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Pakistan’s ‘deep state’
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C. Raja Mohan Tags : c raja mohan, columnist indian express, Pakistan’s ‘deep state’ Posted: Wed May 04 2011, 01:21 hrs
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Given the catch-me-if-you-can swagger of the ISI, few in New Delhi would want to bet on potential reformation in the ISI and the Pakistan army after being caught red-handed hosting Osama bin Laden. After all, institutions, especially in the security sector, are not easy to reform. Nor is it possible for a large and powerful organisation to discard a work culture acquired over decades.
Delhi’s cynics would argue that it will be a matter of time before the ISI will revert to form — of pretending to cooperate with the international community in the war against terror while continuing to invest in terror outfits that can promote its perceived interests.
Moderates in South Block might say that the Pakistan army is bound to come under intense pressure from Washington in the coming weeks to act against the remnants of al-Qaeda and its affiliates in the western borderlands of Pakistan.
Ads by Google Mullo Abdullo killed Attacks on Dushanbe were planned Read latest news hereCentralasiaonline.co132,878 smart Pakistanis Call from UK to any mobile in Pakistan for Free! no downloadwww.spikko.com/ukBush & Cheney's Iraq War Waterboarding, Guantanamo, torture memos, Iraq War. How did it start?www.LeadingToWar.com
Until now, the US has had little success in persuading the Pakistan army to confront the Haqqani network in North Waziristan. Forget taking on the Haqqani brothers, General Ashfaq Kayani wants to insert them into the power structures in southern and eastern Afghanistan.
The coming weeks will reveal whether the US can overcome this fundamental contradiction between its objectives and the Pakistan army’s interests in Afghanistan. What happens to Haqqani and the so-called Quetta Shura of the Taliban will reveal whether Washington’s leverage vis a vis Rawalpindi has improved after Obama struck at Osama bin Laden deep inside Pakistan.
India has no reasons to underestimate US power and political resolve after Sunday night’s raid on Abbottabad.
... contd.
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Breakup of Pakistan the only solutionBy: S T | 04-May-2011 Reply | Forward This has been suggested by some right-thinking people in Pakistan itself as well as western and Indian thinkers/strategists. The foundation of Pakistan itself is based on hatred and furthermore Islamization of the whole of south Asia remains the pet dream of all those Jihadists now in full control in Pakistan. So there is no chance that anything like permanent peace will ever come out of any talks with anybody in Pakistan. Because they (the Jihadists) are thinking that they have achieved 40% of their goal by getting Pakistan, Bangla Desh and de-facto Kashmir. So if they fight a few more generations, Hindus would give up and either convert en-mass to Islam or else die in their terror attacks. So a few centuries down, it will be all Islam here. If this dreadful scenario is to be avoided, the only way is to get rid of the country that is promoting this ideology as its raison de'etre. The number 1 priority for India should be complete and final breakup of Pakistan.
The Deep State.......By: Vikas Sethi | 04-May-2011 Reply | Forward Pak believes geographically it has a strategic location that US & world cannot bypass. So even if it gets rogue, US will have extreme limitations in acting against it. So its support to Al Qaida, Haqqani & Taliban for a strategic role in Afghanistan. They also firmly feel that like it defeated USSR, it can do the same to US in Afghan as US is dependent on Pak. But US has already started changing the rules of the game. It has begun re-routing supplies thru Russia & uses Drones to blunt the dependence on Pak. The Paki cry against use of Drones is actually bcoz it is loosing its geographic importance - & hence US aid, as far as this war on terror is concerned. If Panetta's strong words are a guide, then US has already worked out its plans minus Pak if push comes to shove. US will not allow Pak to dictate terms of this war. Pak definitely is in trouble but it is difficult for the leopard to change its spots unless Paki people rise against it.
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Pakistan’s ‘deep state’
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C. Raja Mohan Tags : c raja mohan, columnist indian express, Pakistan’s ‘deep state’ Posted: Wed May 04 2011, 01:21 hrs
Discount Shopping Perfumes Flower & Cake
Discussion
Blogs
Four seater helicopt... - By Pravin MhapankarNo fears of the high... - By Lewis SootingCivil aviation minis... - By NR RaoMetro coach for wome... - By AmritaIs the killed osama ... - By K.SHYAM pRASADOsama's lightning en... - By zafarFinal judgement. - By Nadeem
Given the catch-me-if-you-can swagger of the ISI, few in New Delhi would want to bet on potential reformation in the ISI and the Pakistan army after being caught red-handed hosting Osama bin Laden. After all, institutions, especially in the security sector, are not easy to reform. Nor is it possible for a large and powerful organisation to discard a work culture acquired over decades.
Delhi’s cynics would argue that it will be a matter of time before the ISI will revert to form — of pretending to cooperate with the international community in the war against terror while continuing to invest in terror outfits that can promote its perceived interests.
Moderates in South Block might say that the Pakistan army is bound to come under intense pressure from Washington in the coming weeks to act against the remnants of al-Qaeda and its affiliates in the western borderlands of Pakistan.
Ads by Google Mullo Abdullo killed Attacks on Dushanbe were planned Read latest news hereCentralasiaonline.co132,878 smart Pakistanis Call from UK to any mobile in Pakistan for Free! no downloadwww.spikko.com/ukBush & Cheney's Iraq War Waterboarding, Guantanamo, torture memos, Iraq War. How did it start?www.LeadingToWar.com
Until now, the US has had little success in persuading the Pakistan army to confront the Haqqani network in North Waziristan. Forget taking on the Haqqani brothers, General Ashfaq Kayani wants to insert them into the power structures in southern and eastern Afghanistan.
The coming weeks will reveal whether the US can overcome this fundamental contradiction between its objectives and the Pakistan army’s interests in Afghanistan. What happens to Haqqani and the so-called Quetta Shura of the Taliban will reveal whether Washington’s leverage vis a vis Rawalpindi has improved after Obama struck at Osama bin Laden deep inside Pakistan.
India has no reasons to underestimate US power and political resolve after Sunday night’s raid on Abbottabad.
... contd.
Single Page Format
PreviousNext1234
Comments
Post comment
View all Comments (2) |
Breakup of Pakistan the only solutionBy: S T | 04-May-2011 Reply | Forward This has been suggested by some right-thinking people in Pakistan itself as well as western and Indian thinkers/strategists. The foundation of Pakistan itself is based on hatred and furthermore Islamization of the whole of south Asia remains the pet dream of all those Jihadists now in full control in Pakistan. So there is no chance that anything like permanent peace will ever come out of any talks with anybody in Pakistan. Because they (the Jihadists) are thinking that they have achieved 40% of their goal by getting Pakistan, Bangla Desh and de-facto Kashmir. So if they fight a few more generations, Hindus would give up and either convert en-mass to Islam or else die in their terror attacks. So a few centuries down, it will be all Islam here. If this dreadful scenario is to be avoided, the only way is to get rid of the country that is promoting this ideology as its raison de'etre. The number 1 priority for India should be complete and final breakup of Pakistan.
The Deep State.......By: Vikas Sethi | 04-May-2011 Reply | Forward Pak believes geographically it has a strategic location that US & world cannot bypass. So even if it gets rogue, US will have extreme limitations in acting against it. So its support to Al Qaida, Haqqani & Taliban for a strategic role in Afghanistan. They also firmly feel that like it defeated USSR, it can do the same to US in Afghan as US is dependent on Pak. But US has already started changing the rules of the game. It has begun re-routing supplies thru Russia & uses Drones to blunt the dependence on Pak. The Paki cry against use of Drones is actually bcoz it is loosing its geographic importance - & hence US aid, as far as this war on terror is concerned. If Panetta's strong words are a guide, then US has already worked out its plans minus Pak if push comes to shove. US will not allow Pak to dictate terms of this war. Pak definitely is in trouble but it is difficult for the leopard to change its spots unless Paki people rise against it.
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View all Comments (2)
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Posted on: May 04, 2011 17:25:09 IST Get daily stories in your mailbox
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Posted on: May 04, 2011 13:41:47 IST Get daily stories in your mailbox
If have an aversion to using stable and tested software, and would rather be part of the process, you now have another thing to look forward to.Opera Software has announced a new channel for their Opera browser, that will allow people to get even more frequent updates. Even now Opera builds appear in their blogs or on their beta page, however now they are launching an official build just for testing the latest Opera builds.The new Opera.Next browser installs in a separate instance than your normal build of Opera and even used a different user profile folder by default. Additionally, this build will auto-update to the latest snapshot of the browser as it is released, including any alpha, beta, RC, or even release builds. This is similar to how Google Chrome's Canary channel...
Read More
Tags:
opera , , opera software , opera beta , opera extensions , opera development , opera.next , opera alpha
HP Pavilion g6 - Multimedia and gaming on a budget [Review]
Posted by
Vinod Yalburgi
0
9
Posted on: May 04, 2011 12:15:37 IST Get daily stories in your mailbox
The HP Pavilion g6 is a mainstream multimedia laptop that pits itself against the likes of the Acer Aspire 5740G and the popular Dell Inspiron 15R series. Powered by Intel Core i5 processor along with the latest AMD Radeon HD 6470 mobility GPU, the Pavilion g6 is capable of handling gaming as well. The newer HP Pavilion g6 models are expected to ship with the second generation Intel Core i3 & Core i5 sandy-bridge processors, while the review unit is shipped with the first generation Core i5 processor from Intel. The g6 seems to be positioned as a product that has something for everyone, it has multimedia features, gaming capability and good processing power under its hood to be a future proof investment, the question is, how well does it perform as an all rounder? Lets find...
Read More
Tags:
, msi fx600 , hp netbooks , hp pavillion , pavilion g6 , pavilion g6 1001xx
Video chat comes to Android via Google Talk on Gingerbread devices
Posted by
Ruchir Mehta
1
11
Posted on: May 04, 2011 11:47:31 IST Get daily stories in your mailbox
Another reason to go for a Gingerbread-flavored phone, if you're buying an Android device this year. Video and voice chat support on Android phones is being rolled out first, on the developer-friendly Nexus S. In the months to come, Android 2.3+ devices will be the first to feature the updated app, which enables video and voice calls over 3G or Wi-Fi networks on Google Talk.The app connects you to other Google talk users with Android tablets and PCs - the only folks being left out of the fun are Android phones running version 2.2 Froyo or lower. Apart from Skype and Facebook, apps like Jajah and Tango, offer video chat on smartphones, the latest being 4-way video conferencing on Fring. ...
Read More
Tags:
skype , android , google talk , facebook , jajah , , fring , android 2.2 , froyo , tango , android 2.3 gingerbread , android video chat
Apple updates the iMac with the next-gen quad-core Intel CPUs and Thunderbolt
Posted by
Ruchir Mehta
0
5
Posted on: May 04, 2011 11:32:11 IST Get daily stories in your mailbox
The iMacs were starting to smell a bit stale with older Intel Core CPUs and low memory ATI graphic cards. But then Apple, as it always does, has rolled out the latest models powered by Intel’s latest i5 and i7 Core CPUs along with Thunderbolt. The iMacs no longer slum with Core i3 CPUs. FaceTime HD is now featured in the iMac line as well. It supports HD video calling between HD-enabled Macs and standard definition calling on the iPad 2, iPhone 4 and other Intel-based Macs.“Our customers love the iMac’s aluminum enclosure, gorgeous display and all-in-one design,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s Senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With next generation quad-core processors, powerful new graphics, Thunderbolt technology and a FaceTime HD camera,...
Read More
Tags:
apple , imac , , facetime , apple imac , thunderbolt , facetime hd
ISRO develops India's fastest supercomputer - the GPU-architecture based SAGA-220
Posted by
Team Digit
1
25
Posted on: May 03, 2011 18:14:13 IST Get daily stories in your mailbox
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has just built a new supercomputer, one that is said to be the fastest in the country, with a theoretical peak performance of up to 220 TeraFLOPS. Called SAGA-220 (Supercomputer for Aerospace with GPU Architecture-220 TeraFLOPS), the supercomputer is located in Thiruvananthapuram, at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), which houses the Satish Dhawan Supercomputing Facility.A GPU-based supercomputer, SAGA-220 stands for Supercomputer for Aerospace with GPU Architecture-220 TeraFLOPS. It is made up of 400 Nvidia Tesla 2070 workstation GPUs, and 400 Intel Xeon quad-core CPUs. The parts were supplied by Wipro, and utilise a high-speed interconnect between the components.The total cost of the system was about 14 crores, and, is apparently...
Read More
Tags:
supercomputer , isro , , wipro , intel xeon , saga-220 , nvidia tesla 2070
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Acer launches Windows 7-based Iconia Dual Screen notebook and Iconia Tab W500 tablet
Posted by
Abhinav Lal
0
4
Posted on: May 04, 2011 17:25:09 IST Get daily stories in your mailbox
Acer has announced availability of two Windows 7 devices in India – the Iconia Dual Screen notebook, and the Iconia Tab W500 10.1-inch tablet laptop. Both devices were recently introduced to the world at CES 2011, and their base models are priced at Rs. 69,999 and Rs. 32,499 respectively.Acer also introduced the Iconia Smart A300 smartphone-tablet hybrid, which runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It has an extra large Streak-like 4.8-inch screen, with a 16:9 aspect ratio (1024x480). It comes with an 8MP autofocus camera, capable of 720p HD video recording. The A300 has 8GB built-in storage, expandable up to 40GB with a microSD card. It is powered by the new 1GHz Scorpion CPU in the MSM8255 chipset, including an Adreno 205 GPU. The phone is expected arrive only by the end of June, and...
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laptop , intel core i5 , tablet , , windows 7 tablet , amd fusion , sandy bridge , acer iconia , acer iconia dual screen , acer iconia dual screen notebook , iconia dual screen , acer iconia tab w500 , iconia tab w500 , w500 , acer iconia smart a300 , iconia smart a300 , laptop-tablet hybrid
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Microsoft creates iOS to Windows Phone 7 API mapping tool
Posted by
Kshitij Sobti
0
5
Posted on: May 04, 2011 15:03:17 IST Get daily stories in your mailbox
The increasing number of viable mobile platforms is a good scenario for end users but developers seem to be finding it difficult to target all platforms at once. Each platform bring with its own semantics and paradigms for performing the same tasks, leading to much confusion.Android for example, supports development in Java, C and C++ (mostly Java), while iPhone development can be done in C / C++ / Objective-C (mostly Objective-C). Windows Phone 7 on the other hand only support development using a form of Silverlight, using C#. No C / C++ code allowed. This immediately creates a barrier for those with existing code in C / C++ which is entirely disallowed making it difficult to share any code at all.Microsoft's new online tool helps those who have written iOS applications, it...
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microsoft , windows , windows mobile , development , apple , android , silverlight , windows phone 7 , android development , ios , apple ios , windows development , ios development , c#
Acer announces Honeycomb tablets for India, starting with Iconia Tab A500 in May
Posted by
Abhinav Lal
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8
Posted on: May 04, 2011 14:38:32 IST Get daily stories in your mailbox
Acer has launched the Iconia Tab A500 in India, making it India’s first Honeycomb tablet - the Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 is officially due to arrive only by July, though the Motorola Xoom looks likely to launch by June. The Iconia Tab A500 was recently showcased at CES 2011, and its base Wi-Fi only 16GB model will bear an MRP of Rs. 27,990 in India.The Iconia Tab A500 and will run Acer UI 4.5 skinned over Android 3.0. As for its innards, the A500 sports a 1GHz dual-core Honeycomb-loving Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, and 1GB of DDR2 RAM to go along with it. It has a 10.1-inch capacitive touch screen (1280x800), and a large 3260 mAh battery to power it all up. The A500 also has a gyroscope for gaming, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and EDR connectivity, a 5MP...
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Tags:
, acer iconia , acer iconia tab a500 , iconia tab a500 , a500 , acer iconia tab a100 , iconia tab a100 , a100
Opera Software launches Opera.Next for those with itchy fingers
Posted by
Kshitij Sobti
0
8
Posted on: May 04, 2011 13:41:47 IST Get daily stories in your mailbox
If have an aversion to using stable and tested software, and would rather be part of the process, you now have another thing to look forward to.Opera Software has announced a new channel for their Opera browser, that will allow people to get even more frequent updates. Even now Opera builds appear in their blogs or on their beta page, however now they are launching an official build just for testing the latest Opera builds.The new Opera.Next browser installs in a separate instance than your normal build of Opera and even used a different user profile folder by default. Additionally, this build will auto-update to the latest snapshot of the browser as it is released, including any alpha, beta, RC, or even release builds. This is similar to how Google Chrome's Canary channel...
Read More
Tags:
opera , , opera software , opera beta , opera extensions , opera development , opera.next , opera alpha
HP Pavilion g6 - Multimedia and gaming on a budget [Review]
Posted by
Vinod Yalburgi
0
9
Posted on: May 04, 2011 12:15:37 IST Get daily stories in your mailbox
The HP Pavilion g6 is a mainstream multimedia laptop that pits itself against the likes of the Acer Aspire 5740G and the popular Dell Inspiron 15R series. Powered by Intel Core i5 processor along with the latest AMD Radeon HD 6470 mobility GPU, the Pavilion g6 is capable of handling gaming as well. The newer HP Pavilion g6 models are expected to ship with the second generation Intel Core i3 & Core i5 sandy-bridge processors, while the review unit is shipped with the first generation Core i5 processor from Intel. The g6 seems to be positioned as a product that has something for everyone, it has multimedia features, gaming capability and good processing power under its hood to be a future proof investment, the question is, how well does it perform as an all rounder? Lets find...
Read More
Tags:
, msi fx600 , hp netbooks , hp pavillion , pavilion g6 , pavilion g6 1001xx
Video chat comes to Android via Google Talk on Gingerbread devices
Posted by
Ruchir Mehta
1
11
Posted on: May 04, 2011 11:47:31 IST Get daily stories in your mailbox
Another reason to go for a Gingerbread-flavored phone, if you're buying an Android device this year. Video and voice chat support on Android phones is being rolled out first, on the developer-friendly Nexus S. In the months to come, Android 2.3+ devices will be the first to feature the updated app, which enables video and voice calls over 3G or Wi-Fi networks on Google Talk.The app connects you to other Google talk users with Android tablets and PCs - the only folks being left out of the fun are Android phones running version 2.2 Froyo or lower. Apart from Skype and Facebook, apps like Jajah and Tango, offer video chat on smartphones, the latest being 4-way video conferencing on Fring. ...
Read More
Tags:
skype , android , google talk , facebook , jajah , , fring , android 2.2 , froyo , tango , android 2.3 gingerbread , android video chat
Apple updates the iMac with the next-gen quad-core Intel CPUs and Thunderbolt
Posted by
Ruchir Mehta
0
5
Posted on: May 04, 2011 11:32:11 IST Get daily stories in your mailbox
The iMacs were starting to smell a bit stale with older Intel Core CPUs and low memory ATI graphic cards. But then Apple, as it always does, has rolled out the latest models powered by Intel’s latest i5 and i7 Core CPUs along with Thunderbolt. The iMacs no longer slum with Core i3 CPUs. FaceTime HD is now featured in the iMac line as well. It supports HD video calling between HD-enabled Macs and standard definition calling on the iPad 2, iPhone 4 and other Intel-based Macs.“Our customers love the iMac’s aluminum enclosure, gorgeous display and all-in-one design,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s Senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With next generation quad-core processors, powerful new graphics, Thunderbolt technology and a FaceTime HD camera,...
Read More
Tags:
apple , imac , , facetime , apple imac , thunderbolt , facetime hd
ISRO develops India's fastest supercomputer - the GPU-architecture based SAGA-220
Posted by
Team Digit
1
25
Posted on: May 03, 2011 18:14:13 IST Get daily stories in your mailbox
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has just built a new supercomputer, one that is said to be the fastest in the country, with a theoretical peak performance of up to 220 TeraFLOPS. Called SAGA-220 (Supercomputer for Aerospace with GPU Architecture-220 TeraFLOPS), the supercomputer is located in Thiruvananthapuram, at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), which houses the Satish Dhawan Supercomputing Facility.A GPU-based supercomputer, SAGA-220 stands for Supercomputer for Aerospace with GPU Architecture-220 TeraFLOPS. It is made up of 400 Nvidia Tesla 2070 workstation GPUs, and 400 Intel Xeon quad-core CPUs. The parts were supplied by Wipro, and utilise a high-speed interconnect between the components.The total cost of the system was about 14 crores, and, is apparently...
Read More
Tags:
supercomputer , isro , , wipro , intel xeon , saga-220 , nvidia tesla 2070
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May 2011 Issue
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What does a glowing pickle have in common with sophisticated flat panel OLED video displays? Professor Vladim...
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nikon S9100 or any other?
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ANTIDOTE
ANTIDOTEANTIDOTE
by Sauvik Chakraverti: Austro-Libertarian Opinion From Indyeah
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Money, Taxes, Prices - And A Parade
The governor of our central bank, the RBI, has assured the Sheeple that he "will do everything to bring inflation under control." The strategy he will adopt: "restrain demand pressures." As though inflation is demand-driven. Oh! We poor sheeple.
Similar sounds are also emerging from Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, the chaps who print US dollars:
In his first press conference as chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke discussed rising gasoline prices, blaming higher demand from emerging economies and Mideast oil-supply disruptions as the cause of the zooming prices. Bernanke did not mention the US government's role in the higher energy prices, and he explicitly absolved the Federal Reserve of any blame.
As Mark Brandly points out in this article (in which the above quote is the opening paragraph) on why the US Fed ought to be shut down:
Bernanke's deceitfulness is appalling, although not unexpected. He knows that Federal Reserve monetary policy plays a significant role in gasoline prices. Expansionary monetary policy leads to more dollars being available in world currency markets and weakens the dollar. The weaker dollar results in higher import prices. More than half of the oil consumed in the United States comes from foreign producers....
The word "deceitfulness" is noteworthy. It must be applied to our RBI governor, too. Inflation is a deliberate policy used to finance State expenditure - a very deceitful policy. More dollars or more rupees - the result is the same: the value of the paper note declines. Gold has crossed 23,000 rupees for 10 grams - only because the value of the rupee has fallen. Similarly, in the US, when Nixon de-linked the US dollar from gold, the yellow metal was priced at $35 an ounce. It is more than $1500 an ounce now.
Inflation is nothing but a purely monetary phenomenon - caused by an excess supply of money resulting in the fall of the purchasing power of the monetary unit. To end inflation we must end central banking. Money must be "private money." The country must be put on the gold standard.
In other words, The State must be denied the power to fund its programmes through the deceitful means of printing paper notes to pay for them.
No more MGNREGA, no "right to food" and no "right to free and compulsory education" - that is, no more welfarism to buy votes - and inflation will be ended for ever.
Remember - inflationism robs the poor of their Capital - thereby rendering them poor for ever. Welfarism never benefits the poor in the long run - see the poor in the welfare states of Europe that are now going belly up. Welfarism paid for by inflationism is NONSENSE! It is precisely the "false philathropy" combined with "legal plunder" that Frederic Bastiat warned us about in The Law. This is not socialism; this is anti-social. So much Capital Consumption will destroy our civilisation.
**********************
But we also pay taxes! Should we continue to do so?
I was discussing taxes with a local entrepreneur here - pointing out that all we get in exchange for them is the State Danda: all manner of "inspectors" land up to collect bribes, which are an "illegal tax." We pay taxes in exchange of these bribe-taking inspectors. This is all that is "real" about our The State.
These are not just from the State Police, but also come from the labour department, the health department, the CRZ administrators, the excise department and so on and so forth.
This danda (Hindi word for "stick") is REAL. This is ALL we get for our taxes. We certainly don't get good roads, footpaths, clean cities and towns, scientific traffic management and suchlike. Over 200,000 of us are killed on our unsafe and horrible roads every year - more than get killed in a small war. Why should we pay taxes - that is, after money has been privatised and The State can no longer print paper notes to fund itself?
Think about it!
If we do not pay any taxes to The State - if business is laissez faire, if we inhabit a "private law society," and if everything is privatised, all we would have to pay for whatever we need are PRICES: for electricity, for water, for expressway tolls... The local entrepreneur here affirmed that he would be happier paying prices than taxes. "Starve The State," he cried out loudly.
Yes, in exchange for prices, businessmen will supply us with "goods." All that we get in exchange for our taxes are "bads." The Danda!
***********************
I HATE the danda of our The State - a State that does nothing right. A State that leeches on the people. A Predatory State.
As you all know, one danda I really hate is the Narcotics Act. It denies me good ganja. That drives me even madder. Especially in the morning. Like right now.
I therefore propose a Great Ganja Pride Parade in Goa. Let all smokers of the Holy Herb assemble, smoke and shout slogans for Liberty. And march. Let us show them our numbers. Let us show them our Anger. Let us show them our Pride - and our determination to be free from Tyranny.
Posted by Sauvik on Wednesday, May 04, 2011 0 comments
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Labels: Activism, Bastiat, Bureaucracy, Ganja, Goa, Gold, Inflation, Interventionism, Liberty, Morality, Predatory State, Privatisation, Roads, Role of State, Taxation, Union Budget
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
State Education - or How The West Was Lost
Why are the ideas of Liberty so scarce among "educated" westerners today? Why did that young German I met the other day sing praises of a "social market"? One clear answer does emerge in the following extract from Ludwig von Mises' The Anti-Capitalist Mentality (pdf here: go to Chapter 4, pages 55-56).
In dealing with the liberal social philosophy there is a disposition to overlook the power of an important factor that worked in favor of the idea of liberty, viz., the eminent role assigned to the literature of ancient Greece in the education of the elite. There were among the Greek authors also champions of government omnipotence such as Plato. But the essential tenor of Greek ideology was the pursuit of liberty. Judged by the standards of modern institutions, the Greek city states must be called oligarchies. The liberty which the Greek statesmen, philosophers and historians glorified as the most precious good of man was a privilege reserved to a minority. In denying it to metics and slaves they virtually advocated the despotic rule of a hereditary caste of oligarchs. Yet it would be a grave error to dismiss their hymns to liberty as mendacious. They were no less sincere in their praise and quest of freedom than were, two thousand years later, the slaveholders among the signers of the American Declaration of Independence. It was the political literature of the ancient Greeks that begot the ideas of the Monarchomachs, the philosophy of the Whigs, the doctrines of Althusius, Grotius and John Locke and the ideology of the fathers of modern constitutions and bills of rights. It was the classical studies, the essential feature of a liberal education, that kept awake the spirit of freedom in the England of the Stuarts, in the France of the Bourbons, and in Italy subject to the despotism of a galaxy of princes. No less a man than Bismarck, among the nineteenth-century statesmen next to Metternich the foremost foe of liberty, bears witness to the fact that, even in the Prussia of Frederick William III, the Gymnasium, the education based on Greek and Roman literature, was a stronghold of republicanism. The passionate endeavors to eliminate the classical studies from the curriculum of the liberal education and thus virtually to destroy its very character were one of the major manifestations of the revival of the servile ideology.
It is a fact that a hundred years ago only a few people anticipated the overpowering momentum which the antilibertarian ideas were destined to acquire in a very short time. The ideal of liberty seemed to be so firmly rooted that everybody thought that no reactionary movement could ever succeed in eradicating it. It is true, it would have been a hopeless venture to attack freedom openly and to advocate unfeignedly a return to subjection and bondage. But antiliberalism got hold of peoples’ minds camouflaged as superliberalism, as the fulfillment and consummation of the very ideas of freedom and liberty. It came disguised as socialism, communism, planning.
As far as Britain is concerned, Labour Party politicians have always tried to ensure the removal of classical studies from the curriculum. Indeed, here is a very recent article by Boris Johnson, the Conservative party Mayor of London, lambasting one such Labour party secretary of state for education who called for the ending of classical studies. The subtitle is apt:
How can we understand our world unless we understand the ancient world first, asks Boris Johnson.
Yes, this has been their strategy - to blind the populace by "educating" them such that they know neither History nor Theory: they are completely confused, worse than the illiterate, who at least retain their innate "common sense."
Those who get educated, for them, instead of the wisdom of the past, they only imbibe "new" - and dangerously false - ideas, from socialism to Keynesianism. Students of Economics certainly do not study classical liberalism. They know nothing of the "history of ideas."
If politicians in the West have screwed up education deliberately - and this is reflected in Mises' academic career in the USSA - then what can be said about State Education in India? - where "history" means not much more than the "freedom struggle" from 1905 to 1947. British colonial history is not studied at all any more. And as for our The State's theories - you have "Indian Economics."
We form our ideas of the social world only through Theory, and through History. If both are false, the student's mind is killed.
No politician, no political party, and no State ought to be allowed to interfere in education. This is precisely how the West got lost.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Recommended reading: Mises' Theory and History. I think students should read this book first, and then proceed to Human Action.
Posted by Sauvik on Tuesday, May 03, 2011 0 comments
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Labels: Constitutional Issues, Education, History, Liberty, Mises, Role of State
Why Osama's Ghost Is Smiling
Writes Eric Margolis, author of American Raj: Liberation or Domination?: Resolving the Conflict Between the West and the Muslim World, in a column published by LewRockwell.com:
Bin Laden is dead, but bin-Ladenism lives on. Osama’s primary goal was to end Western domination of the Muslim world, and exploitation of its resources, which he claimed were being plundered. The Western-backed dictators, generals and kings that ruled the Muslim world as overseers for foreign interests had to be overthrown proclaimed bin Laden.
The Muslim world rejected bin Laden’s bloody-mindedness and his utopian calls for a reborn Islamic caliphate, but many of its people, particularly so younger ones, embraced his calls for revolutions to liberate the region from brutal dictatorships that licked the West’s boots, spread corruption, and betrayed the cause of Palestine. Husni Mubarak’s Egypt amply fit this description.
Osama bin Laden lived long enough to see the revolutions that he had helped ignite among young people burst into towering flames. In this sense, bin Ladenism will prosper and spread, enhanced by the image of Osama the martyr.
The Saudi revolutionary leaves another legacy. He repeatedly stated that the only way to drive the US from the Muslim world and defeat its satraps was by drawing the United States into a series of small but expensive wars that would ultimately bankrupt it. The United States under President George W. Bush and then Barack Obama rushed right into bin Laden’s carefully laid trap.
Today, the nearly bankrupt United States is spending hundreds of billions annually waging small wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, and the Sahara. Grotesquely overblown military spending and debt addiction are crippling United States. That is why the ghost of bin Laden may be smiling.
Read the full article here.
Posted by Sauvik on Tuesday, May 03, 2011 0 comments
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Labels: Miscellaneous, War and Peace
Monday, 2 May 2011
The Myth of the "Philosopher-King"
Few could have missed the curious fact that, at the recent royal wedding, all the men of the British royal family were in military uniform.
The English king has always been a warlord - and not a law-maker.
Now, we have "parliamentary sovereignty" - and parliament has become the law-maker, something no English sovereign ever was. And therein lies to root of all democratic tyranny: "unlimited democracy."
As Ludwig von Mises wrote:
The main political problem is how to prevent the rulers from becoming despots and enslaving the citizenry.
Right upto the early 19th century, it was clear that THE LAW was something that was not to be tinkered with. The sovereign must provide an "exact administration of justice," wrote Adam Smith in 1776. He did not say that the sovereign must make law.
All this changed after socialism gained ascendancy - for socialists must rely on legislation. And then came the era of what Bruno Leoni called "inflated legislation." Parliaments became despotic and enslaved us all.
If we examine the Olde English Constitution, we see another sword apart from the Sword of State which the king wields - and that is the Civic Sword, which the Lord Mayor of London upholds, a sword that is older than the Magna Carta.
These merchants of the Olde City were far richer than their king. You have seen the carriages in which the royal family rode back to Buckingham Palace; below is the Lord Mayor of London's carriage - made of gold.
Capitalism, Liberty, Civil Government... they all go together. The idea: civic independence by keeping the King out of the City. Till today, the King of England cannot march his army through the Olde City without the Lord Mayor's permission. Even the title "lord" was given to the mayor by the people - and did not come from the king.
If the English king is nothing more than a warlord, what do we make of Plato's notion of a "philosopher-king"? It is nonsense, of course. The philosopher is never the king - and he must philosophise only because there is something amiss with the king.
However, in India - and in much of the world - the idea that The State must educate the young persists; the idea that The State is headed by a philosopher-king.
Our Great Leader, chacha manmohan s gandhi, is considered to be one such philosopher-king, centrally planning all economic activity - and also giving all the kids "free and compulsory education." What fools we all are. We willingly fork out the "education tax" too. A nation of fools, that's us.
A philosopher in State employ, in my opinion, is no philosopher at all. My ideal is Diogenes the Cynic, who told Alexander the Great "don't stand between me and the sun." He was an ascetic, of course, and that is what those who philosophise must be.
Ludwig von Mises said, "I will write a great deal about money, but never make much myself." That's my kind of philosopher - not manmohan.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Recommended reading: My column titled "For a Private Law Society."
I also recommend Hayek's Law, Legislation & Liberty, Vol. 1, "Rules and Order."
In addition, the reader would also benefit from Bruno Leoni's excellent Freedom & The Law.
Posted by Sauvik on Monday, May 02, 2011 1 comments
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Labels: Adam Smith, Capitalism, civil government, Constitutional Issues, Education, Philosophy, Role of State
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Our "Rightly Understood Interests"
I concluded my post of yesterday, in which I discussed the evils that arise from interventionism, with a promise to reveal to businessmen why their "rightly understood interests" lie in laissez faire. So, here goes:
Let us begin with Say's Law of Markets - a pillar of classical economics that Keynes and his acolytes hated. Jean-Baptiste Say was the "Adam Smith of France" - and John Rae records that Say travelled to Glasgow just to sit in Smith's chair at the university! Those were the days...
In a nutshell, Say's Law asserts that the production of X creates the demand for all non-X. Thus, if farmers grow wheat, this creates the demand for wine, shoes, and everything else, except wheat. This is because when the farmers sell their wheat, they will not buy wheat; rather, they will buy other goods and services.
Keynesians deliberately distorted Say's Law by teaching their unfortunate students that it means "supply creates its own demand." But the supply of wheat does not create the demand for wheat. Rather the supply of wheat creates the demand for all non-competing goods. And the demand for wheat comes from the supply of all non-competing goods. Savvy?
There are innumerable implications of Say's Law - but here I will detail only two of them: first - and this is what the Keynesians hate - that demand is created by producing goods and services, not paper money. Say's Law rules out "overproduction" - and asserts that anything produced will get sold, even as junk. That is, its price will drop until it is finally sold. This applies to labour too. Markets clear.
The second implication of Say's Law is that businessmen must see that the demand for their produce is entirely dependent on the production and sale of ALL NON-COMPETING GOODS.
Thus, when India Inc. gathers together and demands protectionist tariff barriers, they only hurt themselves. It might benefit Bajaj if foreign scooters are disallowed entry into the Indian market - but that does not benefit Mallya, whose booze would sell better if more scooters were sold, and more cars too, and TV sets as well.
So, if Bajaj, Mallya, Kurien, Tata, Mahindra et. al. lobby for protection - and get it - they all will actually come off losing, because overall demand will drop, despite all the Keynesian policies of the central bank. If cheese imports were free, for example, all except Kurien would gain. And so on...
The "collusion" between these businessmen is wrong-headed: they do not know their "true interests." They do not know the Science of Economics.
Indians of my age can find proof of the veracity of this classical law of markets by comparing demand in the years preceding 1991 to conditions today. Then, the shop shelves were bare. There was not much to be sold - and so overall demand was low. Markets possessed little catallactic energy.
Today, a host of goods and services are sold, many of them imported - like mobile phones, cameras, TV sets, jeans and so on. Cars and scooters and motorcycles are available off the shelf. Thus, the overall catallactic energy in our markets has multiplied - thereby raising the demand for everything that is NON-COMPETING.
The crux of the matter is that businesses that do not compete with each other hurt only themselves through protectionist collusion. Further, those employed in these businesses hurt themselves further as consumers. A sales manager in Bajaj
Auto in the bad old days might love his job because he has no work to do - but when he goes to market with his wages... It is there that he loses.
In yesterday's post I spoke of the "politicisation of economic life" that occurs because of interventionism - and I mentioned one of the"costs": that businessmen must devote more and more attention to cheap and dirty politics instead of simply tending to their businesses as they ought to. But there are other costs as well. If we add up all these costs of lobbying to the other costs of lowered demand and losses as consumers, surely any businessman will see that his "rightly understood interests" lie in laissez faire, in a completely Free Market.
While our businessmen mull over this, the fact remains that the vast majority are workers and peasants. For them, fully competitive, free trading societies are best - because, despite their meagre earnings, they succeed as consumers: they buy the best products in the world at the lowest prices. Thus, laissez faire - and not socialism or communism - leads to a "workers' paradise." American workers enjoy life - unlike their counterparts in the former Soviet Union. The East German worker always envied his counterpart in West Germany - who drove real cars, and not the silly Trabant.
Think it over - and you will realise laissez faire is best.
Recommended readings:
1. My old column on Say's Law, available here.
2. WH Hutt's A Rehabilitation of Say's Law, which you can download free here.
Posted by Sauvik on Sunday, May 01, 2011 1 comments
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Labels: Adam Smith, Capitalism, Constitutional Issues, Free Trade, History, Interventionism, Labour, Morality, Philosophy, Politics, Role of State, WH Hutt
Saturday, 30 April 2011
Interventionism - and The Vision of the Anointed
A question was posed by a reader today - with reference to my morning post on Prashant Bhushan & Co. - regarding corporate corruption. I have posted a reply - but let me take the discussion of this important matter to the main page.
Socialists practise "interventionism." They are always to be found loudly proclaiming that The Market may be fine - but the State must "regulate." This is their ideology. What is "regulation" and how is it carried out?
Regulations are the product of parliaments and bureaus (government departments). Parliaments produce Legislation; and bureaus are empowered by "subordinate legislation." All these rules and regulations are "enforced" upon human beings during their actions in The Market. Thus, they are unfree.
Understand this "vision of the damned": this is their "command economy." They want to turn society into a machine that must obey their commands issued via Legislation. Socialist democracy is nothing but Legislation: the "social market economy."
The immediate effect of such interventionism is what Peter Bauer called "the politicisation of economic life." Businessmen, realising they must influence the rules under which they will be regulated (by force), begin "lobbying," thereby diverting their attention to worthless politics, rather that tending to their businesses. To the uncritical eye - this is "democracy."
In the US of the 1940s, Ludwig von Mises pointed out how rampant interventionism was destroying American democracy. He said the "representatives of the people" have all become "representatives of special interests" - from agriculture to mining, to whatever. No one represents his "constituency" - and it's all about special interests. The politicisation of economic life through interventionism destroys both politics as well as democracy - and destroys the character of the business community, too.
Then, there is the Vision of the Anointed: those who see Market Society as the Wondrous Creation of God - an "order without design"; something that is "the result of human action but not human design." If humans did not design it - who did? We could call him God. His is the "invisible hand."
This is the laissez faire vision - of a completely Free Market. A natural, spontaneous order based on rules all of us follow - without knowing why. This Golden Rule of Property comes from the past. All I have done is articulate this rule - the Inviolability of Property - but I did not make this rule, nor did anyone else. It is a part of human evolution, which includes our "intellectual evolution" - an "order without design"; the "result of human action, but not human design." It took millions of years before any intellect could articulate this rule - as for example, the Greek philosopher Strabo did in 40 AD, whom I quoted in my post of yesterday.
This commercial, bazaar culture is our real "cultural heritage." It is a culture of of peaceful and gainful exchange. A "commercial culture." A bania can buy from a Scot and sell to a Jew and still emerge with a profit - or so they say in London!
This natural order of the Free Market is what Hayek called a Great Society - as did Adam Smith. And since Smith influenced Darwin, the latter's evolutionary theories also looked at the natural world as an "order without design." This cannot be coincidental.
Similarly, Frederic Bastiat, battling socialists and protectionists in France circa 1850, wrote an entire volume titled Economic Harmonies. There is no "class war." The motive of self-interest does not destroy society - rather, it enriches it, by creating Competition, which is the essence of Liberty, its biggest fruit. Everything and everyone improves all the time. "Competition is Liberty - and the Absence of Competition is Tyranny," said Bastiat.
He was a devout Catholic, and he proclaimed his faith thus: "To believe in Liberty is to believe in God - and have faith in His creation, Man."
These classical liberals believed in "natural honesty" - and the Scottish Enlightenment was all about "natural religion." This was their vision - of a natural, harmonious order among all mankind, all based on gainful trade, because God planted in all of us "a natural propensity to truck, barter and exchange."
If the State is completely separated from The Market - laissez faire, private money, free banking under law, private law, unilateral free trade - all businessmen will find that their only way to preserve and accumulate capital will be by "serving the consumer" - and not the politicians and their bureaus. Only then will corporate corruption cease.
Of course, businessmen must realise that their "rightfully understood interests" do not lie in interventionism. That is also the task of the economist. I will address that task in my post of tomorrow morning.
Recommended reading: Ludwig von Mises' Interventionism: An Economic Analysis. This was written in German in the 1940s, shortly after the Miseses had migrated to America to escape Hitler. Mises was working for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) then, and this was translated into English by two NBER staff - but never published till after his death! You can download the book from the Mises Institute here. Obviously, this is how the USA became the USSA - by preferring democracy to liberty, confusing the two, confusing means and ends.
Posted by Sauvik on Saturday, April 30, 2011 0 comments
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Labels: Bauer, Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Constitutional Issues, Economic Freedom, Interventionism, Liberty, Mises, Morality, Natural Order, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Role of State, War and Peace
Prashant Bhushan - Yet Another Socialist Lawyer
The lawyer Prashant Bhushan is a leading light of the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement currently underway, along with his father, Shanti Bhushan, who is also a lawyer.
Today, the Express reports Prashant, while speaking at a public rally, insisting that "post-1991 economic policies, and privatisation, are the root cause of corruption." To Prashant, the freeing of enterprise from the clutches of our The State is the "precise reason" why corruption has grown. Ominously, the report begins by saying:
What was initially showcased as an anti-politician front against corruption seemed to blur into an anti-economic liberalisation coalition...
Prashant was joined on the dais by Arundhati Roy, who said:
As long as we have these [liberal] economic policies in place, the National Employment Guarantee Act will never be able to do away with hunger and malnutrition, anti-corruption laws will not do away with injustice, and criminal laws will not do away with communal fascism, the twin sibling of economic totalitarianism. They will, at best, be mitigating measures. As the historian Howard Zinn said “the rule of law does not do away with the unequal distribution of wealth and power, but reinforces that inequality with the authority of law. It allocates wealth and power in such complicated and indirect ways as to leave the victim bewildered."
Arundhati Roy added that "I have known Prashant Bhushan for years. First as a comrade and now as a close friend."
Other "activists" on the podium, according to the report, were Aruna Roy who championed the MGNREGA "right to employment" and now champions the "right to food." She never supports the "right to Property."
Aruna Roy, interestingly, is a Member of the National Advisory Council attached to Sonia Gandhi.
So, these are not rebels; they are socialist sympathisers posing as rebels. They are not "against the System." They are against The Market. They are opposed to Liberty - and Property. They champion useless rights while ignoring Property. And they are led by lawyers - that is, socialist lawyers. I have just written a post against socialist judges - all of whom start off as socialist lawyers. Beware of socialist lawyers: Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah, Patel - all were socialist lawyers.
Since Prashant Bhushan is a "comrade-turned-friend" of Arundhati Roy, let us examine her words quoted above - for the two obviously agree on their politics. Let is begin with her assertion that "as long as we have these [liberal] economic policies in place, the National Employment Guarantee Act will never be able to do away with hunger and malnutrition... " Does she think that if we close all markets down, the masses will be fed by our The State? Where does The State get revenue from to feed anyone - but from wealth producers of The Market?
Arundhati Roy favourably quotes a pseudo-historian who wrote that “the rule of law does not do away with the unequal distribution of wealth and power, but reinforces that inequality with the authority of law. It allocates wealth and power in such complicated and indirect ways as to leave the victim bewildered."
This is NONSENSE!
The Rule of Law protects Private Property from State predation. Apart from the security of possession, this yields the sweet fruit of Liberty. As Mises put it:
Private property creates for the individual a sphere in which he is free of the state. It sets limits to the operation of the authoritarian will. It allows other forces to arise side by side with and in opposition to political power.
Thus, the Rule of Law does not "allocate" anything. Its motto is "to each his own." Then, with Liberty and Free Markets, individuals speculate on how they can serve their customers better, competition enters the picture, people strive, some succeed, some fail, and the previous arrangement of wealth is altered, and keeps on altering forever. Mises says:
It is precisely the necessity of making profits and avoiding losses that gives to the consumers a firm hold over the entrepreneurs and forces them to comply with the wishes of the people.
This Free Market is an "economic democracy" - and not the "economic totalitarianism" Arundhati Roy rails against. Central economic planning is totalitarian - not Free Markets, which are a creature of Liberty, and in which each is free to challenge the superiority of another - to compete. Further, as consumers are "sovereign" in The Market, and every businessman is trying to woo the consumer, there is an "economic democracy" that works even better than the political one. As Mises put it:
The market is a democracy in which every penny gives a right to vote. It is precisely the necessity of making profits and avoiding losses that gives to the consumers a firm hold over the entrepreneurs and forces them to comply with the wishes of the people.
We are "served" by businesses. We are never served by politicians and bureaucrats, who are "self-serving." They are the Predatory State. Prashant Bhushan, Arundhati Roy and Aruna Roy are actually on their side - though they may pretend otherwise.
There is either The Market - or there is The State. There is nothing else. These anti-corruption activists who are opposed to The Market are all in favour of a Bigger State - a Big Welfare State that will feed, house, clothe, educate, develop and uplift the sheeple.
They support useless "rights" - while ignoring Property, from which alone can Liberty arise. These useless rights only serve politicians and bureaucrats (whose budgets grow exponentially).
Thus, they are not against corruption; rather, they will reinforce corruption - and even enlarge it.
They are looking for State Power themselves. The Jan Lok Pal will be their little bit of The State.
In exchange, they will allow the socialists at the helm to continue to operate a Big Welfare State - which will consume all our precious Capital and therefore keep our masses permanently poverty-stricken, and our civilisation will soon collapse.
For the progress of civilisation we must "accumulate capital" - and not consume it through welfarism. All welfare is about consumption, not investment.
I have an earlier post on Anna Hazare's tin-pot dictatorship in his village.
Add to that this nonsense from his closest aide, the lawyer Prashant Bhushan, and you realise that this is another false dawn.
So, I shall stick to my prescription: The Sheeple must rise En-Masse and FORCE our The State to sign a New Magna Carta guaranteeing the inviolability of our properties, the freedom to trade by land and sea, and the freedom to run our cities and towns without interference from higher authorities. The corruption inherent in inflationism must be ended, so that our wealth is preserved with sound, hard money.
We must "Seize Liberty and End Tyranny." Our focus must be to fight tyranny, not corruption.
Our battle must be for Liberty and Property - and we must never accept any freebies doled out by The State. These freebies are paid for by us, anyway.
Lawyers are very dangerous people - look at Kapil Sibal and Arun Jaitley. Lawyers - like doctors - are a "self-regulating profession." Lawyers become judges, and lawyers teach law. Just as doctors misuse their monopoly of knowledge, so do lawyers. The only cure - the citizens must know law too. That is, the Laws of Liberty and Property.
Posted by Sauvik on Saturday, April 30, 2011 2 comments
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Labels: Activism, Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Constitutional Issues, Education, Liberty, Morality, Private Property, Rule of Law, Sound Money
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Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Money, Taxes, Prices - And A Parade
The governor of our central bank, the RBI, has assured the Sheeple that he "will do everything to bring inflation under control." The strategy he will adopt: "restrain demand pressures." As though inflation is demand-driven. Oh! We poor sheeple.
Similar sounds are also emerging from Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, the chaps who print US dollars:
In his first press conference as chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke discussed rising gasoline prices, blaming higher demand from emerging economies and Mideast oil-supply disruptions as the cause of the zooming prices. Bernanke did not mention the US government's role in the higher energy prices, and he explicitly absolved the Federal Reserve of any blame.
As Mark Brandly points out in this article (in which the above quote is the opening paragraph) on why the US Fed ought to be shut down:
Bernanke's deceitfulness is appalling, although not unexpected. He knows that Federal Reserve monetary policy plays a significant role in gasoline prices. Expansionary monetary policy leads to more dollars being available in world currency markets and weakens the dollar. The weaker dollar results in higher import prices. More than half of the oil consumed in the United States comes from foreign producers....
The word "deceitfulness" is noteworthy. It must be applied to our RBI governor, too. Inflation is a deliberate policy used to finance State expenditure - a very deceitful policy. More dollars or more rupees - the result is the same: the value of the paper note declines. Gold has crossed 23,000 rupees for 10 grams - only because the value of the rupee has fallen. Similarly, in the US, when Nixon de-linked the US dollar from gold, the yellow metal was priced at $35 an ounce. It is more than $1500 an ounce now.
Inflation is nothing but a purely monetary phenomenon - caused by an excess supply of money resulting in the fall of the purchasing power of the monetary unit. To end inflation we must end central banking. Money must be "private money." The country must be put on the gold standard.
In other words, The State must be denied the power to fund its programmes through the deceitful means of printing paper notes to pay for them.
No more MGNREGA, no "right to food" and no "right to free and compulsory education" - that is, no more welfarism to buy votes - and inflation will be ended for ever.
Remember - inflationism robs the poor of their Capital - thereby rendering them poor for ever. Welfarism never benefits the poor in the long run - see the poor in the welfare states of Europe that are now going belly up. Welfarism paid for by inflationism is NONSENSE! It is precisely the "false philathropy" combined with "legal plunder" that Frederic Bastiat warned us about in The Law. This is not socialism; this is anti-social. So much Capital Consumption will destroy our civilisation.
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But we also pay taxes! Should we continue to do so?
I was discussing taxes with a local entrepreneur here - pointing out that all we get in exchange for them is the State Danda: all manner of "inspectors" land up to collect bribes, which are an "illegal tax." We pay taxes in exchange of these bribe-taking inspectors. This is all that is "real" about our The State.
These are not just from the State Police, but also come from the labour department, the health department, the CRZ administrators, the excise department and so on and so forth.
This danda (Hindi word for "stick") is REAL. This is ALL we get for our taxes. We certainly don't get good roads, footpaths, clean cities and towns, scientific traffic management and suchlike. Over 200,000 of us are killed on our unsafe and horrible roads every year - more than get killed in a small war. Why should we pay taxes - that is, after money has been privatised and The State can no longer print paper notes to fund itself?
Think about it!
If we do not pay any taxes to The State - if business is laissez faire, if we inhabit a "private law society," and if everything is privatised, all we would have to pay for whatever we need are PRICES: for electricity, for water, for expressway tolls... The local entrepreneur here affirmed that he would be happier paying prices than taxes. "Starve The State," he cried out loudly.
Yes, in exchange for prices, businessmen will supply us with "goods." All that we get in exchange for our taxes are "bads." The Danda!
***********************
I HATE the danda of our The State - a State that does nothing right. A State that leeches on the people. A Predatory State.
As you all know, one danda I really hate is the Narcotics Act. It denies me good ganja. That drives me even madder. Especially in the morning. Like right now.
I therefore propose a Great Ganja Pride Parade in Goa. Let all smokers of the Holy Herb assemble, smoke and shout slogans for Liberty. And march. Let us show them our numbers. Let us show them our Anger. Let us show them our Pride - and our determination to be free from Tyranny.
Posted by Sauvik on Wednesday, May 04, 2011 0 comments
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Labels: Activism, Bastiat, Bureaucracy, Ganja, Goa, Gold, Inflation, Interventionism, Liberty, Morality, Predatory State, Privatisation, Roads, Role of State, Taxation, Union Budget
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
State Education - or How The West Was Lost
Why are the ideas of Liberty so scarce among "educated" westerners today? Why did that young German I met the other day sing praises of a "social market"? One clear answer does emerge in the following extract from Ludwig von Mises' The Anti-Capitalist Mentality (pdf here: go to Chapter 4, pages 55-56).
In dealing with the liberal social philosophy there is a disposition to overlook the power of an important factor that worked in favor of the idea of liberty, viz., the eminent role assigned to the literature of ancient Greece in the education of the elite. There were among the Greek authors also champions of government omnipotence such as Plato. But the essential tenor of Greek ideology was the pursuit of liberty. Judged by the standards of modern institutions, the Greek city states must be called oligarchies. The liberty which the Greek statesmen, philosophers and historians glorified as the most precious good of man was a privilege reserved to a minority. In denying it to metics and slaves they virtually advocated the despotic rule of a hereditary caste of oligarchs. Yet it would be a grave error to dismiss their hymns to liberty as mendacious. They were no less sincere in their praise and quest of freedom than were, two thousand years later, the slaveholders among the signers of the American Declaration of Independence. It was the political literature of the ancient Greeks that begot the ideas of the Monarchomachs, the philosophy of the Whigs, the doctrines of Althusius, Grotius and John Locke and the ideology of the fathers of modern constitutions and bills of rights. It was the classical studies, the essential feature of a liberal education, that kept awake the spirit of freedom in the England of the Stuarts, in the France of the Bourbons, and in Italy subject to the despotism of a galaxy of princes. No less a man than Bismarck, among the nineteenth-century statesmen next to Metternich the foremost foe of liberty, bears witness to the fact that, even in the Prussia of Frederick William III, the Gymnasium, the education based on Greek and Roman literature, was a stronghold of republicanism. The passionate endeavors to eliminate the classical studies from the curriculum of the liberal education and thus virtually to destroy its very character were one of the major manifestations of the revival of the servile ideology.
It is a fact that a hundred years ago only a few people anticipated the overpowering momentum which the antilibertarian ideas were destined to acquire in a very short time. The ideal of liberty seemed to be so firmly rooted that everybody thought that no reactionary movement could ever succeed in eradicating it. It is true, it would have been a hopeless venture to attack freedom openly and to advocate unfeignedly a return to subjection and bondage. But antiliberalism got hold of peoples’ minds camouflaged as superliberalism, as the fulfillment and consummation of the very ideas of freedom and liberty. It came disguised as socialism, communism, planning.
As far as Britain is concerned, Labour Party politicians have always tried to ensure the removal of classical studies from the curriculum. Indeed, here is a very recent article by Boris Johnson, the Conservative party Mayor of London, lambasting one such Labour party secretary of state for education who called for the ending of classical studies. The subtitle is apt:
How can we understand our world unless we understand the ancient world first, asks Boris Johnson.
Yes, this has been their strategy - to blind the populace by "educating" them such that they know neither History nor Theory: they are completely confused, worse than the illiterate, who at least retain their innate "common sense."
Those who get educated, for them, instead of the wisdom of the past, they only imbibe "new" - and dangerously false - ideas, from socialism to Keynesianism. Students of Economics certainly do not study classical liberalism. They know nothing of the "history of ideas."
If politicians in the West have screwed up education deliberately - and this is reflected in Mises' academic career in the USSA - then what can be said about State Education in India? - where "history" means not much more than the "freedom struggle" from 1905 to 1947. British colonial history is not studied at all any more. And as for our The State's theories - you have "Indian Economics."
We form our ideas of the social world only through Theory, and through History. If both are false, the student's mind is killed.
No politician, no political party, and no State ought to be allowed to interfere in education. This is precisely how the West got lost.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Recommended reading: Mises' Theory and History. I think students should read this book first, and then proceed to Human Action.
Posted by Sauvik on Tuesday, May 03, 2011 0 comments
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Labels: Constitutional Issues, Education, History, Liberty, Mises, Role of State
Why Osama's Ghost Is Smiling
Writes Eric Margolis, author of American Raj: Liberation or Domination?: Resolving the Conflict Between the West and the Muslim World, in a column published by LewRockwell.com:
Bin Laden is dead, but bin-Ladenism lives on. Osama’s primary goal was to end Western domination of the Muslim world, and exploitation of its resources, which he claimed were being plundered. The Western-backed dictators, generals and kings that ruled the Muslim world as overseers for foreign interests had to be overthrown proclaimed bin Laden.
The Muslim world rejected bin Laden’s bloody-mindedness and his utopian calls for a reborn Islamic caliphate, but many of its people, particularly so younger ones, embraced his calls for revolutions to liberate the region from brutal dictatorships that licked the West’s boots, spread corruption, and betrayed the cause of Palestine. Husni Mubarak’s Egypt amply fit this description.
Osama bin Laden lived long enough to see the revolutions that he had helped ignite among young people burst into towering flames. In this sense, bin Ladenism will prosper and spread, enhanced by the image of Osama the martyr.
The Saudi revolutionary leaves another legacy. He repeatedly stated that the only way to drive the US from the Muslim world and defeat its satraps was by drawing the United States into a series of small but expensive wars that would ultimately bankrupt it. The United States under President George W. Bush and then Barack Obama rushed right into bin Laden’s carefully laid trap.
Today, the nearly bankrupt United States is spending hundreds of billions annually waging small wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, and the Sahara. Grotesquely overblown military spending and debt addiction are crippling United States. That is why the ghost of bin Laden may be smiling.
Read the full article here.
Posted by Sauvik on Tuesday, May 03, 2011 0 comments
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Labels: Miscellaneous, War and Peace
Monday, 2 May 2011
The Myth of the "Philosopher-King"
Few could have missed the curious fact that, at the recent royal wedding, all the men of the British royal family were in military uniform.
The English king has always been a warlord - and not a law-maker.
Now, we have "parliamentary sovereignty" - and parliament has become the law-maker, something no English sovereign ever was. And therein lies to root of all democratic tyranny: "unlimited democracy."
As Ludwig von Mises wrote:
The main political problem is how to prevent the rulers from becoming despots and enslaving the citizenry.
Right upto the early 19th century, it was clear that THE LAW was something that was not to be tinkered with. The sovereign must provide an "exact administration of justice," wrote Adam Smith in 1776. He did not say that the sovereign must make law.
All this changed after socialism gained ascendancy - for socialists must rely on legislation. And then came the era of what Bruno Leoni called "inflated legislation." Parliaments became despotic and enslaved us all.
If we examine the Olde English Constitution, we see another sword apart from the Sword of State which the king wields - and that is the Civic Sword, which the Lord Mayor of London upholds, a sword that is older than the Magna Carta.
These merchants of the Olde City were far richer than their king. You have seen the carriages in which the royal family rode back to Buckingham Palace; below is the Lord Mayor of London's carriage - made of gold.
Capitalism, Liberty, Civil Government... they all go together. The idea: civic independence by keeping the King out of the City. Till today, the King of England cannot march his army through the Olde City without the Lord Mayor's permission. Even the title "lord" was given to the mayor by the people - and did not come from the king.
If the English king is nothing more than a warlord, what do we make of Plato's notion of a "philosopher-king"? It is nonsense, of course. The philosopher is never the king - and he must philosophise only because there is something amiss with the king.
However, in India - and in much of the world - the idea that The State must educate the young persists; the idea that The State is headed by a philosopher-king.
Our Great Leader, chacha manmohan s gandhi, is considered to be one such philosopher-king, centrally planning all economic activity - and also giving all the kids "free and compulsory education." What fools we all are. We willingly fork out the "education tax" too. A nation of fools, that's us.
A philosopher in State employ, in my opinion, is no philosopher at all. My ideal is Diogenes the Cynic, who told Alexander the Great "don't stand between me and the sun." He was an ascetic, of course, and that is what those who philosophise must be.
Ludwig von Mises said, "I will write a great deal about money, but never make much myself." That's my kind of philosopher - not manmohan.
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Recommended reading: My column titled "For a Private Law Society."
I also recommend Hayek's Law, Legislation & Liberty, Vol. 1, "Rules and Order."
In addition, the reader would also benefit from Bruno Leoni's excellent Freedom & The Law.
Posted by Sauvik on Monday, May 02, 2011 1 comments
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Labels: Adam Smith, Capitalism, civil government, Constitutional Issues, Education, Philosophy, Role of State
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Our "Rightly Understood Interests"
I concluded my post of yesterday, in which I discussed the evils that arise from interventionism, with a promise to reveal to businessmen why their "rightly understood interests" lie in laissez faire. So, here goes:
Let us begin with Say's Law of Markets - a pillar of classical economics that Keynes and his acolytes hated. Jean-Baptiste Say was the "Adam Smith of France" - and John Rae records that Say travelled to Glasgow just to sit in Smith's chair at the university! Those were the days...
In a nutshell, Say's Law asserts that the production of X creates the demand for all non-X. Thus, if farmers grow wheat, this creates the demand for wine, shoes, and everything else, except wheat. This is because when the farmers sell their wheat, they will not buy wheat; rather, they will buy other goods and services.
Keynesians deliberately distorted Say's Law by teaching their unfortunate students that it means "supply creates its own demand." But the supply of wheat does not create the demand for wheat. Rather the supply of wheat creates the demand for all non-competing goods. And the demand for wheat comes from the supply of all non-competing goods. Savvy?
There are innumerable implications of Say's Law - but here I will detail only two of them: first - and this is what the Keynesians hate - that demand is created by producing goods and services, not paper money. Say's Law rules out "overproduction" - and asserts that anything produced will get sold, even as junk. That is, its price will drop until it is finally sold. This applies to labour too. Markets clear.
The second implication of Say's Law is that businessmen must see that the demand for their produce is entirely dependent on the production and sale of ALL NON-COMPETING GOODS.
Thus, when India Inc. gathers together and demands protectionist tariff barriers, they only hurt themselves. It might benefit Bajaj if foreign scooters are disallowed entry into the Indian market - but that does not benefit Mallya, whose booze would sell better if more scooters were sold, and more cars too, and TV sets as well.
So, if Bajaj, Mallya, Kurien, Tata, Mahindra et. al. lobby for protection - and get it - they all will actually come off losing, because overall demand will drop, despite all the Keynesian policies of the central bank. If cheese imports were free, for example, all except Kurien would gain. And so on...
The "collusion" between these businessmen is wrong-headed: they do not know their "true interests." They do not know the Science of Economics.
Indians of my age can find proof of the veracity of this classical law of markets by comparing demand in the years preceding 1991 to conditions today. Then, the shop shelves were bare. There was not much to be sold - and so overall demand was low. Markets possessed little catallactic energy.
Today, a host of goods and services are sold, many of them imported - like mobile phones, cameras, TV sets, jeans and so on. Cars and scooters and motorcycles are available off the shelf. Thus, the overall catallactic energy in our markets has multiplied - thereby raising the demand for everything that is NON-COMPETING.
The crux of the matter is that businesses that do not compete with each other hurt only themselves through protectionist collusion. Further, those employed in these businesses hurt themselves further as consumers. A sales manager in Bajaj
Auto in the bad old days might love his job because he has no work to do - but when he goes to market with his wages... It is there that he loses.
In yesterday's post I spoke of the "politicisation of economic life" that occurs because of interventionism - and I mentioned one of the"costs": that businessmen must devote more and more attention to cheap and dirty politics instead of simply tending to their businesses as they ought to. But there are other costs as well. If we add up all these costs of lobbying to the other costs of lowered demand and losses as consumers, surely any businessman will see that his "rightly understood interests" lie in laissez faire, in a completely Free Market.
While our businessmen mull over this, the fact remains that the vast majority are workers and peasants. For them, fully competitive, free trading societies are best - because, despite their meagre earnings, they succeed as consumers: they buy the best products in the world at the lowest prices. Thus, laissez faire - and not socialism or communism - leads to a "workers' paradise." American workers enjoy life - unlike their counterparts in the former Soviet Union. The East German worker always envied his counterpart in West Germany - who drove real cars, and not the silly Trabant.
Think it over - and you will realise laissez faire is best.
Recommended readings:
1. My old column on Say's Law, available here.
2. WH Hutt's A Rehabilitation of Say's Law, which you can download free here.
Posted by Sauvik on Sunday, May 01, 2011 1 comments
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Labels: Adam Smith, Capitalism, Constitutional Issues, Free Trade, History, Interventionism, Labour, Morality, Philosophy, Politics, Role of State, WH Hutt
Saturday, 30 April 2011
Interventionism - and The Vision of the Anointed
A question was posed by a reader today - with reference to my morning post on Prashant Bhushan & Co. - regarding corporate corruption. I have posted a reply - but let me take the discussion of this important matter to the main page.
Socialists practise "interventionism." They are always to be found loudly proclaiming that The Market may be fine - but the State must "regulate." This is their ideology. What is "regulation" and how is it carried out?
Regulations are the product of parliaments and bureaus (government departments). Parliaments produce Legislation; and bureaus are empowered by "subordinate legislation." All these rules and regulations are "enforced" upon human beings during their actions in The Market. Thus, they are unfree.
Understand this "vision of the damned": this is their "command economy." They want to turn society into a machine that must obey their commands issued via Legislation. Socialist democracy is nothing but Legislation: the "social market economy."
The immediate effect of such interventionism is what Peter Bauer called "the politicisation of economic life." Businessmen, realising they must influence the rules under which they will be regulated (by force), begin "lobbying," thereby diverting their attention to worthless politics, rather that tending to their businesses. To the uncritical eye - this is "democracy."
In the US of the 1940s, Ludwig von Mises pointed out how rampant interventionism was destroying American democracy. He said the "representatives of the people" have all become "representatives of special interests" - from agriculture to mining, to whatever. No one represents his "constituency" - and it's all about special interests. The politicisation of economic life through interventionism destroys both politics as well as democracy - and destroys the character of the business community, too.
Then, there is the Vision of the Anointed: those who see Market Society as the Wondrous Creation of God - an "order without design"; something that is "the result of human action but not human design." If humans did not design it - who did? We could call him God. His is the "invisible hand."
This is the laissez faire vision - of a completely Free Market. A natural, spontaneous order based on rules all of us follow - without knowing why. This Golden Rule of Property comes from the past. All I have done is articulate this rule - the Inviolability of Property - but I did not make this rule, nor did anyone else. It is a part of human evolution, which includes our "intellectual evolution" - an "order without design"; the "result of human action, but not human design." It took millions of years before any intellect could articulate this rule - as for example, the Greek philosopher Strabo did in 40 AD, whom I quoted in my post of yesterday.
This commercial, bazaar culture is our real "cultural heritage." It is a culture of of peaceful and gainful exchange. A "commercial culture." A bania can buy from a Scot and sell to a Jew and still emerge with a profit - or so they say in London!
This natural order of the Free Market is what Hayek called a Great Society - as did Adam Smith. And since Smith influenced Darwin, the latter's evolutionary theories also looked at the natural world as an "order without design." This cannot be coincidental.
Similarly, Frederic Bastiat, battling socialists and protectionists in France circa 1850, wrote an entire volume titled Economic Harmonies. There is no "class war." The motive of self-interest does not destroy society - rather, it enriches it, by creating Competition, which is the essence of Liberty, its biggest fruit. Everything and everyone improves all the time. "Competition is Liberty - and the Absence of Competition is Tyranny," said Bastiat.
He was a devout Catholic, and he proclaimed his faith thus: "To believe in Liberty is to believe in God - and have faith in His creation, Man."
These classical liberals believed in "natural honesty" - and the Scottish Enlightenment was all about "natural religion." This was their vision - of a natural, harmonious order among all mankind, all based on gainful trade, because God planted in all of us "a natural propensity to truck, barter and exchange."
If the State is completely separated from The Market - laissez faire, private money, free banking under law, private law, unilateral free trade - all businessmen will find that their only way to preserve and accumulate capital will be by "serving the consumer" - and not the politicians and their bureaus. Only then will corporate corruption cease.
Of course, businessmen must realise that their "rightfully understood interests" do not lie in interventionism. That is also the task of the economist. I will address that task in my post of tomorrow morning.
Recommended reading: Ludwig von Mises' Interventionism: An Economic Analysis. This was written in German in the 1940s, shortly after the Miseses had migrated to America to escape Hitler. Mises was working for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) then, and this was translated into English by two NBER staff - but never published till after his death! You can download the book from the Mises Institute here. Obviously, this is how the USA became the USSA - by preferring democracy to liberty, confusing the two, confusing means and ends.
Posted by Sauvik on Saturday, April 30, 2011 0 comments
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Labels: Bauer, Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Constitutional Issues, Economic Freedom, Interventionism, Liberty, Mises, Morality, Natural Order, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Role of State, War and Peace
Prashant Bhushan - Yet Another Socialist Lawyer
The lawyer Prashant Bhushan is a leading light of the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement currently underway, along with his father, Shanti Bhushan, who is also a lawyer.
Today, the Express reports Prashant, while speaking at a public rally, insisting that "post-1991 economic policies, and privatisation, are the root cause of corruption." To Prashant, the freeing of enterprise from the clutches of our The State is the "precise reason" why corruption has grown. Ominously, the report begins by saying:
What was initially showcased as an anti-politician front against corruption seemed to blur into an anti-economic liberalisation coalition...
Prashant was joined on the dais by Arundhati Roy, who said:
As long as we have these [liberal] economic policies in place, the National Employment Guarantee Act will never be able to do away with hunger and malnutrition, anti-corruption laws will not do away with injustice, and criminal laws will not do away with communal fascism, the twin sibling of economic totalitarianism. They will, at best, be mitigating measures. As the historian Howard Zinn said “the rule of law does not do away with the unequal distribution of wealth and power, but reinforces that inequality with the authority of law. It allocates wealth and power in such complicated and indirect ways as to leave the victim bewildered."
Arundhati Roy added that "I have known Prashant Bhushan for years. First as a comrade and now as a close friend."
Other "activists" on the podium, according to the report, were Aruna Roy who championed the MGNREGA "right to employment" and now champions the "right to food." She never supports the "right to Property."
Aruna Roy, interestingly, is a Member of the National Advisory Council attached to Sonia Gandhi.
So, these are not rebels; they are socialist sympathisers posing as rebels. They are not "against the System." They are against The Market. They are opposed to Liberty - and Property. They champion useless rights while ignoring Property. And they are led by lawyers - that is, socialist lawyers. I have just written a post against socialist judges - all of whom start off as socialist lawyers. Beware of socialist lawyers: Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah, Patel - all were socialist lawyers.
Since Prashant Bhushan is a "comrade-turned-friend" of Arundhati Roy, let us examine her words quoted above - for the two obviously agree on their politics. Let is begin with her assertion that "as long as we have these [liberal] economic policies in place, the National Employment Guarantee Act will never be able to do away with hunger and malnutrition... " Does she think that if we close all markets down, the masses will be fed by our The State? Where does The State get revenue from to feed anyone - but from wealth producers of The Market?
Arundhati Roy favourably quotes a pseudo-historian who wrote that “the rule of law does not do away with the unequal distribution of wealth and power, but reinforces that inequality with the authority of law. It allocates wealth and power in such complicated and indirect ways as to leave the victim bewildered."
This is NONSENSE!
The Rule of Law protects Private Property from State predation. Apart from the security of possession, this yields the sweet fruit of Liberty. As Mises put it:
Private property creates for the individual a sphere in which he is free of the state. It sets limits to the operation of the authoritarian will. It allows other forces to arise side by side with and in opposition to political power.
Thus, the Rule of Law does not "allocate" anything. Its motto is "to each his own." Then, with Liberty and Free Markets, individuals speculate on how they can serve their customers better, competition enters the picture, people strive, some succeed, some fail, and the previous arrangement of wealth is altered, and keeps on altering forever. Mises says:
It is precisely the necessity of making profits and avoiding losses that gives to the consumers a firm hold over the entrepreneurs and forces them to comply with the wishes of the people.
This Free Market is an "economic democracy" - and not the "economic totalitarianism" Arundhati Roy rails against. Central economic planning is totalitarian - not Free Markets, which are a creature of Liberty, and in which each is free to challenge the superiority of another - to compete. Further, as consumers are "sovereign" in The Market, and every businessman is trying to woo the consumer, there is an "economic democracy" that works even better than the political one. As Mises put it:
The market is a democracy in which every penny gives a right to vote. It is precisely the necessity of making profits and avoiding losses that gives to the consumers a firm hold over the entrepreneurs and forces them to comply with the wishes of the people.
We are "served" by businesses. We are never served by politicians and bureaucrats, who are "self-serving." They are the Predatory State. Prashant Bhushan, Arundhati Roy and Aruna Roy are actually on their side - though they may pretend otherwise.
There is either The Market - or there is The State. There is nothing else. These anti-corruption activists who are opposed to The Market are all in favour of a Bigger State - a Big Welfare State that will feed, house, clothe, educate, develop and uplift the sheeple.
They support useless "rights" - while ignoring Property, from which alone can Liberty arise. These useless rights only serve politicians and bureaucrats (whose budgets grow exponentially).
Thus, they are not against corruption; rather, they will reinforce corruption - and even enlarge it.
They are looking for State Power themselves. The Jan Lok Pal will be their little bit of The State.
In exchange, they will allow the socialists at the helm to continue to operate a Big Welfare State - which will consume all our precious Capital and therefore keep our masses permanently poverty-stricken, and our civilisation will soon collapse.
For the progress of civilisation we must "accumulate capital" - and not consume it through welfarism. All welfare is about consumption, not investment.
I have an earlier post on Anna Hazare's tin-pot dictatorship in his village.
Add to that this nonsense from his closest aide, the lawyer Prashant Bhushan, and you realise that this is another false dawn.
So, I shall stick to my prescription: The Sheeple must rise En-Masse and FORCE our The State to sign a New Magna Carta guaranteeing the inviolability of our properties, the freedom to trade by land and sea, and the freedom to run our cities and towns without interference from higher authorities. The corruption inherent in inflationism must be ended, so that our wealth is preserved with sound, hard money.
We must "Seize Liberty and End Tyranny." Our focus must be to fight tyranny, not corruption.
Our battle must be for Liberty and Property - and we must never accept any freebies doled out by The State. These freebies are paid for by us, anyway.
Lawyers are very dangerous people - look at Kapil Sibal and Arun Jaitley. Lawyers - like doctors - are a "self-regulating profession." Lawyers become judges, and lawyers teach law. Just as doctors misuse their monopoly of knowledge, so do lawyers. The only cure - the citizens must know law too. That is, the Laws of Liberty and Property.
Posted by Sauvik on Saturday, April 30, 2011 2 comments
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Labels: Activism, Bureaucracy, Capitalism, Constitutional Issues, Education, Liberty, Morality, Private Property, Rule of Law, Sound Money
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▼ 2011 (108)
▼ May (5)
Money, Taxes, Prices - And A Parade
State Education - or How The West Was Lost
Why Osama's Ghost Is Smiling
The Myth of the "Philosopher-King"
Our "Rightly Understood Interests"
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To End Corruption, End Statism
Anna Hazare and his cohorts have thought of a strange way to end corruption - by creating another job for another bureaucrat in our The Sta...
Get An Illegal Gun, Dude
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Prashant Bhushan - Yet Another Socialist Lawyer
The lawyer Prashant Bhushan is a leading light of the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement currently underway, along with his father, Sh...
Goa's Image - Good & Bad
The "image of Goa" is a big issue here these days, what with a Bollywood film on the "drug scene" being shot here. The majority opinion seem...
Happiness @ One Rupee
It looked like an ordinary pack of gutka or paan masala. But "Ananda Munakka" was different. A Dutch tourist handed a packet to me with the...
What Is "Governance"?
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Ashoka's Chakra... And Gandhi's Charkha
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Ganja-Charas, Alcohol, Tobacco - And Public Health
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The Horrendous Prohibition In Gujarat
I have spent a week or more in Gujarat, supposedly one of India's richest and best governed states. I am currently preparing a monograph-tra...
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Objectivist Mantra: Really funny book - Disorder in the American Courts
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Pure political smear from Walter Williams, or is there any factoid to back his claim?
More from this author
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub Walter Williams wrote a column a dozen years ago in which he made some wild claims about Stanford population biologist Paul Ehrlich. What did he really say? Stanford University Prof. Paul R. Ehrlich - L A Cicero image Williams wrote: Paul Ehrlich wrote The Population Bomb, widely read on college campuses during the late sixties. Ehrlich predicted that there’d be a major food shortage in the U.S. and “in the 1970s . . . hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death.” He forecast that 65 million Americans would die of starvation between 1980 and 1989, adn that by 1999 the U.S. population would have declined to 22.6 million. Ehrlich’s predictions about England were worse: “If I were a gambler, I would take even money tht England will not exist in the year 2000.” Walter Williams, More Liberty Means Less Government: Our founders knew this well, Hoover Institution Press Publication No. 453, 1999, p. 134 Recently Williams revived that cla
Related posts from Applying philosophy to life
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Externalities 2 years ago
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A new blog on business, economics and free enterprise 2 years ago
Political systems and success 2 years ago
Poverty 2 years ago
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Specialization – Applied Philosophy – 3 2 years ago
More from this blog
The Latest Posts in Economics
Recently posted on WordPress.com Subscribe
Sesame Street Program Teaches Kids About Money
Cambridge Credit Counseling Corp.
We’re all kids at heart, which is why I was excited to learn about the new Sesame Streetfinancial literacy program, For Me, For You, For Later: First Steps to Spending, Sharing, and Saving. The Sesame Street staff worked with PNC Bank to create the program, which is a bilingual multimedia initiative designed to help develop a child’s knowledge of the financial basics. Instead of the traditional curriculum, which often begins by establishing the relationship between coins and paper money, this program takes a more creative and entertaining approach. If you’ve been searching for a fun and engaging way to educate your child about money, a visit to sesamestreet.org/save will give you access to a variety of free activities and videos to help your youngster build a strong financial foundation. For Me, For You, For Later focuses on three financial concepts – Choices; Value; and Spending, Saving, and Sharing. One thing you’ll like about the curriculum is that it uses everyday concepts that 3
Seven Reasons to Oppose Higher Taxes
International Liberty
As I have explained elsewhere, tax increases are a bad idea – unless you favor bigger government. And I’ve already added my two cents to the tax debate between Senator Coburn and Grover Norquist regarding the desirability of higher taxes. So it won’t surprise anyone to know that I fully agree with this new video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, which offers seven reasons why higher taxes are a bad idea. The video is narrated by Piyali Bhattacharya of Young Americans for Liberty, and here are her seven reasons. Tax increases are not needed Tax increases encourage more spending Tax increases harm economic performance Tax increases foment social discord Tax increases almost never raise as much revenue as projected Tax increases encourage more loopholes Tax increases undermine competitiveness I think reasons #1, #2, #3, and #5 are the most powerful. To a considerable degree, my video on balancing the budget makes the same point as reason #1 about why higher tax
Portugal reaches deal on bailout
The Young Raging Bull
Debt-ravaged Portugal becomes the third eurozone country in a year to receive financial aid, after agreeing to a three-year 78 billion euro ($116 billion) bailout from the European Union and IMF on Tuesday. As with earlier bailouts to Greece and Ireland, economic reforms are to sweep the country – namely strict deficit reductions combined with austerity programs. The deficit will have to be cut to 5.9% of GDP this year, 4.5% in 2012 and 3% in 2013. Portugal’s economy is expected to contract this year as a result of the latest set of austerity measures. PM Jose Socrates said the three-year loan was a “good agreement that defends Portugal” in a televised statement. While agreed upon, the debt relief package, along with its reforms, is tied to approval by Portugal’s main opposition party, which has already rejected cutbacks to fight the debt mountain. The Social Democrats released a statement today saying that the party will have to analyze the bailout and will take a decision on whether
Good Intentions and Bad Math . . .
GenXMoney
+1 more image
Silly me. I thought he’d outgrown them or something
Jonah said/Ben said
Exploring Sovereign Wealth Funds
Steve Blizard's Blog
Fuel on the fire
Materialism is our god
Eco Living Magazine
+1 more image
DIY Chicken Feeder – Salad Greens – Hold The Vinegar And Olive Oil
Town & Country Farming
Economics hip-hop music video
RickMcCharles.com
Brian found a site that actually makes Economics interesting. “Fight of the Century” is the new economics hip-hop music video by John Papola and Russ Roberts at EconStories.tv. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Great Recession ended almost two years ago, in the summer of 2009. Yet we’re all uneasy. Job growth has been disappointing. The recovery seems fragile. Where should we head from here? Is that question even meaningful? Can the government steer the economy or have past attempts helped create the mess we’re still in? In “Fight of the Century”, Keynes and Hayek weigh in on these central questions. Do we need more government spending or less? What’s the evidence that government spending promotes prosperity in troubled times? Can war or natural disasters paradoxically be good for an economy in a slump? Should more spending come from the top down or from the bottom up? What are the ult
Now, If We Can Only Blame This Cooling Thing On Greedy Capitalists
Grantcoulson's Blog
Do not think about, write about or deal with human behavior without determining the effects of incentives. One of the characteristics of politicians is to confuse what they intend to do with what they do and what they accomplish. The Hysteria About Global Warming–We must act now–It may be to late already- must dissolve if the data upon which it is based is wrong. The Global Warmists who have used the term denier as synonym for foolish and stupid now have to deny the temperature fall. Curious, isn’t it?. Lawrence Solomon National Post May 4, 2011 Global cooling in the wind Tornadoes are associated with episodes of great temperature contrasts, often involving unseasonably cold air colliding with warm air. During the 1960s and 1970s, when global temperatures cooled so much that scientists believed we were entering a period of global cooling, the number of tornadoes rose. 1973, which saw 1,100 tornadoes in the United Stat
Wal-Mart to Spend $ 759 Million in Brazil this year
Finbel's Blog
BRASILIA / SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N), The World's Biggest Retailer, Will invest 1.2 billion reais ($ 759 million) in Brazil this year to tap buoyant consumer demand in Latin America's Largest Economy, The Unit's Said one top executive Tuesday. Wal-Mart Brazil Chief Executive Marcos Samaha Told reporters in Brasilia Thats the plan to build 80 new AIMS blinds Including Hypermarkets, discount stores, warehouse retailing units and grocery shops by The End of the Year, Creating Jobs 7.000. Wal-Mart's plans underscore icts Growing interest in Brazil, WHERE IS consommation solidly Supported by record job creation and rising WAGES year have millions join Emerging middle class cash advance loan no fax.More than half of the New blinds Will Focus on serving lower middle-class families – the bulk of Consumers in the nation's 190 million. "Our investment plan goes in line With The Social and Economic Development Plan cette country,
Reduced Corruption key to Asia’s rise: ADB
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger
May 4, 2011 Reduced corruption is key to Asia’s rise: ADB By Ian Timberlake (AFP) HANOI — Reducing corruption and improving government accountability are the greatest challenges to making Asia the world’s wealthiest region by 2050, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said. The continent is undergoing a historic transformation, according to a study for the bank unveiled at its annual meeting in Vietnam.”If it continues to grow on its recent trajectory, it could, by 2050, account for more than half of global gross domestic product (GDP), trade and investment, and enjoy widespread affluence,” the report said. Asia’s proportion of global GDP, rising from 27 percent last year, would match its share of global population and a per capita income of $38,600 would leave the region as well off as Europe is today, it said. Countries from the Pacific Ocean to Central Asia face many challenges if they are to achieve this, but underlying them all is a need for stronger ins
It’s the economy stupid
Reality Checkpoint
Why is the post not like it used to be? Looking back over the years always brings amusement and we always think our own perspective to be unique. In the UK it is easy to gripe about how the Royal Mail isn’t as good as it used to be; in the 70s we had two posts per day (and second class generally meant second post), cancellation of the Sunday delivery was a huge event and it was common to get the post delivered before leaving for school, allowing for birthday cards to be opened. Nowadays we get a delivery most days (though it seems not every day), first class might arrive the next day and prices of stamps seem exorbitant. Curiously if one reads the Victorian novel then for a penny it was quite common for the main character to receive a letter from London at breakfast, send a reply and then have a further reply arrive before tea! This may be somewhat exaggerated but clearly a better service than one got in the 70s! Businesses are systems Now the Royal Mail is a complex system, it t
A redistribution effect of minimum wage legislation
Random thoughts of an economist
Consider the low-end boutique market. The low-end market is rather competitive. Barrier to entry is almost none. A typical boutique will buy clothes from other countries (likely mainland China) and sell them in Hong Kong. To operate a boutique, we will need to rent a shop space, hire some salespersons, etc. The “etc” can include a lot of things that I do not want to talk about. I would like to focus on rental and wage of salespersons. Imagine that there is an influx of uneducated immigrants. Since sales do not require much skill, an un-educated, unskilled person can do the job. Thus, we expect the influx will lower the wage of salespersons in these low-end boutique. If a typical boutique was earning a zero profit before, the lower wage due to the influx will give the boutique a positive profit. Did I say positive profit? With an increase in profit, a lot of people will find operating a boutique more attractive. Since there is no barrier to entry, some will want
Village to close after contributing nothing to local Tesco
@ggregator
(NewsBiscuit - The news before it happens) A 1000 year old Oxfordshire village is to close after it was deemed not to be economically viable to the local Tesco superstore. Villagers received the news at a tense public consultation meeting last night when Councillor Shapley revealed that not a single person from the historic village of Stony Bridgeford shops or works in the Tesco store a few hundred metres away. ‘It’s no good being sentimental about these things. In this modern competitive environment, villages either have to pay their way as far as the supermarkets are concerned or face closure.’ There had been some hope of keeping the village open, and just closing down some of the older and more annoying residents as a compromise but this was rejected as impracticable. David Gordon representing the village commented ‘We are devastated by this ruling from the local council. We have been good neighbours to Tesco and never gave them any bother despite having lorries thundering through t
Dollar Rises Against Euro, Pound
Djonbri's Blog
NEW YORK – The dollar mixed Tuesday as investors WAS Continued to weigh The Impact of Osama bin Laden's Death on the world economy. The U.S. dollar Against the euro rising WAS and pound Tuesday, falling to WAS Against the yen and hit a record low Against the Swiss franc. "There Is Some fear of retaliation attacks after The Death of Osama Bin Laden," Said Camilla Sutton, currency strategist at Scotia Capital in Toronto. "There Is Some risk aversion going on." Investors Consider the dollar, yen and Swiss franc to Be safe-haven assets tends to rise And They Düring times of global turmoil. The dollar in decline HAD Been Over the past few "weeks as investors Expected The Federal Reserve Would Keep Interest Rates Low. Central banks overseas are raising interest rates. Higher rats tends to make currencies more attractive to investors seeking "high yield paperless payday loans. In afternoon trading Tuesday in New York, The Euro Fell to $ 1.4835 from $ 1
Blood and Oil
Learning from Dogs
Continuing the thoughts of Michael Klare. (My apologies, this is a difficult week for me as I prepare for a course that starts on the 11th May. So posts may be a little thinner than usual.) Yesterday, I wrote about an article by Michael Klare on the theme of the avenging planet. While researching for that piece, I came across a film that Klare has produced called Blood and Oil. It seemed worth mentioning it on Learning from Dogs. Here’s the synopsis, The notion that oil motivates America’s military engagements in the Middle East has long been dismissed as nonsense or mere conspiracy theory. Blood and Oil, a new documentary based on the critically-acclaimed work of Nation magazine defense correspondent Michael T. Klare, challenges this conventional wisdom to correct the historical record. The film unearths declassified documents and highlights forgotten passages in prominent presidential doctrines to show how concerns about oil have been at the core of American foreign po
Page 2 →
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Featured Posts
Pure political smear from Walter Williams, or is there any factoid to back his claim?
More from this author
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub Walter Williams wrote a column a dozen years ago in which he made some wild claims about Stanford population biologist Paul Ehrlich. What did he really say? Stanford University Prof. Paul R. Ehrlich - L A Cicero image Williams wrote: Paul Ehrlich wrote The Population Bomb, widely read on college campuses during the late sixties. Ehrlich predicted that there’d be a major food shortage in the U.S. and “in the 1970s . . . hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death.” He forecast that 65 million Americans would die of starvation between 1980 and 1989, adn that by 1999 the U.S. population would have declined to 22.6 million. Ehrlich’s predictions about England were worse: “If I were a gambler, I would take even money tht England will not exist in the year 2000.” Walter Williams, More Liberty Means Less Government: Our founders knew this well, Hoover Institution Press Publication No. 453, 1999, p. 134 Recently Williams revived that cla
Related posts from Applying philosophy to life
2G and the real scam 2 months ago
Externalities 2 years ago
Social planning 2 years ago
Economics in one unlearnt lesson 2 years ago
A new blog on business, economics and free enterprise 2 years ago
Political systems and success 2 years ago
Poverty 2 years ago
Book Review: The Future of Freedom 2 years ago
Specialization – Applied Philosophy – 3 2 years ago
More from this blog
The Latest Posts in Economics
Recently posted on WordPress.com Subscribe
Sesame Street Program Teaches Kids About Money
Cambridge Credit Counseling Corp.
We’re all kids at heart, which is why I was excited to learn about the new Sesame Streetfinancial literacy program, For Me, For You, For Later: First Steps to Spending, Sharing, and Saving. The Sesame Street staff worked with PNC Bank to create the program, which is a bilingual multimedia initiative designed to help develop a child’s knowledge of the financial basics. Instead of the traditional curriculum, which often begins by establishing the relationship between coins and paper money, this program takes a more creative and entertaining approach. If you’ve been searching for a fun and engaging way to educate your child about money, a visit to sesamestreet.org/save will give you access to a variety of free activities and videos to help your youngster build a strong financial foundation. For Me, For You, For Later focuses on three financial concepts – Choices; Value; and Spending, Saving, and Sharing. One thing you’ll like about the curriculum is that it uses everyday concepts that 3
Seven Reasons to Oppose Higher Taxes
International Liberty
As I have explained elsewhere, tax increases are a bad idea – unless you favor bigger government. And I’ve already added my two cents to the tax debate between Senator Coburn and Grover Norquist regarding the desirability of higher taxes. So it won’t surprise anyone to know that I fully agree with this new video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, which offers seven reasons why higher taxes are a bad idea. The video is narrated by Piyali Bhattacharya of Young Americans for Liberty, and here are her seven reasons. Tax increases are not needed Tax increases encourage more spending Tax increases harm economic performance Tax increases foment social discord Tax increases almost never raise as much revenue as projected Tax increases encourage more loopholes Tax increases undermine competitiveness I think reasons #1, #2, #3, and #5 are the most powerful. To a considerable degree, my video on balancing the budget makes the same point as reason #1 about why higher tax
Portugal reaches deal on bailout
The Young Raging Bull
Debt-ravaged Portugal becomes the third eurozone country in a year to receive financial aid, after agreeing to a three-year 78 billion euro ($116 billion) bailout from the European Union and IMF on Tuesday. As with earlier bailouts to Greece and Ireland, economic reforms are to sweep the country – namely strict deficit reductions combined with austerity programs. The deficit will have to be cut to 5.9% of GDP this year, 4.5% in 2012 and 3% in 2013. Portugal’s economy is expected to contract this year as a result of the latest set of austerity measures. PM Jose Socrates said the three-year loan was a “good agreement that defends Portugal” in a televised statement. While agreed upon, the debt relief package, along with its reforms, is tied to approval by Portugal’s main opposition party, which has already rejected cutbacks to fight the debt mountain. The Social Democrats released a statement today saying that the party will have to analyze the bailout and will take a decision on whether
Good Intentions and Bad Math . . .
GenXMoney
+1 more image
Silly me. I thought he’d outgrown them or something
Jonah said/Ben said
Exploring Sovereign Wealth Funds
Steve Blizard's Blog
Fuel on the fire
Materialism is our god
Eco Living Magazine
+1 more image
DIY Chicken Feeder – Salad Greens – Hold The Vinegar And Olive Oil
Town & Country Farming
Economics hip-hop music video
RickMcCharles.com
Brian found a site that actually makes Economics interesting. “Fight of the Century” is the new economics hip-hop music video by John Papola and Russ Roberts at EconStories.tv. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Great Recession ended almost two years ago, in the summer of 2009. Yet we’re all uneasy. Job growth has been disappointing. The recovery seems fragile. Where should we head from here? Is that question even meaningful? Can the government steer the economy or have past attempts helped create the mess we’re still in? In “Fight of the Century”, Keynes and Hayek weigh in on these central questions. Do we need more government spending or less? What’s the evidence that government spending promotes prosperity in troubled times? Can war or natural disasters paradoxically be good for an economy in a slump? Should more spending come from the top down or from the bottom up? What are the ult
Now, If We Can Only Blame This Cooling Thing On Greedy Capitalists
Grantcoulson's Blog
Do not think about, write about or deal with human behavior without determining the effects of incentives. One of the characteristics of politicians is to confuse what they intend to do with what they do and what they accomplish. The Hysteria About Global Warming–We must act now–It may be to late already- must dissolve if the data upon which it is based is wrong. The Global Warmists who have used the term denier as synonym for foolish and stupid now have to deny the temperature fall. Curious, isn’t it?. Lawrence Solomon National Post May 4, 2011 Global cooling in the wind Tornadoes are associated with episodes of great temperature contrasts, often involving unseasonably cold air colliding with warm air. During the 1960s and 1970s, when global temperatures cooled so much that scientists believed we were entering a period of global cooling, the number of tornadoes rose. 1973, which saw 1,100 tornadoes in the United Stat
Wal-Mart to Spend $ 759 Million in Brazil this year
Finbel's Blog
BRASILIA / SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N), The World's Biggest Retailer, Will invest 1.2 billion reais ($ 759 million) in Brazil this year to tap buoyant consumer demand in Latin America's Largest Economy, The Unit's Said one top executive Tuesday. Wal-Mart Brazil Chief Executive Marcos Samaha Told reporters in Brasilia Thats the plan to build 80 new AIMS blinds Including Hypermarkets, discount stores, warehouse retailing units and grocery shops by The End of the Year, Creating Jobs 7.000. Wal-Mart's plans underscore icts Growing interest in Brazil, WHERE IS consommation solidly Supported by record job creation and rising WAGES year have millions join Emerging middle class cash advance loan no fax.More than half of the New blinds Will Focus on serving lower middle-class families – the bulk of Consumers in the nation's 190 million. "Our investment plan goes in line With The Social and Economic Development Plan cette country,
Reduced Corruption key to Asia’s rise: ADB
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger
May 4, 2011 Reduced corruption is key to Asia’s rise: ADB By Ian Timberlake (AFP) HANOI — Reducing corruption and improving government accountability are the greatest challenges to making Asia the world’s wealthiest region by 2050, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said. The continent is undergoing a historic transformation, according to a study for the bank unveiled at its annual meeting in Vietnam.”If it continues to grow on its recent trajectory, it could, by 2050, account for more than half of global gross domestic product (GDP), trade and investment, and enjoy widespread affluence,” the report said. Asia’s proportion of global GDP, rising from 27 percent last year, would match its share of global population and a per capita income of $38,600 would leave the region as well off as Europe is today, it said. Countries from the Pacific Ocean to Central Asia face many challenges if they are to achieve this, but underlying them all is a need for stronger ins
It’s the economy stupid
Reality Checkpoint
Why is the post not like it used to be? Looking back over the years always brings amusement and we always think our own perspective to be unique. In the UK it is easy to gripe about how the Royal Mail isn’t as good as it used to be; in the 70s we had two posts per day (and second class generally meant second post), cancellation of the Sunday delivery was a huge event and it was common to get the post delivered before leaving for school, allowing for birthday cards to be opened. Nowadays we get a delivery most days (though it seems not every day), first class might arrive the next day and prices of stamps seem exorbitant. Curiously if one reads the Victorian novel then for a penny it was quite common for the main character to receive a letter from London at breakfast, send a reply and then have a further reply arrive before tea! This may be somewhat exaggerated but clearly a better service than one got in the 70s! Businesses are systems Now the Royal Mail is a complex system, it t
A redistribution effect of minimum wage legislation
Random thoughts of an economist
Consider the low-end boutique market. The low-end market is rather competitive. Barrier to entry is almost none. A typical boutique will buy clothes from other countries (likely mainland China) and sell them in Hong Kong. To operate a boutique, we will need to rent a shop space, hire some salespersons, etc. The “etc” can include a lot of things that I do not want to talk about. I would like to focus on rental and wage of salespersons. Imagine that there is an influx of uneducated immigrants. Since sales do not require much skill, an un-educated, unskilled person can do the job. Thus, we expect the influx will lower the wage of salespersons in these low-end boutique. If a typical boutique was earning a zero profit before, the lower wage due to the influx will give the boutique a positive profit. Did I say positive profit? With an increase in profit, a lot of people will find operating a boutique more attractive. Since there is no barrier to entry, some will want
Village to close after contributing nothing to local Tesco
@ggregator
(NewsBiscuit - The news before it happens) A 1000 year old Oxfordshire village is to close after it was deemed not to be economically viable to the local Tesco superstore. Villagers received the news at a tense public consultation meeting last night when Councillor Shapley revealed that not a single person from the historic village of Stony Bridgeford shops or works in the Tesco store a few hundred metres away. ‘It’s no good being sentimental about these things. In this modern competitive environment, villages either have to pay their way as far as the supermarkets are concerned or face closure.’ There had been some hope of keeping the village open, and just closing down some of the older and more annoying residents as a compromise but this was rejected as impracticable. David Gordon representing the village commented ‘We are devastated by this ruling from the local council. We have been good neighbours to Tesco and never gave them any bother despite having lorries thundering through t
Dollar Rises Against Euro, Pound
Djonbri's Blog
NEW YORK – The dollar mixed Tuesday as investors WAS Continued to weigh The Impact of Osama bin Laden's Death on the world economy. The U.S. dollar Against the euro rising WAS and pound Tuesday, falling to WAS Against the yen and hit a record low Against the Swiss franc. "There Is Some fear of retaliation attacks after The Death of Osama Bin Laden," Said Camilla Sutton, currency strategist at Scotia Capital in Toronto. "There Is Some risk aversion going on." Investors Consider the dollar, yen and Swiss franc to Be safe-haven assets tends to rise And They Düring times of global turmoil. The dollar in decline HAD Been Over the past few "weeks as investors Expected The Federal Reserve Would Keep Interest Rates Low. Central banks overseas are raising interest rates. Higher rats tends to make currencies more attractive to investors seeking "high yield paperless payday loans. In afternoon trading Tuesday in New York, The Euro Fell to $ 1.4835 from $ 1
Blood and Oil
Learning from Dogs
Continuing the thoughts of Michael Klare. (My apologies, this is a difficult week for me as I prepare for a course that starts on the 11th May. So posts may be a little thinner than usual.) Yesterday, I wrote about an article by Michael Klare on the theme of the avenging planet. While researching for that piece, I came across a film that Klare has produced called Blood and Oil. It seemed worth mentioning it on Learning from Dogs. Here’s the synopsis, The notion that oil motivates America’s military engagements in the Middle East has long been dismissed as nonsense or mere conspiracy theory. Blood and Oil, a new documentary based on the critically-acclaimed work of Nation magazine defense correspondent Michael T. Klare, challenges this conventional wisdom to correct the historical record. The film unearths declassified documents and highlights forgotten passages in prominent presidential doctrines to show how concerns about oil have been at the core of American foreign po
Page 2 →
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Objectivist Mantra: Really funny book - Disorder in the American Court...
Objectivist Mantra: Really funny book - Disorder in the American Court...: "This is a really funny book. According to the author this book actually quotes word for word what people have said in American courts. Here..."
Economics — Blogs, Pictures, and more on WordPress
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Pure political smear from Walter Williams, or is there any factoid to back his claim?
More from this author
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub Walter Williams wrote a column a dozen years ago in which he made some wild claims about Stanford population biologist Paul Ehrlich. What did he really say? Stanford University Prof. Paul R. Ehrlich - L A Cicero image Williams wrote: Paul Ehrlich wrote The Population Bomb, widely read on college campuses during the late sixties. Ehrlich predicted that there’d be a major food shortage in the U.S. and “in the 1970s . . . hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death.” He forecast that 65 million Americans would die of starvation between 1980 and 1989, adn that by 1999 the U.S. population would have declined to 22.6 million. Ehrlich’s predictions about England were worse: “If I were a gambler, I would take even money tht England will not exist in the year 2000.” Walter Williams, More Liberty Means Less Government: Our founders knew this well, Hoover Institution Press Publication No. 453, 1999, p. 134 Recently Williams revived that cla
Related posts from Applying philosophy to life
2G and the real scam 2 months ago
Externalities 2 years ago
Social planning 2 years ago
Economics in one unlearnt lesson 2 years ago
A new blog on business, economics and free enterprise 2 years ago
Political systems and success 2 years ago
Poverty 2 years ago
Book Review: The Future of Freedom 2 years ago
Specialization – Applied Philosophy – 3 2 years ago
More from this blog
The Latest Posts in Economics
Recently posted on WordPress.com Subscribe
Sesame Street Program Teaches Kids About Money
Cambridge Credit Counseling Corp.
We’re all kids at heart, which is why I was excited to learn about the new Sesame Streetfinancial literacy program, For Me, For You, For Later: First Steps to Spending, Sharing, and Saving. The Sesame Street staff worked with PNC Bank to create the program, which is a bilingual multimedia initiative designed to help develop a child’s knowledge of the financial basics. Instead of the traditional curriculum, which often begins by establishing the relationship between coins and paper money, this program takes a more creative and entertaining approach. If you’ve been searching for a fun and engaging way to educate your child about money, a visit to sesamestreet.org/save will give you access to a variety of free activities and videos to help your youngster build a strong financial foundation. For Me, For You, For Later focuses on three financial concepts – Choices; Value; and Spending, Saving, and Sharing. One thing you’ll like about the curriculum is that it uses everyday concepts that 3
Seven Reasons to Oppose Higher Taxes
International Liberty
As I have explained elsewhere, tax increases are a bad idea – unless you favor bigger government. And I’ve already added my two cents to the tax debate between Senator Coburn and Grover Norquist regarding the desirability of higher taxes. So it won’t surprise anyone to know that I fully agree with this new video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, which offers seven reasons why higher taxes are a bad idea. The video is narrated by Piyali Bhattacharya of Young Americans for Liberty, and here are her seven reasons. Tax increases are not needed Tax increases encourage more spending Tax increases harm economic performance Tax increases foment social discord Tax increases almost never raise as much revenue as projected Tax increases encourage more loopholes Tax increases undermine competitiveness I think reasons #1, #2, #3, and #5 are the most powerful. To a considerable degree, my video on balancing the budget makes the same point as reason #1 about why higher tax
Portugal reaches deal on bailout
The Young Raging Bull
Debt-ravaged Portugal becomes the third eurozone country in a year to receive financial aid, after agreeing to a three-year 78 billion euro ($116 billion) bailout from the European Union and IMF on Tuesday. As with earlier bailouts to Greece and Ireland, economic reforms are to sweep the country – namely strict deficit reductions combined with austerity programs. The deficit will have to be cut to 5.9% of GDP this year, 4.5% in 2012 and 3% in 2013. Portugal’s economy is expected to contract this year as a result of the latest set of austerity measures. PM Jose Socrates said the three-year loan was a “good agreement that defends Portugal” in a televised statement. While agreed upon, the debt relief package, along with its reforms, is tied to approval by Portugal’s main opposition party, which has already rejected cutbacks to fight the debt mountain. The Social Democrats released a statement today saying that the party will have to analyze the bailout and will take a decision on whether
Good Intentions and Bad Math . . .
GenXMoney
+1 more image
Silly me. I thought he’d outgrown them or something
Jonah said/Ben said
Exploring Sovereign Wealth Funds
Steve Blizard's Blog
Fuel on the fire
Materialism is our god
Eco Living Magazine
+1 more image
DIY Chicken Feeder – Salad Greens – Hold The Vinegar And Olive Oil
Town & Country Farming
Economics hip-hop music video
RickMcCharles.com
Brian found a site that actually makes Economics interesting. “Fight of the Century” is the new economics hip-hop music video by John Papola and Russ Roberts at EconStories.tv. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Great Recession ended almost two years ago, in the summer of 2009. Yet we’re all uneasy. Job growth has been disappointing. The recovery seems fragile. Where should we head from here? Is that question even meaningful? Can the government steer the economy or have past attempts helped create the mess we’re still in? In “Fight of the Century”, Keynes and Hayek weigh in on these central questions. Do we need more government spending or less? What’s the evidence that government spending promotes prosperity in troubled times? Can war or natural disasters paradoxically be good for an economy in a slump? Should more spending come from the top down or from the bottom up? What are the ult
Now, If We Can Only Blame This Cooling Thing On Greedy Capitalists
Grantcoulson's Blog
Do not think about, write about or deal with human behavior without determining the effects of incentives. One of the characteristics of politicians is to confuse what they intend to do with what they do and what they accomplish. The Hysteria About Global Warming–We must act now–It may be to late already- must dissolve if the data upon which it is based is wrong. The Global Warmists who have used the term denier as synonym for foolish and stupid now have to deny the temperature fall. Curious, isn’t it?. Lawrence Solomon National Post May 4, 2011 Global cooling in the wind Tornadoes are associated with episodes of great temperature contrasts, often involving unseasonably cold air colliding with warm air. During the 1960s and 1970s, when global temperatures cooled so much that scientists believed we were entering a period of global cooling, the number of tornadoes rose. 1973, which saw 1,100 tornadoes in the United Stat
Wal-Mart to Spend $ 759 Million in Brazil this year
Finbel's Blog
BRASILIA / SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N), The World's Biggest Retailer, Will invest 1.2 billion reais ($ 759 million) in Brazil this year to tap buoyant consumer demand in Latin America's Largest Economy, The Unit's Said one top executive Tuesday. Wal-Mart Brazil Chief Executive Marcos Samaha Told reporters in Brasilia Thats the plan to build 80 new AIMS blinds Including Hypermarkets, discount stores, warehouse retailing units and grocery shops by The End of the Year, Creating Jobs 7.000. Wal-Mart's plans underscore icts Growing interest in Brazil, WHERE IS consommation solidly Supported by record job creation and rising WAGES year have millions join Emerging middle class cash advance loan no fax.More than half of the New blinds Will Focus on serving lower middle-class families – the bulk of Consumers in the nation's 190 million. "Our investment plan goes in line With The Social and Economic Development Plan cette country,
Reduced Corruption key to Asia’s rise: ADB
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger
May 4, 2011 Reduced corruption is key to Asia’s rise: ADB By Ian Timberlake (AFP) HANOI — Reducing corruption and improving government accountability are the greatest challenges to making Asia the world’s wealthiest region by 2050, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said. The continent is undergoing a historic transformation, according to a study for the bank unveiled at its annual meeting in Vietnam.”If it continues to grow on its recent trajectory, it could, by 2050, account for more than half of global gross domestic product (GDP), trade and investment, and enjoy widespread affluence,” the report said. Asia’s proportion of global GDP, rising from 27 percent last year, would match its share of global population and a per capita income of $38,600 would leave the region as well off as Europe is today, it said. Countries from the Pacific Ocean to Central Asia face many challenges if they are to achieve this, but underlying them all is a need for stronger ins
It’s the economy stupid
Reality Checkpoint
Why is the post not like it used to be? Looking back over the years always brings amusement and we always think our own perspective to be unique. In the UK it is easy to gripe about how the Royal Mail isn’t as good as it used to be; in the 70s we had two posts per day (and second class generally meant second post), cancellation of the Sunday delivery was a huge event and it was common to get the post delivered before leaving for school, allowing for birthday cards to be opened. Nowadays we get a delivery most days (though it seems not every day), first class might arrive the next day and prices of stamps seem exorbitant. Curiously if one reads the Victorian novel then for a penny it was quite common for the main character to receive a letter from London at breakfast, send a reply and then have a further reply arrive before tea! This may be somewhat exaggerated but clearly a better service than one got in the 70s! Businesses are systems Now the Royal Mail is a complex system, it t
A redistribution effect of minimum wage legislation
Random thoughts of an economist
Consider the low-end boutique market. The low-end market is rather competitive. Barrier to entry is almost none. A typical boutique will buy clothes from other countries (likely mainland China) and sell them in Hong Kong. To operate a boutique, we will need to rent a shop space, hire some salespersons, etc. The “etc” can include a lot of things that I do not want to talk about. I would like to focus on rental and wage of salespersons. Imagine that there is an influx of uneducated immigrants. Since sales do not require much skill, an un-educated, unskilled person can do the job. Thus, we expect the influx will lower the wage of salespersons in these low-end boutique. If a typical boutique was earning a zero profit before, the lower wage due to the influx will give the boutique a positive profit. Did I say positive profit? With an increase in profit, a lot of people will find operating a boutique more attractive. Since there is no barrier to entry, some will want
Village to close after contributing nothing to local Tesco
@ggregator
(NewsBiscuit - The news before it happens) A 1000 year old Oxfordshire village is to close after it was deemed not to be economically viable to the local Tesco superstore. Villagers received the news at a tense public consultation meeting last night when Councillor Shapley revealed that not a single person from the historic village of Stony Bridgeford shops or works in the Tesco store a few hundred metres away. ‘It’s no good being sentimental about these things. In this modern competitive environment, villages either have to pay their way as far as the supermarkets are concerned or face closure.’ There had been some hope of keeping the village open, and just closing down some of the older and more annoying residents as a compromise but this was rejected as impracticable. David Gordon representing the village commented ‘We are devastated by this ruling from the local council. We have been good neighbours to Tesco and never gave them any bother despite having lorries thundering through t
Dollar Rises Against Euro, Pound
Djonbri's Blog
NEW YORK – The dollar mixed Tuesday as investors WAS Continued to weigh The Impact of Osama bin Laden's Death on the world economy. The U.S. dollar Against the euro rising WAS and pound Tuesday, falling to WAS Against the yen and hit a record low Against the Swiss franc. "There Is Some fear of retaliation attacks after The Death of Osama Bin Laden," Said Camilla Sutton, currency strategist at Scotia Capital in Toronto. "There Is Some risk aversion going on." Investors Consider the dollar, yen and Swiss franc to Be safe-haven assets tends to rise And They Düring times of global turmoil. The dollar in decline HAD Been Over the past few "weeks as investors Expected The Federal Reserve Would Keep Interest Rates Low. Central banks overseas are raising interest rates. Higher rats tends to make currencies more attractive to investors seeking "high yield paperless payday loans. In afternoon trading Tuesday in New York, The Euro Fell to $ 1.4835 from $ 1
Blood and Oil
Learning from Dogs
Continuing the thoughts of Michael Klare. (My apologies, this is a difficult week for me as I prepare for a course that starts on the 11th May. So posts may be a little thinner than usual.) Yesterday, I wrote about an article by Michael Klare on the theme of the avenging planet. While researching for that piece, I came across a film that Klare has produced called Blood and Oil. It seemed worth mentioning it on Learning from Dogs. Here’s the synopsis, The notion that oil motivates America’s military engagements in the Middle East has long been dismissed as nonsense or mere conspiracy theory. Blood and Oil, a new documentary based on the critically-acclaimed work of Nation magazine defense correspondent Michael T. Klare, challenges this conventional wisdom to correct the historical record. The film unearths declassified documents and highlights forgotten passages in prominent presidential doctrines to show how concerns about oil have been at the core of American foreign po
Page 2 →
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Economics
The best in Economics-related posts from around the WordPress.com community, updated daily.
Featured Posts
Pure political smear from Walter Williams, or is there any factoid to back his claim?
More from this author
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub Walter Williams wrote a column a dozen years ago in which he made some wild claims about Stanford population biologist Paul Ehrlich. What did he really say? Stanford University Prof. Paul R. Ehrlich - L A Cicero image Williams wrote: Paul Ehrlich wrote The Population Bomb, widely read on college campuses during the late sixties. Ehrlich predicted that there’d be a major food shortage in the U.S. and “in the 1970s . . . hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death.” He forecast that 65 million Americans would die of starvation between 1980 and 1989, adn that by 1999 the U.S. population would have declined to 22.6 million. Ehrlich’s predictions about England were worse: “If I were a gambler, I would take even money tht England will not exist in the year 2000.” Walter Williams, More Liberty Means Less Government: Our founders knew this well, Hoover Institution Press Publication No. 453, 1999, p. 134 Recently Williams revived that cla
Related posts from Applying philosophy to life
2G and the real scam 2 months ago
Externalities 2 years ago
Social planning 2 years ago
Economics in one unlearnt lesson 2 years ago
A new blog on business, economics and free enterprise 2 years ago
Political systems and success 2 years ago
Poverty 2 years ago
Book Review: The Future of Freedom 2 years ago
Specialization – Applied Philosophy – 3 2 years ago
More from this blog
The Latest Posts in Economics
Recently posted on WordPress.com Subscribe
Sesame Street Program Teaches Kids About Money
Cambridge Credit Counseling Corp.
We’re all kids at heart, which is why I was excited to learn about the new Sesame Streetfinancial literacy program, For Me, For You, For Later: First Steps to Spending, Sharing, and Saving. The Sesame Street staff worked with PNC Bank to create the program, which is a bilingual multimedia initiative designed to help develop a child’s knowledge of the financial basics. Instead of the traditional curriculum, which often begins by establishing the relationship between coins and paper money, this program takes a more creative and entertaining approach. If you’ve been searching for a fun and engaging way to educate your child about money, a visit to sesamestreet.org/save will give you access to a variety of free activities and videos to help your youngster build a strong financial foundation. For Me, For You, For Later focuses on three financial concepts – Choices; Value; and Spending, Saving, and Sharing. One thing you’ll like about the curriculum is that it uses everyday concepts that 3
Seven Reasons to Oppose Higher Taxes
International Liberty
As I have explained elsewhere, tax increases are a bad idea – unless you favor bigger government. And I’ve already added my two cents to the tax debate between Senator Coburn and Grover Norquist regarding the desirability of higher taxes. So it won’t surprise anyone to know that I fully agree with this new video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, which offers seven reasons why higher taxes are a bad idea. The video is narrated by Piyali Bhattacharya of Young Americans for Liberty, and here are her seven reasons. Tax increases are not needed Tax increases encourage more spending Tax increases harm economic performance Tax increases foment social discord Tax increases almost never raise as much revenue as projected Tax increases encourage more loopholes Tax increases undermine competitiveness I think reasons #1, #2, #3, and #5 are the most powerful. To a considerable degree, my video on balancing the budget makes the same point as reason #1 about why higher tax
Portugal reaches deal on bailout
The Young Raging Bull
Debt-ravaged Portugal becomes the third eurozone country in a year to receive financial aid, after agreeing to a three-year 78 billion euro ($116 billion) bailout from the European Union and IMF on Tuesday. As with earlier bailouts to Greece and Ireland, economic reforms are to sweep the country – namely strict deficit reductions combined with austerity programs. The deficit will have to be cut to 5.9% of GDP this year, 4.5% in 2012 and 3% in 2013. Portugal’s economy is expected to contract this year as a result of the latest set of austerity measures. PM Jose Socrates said the three-year loan was a “good agreement that defends Portugal” in a televised statement. While agreed upon, the debt relief package, along with its reforms, is tied to approval by Portugal’s main opposition party, which has already rejected cutbacks to fight the debt mountain. The Social Democrats released a statement today saying that the party will have to analyze the bailout and will take a decision on whether
Good Intentions and Bad Math . . .
GenXMoney
+1 more image
Silly me. I thought he’d outgrown them or something
Jonah said/Ben said
Exploring Sovereign Wealth Funds
Steve Blizard's Blog
Fuel on the fire
Materialism is our god
Eco Living Magazine
+1 more image
DIY Chicken Feeder – Salad Greens – Hold The Vinegar And Olive Oil
Town & Country Farming
Economics hip-hop music video
RickMcCharles.com
Brian found a site that actually makes Economics interesting. “Fight of the Century” is the new economics hip-hop music video by John Papola and Russ Roberts at EconStories.tv. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Great Recession ended almost two years ago, in the summer of 2009. Yet we’re all uneasy. Job growth has been disappointing. The recovery seems fragile. Where should we head from here? Is that question even meaningful? Can the government steer the economy or have past attempts helped create the mess we’re still in? In “Fight of the Century”, Keynes and Hayek weigh in on these central questions. Do we need more government spending or less? What’s the evidence that government spending promotes prosperity in troubled times? Can war or natural disasters paradoxically be good for an economy in a slump? Should more spending come from the top down or from the bottom up? What are the ult
Now, If We Can Only Blame This Cooling Thing On Greedy Capitalists
Grantcoulson's Blog
Do not think about, write about or deal with human behavior without determining the effects of incentives. One of the characteristics of politicians is to confuse what they intend to do with what they do and what they accomplish. The Hysteria About Global Warming–We must act now–It may be to late already- must dissolve if the data upon which it is based is wrong. The Global Warmists who have used the term denier as synonym for foolish and stupid now have to deny the temperature fall. Curious, isn’t it?. Lawrence Solomon National Post May 4, 2011 Global cooling in the wind Tornadoes are associated with episodes of great temperature contrasts, often involving unseasonably cold air colliding with warm air. During the 1960s and 1970s, when global temperatures cooled so much that scientists believed we were entering a period of global cooling, the number of tornadoes rose. 1973, which saw 1,100 tornadoes in the United Stat
Wal-Mart to Spend $ 759 Million in Brazil this year
Finbel's Blog
BRASILIA / SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N), The World's Biggest Retailer, Will invest 1.2 billion reais ($ 759 million) in Brazil this year to tap buoyant consumer demand in Latin America's Largest Economy, The Unit's Said one top executive Tuesday. Wal-Mart Brazil Chief Executive Marcos Samaha Told reporters in Brasilia Thats the plan to build 80 new AIMS blinds Including Hypermarkets, discount stores, warehouse retailing units and grocery shops by The End of the Year, Creating Jobs 7.000. Wal-Mart's plans underscore icts Growing interest in Brazil, WHERE IS consommation solidly Supported by record job creation and rising WAGES year have millions join Emerging middle class cash advance loan no fax.More than half of the New blinds Will Focus on serving lower middle-class families – the bulk of Consumers in the nation's 190 million. "Our investment plan goes in line With The Social and Economic Development Plan cette country,
Reduced Corruption key to Asia’s rise: ADB
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger
May 4, 2011 Reduced corruption is key to Asia’s rise: ADB By Ian Timberlake (AFP) HANOI — Reducing corruption and improving government accountability are the greatest challenges to making Asia the world’s wealthiest region by 2050, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said. The continent is undergoing a historic transformation, according to a study for the bank unveiled at its annual meeting in Vietnam.”If it continues to grow on its recent trajectory, it could, by 2050, account for more than half of global gross domestic product (GDP), trade and investment, and enjoy widespread affluence,” the report said. Asia’s proportion of global GDP, rising from 27 percent last year, would match its share of global population and a per capita income of $38,600 would leave the region as well off as Europe is today, it said. Countries from the Pacific Ocean to Central Asia face many challenges if they are to achieve this, but underlying them all is a need for stronger ins
It’s the economy stupid
Reality Checkpoint
Why is the post not like it used to be? Looking back over the years always brings amusement and we always think our own perspective to be unique. In the UK it is easy to gripe about how the Royal Mail isn’t as good as it used to be; in the 70s we had two posts per day (and second class generally meant second post), cancellation of the Sunday delivery was a huge event and it was common to get the post delivered before leaving for school, allowing for birthday cards to be opened. Nowadays we get a delivery most days (though it seems not every day), first class might arrive the next day and prices of stamps seem exorbitant. Curiously if one reads the Victorian novel then for a penny it was quite common for the main character to receive a letter from London at breakfast, send a reply and then have a further reply arrive before tea! This may be somewhat exaggerated but clearly a better service than one got in the 70s! Businesses are systems Now the Royal Mail is a complex system, it t
A redistribution effect of minimum wage legislation
Random thoughts of an economist
Consider the low-end boutique market. The low-end market is rather competitive. Barrier to entry is almost none. A typical boutique will buy clothes from other countries (likely mainland China) and sell them in Hong Kong. To operate a boutique, we will need to rent a shop space, hire some salespersons, etc. The “etc” can include a lot of things that I do not want to talk about. I would like to focus on rental and wage of salespersons. Imagine that there is an influx of uneducated immigrants. Since sales do not require much skill, an un-educated, unskilled person can do the job. Thus, we expect the influx will lower the wage of salespersons in these low-end boutique. If a typical boutique was earning a zero profit before, the lower wage due to the influx will give the boutique a positive profit. Did I say positive profit? With an increase in profit, a lot of people will find operating a boutique more attractive. Since there is no barrier to entry, some will want
Village to close after contributing nothing to local Tesco
@ggregator
(NewsBiscuit - The news before it happens) A 1000 year old Oxfordshire village is to close after it was deemed not to be economically viable to the local Tesco superstore. Villagers received the news at a tense public consultation meeting last night when Councillor Shapley revealed that not a single person from the historic village of Stony Bridgeford shops or works in the Tesco store a few hundred metres away. ‘It’s no good being sentimental about these things. In this modern competitive environment, villages either have to pay their way as far as the supermarkets are concerned or face closure.’ There had been some hope of keeping the village open, and just closing down some of the older and more annoying residents as a compromise but this was rejected as impracticable. David Gordon representing the village commented ‘We are devastated by this ruling from the local council. We have been good neighbours to Tesco and never gave them any bother despite having lorries thundering through t
Dollar Rises Against Euro, Pound
Djonbri's Blog
NEW YORK – The dollar mixed Tuesday as investors WAS Continued to weigh The Impact of Osama bin Laden's Death on the world economy. The U.S. dollar Against the euro rising WAS and pound Tuesday, falling to WAS Against the yen and hit a record low Against the Swiss franc. "There Is Some fear of retaliation attacks after The Death of Osama Bin Laden," Said Camilla Sutton, currency strategist at Scotia Capital in Toronto. "There Is Some risk aversion going on." Investors Consider the dollar, yen and Swiss franc to Be safe-haven assets tends to rise And They Düring times of global turmoil. The dollar in decline HAD Been Over the past few "weeks as investors Expected The Federal Reserve Would Keep Interest Rates Low. Central banks overseas are raising interest rates. Higher rats tends to make currencies more attractive to investors seeking "high yield paperless payday loans. In afternoon trading Tuesday in New York, The Euro Fell to $ 1.4835 from $ 1
Blood and Oil
Learning from Dogs
Continuing the thoughts of Michael Klare. (My apologies, this is a difficult week for me as I prepare for a course that starts on the 11th May. So posts may be a little thinner than usual.) Yesterday, I wrote about an article by Michael Klare on the theme of the avenging planet. While researching for that piece, I came across a film that Klare has produced called Blood and Oil. It seemed worth mentioning it on Learning from Dogs. Here’s the synopsis, The notion that oil motivates America’s military engagements in the Middle East has long been dismissed as nonsense or mere conspiracy theory. Blood and Oil, a new documentary based on the critically-acclaimed work of Nation magazine defense correspondent Michael T. Klare, challenges this conventional wisdom to correct the historical record. The film unearths declassified documents and highlights forgotten passages in prominent presidential doctrines to show how concerns about oil have been at the core of American foreign po
Page 2 →
On WordPress.com
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Forums
Free Features
Premium Features
VIP Services: Support & Hosting
Theme Showcase
Popular Tags
Also cool
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WordPress.org
WordPress.tv
Follow us on Facebook & Twitter
PollDaddy Online Surveys
VideoPress Video Sharing
Matt Mullenweg
WordPress for BlackBerry
From our blog
New Theme: Linen
Writing made easy with Writing Helper
New Theme: Fresh News
New Theme: Mystique
New Theme: Tapestry
Security Incident
Read more…
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