Natural Economies

Government: A Herd of Bulls in Search of the next China Shop

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
-- H.L. Menken

Liberal fanboy Michael Tomasky made this silly comment in one of his insufferable propaganda pieces:

"The fact that Romney has no actual jobs plan beyond letting the free market work its magic..."

It's not magic, it's the natural way things work. Markets are nothing more than human beings exchanging goods and services. They work well until governments intervene, masking price signals and other organic information that guides free people. Governments and the oligarchs who control them make it even worse by inventing money out of thin air and calling it wealth. 

See the crashes everywhere? All man-made disasters triggered by government trying to spin straw into gold, straighten every curve and flatten every hill.

International Interventions have also Failed

Then I read Realism Prism: US Power and it's Discontents. Nikolas Gvosdev explains how US unpredictability can have unintended consequences...

This sense of exposure is heightened by what appears to them to be the unpredictable way in which the U.S. exercises its power. In other words, the question they all must consider is, what will “set Washington off”?

How and why the U.S. intervened in Libya when Washington routinely ignores humanitarian crises elsewhere raises the unpleasant notion that the United States does not operate according to any fixed set of criteria.

We should butt out. Our unpredictability causes some poor souls to tragically wait for us instead of stringing up the bastards on their own.  It has caused others to act rashly in the vain hope we would join in on their fight.  

Worst of all, we have given the benighted, the superstitious, and the stupid of this world ready-made excuses for their own misery:  US interventions, the Jews, Stalinist dictatorships...  

Eventually they will run out of excuses and be forced to look themselves in the mirror.  We can't do it for them.

We are interrupting the natural flow of humankind. Yes, I know, our natural state is not luxury and technology, with flush toilets and sewer systems literally shielding us from having to deal with our own crap. As Hobbes stated, mankind's natural state is...

"No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death: and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."

We owe it to ourselves to improve our lot, but we should refrain from doing it for others. I know, conservatives are worried about Islamist takeovers in Libya, Egypt and Syria, but I say let it roll. Those people want Islam? We should give it to them good and hard.

Same goes for the international financiers and businessmen. They need a free market. Free most of all from the taxpayer-funded safety nets.

Wall Street Wilding

Illustration by Ian Michael Rousey & Chris Nosenzo

Read it and Seethe

What will it take for Americans to finally get the message that much of Wall Street, in its current form, is a corrupt enterprise in need of a top-to-bottom overhaul, a task that the year-old Dodd-Frank law, for all its verbosity, barely attempts? (Cohan - Ending the Moral Rot on Wall Street)

There have been numerous lawsuits and investigations following the Panic of '08... 

Each examination revealed layer upon layer of behavior that should make us seethe with anger. These include the decision to manufacture and sell mortgage-backed securities that were stuffed with loans of questionable value, plus the worthless AAA ratings placed on them by ratings services paid by Wall Street to do so.  (Cohan - Ending the Moral Rot on Wall Street)

He goes on to list the multi-million dollar fines happily paid by these immoral disciples of Moloch.  Get it? A $500 million fine is chump change, merely a cost of doing business.  The Titans of Wall Street destroyed the world economy with their toxic debt bombs, governments brought low, people left destitute, yet the instigators of this financial destruction are happily earning record profits and getting reelected instead of rotting in jail or hanging from a lamppost.

Three Crises:  Financial, Political, Legitimacy of the Elites

Stratfor founder George Friedman has written an excellent analysis entitled, Global Economic Downturn: A Crisis of Political Economy.  In it he explains how the financial elites' unabashed immorality and naked greed caused the financial crisis, which in turn sparked a political crisis that is now becoming a legitimacy crisis.  The aura of invincibility and omniscience has evaporated; the masses realize that the venal elites don't know what the hell they are doing.

A sense emerged that the financial elite was either stupid or dishonest or both. (Stratfor)

In this excellent article he lays out how this international crisis started (the US carpet bombed the world with toxic debt), how it hastened the decline of the already teetering welfare states, and where he sees it all going.

It is vital to understand that this is not an ideological challenge. Left-wingers opposing globalization and right-wingers opposing immigration are engaged in the same process — challenging the legitimacy of the elites.

This, then, is the third crisis that can emerge: that the elites become delegitimized and all that there is to replace them is a deeply divided and hostile force, united in hostility to the elites but without any coherent ideology of its own. In the United States this would lead to paralysis. In Europe it would lead to a devolution to the nation-state. In China it would lead to regional fragmentation and conflict. (Stratfor)

He concludes, Like Victor Davis Hanson, that this is a crisis of legitimacy. The elites have blown it; we don’t trust them anymore.

When There is no Downside...

In the past, all of this would culminate in the masses hanging the bankers and the elites from lampposts and looting and burning their property.

Civilized society instituted the state, creating a nation of laws not of men. The state would hold everyone to the rule of law and punish the guilty in order to short circuit such violence. Well, the state has failed, the masses are in angry misery and the elites who robbed us and crashed the world economy pay no price whatsoever.

This leads me to rethink the limited liability concept of financial institutions.  It is obvious that the financial titans have no fear of consequences, since it is we the people who suffer their burdens, and that is the root of the problem.

A Man Takes a Stand

We should all stand up and applaud Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter for telling it like it is to the wayward youth of his city

Here's his message:

“Take those God-darn hoodies down, especially in the summer,” Mr. Nutter, the city’s second black mayor, said in an angry lecture aimed at black teens. “Pull your pants up and buy a belt ‘cause no one wants to see your underwear or the crack of your butt.”

“If you walk into somebody’s office with your hair uncombed and a pick in the back, and your shoes untied, and your pants half down, tattoos up and down your arms and on your neck, and you wonder why somebody won’t hire you? They don’t hire you ‘cause you look like you’re crazy,” the mayor said. “You have damaged your own race.”

He also delivered a message to parents:

“The Immaculate Conception of our Lord Jesus Christ took place a long time ago, and it didn’t happen here in Philadelphia,” Mr. Nutter said. “So every one of these kids has two parents who were around and participating at the time. They need to be around now.”

The mayor told parents, “If you’re just hanging out out there, maybe you’re sending them a check or bringing some cash by. That’s not being a father. You’re just a human ATM. … And if you’re not providing the guidance and you’re not sending any money, you’re just a sperm donor.” ( Washington Times)

Finally, he told violent gangs in no uncertain terms that the city is coming after them. They better listen up. This is the city where Mayor Frank Rizzo firebombed a block of row houses going after leftwing radicals.

This is a black man delivering a message to the black young men of his city, but the message transcends race, gender and life’s station. We all need to pull our damned pants up, and pull out heads out. 

Law and Liberty Crucified

A few who post here have mentioned that regardless of how we talk about liberty, there still must be an authority wielding the threat of punishment.  Our governments are supposed to do that, but they are corrupted and incompetent.

The ruling elite won't go after Wall Street looters because they need their money, and they won't go after main street moochers because they need their votes.  They strip us and rape us at the airport, but they are unable or unwilling to do the hard work of shutting down lawlessness in our cities and on our borders.

They go after Bernie Madoff for a billion dollar ponzi scheme while running a trillion dollar one of their own.
 
They will shut down kids' lemonade stands for selling fifty-cent drinks without a permit, while they refuse to jail the perpetrators at Goldman Sachs for selling trillions in fraudulent financial instruments that crashed the world economy.

Our governments discredit morality and the law by twisting it in knots while handing money to society's enemies.  They abuse our personal liberty by criminalizing screwing in a light bulb, using too much salt, or owning a gun while they allow Wall Street thugs and Main Street thugs to rob us while smirking for the cameras. 

Are they discrediting law and liberty on purpose?  Am I the only one who sees this?

Whether you’re looting Main Street or Wall Street, or passing incomprehensible laws, or just entertaining yourself with ball sports, porn and XBox while you wait for your messiah...

We have all damaged and degraded the human race.

Quotable Quotes

I should have the following posted on my masthead:

A freewheeling blog where the comments are better than the posts that inspire them!

This is not false humility or a backhanded search for compliments, and I’m not trying to curry favor. I really mean it.

Some excellent debate goes on here, and we are fortunate for the diversity provided by the likes of Jez, Ducky and Jersey, who enter this arena unafraid to duke it out with the conservatives, libertarians and the dreaded tea partiers. I also appreciate people like Jack Camwell and the ever-garrulous FreeThinke, who stake out their own brand of conservatism and give no quarter. Of course, my favorites are those like Z, AOW, Conservativesonfire and MK who agree with me, but that goes without saying…

Anyway, here are just a few of my favorite comments over the past few weeks. As usual, Professor Bastiatarian leads the way.

Bastiatarian:
Each time a liberal/Democrat/leftist/collectivist/progressive blurts out the charge of "RACIST!" I interpret it as that individual saying "Hello, I'm a complete moron. I engage in absolutely no intellectual activity whatsoever. Instead, I emote and repeat the idiocy that I hear spewed out by other imbeciles in my liberal/Democrat/leftist/collectivist/progressive emo club."

As for the moron in the White House, he's as much white as he is black, for one thing. Second, the reason I want him to fail and ultimately be eradicated from any position in which he has any effect on anything at all is not that he is half non-white, but that he is an incompetent buffoon, a genuinely bad person, and an enemy of everything that is important to decent, intelligent people around the world.

When it comes right down to it, the so-called liberals are merely projecting. They don't have the intelligence or integrity to avoid racist thought (or even realize that "race" itself is a pseudo-scientific concept), so they believe that everybody is as depraved and malicious as they are. ( http://westernhero.blogspot.com/2011/08/its-because-hes-black.html)

Trestin Meacham:
If we are ever invaded our only hope is that Washington falls first. (http://westernhero.blogspot.com/2011/08/perfect-storm-of-stupidity.html)

FreeThinke:
Until 911 it was always the Koran. As far as I am concerned it is STILL the Koran and never will be the Qu'ran. I feel the same way about Peking and Bombay and Burma. (http://westernhero.blogspot.com/2011/07/european-terror-fallout.html)


Finally, here is a YouTube sent to me by Mustang as his own response to my Friday post about government welfare programs.  If this doesn't doesn't piss you off I don't know what will.  And why are we giving taxpayer money away to able bodied young adults?




Have a great weekend!

TMI: Beautiful Operation Overshadowed by Shabby Messaging

Our government gives up way too much information. And not just under the Obama administration--Bush did it too.

We ascertained UBL’s whereabouts by patiently studying the ways of Al Qaida, watching their movements and methods. The enemy learns about us the same way, only instead of spying, they simply read newspapers and watch TV. Our government needs to curb its urge to brag about every accomplishment. Much of it serves no purpose besides feeding our entertainment culture's prurient interests anyway.


President Obama is Right on the Bin Laden Death Pictures

It’s the right decision to not publish the pictures. It would have become a holy icon to the macabre jihadi death worshipers, a gruesome propaganda poster to the sweaty hordes, and it would not have convinced the skeptics. And to those Taliban idiots and other terrorists who taunt us to produce the picture as proof we capped him, the burden is on them. Produce the picture? You produce Bin Laden!

Unfortunately, there is little else about this operation we are unwilling to release.

“There I was…”

Everybody likes to tell stories, especially if they’ve played even a marginal role in it. Whether it’s a forklift accident at work or a world-famous terrorist takedown, everybody wants to be first to spread the news, and we just can’t help regaling others with the juicy tidbits. It is understandable coming from ordinary folk, but it is irresponsible when the United States government does it. In the past, congressmen have inadvertently released damaging classified information in their rush to look important, and VP Joe Biden does it practically every time he opens his mouth.

Multifarious government officials rushing to the microphones has produced an incoherent message that leads a slavering press and fever swamp conspiracy theorists to put hammer and chisel to the exposed fissures, eventuating more official explanations and further fractured incoherence.

Are they lying, or are they simply stupid?

As time goes on, more details emerge. We know how many troops were involved, how many helicopters, how long it took. We even know which eye the skilled marksman shot out. All of this information, that none of us needs to know, fills in the blanks for bad guys hoping to dodge Osama’s fate.

Less serious but still troubling, as the “facts” change and the different government agencies struggle to amend earlier comments and keep their stories straight, the US government loses credibility and risks tarnishing the brave deeds of patriotic Americans.

Disinformation?

This is all too much information. "TMI!" as my sassy daughter would say. Unless it’s disinformation, in which case our government could do a much better job.

Here's how you do disinformation...

I want the bad guys and the superstitious hordes who cheer and shelter them to think our soldiers are hiding underground right now spying on them, ready to come up through the soil and strangle them at any moment. I want these 7th century obscurantists to believe we can read their thoughts, see through the walls of their grimy cinderblock huts, and swoop down and grab them at any time with trained invisible eagles. I want them to think every crawling bug and slithering reptile is a trained US spy.

It's not so far-fetched. They blamed the shark attacks off an Egyptian coastal resort on Mossad-trained predators. If the gullible dingbats actually believe Israel made a pact with King Poseidon to produce a flotilla of submersed Muslim eaters just to wreck Egypt's tourist industry, they'll believe anything

This should have been the only official statement:

“Through diligent intelligence work, we discovered Bin Laden. We dropped into his walled hovel and shot him and his son dead."

Let the speculation, conjecture and fearmongering run rampant. It would all work to our favor by leaving the press, the European pacifists, and the pompous UN global citizen crowd sputtering with outrage. Best of all, it would strike fear of the unknown into evildoing America-haters everywhere, leaving them glancing nervously over their shoulders, knowing no haven is truly safe.

Government-Sponsored Ignorance

This is an absurd statement:

And as the housing market continues to be vulnerable, deep caution greets any proposal that might pass on higher borrowing costs to consumers. (WSJ – Fannie and Freddie)

God forbid that the costs be borne by the consumer! What economic idiocy. Of course the costs should be paid by the consumer. This is the fallacy of the free lunch that is perpetuated by government.

“We’re lowering borrowing costs!” venal politicians shout from the stump.

“No,” retorts anyone with a fundamental understanding of basic economics, “you’re just spreading the cost around.”

So the government forces apartment dwellers, renters, and those who own their homes outright to subsidize home buyers. This masks the true cost of buying a home and distorts the market, resulting in a bubble. Fannie and Freddie can keep lending standards low because these insurers know they will not bear the brunt in a collapse--Uncle Sam will.  Another market distortion.

We need just the opposite of what our politicians are peddling
Each consumer must bear the cost of what he or she consumes, and we must also be allowed to face the consequences, good or bad, of our decisions.  That goes for homebuyers, mortgage companies, and mortgage insurers. This will inject sanity into the marketplace.

Some cry that ordinary people will no longer be able to afford a home if the government shuts down Fannie and Freddie and stops picking everyone’s pockets for the benefit of the few.  I say balderdash! Private companies will step in and back those who can provide evidence of financial stability. Some people will no longer be able to buy a home, but those are the people who should not be buying anyway, as evidenced by events of the past five years.

And what place is it of government to say owning a home is more noble than renting?  

CaligulaUSA

Our public servants have become the master. Federal, state and municipal governments across this great land have gone mad with power.







Instead of facing the facts and engaging in an adult conversation with the taxpayers, we get crap like this...

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Two children were killed in a fire in the city’s Olney section Tuesday, and now an official from the firefighters’ union is questioning if Philadelphia’s cost-cutting “brownouts” of fire companies played a role.

If government officials cannot manage cuts and downsizing without risking the lives and safety of citizens they’ve sworn to serve, they need to be thrown out, impeached, recalled, or criminally prosecuted.

Every day, private citizens in this country make decisions on how best to care for their children, aging parents, and sometimes friends and neighbors who are struggling day to day. We’re balancing bills and making trade-offs. We do this in the face of lay-offs, pay cuts, inflation, austerity and shrinking family budgets.

Thank God these decisions and actions are still in the hands of families, where they belong. Were the federal, state and municipal governments handling this balancing act, granny would be dead, we’d be out on the street, and our kids would indeed be starving.

We The People are Getting By – Governments Bureaucrats are Getting Over

We need look no further than the education system that government has thoroughly botched. In Wisconsin, current battleground of union incompetency, education costs have doubled over the past 10 years, but test scores have fallen.

From Jimmy Carter to George Bush, the Federal Government pushed its way into the formerly private housing market. It crashed.

Total debt stacked up by all governments in the US stand somewhere north of $60 trillion dollars. There is not enough money in the world to pay this off.

When Does Incompetence Reach the Level of Criminal?

How long can governments continue to kite checks, knowing the account has insufficient funds?

How long can they continue to borrow money from people who hate us and stick us and our progeny with the bill?

How much longer will we allow taxpayer-funded schools to continue dumbing down our kids and our country? Are we not yet sufficiently stupid?

Will we continue to stand by as the District of Criminals stuffs billions in the pockets of Wall Street Banksters, while flinging pennies at the rest of us, and they’re our damned pennies!

Will we continue to allow unctuous politicians to bribe us with our own money?

Will we cheer on porn scans, anal probes and “package checks” at airports because they make us "feel safer," while foreigners waltz across our borders unmolested?

Hundreds of billions spent on intelligence but thousands die on 9/11. Nobody fired...

A jihadi Army major shoots up Fort Hood, killing 12 people and wounding 31, and nobody is fired...

George Bush loved telling us how islam is a religion of peace and now Director of National Intelligence ClaponClapOff tells us to ignore the NAZI past of the Muslim Brotherhood and to shut up and swallow their propaganda...

We're the only country in the world that allows aliens to enter illegally and create their own little US citizens...

We’re going in debt by the trillions, but the only solution the geniuses in government can come up with is to spend more...

The off-the-chain Roman emperor Caligula supposedly attempted to elevate his favorite horse to the position of government consul, causing outrage among the governing class and the people.

Our government is full of horse’s asses, and I don’t think we are yet sufficiently outraged.