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Archive for category Politics
A recent article in Wired discussed a “new”ish method of nuclear power utilizing thorium instead of uranium. It appears to be cheaper, safer, more efficient, takes up less space and goes forever. So why can’t we get more buy in? Nuke is nuke I suppose. Lets forget the cap-n-trade crap or quit burning bundles of carbon to get to Copenhagen and develop this stuff! That’s my “global warming” answer. Now only if the government will back off to allow it and hopefully some archaic nuclear utilities will explore it too. One of the big proponents, Kirk Sorensen, runs a blog called “Energy from Thorium“. Check it out, the first “open source project” for nuclear power. The article is excellent and interesting. Check out this comparison sheet from the article of three possible reactors:
Well, I’m sold (at least enough to want to explore it further!)
John Stossel always levels the playing field a bit. In this clip, he discusses climate change with Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute. The key point is not an argument over whether it is good to live sustainably but whether the methods paraded by most are worth the paper they are written on! It’s not even an argument over whether your Hummer really hurts the environment, just a look at the realities of the proposed “solutions”. Check it out! under 10 minutes…
I haven’t posted a cartoon for a while and decided I’m overdue. I ran across this a while back and that it was awesome:
This is found over at the Freeman Online, here. It makes you think about the morality of the system!
For those who don’t know, I’m a big fan of John Stossel’s work. His book is excellent and he brings one of the few libertarian voices to investigative reporting in advocacy journalism. The best part is he hasn’t always carried such views but his own investigations “converted” him to freedom and liberty! If you want more on him, check here.
I saw this clip a while ago but apparently never posted the actual video (there’s a link somewhere). I figure now is as good a time as ever…
I like to think that proponents for big government solutions have good intentions. In fact, most of them likely do. There is the occasional power-hungry participant that is downright scary but the majority are well intentioned. The problem lies in a fundamental understanding of the purpose of government and what works vs what doesn’t. No matter how much you support Che Guevara and Fidel Castro’s 59′ revolution for the ‘working man’, Cuba’s recent past has been less than ideal and glamorous. It just didn’t work. Now that might be an extreme example but either way… Even Sweden has been working back toward free market economics with the near collapse of it’s socialized system in the early 90’s. If someone tries to show Sweden as a model for success, make sure you differentiate today’s results from yesterday’s causes. They had to reform their system from near collapse due to socialization and now, nearly any successes they see are from free enterprise.
Now back to us… the government is just not that good at business, and that’s okay! It was never meant to be. I believe it is well summed up by Claude from the Ben Stiller movie “Along Came Polly”, check it:
So the moral is the gov needs to accept that it is a “hippo” and not a “zebra” (big business) or even a “leopard” (small business), it’s a hippo and if it ever accepts it, it can live happy as a hippo….
Ramirez, in his artistic eloquence, shows the gov’s enterprising history…
Not the best track record… Let’s just accept that it’s a hippo, then maybe we all can be “happy as a hippo”… hehe…
Paul Krugman issued his latest self-empowered revelation to us lowly economic buffs (here). Apparently I should still look to demand-side, interventionist economics when that’s never worked historically! (talk to the 70’s)! It definitely didn’t help the depression (see my light review of a great essay here)… Let alone the fact that interventionism is exaggerating and even causing the business cycles that lead to the financial ruin of today!? Anyone heard of the federal reserve and monetary policy? NOT classical economics and capitalism, that’s human intervention at its finest, guessing what the interest rate should be. To think we can control the interest rate is to be ignorant to economic complexity. Read “I, Pencil” for crying out loud. This is the problem, looking at solutions while ignoring or investigating the cause, simply making blatant, uneducated assumptions as to the ‘likely’ cause of the problem, the story of Krugman’s life (at least published life).
The best is that Krugman ignores the lives of other economic greats such as Hayek or Mises, what about Friedman even? He forgets that Keynes actually failed in predicting the great depression! Mises was the one who nailed that. See ‘Making of Modern Economics’ for more on that little tidbit. Keynes simply got credit for offering government actionable solutions, which any politician will praise. It gives them purpose, and a much greater one than simple keeper of the peace as they should be. The Ludwig Von Mises Institute gave a tidbit on the Krugman piece simply saying:
It’s all here: how economists were in love with capitalism before the Great Depression (?), how Keynes was the only one who saw the failures of laissez-faire (!), how economists fell in love again with markets in recent years (!!), and how the popping bubble has startled them whereas the great Keynesian Krugman knew it all along (??). Oh, and by the way, there is no one who ever existed named Hayek or Mises or Haberler or their students.
The whole thing reads like a big fairytale, and the author is the hero in the end.
I can’t believe this guy got the Nobel prize in 2008. He’s too politically tied anyway to be a solid economist. That’s simply my opinion, think what you will…
Political Cartoons of Michael Ramirez
Editorial Cartoonist for Investor’s Business DailyGet a unique perspective on today’s issues with the political cartoons of IBD’s Pulitzer Prize Winner, Michael Ramirez.
I recently finished an essay by Lawrence W Reed, currently the president of FEE (foundation for economic education) of which I’ve posted briefly in the past. This short and concise essay described the ‘true’ causes and sustaining factors of the great depression. It dismantles the common thinking that the “New Deal” and FDR were solutions to the depression, and discusses the realities of the regulation, deceit, and politician-ing that went on during the depression. Solutions included FDR’s proposal of a 99.5% marginal tax on incomes over $100,000 (luckily it didn’t take), the destruction of goods and crops in an attempt to raise prices, and many more interesting debacles of political blundering that occurred, too many list here.
The essay pointed to the real culprit of the Depression and business cycles in general, bad monetary policy. This is revealed again with the current economic crisis and the Federal Reserve’s tinkering with interest rates (just as in the 20’s as a precursor to the crash). In fact, the circumstances leading up to the depression and even many of the political solutions imposed are astoundingly reminiscent of today! Do we ever learn from the past?!?! Hopefully the result will not be 12 years of drudgery in depression again… Check out the pamphlet in print here or as well available for free online here.
I give this essay a solid 2 thumbs up and recommend it to anyone. In fact, get a few copies and give it to anyone you know…
