Snapshot

The Whole World Sucks, and Everybody Thinks its Gravity

We’re a Second World country and working on Third, I tell you. We probably won’t be ale (sic) to make our own cars before long. The economy is croaking. So what we need to do is have a lot of expensive foreign wars. Anybody can see it. You can’t run your own country? Then kill a bunch of thirteenth-century peasants. That’ll fix it.

I think I may have to take over the economy. Yes, I hear you asking, “Fred, what arrogance, even by your vertiginous standards. You aren’t an economist. What makes you think you know anything about economics?”

To which I reply, “What makes you think economists know anything about economics? Who got us into this mess, me or economists? I have never bought anything on credit in my life, and I have zero debt. Would you rather have me running things, or economists?”

Fred has been perusing the headlines and is a bit distraught.

Leap in U.S. debt hits taxpayers with 12% more red ink

The 12% rise in red ink in 2008 stems from an explosion of federal borrowing during the recession, plus an aging population driving up the costs of Medicare and Social Security.

That's the biggest leap in the long-term burden on taxpayers since a Medicare prescription drug benefit was added in 2003.

The latest increase raises federal obligations to a record $546,668 per household in 2008, according to the USA TODAY analysis. That's quadruple what the average U.S. household owes for all mortgages, car loans, credit cards and other debt combined.

The red ink just keeps on coming. Debt is being piled upon debt. The Fed will print money to keep its creditors at bay. This will devalue the dollar - your dollars. You probably don't have a government approved printing press so you will need another option.

The 'No Problem' Mindset: Guaranteed Destruction

"No problem."

There is no problem for which their answer is not "no problem."

Medicare will go bust. Social Security will go bust. "No problem."

The unemployment rate keeps rising. "No problem."

When people refuse to face reality, because reality is going to be more painful than anything they have experienced, they look for signs that the problems they cannot avoid without changing are really not that bad. They look for offsetting good news.

They think the status quo ante will return.

If you believe we are in tough economic times and things are going to get much worse before they get any better, then you should be preparing to ride them out by ...doing what? Some are paying off debt, buying gold, hunkering down, saving, stocking up on canned goods, etc. What are you doing?

A Tsunami is coming. In such a scenario, you have got to get out of the water and off the beach. But few people ever do, unless they have seen a tsunami. Few have.

Just Say No to Big Government

The bloated budget and massive debt that continues to plague the state of South Carolina is a microcosm of the bloated budget and massive debt that continues to plague the entire United States. Everyone from across the political spectrum will generally agree that such reckless behavior is a problem and we cannot go on forever conducting business as usual. Yet when any leader dares to reverse course by saying "no," such leaders will invariably find themselves being attacked for daring to obstruct business as usual. The same state legislature that created our current economic woes are the same leaders who are now saying Sanford is the problem, as if a more cooperative gubernatorial extension of themselves would be preferable and somehow produce different, better results.

Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina is opposing the time tested theory of economics supported by our leaders: spend a lot now and spend a lot more later then raise taxes and claim they need it for the children. He is being villainized for his efforts by Democrats and Republicans alike.

To Hell in a Bond Basket

Markets have natural rhythms. They go from boom to bust…from inflation to deflation…from expansion to contraction naturally. Trying to stop the bust is futile. It is a fight against Fate…a losing proposition. And it is diabolically unnatural. You have to take the bad with the good in life. There’s no going to Heaven without dying. And you can’t rebuild a house without tearing down the old one. Mistakes must be corrected. Old, worn-out businesses have to go out of business so that new ones can take their places. Bad investments need to be deflated…liquidated. Failed managers and failed business models must be eliminated. Bubble delenda est.

The feds can’t beat nature. The bubble can’t be reflated. They can’t make the situation better than it would be if they left it alone. But they can make it a lot worse.

Bill Bonner on spending our way to bankruptcy.

100 BEST MOVIE LINES IN 200 SECONDS

Just for fun. A compilation of 100 memorable movie lines.

Is It Warm in Here?

May 28, 2009 - 12:00 a.m. EST

Editor,

The new electricity tax (commonly called cap and trade) is working its way through Congress. Also, a new CAFÉ standard was recently imposed on automobile manufacturers by the federal government. Both of these actions are based on the belief in global warming. Is global warming happening? If so, is it caused by man? Is it possible that it is not happening at all?

If something is warming, it means that the thing being warmed was at a lower temperature and now is at an increased temperature. If the globe is warming, we should see a pattern of record high temperatures occurring all over the globe. The record high temperature for South Carolina happened in 1954 (111 degrees). It has not been warmer for 55 years. For the individual states, it has been more than 70 years since a record high in 34 of them. The record high temperature in the United States was in July 1913 (Death Valley 134 degrees). That is 96 years ago. The highest temperature ever recorded in Europe happened in 1881 (Spain 122 degrees) 128 years ago. And lastly, the highest temperature ever recorded in the world was 136 degrees in Libya in 1922. These are hardly alarming trends.

It is also interesting to look at low temperatures. The lowest recorded temperature in South Carolina was in 1985. In the United States (excluding Alaska), the record was in 1954. The lowest temperature in the world was in 1983. In each case, the low has occurred between the time of the record high and the present day. Again, this shows no trend toward warming.

Thousands of years ago, it is believed that much of North America was covered with ice. Something in that period of time caused the globe to warm. The glaciers retreated to the north leaving behind lakes and valleys. Not many manufacturers were in operation during that time. Not many automobiles were being driven. What was the cause of the warming? Is it possible that cycles of the sun might be the cause of warming? It happens every summer.

The EPA has now called the air that humans exhale a dangerous greenhouse gas that needs to be regulated. This is the same “gas” that trees use to produce life-giving oxygen. The politicians have ignored the report, last week from the Energy Department, that carbon-dioxide output fell by 2.8 percent last year. The real purpose of all of this new government regulation is about taxes and control of the American people. They want to tell us what kind of light bulb to use, what kind of food to eat and what kind of car to drive. When we as citizens lose our ability to make personal choices, we lose some of our freedom. The only global warming is the hot air coming from Washington D.C.

Denny Caldwell

Seneca

If our politicians only had the common sense Denny Caldwell of Seneca, SC espouses in this letter to the editor of the Daily Journal newspaper, they would realize that they cannot control the weather with taxes and regulations.

More Environmental Zaniness

GREEN QUEEN: 'EVERY ASPECT OF OUR LIVES MUST BE SUBJECTED TO INVENTORY'

Green homeowner hit with noise abatement order; Wind turbine driving neighbours mad...

A Few Wacko Environmental Headlines

The problem is because sheep burp so much methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

PAINT ALL ROOFS WHITE TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING'...

Climate concerns prompt lawsuit over lynx habitat

Al Gore: “Mother Nature does not do bailouts”

Caps, Trades and Offsets: Can Climate Plan Work?

Greenpeace to IT Industry: You're Slackers On Fighting Climate Change

Media Myth: Networks Ignore Trillion Dollar Price Tag of Climate Cap Bill

A few of the wacko headlines on the climate change front from the past few days. What a waste of time and effort - and money - trying to change the climate. It's about as futile as trying to prevent the sun from rising in the east.

America's Hidden Trillion-Dollar Tax

We need a breather to take it all in: TARP, a $787 billion stimulus bill and a projected $1.845 trillion budget deficit. But lost among all the spending commotion is yet another trillion-dollar poker hand — federal regulation.

Compliance costs from thousands of regulations — pouring out from over 60 departments, agencies and commissions — amounted to $1.17 trillion in 2008. The federal government spends an additional $49.1 billion just to administer and enforce its rules. This figure is on par with federal income tax revenue ($1.2 trillion) and Canada's entire 2006 GDP ($1.265 trillion).

Government over-regulation of damn near everything is wasteful of resources and costly in compliance, not to mention tyrannical in the extreme.

A Novice Guide To Precious Metals

What is money?

This seemingly simple question is a necessary starting-point in understanding precious metals, precisely because very few people have ever been given a precise and comprehensive definition of "money". Real "money" must possess the following four, central properties:

• It must be a "store of value"
• It must be "precious" or scarce
• It must be "uniform"
• It must be evenly divisible

Clearly, it is the first two properties which are of paramount importance, and which exclude most of the "candidates" as possible forms of "money". The criterion of money as a "store of value" is self-explanatory: real "money" must be able to retain its value over the long term. This is precisely why no paper currency currently in existence qualifies as "money".

Where do you keep your savings (if you have any)? In stocks? Cash? If you're considering gold, silver or other precious metals, this article may help. See also here.

From FDR to Obama - the Destruction of Our Rights

Economic security and independence come as a result of our rights to life, liberty and property, not the other way around. The best thing the government can do to ensure these rights, the rights that lead us to maximum wealth, the fullest employment for those who seek it, the best and cheapest medical care and the most practical and affordable education is simply to protect its citizens from attacks on their individual rights. Individual rights, not entitlements. Entitlements beget more entitlements. Entitlements breed laziness in the citizenry. Entitlements cause people to take things for granted. Freedom is the one thing that cannot be taken for granted.

Benjamin Weingarten points out the problems with government "guaranteeing" outcomes instead of protecting freedom and liberty.

China Offers the IMF an Indecent Proposal

But we were not talking about seeming coincidences, but rather its more-or-less polar opposite, which is how America is now the world’s largest Banana Republic dirtbag of a country with a delusional citizenry wanting a commie-think free lunch for everybody, a corrupt Congress promising to give it to them, a laughably incompetent Federal Reserve following completely discredited neo-Keynesian econometric stupidities as the pretext for supplying the banks with the staggering loads of money and credit to finance it all, and a corrupt, politicized Supreme Court that will, and often does, approve any injustice, regardless of its Constitutionality, if it has a “higher moral purpose” or even meets with popular or foreign approval.

And now somebody is worried that China would not trust the currency of such a bunch of socialistic, commie-think morons whose currency has been devalued by almost 97 percent since the Federal Reserve was given control of the money and banks in 1913? Hahaha!

The Mogambo Guru rants like a certifiable lunatic but he has a firm grip on economic theory. He warns that though the Federal Reserve may be deceiving the American people, its monetary policies are being scrutinized by the Chinese who are not so gullible.

The Social Security Scam

Currently, the Social Security Administration is running a budget surplus. For 2008, Social Security revenues totaled $805 billion and benefit payments and administrative costs were $625 billion, resulting in a surplus of $180 billion. Over the years, the system has run up an overall surplus totaling $2.4 trillion.

What has happened to this surplus? The SSA took in $180 billion more than it spent in 2008. However, the federal government spent this $180 billion on other programs. Since the funds were spent on something other than Social Security, the government declares that it loaned itself the $180 billion, calling such "lending" intragovernmental debt.

The Social Security scheme is unraveling. Soon, there will not be enough workers to pay benefits for retirees. The belief that there is a trust fund for Social Security is true only to the extent that all the monies collected have been spent and the fund balance is $0.

What Obama Does Not Know

I'm going to explain three crucially important topics the president - and mainstream press - seem not to know anything about.

When I'm finished, you will know more than Obama does.

The first I'll cover is the fact that ...

...the economy is not a machine

When we listen to politicians and the mainstream press talk about the economy, we usually hear comments such as, the economy is sluggish, or, the economy is slowing down. We need to speed it up, to jump start it, or repair it, or tune it up.

But the economy is not a machine. It's an ecology, made of biological organisms - people - you and me and our loved ones, and millions of others.

Richard J. Maybury on politicians and markets and why the politicians should not interfere with them.

Romer, Bernanke, and the Flying Donkeys

Prices are information. They relay to entrepreneurs where to best allocate resources in order to satisfy consumer demand. Because it is a society’s medium of exchange, money has a universal price; generally, everything is priced in terms of money. Distort the price of money and you throw the entire system into disarray causing what Austrian economists call malinvestment. Resources flow into areas that they should not and away from areas where they should, not because entrepreneurs have lost the ability to make sound decisions, but because the information upon which they rely to make those decisions is corrupted.

The Fed is playing a dangerous game by bailing out failing institutions like banks and automobile manufacturers.

Alternative to War Films

If you are looking for relief from the plethora of war-glorification films that are being cranked out on television this weekend by the war-machine, may I suggest a selection from the lists provided in some earlier articles of mine; see here and here. Wouldn't it be a nice statement if the video rental stores suddenly experienced an increased demand for any of these movies? The best of the lot? "The Americanization of Emily," with James Garner and Julie Andrews, and pay special attention (early on) to the garden scene at the home of Julie Andrews' mother!

Sometimes war is necessary to repel a tyrannical government. Sometimes war is necessary to perpetuate tyranny. Why are we fighting our wars? IABR wishes everyone a reflective Memorial Day. Here's the video from The Americanization of Emily:

Private Property as a Social System

The great accomplishment of Shaffer here is to crystallize existing knowledge about how society works in real life and to cut through the propaganda on the state to show how the state everywhere operates as an enemy of society.

The book is at once deeply radical and penetratingly optimistic about the future. He helps us to imagine that the withering away of the state will not bring cataclysm but simply more of what we love and what we find useful and less of what we do not love and what we do not find useful. One comes away from this work with an intense awareness of the great dividing line – too often made invisible by disinformation – that separates power relations from power relations.

Here are some excerpts...

A review of Boundaries of Order, a new book by Butler Shaffer.

Texas Senate OKs guns on college campus bill today

AUSTIN — A bill to allow college students and employees to carry their concealed handguns on campus won final passage today on a 19-12 vote in the Senate.

The bill would allow college students who are at least 21 years old and licensed to carry concealed handguns to bring those weapons into state campus buildings. University hospitals and athletic facilities would remain off limits to guns.

It applies to all universities and colleges in the state, but private institutions would be able to opt out.

With the exceptions of Alaska and Vermont, we need the state's permission to bear arms and protect ourselves. The citizens of Texas may soon get permission to protect themselves on college campuses.

The Separation of Marriage and State

The state's involvement with marriage is rarely questioned. Advocates and enemies of same sex marriage alike all seek the endorsement of the state, never stopping to ask why the states approval is needed at all. The reason behind this submission appears simple enough -- the philosophy ascribed by our society today which has led to the displacement of the private sector with the substitution of the state in nearly all facets concerning the rights of life, liberty, and property has taken root in the marriage issue.

Thanks to the state, marriage is no longer a covenant between two people or between two people and God. No, marriage is a state classification, which connotes state-provided benefits or detriments. Marriage is married to the state imposed tax structure and the state created probate system, and in many instances marriage defines the powers of the state over the married individuals.

The state uses marital status as a weapon tool to determine entitlements from and liabilities to the state.

China Threatens U.S. Alt Energy Plans

“Rare earths are critical to all future ‘green’ energy, especially with things like permanent magnets for windmills (not to mention the rare earths that go into those ‘efficient’ light bulbs.) Every large windmill, for example, requires about 560 pounds of a rare earth called neodymium, for the permanent magnet within the turbine system. There’s no substitute for neodymium. People have gone through the entire periodic chart, and only neodymium will work in large permanent magnets.

“The U.S. has NO locale for manufacturing permanent magnets. None. Zilch.”

“The West had better get serious about rare earths or we’re forfeiting the key industries of the 21st century to China.”

Rare earths are those materials you've never heard of which are used in high tech gadgets of all sorts. We don't produce them and China is cornering the market according to Ian Mathias in this brief essay. Those windmills the Obama administration wants are going to be very expensive.

THIS IDEA OF 'FREE' HEALTHCARE

It is only a matter of time. But just remember that to most people, they view government-run healthcare (or universal healthcare) as "free" healthcare. That would be because they are government-educated fools.

The last thing that universal healthcare is going to be is free. Maybe it will be free to those 50% of Americans who don't pay income taxes. But for a lot of Americans, this grand government healthcare scheme is going to cost them a lot of money in the form of tax increases. Remember, government doesn't earn wealth it seizes wealth. So in order to provide a service like healthcare, it has to get the money to pay for it - and the more you produce, the more of that money is going to come from you.

Medicare, for seniors, and Medicaid, for the poor, are Ponzi schemes which cannot be sustained financially. Now, government wants to insure everyone who does not qualify for Medicare or Medicaid.

Obama to Government Motors: "Let's Roll"

The last remnants of the American free-market system are experiencing a quick death by strangulation. Perhaps the most disturbing casualties of government intervention are General Motors and Chrysler, two disgraced automakers that have gone from private ownership to the public trough virtually overnight. The U.S. government has effectively seized a financial stake in each company while placing both of them into receivership - without any constitutional authority to commence such actions.

Government controls private enterprise. There's an oxymoron for you. Now Obama has mandated that by the year 2016, automobiles must get an average of 35 mpg. Estimates are that this will add $1300 to the price tag of each vehicle.

Obama's Magic Bubble Deflator

I shouldn't be so cynical. It is not for us to question how our overlords intend to distinguish between genuine growth in some industry on the one hand and bubble conditions on the other. Just to be safe they may have to quash all rapid growth wherever it occurs. Perhaps they can cut off credit to an entire sector of the economy, or levy industry-specific taxation. (Anyone who thinks this type of discretion and micromanagement might be exercised with political motivations in mind, or for any purpose other than the common good, is almost surely a good candidate for surveillance in our progressive commonwealth.)

Who's to bless and who's to blame? Thomas E. Woods, Jr. examines the causes of bubbles and the Fed's interference with free markets.

Audit the Fed, Then End It!

To understand how unwise it is to have the Federal Reserve, one must first understand the magnitude of the privileges they have. They have been given the power to create money, by the trillions, and to give it to their friends, under any terms they wish, with little or no meaningful oversight or accountability. Thus the loudest arguments against greater transparency are likely to come from those friends, and understandably so.

Ron Paul has legislation, HR1207, in Congress which would require audits of the Federal Reserve System. It is gaining supporters and it is probably causing some heartburn for its corrupt and powerful opponents. Paul's efforts to change the government from within the government are admirable and we laud his perseverance. However, we are of the opinion that this Leviathan cannot be tamed from within without much more dissent from the populace.

New Holidays or Freedom Days

Michael Rozeff has a list of new holidays which will declare our freedom from and independence of the state. Here's one (it's my favorite):

Unregistration Day or Unpermit Day or Unlicensing Day. This is the day when oodles of people stopped registering with the State. They stopped registering for political party affiliations. They stopped registering their vehicles, from automobiles to bicycles to boats to snowmobiles. Youths stopped registering for public schools. They stopped registering for the military draft. They stopped registering for passports and driver’s licenses. They stopped registering for Social Security and Medicare. Businesses of all kinds stopped registering for licenses. Inventors stopped registering for patents. Doctors stopped registering for medical licenses. People stopped registering for professional licensing of all kinds, from accounting to architecture to lawyering to zoo-keeping. People and businesses engaged in transportation and communications no longer applied for licenses. Hunting licenses stopped. No one registered their pets. Immigrants no longer had to register. No one registered to vote. No one got a tax registration or identification number. No one registered guns, from handguns to automatic machine guns. People stopped getting marriage licenses who did not want them. No one registered for jury duty. No one who did not want them had to get permits or licenses from the State.

Secession in Three Easy Steps

The politicians' greatest advantage is the ease with which they can take money from your pocket and promise it to someone else, someone whose vote they need.

They are able to do this because, like it or not, they have your consent. Take away that consent, and you've chipped away at their advantage.

You consent to this madness every time you pay Washington 's taxes or comply with one of their illegitimate laws. And yes, none of us can safely stop complying with federal laws, but we can tell the world that we intend to try. We can also take a simple, legal action toward that end by staying away on Election Day, and making some noise about our choice to do so.

Stewart Browne has a three step program to liberate us from the state. Step one is to refuse to participate in elections which are designed to destroy liberty.

California's Day of Reckoning: May 19

The bottomless pit is the taxpayer. He is called on to fork over the money. But he is now using a knife rather than a fork. In California, voters have knives. They will use them on May 19.

The Federal Reserve System is the bottomless pit during recessions. It will soon face a new source of demand: state governments that cannot balance their budgets or sell their bonds.

If the Federal government bails out California's government in order to overcome a veto by voters, then voters can forget about reigning in state governments. They can veto spending, but they will wind up paying for Federal bailouts of busted state governments.

If Congress does not hold the line in this issue, the precedent will be set in concrete. Governors from now on will say: "You bailed out Arnold. Why not bail out me?"

California has gotten in financial difficulty by spending more than it can collect from its overtaxed citizenry. The voters in California must vote for proposed tax increases or California will have to cut spending. Of course, cutting spending is not an option the politicians are willing to consider so they will appeal to Congress for a bailout to override the taxpayers callous disregard of the state's plight. If Congress does bailout California, the voters will pay through the nose anyway.

The Greatest Swindle Ever Sold

Bernie Madoff was able to get away with his fraud by using the same technique as Charles Ponzi did in the 1920s. He sold fictitious securities, promised a high return, and paid off old investors out of monies taken in from new investors. It collapsed when new victims could no longer be found to support withdrawals from old victims.

The Social Security swindle has worked exactly the same way. It receives “contributions” in the form of FICA taxes, pretends to place those funds in trust, and pays benefits to current retirees out of taxes collected from current workers. Just as in the case of Madoff, there is no trust, there is no income to the non-existent trust, and the payments are simply made from current collections. Madoff’s scheme lasted 20 years before collapsing. The Social Security swindle is now in its 74th year…the end is near.

Our politicians know Social Security is in danger yet they are unwilling to address it. They know the country is broke yet they continue to spend money they don't have by juggling the books and deceiving the people.

These Are the Times That Try Women's Souls

Dear Karen DeCoster,

Once, in the past, I was critical of you. I apologize. You have become one of my favorites of Lew Rockwell's bloggers.

You are angry. You have no respect for the villains. Many writers on our side (philosophically/politically) make the mistake, in my opinion, of treating the villains as fools who need correcting. You treat them as cheats who need contempt.

I think it is an important difference. I do not think the intellectual war against evil can be won by those who consider the enemy to be well-intentioned fools. It will be won by those who know the enemy to be ruthless and wicked creeps.

I hope you keep writing.

Karen De Coster posted this letter from a reader. It reminds us that we sometimes "put the gloves on" when posting instead of giving 'em both barrels. It's a lesson we will try retain in our memory banks for future rants.

The Road to Serfdom in Cartoons

An illustrated guide to economic planning by Friedrich A. Hayek, published in Look magazine in 1944.

What's Elevated, Health-Care Provider?

As she spoke, I attempted a sort of simultaneous translation, which is what most of us do now when we hear our political figures, translate from their language to ours. "Access health care" must mean "go to the doctor." But I gave up. Then a thought crossed my mind: Maybe we're supposed to give up! Maybe we're supposed to be struck dumb, hypnotized by words and phrases that are aimed not at making things clearer but making them more obscure and impenetrable. Maybe we're not supposed to understand.

Peggy Noonan, a renowned political pundit, cannot understand government rhetoric and neither can we. Their Orwellian Newspeak is intended to confuse and mystify us.

Never-Ending Government Lies About Markets

The purpose of government is for those who run it to plunder those who do not. Throughout history, governments have used violence, intimidation, coercion, and mass murder to enforce this system. But governments' first line of "defense" is always a blizzard of lies — about its own alleged benevolence, altruism, heroism, and greatness, along with equally big lies about the "evils" of the civil society, especially the free market.

The current economic crisis, which was instigated by the government's central bank and its boom-and-bust monetary policies, among other interventions, has once again been blamed on "too little regulation" and too much freedom.

Will Americans ever catch on to this biggest of all of government's Big Lies?

Thomas J. DiLorenzo recounts the long history of the war on capitalism by our government.

Obama and the Alternative Energy Fiasco

It's only a matter of time before President Barack Obama's vast popularity runs aground on his energy policies. In the name of saving the planet from global warming, he has delayed new oil drilling, an action that will have major political repercussions once the world economy recovers. Instead of using some the stimulus billions to produce more gas and oil, Obama's wild-eyed supporters dream of "renewable" energy derived from corn, wind, sunshine, and even grass.

The country runs on gas, oil and coal. So why are we not investing in producing gas, oil and coal until such time in the distant future when other energy sources are competitive?

The masterpiece that killed George Orwell

In 1946 Observer editor David Astor lent George Orwell a remote Scottish farmhouse in which to write his new book, Nineteen Eighty-Four. It became one of the most significant novels of the 20th century. Here, Robert McCrum tells the compelling story of Orwell's torturous stay on the island where the author, close to death and beset by creative demons, was engaged in a feverish race to finish the book

This is an interesting account of Eric Blair's (aka George Orwell) struggle to finish his masterpiece.

‘Does Ron Paul hate Arnold Palmer?’

Those aren’t my words. They’re the words of a Riverside (Calif.) Press-Enterprise blog title under which journalist Ben Goad explains Paul’s vote last month against awarding Palmer the Congressional Gold Medal for his lifelong achievement in the game of golf. The tally was 422-1. The former presidential aspirant and presiding Texas Republican from the 14th District southwest of Houston was the only congressman to cast a vote against the distinction.

This post on a golf blog created quite a stir (read the comments for details) and the blogger was taken aback at the response.

I hear you, Ron Paul supporters. Thank you for your comments. I appreciate your interest in my golf blog, which has never seen as much commenting traffic as it has today.

Ron Paul's vote was, of course, a vote of constitutional jurisdiction and not a denigration of the great Arnold Palmer. It may seem like a minor point with so many trillions being thrown around by our rulers but there is no constitutional authority for appropriating tax dollars for such a purpose. Davy Crockett once took a similar stand, as one of the commenters noted.

Go Ahead and Jump

An old saw among opponents of ever more powerful government is the tale of the boiling frog. As the story goes, a frog can be placed in a pot of cool water and, if the heat is turned up slowly enough, find itself boiled alive without ever thinking to jump out.

Having never myself attempted the experiment, I can’t say with any confidence whether or not the tale is literally true. As metaphor, however, it goes right to the heart of the nature of the state.

We, the frogs of 2009, permit ourselves to be subjected to horrors at the hands of government which our forebears of 1976 would have rejected out of hand, which our ancestors of 1876 would have treated as revolutionary casus belli, and which the generation of 1776 would have simply found itself unable to envision.

We have tolerated invasions of our rights because our leaders imposed them on us incrementally and deceptively.

Lender of Last Resort: You, Not the Federal Reserve

Madoff ran his scam through secrecy. He escaped detection. Congress runs a far larger scam in full public view. Hardly anyone notices. Of those who do notice, almost none say: "This Ponzi scheme will surely go bankrupt." This includes economists. Most of them are employed in universities, and they are counting on Social Security and Medicare for their retirement years. When it comes to faith, economists believe in statistical impossibilities. They see a Ponzi scheme in action, and they think: "I will get out in time. I will die."

Who will redeem those IOUs? To redeem is to buy back. Who will be the redeemer?

The Federal Reserve System, of course. It can afford to. It has the right to print money. A lack of money is never a problem for the FED.

Gary North on the deception by Congress and the Fed that is Social Security and Medicare. The lie is perpetuated by the belief that we will die before it all unravels.

On Af-Pak: Stop "Helping"

The factions and politics of the Middle East are irrational and dangerous. We play with fire when we meddle in their affairs, and we isolate ourselves diplomatically by making more enemies than friends. We need to bring our troops home, end all foreign aid, and maintain a neutral stance on the world stage. It, in fact, is the only foreign policy we can afford right now, and it would gain us more friends and trading partners than our bombs ever could. Besides, that’s what the Constitution permits and our founders strongly advised.

Ron Paul has some advice for the new administration.

The Meaning of Quantitative Easing

What is quantitative easing? It is a central bank’s "purchase" of government securities (bills, notes, bonds) directly from the government.

Michael S. Rozeff describes the money manipulations of the Fed.

Quantitative easing is a resort to the money printing press. It means seizure and coercion of goods and services from the inhabitants of a country. But it also means either a government that is spending beyond its means, or one whose economy is not strong enough to generate financing by the usual means, or both.

The ingenious and diabolical juggling of funds to hide the looting of yet unborn Americans is not understood by most of us. This excellent analysis is highly recommended.

Green Shoots or Greatest Depression?

"The Greatest Depression" – that we forecast would begin to set in by the end of this year – may have been postponed, but it has not been averted. When it does set in, it will do so with enhanced intensity and at a pace accelerated by complex financial finagling ... all under the guise of nation-saving action. Rather than let the failing industries fail and the failed banks go bankrupt, the government is deliberately bankrupting the nation.

The lesson to be learned from the financial crisis that began in the summer of 2007, is that nothing succeeds like failure. The greater their failure, the bolder they become. The more they lose, the more they take. The greater the chaos, the more control they exact. The bigger they fail, the harder we fall.

A dire forecast for our economic future is offered by Gerald Celente.

Upside-Down Economy

In "Democracy in America," Alexis de Tocqueville anticipated people being governed by "an immense, tutelary power" determined to take "sole charge of assuring their enjoyment and of watching over their fate." It would be a power "absolute, attentive to detail, regular, provident and gentle," aiming for our happiness but wanting "to be the only agent and the sole arbiter of that happiness." It would, Tocqueville said, provide people security, anticipate their needs, direct their industries and divide their inheritances. It would envelop society in "a network of petty regulations -- complicated, minute and uniform." But softly: "It does not break wills; it softens them, bends them, and directs them" until people resemble "a herd of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd."

Alexis de Tocqueville was skeptical of long term democratic rule. He foresaw it would lead to dependence on government instead of self reliance. He was correct. Our "immense, tutelary power" is offering cradle to grave assistance to us and all they require of us is our subservience.

Political Joking - Mine is OK, Yours is Not

Apparently this joke is OK:

Obama Likes Wanda Sykes Joke About Rush Limbaugh — ‘I Hope His Kidneys Fail’

But this one is not:

David Feherty, CBS Golf Analyst, Unleashes Insane Nancy Pelosi Death Fantasy

Is Anyone Minding the Store at the Federal Reserve?

Rep. Alan Grayson asks the Federal Reserve Inspector General about the trillions of dollars lent or spent by the Federal Reserve and where it went, and the trillions of off balance sheet obligations. Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman responds that the IG does not know and is not tracking where this money is.

The IG of the Fed is apparently clueless about the workings of her agency. Mr. Grayson's questioning produces a stumbling and bumbling response from her as to where the money went. Scary - watch the video.

The Malicious Myth of the 'Libertarian' Fed

In addition to recklessly manipulating the money supply and causing boom-and-bust cycles for more than ninety years (including the Great Depression and the current one), the Fed "has supervisory and regulatory authority over a wide range of financial institutions and activities." That’s an understatement if ever there was one. Among the Fed’s "functions" are the regulation of:

• Bank holding companies
• State-chartered banks
• Foreign branches of member banks
• Edge and agreement corporations
• U.S. state-licensed branches, agencies, and representative offices of foreign banks
• Nonbanking activities of foreign banks
• National banks
• Savings banks
• Nonbank subsidiaries of bank holding companies
• Thrift holding companies
• Financial reporting procedures
• Accounting policies of banks
• Business "continuity" in case of economic emergencies
• Consumer protection laws
• Securities dealings of banks
• Information technology used by banks
• Foreign investment by banks
• Foreign lending by banks
• Branch banking
• Bank mergers and acquisitions
• Who may own a bank
• Capital "adequacy standards"
• Extensions of credit for the purchase of securities
• Equal opportunity lending
• Mortgage disclosure information
• Reserve requirements
• Electronic funds transfers
• Interbank liabilities
• Community Reinvestment Act sub-prime lending demands
• All international banking operations
• Consumer leasing
• Privacy of consumer financial information
• Payments on demand deposits
• "Fair Credit" reporting
• Transactions between member banks and their affiliates
• Truth in lending
• Truth in savings

All of this financial market regulation and regimentation was in full force during the Greenspan era. None of it could conceivably be considered to be "libertarian" or "free market" in any way. The Fed is a government central planning agency, period.

Free market? What free market? There is no part of the markets which are free of the control of the Federal Reserve System. Thomas DiLorenzo counts the ways.

Nation Ready To Be Lied To About Economy Again

Tired of hearing the grim truth about their economic future, Americans demanded that the bald-faced lies resume immediately, particularly whenever politicians feel the need to divulge another terrifying problem with Wall Street, the housing market, or any one of a hundred other ticking time bombs everyone was better off not knowing about.

In addition, citizens are requesting that the phrase, "It will only get worse before it gets better," be permanently replaced with, "Things are going great. Enjoy yourselves."

The bailouts are working. The National Debt is shrinking. Free healthcare for everyone. A chicken in every pot. Forty acres and a mule Chevrolet for everybody.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

I was ready for the worst. I had read the papers, after all. I was sure there would be piles of festering corpses in the streets, such as one would expect after a Burundian election. I had read Defoe’s account of the bubonic plague in London, and knew that men with wheelbarrows would be collecting the dead. Especially with today’s littering laws.

Except that, when I had called Violeta every night during the two weeks I was in the US, she always said “What flu?” Ain’t got no flu heah. The schools were shut down, bars closed, everybody hiding from the flu, but they couldn’t find any flu to hide from. My friend Ken, in another town near Guad, reported an equal epidemic of perfect health. It was media flu, he suspected.

Remember the Swine Flu Scare? Oh, wait, that was last week's distraction.

The Statue of Justice Wears a Blindfold

The Constitution of the United States gives no president, nor the entire federal government, the authority to do such things. But spending trillions of dollars to bail out all sorts of companies buys the power to tell them how to operate.

Appointing judges to the federal courts-- including the Supreme Court-- who believe in expanding the powers of the federal government to make arbitrary decisions, choosing who will be winners and losers in the economy and in the society, is perfectly consistent with a vision of the world where self-confident and self-righteous elites rule according to their own notions, instead of merely governing under the restraints of the Constitution.

The Constitution of the United States, which our leaders are sworn to uphold and follow, is, at best, loosely interpreted and, at worst, boldly violated.

Creating Disequilibrium, and Benefiting Society

It's not just increases in production that create wealth but a radical reforming of the way production itself is done. Think Henry Ford's assembly line. Such entrepreneurial innovations disrupt the unrealistic ideal of a stationary economy. They do destroy the old order — like the classic example of buggy makers losing their jobs when the automobile took hold — but they cause growth because what they create is more valuable than what they replace. Can you imagine halting the progress of the automobile in order to preserve buggy makers?

Unleashing the creativity of innovative minds will not be possible with government rules and regulations designed to bailout dinosaurian companies.

What's Wrong With the U.S.?

Everyone wants to know "How did we get in this mess?" It seems we have dug a hole that we cannot get out of and some people are even starting to realize it. We have plenty of problems with things like health care, education, etc., but the bottom line is that we are spending beyond our means and government debt is out of control. The probability of national bankruptcy and hyperinflation is the highest in living memory and more people are questioning whether our "union" will survive.

We got into this mess by relying on government to become our provider in chief, effectively giving them control over our daily endeavors.

The answer to the question--what is wrong with us?--is actually simple and straightforward. We are collectively stupid and brainwashed. We have been taught and conditioned that government can solve our everyday problems at no cost so the more the merrier.

The Forgotten Man

In her history of the Great Depression, Amity Shlaes recalls a speech delivered by Yale professor William Graham Sumner in the winter of 1883. Sumner said, "As soon as A observes something which seems to him to be wrong, from which X is suffering, A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their law always proposes to determine what C shall do for X or, in the better case, what A, B and C shall do for X." Sumner called C, the man coerced into action on the part of X, the "Forgotten Man."

We are not shouting loud enough for our leaders to hear us yet. When we have endured enough pain to scream at the top of our lungs, when enough of us join in on the chorus, with amplitude, when they finally hear our calls, what will they do?

C has continued to be forgotten in the years since 1932, and is now more forgotten than ever. Marking his 100th day in office, President Obama briefly recalled the Cs of America, calling them the "folks waving tea bags around." That's more than they got on April 15, when the White House said Obama was "unaware" of anti-spending demonstrations across the nation.

Plastic People

Pierre Lemieux, a French Canadian, economist, professor, author, libertarian thorn in the flesh of the Canadian Leviathan, and a friend, has become a felon. Pierre refused to answer one of the questions on his application to renew his firearms license, and the licensing center refused to renew his license. He now faces the prospect of 10 years in prison for keeping firearms without a license.

Permission from the state to own a firearm; how much information does the state require before it can decide whether or not to grant the permit? Why does one need the state's permission in the first place?

Pierre’s refusal to follow orders may pose a question for you: How far will you accommodate the state before you resist? Is there some limit to your ability to mold yourself to the state’s designs? At what point will the state cross a line within you, when what you are ordered to do is more than you will accept or bear, when you will say, "Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise"?

Market Deceptions

Happy days are here again! Enjoy them while they last…

Bill Bonner is skeptical the bull market will last and is not sure the guys in charge have a clue.

People who had no idea there was anything wrong with the world financial system two years ago, now say the problem has been fixed.

Who fixed it? The people who had no idea what was wrong with it, of course.

What did they fix it with? The same thing that caused the problem they didn’t see – debt.

Who makes sure it won’t break again? The people who didn’t notice the wheels coming off the last time.

The Myths About a Return to the Gold Standard

John Tamny makes the case for a return to a gold standard for US dollars.

[T]here’s a small but growing call for a return to the monetary stability wrought by a gold standard.

The cries for gold are surely exciting given the basic truth that had the dollar been stable this decade, there’s simply no way we’d be in the financial mess we’re in today. When money values gyrate, mistakes with regard to investment and trade are magnified and economic corrections always reveal themselves. A dollar defined in gold terms would not erase all economic mistakes, but it’s a certainty that they would be reduced exponentially.

Magic and the Brain: Teller Reveals the Neuroscience of Illusion

Teller—the short, quiet one—strolls onstage with a lit cigarette, inhales, drops it to the floor, and stamps it out. Then he takes another cigarette from his suit pocket and lights it.

No magic there, right? But then Teller pivots so the audience can see him from the other side. He goes through the same set of motions, except this time everything is different: Much of what just transpired, the audience now perceives, was a charade, a carefully orchestrated stack of lies. He doesn't stamp out the first cigarette—he palms it, then puts it in his ear. There is no second cigarette; it's a pencil stub. The smoke from the first butt is real, but the lighter used on the pencil is actually a flashlight. Yet the illusion is executed so perfectly that every step looks real, even when you're shown that it is not.

Penn and Teller are masters of the arts of charade, misdirection and deceit. Have our leaders been studying them?

Hail to the Chief

Drudge posted a link to this video. Interesting.

When Government Plays Doctor

Dr. Ron Paul wonders if we really want government to be our physician.

Government has not improved healthcare, and has not made it cheaper. Quite the opposite; costs have skyrocketed, and quality has gone down in many ways. Gone are the days of the country doctor making house calls, or of voluntarily giving away medical services at charity hospitals. The bureaucratization of healthcare these past 45 years has made things worse. It saddens me as a doctor that physicians are less and less accountable to patients, but more and more accountable to government red tape, insurance companies and attorneys. It seems so perverse to me that important medical decisions that will directly affect the lives of all or nearly all Americans are being hashed out behind closed doors in Washington rather than between doctors and patients.

Out With Windmills – In With Nuclear

Britain buckles down to real energy. The UK will change out an established wind farm for a new nuclear power plant. This rational move will boost an anemic average of 1.3 MW of zero emissions wind generated power to a robust average of 1300 GW of zero emissions nuclear power. The manufacturer of wind turbines will be cutting jobs, blaming the government for failing to support the sector.

Britain has learned the hard way that their headlong green rush into medieval technology has been wasteful and foolish. They spent time and money trying to force a technology to do what it simply can’t do.

Pouring money into "green" jobs does not give us much bang for the buck. New nuclear power plants would give us a viable supplement to the coal and oil technologies providing much of today's energy if we would but employ it. Floy Lilley tilts at windmills and makes the case for going nuclear in this brief essay.

H.L. Mencken Speaks

Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956), was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a student of American English. Mencken, known as the "Sage of Baltimore", is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the first half of the 20th century.

Mencken is perhaps best remembered today for The American Language, a multi-volume study of how the English language is spoken in the United States, and for his satirical reporting on the Scopes trial, which he named the "Monkey" trial. [from Wikipedia]

We often hear witty and thoughtful quotes attributed to H.L. Mencken but we've never seen any video or heard any audio of the man - until now. The following "video" is actually only audio except for the still photograph accompanying it. While Mr. Mencken may not say anthing as entertaining as some of his quoted material in this brief interview which took place on June 30, 1948, it may help to give you a "sense of the man". UPDATE: This is apparently the 1st of 8 parts of this "audio" video. We'll leave it up to the enterprising to find the rest but you may want to start here.

Fashionably cheap in frugal economy

Now, 57 percent of Americans are shopping at discount stores. Another 28 percent have cut back on alcohol and cigarettes.

"Some industries will be hit a lot harder than others. Basic necessities will be OK. The hospitality industry may be challenged and clearly the auto industry is challenged. People are willing to keep their existing cars and push them a little farther," Mr. McCall said.

"Those industries that emerge from these difficult times will probably consolidate," he added. "Restaurants and department stores may merge and will likely emerge from this crisis in a very different form."

Consumers are reacting sensibly to the recession depression financial meltdown by reducing spending and debt. Never fear though, government is more than making up the shortfall by spending money which our children and grandchildren have not yet made.