Free kibbles

LIBERTY:

The freedom of an ex-patriot.

ECONOMY:

How the 2008 economic collapse struck mainly at corporations deeply embedded in the corrupt political economy.

"Economic schadenfreude is a condition not available to everyone who can experience schadenfreude. It is available only to those who understand economic theory. However, the now-increasing opportunities for this feeling suggest that the economy is recovering, to the extent that politically well-connected groups that benefit at the expense of productive members of the economy are now suffering. Maybe the Conference Board and other organizations that study business cycles should take note."

The more pain those in the political economy feel, the more our economy is healing. But the healing process will be painful for many Americans outside of the political economy and many who didn't realize they were in the political economy, and nobody should be happy about that.

TAX AND SPEND:

The Bears explain the bailouts. Try not to cry.

REGULATION:

New York City Council votes to ban smoking in parks and other open public spaces.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

The root cause of the unrest in the Middle East? Inflation. As the Fed destroys the dollar and the ECB destroys the euro, commodity prices are rising, and the subsequent price inflation hits developing countries quickly because they have short structures of production, and because they're not wealthy, inflation hurts them more too.

"Ben Bernanke was warned by all world political and economic leaders that the relentless printing of U.S. dollars would lead to a flood of dollars in overseas markets (particularly emerging countries where U.S. corporations are taking the money and investing in overseas plants, operations, etc.) and this in turn would cause massive worldwide inflation."

Ben Bernanke knows he's responsible for this inflation. He doesn't care.

HEALTH CARE:

The bed bug problem, a problem created by government banning of effective pesticides, has reached epidemic proportions.

Senate Democrats block Obamacare repeal on party-line vote. These votes were so worthless. Republicans forced them to fulfill a campaign promise, which is fine, but the promise was stupid because it was guaranteed to fail. Note they didn't promise not to fund it, which means they will.

Suggested supplements.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Global temperatures fell sharply when El Nino transistioned to La Nina. Neither the heat before nor the cold after is unusual.

The press can't keep from hysterical headlines. This article claims the winter storm crippled two-thirds of America. Maybe two-thirds of flights, but not America.

One of the great failures caused by centralized authority is centralized utilities. If utilities weren't dominated by government, electric, water and sewage would be decentralized, far more secure, reliable, inexpensive and environmentally friendly. It's absurd that 100 years after electricity became commonplace, power lines still get wiped out by storms. To a lesser extent, the same is true of phone, cable and internet. Think about how much better your cable and internet service would be if, instead of a some centralized cable company facility with dozens of satellites and hundreds of miles of fiber and cable servicing your entire city, your block had one satellite and a few hundred feet of fiber and cable, all underground. Dozens of companies would compete for the service rights to your utilities. The service would be outstanding and the price would be peanuts. But government won't allow it.

POLICE STATE:

TSA testing new software than makes the images scanned by the nude-scanners into generic silhouettes. This is another attempt to pacify travelers that fails to address the root problems, providing a false sense of security. Perverts will still be attracted to the TSA because of the gropes, so this doesn't reduce the risk of being attacked by a pervert. Nor does it reduce the radiation exposure. All it does is make people feel better, not make them more secure.

Facebook material increasingly used in court cases. Duh. If you put it on Facebook, it will get subpoenaed.

The last person I would take advice from for raising a child is a cop turned politician.

FOREIGN POLICY:

Mubarak supporters stage counter protests which turn violent. You can bet these people have profited in Egypt's political economy and stand to lose their cushy jobs funded by theft when Mubarak leaves. Report claims Mubarak sent thugs into the street to initiate violence.

"Mubarak may be down but he's not out. And judging by today's events in Tahrir Square, he and the military-dominated clique around him clearly feel they have done enough, for now, to get the Americans off their backs, flex their still considerable muscle, and reclaim the streets for the regime. All the talk about reform and elections and negotiations can wait, whatever Barack Obama says.

Today's immediate message to the people from an unvanquished, still vicious regime: it's over – go home, or else."

Rulers rarely relinquish power easily.

"Reasons for believing Mubarak can not only survive the next eight months but also exert decisive, possibly fatally obstructive influence over Egypt's new direction are plentiful. As matters stand now, the regime is unreconstructed, the opposition is split, and the Americans are undecided. Despite his insistence on a swift, orderly transition, Obama has not withdrawn his personal support. In Brussels today, the EU also declined to demand Mubarak's immediate resignation. David Cameron said reforms must be implemented faster.All of them got a dusty brush-off. In an official statement, the Egyptian foreign ministry, still led by an old Mubarak crony, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, rejected US and European calls for the transition to start now. Calls from "foreign parties" were "aimed to incite the internal situation," it said. In other words: get lost."

So as long as the international community which empowered him doesn't demand he resign immediately, he'll continue ruling to his advantage.

"Mubarak and his close confidant and deputy, Omar Suleiman, have more cards to play as they foment a backlash and seek to regain control. As in the past, they can play on Israeli and American fears of an Islamist takeover. They can point out just how disastrous it might be if a new government tore up Egypt's peace treaty with Israel."

This is interesting. He rode out the first wave, and because his western power source didn't abandon him, now he's fighting back. New report claims the Egyptian army intervened to stop the violence. This shows that government is a criminal protection racket. Mubarak starts the violence and then says he'll stop it if they let him stay in power. How Obama's speech laid the groundwork for Mubarak's violent response to protesters. Pictorial documentation of relationship between US government officials including ever president since Carter and Mubarak. This is intended to indict the US, but of course US presidents meet the leaders of foreign countries. Tony Blair calls Mubarak "immensely courages and a force for good." Not a joke.

I strongly agree that contrary to the paranoia of that Daily Bell article the other day, it looks more like the ruling elites are losing control than orchestrating events.

"Events in January caught the world's experts in diplomacy and foreign policy completely flat-footed. They did not forecast the fall of the Tunisian dictator of 23 years. They did not forecast the riots in Egypt."

The observation backs up the claim, much as the CFR comments I posted yesterday, but observation isn't always enough. But the logic agrees with the observation.

"Meanwhile, the world's Insiders were meeting at their annual confab in Davos, Switzerland: the World Economic Forum. They were congratulating each other that the economic recovery is on track. Yet. While their meeting was taking place, Arab nations were either in riot phase or were approaching it.

These experts did not see this coming. They were congratulating each other for the results of having successfully looted the West's taxpayers with bailouts and fiat central bank money expansion, also saving their largest banks and large insurance firms, not to mention the solvency of Greece and Ireland's governments. Then . . . ka-pow! The Middle East was in simultaneous turmoil on a scale never seen before."

Dominoes are falling, but not by the design of shadowy central planners. This is a beautiful thing. But Facebook and Twitter don't explain why they're falling now as opposed to last year or even six months ago. Inflation does. This is an unintended consequence of Bernanke's destruction of the dollar as reported above.

"All of the decades of media planning by the Insiders from the post–World War I era until today has been an attempt to create a universe of discourse that stays within the parameters set by the Insiders. They have bought up the media outlets. All of this investment is now unraveling. The Web is gutting it."

I say again, it's a beautiful thing. Lessons from the uprising in Egypt for when the uprising comes here.

This is a joke from the Onion: US negotiating Mubarak's severance package.

"In an effort to provide monetary compensation to the Egyptian president for three decades of faithful service, U.S. officials opened negotiations with Hosni Mubarak Tuesday, offering him a severance package worth $20 million upon termination of his employment. "We are all thankful for the hard work and long hours President Mubarak put in over the years, and hope our discussions continue smoothly," said senior U.S. negotiator Frank Wisner, who admitted that the final settlement would have to be considerable, as Mubarak's contract with the U.S. was being terminated 15 years early. "Unfortunately, he no longer reflects our needs in the region at this time, but we would like to end our relationship on the right foot. He deserves to retire in comfort." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also reportedly offered to write Mubarak a letter of recommendation in case he wishes to apply for any dictatorship jobs with U.S. allies in the future."

Great because it is based on so much truth.

I'd hardly say the internet is destroying the State. New governments always take power in the wake of revolutions. Add Syria to the list of governments under duress.

Egypt as a copy of the US police state.

Beware global thinkers. I have no problem with a guy who figures out a way to trade with somebody half-way around the world so both can profit. It's the ones who want to control others through coercion that I have a problem with.

MEDIA:

Transcript of 60 Minutes interview with Julian Assange. I was not impressed with Assange in the least. He comes across as a normal, decent guy, much as I expected. What I didn't expect was the over-the-top statism of the 60 minutes presentation. I never watched 60 Minutes, the few times I saw it, it bored me. It's probably always been like this, but I wonder. It's makes more sense if you view it as a dinosaur who recognizes its species is going extinct interviewing the mammal it realizes is taking its place.