The Libertarian Position on Capital Punishment - Murray N. Rothbard - Mises Daily

The Libertarian Position on Capital Punishment - Murray N. Rothbard - Mises Daily: "it should be up to the victim to press charges or to decide whether the restitution or punishment due him should be exacted by the state. The victim should be able to order the state not to press charges or not to punish the victim to the full extent that he has the right to do so. Thus, suppose that A aggresses against B; but B is a pacifist or doesn't believe in punishment for whatever reason; the State should not be able, as it is now, to continue to prosecute A in the name of 'society' even though the victim may be urging otherwise. Or, similarly, the criminal should be able to go to the victim and buy his way out of his prosecution or punishment; for in that case, the victim has agreed voluntarily to allow the criminal to pay him monetary restitution in lieu of other sanctions against him."

Terrorism: Why They Want to Kill Us | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary

Terrorism: Why They Want to Kill Us | Doug Bandow | Cato Institute: Commentary: "The central fact is that overwhelmingly suicide-terrorist attacks are not driven by religion as much as they are by a clear strategic objective: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland. From Lebanon to Sri Lanka to Chechnya to Kashmir to the West Bank, every major suicide-terrorist campaign — over 95 percent of all the incidents — has had as its central objective to compel a democratic state to withdraw."

Court in Contempt of First Amendment | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary

Court in Contempt of First Amendment | Nat Hentoff | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Justice Breyer shows exactly how the HLP did not, in any way, support terrorism. 'The plaintiffs, all United States citizens or associations,' declare 'they can (1) 'train members of the PKK on how to use humanitarian and international law to peacefully resolve disputes'' (2) 'engage in political advocacy on behalf of Kurds who live in Turkey; (3) teach PKK members how to petition various representative bodies such as the United Nations for relief; and (4) engage in political advocacy on behalf of Tamils who live in Sri Lanka.'"

"And Ahilan Arulanantham, an ACLU attorney for Southern California, explains another brutal dimension of this law: 'A humanitarian organization may send medicine to perform dialysis, but risks prosecution if it also seeks to send either the doctor or the equipment needed to perform the dialysis itself.'"

US Out of South Korea | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

US Out of South Korea | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary: "'Americans are borrowing money to pay to defend the South so South Koreans can spend their money on other priorities.'

That's a common pattern in our Cold War-era alliances. U.S. membership in NATO, an alliance crafted to contain an enemy that collapsed 18 years ago, has helped keep European defense budgets low and subsidize lavish welfare states for NATO members."

Schumer Undervalues Trade with China | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary

Schumer Undervalues Trade with China | Daniel Griswold | Cato Institute: Commentary: "We run a large bilateral deficit with China not because of an undervalued yuan, but because China specializes in making consumer goods — such as shoes, clothing, toys and household appliances — that American consumers love to buy. Because of our low national savings rate, we in turn offer attractive assets, such as Treasury bills, that the Chinese are equally eager to buy from us."

The Social Function of Credit-Default Swaps - Philipp Bagus - Mises Daily

The Social Function of Credit-Default Swaps - Philipp Bagus - Mises Daily: "Due to this self-reinforcing spiral of distrust in banks and rising funding costs, people have regarded CDSs as one example of Warren Buffet's infamous financial weapons of mass destruction. Indeed, CDSs can be used to take down banks by lowering the confidence in them.

Yet, such an attack can only be successful if banks are vulnerable. Only if banks violate the golden rule of banking, i.e., if they mismatch currencies or maturities or engage in a combination of both, they become vulnerable to attacks through CDSs. Only then will the distrust spurred by higher spreads translate into funding problems that threaten a bank's liquidity."

"CDSs are powerful corrective instruments that discipline banks. CDSs are not weapons of mass destruction but instruments of providing discipline and order. It is possible that without rising CDSs spreads, Icelandic banks would have survived longer. They would have had time to cause additional distortions and make the collapse even more disastrous."

"By anticipating the future, speculators may bring about events earlier and reduce their potential harm. Speculators anticipate a sovereign default and speculate in this direction via CDSs. Thereby, they put a limit on the reckless fiscal behavior of the government."

FOXNews.com - Rand Paul Under Fire For Saying Poor in U.S. Better Off Than Poor Elsewhere

FOXNews.com - Rand Paul Under Fire For Saying Poor in U.S. Better Off Than Poor Elsewhere: "'I think it reflects a dogmatic belief in free enterprise and limited government,' said Hardin, who argued that government should reach out to assist those who can't help themselves."

This is funny -- Hardin complains about a "a dogmatic belief in free enterprise and limited government" but then displays a dogmatic belief in government. LOL!

The Gulf Spill and Compensation for Disaster Victims | Jeffrey A. Miron | Cato Institute: Commentary

The Gulf Spill and Compensation for Disaster Victims | Jeffrey A. Miron | Cato Institute: Commentary: "In many instances, the threat of disaster is widely understood, so property values in these areas are lower by the amount of expected damages. Crop land in flood plains, for example, is cheaper than similar land elsewhere, as is beachfront property at risk from offshore drilling. So property owners in at-risk areas get a financial bonus — cheap land — in years when disasters do not occur."

"compensation can reduce private incentives to avoid disaster. While no part of the country is entirely immune from these risks, some places — flood plains, and coastal areas, in particular — are far riskier than others. If property owners expect an outside party to mitigate their losses, they will live or locate their businesses too often in these areas."

"Other oil companies are watching BP's stock price plummet, which should make them more cautious about their own operations, and regulations are difficult to enforce (again, as the current situation illustrates)."

Financial Reform Bill Won't Stop Next Crisis | Mark A. Calabria | Cato Institute: Commentary

Financial Reform Bill Won't Stop Next Crisis | Mark A. Calabria | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Perhaps it should come as no surprise that Sen. Christopher Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank, the bill's primary authors, would fail to end the numerous government distortions of our financial and mortgage markets that led to the crisis. Both have been either architects or supporters of those distortions. One might as well ask the fox to build the henhouse.

Nowhere in the final bill will you see even a pretense of rolling back the endless federal incentives and mandates to extend credit, particularly mortgages, to those who cannot afford to pay their loans back. After all, the popular narrative insists that Wall Street fat cats must be to blame for the credit crisis. Despite the recognition that mortgages were offered to unqualified individuals and families, banks will still be required under the Dodd-Frank bill to meet government-imposed lending quotas."

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold: Ending the Cozy Relationship with Big Oil

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold: Ending the Cozy Relationship with Big Oil: "One of the first things Congress should do is eliminate the liability cap for economic damage caused by oil spills. With businesses in the Gulf facing lost revenues from tourism and fishing, it is painfully clear that this liability cap is far too low. The existing $75 million liability cap is less than one day's worth of profits for BP. I support legislation to eliminate the liability cap."

The cap should be increased but not retroactively.