Inflation in the Afterlife?
From BigWhiteGuy.com (”Adventures of a BigWhiteGuy living in Hong Kong”), comes an explanation of Chinese “Hell Notes”:
Consuming national security
Talk about internal conflict: On one hand, national security and all that, while, in the other hand, an ear of freshly-boiled, sweet corn. Sure, we all know that every kernel diverted from the production of ethanol is another seed of our destruction; oil production, global warming, etc. Yet, it is Father’s Day.
Book Review: Beginnings of the Great Society
Libertarians have always had a sense of history. Mainly because they puzzle over the USA of the 19th Century and its transformation into the USA of 2007. Many explanations are offered. A Pulitzer prize winner, Robert A. Caro, has made a unique contribution to this political conundrum in a multi-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson. What a book! the first two volumes, which I read, The Path to Power and Means of Ascent, go 1400 pages. LBJ, you’ll recall is referred to as the founder of “The Great Society”; big benevolent government.
The Long History of Lies for War
[The Ruses for War: American Interventionism Since World War II. By John B. Quigley. Prometheus Books, 2007. 433 pgs.]
Who was this “Great Liberator”?
[Lincoln Unmasked: What You’re Not Supposed to Know About Dishonest Abe. By Thomas J. DiLorenzo. Crown Forum, 2006. 223 pgs.]
Thomas DiLorenzo calls attention to a vital fact that demolishes the popular view that one of Lincoln’s primary motives for opposing secession in 1861 was his distaste for slavery. Precisely the opposite was the case.
The State Breeds Social Conflict
The political season brings promises to “bring us together as a community” and “heal the divisions between us.” Here is what the political class won’t reveal: their laws, programs, restrictions, subsidies — the whole panoply of interventionist measures they love and of which they promise ever more — are the main source of social division. In contrast, markets draw people into peaceful social relationships, and encourage and reward harmonious interaction among people.
The Exploitation of Children?
Lew Rockwell writes: Thanks to a conspiracy of health Nazis (this is a particularly apt phrase since the Nazis were pioneers in the art of badgering people over health issues), public interest law firms, and government officials, the days of kid-directed advertising for many products is coming to an end. To those who see conspiracy in every commercial, ads directed toward kids are seen as exploitative and evil, child abuse at the hands of the merchant class. And you thought they were only trying to sell you a delicious breakfast!
If Men Were Angels
In If Men Were Angels Robert Higgs analyzes James Madison’s famous passage from The Federalist No. 51 containing the quotable line “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” This is an excellent article with several useful analytical approaches to thinking about the state. Of particular value is a section on the “dynamic considerations” left out by the Hobbesian or Lockean account of moving from the “state of nature” to a state:
Flight 93 Memorial Is All Wrong
Eminent domain threats, millions of taxpayer dollars, and tackiness are all reasons to oppose the forthcoming federal Flight 93 memorial. For the details, read my op-ed from a Pennsylvania newspaper near the site.
“The issue has caught Congress’s eye, as it searches for revenue sources.”
When you need the dough to fund your welfare, war, political favors, corporatocracy, assorted government agencies, the hiring of new agents for the state, and other assorted crookery, where do you turn? To the economics and finance genius, Robert E. Rubin, of course! Rubin says that the hedge fund wizards are a great, new source of cash for the federal government.
