Clarence Darrow on Freedom, Justice, and War - Jeff Riggenbach - Mises Daily

Clarence Darrow on Freedom, Justice, and War - Jeff Riggenbach - Mises Daily: "the emphasis in punishment must be not on paying one's debt to 'society,' whatever that may mean, but in paying one's 'debt' to the victim. Certainly, the initial part of that debt is restitution. This works clearly in cases of theft. If A has stolen $15,000 from B, then the first, or initial, part of A's punishment must be to restore that $15,000 to the hands of B (plus damages, judicial and police costs, and interest foregone). Suppose that, as in most cases, the thief has already spent the money. In that case, the first step of proper libertarian punishment is to force the thief to work, and to allocate the ensuing income to the victim until the victim has been repaid. The ideal situation, then, puts the criminal frankly into a state of enslavement to his victim, the criminal continuing in that condition of just slavery until he has redressed the grievance of the man he has wronged.

We must note that the emphasis of restitution-punishment is diametrically opposite to the current practice of punishment. What happens nowadays is the following absurdity: A steals $15,000 from B. The government tracks down, tries, and convicts A, all at the expense of B, as one of the numerous taxpayers victimized in this process. Then, the government, instead of forcing A to repay B or to work at forced labor until that debt is paid, forces B, the victim, to pay taxes to support the criminal in prison for ten or twenty years' time. Where in the world is the justice here? The victim not only loses his money, but pays more money besides for the dubious thrill of catching, convicting, and then supporting the criminal; and the criminal is still enslaved, but not to the good purpose of recompensing his victim."

Should We Use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? | Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren | Cato Institute: Commentary

Should We Use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? | Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Thus the entire narrative about the embargo and the need to protect ourselves against foreign policy blackmail was never true. Nor is it true today. The development of an oil futures market, which did not exist in 1973, allows consumers and firms to insure against the financial consequences of oil shocks through contracting."

Over to You, H. Parker Willis - James Grant - Mises Daily

Over to You, H. Parker Willis - James Grant - Mises Daily: "Though the Fed's monetary and credit bridges collapsed two years ago, few have demanded a fundamental accounting of the ideas that undergird Chairman Bernanke's $2.2 trillion balance sheet and inform his interest-rate policy."

Ignorance Makes Us Poorer | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Ignorance Makes Us Poorer | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Should we have protective tariffs on pencils? As simple as a pencil is, it contains materials from all over the world (special woods, paint, graphite, metal for the band and rubber for the eraser) and requires specialized machinery. How much would it cost you to make your own pencils or even grow your own food? Trade means lower costs and better products, and the more of it the better.

Adam Smith explained that trade, by increasing the size of the market for any good or service, allows the efficiencies of mass production, thus lowering the cost and the ultimate price to consumers. The economist David Ricardo in 1817, building on Smith's work, popularized the understanding of the concept of 'comparative advantage,' which shows that trade is beneficial, even when one person or country can produce everything less expensively."

"It is easy to see the loss of 200 jobs in a U.S. textile mill that produces men's T-shirts, but it is not as obvious to see the benefit from the fact that everyone can buy T-shirts for $2 less when they come from China, even though the cotton in the shirts was most likely grown in the United States."

"A loss of 200 jobs in one industry can easily translate to the imperceptible gain of 2,000 jobs in 100 other domestic industries as a result of the cost reductions from free trade."

"It is possible to grow high-cost and inferior coffee in South Florida and not buy it from Colombia. A free-trade agreement with Colombia means that nation will buy more U.S.-built Caterpillar tractors and wheat grown in the American Midwest and U.S. consumers will buy more Colombian coffee, fruit and textiles. The consumers in both countries will benefit from lower prices and better products, and more workers will be employed in each country, doing the things that they can each do best."

"If free trade really causes most jobs to move to low-wage countries, why do countries such as Mexico and Bangladesh have huge unemployment rates and very high-wage places such as Virginia and Switzerland have almost full employment?"

By What Authority Has Obama Gone to War with Libya? | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

By What Authority Has Obama Gone to War with Libya? | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "On the campaign trail in late 2007, [Obama] told reporter Charlie Savage that the president lacks the constitutional power 'to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.'

Then-candidate Hillary Clinton said much the same: 'The Constitution requires Congress to authorize war.'

It is 'a great principle in free government,' James Madison wrote in 1793, 'that those who are to conduct a war cannot in the nature of things, be proper or safe judges, [of] whether a war ought to be commenced.' The Constitution leaves that question to Congress."

Economic Efficiency | Peter Van Doren | Cato Institute: Commentary

Economic Efficiency | Peter Van Doren | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Recent estimates by economists suggest that electricity prices would have to increase by 1.4 cents per kilowatt hour from their current 9.1 cents per kilowatt hour to account for environmental damages. That's not enough to make it economically worthwhile to buy many of the energy-efficient appliances and lights bulbs adored by the would-be regulators."

Deal with the Dragon | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary

Deal with the Dragon | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Politicians who call for higher tariffs on imports from China are aiming straight for the pocketbooks of the poor and middle class."

"While trillion-dollar deficits are terrible, they are not China's fault, but that of our profligate politicians in Washington."

"Of the $179 it costs to actually make an iPhone, the study found that only $6.50 is spent on the labor to assemble it in China. Yet the full price of the iPhone hardware is counted in our bilateral trade deficit with China."

Come back with those petition signatures! | River Falls Journal | River Falls, Wisconsin

Come back with those petition signatures! | River Falls Journal | River Falls, Wisconsin: "River Falls police were asked to track down and find a suspect who had made off with a batch of Sen. Sheila Harsdorf recall petition signatures late Sunday afternoon. The alleged theft occurred on the sidewalk near EconoFoods. The male suspect pretended he wanted to sign the petition to recall Harsdorf but instead swiped the forms with signatures and drove off."

I don't think Harsdorf should be be recalled but I certainly don't agree with what this man did!

U.S. troops getting wearable gunshot detectors | Crave - CNET

U.S. troops getting wearable gunshot detectors | Crave - CNET: "Weighing less than 2 pounds, the IGD picks up supersonic waves produced by the blast and whiz of rounds and indicates where they're coming from in a fraction of a second.
An earpiece that was developed for the system provides audio warnings such as 'Shot, 400 meters, 3 o'clock.' It tracks the shooter and continues to provide audio updates."

Mexican Criminals, American Guns | David Rittgers | Cato Institute: Commentary

Mexican Criminals, American Guns | David Rittgers | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The plan, Operation Fast and Furious, was intended to help investigators follow low-level gunrunners to cartel leadership. That may justify letting a few illegal sales slip by, but agents say the number soon climbed into the hundreds and thousands."