Historians have long debated the precise causes of the American Revolution: Were they constitutional, economic, political, or ideological? We now realize that, being libertarians, the revolutionaries saw no conflict between moral and political rights on the one hand and economic freedom on the other.
Back when I was an economist for the State of Colorado, I sat on a panel/task force in 2006 in which some of the left-ish members suggested a new tax on Fannie and Freddie to pay for subsidized housing.
The Fannie and Freddie reps were indignant. “Why, we’re a private company,” they protested. “It’s just plain wrong to tax a private company.”
Unfortunately, Independence Day has become a day for many to celebrate the United States government. The actual historical event behind the day, however — the adoption of the Declaration of Independence — was an illegal act of political defiance that led to secession and the overthrow of an entire system of mercantilist government in North America.
Moreover, it is quite anachronistic to connect the modern unified nation-state known as “the United States” to this event, nor does it make sense to invoke anything having to do with the Constitution of 1787.
Greece cannot pay its debts ... ever. Nor can several other members of the European Union. That’s why Europe’s elite are loath to place Greece in default. If Greece is allowed to abrogate its debts, why should any of the other debtor members of the EU pay up? The financial consequences of massive default by most of the EU members is hard to predict, but it won’t be pretty. Europe has built a financial house of cards, and the slightest loss of confidence will bring it crashing down.
Most modern socialists are in favor of inflation, because it is supposed, in Keynes’s words, to “euthanize the rentiers.” It doesn’t mean however, that the “founding fathers” of socialism were in favor of inflation. In fact, the opposite is true. Karl Marx had a wide knowledge of the economic literature and even though he’s usually wrong, he was correct in his preference for a gold standard.
Greece has defaulted on its debt to the International Monetary Fund, the first “developed” country to do so. But is Greece merely a casualty of a flawed eurozone or a canary in the coal mine?
The latest black eye for the mega-expensive F-35 warplane is a recent report noting the mediocrity of the plane in air combat situations:
Puerto Rico owes $70 billion to various creditors, including American hedge funds and other funds. Puerto Rican debt has been downgraded to junk status. Whether or not Puerto Rico is America’s Greece is rather debatable because the amounts are so much lower for Puerto Rico. Greece owes over 220 billion euros in bailout funds alone. Combined with other debts, the amounts are simply much larger in Greece.
