question that asked me to define morality, and gave it an answer that I thought I would share here as part of my ongoing effort to provide conservatives with a framework for rational debate, rather than watch them continue their reliance upon…
Response to The Washington Post’s ‘Constitution in decline’ : Actionable Plans vs Sentiments
Joseph Postell of the Heritage Foundation, whom I admire, posts an article in today’s Washington Times entitled Constitutional Decline. Keeping the tradition of picking on your friends, because it’s simply an easier way to make a point than systematic refutation of your enemies, I respond in this posting with a sketch of a more appropriately…
A Response To Arnold Kling’s: The Church Of Libertarianism
Arnold Kling continues one of his themes by writing on one of my favorite topics, “The Churches Of Government”, where he laments the overlaps and conflicts between different conservative and libertarian philosophies. You see, I think that the overlap between liberals and libertarians is somewhat suspect. The libertarian thinks that government should get out of…
Krugman Watch: On The Right’s Level Of Agitation
The right is very angry right now, even more angry than the early Clinton years. And they are only going to get more agitated. De -masculinizing the military was Clinton’s only real mistake, as the military fraternal order and its meme of group-persistence are conservative’s most agitating sentiment. Obama’s transfer of risk from the poor…
The Institutional Solution: A Solution To Current Socialist Sentiments And Incrementalism
Mark, over on CARPE DIEM quotes Mises, who said: The champions of socialism call themselves progressives, but they recommend a system which is characterized by rigid observance of routine and by a resistance to every kind of improvement. They call themselves liberals, but they are intent upon abolishing liberty. They call themselves democrats, but they…
