The Potato Chip Standard
Negotiating a world of floating fiat currencies with a sound, commercial standard: Pringles. (Link courtesy Jeffrey Mansour)
Intellectual Property at Mises.org
In response to requests from readers, listed below are links to several IP-related articles, most available on Mises.org: Property/Rights-based Arguments
How Healthy Are the Banks?
Greenspan says the banks are in great shape. Frank Shostak, however, notes signs of deterioration.
Unusual Revenue Fall
In comparison with 2000 Federal Government revenue fell by 20.9% in early 2004. Most experts regard this fall as being due to the Bush administration’s cut in taxes. However, our analysis disagrees with this. For instance, the cut in the tax rate was much more pronounced in 1963 and in 1981 yet government revenue didn’t fall then. It seems to us that the present decline in government revenue could be indicative that the “taxable pie” is in difficulty.
Block online
Walter Block’s website, WalterBlock.com, is now online and has recently been updated to include online links to dozens of his hundreds of publications. A great resource.
Extinction and Humankind
Among the animal rights, ecological, and environmental activists, you can be assured that there’s always a lot of squabble about how we have to protect various endangered species. Invariably, the proposed solution for protecting endangered species is State regulation. Why is it so vital that we make sure that a certain species survives? Who arbitrarily decides that the survival of a various species is so important that human needs should go unfulfilled?
The GOP Budget
News items on the House vote on the 2005 budget--$2.41 trillion--have pointed to the party-line voting pattern, reinforcing the Ekelund-Thornton point about the GOP. Yet the rollcall shows 10 dissenting Republicans who voted against the budget, with at least one (Ron Paul) voting against it for the right reasons.
Cheap TV Is a Right
At a Senate subcommittee hearing yesterday, cable industry executives were pilloried for poor channel offerings and rising cable rates, reports today’s Wall Street Journal.
Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, said cable subscribers “are being force-fed channels and features they don’t want” and encouraged the industry to give consumers the choice. “Do something about your rising rates or you’re going to have trouble,” added Sen. Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican.
Counterterrorism (by Government) is Impossible
Lew Rockwell agrees with Richard Clarke: “Your government failed you”--in many more ways than he is willing to admit.
US Has Surplus in IT Services
“That the United States maintains a trade surplus in IT services is probably a surprise to many Americans bombarded by news that offshore outsourcing is sending jobs overseas. Despite the export of many computer-programming and call-center jobs, U.S. companies bring in far more revenue from business-technology services than they pay to foreign providers. The reason some economists think we’ll keep a favorable trade balance: The IT services that U.S.
