tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10603289182637593582024-03-11T20:07:36.080-10:00Defending Civil SocietyCivil society, is based on voluntarism and predicated on giving the widest possible latitude to the individual so that he has sovereignty over his own life, so long as he respects the equal rights of others in society.
It is in civil society--the realm of liberty--that mankind flourishes. It is from civil society that industry, civility, rectitude, science, and prosperity arise.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger358125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-64449673496000595892024-03-11T20:07:00.000-10:002024-03-11T20:07:03.900-10:00Choose socialism, or human freedom<p> The link below leads to an article by <a href="https://mises.org/profile/murray-n-rothbard" target="_blank">Murray N. Rothbard</a> that was published in the September 1977 issue of the “Libertarian Review:”</p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://mises.org/articles-interest/myth-democratic-socialism" target="_blank">The Myth of Democratic Socialism</a><br /></p><p>Some of the highlights are:</p><p>In any debate between a socialist and a free-market capitalist, all too often the socialist quickly puts the free-market advocate on the defensive, and the entire time is consumed by the free-market person fending off attacks on the ability of the market to prevent inequality, or business cycles, or even the ravages of affluence and "materialism." Being on the offensive, socialism emerges spotless and unbesmirched, and it is implicitly assumed on all sides that the market economy must prove its worthiness to be in the same moral and ideological ballpark as socialism. In fact, the morality of socialism is rarely questioned in these discussions, the critic confining himself to doubts about socialism's practicality or workability.</p><p>Yet, in truth, socialism is neither workable nor moral; both in theory and in practice, it is a system unsurpassed in brutality, despotism, mass murder and exploitation. It deserves no solemn respect or moral salute.</p><p>Before turning to socialism, the morality as well as efficacy of the contrasting system of the free market can be established very quickly. The free market is a vast network of two-person exchanges, conducted voluntarily at each step of the way by each participant because each believes he will benefit from the exchange. Since the exchanges and choices are free and voluntary, the free market economy is harmonious and cooperative, while allowing fullest room for the free play of individual choice. And the economy works splendidly, because the free price system and the profit-and-loss incentives arising from that market bring efficiency and order out of the "anarchistic," seemingly chaotic interplay of free and voluntary choices. Yet it is an order arising spontaneously out of freely adopted choices, rather than one imposed by violence and coercion. Such a free market, in its pure form, does not exist anywhere in the world today.</p><p>Socialism, in short, places the lives, the fortunes, and the sacred honor of every citizen under the total command of the State and its ruling elite.</p><p>Unfortunately, in discussions of socialism in the United States, socialists have usually been allowed to get off the hook with a general disclaimer: that it is terribly unfair to tar them with the brush of Hitler, Stalin and Mao. For that is not the kind of "socialism" they want and advocate; in fact, they don't consider these regimes to be "socialist" at all—despite the fact that these regimes precisely fit the general linguistic definition of socialism that we have mentioned above. For their socialism would be peopled by "good guys," not by those terrible people who have staffed the actual socialist regimes of this century.</p><p>But these disclaimers are simply not good enough. The essence of socialism is not the specific people that the individual socialist would like to see in power. The essence of socialism is the system itself: total State power over the means of production. And if the result of all the socialisms so far has been grisly and monstrous, and if no "humanist" nice guys have yet come to the fore, then perhaps, as the Marxists would say, "this is no accident," but a result embedded within the system itself. And that is our contention: that Hitler, Stalin, Mao, et al. are inherent systematic tendencies within socialism itself.</p><p>And so the essence of socialism is forced labor. Where but under a socialist regime could a Mao decide to "end the contradiction between physical and mental labor" by shipping hundreds of thousands of urban students to live permanently in the frontier province of Sinkiang—and to force them to grow rice in a dry climate for the good of their souls—or, to use a more Marxian term, for the benefit of their "reeducation"?</p><p>socialism with democracy or civil liberties is a chimera because the socialist government will necessarily have total power over the processes of education: over schools and the media. Possessing that power, the ruling cliques will use it to try to mold a subject population that will be filled with love for their rulers and eager willingness to obey their every command. Call it what you will: "brainwashing," "cultural rehabilitation centers," or whatever, it is inevitable that a ruling elite given total power over education will use it for such "social" purposes, to create an eagerly sought New Socialist Man: a Man who will love and obey his rulers and who will put his rulers' commands above any personal qualms or considerations. Hopefully, human nature is such that the government cannot succeed; but the society is a living Hell while the rulers try their best.</p><p>On top of all this moral and social horror, socialism can't work; that is, lacking a free price system, socialism cannot operate an advanced industrial economy to suit even the goals of the rulers of the State. A socialist industrial economy will suffer grave shortages, poverty, famine, and breakdown, and ultimately the death of a large portion of its population.</p><p>In short, Professor Falk has stated the choice before mankind correctly: it is socialism, or human freedom. It is one or the other. Humanistic or democratic socialism is a chimera, a contradiction in terms.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-1762189135305180182024-02-29T07:47:00.006-10:002024-02-29T07:54:43.076-10:00Listen to our neighbors<p>Our neighbors from Central and South America have provided us with a warning and a virtuoso economics lesson.</p><p>First, we received a warning from Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador who was reelected to a second term on February 2, 2024: </p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://youtu.be/u0e_grWEcB0?si=m_g2IyVt-Vr0pRra" target="_blank">Nayib Bukele speech at CPAC 02/23/2024</a><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/10FUKlq7KEdf3wyp_ETLQ0iBIqOpbVHZ1/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Full Transcript</a><br /></p><p>Highlights of this speech:</p><p>If you want globalism to die here too you must be willing to unapologetically fight against everything and everyone that stands for it, fight for your freedoms, fight for your rights.</p><p>The next president of the United States must not only win an election he must have the vision the will and the courage to do whatever it takes and above all he must be able to identify the underlying forces that will conspire against him. These dark Forces are already taking over your country you may not see it yet but it's already happening. </p><div>We had to remove corrupt judges and corrupt attorneys and prosecutors. These corrupt judges and prosecutors were setting the gang members free. It wasn't just the gangs. The corrupt system worked in tandem with the so-called international community, the NGOs and of course the fake news. Just like it happens here in the United States. Unelected bureaucrats are trying to install public policy.</div><div><br /></div><div>The people of El Salvador have woken up and so can you. The global elites hate our success, and they fear yours. The people's free will to choose their leaders is something they despise because they cannot control that. You have experienced this firsthand here in the United States. The global Elites control the mainstream media they finance campaigns, District Attorneys to mention a few. They abuse their powers; they persecute political opponents.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Institutions were created to serve the people and not the other way around. Somewhere along the way those people forgot their fundamental purpose, which is more important than the institution itself. When the judicial system was created it was created out of the necessity to bring justice but now it seems that survival and control of the judges of the attorney generals among others are paramount and the need to bring Justice is merely a little more than an afterthought.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, who's financing the government? Your government is financed by treasury bonds. Who buys the treasury bonds? Mostly the Fed. How does the FED buy them? By printing money. But what backing does the FED have for that money being printed? The treasury bonds themselves. So basically, you finance the government by printing money out of thin air. Someone could ask well so if the government can print limited amounts of money out of thin air why do they collect taxes? I mean in theory it will make sense right if they can print unlimited amounts of money why would they need taxes? The answer is simple but it's very shocking. The real problem is that you pay high taxes only to uphold the illusion that you are funding the government which you are not. It's shocking but it's true. The government is funded by money printing paper backed with paper a bubble that will inevitably burst.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>We didn't tolerate being told what to do in doing so we did the unthinkable against all adversity we transformed our El Salvador from the most dangerous country in the world to the safest in the Western Hemisphere. We did it by defying the global elites. We told them no more and that is my message to you. Put up the fight because in the end it will be worth it. It has been for us, and you will have your country back.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next speech is a brilliant economics lesson from Javier Milei the newly elected President of Argentina:</div><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://youtu.be/cjONc43KsEo?si=k4pAduqiCVSefuWY" target="_blank">Javier Milei speech at CPAC 02/24/2024</a><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QVa9MxNYChtSDfyf_0OR703reuTyTt-x/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Full Transcript</a><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Highlights of this speech:</p><p style="text-align: left;">Today I will focus on the technical underpinnings of those political views and along those lines I will focus on neoclassical economics and how its view of market failure is conducive to the advance of statism and how this destroys economic growth, putting a break on the improvements in well-being and the fight against poverty.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The thing about the neoclassical model is that when the model doesn't match reality, they get mad at reality calling it a market failure.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The first thing we need is to have a good definition of the market, what the market actually is. The free market is actually a social cooperation process where you voluntarily exchange property rights. Actually, since these exchanges are voluntary there can be no market failure because nobody would be self-inflicting harm. So, if we define the market properly all definitions that are interventionist in nature collapse. It is also very important to be clear as to what institutions are the foundations of the market. Two major institutions are private property and markets that are free from State intervention. If you're going to exchange property rights it means that private property is important and if the exchanges are voluntary there's no room for the intervention, encroachment, and Invasion by the state. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Actually, when someone engages in an exchange and gives something in exchange for money this creates a historical record or register which is price and that historical record we call price is an information transmission mechanism and also becomes a coordination mechanism as it makes some people be on the supply side and others on the demand side There’s also an adjustment process because demand and supply don't always perfectly match. When demand goes up prices go up and the other way around so private property and free markets determine the price system, and this is the basis of economic calculation.</p><p style="text-align: left;">This shows why none of the varieties of socialism can work. In the most extreme cases because there's no private property you can't engage in the exchanges that the market would require. In the milder varieties that do allow the existence of the private sector what happens is that state intervention creates noise in the price system and the more State the more government there is the more violence there is the more distortion there is and the worse the system functions.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The division of labor combined with the notion of social cooperation ends up being fully destructive as far as socialist ideas are concerned. I could actually hate him but I need him to buy my product so I must treat him nicely, so as Bastiat used to say when trade goes in soldiers don't and promoting free trade is promoting peace.</p><p style="text-align: left;">This idea of the market as a social cooperation mechanism is a tremendous bomb for socialism because if exchanges are voluntary, it means that it's win-win for both sides so there's no room for the theory of exploitation or for surplus value or for Marxism and socialism. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Regulating prices and quantities or amounts destroys property rights.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The other major threat or attack from socialists and statism has to do with efficiency as opposed to distribution and so they say that capitalism is high individualist as opposed to the altruism of socialism, (always with the money of others). This aberration is pursued in the name of social justice. Hayek used to talk about weasel words whenever they chose an adjective it was actually the exact opposite. So social justice is violence and unjust, it's not just or anything of the sort, far from it. It's an aberration. It's unjust because it involves unequal treatment before the law.</p><p>I come from a country that bought all of those stupid ideas and from being one of the most efficient countries in the world now we rank 140. Don't surrender your Liberty, fight for your freedom. If you don't fight for your freedom, they will drag you into misery.</p><p>I would also like to leave a message of optimism with you. Argentina seemed to be a country doomed to be like sheep driven by socialists. When I started my political career in Congress as a congressman, I said that I wasn't there to herd sheep, but rather to awaken lions.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-260617803862680472024-02-21T06:56:00.011-10:002024-02-21T17:19:19.396-10:00Five converging issues<p><span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14.6667px;">Adherents of the political ideology that considers themselves socialists, democratic socialists, woke, progressive, social justice warriors have achieved gains that were </span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14.6667px;">unimaginable</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"> at the beginning of the 20th century. The following five issues are converging to fracture the collation that has supported this ideology.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">1. Transgender militancy. Young children diagnosed with "gender </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">dysphoria"</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> are now </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">prescribed</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> hormone blocking </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">therapy</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> or </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">gender</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> reassignment surgery, sometimes over the objections of one or both parents. Men using </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">women's restrooms. Men competing in women's sports. <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1759651078566498435" target="_blank">Lowell Collegiate</a>, and then there is this:</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/17/lesbian-members-bar-open-will-only-admit-biological-women/?WT.mc_id=e_DM280143&WT.tsrc=email&etype=Edi_USD_New&utmsource=email" style="font-size: 11pt;" target="_blank">Members bar</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">2. Support for Hamas. The largest donors to the left have traditionally been </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Jewish</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">. Even though many in the Jewish community do not support Zionism or the current war in Gaza, very few members of that community will provide financial support to </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">organizations</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> openly support Hamas and the </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">destruction</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> of </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">Israel</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">. </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/11/dsa-rally-aoc-israel-00121060" target="_blank">DSA</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2811430/aoc-affiliated-democratic-socialists-of-america-is-headed-breadline/" target="_blank">DSA Layoffs</a>, <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/10/16/wexner-foundation-harvard-donor-israel-hamas/" target="_blank">Harvard</a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">3. Immigration. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Immigration has exploded into a fiery debate in the "sanctuary
cities". Black citizens are outraged that new immigrants are
receiving tax funded benefits and resources. </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><a href="https://gistfest.com/chicago-residents-upset-about-migrant-crisis-vow-to-disrupt-national-democratic-convention/" target="_blank">Chicago</a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">4. Inflation. Average ticket price paid for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour was $3,801.00. Average ticket price paid for Super Bowl 58 was $8,600.00. The assets owned by the Federal Reserve have increased from $475 billion in 2008 to $4.7 trillion today. The money supply (M2) has increased from $7.5 trillion in 2008 to $20.8 trillion today. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/resale-price-taylor-swift-eras-tour-reputation-ticket-pitchfork-report-2023-8" target="_blank">Taylor Swift</a>, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-much-super-bowl-2024-tickets-prices/" target="_blank">Super Bowl 58</a>, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QZA4rF4kgfEaGYZKKflopHsJK9Nsst8K/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Fed Assets</a>, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u-YTBFYUSwa2TmdKqGB01Fi0dVcyi-zN/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">M2</a>, and then there is this: </span><a href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.historydefined.net%2Fgerman-hyperinflation%2F&data=05%7C02%7C%7C4b9135a6dcd54b51749408dc2cf3b6e1%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638434672458188622%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=8%2Bb4arj07XinCHlI2VPKy25VxghsngliCPqEZwMgbgs%3D&reserved=0" style="font-size: 11pt;" target="_blank">Hyperinflation</a></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">5. Lawfare. The use of the legal system to persecute political opponents is becoming obvious to even the casual observer. <a href="https://moneywise.com/news/top-stories/kevin-oleary-calls-new-york-a-loser-state" target="_blank">A loser state</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/GrantCardone/status/1760028821393186907" target="_blank">Focus on Texas & Florida</a> </span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-25897261732843914192024-01-22T21:13:00.002-10:002024-01-22T21:34:31.715-10:00Long Live Freedom, Damn It!<p> Javier Milei delivered a fearless speech to The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on 1/14/2024. He presented a classical demolition of collectivist policies and extolled the accomplishments of individual liberty. Watch the speech by clicking on this link:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/Pfcd0gWNIog?si=CiV0-_w0Qc8yjqHA&t=235" target="_blank">Javier Milei speech to WEF</a><br /></p><p>Read the transcript of the speech at this link:<br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YOjRYP-sh2VGexWdxPlK-FB6hXuM-z_4/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Transcript</a></div><p></p><p>This was such a well written speech you should watch or read all of it. In my opinion these are the highlights of his speech:</p><p></p><blockquote>Unfortunately, in recent decades motivated by some well-meaning individuals willing to help others and others motivated by the wish to belong to a privileged cast the main leaders of the western world have abandoned the model of freedom for different versions of what we call collectivism. We're here to tell you that collectivist experiments are never the solution to the problem that afflicts the citizens of the world, rather they are the root cause.</blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote>That said when you look at per capita GDP since the year 1800 and until today what you will see is that after the Industrial Revolution Global per capita GDP multiplied by over 15 times which meant a boom in growth that lifted 90% of the global population out of poverty. We should remember that by the year 1800 about 95% of the world's population lived in extreme poverty and that figure dropped to 5% by the year 2020 prior to the pandemic. The conclusion is obvious. Far from being the cause of our problems, free trade capitalism as an economic system is the only instrument we have to end hunger, poverty and extreme poverty across our planet. The empirical evidence is unquestionable.</blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote>The problem is that social justice is not just and it doesn't contribute either to the general wellbeing. Quite on the contrary it's an intrinsically unfair idea because it's violent it’s unjust because the state is financed through tax and taxes are collected coercively or can anyone of us say that they voluntarily pay taxes? Which means that the state is financed through coercion and that the higher the tax burden the higher the coercion and the lower the freedom.</blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote>If the goods or services offered by a business are not wanted the business will fail unless it adapts to what the market is demanding. If they make a good quality product at an attractive price they will do well and produce more. So, the market is a discovery process in which the capitalist will find the right path as they move forward.</blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote>Countries that have more freedom are 12 times richer than those that are repressed. The lowest decile in terms of distribution in free countries are better off than 90% of the population of repressed countries.</blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote>...libertarianism is the unrestricted respect for the life project of others based on the principle of non-aggression in defense of the right to life, liberty, and property. Its fundamental institutions being private property, markets free from State intervention, free competition, the division of labor, and social cooperation as part of which success is achieved only by serving others with goods of better quality or at a better price. In other words, capitalists, successful businesspeople are social benefactors who, far from appropriating the wealth of others, contribute to the general well-being.</blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote>Why do I say that the West is in danger? I say this precisely because in those of our countries that should defend the values of the free market, private property, and the other institutions of libertarianism, sectors of the political and economic establishment some due to mistakes in their theoretical framework and others due to a greed for power are undermining the foundations of libertarianism, opening up the doors to socialism and potentially condemning us to poverty, misery, and stagnation.</blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote>It should never be forgotten that socialism is always and everywhere an impoverishing phenomenon that has failed in all countries where it's been tried out. It's been a failure economically, socially, culturally, and it also murdered over a 100 million human beings.</blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote>On the pretext of a supposed market failure, regulations are introduced which only create distortions in the price system, prevent economic calculus, and therefore also prevent saving, investment, and growth.</blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote>The market is a mechanism of social cooperation where you voluntarily exchange ownership rights. Therefore, based on this definition, talking about a market failure is an oxymoron. There are no market failures if transactions are voluntary. The only context in which there can be a market failure is if there is coercion and the only one that is able to coerce generally is the state which holds a monopoly on violence.</blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote>However, faced with the theoretical demonstration that state intervention is harmful and the empirical evidence that it has failed couldn't have been otherwise. The solution to be proposed by collectivists is not greater freedom but rather greater regulation which creates a downward spiral of the spiral of regulations until we're all poorer and the life of all of us depends on a bureaucrat sitting in a luxury office.</blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote>Neo Marxists have managed to co-opt the common sense of the western world and this they have achieved by appropriating the media, culture, universities, and also international organizations.</blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote>Today states don't need to directly control the means of production to control every aspect of the lives of individuals. With tools such as printing money, debt, subsidies, controlling the interest rate, price controls, and regulations to correct the so-called market failures, they can control the lives and fates of millions of individuals. This is how we come to the point where by using different names or guises a good deal of the generally accept political offers in most Western countries are collectivist variant whether they proclaim to be openly communist, fascist, Nazis, socialists, Social Democrats, National Socialists, Democrat, Christians, Christian Democrats, progressive populist, nationalists, or globalists. At bottom there are no major differences. They all say that the state should steer all aspects of the lives of individuals. They all defend a model contrary to that one which led humanity to the most spectacular progress in its history. We have come here today to invite the rest of the countries in the Western World to get back on the path of prosperity, economic freedom, limited government, and respect for private property are essential elements for economic growth.</blockquote><p></p><p></p><blockquote>...I would like to leave a message for all businesspeople here and for those who are not here in person but are following from around the world. Do not be intimidated either by the political cast or by parasites who live off the state. Do not surrender to the political class that only wants to stay in power and retain its privileges. You are social benefactors, you are heroes, you’re the creators of the most extraordinary period of prosperity we've ever seen. Let no one tell you that your ambition is immoral. If you make money, it's because you offer a better product at a better price thereby contributing to general wellbeing. Do not surrender to the advance of the state. The state is not the solution, the state is the problem itself. You are the true protagonists of this story and rest assured that as from today Argentina is your staunch unconditional ally.</blockquote><p></p><p>Why would WEF invite Javier Milei to speak? </p><p>FOX Business host Maria Bartiromo attended the WEF annual meeting. She witnessed Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab walk out of the room during President Milei’s speech.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://rumble.com/v48dkxl-klaus-schwab-got-up-and-walked-out-of-room-during-argentina-president-milei.html" target="_blank">Bartiromo</a><br /></p><p>Daniel Hannan writes in The Telegraph that WEF invited Milei to speak to provide "at least a warning to that most self-regarding of conferences that voters can make terrible choices."</p><p>Hannan also notes that Milei, a former economics professor made no attempt to meet his audience half way. On the contrary, he began by warning that Western values had been betrayed by “those who want to belong to a privileged caste”.</p><p>Did WEF invite Milei to speak so that they can concoct a narrative to embarrass or discredit Milei?</p><p>Does WEF intend to edit Milei's speech so that they can release soundbites that will discredit his message?</p><p>If Milei's invitation to speak was without hidden intentions, then it suggests that the WEF believes they can dismiss any critique and continue with their collectivist plans.</p><p>To enhance your knowledge of the philosophy of individual liberty, click on the link below:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.therootofliberty.com" target="_blank">The Root Of Liberty</a><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-54092904442524770502024-01-07T14:45:00.006-10:002024-01-07T14:45:28.233-10:00Climate Quiz<p>Click on the link below to test your climate knowledge. You will be surprised by some of the answers.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://co2coalition.org/climate-quiz/" target="_blank">Climate Quiz</a><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-22177907331137993082023-12-28T15:44:00.003-10:002024-01-07T14:41:51.924-10:00A New Year and a New Opportunity<p></p><h1 style="text-align: center;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">2024 Happy New Year!</div></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtwgAKm7JEHdC0MHkS-jW7nMzzaN4pdqDm6J9YVCKgjdjCaCuMvZz623_moGkBHyLUQs6QtwjIP4_X312RwK3F7ruToyHRW4EfYBrWagqXvV1AbVdPOZVZ0K9jFyawwTzseyiDk0iC_dMGuL9RNDhZb8eFLmK-ysVnISrCN0RVGTadsgb09E1WBV_oQjsL/s1500/new-years.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1500" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtwgAKm7JEHdC0MHkS-jW7nMzzaN4pdqDm6J9YVCKgjdjCaCuMvZz623_moGkBHyLUQs6QtwjIP4_X312RwK3F7ruToyHRW4EfYBrWagqXvV1AbVdPOZVZ0K9jFyawwTzseyiDk0iC_dMGuL9RNDhZb8eFLmK-ysVnISrCN0RVGTadsgb09E1WBV_oQjsL/s320/new-years.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Put this resolution at the top of your list for 2024:</div><p style="text-align: center;">I resolve to become a stronger advocate for individual liberty. I will accomplish this task by completing the “Essential Reading List” featured on <a href="http://www.therootofliberty.com" target="_blank">The Root of Liberty</a> website.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.TheRootOfLiberty.com" target="_blank">www.TheRootOfLiberty.com</a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-7159833317396158372023-11-19T15:16:00.007-10:002023-11-20T09:14:32.397-10:00Don’t cry for the Central Bank, Argentina<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5GHGwyTk36liyLgUaBZXS0AOzIrbAWJGELnwJXSf_MKTjYucjrxtbnx8UmVwNI78jZ-nb-0GqQrKnN8bYg117Mk4HcTHNDbpmqDv1sFnjyICm_5xZhpLRGKaHaWhVio_eKpkQiJq2GGivAdyZJp6m8dNu4J4s4Rk8tlaR0CKaAQ4nPPHikEZx6IFZkIda" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="668" data-original-width="1024" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5GHGwyTk36liyLgUaBZXS0AOzIrbAWJGELnwJXSf_MKTjYucjrxtbnx8UmVwNI78jZ-nb-0GqQrKnN8bYg117Mk4HcTHNDbpmqDv1sFnjyICm_5xZhpLRGKaHaWhVio_eKpkQiJq2GGivAdyZJp6m8dNu4J4s4Rk8tlaR0CKaAQ4nPPHikEZx6IFZkIda" width="320" /></a></div><p>Argentina has elected Javier Milei a uncompromising Libertarian to the office of President. Milei has promised to shut down the Central Bank. In honor of this most noble crusade, I present the following song (sung to the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s "Don't Cry for Me Argentina"):</p><p></p>Don’t cry for the Central Bank, Argentina<br />The truth is, it never helped you<br />All through its wild days, its mad existence<br />It never kept a promise. Don't keep your Pesos<br />Has it said too much?<br />There's nothing more it can think of to say to you<br />But all you have to do is look at it to know<div>That its every word is a lie</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-70647897297461841352023-10-24T20:43:00.010-10:002023-11-20T09:13:40.137-10:00The Cultural Impact of the Dollar<p> I was fortunate to have attended a speech delivered by <a href="https://mises.org/profile/jorg-guido-hulsmann" target="_blank">Dr. Jörg Guido Hülsmann</a> to the Supporters' Summit of the <a href="https://mises.org/" target="_blank">Mises Institute</a>. </p><p>The term epiphany is usually reserved for life changing spiritual events, but in the case of listening to this speech I can honestly say that I experienced several epiphanies.</p><p>Monetary policy and the actions of the Federal Reserve Bank are normally regarded as technical economic babble and not something that most people pay attention to. If you currently feel this way, I guarantee that your life will change after watching Dr. Hülsmann’s 52-minute speech.</p><div>The era of permanent price inflation that we currently live in has had a devastating impact all aspects of our society. The changes in behavior and personal decision making are shocking.</div><div><br /></div><div>There have been many times in the past that I have urged you to read or view an article or speech, but there has never been a more important opportunity for you to expand your understanding of our current social and economic situation than the speech at the link below.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://youtu.be/g2tQh-DdoAs?si=bGHZZwTLTZsA4fr7" target="_blank">The Cultural Impact of the Dollar</a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-6393240708097769402023-09-04T09:16:00.014-10:002023-09-04T10:01:00.619-10:00Honor Labor<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9hXLyfolBkLodYf50jrlnrD21vXWGxUGuqNPSvS3T5dEvAi-tPw9RGwwfXq-_Ht63ILf74ZkDv8tN2U5s1a48hCCQoc3Fs46uDl4rcHGi92aE2bXJiDzTCit2buAD3yr4kHARL4ohuVfGRPebVURcHqpYPIsuPhIHh-KFElcybNhdcEqmLDiR9g5Z5AIF/s720/Labor%20taxation%20is%20theft.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="706" data-original-width="720" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9hXLyfolBkLodYf50jrlnrD21vXWGxUGuqNPSvS3T5dEvAi-tPw9RGwwfXq-_Ht63ILf74ZkDv8tN2U5s1a48hCCQoc3Fs46uDl4rcHGi92aE2bXJiDzTCit2buAD3yr4kHARL4ohuVfGRPebVURcHqpYPIsuPhIHh-KFElcybNhdcEqmLDiR9g5Z5AIF/w400-h393/Labor%20taxation%20is%20theft.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Honor the labor force by eliminating the involuntary servitude demanded by the insatiable spending of the federal, state, and local governments. <b>Abolish the income tax and replace it with nothing.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">“Taxation is theft, purely and simply even though it is theft on a grand and colossal scale which no acknowledged criminals could hope to match. It is a compulsory seizure of the property of the State’s inhabitants, or subjects.” -- Murray N. Rothbard.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">“When someone removes a cancer, what do you replace it with?” -- Thomas Sowell.</span></p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-67922791783678965962023-08-19T12:34:00.003-10:002023-08-20T15:09:39.839-10:00Foundations of Modern Progressive Thought<h4 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Foundations of Modern Progressive Thought:<br />From Social Justice, Woke, Intersectionality to Identity Politics.</span><br /></span><br /></h4><p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">1. The
long march through the institutions</span></u></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS5laVY6U5mURZDNcszvVUcVVXdpwMsuCSMh80zlMa_Qy2081K4gBMoIY8H3iY3_Sc-7SuUYmkHq2-spxkMDNOoxEvLwSymXciYEYnpki3GD7nr80p7waX2-rbkLJXRb220EZ2oA6qOI59QaLnuLK-iTsEizCsulY6sWt_uPXQKgT8JKSRWbbxyQt1oSbo/s341/Antonio%20Francesco%20Gramsci.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="341" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS5laVY6U5mURZDNcszvVUcVVXdpwMsuCSMh80zlMa_Qy2081K4gBMoIY8H3iY3_Sc-7SuUYmkHq2-spxkMDNOoxEvLwSymXciYEYnpki3GD7nr80p7waX2-rbkLJXRb220EZ2oA6qOI59QaLnuLK-iTsEizCsulY6sWt_uPXQKgT8JKSRWbbxyQt1oSbo/w200-h187/Antonio%20Francesco%20Gramsci.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">In the annals
of revolutionary thinkers, few match the impact of <b>Antonio Francesco Gramsci</b>,
who lived between January 2, 1891, and April 27, 1937. Notably, as a founder
and once the leader of the Italian Communist Party, he became an emblematic
figure who symbolized resolute resistance to Benito Mussolini's fascism. While
imprisoned by the authoritarian regime from 1926 until his death in 1937, he
penned what can be considered his magnum opus – the “Prison Notebooks” - more
than 3,000 pages filled with a seductive blend of history and political theory.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">It would be a
tragic oversimplification to think that Gramsci simply stood in opposition to
bourgeois values. Rather, he sought to convey that these values were not the
quintessential or default values for a society. Lenin, with his pragmatic
focus, believed culture was a mere sidebar to the larger political game.
However, for Gramsci, culture wasn't a side act; it was the headline show. In
his eyes, achieving cultural hegemony was paramount to obtaining genuine power.
He keenly observed that a class could not gain dominance solely through
pursuing economic ambitions or through unbridled force. A more sophisticated
method was necessary: a class had to ascend by showcasing intellectual and
moral leadership, crafting alliances, and yes, even making compromises.
Borrowing a term from Georges Sorel, Gramsci termed this alliance of societal
forces a "historic bloc". This bloc, in essence, was the linchpin
that ensured the continuous reproduction of the hegemony of the prevailing
class through a web of institutions, relationships, and ideologies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">Gramsci's
focus on the political and ideological superstructure is a crucial mechanism in
maintaining and breaking the chains of the economic foundation. He vociferously
contended that to truly challenge the capitalist stronghold, it was paramount
to erect a counter-hegemony. This wasn't about sheer opposition; it was about
crafting an alternative, a counter-narrative to the prevailing bourgeois
ideology. The peculiar nature of Russian societal structures, according to
Gramsci, exempted them from this process since their ruling elite did not
exercise genuine hegemonic power.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">In a
proclamation that would echo through the annals of history, <b>Gramsci
articulated, "Socialism is precisely the religion that must overwhelm
Christianity. … In the new order, Socialism will triumph by first capturing the
culture via infiltration of schools, universities, churches, and the media by
transforming the consciousness of society."</b> It's essential to note
that his proclamation, describing the current state of culture in 2023, was
penned during his confinement from 1926 to 1937.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">Fast forward
to 1967, German sociologist and political student activist Rudi Dutschke coined
the phrase "<b>the long march through the institutions</b>". <b>A strategic
blueprint for initiating revolutionary conditions, it aimed to dismantle
capitalist society's grasp by permeating various societal institutions.
Dutschke<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>promoted working against the
established institutions while working within them, but not simply by 'boring
from within', rather by 'doing the job', learning (how to program and read
computers, how to teach at all levels of education, how to use the mass media,
how to organize production, how to recognize and eschew planned obsolescence,
how to design, et cetera), and at the same time preserving one's own
consciousness in working with others. </b>The term "long march"
wasn't mere rhetoric; it was an ode to the prolonged endeavors of the Chinese
communists, epitomized by their literal march across China.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">Interestingly,
while many draw parallels between Dutschke's "long march" and
Gramsci's "war of position", concrete evidence linking Dutschke's
familiarity with Gramsci remains elusive. Despite countless references to other
revolutionary figures like György Lukács, Che Guevara, and Mao Zedong in
Dutschke's writings, a conspicuous absence of Gramsci looms large.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">The strategies
laid down by figures like Gramsci and Dutschke remain a testament to the
multifaceted nature of the communist manifestos – <b>they do not merely intend
to change governments but instead attempt to transform the very soul of
societies.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">2.
Critical Theory</span></u></b><u><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">
<o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">Amid the ocean
of intellectual movements of the 20th century, none perhaps remains as poignant
and provocative as the Frankfurt School, more rigorously referred to as
<b>Critical Theory</b>. Originating from the proverbial corridors of the Institute for
Social Research, affixed to Frankfurt's Goethe University in Germany, this
movement was conceived in 1923, borne out of Felix Weil's munificence, and
aimed to kindle the fires of Marxist analysis within German academia. But, with
the Nazi regime's tightening noose in 1933, this intellectual bastion found
refuge across the Atlantic, settling within the esteemed walls of Columbia
University in New York City.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">The luminaries
of this philosophical force included figures like Max Horkheimer, Theodor
Adorno, and the potent Herbert Marcuse, to name but a few. By the time the
1970s dawned, a new guard, spearheaded by Jürgen Habermas, commenced, casting
the Frankfurt School's intellectual net beyond its original confines,
influencing scholarly methods across the European continent. During this
metamorphosis, the American academic realm was not untouched. Richard
Bernstein, a philosophical contemporary of Habermas, fervently adopted Critical
Theory's agenda, infusing its essence into the academia, starting notably from
the New School for Social Research in New York.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSe6_88arObjLCeS8arnFKgRhm46d_95_lX9PMcTES8iR2Pzx8WpiX9bOPsrOT-5DzBBI59Jo5TQYq4gPvYwUXfZqEnNePWb89rXiXIWEaUBFop_ax4GsAPoIr2FQs3OxaCQJWPwXMviJ-o7wJemQPDUcbVqhwc17kq9cw06H0ecHHVL7U_WXMmEJnbVGv/s348/Herbert%20Marcuse.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="279" data-original-width="348" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSe6_88arObjLCeS8arnFKgRhm46d_95_lX9PMcTES8iR2Pzx8WpiX9bOPsrOT-5DzBBI59Jo5TQYq4gPvYwUXfZqEnNePWb89rXiXIWEaUBFop_ax4GsAPoIr2FQs3OxaCQJWPwXMviJ-o7wJemQPDUcbVqhwc17kq9cw06H0ecHHVL7U_WXMmEJnbVGv/w200-h161/Herbert%20Marcuse.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><span face="Tahoma, sans-serif">But it's </span><b style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;">Herbert
Marcuse</b><span face="Tahoma, sans-serif">, the German-born philosopher, who deserves closer scrutiny.
Associated intrinsically with the Frankfurt School's philosophy, Marcuse
championed the New Left in 1960s America. His critiques often pierced the heart
of conventional liberalism, most controversially via his "Repressive
Tolerance" hypothesis published in 1965. </span><b style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;">Marcuse argued that the
liberal concept of tolerance, which allowed for the free expression of all
ideas and opinions, actually served to reinforce the existing power structure
and maintain the status quo.</b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">According to
Marcuse, in a society where there is unequal distribution of power and wealth,
the notion of "equal" or "neutral" tolerance simply
perpetuates the dominant ideology and represses the oppressed. He believed that
the ruling class, with the help of the media and other institutions, used the
idea of tolerance to maintain their power and control over the masses, while
suppressing any dissenting voices that threatened their authority.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">In Marcuse's
view, therefore, true freedom could only be achieved through "liberating
tolerance," which would actively promote and encourage alternative,
dissenting viewpoints, while challenging the dominant ideology. <b>This would
involve a form of "discriminatory tolerance," in which the oppressed
were given more latitude to express their views than the oppressors, in order
to redress the power imbalance.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">His hypothesis
captivated many, not least his most famous student, Angela Davis, who echoed
Marcuse’s sentiments in her preface to “The New Left and the 1960s”:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">While
Marcuse's ideas were controversial and attracted criticism from some quarters,
they were influential in the development of the New Left movement and continue
to be discussed and debated in political and philosophical circles today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marcuse engaged with the civil rights
movement and the emerging feminist, environmental, gay and lesbian, and other
oppositional social movements of the era.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">One
of the great challenges of any social movement is to develop new vocabularies.</span></b><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif"> As we attempt to develop these
vocabularies today, we can find inspiration and direction in Marcuse’s attempts
to theorize the politics of language. In “An Essay on Liberation” he wrote:
Political linguistics: armor of the Establishment. <b>If the radical opposition
develops its own language, it protests spontaneously, subconsciously, against
one of the most effective “secret weapons” of domination and defamation. The
language of the prevailing Law and Order, validated by the courts and by the
police, is not only the voice but also the deed of suppression. This language
not only defines and condemns the Enemy, it also creates him. . . This
linguistic universe, which incorporates the Enemy (as Untermensch) into the
routine of everyday speech can be transcended only in action.</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">Critical
theory encourages dissidents to demand that society accept their changes in vocabulary
and also to demand more latitude to express their views than their opponents.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">3.
Postmodernism<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">During the
1970s, the intellectual salons of France bore witness to an emerging
philosophical storm. Taking inspiration from the likes of Nietzsche,
Kierkegaard, and Heidegger, a maverick group of thinkers, led by luminaries
like Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Jean-François Lyotard, and Jean
Baudrillard, began to radically dismantle the established paradigms of modern
philosophy. By the time the 1980s rolled around, these audacious ideas had not
only traversed the Atlantic to find a haven in America with thinkers like
Richard Rorty but had garnered a global resonance.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">This
intellectual movement, branded as "<b>postmodernism</b>," ventured where few
had dared to tread. It was a brazen challenge to the very edifice of
Enlightenment rationalism, an intellectual legacy that had held sway since the
17th century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Postmodernism is
associated with relativism and a focus on the role of ideology in the
maintenance of economic and political power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><b>Postmodernists are "skeptical of explanations which claim to be
valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races, and instead focuses on
the relative truths of each person".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It considers "reality" to be a mental construct.</b>
Postmodernism rejects the possibility of unmediated reality or objectively
rational knowledge, asserting that all interpretations are contingent on the
perspective from which they are made; claims to objective fact are dismissed as
naive realism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">Deeply
influenced by strains of critical theory, postmodernists viewed knowledge and
moral systems through a lens of contingency, describing those systems as
products of political, historical, or cultural discourses and hierarchies.
Accordingly, postmodern thought is broadly characterized by tendencies to
self-referentiality, epistemological and moral relativism, pluralism, and
irreverence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Postmodernism is often
associated with schools of thought such as deconstruction and
post-structuralism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Postmodernism relies
on critical theory, which considers the effects of ideology, society, and
history on culture. Postmodernism and critical theory commonly criticize
universalist ideas of objective reality, morality, truth, human nature, reason,
language, and social progress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Schools
of thought like deconstruction and post-structuralism found their lineage in
the postmodernist canon. In essence, postmodernism, coupled with critical
theory, presents a scathing critique of any pretense to an objective reality,
immutable truths, or the infallibility of reason.</span><span face="Tahoma, sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZZbgIgeulUL5NAuWo3_H-B_SkjEGwk1aOYxyyt7o47sUaMcpoBpzcUCgtRR5JHAel--IIArxZeOnQZ2wd3OwggocuPAUdBFyaqkUtiqDLS9oZDbKwKoWn0UNBTHH7SuEZGpZl2SowRDxBuUxYn4gkuKPBSgseP9PHiJT8JQiaZH_eK3tOdBGYGDXm_y6M/s334/Richard%20McKay%20Rorty.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="222" data-original-width="334" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZZbgIgeulUL5NAuWo3_H-B_SkjEGwk1aOYxyyt7o47sUaMcpoBpzcUCgtRR5JHAel--IIArxZeOnQZ2wd3OwggocuPAUdBFyaqkUtiqDLS9oZDbKwKoWn0UNBTHH7SuEZGpZl2SowRDxBuUxYn4gkuKPBSgseP9PHiJT8JQiaZH_eK3tOdBGYGDXm_y6M/w200-h133/Richard%20McKay%20Rorty.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">An essential
figure in this intellectual tableau was <b>Richard McKay Rorty</b>. A product
of institutions like the University of Chicago (BA and MA) and Yale (Phd),
Rorty's academic sojourns spanned the hallowed halls of Princeton, the
University of Virginia, and Stanford.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">Rorty rejected
the long-held idea that correct internal representations of objects in the
outside world is a necessary prerequisite for knowledge. Rorty argued instead
that knowledge is an internal and linguistic affair; knowledge only relates to
our own language.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Rorty argues that
language is made up of vocabularies that are temporary and historical and
concludes that "[...] since vocabularies are made by human beings, so are
truths."<o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">4.
Conclusion: The Accumulated Results<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">The long march
through the institutions has been underway for over 100 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is apparent that the collectivists have
gained control of all institutions in society including but not limited to:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">Elementary
schools.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">High Schools.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">Universities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">Government
agencies and bureaucrats.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">Elected officials.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">Corporate
management.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">News media of
all types.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">Entertainment
of all types.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">Religious
organizations.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">The family.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Tahoma",sans-serif">Having control
of the institutions provides the <a name="_Hlk143181008">collectivists </a>with
the opportunity to control public discourse using the methods prescribed by critical
theory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Propaganda favoring the collectivist
doctrine is promoted throughout all institutions and opposition to collectivist
doctrine is censored and labeled misinformation or disinformation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, collectivists are able to redefine the
vocabulary using postmodernist methods to define long held beliefs as false and
new and unimaginable concepts to be true.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-90388827622667048332022-12-11T12:28:00.000-10:002022-12-11T12:28:55.676-10:00Pension fund bailout is the sequel to a Hollywood movie.<p> $36 billion in federal funds has been paid to labor union pension funds. The funding is from the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that was signed into law in 2021. Some details are included in the following article:</p><p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-business-united-states-government-and-politics-retirees-09d93d2af8cc68de47eccda4a9ef0250" target="_blank">$36 Billion Union Pension Fund Bailout</a><br /></p><p>Note that the majority of funding is going to the the Central States Pension Fund. This organization has a colorful history. It is a multi employer pension fund created through collective bargaining agreements with the Teamsters Union. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s the Central States Pension Fund was used as a source of loans and funding for real-estate development. It became famous for loans and funds provided to Las Vegas hotels and casinos.</p><p>This episode of union pension funding of Las Vegas casino expansion was the basis for the the 1995 Martin Scorsese film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casino_(1995_film)" target="_blank">Casino</a>. Although this film is listed as a drama, all who are familiar with the Chicago mob's Las Vegas adventures will realize that the film is very close to a documentary. Some of the film's main characters are as follows:</p><p>Sam 'Ace' Rothstein, a film depiction of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Rosenthal" target="_blank">Frank Rosenthal</a>, also known as "Lefty."</p><p>Nicky Santoro, a film depiction of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Spilotro" target="_blank">Anthony Spilotro</a>, also known as "The Ant."</p><p>Andy Stone, a film depiction of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Dorfman" target="_blank">Allen Dorfman</a>.</p><p>Allen Dorfman was the conduit for funding of the Las Vegas investments through the Central States Pension Fund. Dorfman was a Chicago mob associate who rose to power due to his father's previous association with organized crime. Dorfman became a close confidant of Jimmy Hoffa. On January 20, 1983 Allen Dorfman was murdered. The news clips in the following link provide the details:</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9aKL3Hp__E" target="_blank">Allen Dorfman's murder</a><br /></p><p>Note that the Federal Government bestowed on itself the authority to spend $1.9 trillion for coronavirus relief under the American Rescue Plan. Then the Federal Government bestowed on itself the authority to pay the Central States Pension Fund $36 billion from the coronavirus relief fund. You might find it interesting or amusing that when the mob was making the investment decisions for the Central States Pension Fund they never needed a government bailout.</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-7663065542740984582022-02-04T06:16:00.008-10:002022-02-04T06:18:31.685-10:00It ends with a whimper.<p>And just like that, the pandemic ends in Iowa.</p><p>Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds announced on Thursday that she will allow the “public health disaster emergency proclamation” to expire on February 15, 2022.</p><p>“We cannot continue to suspend duly enacted laws and treat COVID-19 as a public health emergency indefinitely. After two years, it’s no longer feasible or necessary. The flu and other infectious illnesses are part of our everyday lives, and coronavirus can be managed similarly,” stated Gov. Reynolds. “State agencies will now manage COVID-19 as part of normal daily business, and reallocate resources that have been solely dedicated to the response effort to serve other important needs for Iowans.” </p><p>Restrictions are easing or lifted in many states, see the following article: </p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/storytelling/coronavirus-reopening-america-map/#restrictions" target="_blank">USA Today map of state restrictions</a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvv0Dgc_O5eDmRwbRb6ihZbTXnTz0YHdfZYWBv7xGWFnoTMiZPSVsCq1U0LUI3U8TqVXyD7K6RmdV667_G-txkp7ExEe14XkKOCxFqtSTB4OG9_vgfQvDAMS9TEeZAuii3mNXGTHNmuNcIOgO_R4CNil9VvcB0VnLuhLmEp4hd_YlgMl0h8TyBdzZEVA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvv0Dgc_O5eDmRwbRb6ihZbTXnTz0YHdfZYWBv7xGWFnoTMiZPSVsCq1U0LUI3U8TqVXyD7K6RmdV667_G-txkp7ExEe14XkKOCxFqtSTB4OG9_vgfQvDAMS9TEeZAuii3mNXGTHNmuNcIOgO_R4CNil9VvcB0VnLuhLmEp4hd_YlgMl0h8TyBdzZEVA" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-340800093064371952022-01-23T14:52:00.010-10:002022-01-23T14:54:27.497-10:00Defeat the Mandates<p style="text-align: left;">A rally was held in Washington DC on Sunday, 1/23/22. The name of the rally is Defeat the Mandates: An American Homecoming. As you might assume from the name the rally was held in opposition to vaccine mandates. 40 speakers and organizations made presentations including Master of ceremonies JP Sears, Robert F. Kennedy JR., Dr. Robert Malone, Dr. Peter McCullough, Del Bigtree, and Steve Kirsch.</p><p style="text-align: left;">This link will take you to a video of the event. There are many speakers which makes for a long viewing process. If you have limited time I recommend that you watch Robert F. Kennedy JR's speech which begins at the 2 hour and 20 minute mark. I was impressed by Kennedy's speech, but even more impressive is that this speech is from a prominent member of the Kennedy family. Please click the link below: </p><p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://www.gettr.com/post/pq4ztad3a1" target="_blank">Defeat the Mandates</a></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Is5Cd6jEw802RSq23N1e3_r-pLbRzImEDYXkfj52uYIgRSvFaQhM-OS9JRXRn7C96aetTwqobkb1cRTJPWCaSAQvZWzjX1BiWNfgpsG7IkFfcBCwFNp_akI8wVObeMhvuheXzaUvrElB/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1200" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Is5Cd6jEw802RSq23N1e3_r-pLbRzImEDYXkfj52uYIgRSvFaQhM-OS9JRXRn7C96aetTwqobkb1cRTJPWCaSAQvZWzjX1BiWNfgpsG7IkFfcBCwFNp_akI8wVObeMhvuheXzaUvrElB/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-65328850972803515522021-11-07T12:34:00.004-10:002021-11-07T12:34:31.292-10:00Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities<p><a href="https://www.rachelreevesmp.co.uk/about/" target="_blank">Rachel Reeves</a> is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom. She holds the office of the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.</p><p>On a British news channel, she was asked the following question:</p><p>Is it transphobic to say that only women have a cervix?</p><p>Chancellor Reeves has great difficulty answering this question. Please view for yourself at the following link:</p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/11IAIQwOi8eoLLgmDC48tRT0dzE6dXwnD/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Rachel Reeves interview</a><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The title of this post is a quotation from Voltaire’s ‘Questions sur les miracles’ (1765). Voltaire continued with this warning: "If you do not use the intelligence with which God endowed your mind to resist believing impossibilities, you will not be able to use the sense of injustice which God planted in your heart to resist a command to do evil. Once a single faculty of your soul has been tyrannized, all the other faculties will submit to the same fate."</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Reject the absurdities of tyrants. Do not let tyrants capture your heart and soul. Do not become a <span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">participant in</span> atrocities.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhblzIjZ-eNchyphenhyphengImBdyUuiqrPdnMY8byhETem3qsnBMV_wvlX5YUddHCfpiR_rR5cF6niBExJI4FEcbeAVRKYwgZ0Up4qynNcVMBMh9U-bmyYAnGgBsQn8SYmisEQpvFRy9yF47K4SZnP2/s722/Firing+squad.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="722" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhblzIjZ-eNchyphenhyphengImBdyUuiqrPdnMY8byhETem3qsnBMV_wvlX5YUddHCfpiR_rR5cF6niBExJI4FEcbeAVRKYwgZ0Up4qynNcVMBMh9U-bmyYAnGgBsQn8SYmisEQpvFRy9yF47K4SZnP2/s320/Firing+squad.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-16164402733151546972021-11-01T08:43:00.000-10:002021-11-01T08:43:18.021-10:00Los Angeles takes a Great Leap Forward<p>Los Angeles city planners ignored history and have chosen a name for their newest welfare program that is eerily similar to a program instituted by Mao Zedong: "<a href="http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/960314/china.shtml" target="_blank">The Great Leap Forward</a>" that killed tens of millions of Chinese.</p><p>The BIG:LEAP is a basic income guarantee (BIG) program. Los Angeles will provide approximately 3,000 individuals with $1,000 per month for 12 months. These will be unconditional, regular, and direct cash payments to individual participants that supplement existing welfare programs. Details are available at this link:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://bigleap.lacity.org/" target="_blank">BIG:LEAP</a><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">The program website linked to above provides this explanation of poverty:</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><blockquote>The relentless poverty experienced by too many Angelenos emerges out of a lack of financial resources, not a lack of judgment. While Angelenos are doing everything in their power to achieve financial security, the burdens of a high cost of living, unaffordable housing options, and insufficient wages too often exceed families’ ability to confront those challenges on their own — and we know that the economic difficulties caused by COVID-19 will outlast the pandemic itself.</blockquote><p>It is quite ironic that government regulation and taxation cause the high cost of living and unaffordable housing. Occupational licensure and minimum wage laws cause limited access to jobs with sufficient wages. Economic difficulties caused by COVID-19 are all the result of government mandates. Therefore all of the causes of poverty in the above list are the result of government action. The solution promoted is of course more government action! Ronald Reagan said: "The more the plans fail, the more the planners plan."</p><p>In another section of the BIG:LEAP website we find this paragraph:</p><p></p><blockquote>GBI programs are founded upon the belief that the people enduring financial instability or poverty are best positioned to make informed financial decisions that efficiently address their household’s needs— whether that means paying for rent, a new tire, or an unexpected trip to urgent care. These participants are granted the freedom to meet their most pressing needs without delay.</blockquote><p>The planners got one thing right when they say "...the people enduring financial instability or poverty are best positioned to make informed financial decisions that efficiently address their household’s needs." The principle underlying this sentence would solve most of society's problems: let individuals make their own decisions.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_gYZdzx18rls5zGzD30uvIUYWlV1ZynnBOaI0IQaDl7LWKi937BlnC4FSNIJUlVZFO22gAzzquLCQsD8YdrvyyATbNjyZ0eENlnuNSnLpHw4LSWRX4sLtms_7-CJabyv95cOoGfYjqIym/s1920/dollars-background-1462001372fMM.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1271" data-original-width="1920" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_gYZdzx18rls5zGzD30uvIUYWlV1ZynnBOaI0IQaDl7LWKi937BlnC4FSNIJUlVZFO22gAzzquLCQsD8YdrvyyATbNjyZ0eENlnuNSnLpHw4LSWRX4sLtms_7-CJabyv95cOoGfYjqIym/s320/dollars-background-1462001372fMM.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /><br /></p><p></p><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-9000690133211491862021-10-31T10:32:00.002-10:002021-10-31T10:32:07.870-10:00Government is the national religion<p>New York Governor <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/about-governor-hochul" target="_blank">Kathy Hochul</a> addressed a gathering in New York City's Christian Cultural Center on Sunday, September 26, 2021. A short video excerpt from her speech is available at the link below:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-4268e9hwfcHsPYZYlNTP8_DRNqSjk32/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">The gospel according to Kathy</a></p><p></p><blockquote>“And I wear my vaccinated necklace all the time to say, "I'm vaccinated." All of you. Yes, I know you're vaccinated. You're the smart ones. But, you know, there's people out there who aren't listening to God and what God wants. You know this. You know who they are. I need you to be my apostles.”</blockquote><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQEsRYJM5gE5Yx5XyOMQYxrPNapdMJEfMeQtqgTikYRlr474O2grLbJgPHV21hREWUG9UmBuUri1YTBLWBi0pj5AmeBDCrFeec4svVkm6BjZ7VI98__puPZxJR8XY_nWiTMVXWu1UUh36L/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="794" data-original-width="794" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQEsRYJM5gE5Yx5XyOMQYxrPNapdMJEfMeQtqgTikYRlr474O2grLbJgPHV21hREWUG9UmBuUri1YTBLWBi0pj5AmeBDCrFeec4svVkm6BjZ7VI98__puPZxJR8XY_nWiTMVXWu1UUh36L/" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-77425348384624813612021-10-27T07:16:00.001-10:002021-10-27T07:47:10.382-10:00A new location for the goal posts (further down the field)<p>Now the goal for Hawaii is to keep “cases” (positive test results) under 100 per day. The last goal of “70% of the population vaccinated” has been achieved but will not result in any change in mandates because the goal posts have been moved (again).</p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2021/10/26/governor-if-cases-continue-drop-covid-restrictions-could-go-away-by-end-year/" target="_blank">Gov. Ige interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Spotlight Hawaii</a></p><p>Note that the video includes these statements:</p><p>1. “Safe Travels will continue as long as there are those traveling that are not vaccinated”. – What is the guideline for ending this program? Will travelers arriving in 2025 still be subject to these requirements?</p><p>2. “Governor Ige said that he is considering plans to incorporate booster shots and antigen tests into the Safe Travels program as well.” – Apparently, travelers will soon be required to have a booster shot before entering Hawaii without a quarantine.</p><p>How does Ige’s last emergency proclamation provide authority to set goals that would take effect on 1/1/2022? This date is more than 60 days beyond the effective date of the emergency proclamation.</p><p><br /></p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirHYoXLFlzQT7ouAgWBAOAa-6vTXzD0UBQ-EiUIeudNXbUCWJsVlphCCqyY0hi9IiI67NlqR4D9sGtf63pBhLBev-Rt7GHoOpjh-Wu5m0zHQ9ZHUOLh_7h4YRm92EgPALBXkZXBhUAWE_H/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="368" data-original-width="700" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirHYoXLFlzQT7ouAgWBAOAa-6vTXzD0UBQ-EiUIeudNXbUCWJsVlphCCqyY0hi9IiI67NlqR4D9sGtf63pBhLBev-Rt7GHoOpjh-Wu5m0zHQ9ZHUOLh_7h4YRm92EgPALBXkZXBhUAWE_H/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-61925294837132846172021-10-12T11:40:00.009-10:002021-10-12T12:01:37.295-10:00Personal privacy<p><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #505050; font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://www.judgenap.com/" target="_blank">Judge Andrew P. Napolitano</a> provides a brief history of personal privacy laws at this link:</span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://www.lewrockwell.com/2021/10/andrew-p-napolitano/a-brief-history-of-the-law-of-personal-privacy-and-bodily-integrity/" target="_blank">A Brief History of the Law of Personal Privacy and Bodily Integrity</a><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.lewrockwell.com/2021/10/andrew-p-napolitano/a-brief-history-of-the-law-of-personal-privacy-and-bodily-integrity/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="332" data-original-width="700" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYnsQ64VcMCAg7rf1kS3kXeaXkGPV6yivPC6jkEUf3znD0o06E-f9Iy-2hqC7V-5-tOYprrany6plxP8C_TAol8SCppH_1JCa8BQ32Jgp1Fmi0LAHlBYARUl6m5R8-4QftZYBrZXac69Fx/s320/Coronavirus-and-the-Law.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-78489567044028283002021-09-19T14:36:00.004-10:002021-09-19T14:42:59.542-10:00Can vaccine mandates be justified?<p> In an emergency order issued on 8/30/2021 City and County of Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi imposed a vaccine mandate that went into effect on 9/13/21.</p><p>Considering the current statistics available from the Hawaii Department of Health and research on COVID-19 and the vaccines can a mandate be justified? The following report answers this question.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DGf8o1QqAq-BP6K4f_lCuzeqmHtKzmPgp19Kdd3wC0M/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Vaccine Mandate Research</a><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKCUS6gNYu_wvJ7XNw7cQp8X80yWs7QWHL9bqLf-RsMS7WxHjdpzmsv1DAdN8UjirKPbiDMOMhUFYROBTnII257itx_0GHok1HI6rKV-M5wXcxsMgdC12-abBHwcry-EtVXleGGtdeB5-N/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKCUS6gNYu_wvJ7XNw7cQp8X80yWs7QWHL9bqLf-RsMS7WxHjdpzmsv1DAdN8UjirKPbiDMOMhUFYROBTnII257itx_0GHok1HI6rKV-M5wXcxsMgdC12-abBHwcry-EtVXleGGtdeB5-N/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-32000273805057430212021-07-20T07:27:00.002-10:002021-07-20T07:31:12.299-10:00The American Descent into Madness<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUA67fLa1BC8ZmHd6dnbWPaLG2QKpSQmDUAEBUpem5lgwnBNbMiauasdyF1hDapQZEnjgf2Y-T7ReyonQeZAp9TNW2tXACxsACBdTnHwIYYDEw_ckSo_xh965GKlK4IUP2WDgSUgNSx4wx/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="162" data-original-width="288" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUA67fLa1BC8ZmHd6dnbWPaLG2QKpSQmDUAEBUpem5lgwnBNbMiauasdyF1hDapQZEnjgf2Y-T7ReyonQeZAp9TNW2tXACxsACBdTnHwIYYDEw_ckSo_xh965GKlK4IUP2WDgSUgNSx4wx/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://www.hoover.org/profiles/victor-davis-hanson" target="_blank">Victor Davis Hanson</a> recently published an article on the
<a href="https://amgreatness.com/" target="_blank">American Greatness</a> website. He begins
with this statement: "Nations have often gone mad in a matter of
months." He continues with this:<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">"In the last six months, we have seen absurdities never
quite witnessed in modern America. Madness, not politics, defines it. There are
three characteristics of all these upheavals. One, the events are
unsustainable. They will either cease or they will destroy the nation, at least
as we know it. Two, the law has largely been rendered meaningless. Three,
left-wing political agendas justify any means necessary to achieve them."</p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>This article provides
many astute insights. The following is
an insight that I had not recognized on my own:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">"Yet universities now have both hands around their
golden goose’s neck and are determined to strangle it...The new woke admission
policy ironically is targeting the liberal suburban professional family, the
Left’s constituency, whose lives are so fixated on whether children graduate
from Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, or like campuses."</p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>I urge you to read the entire article at the following link:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://amgreatness.com/2021/07/18/the-american-descent-into-madness/" target="_blank">The American Descent into Madness</a><o:p></o:p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-30808820829394532922021-05-02T21:38:00.002-10:002021-05-02T21:44:41.091-10:00Incomprehensible liabilities<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">A recent conversation about the US Federal Government's
unfunded liabilities caused me to reexamine a statistic that I absorbed several
years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Boston University economics
professor <a href="https://kotlikoff.net/" target="_blank">Laurence Kotlikoff</a> stated that the US Federal Government's unfunded
liabilities exceed 200 trillion dollars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This number is quoted many times, and in many places, but I was not able
to find any published details that provide the calculations that establish this
number.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">During my research, I found that there is a publication by
the US Treasury each year titled <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/163xEZzrcIEeUYeV7yZPPPTcycHWheCCM/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">“Financial Report of the United States Government”</a> which provides financial statements for the Federal Government in a
format like an annual report for a public corporation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When reading this report, it is important to
note that some of the amounts are listed in trillions and some in
billions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, note that trillions and
billions are sometimes commingled in the same table or chart.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am not accustomed to working with numbers this large and I
was having trouble keeping the decimal places straight, so I created a chart:<o:p></o:p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs2j1FeaMjQN0-UpM-W4yAytBaOtMuehbrfYnMV_jVoXjRvxFl_vM8ZG5yKoWSBry1VrKFwS8VDb2a0ELaU2sR09LkkVLMfmWtCpyD7wDeMY3da2SoU3Dj2y_nse0g2eiWrdOq1_ZqMvpW/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="320" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs2j1FeaMjQN0-UpM-W4yAytBaOtMuehbrfYnMV_jVoXjRvxFl_vM8ZG5yKoWSBry1VrKFwS8VDb2a0ELaU2sR09LkkVLMfmWtCpyD7wDeMY3da2SoU3Dj2y_nse0g2eiWrdOq1_ZqMvpW/w393-h424/image.png" width="393" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">The interesting details of the “Financial Report of the
United States Government” are in the notes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You will find a frank opinion in Note 24 on page 157 (pdf page 166) under
the heading:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Sustainability and the Fiscal Gap<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;">“This report presents data,
including debt, as a percent of GDP to help readers assess whether current
fiscal policy is sustainable. The debt-to-GDP ratio reached 100 percent at the
end of FY 2020” ….<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“As discussed further
in the unaudited RSI, the projections based on this report’s assumptions
indicate that current policy is not sustainable. If current policy is left
unchanged, the projections show the debt-to-GDP ratio will rise to 200 percent
by 2042 and reach 623 percent in 2095. Moreover, if the trends that underlie
the 75-year projections were to continue, the debt to-GDP ratio would continue
to rise beyond the 75-year window.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQXwfjM3Pej0eWAy9phiU8ofOX7qppbsZaN3yMPKhIodEg_13aLMkaWVNnoH-94-2CQpkX0pByxeu-putEX0T8JNN1OLbY-gN0HQbzc5efjJjNGUPfVXUEUgZGtdTOrK8BgIY5cC8FzCHC/s985/debt_gdp-full.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="985" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQXwfjM3Pej0eWAy9phiU8ofOX7qppbsZaN3yMPKhIodEg_13aLMkaWVNnoH-94-2CQpkX0pByxeu-putEX0T8JNN1OLbY-gN0HQbzc5efjJjNGUPfVXUEUgZGtdTOrK8BgIY5cC8FzCHC/w400-h289/debt_gdp-full.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.justfacts.com/nationaldebt#_ftn26" style="font-size: 9pt;" target="_blank">https://www.justfacts.com/nationaldebt#_ftn26</a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal">If you are not a fan of tables and charts you can read the highlight of the “Financial Report of the United States Government” in plain English
and in 1 sentence on page ii (pdf page 9):<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(68, 114, 196); layout-grid-mode: char; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; mso-background-themecolor: accent1; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span face="Arial-BoldMT" lang="X-NONE" style="color: white; font-size: 16pt; mso-ansi-language: X-NONE; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial-BoldMT; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">An Unsustainable Fiscal Path<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto;">“The continuous rise of the debt-to-GDP
ratio projections based on the assumptions in this Financial Report indicates
that current policy is not sustainable.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">A recent report from Truth in Accounting titled <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z_4po431SM8XZBhUMlmZgooRD-lR7c2r/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Financial State of the Union 2020</a> calculates the Federal Government's unfunded liabilities as $123.11 trillion ($123,110,000,000,000).</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Also, there is the <a href="https://usdebtclock.org/" target="_blank">US debt clock</a>
website that displays a real-time calculation of US Unfunded Liabilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This calculation is the sum of unfunded
liabilities in Social Security, Medicare Part A, B, and D, Federal Debt held by the public, Federal Employee Benefits, and Veteran Benefits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The total at the time of writing this blog
post is $147.684 trillion ($147,684,000,000,000).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Note that this number is increasing by 12
million dollars every minute so when you visit the US Debt Clock webpage the
number will be larger.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>The current estimate of US GDP from the <a href="https://www.bea.gov/news/2021/gross-domestic-product-first-quarter-2021-advance-estimate" target="_blank">Bureau of Economic Analysis</a> is $22.05 trillion. Therefore, if total unfunded liabilities (UL)
are $147.684 trillion then the UL to GDP ratio is 670%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This means that if the total economic production of
the USA were dedicated to paying down the unfunded liabilities it would take
6.7 years to achieve 100% funding.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The current estimate of <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/" target="_blank">world GDP</a> is $30.191.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, if US total unfunded liabilities
are $147.684 trillion then the UL to world GDP ratio is 490%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This means that if the total production of
the world were dedicated to paying down the US unfunded liabilities it would
take 4.9 years to achieve 100% funding.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The <a href="https://www.census.gov/popclock/" target="_blank">current population of the USA</a> is 330,246,485.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore,
if US total unfunded liabilities are $147.684 trillion then the total UL per
person living in the USA is $447,193.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
might be inclined to think that such a level of unfunded liabilities for each
man, woman and child is not possible, but if the Federal Government continues deficit
spending and continues to increase future obligations, there is no upper limit
to how high this number can go until there is a complete collapse of the
monetary system.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Since the financial crisis of 2008 interest rates have been lower
than historical averages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If (when)
interest rates rise to historical averages the increase in US total unfunded
liabilities will accelerate due to larger interest payments on the outstanding
national debt.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I could not find proof that supports 220 trillion dollars as the US total unfunded liabilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Based on the sources listed above, </span>I am confident that the Federal Government's unfunded liabilities are rapidly approaching<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>$150 trillion.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Please use the comment button below to provide questions,
comments, or clarifications on this topic.<o:p></o:p></p><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-81318359852440386382021-03-05T17:29:00.007-10:002021-03-05T17:47:29.894-10:00Worshiping at the altar of Covid<p><span style="font-family: arial;">I received the following essay in a newsletter from <a href="https://tomwoods.com/" target="_blank">Tom Woods</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This is a Twitter thread by journalist <a href="https://www.breitbart.com/author/john-hayward/" target="_blank">John Hayward</a> (@Doc_0).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It is about the Covid religion.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">He puts it better than I could, so today's Woods dispatch simply reproduces it for you. Enjoy:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Every crisis becomes a religion if it lasts long enough.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">One factor in that transformation is the Beautiful Theory phenomenon: the power elite insists its remedies are logical and politically correct so they must work, even if the actual evidence shows they obviously don't.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">When Beautiful Theories crash into hard, cold reality and shatter, faith is the glue used by the elites to put their precious ideas back together. They need militant faith to get the job done: true believers eager to crush doubt and compel obedience by making war on the infidels.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Some are swept into the faith because they desperately crave a sense of control over the crisis. They need to believe Something Can Be Done, and they'd rather invest their faith in debunked Beautiful Theories than have no faith at all. Faith is a coin that demands to be spent.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Some crave social approval, and the purveyors of Beautiful Theories have immense political, economic, and cultural power to make their faith seem fashionable. Virtue signaling is such a plague in modern society because the signals are pre-packaged and made very easy to send.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Some aren't even hoping they can assert control over a crisis by converting to its religion. They'll settle for just having some meaning, some simplicity, a sense that the righteous will fare better than the unbelievers, that virtue will be rewarded while sin is punished.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">That's a very common impulse with the Church of Covid, since the Beautiful Theories were so very obviously wrong. There isn't much left of the faith except the visceral communal satisfaction of hoping unbelievers will be punished for their blasphemies with sickness and death.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">That sort of thing happens with all of the crisis religions, although not usually as quickly and obviously as with the Church of Covid. Look at the endless stream of movies about how the world became an apocalyptic hellscape because people didn't believe in global warming.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The last resort of every crisis religion, the last thing that puts asses in the pews, is that addiction to misery porn, the collective hope that unbelievers will suffer someday, and everyone will admit the True Faith was right all along as Judgment Day crashes down upon them.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The elite will never have the humility to admit they were wrong, and they'll never give up on politically or financially profitable "solutions" even when they obviously don't solve the problem. Founding a crisis religion means they never have to say they're sorry.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">That applies to some very longstanding crises, like the War on Poverty, whose nostrums long ago transformed into fantastically expensive articles of religious faith even as mountains of data accumulated that proved they were utter failures, and often made the problems worse.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">You can look for some telltale signs of a crisis transforming into a religion. The most obvious one is when the high priests tell you the "war" you've been drafted into will never end. They become very angry when asked to define success or failure, or layout exit strategies.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Watch for the moment when you're told "science" means not asking questions, defying dogma, or challenging "consensus." That is the literal definition of faith, not science.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Always keep an eye out for Moving Goalposts, which are the signature miracle of crisis religions, their version of parting the waters or loaves and fishes. Crisis religions work very hard to make their faith unfalsifiable by constantly changing the standards of evidence.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Check to see if certain people are accumulating huge amounts of money and power from a crisis. That's a pretty good sign it's turning into a religion. A crisis should be solved as quickly and efficiently as possible. Don't let it fester long enough to become a special interest.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Above all, look for the whiff of arrogance to develop around a crisis. Wise religions and effective crisis managers have something in common: a sense of humility. Crisis religions are militant faiths that quickly become arrogant, smug, and totalitarian.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Dedicated people who truly want to solve a problem will look for evidence their analysis is wrong, or their policies aren't working, and make adjustments as quickly as possible, no matter the cost or embarrassment to themselves. This is humility.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Crisis religions are arrogant. They reject criticism, insist their Beautiful Theories must be right because they're ideologically pure - they fit snugly into a worldview that must not be challenged. Their plans only fail because their commands were disobeyed or sabotaged.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The high priests of a crisis religion see devils everywhere, leering at them from the rubble of every failure. Only sin can explain why their Beautiful Theories are tarnished. Failure is never their fault, so it must be yours. They find your lack of faith disturbing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">And you know what? A lot of people want to see the world that way, including a great many self-described atheists. They hunger for the comfort of faith and the vibrant energy of militancy. They want to be right, and they want the wrong to suffer for their folly.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Conservatives think religious faith in the State is terrifying and wonder why so many embrace it. It's because uncertainty is much more frightening. A simple false story is better than a complex true one, and with enough faith, maybe we can force the simple story to be true.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;">To exorcise these demons from your life</span>,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">click here:</span><o:p></o:p></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://libertyclassroom.com/dap/a/?a=23726" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Tom Woods Liberty Classroom</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-87556323826102774392021-01-09T21:23:00.004-10:002021-01-09T21:47:33.573-10:00Elementary insights of the social sciences<p> A recent speech by <a href="https://mises.org/profile/hans-hermann-hoppe" target="_blank">Hans-Hermann Hoppe</a> includes the following insights:</p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Apodictic or
quasi-apodictic statements regarding elementary insights of the social sciences.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">It is impossible to increase social prosperity
by increasing the money supply. How else should one explain that despite the
existing possibility of any amount of increase in paper money, poverty
continues to exist in some places, unchanged. An increase in the amount of
money can only ever lead to a redistribution of a given stock of welfare goods.
It favors the first and early recipients of the new, additional money at the
expense of the last and late users.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Human action is the conscious pursuit with
scarce resources of goals regarded as valuable.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">No one can deliberately not act.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Every action strives to increase the subjective
well-being of the actor.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">A larger quantity of a good is always preferred
to a smaller quantity of the same good.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The earlier attainment of a given goal by given
means is preferred to its later attainment.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Production must always precede consumption.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Only those who save – spend less than they earn
– can increase their prosperity permanently (unless they steal).</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">What is consumed today cannot be consumed again
tomorrow.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Price fixings above the market price, such as
minimum wages, lead to unsalable surpluses, i.e. to forced unemployment.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Price-fixing below the market price, such as rent
ceilings leads to shortages and a persistent shortage of rented housing.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Without private ownership of production factors (as
in classical socialism) there can be no factor prices and without factor prices
an economic calculation is impossible.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Taxes – compulsory charges – are a burden on
income producers and/or property owners and reduce production and capital
formation.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">No form of taxation is compatible with the
principle of equality before the law because any taxation involves the creation
of two unequal classes of persons with conflicting interests: those of the
(net) taxpayer on the one hand, for whom taxes are a burden one seeks to
reduce, and on the other hand the class of recipients or rather (net) consumers
of tax, for whom taxes are a source of income and a delight that one seeks
instead to increase as much as possible.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Democracy – majority rule – is incompatible with
private property – individual property and self-determination – and leads to
creeping socialism, i.e. to ongoing redistribution and the progressive erosion
of all private property rights.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Whatever is subsidized by taxes, such as
lounging about or doing things for which there is no profitable customer
demand is further encouraged and strengthened by the subsidy.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Whoever is not personally liable for the
repayment and redemption of so-called public debts incurred by him or with his
participation, as is the case today with all politicians and parliamentarians,
will frivolously and without hesitation take up debts for his own present
advantage and to the detriment of an impersonal future public.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Whoever controls a territorial money printing
monopoly enforced by state power, like all so-called central banks, will also
make use of this privilege and, even if an increase in the amount of money can
never increase social prosperity as a whole, but can only redistribute it, will
still print more and more new money for his own benefit and that of his direct
affiliates and closest business partners.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">And finally, there is this: Whoever or whichever
institution has a territorial monopoly on the use of force and jurisdiction, as
actually claimed by all states, will also make use of it. I.e., he will not
only exert violence himself, but he will also declare his exertion of violence
to be lawful by virtue of his ultimate legal representative. In all conflicts
and disputes of a private person with representatives of this institution (the
state) no independent, neutral third party decides on good and evil, or about
the guilt and innocence of the opponents, but always and invariably an
employee, i.e., a dependent representative, one of the two conflict parties
(the state) itself, with a corresponding, reliably predictable partisan,
"state-supporting" result.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">Obviously,
these insights are in blatant conflict with social reality. In this reality
there are monopolies of violence, monopolies of money printing, taxes,
taxpayers and tax consumers, tax-subsidized idleness and uselessness, majority
rule (democracy), public debt, politicians and parliamentarians exempt from
liability, capital consumption (consumption without saving), redistribution of
property, minimum wages, and maximum rents. And what's more, all these acts and
institutions are not subject to constant criticism. On the contrary, they are,
almost monotonously and from all quarters, presented and praised as
self-evident, correct, good, and wise.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in;">The entire speech has been published by the <a href="https://mises.org/" target="_blank">Mises Institute</a> is available at this link: <a href="https://mises.org/wire/my-path-austrian-school-economics" target="_blank"> My Path to the Austrian School of Economics</a></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-86219418317091552622020-12-19T12:19:00.000-10:002020-12-19T12:19:11.656-10:00A legacy of liberty<p>The liberty movement recently lost an enthusiastic supporter. In November of 2020, <a href="https://www.grassrootinstitute.org/rowland/" target="_blank">Richard (Dick) Rowland</a> died at the age of 90. Dick dedicated himself to promoting individual liberty. At the age of 70, he founded the <a href="https://www.grassrootinstitute.org/" target="_blank">Grassroot Institute of Hawaii</a> to educate people about the values of individual liberty, economic freedom, and accountable government.</p><p>There is much to be learned from Dick’s vast knowledge and passion for liberty. Here are 8 of Dick’s favorite sayings:</p><p>1. Hold onto your principles, because values change, but principles do not.</p><p>2. The Declaration of Independence is the origin of our liberty. It is both aspirational and inspirational.</p><p>3. There are only 2 paths that we can travel: upward to liberty or downward to tyranny.</p><p>4. As government gets bigger the individual gets smaller.</p><p>5. Politics is downstream from culture. If we can persuade 10% of the population to follow a path upward toward liberty, we can change the political trajectory of Hawaii.</p><p>6. We persuade our friends, neighbors, and colleagues by planting seeds of thought.</p><p>7. Assemble new supporters and build little platoons.</p><p>8. Provide a voice to the forgotten man.</p><p>The following short video provides an excellent tribute to Dick, his philosophies, and his message:</p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DaYQ1EIlapOY&data=04%7C01%7C%7C1550ff274cd84aa50d0308d8a46bdf65%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637440130506759629%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=EWjds1v8LeB%2B%2BNWAIK%2BjmgAPHwa%2FQeJl3Xke29F6Uvc%3D&reserved=0" target="_blank">A tribute to Dick Rowland</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1060328918263759358.post-23146740227655335132020-11-19T19:59:00.002-10:002020-11-21T08:32:06.078-10:00There is no pandemic exception to the Constitution<div style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2;"><div>A recent article by <a href="http://www.judgenap.com/bio" target="_blank">Judge Andrew P. Napolitano</a> discusses the pandemic response in terms of natural rights and the US Constitution. The following are some highlights:</div><div><br /></div><div>This understanding of natural rights was wedded to the United States at its birth in 1776 when Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, and again in 1791 when Madison wrote in the Ninth Amendment that because human liberty is so expansive the government must protect even unstated, unenumerated rights.</div><div><br /></div><div>To protect our rights from whom?</div><div><br /></div><div>The framers could easily answer that question, yet the folks who run the government today do not want it asked because the answer implicates them. In the revolutionary era, colonists could protect themselves from evildoers attempting to steal their property or take their lives. But the foe they most feared was the government. They fought a bloody war against the government of King George III because it assaulted their economic rights and their right to self-government.</div><div><br /></div><div>History is repeating itself, without the courageous revolutionaries. It is not my neighbor, or even a thief in the night, who impairs my personal liberty — it is the government. It does so, just as King George did, under the guise of safety. Yet, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were written precisely to prevent governments in America — state or federal — from interfering with our liberty, absent a jury trial at which they must prove fault.</div></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: #f2f2f2;">Under federal law, when a government employee employs government tools to impair these enumerated rights — and does so without due process — that person commits a felony.<br /></span></span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Thus, when governors use police powers to interfere with personal liberty — liberty that is expressly guaranteed by the Constitution — and do so without a trial at which the government proves fault, they have violated both state and federal law, no matter their reasoning. Thus, all these executive orders regulating private personal behavior are profoundly unconstitutional and even criminal.</span></div><div style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">There is no pandemic exception to the Constitution. It is liberty that flows in our veins, not false promises of government safety.</span></div><div style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Read the entire article at this link:</span></div><div style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.judgenap.com/post/here-we-go-again-1" target="_blank">Here We Go Again</a><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1