Free kibbles

LIBERTY:

Update on 10th Amendment movement.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH:

Obama appoints former Microsoft exec as head government cyber-warrior. This isn't be good. National security my ass. Look for Microsoft to get a bunch of sweetheart deals, and look for government to make ever more excuses to restrict speech on the internet. The free market is far better equipped to secure the internet than government. We still have Cold War dinosaurs trying to secure America in the 21st century. Imagine how far behind the times government will be trying to secure the daily evolution of the internet. Hint: It will stop the daily evolution of the internet so it can try and keep up. Iran will be the model.

FASCISM:

Walter Williams explains why minimum wage laws lead to teen unemployment and hit black teens especially hard.

"Put yourself in the place of an employer and ask: If I must pay to whomever I hire $7.25 an hour, plus mandated fringes such as Social Security, vacation, health insurance, unemployment insurance, does it pay me to hire a worker who is so unfortunate so as to have a skill level that allows him to contribute only $5 worth of value an hour? Most employers would view hiring such a person a losing economic proposition. Therefore, the primary effect of a minimum wage law is that of discrimination against the employment of low-skilled workers."

It isn't rocket science.

Cop pulls gun on snowball fighters. I can't help but think of Cartman demanding, "Respect my authoriti!"

ECONOMY:

After taking a trillion dollars from us by force to fix the housing market, the market is still down. The market is trying valiantly to correct itself and heal the damage, but government keeps piling on more damage. I like how the argument just assumes policy makers should be fixing the problem.

I'm not so sure that reviving RV sales is a positive sign for the economy. It probably means people are RVing instead of taking their formerly expensive vacations. This article strikes me as trying to find something positive to talk about when all the news it bad. It reminds me of an article I read about the Iraq war after the surge that did just the opposite by complaining that grave diggers were having trouble finding work.

One of the reasons I started this blog is so I could look up old articles I read and reference them, but I can rarely find one. I can't find the Iraqi grave digger article that I know I linked.

What do you think the consequences of a 400 percent excise tax on the financial industry will be? You know how Obama pretends to want companies to make loans? How will they do that with their expenses raised so much and their ability to gain returns severely curtailed? This is an attempt to destroy the financial industry and thereby cripple every business in America.

"Lawmakers probably do not realize that a large fraction of the capital stock of corporations is carried by short-term speculators, due to the uncertainties of business. Turnover is high on many stocks because of unwillingness to hold long-term positions under conditions of high uncertainty. If short-term speculators are driven from the market, as this tax will do, then long-term speculators will have to take and hold the stock. They will demand a higher risk premium as they are made to depart from their preferred portfolio holdings. This will drive up capital costs to corporations. This will slow down capital accumulation and growth. This will lower employment and wages."

Nice summary of consequences.

"A stabilizing trade might go as follows. Buy $100,000 of stock that has fallen 4 percent in one day because one estimates that the selling has gone too far too fast. Sell it the next day after a rise of 1.5 percent for the opposite reason, that the buying is going too far to fast. Gross Profit: $1,500. The transactions tax is $500 of this profit or 33 percent of the gain. In addition, there is the short-term capital gains tax that is perhaps 28 percent. Then there are the inevitable losses that this speculation faces."

This tax is written to be on the trade in order to fool the public into thinking it's tiny, but traders make far less money on trades than the value of the trade as this example shows.

"America seems to be on the verge of mass insanity as Congress comes up with increasingly bad legislation. Can nothing stem the irrationality of American society and government?"

Not as long as we keep election Republican and Democrat professional politicians.

TAX AND SPEND:

It wasn't that long ago that corn subsidies driving up the price of food was a big deal. But then government created far bigger problems for us, and that issue disappeared off the map.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

Author claims because the Fed serves as a lender of last resort and fractional reserve banking allows banks to create money out of thin air, banks must be regulated.

"These five Securities & Exchange Commission commissioners sealed the future fate of the American economy on that day in 2004 when they approved an appeal by five investment banks (Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill-Lynch, Bear Stearns and Morgan-Stanley) to expand their reserve ratios – that is, take greater risks with the public’s money. This was done by consent of the regulators and their politically-appointed bosses during the Bush II administration."

That sounds odd coming from a libertarian website, but it shows how government interference in the economy always creates problems that demand more government interference in the economy. The solution is put an end the Fed and adopt a banking system based solely on voluntary exchange.

HEALTH CARE:

Index to Mises.org's free market guide to health care.

New provision in health care bill stops insurance companies from modifying premiums for gun owners. Huh? Did some "moderate" Democrat demand that for his vote?

Democrats trying to get Republicans to roll over and allow a vote before 11PM Christmas Eve. I say not only no, but hell know. The longer Republicans delay, the better chance the people have of flipping one Democrat.

This is not the end of health care oppression. Democrats won't stop until they get they've strangled private health insurance and health care to death and seized single-payer control of life and death decisions over every American. This bill, designed to fail every criteria we've been told it addresses, is just a vehicle to dramatically accelerate that process.

GLOBAL WARMING:

Now the global warming frauds are coming for our pet dogs.

"Man's best friend could be one of the environment's worst enemies, according to a new study which says the carbon pawprint of a pet dog is more than double that of a gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle."

Big mistake. They just alienated every dog owner in the world who previously had fallen for their fraud. Fools love to use the club of government on others - that's what they call good government - but when that club swings at them, they get a new perspective. Then it's bad government.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE:

Cops electrocute another man to death. Cops beat up teenager for being late to school.

POLITICS:

Conservatives trying to re-write history just like liberals and blame the 2009 deficit on Obama. The 2009 budget was passed under Bush and fiscal 2009 began while Bush was in office. Obama added to it, but not much. Politics is dishonesty. Anybody who votes for a politician based on what he or she says is a fool. The two parties have divided us and are conquering us with the help of liberals and conservatives who fell for the bull**** of one of the parties.

MISC:

HP's webcam face tracking software won't track black people. What a disaster. Surely they tested it on black people. Surely this is a fluke, but a nightmare fluke. HP better find some white people it can't track too. If it turns out they didn't test it on black people, the company may go down in flames.

At the end of an essay explaining freedom of speech, Mike Adams seems to have caught a hint of how the conservative movement is fundamentally and destructively similar to the liberal movement - neither respects private property.

"The problem, it seems, is not that Neal Boortz lacks respect for free speech. It is that some pro-lifers lack respect for private property. Such lack of respect comes at a singularly inopportune time in our nation’s history."

Not some. All. If you vote for any Republican, you don't support private property rights.

You are what you vote. If you vote for a candidate who wants to use force to violate the property rights of another (and all Republicans support this), you don't respect property rights. All conservatives vote for candidates who use government to force their will on others, therefore all conservatives support using government to force their will on others.

Nutritionist invents vodka based mixed drink that won't cause a hangover. I'll believe it when I try one. Or seven. Or eight.

The AK-47 highlights one of the symptoms of the problems with US weapon development - it's more reliable and far cheaper to produce than anything the US has and it's extremely effective. Yeah, the M-16 has a little more range and accuracy, but that's a bad trade-off for basic infantrymen. That's why the AK-47 has been the world's preeminent infantry weapon for 50 years.

"It gave to the working masses the ability to defend themselves from the more virulent strain of politicians; it is the sword of the common man. Of all the firearms yet dreamed up by mankind, it is the automatic for the people."

And the tyrant. The AK-47 is not prejudiced.