Showing posts with label economics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economics. Show all posts

July 6, 2020


America's long-term debt crisis is now a short-term problem

fromReason: Even in a healthy economy, rising debt and deficits posed challenges. The current crisis has magnified those problems.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Rand Paul's exchange with Fauci was exactly what America needed

fromTheHill: One thing is for certain. We either believe in liberty in times of crisis, or we don’t believe in liberty at all.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle              The Government is Not Us

Redskins to undergo 'thorough review' of nickname

fromESPN: Washington Tyrants would be a fitting replacement.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

We must end the war on drugs

fromTheReview: "What drug prohibition did do is exactly what alcohol prohibition did a hundred years ago: increase conflict between police and citizens."
The War On Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

1 million dead people received federal bailout checks

fromTheDailyBell: The total amount of money which was sent to dead people came to about $1.4 billion, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office.
The Government is Not Us

“Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom”

fromTheActivistPost: The following published is a letter penned by a young Benjamin Franklin. No truer words were ever spoken.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

July 3, 2020


Revolutionary spirit of individual liberty with minimal government embraced America in 1776

fromWashingtonTimes: What once was a government that needed the consent of the governed not only to exist but also to do anything is now one that requires of us its permission to do nearly everything.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle              The Government is Not Us

VIDEO: Tucker Carlson - The Fight for Inequality: Racial Division by Design

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Tucker Carlson explains how the concept of equal rights under the law is now openly and blatantly under assault by the left. Discrimination and racial division is now the demand of the mob.
Indoctrination and Censorship

As delayed tax day approaches, consider what you get for your money

fromReason: Do you appreciate the incompetence, in-fighting, obstructionism, authoritarianism, and waste that you pay for?
The Government is Not Us                 Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Black Wisdom Matters - The State of Racism in America

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Thoughtful black commentators look at the state of racism in today's America. Thomas Sowell, Walter E Williams, Jason Riley, Shelby Steele, Larry Elder, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Lil Wayne.
Indoctrination and Censorship

Want to kill the economy again? Keep threatening more lockdowns.

fromMises: After a period of only one month of "reopening," governments are already enacting new business shutdowns and claiming the authority to engage in these shutdowns indefinitely.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Walter E Williams: An underappreciated American scholar

fromCreators: Thomas Sowell may be underappreciated by the masses, but LibertyPen considers him among the greatest scholars and thinkers of all time.
The Pursuit of Happiness

June 27, 2020


Venezuelans take extraordinary steps to beat water shortage

fromAP: Critics of the socialist government blame chronic infrastructure failures on years of corruption and mismanagement that have also left the electrical grid fragile and destroyed Venezuela’s once-thriving oil industry.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Will government mandate COVID-19 vaccinations?

fromTheHill: Government mandated vaccinations for adults would be a major and controversial step. But then government has taken a number of major and controversial steps recently, such as shutting down the economy.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

California agency blocks release of police use of force and surveillance training, claiming copyright

fromActivistPost:Our elected officials can pass laws regulating the police, and watchdog bodies can review law enforcement policies, but if training materials are kept secret, it provides a back door for manufacturers of surveillance technology and private organizations to influence police practices without oversight or accountability.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make        Police State America         Regulation Nation

Walter E Williams: Insults to black history

fromCreators: Both blacks and whites can benefit from a better appreciation of black history.
Indoctrination and Censorship

The pandemic's economic carnage looks worse than expected

fromReason: If you thought the economic toll wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic was only going to be horrendous, you may have been overly optimistic.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Black Wisdom Matters - Good Intentions of the Welfare State

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Thomas Sowell, Walter E Williams, Star Parker, Jason Riley, Bob Woodson and Larry Elder share their insights on how a half century of the welfare state has changed America and the American family.
The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

June 17, 2020


Engineering a race war: Will this be the American police state’s Reichstag fire?

fromRutherfordInstitute: The Deep State, the powers-that-be, want us to turn this into a race war, but this is about so much more than systemic racism. This is the oldest con game in the books, the magician’s sleight of hand.
The Government is Not Us                  Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Democrats clarify that black lives will only matter until November

fromBabylonBee: History indicates that the Democrats only interest in blacks has been to keep them dependent on government and rise to power on their backs.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Why economists are so often accused of being indifferent to social problems

fromMises: "The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups."
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Walter E Williams: Now what?

fromCreators: "Poor people are more dependent on law and order than anyone else. In the face of high crime or social disorder, wealthier people can afford to purchase alarm systems, buy guard dogs, hire guards and, if things get too bad, move to a gated community. Their only protection is an orderly society."
The Government is Not Us

Vermont principal put on leave for not agreeing with Black Lives Matter

fromJonathanTurley: We have never had any organization treated as so inviolate that it cannot be challenged by anyone in their private or personal discourse.
Indoctrination and Censorship

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - How to Cure Marxism

fromRutherfordInstitute: From Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson, Thomas Sowell tells how he was enticed by Marxism as a youth and how the real world cured that notion.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

May 25, 2020


This sucker's going down: The destruction of demand

fromCharlesHughSmith: Scapegoating savings is the last desperate propaganda ploy of an exploitive system that was never sustainable.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

The CDC's new 'best estimate' implies a COVID-19 infection fatality rate below 0.3%

fromReason: That rate is much lower than the numbers used in the horrifying projections that shaped the government response to the epidemic. 
Indoctrination and Censorship

Washington State loses "hundreds of millions" to Nigerian unemployment claims fraud scheme

fromZeroHedge: The disclosure came as the state was already struggling to process an unprecedented wave of legitimate jobless claims amid one of the worst economic crises in U.S. history. 
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

The drones were ready for this moment

fromDNYUZ: New Yorkers glanced up to see an unsettling sight: a mysterious drone claiming to represent something called the “Anti-Covid-19 Volunteer Drone Task Force” barking orders to pedestrians below.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Why did Arizona Democrats kill a bill protecting citizens from police overreach?

fromReason: It’s all about the revenue. Civil forfeiture brings in money, and lawmakers are more worried about their budgets than residents’ due process and property rights. 
Police State America              The Government is Not Us

Lindsey Graham seeks broad authority to subpoena former Obama officials

fromPolitico: Those who could be targeted include Loretta Lynch, James Clapper and John Brennan, among others. 
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

May 11, 2020


Dirty dozen: The 12 revelations that sunk Mueller's case against Flynn

fromJustTheNews: After a prescient 2017 tip from inside the FBI, a slow drip of revelations exposed the deep problems with the Flynn prosecution.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Coronavirus curfews are counterproductive and un-American

fromReason: Making businesses close early will not stop the spread of COVID-19. It only accustoms folks to the arbitrary power and control of government.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Surveillance plane starts flying over Baltimore, recording everyone's movements

fromPressCorps: The controversial aerial surveillance planes for Baltimore police started flying Friday. It's called the Aerial Investigation Research (AIR) Pilot Program.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Jonathan Turley rips apart Obama’s ‘leaked’ statement about the DOJ and Flynn, and it’s glorious

fromRedState: Even without the whole Democratic effort to undermine Trump with Russian collusion, there were a boatload of things that put the “rule of law” at risk.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Weekend at Biden’s

fromSpectator: The Democrat’s mental decline is a bigger problem than sex accusations.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Government should not be spared from the austerity it is inflicting on society

fromTheDailyBell: Our government should feel the pain as well. After all, we are all in this together.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

May 5, 2020


Your freedoms don’t have to be muzzled just because you’re wearing a mask

fromTheRutherfordInstitute: The government may act as if its police state powers suppress individual liberties during this COVID-19 pandemic, but the Bill of Rights—still stands in theory, if not in practice.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Walter E Williams: The nation's report card

fromCreators: The DOE just released results of the quadrennial National Assessment of Educational Progress tests in U.S. history, civics and geography given in 2018 to thousands of American eighth-graders.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Fever-reading drones just first of a wave of privacy challenges, civil liberties advocates say

fromPLiberty: Police departments in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Connecticut unveiled what was initially touted as a potential new tool against a pandemic: drones capable of taking a person’s temperature from 300 feet in the air.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

A diseased progressive dream

fromAccuracyInMedia: Progressive ideas and global pandemics go together like a strain of COVID-19 and a mucous membrane. One progressive policy after another has been found to be a major cause of the spread of COVID-19.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

VIDEO: Why wouldn't someone buy weed from the legal market?

fromReason: Answer contained within.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

How the CDC and the FDA wrecked the economy

fromReason: The failure to conduct early and wide testing left politicians ignorant of basic facts about the COVID-19 epidemic.
Regulation Nation

May 1, 2020


The first time they sent me to the gas chamber

fromTheDailyBell: "But many of the ‘leaders’ we have today aren’t willing to make those gut-wrenching decisions. They’re far more concerned about electability, political legacy, TV ratings, and poll numbers."
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Will it take food shortages to end support for the shutdown?

fromLewRockwell: Americans are uniquely privileged, to the point of simply imagining they can stay home for months and months without suffering severe economic hardship as a result.
The Government is Not Us         Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: The Plot Against Michael Flynn: An FBI Presentation

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: After holding up aid to small business owners before rushing to bail out horribly managed blue states, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now pushing a guaranteed minimum income.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Surprise discovery in Flynn case: former lawyers find evidence they failed to produce

fromJustTheNews: Law firm claims inaccurate searches led to oversight of 6,800 documents in legal battle to overturn former Trump national security adviser's conviction.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Pelosi pitches universal basic income to cope with pandemic

fromZeroHedge: After holding up aid to small business owners before rushing to bail out horribly managed blue states, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now pushing a guaranteed minimum income.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Oh dear, Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie touches the third rail – reveals DC’s biggest secret…

fromTheConservativeTreehouse: Congress doesn’t actually write legislation.  The last item of legislation written by congress was sometime around the mid 1990’s. Lobbyists write the laws. Cronyism rules the day.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

April 24, 2020


The attorney general defends civil liberties against overreaching COVID-19 control measures

fromReason: While denying Donald Trump's dictatorial impulses, William Barr notes that public health emergencies do not give governments unlimited powers.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Hard times in America renew the call for mandatory national service

fromTheHill: Americans have complied in giving up Constitutional rights to comply with government dictates. So what's next? Some say indentured servitude.
The Government is Not Us

Big tech COVID-19 surveillance data and censorship threaten privacy and free speech

fromTheSociable: Big tech companies are collecting enormous amounts of data on the movement of private citizens while censoring free speech and removing any content that goes against official narratives.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make           Indoctrination and Censorship

VIDEO: What is COVID-19 'contact tracing'?

fromFoxNews: A 3 minute discussion of state efforts to track coronavirus patients with a 'contact tracing program' to identify those they’ve been in contact with.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: Ayn Rand - Altruism and Selfishness

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Rand compares and contrasts the philosophies of altruism and rational self-interest as proper guides to action.

The coronavirus economy will bring inflation

fromNationalReview: It really doesn’t matter which economic theory you subscribe to, they all arrive at the same destination — more inflation.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

April 15, 2020


COVID-19 and the war on cash: What is behind the push for a cashless society?

fromTheDailyBell: The war on cash is a concerted campaign to shift consumers towards a digital mode of commerce that can be monitored, tracked, tabulated, mined for data, hacked, hijacked and confiscated when convenient.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle                 Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Congress extends recess until at least May 4

fromPolitico: The longer tyrants are socially distanced, the better off freedom-loving Americans are.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

The surveillance state thrives during the pandemic

fromReason: Can we take government officials at their word that they'll eventually abandon their new powers?
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

The real cost of anti-price-gouging laws

fromMises: Given that the rationale for anti-gouging laws is to benefit consumers, we ought to check whether consumers are actually made better off.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Tyrants never let a crisis go to waste

fromTheDailyBell: Here’s a roundup of what’s happening around the world in the name of protecting the people:
The Government is Not Us

Some shirts hide you from cameras—but will anyone wear them?

fromArsTechnica: It's theoretically possible to become invisible to cameras. But can it catch on?
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

April 9, 2020


The crackdown on ‘price gouging’ helps no one, except politicians and the media

fromTownhall: Governments can’t alter the laws of economics any easier than they can the laws of physics. Yet, they seemingly never cease trying, either under some private or public pressure to skew economic outcomes.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Congress proposes 50% tax on guns and ammunition in the US

fromDailyBell: Congress is considering a bill to require citizens to apply for a federal license before being able to purchase a firearm. And the government would have the authority to deny a license without demonstrable cause.
2nd Amendment Assaults

Thermal imaging cameras are still dangerous dragnet surveillance cameras

fromActivistPost: Surveillance cameras in public places can chill free expression, movement, and association; aid in the targeted harassment and over-policing of vulnerable populations.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Feds classifying all coronavirus patient deaths as ‘COVID-19’ deaths, regardless of cause

fromNYPost: Obviously, it is in someone's self-interest to inflate the numbers.
Indoctrination and Censorship

HuffPost’s clickbait headline claims Trump invested in coronavirus cure

fromAccuracyInMedia: The amount of Trump’s investment was estimated between $100 and $1,500, which is far from a vested and significant financial investment in the drug.
Media Bias on Parade

To enforce social distancing rules, cops fined a Pennsylvania woman who was driving alone

fromReason: Not every apparent violation of a quarantine order is a risk to other people, and not all need to be 
(or can be) enforced equally. To a mindless hammer, everything is a nail.
Police State America

April 8, 2020


The Covid-19 "lockdowns" are what twenty-first-century mob rule looks like

fromMises: The "solution" favored by these government employees is clear: more lockdowns, more business closures, harsher punishments for violators.
The Government is Not Us

How the CDC and the FDA wrecked the economy

fromCreators: Lack of early and wide testing left politicians ignorant of basic facts about the Covid-19 epidemic.
Regulation Nation

Earth Day founder dies in prison after murdering and composting girlfriend

fromGatewayPundit: Ira had claimed that he founded Earth Day and certainly was popular with enviros. He lived the lifestyle by composting the woman he murdered.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Donald Trump takes aim at 'China-centric' World Health Organization; will consider cutting its funding

fromDailyMail: The president blamed WHO for helping China cover-up the initial coronavirus outbreak. 
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Walter E Williams: Manipulation through racial hoaxes

fromCreators: We black people are so convenient and useful to America's leftists. Whenever there's a bit of silencing to be done, just accuse a detractor or critic of racism.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

What did Sanders achieve?

fromNationalReview: He ended the candidacies of Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

April 5, 2020


People's skepticism about Covid-19 is the fault of the lying mass media

fromThe Medium: If outlets like WaPo had done a better job oof consolidating their reputation as a reliable news source, people would believe them.
Media Bias on Parade

Court finds bump stock ban may constitute a taking, because the federal government lacks a police power

fromTheVolokhConspiracy: The Court will allow the federal government to try and explain which enumerated power justifies a taking without compensation.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle               2nd Amendment Assaults

Dump the FDA for a healthier America

fromReason: The agency has hampered widespread Covid-19 testing and the production of both protective gear and hand sanitizer.
Regulation Nation

How 'price gouging' helps consumers during the Coronavirus pandemic

fromReason: Q&A with Duke's Michael C. Munger, who also believes that big cities will see rationing and that higher education will never be the same.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market

Five reasons COVID-19 is the best thing to happen to public education

fromTheVolokhConspiracy: While it is disruptive to the economy, as well as public school children and parents, a whole lot of good will come out of school closings.
Indoctrination and Censorship

As gov’t continues seizing power, Covid-19 response goes from hand washing to house arrest

fromTheFreeThoughtProcess: Just because we’re fighting an unseen enemy in the form of a virus doesn’t mean we have to relinquish every shred of our humanity, our common sense, or our freedoms.
Regulation Nation          The Government is Not Us

March 20, 2020


Coronavirus will be deadly to your liberty

fromReason: COVID-19 is the healthiest thing to happen to government power in a very long time.

It's up to the Supreme Court to teach Seattle 'Free Speech 101'

fromTheHill: The Constitution protects not only your right to speak but also your right not to speak, including your right to refrain from paying for the speech you oppose.

Save sports for the next generation of female athletes

fromTownhall: Stop biological males from competing in female sports and provide a legal remedy for girls deprived of opportunities from policies that permit males to compete on female teams.

VIDEO: Ayn Rand - Don't Confuse the Two Kinds of Capitalism

fromReason: Ayn Rand explains that there are two types of capitalists in America and only one reveres the free market.

Victor Davis Hanson: The mysterious rise, fall and rise of Joe Biden

fromTownhall: At no time did Biden cease his bloopers or embarrassing moments of forgetfulness and confusion. The field changed, not Biden himself.

David Stockman says coronavirus is sparking a financial crisis, warns ‘Wall Street is toast’

fromCNBC: “It’s going to end as a financial crisis because the illusion that central banks always have your back and the economy would keep expanding and growing forever was complete nonsense.”

March 13, 2020


Senators push sneaky anti-privacy bill

fromReason: The EARN IT is an attack on encryption masquerading as a blow against underage porn. 
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

To avoid charges of price gouging, eBay bans sale of coronavirus supplies

fromReason: Attempts to impose low prices on emergency supplies often do far more harm than good. High prices bring essential items to where they are needed most.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Walter E Williams: Rights versus wishes

fromCreators: Sen. Bernie Sanders said: "I believe that health care is a right of all people." He's not alone in that contention. That claim comes from Democrats and Republicans and liberals and conservatives. 
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Bernie Sanders is all but done

fromPolitico: It wasn’t just the results on Tuesday. It was the realization that, for the first time, he had no excuse and nothing better to look forward to. 
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Why you can't solve a public health problem with economic stimulus

fromReason: Is a new stimulus package the right response to a pandemic?   
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Coronavirus vs. the mass surveillance state: which poses the greater threat?

fromRutherfordInstitute: Emboldened by the citizenry’s inattention and willingness to tolerate its abuses, the government has weaponized one national crisis after another in order to expands its powers. 

January 17, 2020


The woke primary is over and everyone lost

fromReason: Maybe now would be a good time for Democrats to recognize that identity-politics signaling doesn't translate into votes.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Black America before LBJ: How the welfare state inadvertently helped ruin black communities

fromDailyBell: “We waged a war on poverty and poverty won.”  -President Ronald Reagan, 1988 State of the Union Address
The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

DoJ begins second probe Into Comey's history of leaking classified intel

fromZeroHedge: It could be the straw that finally wrecks whatever is left of Comey's credibility in the eyes of the liberal press.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption     The Government is Not Us

Vermont lawmaker: Decriminalizing prostitution will keep sex workers safe

fromWCAX3: Decriminalization means there will be no arrests made or charges brought if someone is caught engaging in prostitution-- but there will be no law on the books proclaiming that prostitution is legal.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

VIDEO: War, What is it good for?

fromLearnLiberty/YouTube: Absolutely nothing.
Defense Versus The War Machine

Robots takeover Domino's new supply chain center

fromReason: To fend off soaring labor costs, Dominos has opted to introduce automation and the elimination of humans from its supply chains to keep pizza prices low. 

October 31, 2019


The futility of the drug war

fromFFF:  When someone brings into existence or supports a government program that produces drug cartels that kill people, he is morally responsible for the natural and predictable consequences of that program.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Canadian court won't force beauticians to wax the customer's balls

fromStrategicCulture:  A major setback for champions of gender dysphoria who demand that males who identify as women can force beauticians to give them a bikini wax.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Democratic wealth tax proposals demonstrate economic ignorance

fromReason:  Bashing the rich may be good politics, but it’s terrible economics.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market

California’s electric vehicle dream is turning into a nightmare

fromOilPrice.com:  California might be blazing a trail with getting a large number of electric vehicles on the road, but the only trail California is currently blazing is the wildfire/PG&E fiasco that could plunge millions into blackouts.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market

VIDEO: Tucker Carlson, Piers Morgan - Hating Trump More Than Loving America

fromLibertyPen/YouTube:  A major setback for champions of gender dysphoria.Media narrative: Trump is bad. Trump killed al-Baghdadi. Killing al-Baghdadi was bad. 
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Police blew up an innocent man’s house in search of an armed shoplifter. Too bad, court rules.

fromMSN:  When they were finished, it looked as though the Greenwood Village, Colo., police had blasted rockets through the house.

September 10, 2019


Why cats pay a lower price for CAT scans in Canada

fromEconomicPolicyJournal: In Canada, with socialized medicine, pets get an immediate MRI; human beings can wait months. The reason: pets are paying customers; humans are not.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Tucker Carlson - The Student Debt Crisis

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: From Tucker Carlson Tonight, the inconvenient truth about student loan debt. 
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Trump Admin is considering using Amazon Echo to determine if citizens should own a gun

fromDailyCaller: Being considered: a proposal that would use Google, Amazon and Apple to collect data on users who exhibit characteristics of mental illness that could lead to violent behavior.
2nd Amendment Assaults             Government is Watching Every Move You Make

A man spent 82 says in jail on meth charges. The "meth' was actually honey.

fromReason: Government incompetence made an innocent man spend months in jail and lose both of his jobs.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - Race and Economics

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: In excerpts from Tony Brown’s Journal (1984), Dr. Sowell shares timeless insights from his research on the economics of race and culture. 
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Democrats propose mandatory free speech buyback for dangerous ideas

fromBabylonBee: What the Babylon Bee says today, the Democratic Party will say tomorrow.
Indoctrination and Censorship