Why Tenthers are Projected as Extreme and What We can do about It
If our Movement revels in its maverick persona, then, we will remain divisive. In sports, divisive is fun. In politics, divisive is fun, but if we are sincere in our desire to win over the population, then, we need to take the sport out of it. There are certain pitches in our message which water [...]
Obama and Infrastructure
The President is continuing his push for the federal government to go deeper into debt in order to fund infrastructure projects. While nobody disputes that the country has infrastructure needs, the precarious nature of federal and state finances indicate that policymakers need to starting thinking outside the box. Specifically, policymakers should be looking to make it [...]
Worried About Anarcho-Capitalism
Famed liberal journo Joe Conason is worried about the increasing influence of Rothbardian “anarcho-capitalism” and the related “Austrian school of economics.” As well he should be. It is these radical ideas–undistorted by the journos–that enthrall the young, and indeed any thinking person. We all know there is something desperately wrong–morally and economically–with the US empire [...]
Government Efficiency
I recently criticized the idea that policymakers should focus their attention on making government more “efficient.” Instead, I argued that policymakers should focus their reform efforts on reducing government’s size. Government efficiency proponents make the mistake of viewing the cost of government in the same light as the cost of operating a private business. However, [...]
Obama’s Dubious Purchase of the Free Market
When people respond to the claim that Obama is not friendly to “business” they normally start with something like… ‘How can you say that? He (Obama) bailed out the banks, the auto makers and the insurance companies!’ If you claim he is anti-small business, they will point to one of the dozens of tax credits [...]
A Government-Made Recession
By mid 2008 almost everybody knew that we were in deep financial trouble. But the forces that brought it about actually began decades ago with The Community Reinvestment Act in 1977. This legislation “forced lending institutions to grant mortgages to people whose income, credit histories, and net worth would previously have disqualified them from getting [...]
When Cars Run on Corn
Here’s Matt Purple in “Corny Capitalism,” posted on American Spectator at the end of August: Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency issued another one of those announcements read exclusively by government bureaucrats and green policy wonks. The EPA decided to delay a decision to increase the concentration of ethanol legal in gasoline from 10% to [...]
Obama’s Dubious Purchase of the Free Market
When people respond to the claim that Obama is not friendly to “business” they normally start with something like… ‘How can you say that? He (Obama) bailed out the banks, the auto makers and the insurance companies!’ If you claim he is anti-small business, they will point to one of the dozens of tax credits [...]
“Small Is Beautiful” Guy Hearts Fed
Here’s a reply I just wrote to an email asking me where a certain person got the idea that the economy was in recession 40% of the time in the nineteenth century. I am calling the person X, because he’s about the most uncharitable (and uncomprehending) antagonist I’ve ever faced — yes, even a genial [...]
History the Schools Left Out
Discussions of the economy, especially during times of crisis, are often framed in terms of lessons we supposedly learned during the Depression of the 1930s. If we are not to endure terrible times like those again, we are told, we must support whatever form of state intervention is currently being peddled. The Depression is supposed [...]
The Fed Appoints Three New Drones. Hooray
On Bloomberg, Jim Grant is asked how he feels about the three yes-men about to be appointed to the Fed. Most guests would offer a few empty statements about the great qualifications of our new overlords. Grant, on the other hand, gives a reply that only a few people in the world would give — [...]
States to Congress: Print More Money
Writes Ryan W. McMaken The states (and the local governments) are facing crushing deficits and declines in tax revenues. Unlike the feds, the states can’t simply monetize debt by having the Fed purchase enormous amounts of new debt. But that doesn’t mean the states can’t ask Congress to run up some new debt for them. [...]
Is U.S. Traveling Down ‘Road to Serfdom’?
Tom Woods on the Glenn Beck show discussing Hayek’s Road to Serfdom
They Will Never Pay Off This Government Debt
From an article by Vin Suprynowicz: If I invoke the phrase “Greek debt crisis,” do your eyelids start to grow heavy? Do you somehow find it difficult to summon up a fresh wave of outrage if someone mentions that when Barack Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (better known as the Democratic Tax-Hike [...]
Don’t Hedge Against Government Inflation
You may watch or listen to Glenn Beck and know that Goldline International is a sponsor. Like every other gold seller, the company is trying to profit from the disastrous, inflationary policies of the US government. For those of us in the know – aren’t we all trying to do the same? A New York [...]
Heading for a Cliff
Catastrophe is dead ahead, and it is clear to see – so why are we not stepping on the brakes? I think the November election will be a small “pump” of the brake but will that be enough? Our kid’s future is being spent on bailing out unionized, entitled Greek workers, who need to cut [...]
Greece is Just the Beginning!
(h/t Lew Rockwell)
Regional Fed Bank Presidents Blocking Transparency
State Representative Paul Opsommer (R-DeWitt) criticized regional Fed bank presidents for their testimony on Capitol Hill yesterday, saying their efforts to block inquiry into Wall Street bailout details continue to stymie needed financial reforms. “We continue to see strong bi-partisan efforts to audit the Fed at both the state and federal level that is being [...]
Bubble Mentality: Rinse and Repeat
I read both of these stories back-to-back in recent editions of The Detroit News. Story #1 on the theft of electricity: On a recent sunny morning, Mark Johnson, head of DTE’s (Detroit Energy) revenue protection unit, drove through east-side Detroit neighborhoods pointing out illegal electric hookups. At a complex of 12 apartments on Whittier in [...]
Why You’ve Never Heard of the Great Depression of 1920
Presented by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., at “The Great Depression: What We Can Learn From It Today,” the Mises Circle in Colorado; sponsored by Limited Government Forum of Colorado Springs and hosted by the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Recorded Saturday, 4 April 2009.
Obama to Increase FHA Risk
The Federal Housing Administration is heading toward a taxpayer bailout, yet the president’s latest mortgage modification plan would further increase the agency’s exposure to risky mortgages. Mark Calabria calls it a “Backdoor Bank Bailout.” The administration’s plan would encourage borrowers who owe more than their house is worth to refinance into FHA-insured mortgages. Therefore, the [...]
New England Nullification Tradition Marches On
Though many living in New England today might be loathe to admit it, there is a long history of nullification being used in the region to defy unconstitutional federal edicts. This week, the town of Sedgwick, Maine voted to carry on that proud tradition by nullifying certain federal agricultural regulations. They did so through what might be the [...]
Mar 10, 2011 | Categories:Announcements, Big Brother, Big Government, Commentary, Constitution, Delegated Powers, Drug War, Economics, Federalism, Founding Fathers, Founding Principles, Government, Judiciary, Law, Liberty, Nullification, Originalism, Sovereignty Movement, State Sovereignty | Tags: 10th Amendment, 10th Amendment Movement, Decentralization, Enumerated Powers, food freedom, Nullification | 1 Comment »