Quote

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty"

- John Adams

Quote

"The national government must lay claim to the right to force its principles on the whole nation without consideration to previous federated state boundaries."
- Adolf Hitler

Quote

"A powerful national government may encroach considerable on the rights of individuals as well as of the different States (by following an imperial policy), if only every citizen recognizes such measures as means for making his nation greater"
- Adolf Hitler

Homer Everyday For 39 years

Peter Schiff on the US Dollar

Quotes

"Then I say, the earth belongs to each of these generations during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and incumbrances of the first, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789. ME 7:455, Papers 15:393

"[Using], for instance, the table of M. de Buffon, [it can be determined that] the half of those of 21 years and upwards living at any one instant of time will be dead in 18 years, 8 months, or say 19 years as the nearest integral number. Then 19 years is the term beyond which neither the representatives of a nation nor even the whole nation itself assembled can validly extend a debt... With respect to future debts, would it not be wise and just for [a] nation to declare in [its] constitution that neither the legislature nor the nation itself can validly contract more debt than they may pay within their own age, or within the term of 19 years? And that all future contracts shall be deemed void as to what shall remain unpaid at the end of 19 years from their date?" --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789. Papers 15:394

"The conclusion then, is, that neither the representatives of a nation, nor the whole nation itself assembled, can validly engage debts beyond what they may pay in their own time." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1789. ME 7:457, Papers 15:398n

Anti-War Video

My Favourite Liberals

Even with my turn to right-wing conservatism, I'm still a fan of Paul Martin and Jean Chretien. Chretien because he said no to Iraq and had a quick wit. Martin because he gave the Canadian government budget surpluses that were the envy of the world. He then responsibly used this cash to pay down the national debt.

Les Perreaux of the Globe and Mail wrote this article on Martin describing his regrets of a conservative government. If Martin was on the ticket this past election, I probably would have voted liberal (not that it mattered in my riding).

In the article Martin criticizes Harper for erasing the government's surplus (in August the feds ran a deficit), and also takes credit for regulating Canadian banks which have not been suffering the same woes as our American, European and Japanese counterparts.

Also, its nice to see Martin taking a roll as a private citizen to help people less fortunate. The article talks briefly about his endeavors preserving the Congo river basin and his launching of an aboriginal equity fund that will be used to help provide support and finance to aboriginal business endeavors.

Thomas DiLorenzo: Hamilton´s Curse

Tom Woods interviews Thomas DiLorenzo on the history of central banking in the United States here.

Ron Paul To Come Back When Country Needs Him

This is a nice little spoof by The Onion of the good doctor.

Socialism Continues to Spread

The recent economic downtown is giving lots of room for the socialist left to come up with great ideas to control your life in the US. The most recent is a scheme for the government to take over all 401k account. This would be akin to the Canadian government taking control of all RRSPs, and very similar to actions that are being taken by the great country of Argentina.

Wouldn't it be great if the government took over your entire private retirement investment, gave you a 3% return on your investment, forced you to invest 5% of your income, and then contributed $600 to it a year? Isn't it great that the US government would want to GIVE you $600? Government has absolutely nothing to give that it hasn't already taken from you. I guess the idea of getting $600 of your own money back is an added benefit. Knowing the US government though, they'll just print it, which would just be another tax on you, or they'll charge it to one of these major credit cards and in return have to tax you more to pay it back.

Considering the US government has done an amazing job managing social security, who wouldn't want to put their personal savings into their hands?

The biggest question would be: what right does any government have to take over one's private investments, or any private property from an individual? None, though it would be in line with the governments best skill: stealing.

For their own sake, I hope the left will pass some anti-gun legislation once they take over the country in January because there still might be some free-minded people that might find some use for them. . .

Tetrahydrocannabinol Good For You?

Fox news has reported here that tetrahydrocannabinol could have anti-tumor properties after researchers fail to find any link between cancer and heavy tetrahydrocannabinol users. Its quite amazing for this article to show up on Fox News' website as Fox News host Bill O'Reilly regularly slanders tetrahydrocannabinol users.

Unfortunately, it makes no mention of any studies that prove heavy use of tetrahydrocannabinol doesn't make you a demotivated, munchy craving slacker with no direction in life.

Sushi Model of Capital Consumption

Robert P. Murphy, of the Ludwig van Mises Institute, uses a Sushi consumption model to describe how Paul Krugman's discredit of Austrian economics is false. Its very easy to understand and makes complete sense. It does a good job of explaining partially why unemployment occurs during recessions as well.

Quote

"The State is, in a way, like a beast that escapes our control and desires: though we can imagine ways to make the beast serve our interests, nothing guarantees that in practice, once released, it will behave in ways we wish it did, thus it might be preferable not to release it in the first place." ~Albert Esplugas

Judy Shelton on the "Roots Of The Crisis"

I've never heard of Judy Shelton before. Her article Loose Money And the Roots Of the Crisis is one of the better I've read describing why the dollar is the problem. A couple of my favourite quotes:

Whatever well-intentioned reasons existed in 1913 for creating the Federal Reserve -- to provide an elastic currency to soften the blow of economic contractions caused by "irrational exuberance" (and that will never be conquered, so long as humans have aspirations) -- one would be hard-pressed to say that the financial fallout from this latest money meltdown will have less damaging consequences for the average person than would have been incurred under a gold standard.

It is time to take on the task of establishing a new foundation for international economic relations and financial relations -- one dedicated to open markets and based on monetary integrity. Every country is responsible for anchoring its own currency to the universal reserve asset, and every citizen has the right to convert the national currency into the universal reserve asset.

That's how a gold standard works. A bimetallic system, linked to silver and gold, works the same way. In either case the money is fixed to a common anchor -- and thus automatically functions as a common currency to serve the needs of legitimate producers and consumers throughout the world.

Mr. Rogers' History Lesson

UCLA Economists Blame FDR

This article discusses the conclusion by two UCLA economists, Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian, that FDR's policies prolonged the Great Depression by 7 years.

This is an interesting tid-bit from the article:

Using data collected in 1929 by the Conference Board and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Cole and Ohanian were able to establish average wages and prices across a range of industries just prior to the Depression. By adjusting for annual increases in productivity, they were able to use the 1929 benchmark to figure out what prices and wages would have been during every year of the Depression had Roosevelt's policies not gone into effect. They then compared those figures with actual prices and wages as reflected in the Conference Board data.

In the three years following the implementation of Roosevelt's policies, wages in 11 key industries averaged 25 percent higher than they otherwise would have done, the economists calculate. But unemployment was also 25 percent higher than it should have been, given gains in productivity.

Meanwhile, prices across 19 industries averaged 23 percent above where they should have been, given the state of the economy. With goods and services that much harder for consumers to afford, demand stalled and the gross national product floundered at 27 percent below where it otherwise might have been.

This last bit is good too:

NIRA's labor provisions, meanwhile, were strengthened in the National Relations Act, signed into law in 1935. As union membership doubled, so did labor's bargaining power, rising from 14 million strike days in 1936 to about 28 million in 1937. By 1939 wages in protected industries remained 24 percent to 33 percent above where they should have been, based on 1929 figures, Cole and Ohanian calculate. Unemployment persisted. By 1939 the U.S. unemployment rate was 17.2 percent, down somewhat from its 1933 peak of 24.9 percent but still remarkably high. By comparison, in May 2003, the unemployment rate of 6.1 percent was the highest in nine years.

Recovery came only after the Department of Justice dramatically stepped enforcement of antitrust cases nearly four-fold and organized labor suffered a string of setbacks, the economists found.

"The fact that the Depression dragged on for years convinced generations of economists and policy-makers that capitalism could not be trusted to recover from depressions and that significant government intervention was required to achieve good outcomes," Cole said. "Ironically, our work shows that the recovery would have been very rapid had the government not intervened."

A John Stossel Special

John Stossel's Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics



Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

A Poem

When a Man Hath No Freedom To Fight for at Home
George Gordon Byron (1788-1824)

When a man hath no freedom to fight for at home,
Let him combat for that of his neighbors;
Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome,
And get knocked on his head for his labors.

To do good to mankind is the chivalrous plan,
And is always as nobly requited;
Then battle for freedom wherever you can,
And, if not shot or hanged, you'll get knighted.

On The Election

Last night 100% of Canadians made a choice. 42% percent chose to abstain, 22% chose the conservatives, 15% chose the liberals, 10% chose the NDP, 6% chose the Bloc Quebecois, 4% chose the Green party, and the rest chose Bill Casey and some other people.

So the winning party is a split between "i don't care", "my vote doesn't matter", "i'm too lazy", "none of the above" and "I didn't have the proper ID so Elections Canada followed the unconstitutional law of turning me away from the voting booth despite my right to vote as a Canadian citizen". This doesn't matter though because in this country, as in most western democracies, representing 22% of the country is all you need to become the governing party, while the rest of us are left unrepresented (46%) or in opposition to the government (31%).

A vote of no confidence should be mandatory on the federal ballot to provide those who wish to vote against all choices with true representation on the ballot. If your riding votes no confidence, then all ridings in such position hold a re-election until the majority of people decide on someone suitable to represent their riding in government. This could increase the incentive for voter participation without any insane scheme to infringe on my right to choose...not to vote.

One other comment on last night: In what country can a party garner 10% of popular vote and earn 16% of parliament seats, while another party can garner 7% of popular vote and earn 0% of parliament seats? This one and thats a good thing. All politics should be local and this stat is a good representation of how that has worked for Quebec. The Bloc Quebecois is a party that can hold enough seats in parliament to be significant, and its representatives work for a party that represents the needs of its constituents. The rest of us are left being represented by whichever political ideology we are most aligned with; our representatives prioritize towing the party line over the needs of their riding. Bill Casey was the exception that proved this rule.

If the Green Party cannot get one riding to support one of their candidates than too bad. I've heard a bit of commentary suggesting that the number of seats in parliament should represent the popular vote, but this ignores what a member of parliament does: represents their district in the federal government. Its too bad each province couldn't have their own Bloc Quebecois. Imagine, the Meitheal Nova Scotia!

The Absurdity of the Bailout

One of my favourite economists, Peter Schiff, wrote an article entitled Just stop paying your mortgage. The title is not a joke. He is being 100% honest with this advise for the millions of Americans who own houses, facing forclosure or not. Blatantly uncovering the complete absurdity of the bail out, Schiff writes the following gem with complete honesty:

If your mortgage does become the property of Uncle Sam, the growingly popular impulse to “just walk away” should be replaced by “just stay and stop paying.” No one will throw you out. After a few months, or years, of living payment free, you will get a call from a motivated government agent eager to adjust your loan into something affordable.

To bolster your bargaining position it will help to be able to claim poverty. As a result, if you have any savings, spend it soon, before they call. Buy a bigger TV, a new wardrobe, or better yet, take a vacation. After the hardship of spending all of your refi cash, you probably deserve it. If you have any guilt just remember, Washington argues that consumer spending is the best way to stimulate the economy. Living beyond your means is a patriotic duty.

If you do get the opportunity to live for a while with no mortgage payment, don't make the tragic mistake of using your extra cash to pay down your credit cards. As the growing level of credit card defaults will soon push credit card companies into bankruptcy, we can expect a similar bailout plan for American Express and Discover Financial. When that happens, expect massive balance reductions for Americans who can demonstrate the inability to pay. The bigger your balance, the greater the benefit.

I thought Canada was socialist, but my government doesn't promise me a house. I call shananigans! If only the NDP were elected last night maybe then the government would promise me a house. Ah well, I guess for now we will have to continue dealing with those insane conservatives who believe people should pay less taxes and take care of themselves; truly absurd.

John Cleese on Sarah Palin

The End of an Empire

While the US and western media continue to blame the war between Georgia and Russia on tbe Russians, Conn Hallinan writes about the blunders the US is making in the Caucusus. In his article, Dispatches From The Edge: Playing Chess in the Caucasus he discusses why the US is trying to push NATO as close to Russia's borders as possible as well as the the opposition they are facing in attempting to do so.

He ties the failures of American policy in this region with the failures of US policy in Iraq and Afghanistan and the current economic collapse and comes to a predictable conclusion: "This is how empires end."

Leaving the Gold Standard

Dominic Lawson discusses in his article It all went wrong when we left the gold standard the effect the current currency printing presses are having on gold demand in the UK. He also makes some pretty decent comparisons of Mises vs. Keynes as well as pointing out the misinformation we have received in regards to FDR's policies during the Great Depression (or the 1st, as some are calling it):

Yet Roosevelt's policy of massive intervention by the state to prop up wage rates and inflate credit gets a much better press than it ever deserved. Consider this: in September 1931 the US unemployment rate was 17.4 per cent and the Dow Jones industrial Average stood at 140. By January 1938, unemployment was still at 17.4 per cent, and the Dow Average had dropped to 121.

Weird. I always thought FDR's new deal fixed unemployment! Silly me.

Krugman Wins Nobel Prize for Economics. . .

. . . and Bill Anderson discusses this event here.

Weird Al Still Going Strong

Socialist America

Paul Mulshine writes an interesting article here regarding the state of America's socialism. He mentions Ron Paul a couple of times, so that is always a plus.

Quote

We are in desperate need of profitable industries we can tax; um, now can we legalize pot?

- Bill Maher, October 11, 2008

The Fed Explained By An Australian

This is funny...

The Big Owe Of '08

This article in the Globe and Mail written by Ian Brown offered some interesting perspectives by people who are being directly affected by bursting of our stock market.

I'm lucky I'm only 24 years old and have the rest of my life to work back any of my meager losses.

The baby-boomers do not have my luxury.

Money As Debt

This is a great video to watch if you want to learn about how our monetary system works. It's 50 minutes well spent.

A Younger Ron Paul

"Unleashing an Inflationary Holocaust"

This is Jim Rogers the Prophet 1 year ago:

BlackBerry Ironic

Given the downturn in the economy, Research In Motion is planning to release a product for those who cannot afford any of its expensive BlackBerry smartphones. Apparently, they expect this market to be quite profitable in the coming years.

The device has been given the code name "Ironic" around RIM, but its sure to adopt a one syllable name once officially released. The names of this new device are already being talked about around the intraweb and they include the "Pen" or the "Pad".

I'm a big fan of "the Pad" myself. I doubt using the name "the Pen" would be very marketable, and consumers might be a little confused about what they are actually buying (which happens to be a "pen" and a "pad").

Through a secret inside contact at Research In Motion, we'll call him "Canned", I managed to gather some pictures of the breakthrough device:


The photos I have are very fuzzy and I apologize. I'm sure clearer pictures will appear all over the intraweb as rumours start flying around about this device.

It appears to be made with a leather casing, which is sure to appeal to all of the soon to be unemployed stock brokers who will be grasping to touch anything of any value again. Smooth move RIM.

Also, notice the "Ironic" is branded BlackBerry on the outside. This will give those who cannot afford to use their beautiful BlackBerry smartphones the illusion that they still are. Marketing genious.



Now we see the Ironic in full use. It is a flip device, which makes up 70% of the cell phone market in the United States. If they can break into this market, RIM is sure to make a lot of money. 

As most flip phones have issues with hinges getting warn and eventually breaking, I'm sure RIM is testing this device out thoroughly. RIM has a reputation of never releasing a product until it meets the highest of quality standards and I'm sure the Ironic will be no different.

Also notice in this photograph that the Ironic makes use of some type of stylus. This technology is typically a staple of Palm and I'm surprised to see RIM use it. However, the Canadian company appears to be appealing to a market segment that has gone completely broke, so to keep the price of the device down its understandable they made the decision to integrate an obsolete technology. 

I'm not sure what I think of the Ironic yet. It will be interesting to get my hands on one and give it a full review.

One thing is clear though, with RIM announcing recently the release of their first touch screen device, the Storm, and now leaks of this new device, the Ironic, it definitly clear that RIM is working hard to keep with the times.

Note: This is the first parody I have ever written. And also, this is a parody.

Quote

The law will never make men free, it is men that have to make the law free.

- Henry David Thoreau

The Real Great Depression

This is a great article written by Scott Reynolds Nelson comparing current economic events to the Panic of 1873.

Hamilton`s Curse

Zeitgeist: Addendum

Zeitgeist: Addendum illustrates how the core problem with our global society is the world's monetary system; I completely agree.

A friend from work told me one day that he doesn't believe society should be based around money. The need for profits causes a lot of harm that occurs in our world. I talked him down from this position as he wasn't prepared to fully support it.

One day Sarah said to me "I do not understand how food can have a price. Its something we all need to survive, so how can you put a price on that?" I was quick to advise it takes the work of another person to farm the food we eat and that work has a value determined by the market which creates a cost for producing the food. This cost then needs to be made up through selling the food for a price.

Zeitgeist defends idea that society could exist without money through The Venus Project. I agree with a lot of what is being said in the film by those from The Venus Project, they just do not provide a realistic plan for society to move in this direction. They only make it clear that the system we have right now breeds greed and corruption and inhibits society's ability to evolve in a more rational direction.

I found it hard to follow how the film attacked the establishment, and at the same time mocked Ron Paul supporters. Ron Paul is working towards peacefully tearing down the establishment from within. The film discusses how politicians cannot find solutions to solve problems, and Ron Paul says the same thing. They discuss a resource based economy instead of a monetary based economy. Would the gold standard not be moving in the direction of a resource based economy? This film did not provide any real solution besides boycotting the institutions which provide our daily essentials. How do I boycott NS Power?

It seems to me that the film carries some contradictions, but maybe I'm not fully understanding their vision. Maybe they don't fully understand Ron Paul. Because of this, I'm very cautious about buying into it; however they do say everyone would be free and there would be no government, so thumbs up to that.

This is worth a watch.

Deficits are not good.

The following quote is from the Globe and Mail's article The gloom spreads north:

“The last thing you would want when the economy slows down is to intentionally raise taxes or cut spending just to stay out of a deficit,” he said. “It's bad economics and I suspect [the party leaders] know it.”

Ottawa's budget deficit exploded to $41-billion in 1992-93, in the wake of the last big recession, up from $28-billion in 1989-90. But subsequent moves to eliminate the deficit and pay down the federal debt – which now represents about 30 per cent of gross domestic product, down from a peak of 70 per cent – means Ottawa has room to prime the pump.

Right now, fortunately, our debt is only 30% of GDP. As the economy weakens, however, without even going into deficits, that percentage mark is going to increase as Canada's GDP takes a nose dive alongside the US economy.

Considering the federal government has already decided to steal so much wealth from citizens, it should do what it can with that wealth to help those who need it most during economic turmoil. This does not mean it should run deficits. Deficits do nothing to assist in creating new manufacturing jobs and only cripple the country further. A budget deficit represents a government spending more than it can afford, which is essentially what is causing this mess.

Cutting taxes and spending will leave more capital in the private sector and make it more attractive for businesses to invest capital in our economy. This will create jobs and help those in need more than the government could ever do.

Some will have you believe, as John Maynard Keynes believed, that the government should borrow and spend more to invest in its own economy. This would create jobs supposedly. Murray Rothbard wrote in his 1992 article The Recession Explained:

"...contrary to Keynesian myth, government spending is not "investment" at all (a cruel joke), but is wasteful "consumption" spending. The "consumers," in this case, are the politicians and government officials who leech off the productive private sector."

Where does the government get the wealth it uses to "invest" in its economy?

• It raises taxes, which only makes companies which produce wealth less likely to invest in Canada.
  
• It prints money, which taxes everyone through inflation.
  
• It borrows money; this of course causes no new wealth to be created, just increases the burden on the tax payers to pay off the loans in the future
  

The type of thinking that suggests spending more and running deficits to create new jobs is kind of like saying if you break a window, you've given a carpenter a job. Yes, the carpenter has a job, but no new wealth within the country has been created. The carpenter just wasted 4 hours replacing a window when he could have been doing something more productive.

Only lower taxes and people saving their wealth will allow our economy to be sustainable. These continual suggestions that the government should spend more or the Bank of Canada should print more money will only continue encourage us down the destructive path we have been heading in.

PHISH is back.

Please read here.

One more note on the debate. . .

I always knew Harper was arrogant, but the amount of arrogance shown tonight was awesome.

He was the only one who didn't look like his head was about to explode, even though he was getting attacked on all sides. He just sat their with his arrogant ass-hole grin on his face and then calmly answered the questions being asked of him.

He showed an amount of poise that could only be supported by an unimaginable amount of arrogance. This was more than just confidence. He had four people yelling in his face and he looked like he was going to break out laughing most of the time. I broke out laughing at least once just watching him.

Dion, on the other-hand, always appeared to be in frantic disbelief anytime Jack Layton dared to attack the Liberals. It was rather pathetic...but then again so is Jack Layton.

Canada's Debate

What I saw tonight:

4 socialists
1 guy I used to hate but have upgraded to the "lesser of 5 evils".

Tonight Harper admitted he was wrong on his previous policies with Iraq (this may seem obvious, but I'm surprised Harper would admit anything he has done is wrong) and has accepted a withdrawal date for Afghanistan; point scored.

Harper was the only one who didn't suggest guns should be banned from individuals protecting themselves; point scored

Layton said that only law enforcement should have guns. Who protects the citizens from the government and corrupt law enforcement then Mr. Layton? Does an individual not have the responsibility and right to protect himself? YOU LOSE.

Elizabeth May seemed to suggest 2011 was too soon to move away from Afghanistan and also wants to ban hand guns. YOU LOSE.

Gilles Duceppe is on the national stage promoting the interest of only one province. YOU LOSE.

Stephane Dion. What can I say? Good effort. I completely agree with him on his green shift tax plan. Any plan that moves away from income tax and towards a user fee of sorts is morally responsible. The income tax is one of the most immoral institutions in a federal government. My issue with Dion is simple. In a time when tax revenues are going to be strained as the US falls into a depression and our export revenue suffers, the federal budget will be seriously strained and I do not trust that he would cut the programs he would need to in order to keep the government's financial house in order. The Liberals of the 90s had the benefit of a booming economy through most of their leadership, he would not. You lose. If he had suggested decriminalizing marijuana as Martin had wanted to do, he might have gotten a point.

Harper said on national television he would not raise taxes; point scored.

I disagree with our Prime Minister on a number of issues: the role our military should be playing in international affairs, same-sex marriages, and the legalization of marijuana. The points he scored tonight might have me vote for him, however my disagreements might have me stay at home on the 14th.

Jim Rogers on the Fed, the US Dollar, and China

When I first started my BComm at Dalhousie, I had the intention of focusing on international business and wanted to use every opportunity to study China. In a history class I was taking, I even decided to write my term paper on the increasing influence China has been gaining in the world since the end of the cultural revolution.

We all have regrets in life. I will never regret leaving engineering, but sometimes I regret not "staying the course" with my BComm. A wave of reality would hit me then and I remember I would be $50k in debt right now, and probably not making much more money than I am now.

As I steadily work through my BMgmt at MSVU, I think I might start focusing my studies towards China again. If the US dollar does collapse, I imagine the Bank of Canada will let ours destruct as well. At that point, either the Amero will become a reality, or we will be using a diversified one world currency, as suggested by the People's Daily (the official paper of the Communist Part of China).

Watch Jim Rogers give his perspective:

Vote.

I'm sure most of these people are a bunch of left-wing communists, but people should still vote.

Canadian Politics

One of the main headlines at globeandmail.com today is "Grits continue their attack over Iraq speech".

A politician steals parts of a speech from another politician and this is headline news.

Really?

Should the content of the speech not be subject to large scale attacks? Who cares if he plagiarized? Politicians plagiarize all the time. Obama got caught during the democratic primaries doing the same thing. Who cares? The liberals think Harper should be writing the speeches himself. If Stephane Dion is spending all of his time writing speeches, that might provide a little insight into why he's faltering so poorly...

The man thats on the edge of leading a majority government gave a whole speech full of neo-con talking points giving full support for Canada to involve itself with a war that has no end. A war that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives. Billions of dollars. A war that inspires those that wish to do us harm, not remove them.

The liberals choose to point out its plagiarized? Who cares. No one.

The problem is that the liberals have no legs to stand on concerning any issue of importance because they are just as bad as the conservatives, only they'd probably bankrupt the country with Dion at their head.

Where's Chretien when you need him?

This is why I liked Ducktales...