Big Upgrades at Boonshoft
by Mark Luedtke
2011
was a busy year at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, one of the
premier interactive museums of nature and natural history in the world.
Sound boring? It’s not. Colorful and engaging, Boonshoft has about as
much in common with the static natural history museums of the author’s
childhood as an iPhone has with a cup and string. Odyssey the Otter
greats visitors outside the door, signalling they will have fun inside.
Inside, the museum is part exhibition, part study environment and part
playhouse.
Odyssey
is modelled after the otters exhibited in the museum’s zoo, accredited
in 2011. A romp of playful otters entertains children and adults all
day. Despite the small area used, the zoo has a surprising number of
exhibits, and unlike other zoos, compatible animals are grouped together
in the same display areas. Visitors have to observe and think to
identify different species, and the interactions of the species make for
a more interesting dynamic than a normal zoo.
The
Sun Room opened in spring of 2011 and features live images of the sun
taken with the heliostat mounted on the museum’s roof. The Sun Room also
contains a cloud chamber which illustrates how cosmic rays seed clouds
in the Earth’s atmosphere. It also offers numerous interactive stations
which allow visitors to identify subjects they want to know more about
then study them on the spot. Enhancing these self-directed learning
stations is a focus of all the upgrades at Boonshoft.
Museum
personnel also upgraded the Tree House, an indoor/outdoor exhibit
overlooking the woods on the grounds. Staff added heating and air
conditioning to the quiet overlook, and they are installing interactive
stations for visitors to engage.
The
museum added another permanent exhibit called Splash which teaches
visitors about water resources and use in the Miami Valley. The
NOAA-funded Science on a Sphere is new too. Explorer’s Crossing added
Cassano’s pizza kitchen, a deli and a grocery to teach fractions, money
and business.
The museum also added an accredited preschool. Diane
Farrell, Vice President of External Relations, wishes her children had
had such a cool opportunity, “It is incredible! I would have given
anything for my children to attend school each day with access to the
assets of the museum. The preschool offers a truly unique learning
environment that is designed to meet the special needs of children ages 3
to 6. With a strong emphasis on science, art, and practical life
skills, the preschool program offers a
supportive structure that includes access to the tools children need to
develop a healthy curiosity, as well as the skills to explore topics
that pique their interest.”
This
hard work paid off. The museum set records for attendance and revenue
last year. And not just for children. Farrell reports, “The
museum saw an increase in the adult to child ratio in attendance, and a
corresponding 19% increase in revenue from paid admissions. This may be
most attributable to the number of families who visit together, as well
as the introduction of exhibits that appeal to adults. Exhibits such as
Science On a Sphere, the Sun Room, and even the Discovery Zoo have
proved to hold multi-generational appeal, capturing the interest of
visitors of all ages.” Maybe Hops over the Moon and The Science of Wine helped too.
The
upgrades continue in 2012. Public relations coordinator Kristy Creel
announces, “As it enters its third decade, the Caryl D. Philips Space
Theater at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery is getting an infusion of
new technology. Tentatively scheduled to open President’s Day weekend,
‘The Dome’ will expand traditional Planetarium and Laser Light Shows to
include both full dome films and 3D educational movies.”
Boonshoft
is the first institution to implement this new technology. “The 3D
technology of the Christie projector is what makes this installation
unique. This projection system uses a set of projectors that runs video
at twice the normal frame rate, interweaving left and right eye
imagery.
Known as “Active Stereo,” this method requires high-end 3D glasses with
LCD shutters that blank one eye at a time, with refresh rates up to 120
Hz.” Glasses will be supplied.
Several tantalizing titles are coming soon. “Among the first films to show, Sea Monsters 3D: A Prehistoric Adventure
is a 40-minute journey to Earth’s prehistoric oceans from National
Geographic Cinema. Visitors will follow two Dolichorhynchops, or
Dollies, through this realm as they encounter an assortment of strange
and ferocious creatures that fought for survival under the seas that
once covered North America. Other initial films will include: Secret Lives of Stars, Seven Wonders, One World, One Sky: Big Bird’s Adventure, and SpacePark360.” There will be a small additional fee charged for movies.
In addition NASA is funding a new exhibit for 2012 called Exo-planet Exploration. The
museum will upgrade the Court House, Animal Hospital, and Recycling
Center. The traveling exhibition Math Midway begins on Feb. 4.
For those considering joining Boonshoft, Farrell points out another advantage, “There
are only 12 institutions in the country that maintain our same
accreditations. That gives our members amazing reciprocal privileges. In
essence, our members receive not only free admission to Boonshoft,
Sunwatch Village and Fort Ancient, but free or reduced admission to
hundreds of zoos, aquariums, science centers, children’s museums, and
learning facilities around the world.” And Boonshoft is a lot of fun. Visit boonshoftmuseum.org for more information.
Monday, February 06, 2012
Free kibbles
SOCIALISM:
I thought that Indiana's transformation into a right to work state would influence its neighbors, and now Michigan is considering adopting right to work. Let's hope Ohio does the same.
TAX AND SPEND:
Harry Reid refuses to pass a budget again this year.
The CBO reports that federal workers get about 50 percent greater compensation than their private sector counterparts.
GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:
Skeptics in Germany are exposing the global warming fraud there too.
POLICE STATE:
Now the government is trying to capitalize on fiscal problems to gain popular support for using GPS surveillance.
Congress orders FAA to make room for drones over the US.
FOREIGN POLICY:
I doubt it's a coincidence that the son of an Obama cabinet member was busted in Egypt for fomenting revolution.
Obama puts more sanctions on Iran. He won't stop until he gets the war he wants.
POLITICS:
Gingrich admits a supporter in Virginia committed petition fraud.
Freedom unites people.
Evidence that Paul was cheated in Nevada.
I thought that Indiana's transformation into a right to work state would influence its neighbors, and now Michigan is considering adopting right to work. Let's hope Ohio does the same.
TAX AND SPEND:
Harry Reid refuses to pass a budget again this year.
The CBO reports that federal workers get about 50 percent greater compensation than their private sector counterparts.
GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:
Skeptics in Germany are exposing the global warming fraud there too.
POLICE STATE:
Now the government is trying to capitalize on fiscal problems to gain popular support for using GPS surveillance.
"Meanwhile, the official said, additional FBI agents have been dispatched to cover costly, labor-intensive surveillance operations that had previously relied on GPS technology."They were just trying to save taxpayers money because bureaucrats are just that way.
Congress orders FAA to make room for drones over the US.
FOREIGN POLICY:
I doubt it's a coincidence that the son of an Obama cabinet member was busted in Egypt for fomenting revolution.
Obama puts more sanctions on Iran. He won't stop until he gets the war he wants.
"Obama said in a statement to Congress that the new sanctions are required in part because the central bank is using "deceptive practices" to get around earlier measures."Shame on those Iranians for trying to get around Obama's sanctions. They should just suffer and be happy for what Pharaoh Obama allows them.
POLITICS:
Gingrich admits a supporter in Virginia committed petition fraud.
Freedom unites people.
Evidence that Paul was cheated in Nevada.
Who is more important to their team?
Brady has three Super Bowls, all with Belichick. Eli Manning has two, both with Tom Coughlin. Peyton has one with Tony Dungy. So...
Who is more important to their team?
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Free kibbles
FREEDOM OF SPEECH:
I published an article today predicting that Congress would drag SOPA critics in for show trials soon. Little did I know that they had already done so as the blackout killed the bill. But the CEOs of the big internet companies have yet to bow down to their government gods.
TAX AND SPEND:
NASA mission finds NASA spacecraft previously crashed on the far side of the moon. So the government is stealing our money to find wrecks it produced by previously stealing our money.
EDUCATION:
The government resists online charter schools. What a surprise.
The media claims some student is taking a stand against bullying by holding a poetry event. I kid you not. I guarantee you hundreds of thousands of students take a stand against bullying every day by resisting them or fighting back, but you never read about those heroic children. Poetry doesn't defeat bullies, but the press and politicians love it. Every kid has been bullied. The ones who fight back don't get bullied again.
GLOBAL WARMING:
I previously noted that Alaska is suffering the coldest winter in recorded history. Canada is also unusually cold. Apparently Europe and Russia are also suffering a brutal winter. Us climate skeptics generally note that weather is not climate. The frauds, on the other hand, want to use every warm weather observation to support their fraud while they conveniently ignore cold weather. Case in point: this article on the mild winter in the contiguous US states. The saddest part is the cold is killing people, not the heat, which is always the case.
Record February snow storm in Denver. I still fear a terrible winter. We're not halfway through yet.
The global warming frauds try to scare us into believing that climate change will destroy most life on earth in a couple of decades. They typically cite mass extinctions in the past for support. But now it turns out that the greatest mass extinction in the history of the world, commonly called the P-T extinction, the extinction that ushered in the age of the dinosaurs, took place over hundreds of thousands of years.
POLICE STATE:
The police state tactics against Megaupload have convinced another hosting site to shut down. The intimidation is working. This is the consequence of the great evil of government.
POLITICS:
Voter fraud in Nevada too. How much of this will people tolerate before they reject the system?
Ron Paul is really showing the divide between the old statists and young idealists. Paul dominates among Jews in Nevada.
I'm happy to hear that people are loading big money into a Super PAC to oust big government Republicans, but I'm not thrilled about the anonymity. Actually, it's the not the anonymity I don't like, it's the possibility that foreigners will influence our elections. I wouldn't care about the anonymity if it wasn't for the possibility of foreign intervention. I'm probably being naive. I imagine foreigners can freely donate to incumbents much like they did to Obama in 2008. It's only outsiders who are restricted. This illustrates the conundrum the power of coercion creates. You know Congress won't allow this to continue. They don't want to be ousted from their phony-baloney jobs.
It looks like the federal government coordinated a second assault on the Occupiers across the country.
LOCAL:
In another grotesque example of how people fall for the seen versus the unseen, the DDN proclaims new fuel standards will create jobs. This is an example of the broken window fallacy.
MISC:
Congratulations the the Giants. Twice they've edged out the Patriots in the Super Bowl. I appreciate how the Giants and the commentators are saying that Manningham's catch was routine. That's what receivers are trained to do. That's right. But most fail. Receivers drop easy catches so often it should be a scandal. Receivers in the NFL are terrible. That was a great catch and great throw.
What the Super Bowl illustrated once again is that the team that pays the least for a quarterback is likely to win. The salary cap is the greatest detriment to winning a Super Bowl, not the other team. The team that spends the most on the highest paid position, the quarterback, has less money to spend on everybody else, and therefore tends to lose. I'd love to see an analysis of the contracts of Super Bowl quarterbacks, but ESPN will never do such a thing.
I don't want to hear crap about how Brady will win another Super Bowl. Brady plays in the AFC with Pittsburgh and Baltimore. The AFC north is the best division in the NFL. If the Patriots played in the AFL north, they may never win the division. As it is, Brady may never see another Super Bowl. Don't get me wrong; I want Brady to win a forth so I don't have to hear about the incredibly lucky Joe Montana any more. But I also don't want to hear about the proclamations of fools.
I wonder if Pepper Hamilton sued Android partners over my old cell phone patent.
Scientists have discovered our brains are more drawn to socializing than to alcohol or cigarettes. I've always said this. What we call addition is a bunch of crap. If a person has a healthy social life. If a person's social life involves drinking, smoking, drugs or work, they might become addicts. And if a person has no social life, he might become addicted. But the social life, or the lack thereof, is always the most important dynamic. Scientists probably had to study this because they have no social lives.
Terry Jones's Medieval Lives looks like something everybody should watch.
This is a funny chart, but it if you think about it, it explains why friends with benefits is a much more natural association than a permanent couple. The permanent couple didn't arise until people wanted to pass savings through generations. We owe everything we enjoy today to the savings of our ancestors. But we also suffer the consequences of permanent relationships as a result. Much like we suffer the consequences of grains.
Earth is so very small.
I'm still unimpressed with this dark energy concept. Imagine if somebody tossed a rock into a pond. That would produce a wave full of whirlpools that relentlessly expanded. If you were a creature who evolved in one of those whirlpools, you and your observable universe would be limited to the wave. You would never be able to comprehend the force that created your wave: the rock tossed into the pond. That force would be operating in a dimension beyond your comprehension. You might call it dark energy. I don't think the universe is as complicated as cosmologists wish it was.
I published an article today predicting that Congress would drag SOPA critics in for show trials soon. Little did I know that they had already done so as the blackout killed the bill. But the CEOs of the big internet companies have yet to bow down to their government gods.
TAX AND SPEND:
NASA mission finds NASA spacecraft previously crashed on the far side of the moon. So the government is stealing our money to find wrecks it produced by previously stealing our money.
EDUCATION:
The government resists online charter schools. What a surprise.
The media claims some student is taking a stand against bullying by holding a poetry event. I kid you not. I guarantee you hundreds of thousands of students take a stand against bullying every day by resisting them or fighting back, but you never read about those heroic children. Poetry doesn't defeat bullies, but the press and politicians love it. Every kid has been bullied. The ones who fight back don't get bullied again.
GLOBAL WARMING:
I previously noted that Alaska is suffering the coldest winter in recorded history. Canada is also unusually cold. Apparently Europe and Russia are also suffering a brutal winter. Us climate skeptics generally note that weather is not climate. The frauds, on the other hand, want to use every warm weather observation to support their fraud while they conveniently ignore cold weather. Case in point: this article on the mild winter in the contiguous US states. The saddest part is the cold is killing people, not the heat, which is always the case.
Record February snow storm in Denver. I still fear a terrible winter. We're not halfway through yet.
The global warming frauds try to scare us into believing that climate change will destroy most life on earth in a couple of decades. They typically cite mass extinctions in the past for support. But now it turns out that the greatest mass extinction in the history of the world, commonly called the P-T extinction, the extinction that ushered in the age of the dinosaurs, took place over hundreds of thousands of years.
POLICE STATE:
The police state tactics against Megaupload have convinced another hosting site to shut down. The intimidation is working. This is the consequence of the great evil of government.
POLITICS:
Voter fraud in Nevada too. How much of this will people tolerate before they reject the system?
Ron Paul is really showing the divide between the old statists and young idealists. Paul dominates among Jews in Nevada.
I'm happy to hear that people are loading big money into a Super PAC to oust big government Republicans, but I'm not thrilled about the anonymity. Actually, it's the not the anonymity I don't like, it's the possibility that foreigners will influence our elections. I wouldn't care about the anonymity if it wasn't for the possibility of foreign intervention. I'm probably being naive. I imagine foreigners can freely donate to incumbents much like they did to Obama in 2008. It's only outsiders who are restricted. This illustrates the conundrum the power of coercion creates. You know Congress won't allow this to continue. They don't want to be ousted from their phony-baloney jobs.
It looks like the federal government coordinated a second assault on the Occupiers across the country.
"It was a week when authorities across the nation took similar action, from McPherson Square in Washington, D.C., to Thomas Square in Honolulu. It raised once again the question of whether the Occupy movement has a future, and if so, what kind."If the government had just obeyed the law from the beginning and required Occupy protesters to either get permits or protest on their own property, this would never have been a problem. Occupy Dayton moves into private offices provided by a local church. That's excellent. I'm happy to see they're following my advice.
LOCAL:
In another grotesque example of how people fall for the seen versus the unseen, the DDN proclaims new fuel standards will create jobs. This is an example of the broken window fallacy.
MISC:
Congratulations the the Giants. Twice they've edged out the Patriots in the Super Bowl. I appreciate how the Giants and the commentators are saying that Manningham's catch was routine. That's what receivers are trained to do. That's right. But most fail. Receivers drop easy catches so often it should be a scandal. Receivers in the NFL are terrible. That was a great catch and great throw.
What the Super Bowl illustrated once again is that the team that pays the least for a quarterback is likely to win. The salary cap is the greatest detriment to winning a Super Bowl, not the other team. The team that spends the most on the highest paid position, the quarterback, has less money to spend on everybody else, and therefore tends to lose. I'd love to see an analysis of the contracts of Super Bowl quarterbacks, but ESPN will never do such a thing.
I don't want to hear crap about how Brady will win another Super Bowl. Brady plays in the AFC with Pittsburgh and Baltimore. The AFC north is the best division in the NFL. If the Patriots played in the AFL north, they may never win the division. As it is, Brady may never see another Super Bowl. Don't get me wrong; I want Brady to win a forth so I don't have to hear about the incredibly lucky Joe Montana any more. But I also don't want to hear about the proclamations of fools.
I wonder if Pepper Hamilton sued Android partners over my old cell phone patent.
Scientists have discovered our brains are more drawn to socializing than to alcohol or cigarettes. I've always said this. What we call addition is a bunch of crap. If a person has a healthy social life. If a person's social life involves drinking, smoking, drugs or work, they might become addicts. And if a person has no social life, he might become addicted. But the social life, or the lack thereof, is always the most important dynamic. Scientists probably had to study this because they have no social lives.
Terry Jones's Medieval Lives looks like something everybody should watch.
This is a funny chart, but it if you think about it, it explains why friends with benefits is a much more natural association than a permanent couple. The permanent couple didn't arise until people wanted to pass savings through generations. We owe everything we enjoy today to the savings of our ancestors. But we also suffer the consequences of permanent relationships as a result. Much like we suffer the consequences of grains.
Earth is so very small.
I'm still unimpressed with this dark energy concept. Imagine if somebody tossed a rock into a pond. That would produce a wave full of whirlpools that relentlessly expanded. If you were a creature who evolved in one of those whirlpools, you and your observable universe would be limited to the wave. You would never be able to comprehend the force that created your wave: the rock tossed into the pond. That force would be operating in a dimension beyond your comprehension. You might call it dark energy. I don't think the universe is as complicated as cosmologists wish it was.
Saturday, February 04, 2012
Free kibbles
HEALTH CARE:
The FDA's corporate partners use ammonia to sterilize beef by-products before folding them into ground beef they sell to you.
WAR:
Prediction that the US government will stage a false flag terror attack blamed on Iran so Obama can start a war with Iran before the election.
POLICE STATE:
Kom Dotcom defends himself against the seizure of Megaupload.com.
Muslim man in Canada arrested as a terrorist for a text message encouraging his co-workers to "blow away" the competition.
POLITICS:
I thought Paul's numbers in Florida were low. A new study blames a media blackout of Paul.
Romney wins big in Nevada.
MEDIA:
The New York Times lost $40 million last year.
LOCAL:
I-75 ramp changes in downtown Dayton for safety.
The FDA's corporate partners use ammonia to sterilize beef by-products before folding them into ground beef they sell to you.
WAR:
Prediction that the US government will stage a false flag terror attack blamed on Iran so Obama can start a war with Iran before the election.
POLICE STATE:
Kom Dotcom defends himself against the seizure of Megaupload.com.
Muslim man in Canada arrested as a terrorist for a text message encouraging his co-workers to "blow away" the competition.
"The Quebec man says he was arrested by provincial police while picking up his seven-year-old son at school. A team of police officers stormed into his home, telling his wife she was married to a terrorist. And his work colleagues were detained for hours at the U.S. border because of their connection to him."This is what we've done to ourselves.
POLITICS:
I thought Paul's numbers in Florida were low. A new study blames a media blackout of Paul.
"Of the four candidates for the GOP nomination, Paul received less than one-twentieth the coverage of the fellow losers Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich in Florida print-based publications, according to a study by HighBeam Research."Unfortunately most voters let the media dictate their decisions.
Romney wins big in Nevada.
MEDIA:
The New York Times lost $40 million last year.
LOCAL:
I-75 ramp changes in downtown Dayton for safety.
Friday, February 03, 2012
Free kibbles
ECONOMY:
Statistics show that much like FDR trapped the US in the great depression, Obama has trapped us in the greater depression. What these statistics fail to show is that Republicans dragged us into both.
The US economy lost millions of jobs in January, but because the government has corrupted statistics to make itself look good no matter who is in charge, the official statistics show that unemployment has dropped to 8.3 percent. That's like if the government was counting the percentage of people safe from zombies after zombies had infected millions of people.
TAX AND SPEND:
Obama comes up with with a new central plan that FDR wishes he'd lived long enough to try: making vets dig ditches then fill them back in again. Thank God FDR died before he could do this so that returning vets could power the economic growth of the late 1940s and 1950s.
REGULATION:
Not satisfied with destroying the ability of city kids to work, the government now wants to destroy the ability of farm children to work.
FEDERAL RESERVE:
Ron Paul almost gets Greenspan to admit that gold is money and fiat money is doomed.
HEALTH CARE:
Government enables institutionalized cheating on doctor exams. Some might thing government should stamp this out, but what incentive is there to do that?
WAR:
An example of the terrible way war warps war fighters.
After years of abuse that many would say rises to the level or torture. whistle-blower Bradly Manning will face court-martial for exposing the US government's dirty laundry. This could have happened a year ago. Maybe longer ago. This isn't justice. It's retribution.
POLITICS:
What are the chances Ron Paul would support Newt Gingrich if he won the Republican nomination?
Somehow or another Trump has transformed himself into a political force. It's no surprise this plutocrat recently endorsed Romney. Nor is it a surprise this plutocrat has historically supported Harry Reid.
The same conservatives who frequently invoke Jesus or religion to support their status quo positions ridicule Obama for doing the same.
The Stalinites have lost their support in many states while the Maoites have gained. I'm supposed to think this is a good thing. No. Many, many, many Americans and people across the world are going to die thanks to the too socialist parties governing America.
Neo-nazis exposed for trying to bridge with Ron Paul and failing. Naturally the failing part is not part of the story. Suddenly the media loves Anonymous for publishing these emails that slime the Paul campaign by association even though they show no two-way association. The attempts to slime Paul with racial attacks continue. Ron Paul is very, very scary to the establishment, and rightly so.
Statistics show that much like FDR trapped the US in the great depression, Obama has trapped us in the greater depression. What these statistics fail to show is that Republicans dragged us into both.
The US economy lost millions of jobs in January, but because the government has corrupted statistics to make itself look good no matter who is in charge, the official statistics show that unemployment has dropped to 8.3 percent. That's like if the government was counting the percentage of people safe from zombies after zombies had infected millions of people.
TAX AND SPEND:
Obama comes up with with a new central plan that FDR wishes he'd lived long enough to try: making vets dig ditches then fill them back in again. Thank God FDR died before he could do this so that returning vets could power the economic growth of the late 1940s and 1950s.
REGULATION:
Not satisfied with destroying the ability of city kids to work, the government now wants to destroy the ability of farm children to work.
FEDERAL RESERVE:
Ron Paul almost gets Greenspan to admit that gold is money and fiat money is doomed.
HEALTH CARE:
Government enables institutionalized cheating on doctor exams. Some might thing government should stamp this out, but what incentive is there to do that?
WAR:
An example of the terrible way war warps war fighters.
After years of abuse that many would say rises to the level or torture. whistle-blower Bradly Manning will face court-martial for exposing the US government's dirty laundry. This could have happened a year ago. Maybe longer ago. This isn't justice. It's retribution.
POLITICS:
What are the chances Ron Paul would support Newt Gingrich if he won the Republican nomination?
"Zero"That's another position Paul and I have in common. The difference is Gingrich has a political history of attacking Paul. I just refuse to support his positions.
Somehow or another Trump has transformed himself into a political force. It's no surprise this plutocrat recently endorsed Romney. Nor is it a surprise this plutocrat has historically supported Harry Reid.
The same conservatives who frequently invoke Jesus or religion to support their status quo positions ridicule Obama for doing the same.
The Stalinites have lost their support in many states while the Maoites have gained. I'm supposed to think this is a good thing. No. Many, many, many Americans and people across the world are going to die thanks to the too socialist parties governing America.
Neo-nazis exposed for trying to bridge with Ron Paul and failing. Naturally the failing part is not part of the story. Suddenly the media loves Anonymous for publishing these emails that slime the Paul campaign by association even though they show no two-way association. The attempts to slime Paul with racial attacks continue. Ron Paul is very, very scary to the establishment, and rightly so.
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Socialism is Irrational and Deadly
Socialism is Irrational and Deadly
by Mark Luedtke
Why People Advocate Socialism
In his book The New Evolution Diet, Paleolithic lifestyle pioneer Art DeVany calls humans lazy over-eaters. “We humans evolved when food was scarce and life was full of arduous physical activity. Hence, our bodies instruct us to eat everything we can lay our hands on and to exert ourselves as little as possible.” Because of the environment our ancestors evolved in, humans are genetically programmed to take the easy route whenever possible.
Proponents of socialism are experts at preying on this human weakness. Vladimir Lenin claimed, “The socialist state can only arise as a net of producing and consuming communes, which conscientiously record their production and consumption, go about their labour economically, uninterruptedly raise their labour productivity and thus attain the possibility of lowering the working day to seven or six hours or even lower.” Humans are instinctively drawn to promises of greater wealth for less, or no, work.
But history exposes this farce. Economist Gary Galles recounts the horrors of early socialist American colonies, “In Jamestown, colonists were indentured servants whose first seven years' output was to go into a common pool. In Plymouth, all accumulated wealth was to be held in common, against colonists' objections.... In both places, the fruits of people's efforts went to others, with disastrous results. Sixty-six of Jamestown's initial 104 colonists died within six months, most from famine. Only 60 out of 500 arrivals two years later survived that long. The consequences of this ‘starving time’ included cannibalism. Plymouth's first colonists fared little better, with only about half surviving six months. Some, in desperation, sold their clothes and blankets to, or became servants of, Indians.”
Galles describes how socialism reduced the colonists to a primitive state, driven by instinct, not reason. “Shirking was so severe at Jamestown that Thomas Dale noted that much of the survivors' time was devoted to playing rather than working, despite the threat of starvation.”
The colonies were saved by adopting free markets. “In Jamestown, each man was given three acres of land, in exchange for a lump-sum tax of two and a half barrels of corn, and communal work was limited to one month (not during planting or harvest). In addition to creating private property, this made the marginal tax rate on most of colonists' efforts zero, turning indolence into industry. Rather than starving, they became exporters of corn to the Indians.” In Plymouth, “The change from communal- to private-property rights dramatically increased the Pilgrims' productivity. The beginnings of that productivity led to the bounty celebrated at Plymouth's famous 1623 Thanksgiving. And as historian Russell Kirk reported, ‘never again were the Pilgrims short of food.’”
The history of socialism is unimaginable mass murder, starvation, torture and imprisonment. Advocates tiptoe through the mass grave of socialist history, conveniently avoiding the hundreds of millions of corpses, in hopes of cherry-picking a case that will appeal to baser human instincts. Unfortunately for the advocates, rational analysis of these examples invariably illustrates their ignorance of both economics and history. This isn’t because socialist advocates are stupid or bad messengers. The reason no socialist makes a rational case for socialism is socialism prohibits rational economic calculation.
Economic Calculation
In 1920 Ludwig von Mises, the dean of the Austrian School of Economics at that time, delivered the most devastating argument against socialism to date. In his essay entitled “Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth”, Mises explained that because the value of goods can only be determined through exchange, it’s impossible to perform economic calculation in a socialist society. Mises defines socialism this way, “Under socialism all the means of production are the property of the community.” The community appoints an agent, the state, to manage all production. But since the state owns all production goods, there can be no exchange. There can be no prices. Therefore it’s impossible for its agents to rationally calculate the value of any production good.
The implications are profound. Without prices, accounting is impossible. Rational economic analysis is impossible. There is no rational means to measure whether an activity is worthwhile or not, nor to allocate resources between activities.
Mises explains, “Without economic calculation there can be no economy. Hence, in a socialist state wherein the pursuit of economic calculation is impossible, there can be--in our sense of the term--no economy whatsoever. In trivial and secondary matters rational conduct might still be possible, but in general it would be impossible to speak of rational production any more. There would be no means of determining what was rational, and hence it is obvious that production could never be directed by economic considerations.”
“For a time the remembrance of the experiences gained in a competitive economy, which has obtained for some thousands of years, may provide a check to the complete collapse of the art of economy. The older methods of procedure might be retained not because of their rationality but because they appear to be hallowed by tradition. Actually, they would meanwhile have become irrational, as no longer comporting with the new conditions.” Mises’s 1920 prediction of how production in a socialist society would evolve presciently describes the blighted landscape of primitive factories exposed after the Iron Curtain fell. Mises also predicts the ubiquitous shortages we now know are endemic to all socialist countries.
But Mises’s most profound observation is about rational behavior itself. “Rational conduct would be divorced from the very ground which is its proper domain. Would there, in fact, be any such thing as rational conduct at all, or, indeed, such a thing as rationality and logic in thought itself? Historically, human rationality is a development of economic life. Could it then obtain when divorced therefrom?” Here Mises explains the starvation of early American colonists. Prevented from performing economic calculation and isolated from any economy with prices to emulate, the colonists were stripped of their ability to make rational decisions. Thus they played instead of working. Starvation and cannibalism followed. Only when they adopted markets and were able to perform economic calculation could they become civilized and prosperous again. Even if a socialist society was ruled by super-benevolent super-geniuses, the inability to make rational economic decisions would doom it.
The Worst Rise to the Top
Of course there are no benevolent geniuses in government. As Lord Acton observed, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Since the socialist society has abolished ownership and voluntary exchange of production goods, the only way to allocate them is through violence. Land and capital must be appropriated from private owners through violence, and labor must be allocated under threat of violence backed by violence.
As Mises proved, the allocation of production resources can only be arbitrary and chaotic. Ubiquitous shortages of consumer goods cause chaos and death. Those in power must promote a strongman to protect themselves from the people. In his famous book, The Road to Serfdom, Nobel Prize winning economist F.A. Hayek explained why the worst rise to the top of the socialist state, “Advancement within a totalitarian group or party depends largely on a willingness to do immoral things. The principle that the end justifies the means, which in individualist ethics is regarded as the denial of all morals, in collectivist ethics becomes necessarily the supreme rule.”
Because socialist governments cannot meet the variety of demands of individuals, the strongman must appeal to the baser instincts of the masses. He must identify a bogeyman and motivate the masses against that bogeyman to maintain power. Hayek predicts the war, mass murder and secret police common to socialist states.
Socialism also corrupts bureaucrats because since they cannot rationally allocate production goods, they tend to allocate them for the good of themselves and their cronies.
Soft Socialism
It was obvious by 1920 that full socialism destroyed civilizations, so socialists adopted the soft socialism originated by Otto Von Bismark. Lenin launched the New Economic Policy, Mussolini spawned fascism, and Hitler implemented National Socialism. Today people use the terms corporatism or crony capitalism. The defining characteristic of soft socialism is government control of the means of production through regulation while allowing nominal ownership of property similar to a capitalist system. Contrary to what socialists claim, this is not capitalism because the state controls all production through regulation.
The advantage of soft socialism is entrepreneurs can perform economic calculation. The price mechanism guides allocation of resources so the economy provides goods, albeit inefficiently, to consumers. All western countries implement soft socialism to some degree.
The problems of full socialism remain in proportion to how extensively the state interferes in the economy. Every regulation strengthens state control of production, increases the cost of production, and distorts prices and economic calculation. Regulations force producers with low margins out of business which reduces competition and further distorts prices. This causes mis-allocation of resources resulting in lower quality goods and higher prices for consumers. The greater the regulations, the worse the mis-allocation of resources and the fewer the producers. Ultimately giant corporate agents of the state dominate all markets.
Because one side of every transaction is money, states create central banks to cartelize banks and monopolize the production of money. The state empowers bankers to create money out of thin air, loan it out, and earn interest. If banks suffer losses, the central bank prints money to bail them out. In return, the banks buy government debt. Every time the central bank prints money, it transfers wealth from those who didn’t receive the new money to those who did.
Governments still cannot perform economic calculation because they don’t engage in voluntary exchange. That corrupts bureaucrats. The worst still rise to the top. As a result, states and their corporate agents enrich those in power by looting those who are not. The laws of economics dictate it can never be any other way.
Decades of massive socialist inflation, regulation, institutionalized theft and corruption, especially in the US, caused the economic crisis of 2008 and the recession that still plagues the world, but proponents of socialism always call for more socialism to correct the problems caused by the current level of socialism.
The Myth of Good Socialist Governments
Socialist advocates often point to Canada as an example of a good socialist country because they fail to understand why the Canadians are doing relatively well. The major reason is Canadians dramatically reduced government spending and regulation during the 1990s. Economist David Lee recounts, “Under the joint leadership of Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Finance Minister Paul Martin, Canada underwent one of the most fiscally responsible periods in its history. … Following a peak deficit of $42 billion in fiscal 1993–1994, the administration managed to reverse the deficit and produce a surplus by 1997–1998, and sustain the surplus over the following two years before posting a historical record of $17.1 billion in budgetary surplus in fiscal 2000–2001.”
Socialist advocates typically ignore the ubiquitous shortages produced by socialized medicine in Canada. Economist Thomas DiLorenzo informs, “All countries that have adopted socialized healthcare have suffered from the disease of price-control-induced shortages. If a Canadian, for instance, suffers third-degree burns in an automobile crash and is in need of reconstructive plastic surgery, the average waiting time for treatment is more than 19 weeks, or nearly five months. The waiting time for orthopaedic surgery is also almost five months; for neurosurgery it's three full months; and it is even more than a month for heart surgery (see The Fraser Institute publication, Waiting Your Turn: Hospital Waiting Lists in Canada). That’s why so many Canadians come to the US for medical care.
Proponents of socialism also frequently point to Sweden as an example of a socialist paradise, but the reality is similar to Canada. Reason magazine reports, “[Economist Andreas] Bergh says that despite popular mythology, Sweden is not a socialist success story but instead owes its economic growth to the lowered tax rates and deregulation of the early 1990s, which allowed innovation and investment to flourish. Bergh also ... warns that Americans who are hoping to emulate Swedish success by growing the public sector are learning the wrong lessons from Sweden.”
Economist Per Bylund adds, “Since the mid-1990′s Sweden has had only balanced budgets and even reduced the national debt from just over 80% to under 40% of GDP. The welfare system has also, slowly and step by step so that people would not notice the change, been restructured through adding incentives for people to choose productive labor instead of welfare checks. Many welfare programs have also been changed from the previous never-ending subsidization of laziness to provide limited time only support while adjusting to changes in the market.” It’s ironic that as Swedes and Canadians benefit from moving toward capitalism, socialists point to those countries as models for socialism.
Why Not Capitalism?
Socialism is government control of the means of production. It’s also institutionalized theft. By any objective measure, the US is one of the most socialist governments in the developed world. The federal government seizes nearly $4 trillion in resources from the people every year. It is $15 trillion in debt. That’s not counting state and local governments. No other country comes close.
What resources US governments don’t seize directly, they control through regulation. In 2010, the Federal Register contained 81,405 pages of regulations. Regulators add thousands of pages every year. DiLorenzo adds, “On top of all of this, state and local governments have literally thousands of regulatory agencies and commissions that regulate everything from allergies to zoos. … Then there’s the [Federal Reserve]. In addition to attempting to fix prices (interest rates) and causing perpetual boom-and-bust cycles with its monetary manipulation, the Fed performs dozens of regulatory functions.” The regulatory functions listed are too numerous to print.
US governments gained control of the means of production by corporatizing every sector of the economy via regulation. They have institutionalized theft on a scale unprecedented in history. This socialism is the root of America’s economic problems.
So why not capitalism? Capitalism is an economy without government intervention. Neither politicians nor producers can use government coercion to loot the people. The only way for producers to profit is to satisfy consumers. They continually innovate or go bankrupt. That’s why everywhere in the world economic freedom increases, the standard of living increases, and everywhere economic freedom decreases, the standard of living decreases. There are no exceptions.
For centuries the US was largely a capitalist country. Taxes and regulations were low. There was no central bank. Capitalism empowered Americans to create the greatest country the world has ever known. Unprecedented capital accumulation during that time is why the US remains relatively wealthy despite a century of socialist advance. But now nearly all production in the US is controlled by the state for the benefit of those in power. Meanwhile, other countries, including China, have moved towards capitalism. As a result, the stagnant US economy is rapidly being overtaken.
But as those early colonists learned, overcoming the instinctual appeal of socialism is nearly impossible. Americans continue to expand the socialist state, and other than those with access to the levers of power, Americans suffer more for it every day.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can chose reason over animal instincts. We can choose cooperation over violence. We can choose compassion over barbarism. If the Canadians, Swedes and Chinese can move toward capitalism and enjoy tremendous benefits, Americans can do the same, but better. If America is to return to a trajectory of greatness, Americans must re-adopt capitalism. Now.
by Mark Luedtke
Why People Advocate Socialism
In his book The New Evolution Diet, Paleolithic lifestyle pioneer Art DeVany calls humans lazy over-eaters. “We humans evolved when food was scarce and life was full of arduous physical activity. Hence, our bodies instruct us to eat everything we can lay our hands on and to exert ourselves as little as possible.” Because of the environment our ancestors evolved in, humans are genetically programmed to take the easy route whenever possible.
Proponents of socialism are experts at preying on this human weakness. Vladimir Lenin claimed, “The socialist state can only arise as a net of producing and consuming communes, which conscientiously record their production and consumption, go about their labour economically, uninterruptedly raise their labour productivity and thus attain the possibility of lowering the working day to seven or six hours or even lower.” Humans are instinctively drawn to promises of greater wealth for less, or no, work.
But history exposes this farce. Economist Gary Galles recounts the horrors of early socialist American colonies, “In Jamestown, colonists were indentured servants whose first seven years' output was to go into a common pool. In Plymouth, all accumulated wealth was to be held in common, against colonists' objections.... In both places, the fruits of people's efforts went to others, with disastrous results. Sixty-six of Jamestown's initial 104 colonists died within six months, most from famine. Only 60 out of 500 arrivals two years later survived that long. The consequences of this ‘starving time’ included cannibalism. Plymouth's first colonists fared little better, with only about half surviving six months. Some, in desperation, sold their clothes and blankets to, or became servants of, Indians.”
Galles describes how socialism reduced the colonists to a primitive state, driven by instinct, not reason. “Shirking was so severe at Jamestown that Thomas Dale noted that much of the survivors' time was devoted to playing rather than working, despite the threat of starvation.”
The colonies were saved by adopting free markets. “In Jamestown, each man was given three acres of land, in exchange for a lump-sum tax of two and a half barrels of corn, and communal work was limited to one month (not during planting or harvest). In addition to creating private property, this made the marginal tax rate on most of colonists' efforts zero, turning indolence into industry. Rather than starving, they became exporters of corn to the Indians.” In Plymouth, “The change from communal- to private-property rights dramatically increased the Pilgrims' productivity. The beginnings of that productivity led to the bounty celebrated at Plymouth's famous 1623 Thanksgiving. And as historian Russell Kirk reported, ‘never again were the Pilgrims short of food.’”
The history of socialism is unimaginable mass murder, starvation, torture and imprisonment. Advocates tiptoe through the mass grave of socialist history, conveniently avoiding the hundreds of millions of corpses, in hopes of cherry-picking a case that will appeal to baser human instincts. Unfortunately for the advocates, rational analysis of these examples invariably illustrates their ignorance of both economics and history. This isn’t because socialist advocates are stupid or bad messengers. The reason no socialist makes a rational case for socialism is socialism prohibits rational economic calculation.
Economic Calculation
In 1920 Ludwig von Mises, the dean of the Austrian School of Economics at that time, delivered the most devastating argument against socialism to date. In his essay entitled “Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth”, Mises explained that because the value of goods can only be determined through exchange, it’s impossible to perform economic calculation in a socialist society. Mises defines socialism this way, “Under socialism all the means of production are the property of the community.” The community appoints an agent, the state, to manage all production. But since the state owns all production goods, there can be no exchange. There can be no prices. Therefore it’s impossible for its agents to rationally calculate the value of any production good.
The implications are profound. Without prices, accounting is impossible. Rational economic analysis is impossible. There is no rational means to measure whether an activity is worthwhile or not, nor to allocate resources between activities.
Mises explains, “Without economic calculation there can be no economy. Hence, in a socialist state wherein the pursuit of economic calculation is impossible, there can be--in our sense of the term--no economy whatsoever. In trivial and secondary matters rational conduct might still be possible, but in general it would be impossible to speak of rational production any more. There would be no means of determining what was rational, and hence it is obvious that production could never be directed by economic considerations.”
“For a time the remembrance of the experiences gained in a competitive economy, which has obtained for some thousands of years, may provide a check to the complete collapse of the art of economy. The older methods of procedure might be retained not because of their rationality but because they appear to be hallowed by tradition. Actually, they would meanwhile have become irrational, as no longer comporting with the new conditions.” Mises’s 1920 prediction of how production in a socialist society would evolve presciently describes the blighted landscape of primitive factories exposed after the Iron Curtain fell. Mises also predicts the ubiquitous shortages we now know are endemic to all socialist countries.
But Mises’s most profound observation is about rational behavior itself. “Rational conduct would be divorced from the very ground which is its proper domain. Would there, in fact, be any such thing as rational conduct at all, or, indeed, such a thing as rationality and logic in thought itself? Historically, human rationality is a development of economic life. Could it then obtain when divorced therefrom?” Here Mises explains the starvation of early American colonists. Prevented from performing economic calculation and isolated from any economy with prices to emulate, the colonists were stripped of their ability to make rational decisions. Thus they played instead of working. Starvation and cannibalism followed. Only when they adopted markets and were able to perform economic calculation could they become civilized and prosperous again. Even if a socialist society was ruled by super-benevolent super-geniuses, the inability to make rational economic decisions would doom it.
The Worst Rise to the Top
Of course there are no benevolent geniuses in government. As Lord Acton observed, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Since the socialist society has abolished ownership and voluntary exchange of production goods, the only way to allocate them is through violence. Land and capital must be appropriated from private owners through violence, and labor must be allocated under threat of violence backed by violence.
As Mises proved, the allocation of production resources can only be arbitrary and chaotic. Ubiquitous shortages of consumer goods cause chaos and death. Those in power must promote a strongman to protect themselves from the people. In his famous book, The Road to Serfdom, Nobel Prize winning economist F.A. Hayek explained why the worst rise to the top of the socialist state, “Advancement within a totalitarian group or party depends largely on a willingness to do immoral things. The principle that the end justifies the means, which in individualist ethics is regarded as the denial of all morals, in collectivist ethics becomes necessarily the supreme rule.”
Because socialist governments cannot meet the variety of demands of individuals, the strongman must appeal to the baser instincts of the masses. He must identify a bogeyman and motivate the masses against that bogeyman to maintain power. Hayek predicts the war, mass murder and secret police common to socialist states.
Socialism also corrupts bureaucrats because since they cannot rationally allocate production goods, they tend to allocate them for the good of themselves and their cronies.
Soft Socialism
It was obvious by 1920 that full socialism destroyed civilizations, so socialists adopted the soft socialism originated by Otto Von Bismark. Lenin launched the New Economic Policy, Mussolini spawned fascism, and Hitler implemented National Socialism. Today people use the terms corporatism or crony capitalism. The defining characteristic of soft socialism is government control of the means of production through regulation while allowing nominal ownership of property similar to a capitalist system. Contrary to what socialists claim, this is not capitalism because the state controls all production through regulation.
The advantage of soft socialism is entrepreneurs can perform economic calculation. The price mechanism guides allocation of resources so the economy provides goods, albeit inefficiently, to consumers. All western countries implement soft socialism to some degree.
The problems of full socialism remain in proportion to how extensively the state interferes in the economy. Every regulation strengthens state control of production, increases the cost of production, and distorts prices and economic calculation. Regulations force producers with low margins out of business which reduces competition and further distorts prices. This causes mis-allocation of resources resulting in lower quality goods and higher prices for consumers. The greater the regulations, the worse the mis-allocation of resources and the fewer the producers. Ultimately giant corporate agents of the state dominate all markets.
Because one side of every transaction is money, states create central banks to cartelize banks and monopolize the production of money. The state empowers bankers to create money out of thin air, loan it out, and earn interest. If banks suffer losses, the central bank prints money to bail them out. In return, the banks buy government debt. Every time the central bank prints money, it transfers wealth from those who didn’t receive the new money to those who did.
Governments still cannot perform economic calculation because they don’t engage in voluntary exchange. That corrupts bureaucrats. The worst still rise to the top. As a result, states and their corporate agents enrich those in power by looting those who are not. The laws of economics dictate it can never be any other way.
Decades of massive socialist inflation, regulation, institutionalized theft and corruption, especially in the US, caused the economic crisis of 2008 and the recession that still plagues the world, but proponents of socialism always call for more socialism to correct the problems caused by the current level of socialism.
The Myth of Good Socialist Governments
Socialist advocates often point to Canada as an example of a good socialist country because they fail to understand why the Canadians are doing relatively well. The major reason is Canadians dramatically reduced government spending and regulation during the 1990s. Economist David Lee recounts, “Under the joint leadership of Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Finance Minister Paul Martin, Canada underwent one of the most fiscally responsible periods in its history. … Following a peak deficit of $42 billion in fiscal 1993–1994, the administration managed to reverse the deficit and produce a surplus by 1997–1998, and sustain the surplus over the following two years before posting a historical record of $17.1 billion in budgetary surplus in fiscal 2000–2001.”
Socialist advocates typically ignore the ubiquitous shortages produced by socialized medicine in Canada. Economist Thomas DiLorenzo informs, “All countries that have adopted socialized healthcare have suffered from the disease of price-control-induced shortages. If a Canadian, for instance, suffers third-degree burns in an automobile crash and is in need of reconstructive plastic surgery, the average waiting time for treatment is more than 19 weeks, or nearly five months. The waiting time for orthopaedic surgery is also almost five months; for neurosurgery it's three full months; and it is even more than a month for heart surgery (see The Fraser Institute publication, Waiting Your Turn: Hospital Waiting Lists in Canada). That’s why so many Canadians come to the US for medical care.
Proponents of socialism also frequently point to Sweden as an example of a socialist paradise, but the reality is similar to Canada. Reason magazine reports, “[Economist Andreas] Bergh says that despite popular mythology, Sweden is not a socialist success story but instead owes its economic growth to the lowered tax rates and deregulation of the early 1990s, which allowed innovation and investment to flourish. Bergh also ... warns that Americans who are hoping to emulate Swedish success by growing the public sector are learning the wrong lessons from Sweden.”
Economist Per Bylund adds, “Since the mid-1990′s Sweden has had only balanced budgets and even reduced the national debt from just over 80% to under 40% of GDP. The welfare system has also, slowly and step by step so that people would not notice the change, been restructured through adding incentives for people to choose productive labor instead of welfare checks. Many welfare programs have also been changed from the previous never-ending subsidization of laziness to provide limited time only support while adjusting to changes in the market.” It’s ironic that as Swedes and Canadians benefit from moving toward capitalism, socialists point to those countries as models for socialism.
Why Not Capitalism?
Socialism is government control of the means of production. It’s also institutionalized theft. By any objective measure, the US is one of the most socialist governments in the developed world. The federal government seizes nearly $4 trillion in resources from the people every year. It is $15 trillion in debt. That’s not counting state and local governments. No other country comes close.
What resources US governments don’t seize directly, they control through regulation. In 2010, the Federal Register contained 81,405 pages of regulations. Regulators add thousands of pages every year. DiLorenzo adds, “On top of all of this, state and local governments have literally thousands of regulatory agencies and commissions that regulate everything from allergies to zoos. … Then there’s the [Federal Reserve]. In addition to attempting to fix prices (interest rates) and causing perpetual boom-and-bust cycles with its monetary manipulation, the Fed performs dozens of regulatory functions.” The regulatory functions listed are too numerous to print.
US governments gained control of the means of production by corporatizing every sector of the economy via regulation. They have institutionalized theft on a scale unprecedented in history. This socialism is the root of America’s economic problems.
So why not capitalism? Capitalism is an economy without government intervention. Neither politicians nor producers can use government coercion to loot the people. The only way for producers to profit is to satisfy consumers. They continually innovate or go bankrupt. That’s why everywhere in the world economic freedom increases, the standard of living increases, and everywhere economic freedom decreases, the standard of living decreases. There are no exceptions.
For centuries the US was largely a capitalist country. Taxes and regulations were low. There was no central bank. Capitalism empowered Americans to create the greatest country the world has ever known. Unprecedented capital accumulation during that time is why the US remains relatively wealthy despite a century of socialist advance. But now nearly all production in the US is controlled by the state for the benefit of those in power. Meanwhile, other countries, including China, have moved towards capitalism. As a result, the stagnant US economy is rapidly being overtaken.
But as those early colonists learned, overcoming the instinctual appeal of socialism is nearly impossible. Americans continue to expand the socialist state, and other than those with access to the levers of power, Americans suffer more for it every day.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can chose reason over animal instincts. We can choose cooperation over violence. We can choose compassion over barbarism. If the Canadians, Swedes and Chinese can move toward capitalism and enjoy tremendous benefits, Americans can do the same, but better. If America is to return to a trajectory of greatness, Americans must re-adopt capitalism. Now.
Free kibbles
ECONOMY:
Most of these economic indicators make sense. The Super Bowl one does not.
TAX AND SPEND:
A list of welfare programs.
FEDERAL RESERVE:
People like to talk about China buying US government debt, but the Fed is far away the biggest holder of federal debt.
Jim Grant, the man whom Ron Pauls would nominate to run the Fed says,
Now Bernanke is promising to hold the interest rate near zero until 2014. In 2014 he'll promise to hold it low until 2016. Can you see where this is going?
If you don't trust banks, you can make a peer-to-peer loan through uk.zopa.com.
HEALTH CARE:
The FDA's perverted case for controlling your stem cells.
GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:
Oil companies still suffering from Obama's Gulf drilling ban even after it was lifted. An economy is not a light switch. When government bans something, people, capital and raw materials rapidly shift to other, less productive, uses. After lifting the ban it takes time to move those resources back.
Book proclaiming how to save the world from the coming ice age written in 1977 recommends exactly the same prescriptions as modern frauds propose to prevent global warming. This illustrates that the frauds care nothing about crisis. All crises, even literal polar opposites, demand the same response. That's because these fraudulent movements are driven by politics, not climate and not the environment.
The climate frauds' weak response to 16 prominent scientists who say global warming alarmism is grossly exaggerated.
POLICE STATE:
The FBI suspects anybody who uses standard internet privacy protections of being a terrorist.
FBI seizes 307 websites related to the Super Bowl.
WAR:
Yesterday headlines said NATO intended to transfer security to Afghan forces in 2013. Today headlines say NATO will be fighting in Afghanistan through 2014. The press is probably just as clueless as the military.
FOREIGN POLICY:
The many negatives of sanctions.
The duplicity of the Obama administration toward Iran makes it nearly impossible for the Iranian government to trust the US government. This is probably true of every foreign government to some extent.
POLITICS:
Isn't it illegal for Obama to have Swiss donors? Or is this just bundling American donors and not donating himself or collecting donations from Swiss donors?
Both Super Bowl owners have donated the maximum to Obama.
Rand Paul would be a fool to accept a VP spot with any candidate other than his father. That would be the fastest way to alienate himself from libertarians.
Anybody who thinks Congress is going to enact real corruption reforms on itself, the executive branch, and political insiders is a fool.
MISC:
How Bruce Springsteen enriches scalpers at his own expense then mistakenly blames the scalpers.
SpaceX successfully tests powerful new engines.
Most of these economic indicators make sense. The Super Bowl one does not.
TAX AND SPEND:
A list of welfare programs.
FEDERAL RESERVE:
People like to talk about China buying US government debt, but the Fed is far away the biggest holder of federal debt.
Jim Grant, the man whom Ron Pauls would nominate to run the Fed says,
"“The anachronism is today’s system,” he says. We have a “command and control, top down” system whereby the Federal Reserve imposes an interest rate on society. The Fed, in other words, tells us what the price of money should be. It is, Grant says, oddly at odds with the modern age. “We live in a world of collaborative social networks” of the Internet and Facebook, of Wikipedia instead of the old World Book, and so on. And yet when it comes to the price of money, we wait for a committee that sits in private to tell us what it should be. "But the central wouldn't have it any other way.
Now Bernanke is promising to hold the interest rate near zero until 2014. In 2014 he'll promise to hold it low until 2016. Can you see where this is going?
If you don't trust banks, you can make a peer-to-peer loan through uk.zopa.com.
HEALTH CARE:
The FDA's perverted case for controlling your stem cells.
GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:
Oil companies still suffering from Obama's Gulf drilling ban even after it was lifted. An economy is not a light switch. When government bans something, people, capital and raw materials rapidly shift to other, less productive, uses. After lifting the ban it takes time to move those resources back.
Book proclaiming how to save the world from the coming ice age written in 1977 recommends exactly the same prescriptions as modern frauds propose to prevent global warming. This illustrates that the frauds care nothing about crisis. All crises, even literal polar opposites, demand the same response. That's because these fraudulent movements are driven by politics, not climate and not the environment.
The climate frauds' weak response to 16 prominent scientists who say global warming alarmism is grossly exaggerated.
POLICE STATE:
The FBI suspects anybody who uses standard internet privacy protections of being a terrorist.
"A flyer designed by the FBI and the Department of Justice to promote suspicious activity reporting in internet cafes lists basic tools used for online privacy as potential signs of terrorist activity. The document, part of a program called “Communities Against Terrorism”, lists the use of “anonymizers, portals, or other means to shield IP address” as a sign that a person could be engaged in or supporting terrorist activity. The use of encryption is also listed as a suspicious activity along with steganography, the practice of using “software to hide encrypted data in digital photos” or other media. In fact, the flyer recommends that anyone “overly concerned about privacy” or attempting to “shield the screen from view of others” should be considered suspicious and potentially engaged in terrorist activities."We're the stupidest people the world has ever known. We had everything, but we're throwing it all away and committing social suicide by government.
FBI seizes 307 websites related to the Super Bowl.
WAR:
Yesterday headlines said NATO intended to transfer security to Afghan forces in 2013. Today headlines say NATO will be fighting in Afghanistan through 2014. The press is probably just as clueless as the military.
FOREIGN POLICY:
The many negatives of sanctions.
The duplicity of the Obama administration toward Iran makes it nearly impossible for the Iranian government to trust the US government. This is probably true of every foreign government to some extent.
POLITICS:
Isn't it illegal for Obama to have Swiss donors? Or is this just bundling American donors and not donating himself or collecting donations from Swiss donors?
Both Super Bowl owners have donated the maximum to Obama.
Rand Paul would be a fool to accept a VP spot with any candidate other than his father. That would be the fastest way to alienate himself from libertarians.
Anybody who thinks Congress is going to enact real corruption reforms on itself, the executive branch, and political insiders is a fool.
MISC:
How Bruce Springsteen enriches scalpers at his own expense then mistakenly blames the scalpers.
SpaceX successfully tests powerful new engines.
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Free kibbles
FREEDOM OF SPEECH:
Google implements system that enables governments to censor blogs.
SOCIALISM:
Indiana becomes a right to work state. Indiana will take jobs from Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and probably Kentucky because of this. Maybe some of those other states will follow.
TAX AND SPEND:
Federal employees make more money that the private sector workers who pay their salaries.
As much as I would love to see Republicans abolish state income taxes, I won't hold my breath.
HEALTH CARE:
Now the government wants to regulate sugar. It is unhealthy, but can you imagine what processed food would taste like with no fat and no sugar? Worse, can you imagine what a black market in sugar would look like. They say half of all Americans have done drugs. Every American has done sugar. If you think the violence caused by the war on drugs is bad, a war on sugar would start a literal civil war in the US.
POLICE STATE:
EFF seeking to retrieve data for Megauplaod customers.
I'm not impressed with the government's false sense of security at the Super Bowl. God forbid anything happen, but if real terrorists, not just some yokels, wanted to attack it, the surveillance state wouldn't stop them.
WAR:
War experts are surprised that the Taliban has infiltrated the Afghan security forces. Government experts are surprised a lot. Maybe they don't know what the word expert means. NATO report admits that the Taliban plan to retake Afghanistan after NATO troops withdraw. Taliban denies peace talks. We know how this is going to end. All those lives and all that money wasted.
FOREIGN POLICY:
I bet foreign policy experts were surprised that fans at an Egyptian soccer game killed at least 73. Our government's attempts to centrally plan foreign countries is outrageously stupid.
Once again the US is inviting blowback on US citizens.
POLITICS:
Juan Williams says people who talk about the Constitution and the Founding Fathers are speaking in racist code. You got to be kidding me.
Because of all the caucuses in February, expectations are high for Ron Paul this month. Let's hope he does well.
LOCAL:
A local school district threatens voters if they don't pass a $2.5 million levy. They threaten 25 jobs cuts, but only three of those are administrative. Why not cut $2.5 million of administration jobs now and don't push for a levy?
Politicians allocate money to highly visible road projects like the never-ending construction on I-75, but they don't allocate money to repair county bridges because they get few kickbacks and the projects buy few votes.
Google implements system that enables governments to censor blogs.
SOCIALISM:
Indiana becomes a right to work state. Indiana will take jobs from Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and probably Kentucky because of this. Maybe some of those other states will follow.
TAX AND SPEND:
Federal employees make more money that the private sector workers who pay their salaries.
As much as I would love to see Republicans abolish state income taxes, I won't hold my breath.
HEALTH CARE:
Now the government wants to regulate sugar. It is unhealthy, but can you imagine what processed food would taste like with no fat and no sugar? Worse, can you imagine what a black market in sugar would look like. They say half of all Americans have done drugs. Every American has done sugar. If you think the violence caused by the war on drugs is bad, a war on sugar would start a literal civil war in the US.
POLICE STATE:
EFF seeking to retrieve data for Megauplaod customers.
I'm not impressed with the government's false sense of security at the Super Bowl. God forbid anything happen, but if real terrorists, not just some yokels, wanted to attack it, the surveillance state wouldn't stop them.
WAR:
War experts are surprised that the Taliban has infiltrated the Afghan security forces. Government experts are surprised a lot. Maybe they don't know what the word expert means. NATO report admits that the Taliban plan to retake Afghanistan after NATO troops withdraw. Taliban denies peace talks. We know how this is going to end. All those lives and all that money wasted.
FOREIGN POLICY:
I bet foreign policy experts were surprised that fans at an Egyptian soccer game killed at least 73. Our government's attempts to centrally plan foreign countries is outrageously stupid.
Once again the US is inviting blowback on US citizens.
"Iran, perceiving threat from West, willing to attack on U.S. soil, U.S. intelligence report finds"The implementation of sanctions, oil embargoes and the attacks on Iran's currency by western governments led by the US have pushed the Iranian government to the point where it feels it might have to retaliate on US soil. If our government would stop its aggression, the Iranian government wouldn't want to attack us. Policies matter and the aggression of our government gets Americans killed.
POLITICS:
Juan Williams says people who talk about the Constitution and the Founding Fathers are speaking in racist code. You got to be kidding me.
Because of all the caucuses in February, expectations are high for Ron Paul this month. Let's hope he does well.
LOCAL:
A local school district threatens voters if they don't pass a $2.5 million levy. They threaten 25 jobs cuts, but only three of those are administrative. Why not cut $2.5 million of administration jobs now and don't push for a levy?
Politicians allocate money to highly visible road projects like the never-ending construction on I-75, but they don't allocate money to repair county bridges because they get few kickbacks and the projects buy few votes.
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