What Should U.S. Do about Egypt? Very Little | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary

What Should U.S. Do about Egypt? Very Little | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: Commentary: "To most people residing in the Kremlin's empire, the Soviet Union was a meddling, imperialist oppressor. America's moral support was welcomed because they saw the U.S. as the USSR's principal adversary. Even if America had not been a beacon of freedom and democracy, there would have been positive feelings toward the avowed enemy of their imperial overlord.

The situation in the Middle East is vastly — and depressingly — different. Populations in that part of the world generally view the U.S. with great suspicion. Indeed, all too many Middle Easterners regard Washington as the meddling, imperialist power that is responsible for their unsatisfactory lot in life. A succession of U.S administrations has reinforced that negative image by backing corrupt, authoritarian regimes that looted and brutalized their people.

The result is a deep reservoir of hostility toward Washington. A June 2010 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 82% of respondents in Egypt had an unfavorable view of the United States, and 79% in Jordan did so. That negative assessment is not confined to the Arab portion of the Muslim world. In Pakistan, the unfavorable rating was 68%, and in Turkey 74%.

Such pervasive animosity makes it difficult, perhaps impossible, for Washington to play a major constructive role in the political transition that we're now beginning to witness in the Middle East. Put bluntly, even if U.S. officials profess to support the goals of democracy and liberty, those statements have very little credibility with populations in that part of the world."

"embracing secular factions could easily backfire. Anti-American factions would almost certainly cite such support as evidence that Washington is continuing to meddle in their country's internal affairs, and they would use it to discredit their secular opponents."

What Can the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility Teach Us? - Thorsten Polleit - Mises Daily

What Can the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility Teach Us? - Thorsten Polleit - Mises Daily: "A monetary policy of increasing the money supply is therefore never 'neutral': It necessarily lowers the exchange value of the money unit, and it necessarily benefits some people (namely the first receivers of the new money) at the expense of others (namely the late receivers of the new money)."

"If government intervenes in the time market — by, for instance, increasing the supply of bank circulation credit and fiat money — it necessarily causes a deviation of the market interest rate from the pure interest rate (namely pushing the market interest rate below the pure market interest rate), which subsequently must lead to malinvestment and boom-and-bust."

"Violations of individual property rights (for instance through government taxation, regulations, etc.)" "thus raise peoples' time preference, increasing consumption at the expense of savings and investment, thereby reducing (or even reverting) the pace of capital accumulation. An interventionist-socialist societal order will therefore necessarily lead to impoverishment relative to a free market societal order, in which there are no systematic violations of individuals' property rights."

Investors Finally Fear the Inflation Precipice - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Daily

Investors Finally Fear the Inflation Precipice - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Daily: "It is true that Bernanke could reverse course before things are too late, as far as the purchasing power of the dollar is concerned. But this would entail devastating pain to the banking sector, since the Fed would have to reverse the policies that bailed out the overleveraged titans in the first place. If Bernanke has to choose between saving rich bankers or the dollar, I am confident he will choose the former."

"By the same token, there are all sorts of scenarios where the natural 'unwinding' of the Fed's extraordinary policies won't work as planned. In particular, if even official CPI inflation starts creeping above 4 and 5 percent on an annual basis, while unemployment remains above (say) 8 percent, then it will become apparent that Bernanke's 'exit strategy' leads into a brick wall."

"in the 2nd quarter of 2009, the Fed's absorption of Treasury debt amounted to 48 percent of the new debt issued in that period. And ZeroHedge posted the following chart showing that the Fed is currently the world's largest single holder of Treasury securities, surpassing China:"

Cutting Spending to Revive Federalism | Chris Edwards | Cato Institute: Commentary

Cutting Spending to Revive Federalism | Chris Edwards | Cato Institute: Commentary: "• Every dollar of federal aid sent to the states is taken from federal taxpayers who live in the 50 states. Sending all that money to Washington and back again creates a huge administrative burden in tracking the funding flows and dealing with all the regulations attached to each of 1,122 programs.

• Federal aid reduces state policy innovation because it comes with top-down rules that mandate conformity. State governments can't be 'laboratories of democracy' if they operate under one-size-fits-all rules from Congress.

• Aid programs spur overspending by every level of government, since politicians can appease special interests with the spending while imposing part of the funding costs on other levels of government. State politicians over-expand Medicaid, for example, because the feds kick in more than $1 for every $2 in new benefits.

• Liberals imagine that federal experts can rationally distribute aid to the neediest local activities. The reality is that politics determines the activities and congressional districts that receive the most aid. Even if politics were taken out of it, the federal government does not have the knowledge to efficiently allocate local funding across a diverse nation of 308 million people.

• The huge scope of the aid system means that federal politicians spend much of their time on local issues. Rather than focusing on national defense, they are busy fixing potholes in their districts. Pres. Calvin Coolidge was prescient in warning that state aid was 'encumbering the national government beyond its wisdom to comprehend, or its ability to administer' its proper roles.

• The three levels of government would work better if they resembled a tidy layer cake with separate functions, rather than a marble cake with jumbled lines of responsibility. The failure of our marble-cake government was evident in the disastrous lead-up to, and aftermath of, Hurricane Katrina."

Woman Loses Home to Foreclosure for Being Unable to Pay Attorney Fees - FoxNews.com

Woman Loses Home to Foreclosure for Being Unable to Pay Attorney Fees - FoxNews.com: "someone lost a house that she owned outright for less than a $1,000 in legal fees"

Rand Paul Is Right about Israel | Benjamin H. Friedman | Cato Institute: Commentary

Rand Paul Is Right about Israel | Benjamin H. Friedman | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Being pro-Israel does not require arming it with our tax dollars forever. Israel can now defend itself and then some."

Republicans Are Weak on Farm Subsidies | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary

Republicans Are Weak on Farm Subsidies | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The level of hypocrisy is breathtaking. For example, conservatives rightly denounced government subsidies to business when the auto industry was at issue. Why, then, are subsidies a good idea when directed to, say, Archer Daniels Midland?"

"And it is hard to see how anyone can claim to be a fiscal conservative while supporting $15 – 35 billion per year in government spending that largely goes to a group of people with incomes above the national average. Farm income for 2010 exceeded $92.5 billion. That's a 34 percent increase from 2009, and — even if you subtract payments from the government — 28.8 percent above the previous ten-year average. While conservatives often mythologize small farms, most farm subsidies go to large and corporate farms. In fact, the largest 10 percent of recipients receive 73 percent of all subsidy payments."

"It is always easier to cut the other guy's subsidy. And some of the most deeply 'red' states are among the biggest collectors of federal largess. In 2010, solidly Republican states such as Alaska, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Virginia were among the largest recipients of per capita federal spending. That means any serious attempt to cut federal spending is going to require Republicans to take on their own constituencies."

Obama on Auto-Defrosting Refrigerators - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Daily

Obama on Auto-Defrosting Refrigerators - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Daily: "All evidence suggest that the truth is precisely the opposite of what Obama claimed. Frost-free freezers came about in the normal market way. A company found a way to package it as a luxury good available in some markets. Another company saw the advance and emulated it, offering it to still other markets (though the process was likely slowed by the government regulation called the patent). Other companies saw the potential for solving a monstrous household problem and began making them more cheaply and more efficiently, as the target market gradually went from luxury to mainstream. Over time, the improved product was ubiquitous."

It's Time to End Amtrak Funding | Randal O'Toole | Cato Institute: Commentary

It's Time to End Amtrak Funding | Randal O'Toole | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Train travel has declined for good reason: Trains are slower than flying, less convenient than driving, and far more expensive than either.

Per passenger mile, Amtrak fares average twice as much as airfares or the cost of intercity driving."

"The round-trip subsidy to each New York-to-Orlando train passenger is close to $500." "Taxpayer subsidies to someone driving or flying between New York City and Florida are less than $25 round trip."

"Amtrak's diesels use as much energy and emit as much pollution as cars in intercity travel."

Destructive Economic Myths | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Destructive Economic Myths | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "If the debt ceiling is not raised, government officials will have a choice to default on the interest payments (less than 10 percent of the government's total income) or cut spending. Sen. Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania Republican, has introduced the Full Faith and Credit Act (S.163), which would require the Treasury to make interest payments on U.S. government debt its first priority if the debt ceiling is not raised. This legislation would require the federal government to reduce spending on other activities and/or sell assets, as any business or family would need to do when faced with a similar problem."

"Spending would only have to be reduced to roughly the 2006 level to avoid an ongoing deficit."

"If government spending could bring about full employment, the socialist countries would have been great successes rather than basket cases. Remember, the money government spends on "creating" jobs comes from either taxing or borrowing — both of which take money and jobs out of the more productive private sector — thus reducing the total number of jobs."