The Unvarnished Truth about Un-American TSA | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Unvarnished Truth about Un-American TSA | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "even if terrorists crashed a plane a week, 'a person who took one flight a month for a year would have only a 1-in-135,000 chance of being killed in a hijacking — a trivial risk compared with the annual 1-in-6,000 odds of being killed in a car.'"

West Exacerbates Libyans' Suffering | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

West Exacerbates Libyans' Suffering | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "One still can argue that the policy is justified. But self-proclaimed humanitarian hawks hate to admit that it is war they are making. The mere threat of intervention is supposed to be enough: Muammar Qaddafi was just supposed to 'go.'

Still, there's nothing to worry about. Only bad guys die and only good consequences occur in humanitarian wars. When conservatives like George W. Bush bomb another country, it necessarily is a costly disaster. When liberals like Barack Obama do so, it necessarily is a grand success."

Governors' Letter Shows Why Medicaid Block Grants Are Necessary | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary

Governors' Letter Shows Why Medicaid Block Grants Are Necessary | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The governors write that block grants 'would shift costs and risk to states.' In reality, the matching-grant system these governors seek to preserve is a massive cost-shifting scheme. Block grants would reduce this phenomenon.

For every additional dollar a high-income state spends on its Medicaid program, the federal government sends the state one matching dollar. Low-income states get as much as $4 from Washington for each additional dollar they spend.

Therefore, every time a governor expands his or her state's Medicaid program, the federal government's system of matching grants effectively shifts 50 to 80 percent of the expansion's price tag to taxpayers in other states.

The same is true in reverse. If governors tolerate waste, fraud and abuse, the matching-grant system shifts 50 to 80 percent of the cost to taxpayers in other states."

"Under block grants, states would keep 100 percent of the savings from rooting out fraud and abuse, which would encourage states to spend their Medicaid dollars wisely, reduce the cost of the program, and enable states to do more with fewer resources."

Why We Must Freeze the Debt Limit | Jagadeesh Gokhale | Cato Institute: Commentary

Why We Must Freeze the Debt Limit | Jagadeesh Gokhale | Cato Institute: Commentary: "A temporarily frozen debt limit could instead signal U.S. lawmakers' resolve to get our fiscal house in order. It may even reassure investors about long-term U.S. economic prospects."

Uncle Sam: Busted - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Daily

Uncle Sam: Busted - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Daily: "As Lew Rockwell has said of any would-be budget hawks, tell me how much you want to cut spending this year — not ten years from now when someone else will be in office."

"So under the Ryan plan's own rosy forecast, the federal budget won't actually be balanced for almost three decades. Does that strike most readers as 'savage' budget cutting that recognizes the fiscal emergency upon us?"

"but the pattern is the same: the difficult choices only affect future politicians. The Republicans are not daring to tell voting seniors that their benefits will be cut today."

Fear the Boom, Not the Bust - Patrick Barron - Mises Daily

Fear the Boom, Not the Bust - Patrick Barron - Mises Daily: "it is very difficult to invest safely in such [a monetary inflation] environment, because government will expropriate resources. Your challenge is to avoid investments that appear to be sound under normal financial analysis but are more likely to suffer losses due to the distorted economic environment in which you must operate. So, here are some guidelines."

"Avoid those industries that are most capital intensive"

"Be very careful investing in the expansion of industries that are most removed temporally, meaning further away in time, from generating revenue."

"Avoid industries that depend upon increased money creation or some form of government coercion for their existence."

"Avoid investments that catch the eye of government and environmentalists, such as natural-resource exploration companies. Also avoid investments that governments might tax, regulate, or confiscate."

"Do not base investment decisions on tax credits, subsidies, and the like"

"Do not rely upon government oversight agencies or private rating agencies"

"Instead of looking at the rising price of gold in money terms, we should be looking at the falling value of various types of money in terms of gold."

"Anchoring the monetary base in gold today would mean a dollar price of gold of almost $8,000 per ounce. Anchoring M1 would mean over $7,000 per ounce, and anchoring M2 would mean almost $34,000 per ounce."

The Moral Imperative of the Market - Friedrich A. Hayek - Mises Daily

The Moral Imperative of the Market - Friedrich A. Hayek - Mises Daily: "Thus the whole economic order rested on the fact that by using prices as a guide, or as signals, we were led to serve the demands and enlist the powers and capacities of people of whom we knew nothing."

"the basic foundation of our civilization and our wealth is a system of signals which informs us, however imperfectly, of the effects of millions of events which occur in the world, to which we have to adapt ourselves and about which we may have no direct information."

"If it is true that prices are signals which enable us to adapt our activities to unknown events and demands, it is evidently nonsense to believe that we can control prices. You cannot improve a signal if you do not know what it signals."

"If prices are to serve as an effective guide to what people ought to do, you cannot reward people for what are or were their good intentions. You must allow prices to be determined so as to tell people where they can make the best contribution to the rest of society — and unfortunately the capacity of making good contributions to one's fellows is not distributed according to any principles of justice."

"the world's population has grown to a size where it can be fed only by adhering to a market system"

The Science Behind College-Football Helmet Stickers | Playbook

The Science Behind College-Football Helmet Stickers | Playbook: "The researchers found that when the mug was the prize, the men in the group — but not the women — fought harder to win, so they more readily threw in all their cash during the game, vying for the highest possible ratings from their teammates. And when competing for the mug, the males cooperated more with each other, instead of plotting and scheming against the rest of the group.

Pan thinks the findings show that the males viewed the mug as a displayable trophy to the rest of the group, and their desire to win the affection of their peers spurred them to shift their behavior away from self-interest toward a strategy that was better aligned for team success."

The Weak Dollar Problem | Steve H. Hanke | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Weak Dollar Problem | Steve H. Hanke | Cato Institute: Commentary: "For each 1% decline in the dollar against the euro, there was on average a 0.5% increase in the price of oil. The biggest single contributor to oil price increases in recent months is not located in Libya, but at the headquarters of the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C."

Obama's Soak-the-Rich Tax Hikes Won't Work | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary

Obama's Soak-the-Rich Tax Hikes Won't Work | Alan Reynolds | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The individual income tax brought in 7.8% of GDP from 1952 to 1979 when the top tax rate ranged from 70% to 92%, 8% of GDP from 1993 to 1996 when the top tax rate was 39.6%, and 8.1% from 1988 to 1990 when the highest individual income tax rate was 28%. Mr. Obama's hope that raising only the highest tax rates could keep individual tax receipts well above 9% of GDP has been repeatedly tested for more than six decades. It has always failed."

In Japan, Let's Stop Sweating the Small (Nuclear) Stuff | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary

In Japan, Let's Stop Sweating the Small (Nuclear) Stuff | Patrick J. Michaels | Cato Institute: Commentary: "This is the familiar story of misplaced concern about tiny risks while blithely ignoring other major ones. People who have irrational fears of small amounts of ionizing radiation have no problem crossing a busy street in the city.

Others are terrified by flying and drive instead, even though there were nearly 34,000 automotive fatalities in 2009 in the U.S., compared with 50 on scheduled planes.

People stay up at night worrying about the 5% increase in sunburn-causing radiation as a result of stratospheric ozone depletion, and the next morning go to the beach and expose 95% of their skin to the same rays."

A Pyrrhic Victory | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

A Pyrrhic Victory | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Worse, contrary to assurances by the Republican leadership, the budget agreement actually increases the budget baseline. While that sounds like the sort of accounting-speak that makes eyes glaze over, it means that next year's budgeting process will start with an automatic assumption of higher spending, making it more difficult to cut spending in the 2012 budget.

From the negotiating brinkmanship, Republican leaders made it clear that they were more concerned with avoiding a government shutdown than in making real spending cuts. That's exactly what they got."

The Myth of Japan's Lost Decades - Kel Kelly - Mises Daily

The Myth of Japan's Lost Decades - Kel Kelly - Mises Daily: "The misleading measurement of growth in question is GDP growth, because it is practically the sole indicator used by professionals to assess economic output. The problem is that GDP is in fact not a measure of real, physical production of goods and services, as it is intended to be. It is primarily a measure of inflation, which it is not intended to be."

"prices can rise overall throughout an economy only if the quantity of money in the economy increases faster than the quantity of goods and services."

Not Just the Size of the Debt | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

Not Just the Size of the Debt | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "In 2008, the Congressional Budget Office reported that in order to simply pay for spending that was locked in at that time, we would have to raise both the corporate tax rate and the top individual tax rate from their current level of 35 percent to 88 percent, raise the 25 percent tax rate for middle-income workers to 63 percent, and raise the 10 percent rate for low-income Americans to 25 percent. That was before Obamacare and the post-2008 spending binge."

Taxing the rich won't fix the problem.

Florida's Vocational Deregulation | Robert A. Levy | Cato Institute: Commentary

Florida's Vocational Deregulation | Robert A. Levy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Government has no business enacting arbitrary regulations to protect the profits of a closed fraternity of privileged companies — especially when the effect is higher prices, narrower choices, and fewer new firms started by emergent entrepreneurs."

Campaign For Liberty — Nullifying the Drug War �� by Jacob Hornberger

Campaign For Liberty — Nullifying the Drug War by Jacob Hornberger: "After both sides have rested in a civil suit, the judge has the power to enter what is called an 'instructed verdict.'He does that if there are no facts in dispute. Since there is nothing for the jury to determine, given that both sides agree on the facts, the judge can dismiss the jury and enter judgment for the side he believes should prevail on the law.

Not so, however, with a criminal case. Even if all the facts are agreed upon -- even if the defendant openly confesses on the witness stand to having committed the offense -- the judge lacks the power to dismiss the jury and summarily enter judgment for the state. The judge must nonetheless send the case to the jury because the jury is the final judge of not only the facts but also the law. It has the power to acquit the defendant even if the evidence conclusively establishes that the defendant has committed the offense."

Umbrella Mistaken for a Gun Sends Mall Workers Scrambling - FoxNews.com

Umbrella Mistaken for a Gun Sends Mall Workers Scrambling - FoxNews.com: "A man cleared out a mall in Massachusetts after the black umbrella he was carrying was mistaken for a rifle,"

Isn't this the 2nd time an umbrella has been mistaken for a gun in a mall?!?

A Privacy “Bill of Rights”? � John Stossel

A Privacy “Bill of Rights”? John Stossel: "Worse, though, is the gall that Senators Kerry and McCain have to call this a “bill of rights” when they explicitly exempt the federal government from these new rules. So, you have a “fundamental right” to privacy from data collection by private companies, but not from snooping by your government."

Why Monetary Expansion Must Stop - Patrick Barron - Mises Daily

Why Monetary Expansion Must Stop - Patrick Barron - Mises Daily: "With the creation of new fiat money, wealth has been redistributed from the current holders of money — the rightful owners — to illegitimate new allocators who steal, without getting noticed, other people's money. The first or early receivers of the new money benefit at the expense of those who receive it later, through the market process, or do not receive it at all — for example, retirees living on privately accumulated wealth. The early receivers buy at existing lower prices, while later receivers pay higher prices."

"Under sound money, GNP remains the same, because the quantity of money — and thusly, the quantity of total spending — remains unchanged.

But fiat-money inflationary spending, caused by planned inflation of the money supply, is described as economic 'growth.' The more government inflates the quantity of money, the greater economic growth appears to be as measured by GNP. But this is an illusion. It is not growth at all. It is just a consequence of measuring higher prices."

"Increasing bureaucratic oversight rests on two false ideas — that bureaucrats can discern potential problems to which bankers are blinded and that, unlike bankers, bureaucrats are not greedy by nature, so they will not take on increased risk."

"Expansion of the money supply and lowering of interest rates in order to stimulate the economy is not compatible with increased bank capital requirements and oversight boards to detect systemic risk.

The government expects that a lower rate of interest will promote more economic activity through increased lending. Yet the law of diminishing marginal utility applies also to lending . The only way to make more loans is to lend to less creditworthy customers. Yet this is the situation that more oversight attempts to prevent. Therefore, even if the government's oversight boards could detect less creditworthy borrowers, the very purpose of lower interest rates is to make loans to such people."

A "Winn" for Education and Freedom of Conscience | Andrew J. Coulson | Cato Institute: Commentary

A "Winn" for Education and Freedom of Conscience | Andrew J. Coulson | Cato Institute: Commentary: "In the generations since, we have fought over school prayer, sex education and the teaching of everything from human origins to multiplication tables. The reason we have been plagued by these public school wars is that we have compelled all taxpayers to support a single official organ of education. It is impossible for such a monolithic system to reflect the diversity of values of our pluralistic society. In our attempt to build unity we have instead compelled conformity, which has, in turn, fomented conflict."

Congress Has Become the Least Dangerous Branch | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

Congress Has Become the Least Dangerous Branch | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "constitutional scholar Charles Black once commented, 'My classes think I am trying to be funny when I say that, by simple majorities,' Congress could shrink the White House staff to one secretary, and that, with a two-thirds vote, 'Congress could put the White House up at auction.' (I sometimes find myself wishing they would.)

But Professor Black wasn't trying to be funny: it's in Congress' power to do that. And if Congress can sell the White House, surely it can defund an illegal war and rein in a runaway bureaucracy.

If they don't, it's because they like the current system. And why wouldn't they? It lets them take credit for passing high-minded, vaguely worded statutes, and take it again by railing against the bureaucracy when it imposes costs in the course of deciding what those statutes mean.

But it's our fault as well. In the shell game of modern American governance, we've let ourselves become easy marks. Unless and until voters wise up and demand accountability, Congress will continue to take our money and shirk its duty."

Tax Inequity | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Tax Inequity | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "But for those who think a progressive system is equitable, please explain the equity in taxing one person at a higher rate on each extra hour he or she works to make life better for his family while taxing the less responsible and less industrious person at a lower rate."

The Tyranny of Government Courts and Prisons - Murray N. Rothbard - Mises Daily

The Tyranny of Government Courts and Prisons - Murray N. Rothbard - Mises Daily: "Even the accused criminal or tortfeasor should not be forced to attend his own trial, since he has not yet been convicted. If he is indeed — according to the excellent and libertarian principle of Anglo-Saxon law — innocent until proven guilty, then the courts have no right to compel the defendant to attend his trial. For remember, the only exemption to the Thirteenth Amendment's prohibition of involuntary servitude is 'except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.' An accused party has not yet been convicted."

"Instead of incarcerating, say, a man who had robbed a farmer in the district, the criminal was coercively indentured out to the farmer — in effect, 'enslaved' for a term — there to work for the farmer until his debt was repaid. Indeed, during the Middle Ages, restitution to the victim was the dominant concept of punishment. Only as the State grew more powerful did the governmental authorities — the kings and the barons — encroach more and more into the compensation process, increasingly confiscating more of the criminal's property for themselves and neglecting the hapless victim. And as the emphasis shifted from restitution to punishment for abstract crimes 'committed against the State,' the punishments exacted by the State upon the wrongdoer became more severe.

Guerrilla Hoarding - Wendy McElroy - Mises Daily

Guerrilla Hoarding - Wendy McElroy - Mises Daily: "in 1933 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102, ostensibly as a measure to combat the Great Depression. The order commanded the American people (with a few exceptions) to relinquish all but a still-permitted $100 worth of gold coins, bullion, and certificates to the Federal Reserve in exchange for a payment of $20.67 per troy ounce. Less than a year later, the government raised the trade rate to $35 per troy ounce. Thus, the government reaped huge profits at the expense of private investors and savers — a.k.a. hoarders of gold."

The Green Jobs Myth | Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Green Jobs Myth | Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren | Cato Institute: Commentary: "President Obama's own Energy Information Administration estimates, for instance, that for new facilities coming on-line in 2016, biomass will cost 34% more than electricity produced by combined cycle, natural gas-fired power plants; geothermal will cost 39% more; onshore wind will cost 80% more, offshore wind 2.3 times as much, thermal solar 3.1 times as much, and photovoltaic solar a whopping 4.8 times as much."

"Economist Gabriel Calzada examined green energy mandates in Spain and found that 2.2 jobs were lost for every green job that was created in that country."

"First, new government employees hired to oversee this green energy shift are counted as 'new jobs created.' Second, existing jobs are recategorized from brown to green if employers meet some bureaucratically dictated definitional shift to 'greenness,' and those jobs are misleadingly tallied as 'new jobs created.' Third, most new manufacturing jobs created to build the equipment necessary for new green power plants are assumed to come from U.S. manufacturers, a highly unlikely prospect given that most of the manufacturers at issue are overseas. Hence, the tallies of job creation from policies designed to promote green energy are about as reliable as Enron balance sheets."

Medicare CPR | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

Medicare CPR | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Will it mean that in the future seniors will have to pay more of their own money or settle for a plan with fewer benefits, as Democrats have charged? Quite probably.

But here's the dirty little secret: That is going to happen with or without Ryan's plan. Even if you accept the Obama administration's most rosy scenario, Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities in excess of $45 trillion. More objective estimates suggest that Medicare's shortfall could top $89 trillion. Medicare simply cannot continue to pay all the benefits that it has promised."

"But rather than have the government impose rationing from the top down, he shifts those decisions to individuals."

Business Success Is Easier | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary

Business Success Is Easier | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Commentary: "There is a huge difference between running a business and running a school district, and it points to what is arguably public schooling's most crippling flaw: in business, you don't need public consensus to get things done. In something run by democratic government, you do."

" The collective is always an agglomeration of individuals, with their own needs, values, and goals. Trying to force all people into a single box, as a result, is a recipe for conflict, ending with either paralysis, domination by one group over all others, or lowest-common-denominator compromises that leave few people fuming but little improvement in the schools."

"Businesses, in contrast to school districts, deal with individual, free-thinking customers. They don't need to move the masses, they only need to satisfy relatively small groups. Their leaders don't need to be popular. Their products don't have to be acceptable to all. They just have to satisfy enough individuals to make a profit. And if they can't produce something that does that? They are held accountable: unlike public schools, which despite tough budgetary times are in no danger of going away, failed businesses cease to exist."

When Intervention Is Easy | Harvey Sapolsky and Benjamin H. Friedman | Cato Institute: Commentary

When Intervention Is Easy | Harvey Sapolsky and Benjamin H. Friedman | Cato Institute: Commentary: "cycle of U.S. military intervention since the end of the Cold War: Success brings hubris, hubris causes overreach and failure, and failure breeds caution - though not necessarily restraint. Once another cautious intervention seems to succeed, the cycle begins anew."

The Case for Frugality - Wendy McElroy - Mises Daily

The Case for Frugality - Wendy McElroy - Mises Daily: "my lifestyle changed dramatically due to a single realization: material possessions cost money; money is time; time is, in a literal sense, life. The foregoing sounds ludicrously obvious, but I had never before looked at my possessions as representing units of time taken from my life. If X cost $100 and I made $25 an hour, then X cost me four hours of life. Or, rather, it cost four hours plus whatever time was consumed by the transaction costs of making money, such as the time, unpleasantness, and expense of a commute. When I made that paradigm shift, I realized the cost of my possessions was not merely an amount of money but also and more importantly the amount of my life it took to earn them.

I looked at a pair of expensive shoes that I had worn only once because they were uncomfortable. The money to buy those shoes had cost three hours of my life, which cannot be replaced or reclaimed. Without a hint of morbidity, I wondered, When I confront death, how much would I give to gain back the hours I squandered on useless shoes?"

Are Lax U.S. Gun Laws Fueling Mexico's Drug Violence? | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary

Are Lax U.S. Gun Laws Fueling Mexico's Drug Violence? | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Although some of the weapons the drug cartels use do have their origins in the United States, the sources are not sporting goods stores or gun shows. Many of those weapons come from military depots that the United States government helped fill for friendly Central American regimes during the Cold War. Washington was so concerned about Soviet penetration of that region during the 1980s that it sent shipment after shipment of high-powered weapons to the governments of such countries as El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala to use against left-wing insurgents. Records indicate that in addition to rifles, at least 300,000 grenades were sent to the region during the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Many of those grenades found their way to the drug cartels through a lucrative black market. Tighter U.S. firearms laws have no relevance to that problem."

House prepares to vote on $6T spending cut plan - Yahoo! News

House prepares to vote on $6T spending cut plan - Yahoo! News: "expected to be voted on Friday, promises more than $6 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade compared with the budget that President Barack Obama offered in February, relying on stiff cuts to domestic agency accounts, food stamps and the Medicaid health care program for the poor and disabled."

So it would apparently cut about $600B per year of the $1.6T deficit. Cutting the deficit 37% is significant but still leaves us spending more than we have. Most politicians will call that draconian and yet will not offer up an alternative plan that is significant. Don't believe any politician who says he wants to cut the deficit if he doesn't have a significant plan to do so.

Spillionaires | Cranach: The Blog of Veith

Spillionaires | Cranach: The Blog of Veith: "companies with ties to parish insiders got lucrative contracts and then charged BP for every possible expense. The prime cleanup company submitted bills with little or no documentation. A subcontractor billed BP $15,400 per month to rent a generator that usually cost $1,500 a month. Another company charged BP more than a $1 million a month for land it had been renting for less than $1,700 a month. Assignments for individual fishermen also fell under the control of political leaders.

“This parish raped BP,” said Wayne Landry, chairman of the St. Bernard Parish Council"

AP-GfK Poll: Are your taxes fair? Most say yes - FoxNews.com

AP-GfK Poll: Are your taxes fair? Most say yes - FoxNews.com: "54 percent believe their tax bills are either somewhat fair or very fair, compared with 46 percent who say they are unfair."

Since 47% of people don't pay taxes, there might be only 7% of people who pay taxes and think that they are fair.

Independent Women's Forum - There Is No Male-Female Wage Gap

Independent Women's Forum - There Is No Male-Female Wage Gap: "if you can accept that the job choices of men and women lead to different unemployment rates, then you shouldn't be surprised by other differences-like differences in average pay."

"The Department of Labor's Time Use survey shows that full-time working women spend an average of 8.01 hours per day on the job, compared to 8.75 hours for full-time working men. One would expect that someone who works 9% more would also earn more. This one fact alone accounts for more than a third of the wage gap."

"Simply put, many women-not all, but enough to have a big impact on the statistics-are willing to trade higher pay for other desirable job characteristics."

"Recent studies have shown that the wage gap shrinks-or even reverses-when relevant factors are taken into account and comparisons are made between men and women in similar circumstances. In a 2010 study of single, childless urban workers between the ages of 22 and 30, the research firm Reach Advisors found that women earned an average of 8% more than their male counterparts. Given that women are outpacing men in educational attainment, and that our economy is increasingly geared toward knowledge-based jobs, it makes sense that women's earnings are going up compared to men's."

New Jersey Transgender Man Sues Over Drug-Center Firing - FoxNews.com

New Jersey Transgender Man Sues Over Drug-Center Firing - FoxNews.com: "A transsexual man has sued the drug-treatment center where he worked, claiming it discriminated against him when it fired him from a job that only a man is allowed to do: watching men urinate."

If it is appropriate to specify that the employee be male (sex discrimination), then what is wrong with what the employer did?

Campaign For Liberty — The Beat Goes On

Campaign For Liberty — The Beat Goes On: "“All the leaders have said we have to raise the debt limit, so we’re going to,” said Plouffe, who managed President Obama’s 2008 campaign. “In that process, we should be able to reduce the deficit.”"

Use the Dollar or Else - Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. - Mises Daily

Use the Dollar or Else - Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. - Mises Daily: "A nation that is confident about its money's future would not fear currency competition. A nation with a dying money uses every possible means to crush the competition. That is precisely what is happening in the case of the so-called Liberty Dollar."

"NotHaus operated very close to the line in terms of legality. He put the dollar sign on his coins, for example, and sold them with numbers."

The dollar sign isn't unique to the U.S.A.

It's Time to Rethink Everything - Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. - Mises Daily

It's Time to Rethink Everything - Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. - Mises Daily: "Ron is a vehement opponent of abortion, and he explains why in ways that will bring readers around to his perspective (which is that of a man who has delivered thousands of babies). Then he moves to the entirely different area of public policy, pointing out that a centralized edict on this subject runs contrary to every moral and practical dictate of human liberty. A centralized pro-life policy is as wrong as a centralized mandatory-legalization policy. He wants a repeal of Roe. He doesn't want state funding. But if a community wants to permit the practice, while he would certainly oppose that at the local level, his view is that the federal government should have nothing to say about it either way."

On the Ryan plan | Cranach: The Blog of Veith

On the Ryan plan | Cranach: The Blog of Veith: "President Clinton’s own assistant health and human services secretary, Peter Edelman, resigned in protest, predicting that abolishing welfare would throw a million children into poverty. On the contrary. Within five years child poverty had declined by more than 2.5 million — one of the reasons the 1996 welfare reform is considered one of the social policy successes of our time."

The "Honest Services" Fraud Statute Threatens the Rule of Law | David Rittgers | Cato Institute: Commentary

The "Honest Services" Fraud Statute Threatens the Rule of Law | David Rittgers | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The 'honest services' statute criminalizes 'a scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services.' This criminalized an employee lying to his employer, and as Justice Scalia pointed out, 'would seemingly cover a salaried employee's phoning in sick to go to a ball game.' Prosecutors were able to get those convicted up to five years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine, or both."

This Is Going to Hurt | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

This Is Going to Hurt | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Of course, everyone is against 'fraud, waste, and abuse.' And certainly there is a great deal of that in the federal budget. But there is no line item called 'fraud, waste, and abuse.' One can't go in and simply slice waste off the top of the budget. Rather, it is marbled throughout in ways that often defy easy cutting. Moreover, one person's boondoggle is another person's critical program."

How ObamaCare Strokes the Fat Cats | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

How ObamaCare Strokes the Fat Cats | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "An 18-month congressional probe found that the AARP stands to make $55 million to $166 million in one year alone from seniors switching from Medicare Advantage to AARP Medigap plans. Over the next 10 years, it would earn more than $1 billion from new customers. Business is good if you can get the government to put your competitors out of business."

"The program doesn't even require companies or unions to demonstrate any 'financial need' for the subsidy. As a result, it enables companies to incentivize early retirement for older employees, saving the companies money and improving their balance sheets — with taxpayers footing the bill."

"The major pharmaceutical firms got a requirement that all insurers must cover their products. That's one reason why Big Pharma spent more than $150 million on ads in favor of the bill."

"Even large insurers played the game: They got a mandate requiring everyone to buy their product. Sure, they'll have to adjust to some costly new regulations, and those added benefits will be expensive, but they can simply pass the costs on to consumers via higher premiums. After all, what can consumers do? If they decide not to buy insurance, the government will punish them."

Obama's Gitmo-style Prisons Here at Home | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

Obama's Gitmo-style Prisons Here at Home | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: "CMUs are designed to hold terrorists and other high-risk inmates; but the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) demonstrates to me that also in the CMUs are 'environmental activists ... prisoners who have been active in organizing prisoners' rights (where they were previously incarcerated) or those with 'unpopular political views.'"

"the Obama-era rule can be applied to 'any inmate,' including 'persons held as witnesses, detainees or otherwise.'"

"'Designation of a control unit within the federal prison system regularly comes with due process. This includes notice of the allegations against you, an opportunity to refute those allegations, and an appeal. But prisoners sent to the CMU receive no such procedural protections.

'They are not told in any meaningful way why they have been designated to the CMU, nor do they have a chance to challenge that designation. Additionally, there is no meaningful review process that would allow them to earn their way out.

'CMU prisoners are therefore indefinitely subjected to harsh deprivations — such as a permanent blanket ban on contact visitation with family and loved ones (far more severe than at the Supermaxs) — without procedural protections guaranteed by the Constitution.'"

Chicago Elementary School Bans Lunches Brought From Home - FoxNews.com

Chicago Elementary School Bans Lunches Brought From Home - FoxNews.com: "'Some of the kids don't like the food they give at our school for lunch or breakfast,' parent Erica Martinez told the newspaper. 'So it would be a good idea if they could bring their lunch so they could at least eat something.'"

Why Are People So Forgiving of Government Failure? - Christopher Westley - Mises Daily

Why Are People So Forgiving of Government Failure? - Christopher Westley - Mises Daily: "However, if you were born in the Eighties you have a problem. The numbers fall off a cliff if you are between 30 and 40 years old today. In only 13% of the possible scenarios you will get what you are currently expecting from SS. If you were born after 1990 you simply have no statistical chance of getting what you are paying for.[10]

Krasting thinks the end result will be age warfare, as younger generations realize they are being forced to pay for the fiscal irresponsibility of previous generations. The youths with whom I come into contact are as mad as hell — at least those who have studied the issue. University of Nottingham economist Kevin Dowd, in a speech to young people about the welfare-state promises for which they will spend the rest of their working lives paying, asked the question, 'Do you want a life of toil and slavery, followed by ultimate destitution, or do you want to stand up for yourselves and fight for the chance of a decent life? It's your choice.'"

"Social Security is a microcosm of politicians' tendency to let short-term political benefits blind them to the economic problems inherent in welfare and warfare programs."

Campaign For Liberty — States with no income tax see growth in 2010

Campaign For Liberty — States with no income tax see growth in 2010: "The eight states with no state income tax grew 18 percent in the last decade. The other states (including the District of Columbia) grew just 8 percent.

The 22 states with right-to-work laws grew 15 percent in the last decade. The other states grew just 6 percent.

The 16 states where collective bargaining with public employees is not required grew 15 percent in the last decade. The other states grew 7 percent."

Campaign For Liberty — Paul Ryan vs. Obama vs. Rand Paul

Campaign For Liberty — Paul Ryan vs. Obama vs. Rand Paul: "If your senator or representative claims to be a fiscal conservative, yet doesn't support Rand's budget because he cuts this or that, challenge them to introduce their own budget - one that takes place during the time they're in office so they can be rewarded or held accountible for how it turns out."

WORLD Magazine | The party with a plan | Emily Belz | Apr 23, 11

WORLD Magazine | The party with a plan | Emily Belz | Apr 23, 11: "Washington is attacking the specifics of Ryan's plan, but it was almost universally acknowledged in the press that Ryan is the only one so far offering specifics for addressing the nation's debt crisis. The president said he strongly disagreed with Ryan's budget, and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney added, 'The president believes there is a more balanced way to put America on a path to prosperity.'"

Put up or shut up! Come up with your own concrete plan or don't criticize another plan.

Gov't shutdown could hit federal workers in wallet - FoxNews.com

Gov't shutdown could hit federal workers in wallet - FoxNews.com: "Congress would have to decide whether an estimated 800,000 government employees could recoup back wages if they are forced to stay out of work. When workers were sidelined during the most recent partial shutdowns of 1995 and 1996, Congress quickly voted to make them whole."

NATO blames 'fluid' ground situation for airstrikes hitting Libyan rebels - CSMonitor.com

Do they actually expect the situation to be static?!?

Justice Department opposes digital privacy reforms | Privacy Inc. - CNET News

Justice Department opposes digital privacy reforms | Privacy Inc. - CNET News: "more privacy protections and to require court approval before tracking Americans' cell phones would hinder police investigations."

Obviously! The 4th admendment also hinders police investigations!

Once Again, Court Says Homeland Security Is Free To Seize & Search Your Computer Without A Warrant At The Border | Techdirt

Once Again, Court Says Homeland Security Is Free To Seize & Search Your Computer Without A Warrant At The Border | Techdirt: "You mostly store everything on your laptop. So, unlike a suitcase that you're bringing with you, it's the opposite. You might specifically choose what to exclude, but you don't really choose what to include. With a suitcase, you specifically choose what to include.
The reason you bring the contents on your laptop over the border is because you're bringing your laptop over the border. If you wanted the content of your laptop to go over the border you'd just send it using the internet. There are no 'border guards' on the internet itself, so content flows mostly freely across international boundaries. Thus if anyone wants to get certain content into a country via the internet, they're not doing it by entering that country through border control.
And this becomes even more ridiculous in the era of cloud computing, where a drive may be mounted over the network, and thus never actually cross the border at all -- and yet, Homeland Security seems to think it has the right to search all of this, and the courts have mostly agreed."

Judge Reportedly Sentences New York Woman to Indefinite Jury Duty After Racist Remarks - FoxNews.com

Judge Reportedly Sentences New York Woman to Indefinite Jury Duty After Racist Remarks - FoxNews.com: So slavery is ok for racists?

Markets and the Gender Wage Gap | The Freeman | Ideas On Liberty

Markets and the Gender Wage Gap | The Freeman | Ideas On Liberty: "When economists hold all these factors constant, they find that the gender wage gap largely disappears. Imagine two employees who are equal regarding human capital and preferences and who differ only by gender – what, if any, pay gap is present? In a study of people 27 to 33 who had never been married and who had no kids, the gap was only 2 cents. The strong implication is that if women want to earn as much as men, they need to adjust their human capital and preferences accordingly."

Ryan Budget: A Huge Opportunity to Improve Health Care | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary

Ryan Budget: A Huge Opportunity to Improve Health Care | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Because vouchers enable seniors to keep the savings, they will do what ObamaCare won't: reduce the wasteful spending that permeates Medicare. Seniors will choose more economical health plans and put downward pressure on prices across the board. Indeed, vouchers are the only way to contain Medicare spending while protecting seniors from government rationing.

Skeptics worry that seniors will make bad decisions with their vouchers. They should keep in mind that, according to Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, 'nearly 30 percent of Medicare's costs could be saved without adverse health consequences.' In other words, vouchers come with a huge built-in margin of safety: seniors could consume one-third less care without harming their health."

Criminal Justice Is No Job for the State - Doug French - Mises Daily

Criminal Justice Is No Job for the State - Doug French - Mises Daily: "the only advanced country that incarcerates people for minor property crimes like passing bad checks is the United States."

Campaign For Liberty — Collective Bargaining

Campaign For Liberty — Collective Bargaining: "rights are universal, and yet only 52% of government employees in Wisconsin enjoy the collective bargaining privileges that all this fuss is about.

Public sector employees already enjoy protections under civil service laws that far surpass those extended to private sector workers; a public sector union is redundant. And if the state cannot be trusted to treat its own employees fairly, then it should be denied the power to regulate any workplace, public or private."

"In 1993, Virginia and Wisconsin were equal in per capita income; nearly 20 years into Virginia's 'war on the middle class', their per capita income is 20% higher than Wisconsin's. You still have time to change your signs to say, 'Thank You, Mr. Walker', all you unionists, socialists, and communists coming to Madison next week.

One of the eye-opening discoveries of the recent turbulence in Wisconsin is that our teachers' union sells its own health insurance to school districts for as much as 50% over market price for private policies - collectively bargained, of course."

Republicans and UN Resolutions � LewRockwell.com Blog

Republicans and UN Resolutions LewRockwell.com Blog: "If the Republicans really wanted to get out of the UN, they could have done so when they controlled the Congress and the presidency for over four years under Bush. But of course they did nothing. Just like they will do nothing if they regain total control of the government again in 2012."

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com: "A 2009 study found that hybrid drivers drive around 25 percent more than other drivers, even when they share similar commute times. In other words, they get so cocky that their cars are saving them so much fuel that they go out and burn more fuel."

"As a piece of technology becomes more efficient, our use of it goes up, too. So if we invent new building materials that mean it takes less energy to heat a house, humans respond by building giant new homes -- hey, with the money you'll save on heating, you can afford it!"

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com: "The vast majority -- over 90 percent -- of food-related emissions don't come from transportation, but production. So if food is grown in a place where it can't be produced efficiently, like our hypothetical oranges, it'll end up being more harmful to the environment than food that's been efficiently grown and then flown in. Any non-native crop usually requires extra irrigation and stronger fertilizers, which add far more to a dish's carbon footprint than one lousy airplane trip."

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com: "To make up for the environmental damage, you might have to take that reusable bag on your weekly grocery run for about four straight years. And when we finally do get sick of wading through the knee-high piles of unused reusable bags in our homes and throw them out, the heavier material means that they'll take up more landfill space and take longer to decompose."

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com: "Adding corn ethanol to gasoline makes cars less energy-efficient, and producing it actually requires about 30 percent more energy than we can get out of it."

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com

6 Socially Conscious Actions That Only Look Like They Help | Cracked.com: "One study of Cambodian orphanages revealed that only 25 percent of 'orphans' there had actually lost both parents. In the worst cases, this leads to children being placed in orphanages by both of their alive but desperately poor parents, because they can only get someone to help their kids if they completely abandon them to rich people who take pictures alongside them"

The Most Worlds Important Unanswered Historical Question: What Changed in 1800?

The Most Worlds Important Unanswered Historical Question: What Changed in 1800?: "Our world is not even remotely like the world of 1800. In contrast, 1800 was recognizably similar A.D. 1."

"The world of 1800 would have been recognizable to Socrates, except for the printed book. In contrast, the world of 1889 would not have been recognizable to the young John Tyler."

"What happened around the year 1800 in Great Britain that led to approximately 2% per annum economic growth for the next two centuries?"