Goldberg has in the past treated libertarians with disdain, but here he offers an analysis of fascism that libertarians will find familiar. Goldberg has been influenced by John T. Flynn’s comparison of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal with Italian fascism; and he cites Friedrich Hayek with respect. He has learned from Murray Rothbard on the progressives as well.

I used to think that Reagan was fiscally irresponsible as president, compared to his predecessor.  But then I thought the same thing about Bush I, then Clinton, and now Bush II.  But surely, after the record-setting budget deficits and the massive increases in government spending, debt, and inflation of the last seven years, whoever is elected next must stop this trend, which can’t continue forever.  Right?

I posted previously about patent attorney Ray Niro threatening to sue the anonymous Troll Tracker (who repeatedly highlighted various patent lawsuits Niro was filing) for violating a patent by putting JPG images on his site (yep), and creepily offering a bounty to reveal Troll Tracker’s identity (Troll Tracker [Why People Hate Lawyers]). Looks like Niro’s ploy finally worked--it’s an in-house patent attorney at Cisco, Rick Frenkel.

Economic policy is nowadays always measured against the standard of economic efficiency, that is, static efficiency. A concrete economic policy is deemed to be good if it improves the static efficiency of the market. The ideal economic policy should be the one able to drive the market to the nirvana of perfect competition, in which static efficiency is maximized, as is social welfare. The problem is not so much that the static economic model does not reflect the reality. The real problem is that this model is used by regulators to make decisions. The well-intended regulator may decide to act as an antitrust regulator and punish any deviations from this efficient ideal, or he may decide to act as a sector regulator (e.g., setting prices) by imposing the efficient ideal directly. The result is to inhibit entrepreneurship.

Forbes.com has a slide show of the top 20 richest counties in the US. The top three, and ten of the top 20, are located within commuting distance of DC. I wonder if there is some causation to that correlation.

Capitalism should not be condemned, since we haven’t had it. Capitalism presumes sound money, not fiat money manipulated by a central bank. It’s not capitalism when the system is plagued with incomprehensible rules regarding mergers, acquisitions, and stock sales, along with wage controls, price controls, protectionism, corporate subsidies, international management of trade, complex and punishing corporate taxes, privileged government contracts to the military-industrial complex, and a foreign policy controlled by corporate interests and overseas investments.

The cliché “Third Way” has been used to define the so-called compromise between the conventional wisdom of the conservative and liberal firebrands. This nice-sounding compromise refers to the noisy rhetoric we hear not only in the US Congress but also in Britain, Germany, and other nations as well. The question, though, remains: Is there really anything new being offered? The demand for bipartisanship is nothing more than a continuation of the Third Way movement of the last several decades.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported as follows: