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Must Reads For The Week 11/26/16

November 26, 2016

Healthcare Stocks Are Crashing As The End Of Obamacare Looms, at zerohedge.com. The Republicans have said they want to repeal and replace Obamacare. The problem is if they replace it with their version of government mandated healthcare it will also be a failure. The only way to lower the cost of healthcare is to allow a free market to exist in healthcare and healthcare insurance. What are the chances of politicians allowing this to happen?

Landlords, Not Government, Should Police Airbnb, by Jared Mayer, at economics21.org. Government is always trying to prop up the status quo. Government bureaucrats and politicians don’t like the free market, no matter how much lip service they pay to it.

Car2Go To Suspend Twin Cities, at startribune.com. The car sharing app is suspending service because of government regulations. Another example of how anti free market government officials are.

Nebraska Strikes A Blow For Liberty; Bans Civil Asset Forfeiture, at redstate.com. More states have to take this action. Civil asset forfeiture is a violation of peoples fourth amendment rights.

Dallas Bankruptcy Threat, at economicpolicyjournal.com. It’s not just the Federal Government that makes poor economic decisions. Dallas hasn’t fully funded their police and fire pensions. The city is close to bankruptcy because it over promised and under delivered on these pension programs.

‘Feminist’ Snow-Plowing System Brings Stockholm To A Standstill, at heatst.com. Instead of using the tried and true methods that have worked for years, progressive politicians are sending snow plows to areas that are most used by women. Of course the unintended consequence is gridlock.

The Remarkably Coordinated Global War On Cash, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Government loves the idea of a cashless society. It’s all about control.

Trump’s Student Loan Plan Treats Symptoms, Not The Disease, by Blaine Conzatti, at mises.org. Here is an excerpt from the article: “In the face of increased demand for student loans, unless supply keeps pace with demand, prices will inevitably rise. Millions of students have become burdened with previously unimaginable levels of student loan debt needed to finance schooling that has been made artificially expensive by government intervention.” Trumps plan exchanges his government solution for the existing government solution that caused the existing problem. It is similar to healthcare. If you repeal Obamacare and replace it with another government solution, you are treating the symptom and not the problem. A market provides the only opportunity to have the highest quality healthcare at the lowest possible cost. The same is true if there was a student loan market.

Brexit Leader Nigel Farage Reacts To Trumps Victory

 

Nigel Farage Post Brexit Vote Address:

KEEP SPREADING THE WORD

The battle for freedom and liberty must be fought everyday. You never know how close you are to getting the big government barge stopped and turned around. In the U.S. a turning point was the rise of the tea party and liberty movements in response to Obamacare. It has taken four election cycles to get to where we are today. If we continue to teach people about the superiority of free markets and individual liberty, over socialism and central planning, who knows where we could be in the next four election cycles. Now is the time to push harder because big Government central planners won’t give up their power this easily.

CARTOONS

More from The Burning Platform (click here)

Political Cartoons by Bob Gorrell

Political Cartoons by Steve Kelley

Political Cartoons by Nate Beeler

Political Cartoons by Glenn McCoy

Political Cartoons by Henry Payne

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Must Reads For The Week 11/19/16

November 19, 2016

To Our Readers, From Publisher And Executive Editor Of The New York Times, at nytimes.com. This is all you need to know about the mainstream media. Here is an open letter to the readers of The New York Times from Arthur Sulzberger Jr. the publisher of the Times. This letter was published in the Times the Sunday after Trump was elected President. Sulzberger Jr. admits dishonest reporting by the Times. Here is an excerpt from the letter:

“As we reflect on the momentous result, and the months of reporting and polling that preceded it, we aim to rededicate ourselves to the fundamental mission of Times journalism. That is to report America and the world honestly, without fear or favor, striving always to understand and reflect all political perspectives and life experiences in the stories that we bring to you. It is also to hold power to account, impartially and unflinchingly. You can rely on The New York Times to bring the same fairness, the same level of scrutiny, the same independence to our coverage of the new president and his team.”

If you say you are going to “rededicate” yourself to do a specific thing, doesn’t that mean you weren’t dedicated to doing that specific thing in the first place? This letter proves what growing numbers of people already know, and that is the mainstream media is biased toward big government central planning. Freedom of the press was supposed to check government power, not promote the increase of government power.

It’s good to know the Times has miraculously found the religion of honest reporting just as a Republican President is about to be sworn in. Does anyone think their reporting on Trump during his upcoming Presidency will be any different from how they reported on Trump during the Presidential campaign?

The MSM has lost all credibility.

Mainstream Media Goes Full McCarthyite, by Hunter Lewis, at mises.org. Excerpt from the article: “Senator Joe McCarthy perfected the technique in the United States: whenever you disagree with anybody, don’t debate ideas, go right into name calling. In McCarthy’s day, the epithet of choice was  “Communist.”  In recent years, it has morphed into  “racist, sexist, homophobe, latinophobe, Islamophobe, xenophobe etc., etc“. If you want smaller government you are a racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobe……….

Who’s Behind The Portland Riots? 60% Of Arrested Anti-Trump Protesters Were From Out Of State, Didn’t Vote, at zerohedge.com. All these rent a mob riots are happening in cities that are controlled by Democrats. Which means I don’t care.

Soros And Liberal Mega-Donors Plot For War With Donald Trump, at zerohedge.com. Should we believe anything we read in the MSM about Trump?

Ryan Slams Brakes On Vote To Bring Back Earmarks, at cnn.com. This article is why I really don’t want to defend Trump and the Republican party. There are a bunch of status quo elites in the Republican party who want  government to grow. This vote was postponed, which means it probably will be brought up again. We have to hold their feet to the fire.

Profs, Students Want UVA President To Stop Quoting Jefferson: It Creates A Hostile Environment, by Robbie Soave, at reason.com. Two points. 1) Do they know Jefferson  founded the University of Virginia? 2) How is their inability to handle opposing views our problem? Isn’t it their problem?

GM Slashes 2000 Jobs, Suspends 3rd Shift On Bloated Inventories, Slowing Sales, at zerohedge.com. And in an unrelated story: A Record 25% Of Used Car Trade-Ins Are Under Water, at zerohedge.com. Using sub prime loans to stimulate demand doesn’t end well. Look at the housing bubble. As false signals are sent to car manufactures, they ramp up production to meet the false demand. When the bubble pops, jobs and hours are cut. The increased inventory has to be sold off before production is ramped up again. The coordination between production and consumption that happens naturally in a free market is distorted in a hampered market. Scarce resources, time, labor, and capital are wasted in the hampered market. In a free market this waste is kept to a minimum.

Four States Vote To Punish Low-Skilled Workers With Minimum Wage Hikes, by Ryan McMaken, at mises.org. How many ties do we have to show the folly of minimum wage laws? Here is an excerpt from the article: “..the only way to sustainably increase the wages of workers is to increase their productivity. If a worker’s wages are to go up, there must either be an increase in the demand for that worker’s services, or the worker must be able to produce more in less time.” This is a great article.

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Must Reads For The Week 11/12/16

November 12, 2016

 

ELECTION COMMENTS

People didn’t vote for Trump, they voted against the status quo elites in Washington. Hillary was the perfect embodiment of the status quo elite ruling class. Here are a few reasons people voted against the elite. 1) In the words of the Reverend Wright, the Obamacare chickens came home to roost at the wrong time as healthcare premiums went through the roof. 2) Our ruling aristocracy could break the law and suffer no consequences, while we get dinged $90 for not wearing a seat belt. 3) People didn’t like the regulations passed by politicians and bureaucrats, that encroached into every aspect of their lives. 4) The condescending attitude toward the middle class by biased media elites finally pissed enough people off.

People were motivated to go out and vote against the status quo, and deal with Trump later. They were willing to take a chance on rolling a hard eight, because the knew they were going to crap if they voted for Hillary.

ELECTION ANALYSIS

The Source Of Our Rage: The Ruling Elites Are Protected From The Consequences Of It’s Dominance, by Charles Hugh Smith, at oftwominds.com. Excerpt from the article, “There are very few opportunities for powerless non-elites to register their disapproval of the nation’s Ruling elite and the corrupt status quo. Voting for an outsider in a national election is one such rare opportunity.”

The Intelligentsia Takes A Hit,, by Peter Klein, at mises.org. Excerpt from the article: “…there is an important silver lining to this year’s election season. Public skepticism of the establishment media, think-tanks, academics, and other members of the intelligentsia is at an all-time high.”

Surprise, Surprise, The Disconnected Plutocrat Lost, by Victor Davis Hanson, at victorhanson.com. Excerpt from the article: “Clinton in the last weeks talked of the electorate as if it was a faceless hyphenated Borg – Latinos this, African Americans that, the gay vote, women voters – without any realization that she was referring to millions of Americans by their appearance rather than their essence as unique individuals. In normal times, all that pandering would have been seen as illiberal.”

“The Jig Is Up: America’s Voters Just Fired Their Ruling Elite, by David Stockman, at zerohedge.com. Excerpt from the article: “America’s voters fired their ruling elites last night. After 30 years of arrogant misrule and wantonly planting the seeds of economic and financial ruin throughout Flyover America, the Wall Street/Washington establishment and its mainstream media tools have been repudiated like never before in modern history. During the course of the past year, upwards of 70 million citizens – 59 million for Trump and 13 million for Bernie Sanders – have voted for dramatic change.”

Who Lost: A Biased Media, Pundits, Pollsters, Political Parties, Warmongers, The Corporatocracy, Pay To Play Grifters, Neoliberals, by Charles Hugh Smith, at oftwominds.com. Excerpt from the article: “The punditry applied a double standard to Trump and Hillary. Trump’s speeches and ethically questionable history were judged by moral standards, and he was declared unfit. Hillary’s actions, on the other hand, were judged by strictly legalistic standards: well, you can’t indict her, so she’s fit for office. Dear Punditry: you can’t use double standards to promote your biases and retain any shred of credibility.”

The Unenviable Next President, by Victor Davis Hanson, at victorhanson.com. Excerpt from the article: “The next president will be facing economic stagnation, record debt, racial division, looming large and ongoing small wars abroad, and a health care system in ruins. Common to all these problems is that tough solutions – fiscal discipline, recalibrating the tax code, restoration of deterrence, and a new health insurance model – will be as controversial and painful as is the current unsustainable slide into chaos.”

Five Things Trump’s Surprise Victory Should Teach The Media, by Gracy Olmstead, at thefederalist.com. Excerpt from the article: “Media that speak only to themselves are not only useless – they’re depressing. They’ve lost sight of any truth but their own, and in the process, have lost the trust of those who formerly turned to them for information and insight.”

Hillary Spent Nearly Twice As Much Per Vote As Trump – For Nothing, at zerohedge.com. So much for the theory that big money buys elections.

Five States Passed Ballot Measures For The Unemployment Causing Minimum Wage Regulation, at economicpolicyjournal.com. CA, NV, AZ, MA, ME, all passed minimum wage issues. All these states voted for Hillary.

San Francisco Passed Soda Tax, at econolmicpolicyjournal.com. How could anyone live in this nanny state.

Trump’s Opening Act: A Trillion Dollar Infrastructure Spending, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Don’t do this. It is a waste of scarce resources. Read – Infrastructure Spending Doesn’t Grow The Economy, at mises.org.

SOME FUN

There Are The Celebrities Who Vowed To Leave America If Trump Wins, at zerohedge.com. The question is will Canada accept these luminaries? For that answer, Read here, Meanwhile, From Canada.

Yale Professor Cancels Exam For Snowflake Students Distraught At Election Results, at theburningplatform.com. We have raised a generation which can’t handle not getting their way. Maybe we should give them a participation trophy.

A Few Cold Hard Facts For Snowflakes, at theburningplatform.com. This article comes with a trigger warning. If you are a p#$$% don’t read this.

 

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Must Reads For The Week 11/5/16

November 5, 2016

The Breakdown Of The Rule Of Law

“Nobody Is Above The Law. Guaranteed. Full Stop”: Meltdown At The Justice Department Exposes Obama’s Lies, at zerohedge.com. Nobody is above the law except elites in government who espouse the leftist agenda.

DOJ’s Loretta Lynch Tried To Squash Comey’s Letter To Congress, at zerohedge.com. Lynch didn’t empanel a grand jury to hear the evidence in Hillary’s email investigation. She met with Bill Clinton on the tarmac at the Phoenix airport. And she probably can’t figure out why the FBI is thumbing their nose at her orders to squash the investigation

Hillary Clinton’s 38-Year History Of Sleaze And Corruption, by Dan Mitchell, at freedomandprosperity.com. For all the younger people who don’t remember the first Clinton Presidency. Here is a recap.

John Podesta’s Best Friend At The DOJ To Be In Charge Of DOJ’s Probe Into Huma’s Emails, at zerohedge.com. Who trusts that this guy will do his job wherever the evidence leads?

“Don’t Repeat That To Anybody” Clinton And Brazile Personally Implicated In Project Veritas Video, at zerohedge.com. This isn’t a conspiracy theory. This is just people actually colluding to reach a particular end.

Secret Recordings Fueled Mutinous FBI Investigation of Clintons Despite DOJ Orders To Stand Down, at zerohedge.com. The FBI agents are disregarding what their superiors order them to do.

Why Comey Reopened The Hillary Investigation, at lewrockwell.com. Pressure from his subordinates outweighed the pressure from his superiors.

The ruling class better hope we citizens don’t start acting like the people employed by these agencies.

 

Government Intervention In The Market = Disaster

Let’s start with a quote from Ludwig von Mises: “Economic history is a long record of Government policies that failed because they were designed with a bold disregard for the laws of economics.”

Government Pension Plans Are Headed For Disaster, by Robert Fellner, at mises.org. Economic reality can’t be stopped by accounting tricks.

Two Arguments Against The Fed We Should Make Over And Over Again, By Jeff Deist, at mises.com. Our dollar has lost purchasing power because of inflation, defined as money printing. Because of inflation the first receivers of the printed money are skimming people’s savings from them.

Make Sugar A Delicacy, by Chris Calton, at mises.org. Government import quotas on sugar hurts the consumer because he is paying higher prices . The government can get away with this because the cost is spread across all consumers.

The Devaluation Of Higher Education, by Carmen Elena Dorobat, at mises.org. Big and small businesses hiring people out of college is what should determine the value of a degree. Not Government subsidizing young people’s education.

Blame Government, Not Markets For Monopoly, by Ron Paul, at mises.org. Government creates monopolies because it regulates competition out of the market. Markets force businesses to satisfy the customer.

The Obamacare Tipping Point, by Richard Kocur, at mises.org. When you increase the demand for something and decrease the supply of that same something, what happens to its price?

 

Cartoons

More cartoons from theburningplatform click here.

Political Cartoons by Chip Bok

Political Cartoons by Chip Bok

Political Cartoons by Steve Kelley

These Next Three Cartoons Sum Up The Different Ways People Are Thinking About Their Choice On Election Day.

Political Cartoons by Michael Ramirez

Political Cartoons by Ken Catalino

Political Cartoons by Gary Varvel

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Must Reads For The Week 10/29/16

October 29, 2016

Unprecedented Surge In Election Fraud From Around The Country, at zerohedge.com. There has always been election fraud. Why would anyone think it wouldn’t increase as the size and scope of government has increased.

Public Faith In Elections Falls As The State Grows, by Ryan McMaken, at mises.org. The fact that a growing number of people don’t trust individuals in positions with government power is a good thing for individual liberty. Our founders didn’t trust individuals in positions of government power. That is why they attempted to limit the power of government with the Constitution.

Faced With Angry Voters, The Elites Sour On Democracy, by Ryan McMaken, at mises.com. The voters are wise when they agree with the elites. But when they don’t vote the way the elites want, the voters either had a temper tantrum or are ignorant of the nuances that only the elites can understand.

New York Declares War On Home Sharing (Airbnb), by Brittany Hunter, at mises.org. Just as the taxi cartel doesn’t like Uber, the hotel cartel doesn’t like Airbnb. The status quo will do anything to maintain their government sanctioned monopoly position.

Anti-Racist Berkeley Protesters Demand ‘Spaces Of Color’, Harass White Students Trying To Pass, at heatst.com. They want to bring back segregation? I thought they were for diversity? Why do people cave in to this kind of stupidity? If you give in just one time to these cultural terrorists, they will be emboldened and their demands will never end.

Catholic University BANS “Unborn Lives Matter” Posters, by Amanda Prestigiacomo, at dailywire.com. DePaul University president Father Dennis Holtschneider declared, “he would prohibit them in order to shield his students from “bigotry: under the “cove of free speech.”  Does the Padre understand that planned parenthood abortion mills target minority neighborhoods? Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger was a racist who wanted blacks to be “exterminated”. Read here, Planned Parenthood Black Genocide. So, Father Dennis Holtschneider, “Unborn Lives Matter” means “Black Lives Matter”.

Cheryl Mills Tells Podesta “We Need To Clean This Up – Obama Has Emails From Her, at zerohedge.com. This is ultimately why Hillary wasn’t indicted. To protect Obama. He was knowingly communicating with her on her private server. Watergate was about a third-rate burglary. This is much worse. This is about national security. Clinton and Obama think they are above the law.

“Don’t Repeat This To Anyone”, – Hillary Clinton And Donna Brazile Personally Implicated In Latest Project Veritas Video, at zerohedge.com. This is an example of political dirty tricks brought to you by the Clinton campaign.

CBS Anchor Confused About Why Obamacare Premiums Are Skyrocketing.

These morons don’t understand economics. Read here The Reality Of Obamacare.

Excerpt from the article: “Obamacare incentivizes an increase in demand for a scarce good, and a decrease in the supply of this same good. The scarce good becomes more scarce as supply and demand move in opposite directions. The price has to go up.”

 

No Child Left Alone: Getting The Government Out Of Parenting, at reason.com. Short video of Abby Schacter, who wrote, No Child Left Alone, talking about Government intervention into parenting. Excerpt from the article: “I don’t know if parents [understand] that under the headline ‘we’re going to keep your children safe’ [or] we’re going to protect the kids’ that that is really code for ‘we’re taking your rights away.”

 

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Must Reads For The Week 10/22/16

October 21, 2016

A NATIONALIZED SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IS THE GOAL

Obama On Skyrocketing Obamacare Premiums, “I Had Nothing To Do With It” at tammybruce.com. Obamacare created the incentives that produced the “skyrocketing insurance premiums”. I would say Obama is a moron, but he is just a typical politician.

Obamacare Premiums Are Going Up, Up, Up. This is a great explanation of why the costs are going up. It is by design.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Jym27GBOA

Obama’s Plan Was Always To Cook The Frog Slowly And Turn Obamacare Into Hillarycare Nationalized HealthCare, at economicpolicyjournal.com. We have been saying this from the start. Obamacare was the next step toward a government-run single payer healthcare system. No one wants to believe that it was designed to fail. But is was.

Hillary Email Confirms She Wants Obamacare To Collapse, at economicpolicyjournal,com. Hillary has been working for nationalized healthcare for years.

ELECTION STUFF

Why Did Vote-Rigging Robert Creamer Visit The White House Over 200 Times During Obama Administration, at zerohedge.com. Trump talking about a rigged election takes away from the fact that there has been voter fraud  going on for years. And the Democrats are the perps.

Fact Check: Hillary Lied Said 90% Of Clinton Foundations Go To Charity. Actual Number? 5.7%, at informationliberation.com. The Clinton Foundation is nothing more than a money laundering scheme for the Clintons and their cronies. Where does 94.3% of the money go?

“The Sons Of Alinsky” Getting Paid $3:00 An Hour To Protest Low Pay, at economicpolicyjournal.com. The fact that they are paying for a rent a mob for political dirty tricks is one thing. Paying them $3 an hour while trying to mandate a $15  minimum wage on the rest of us is something else. Do as I say not as I do.

Clinton’s False Assurances About Her Respect For The Second Amendment, by Jacob Sullum, at reason.com. Do you believe Hillary Clinton when she says this? I don’t believe a word she says.  “I did not send any classified Emails on my email server”.

Leaked Audio: Clinton Says Supreme Court Is ‘Wrong’ On Second Amendment, at freebeacon.com. Some of my Democrat friends tell me that they don’t want to take guns away. I tell them that’s great, but you are not the leaders of your party. I believe them. But Hillary? That’s a different story. If she gets elected, the left will be ready to act when she appoints a Supreme Court Justice. They will bring a gun rights case to a friendly district court which will eventually make its way to the Supreme Court. The court will overturn the Heller case in a 5-4 decision, and the second amendment will be meaningless words on paper. Mark my words.

Political Cartoons by Henry Payne

ECONOMIC STUFF

Why The Hell Is Socialism Gaining So Much Popularity? at economicpolicyjournal.com. Many people think socialism is the government helping people in need (aka a safety net). This is not socialism. Socialism is government ownership of the means of production. There is a difference between a free market economy hampered by government, and the government owning the means of production. Look at Venezuela if you want to see the results of Socialism.

Harassing Uber, at economicpolicyjournal.com. The status quo taxi cartel is trying to get the government to use its monopoly power to protect the cartel’s monopoly position that was originally created by government.

How Regulation Protects Established Firms, by Peter G. Klein, at mises.org. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein admits that, “…burdensome regulation acts as a moat around our business.” Government props up the status quo making it tougher for new competitors to enter the market.

Is Your Personal Trade Surplus With The Rest Of The World A Problem?, at fee.org. Trump and Hillary are ignorant when it comes to trade. A trade deficit or a trade surplus is meaningless economically, but politically they are of great benefit for the politician.

We Can Build Our Way Out Of The Housing Crisis, by Steven Greenhut, at reason.com. The reason prices for homes in California are so high is because Government restrictions and regulations constrain the supply of housing. Low supply and high demand means higher prices. The high prices ration the short supply.

Highest-Paying College Majors, Gender Composition Of Students Earning Degrees In Those Fields, And The Gender Pay Gap, by Mark Perry, at carpediemblog. There is a gender pay gap because of the decisions made by men and women. Here are the top seven degrees by percentage of men and women who earn them, and the average salaries of the jobs people get when they graduate with these degrees. The subjective value of men and women is obviously different.

MEN

Computer Science                    82%    $70,000

Information Technology        82%    $64,008

Management Info. Systems   82%    $58,000

Electrical Engineering             80%    $68,438

Mechanical Engineering         80%   $68,000

Chemical Engineering             80%   $65,000

Industrial Engineering            80%   $64,381

WOMEN

Nursing                   84%   $58,928

Social Work             82%   $41,656

Education                80%   $43,000

Psychology             77%   $42,000

English                     69%   $45,000

Spanish                    69%   $44,256

Journalism              65%   $45,000

Communications    65%   $44,190

 

From Laissez Faire Capitalism.

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Must Reads For The Week 10/ 15/ 16

October 15, 2016

Obamacare’s Demise Has Arrived, at economicpolicyjournal.com. We tried to tell everyone that economic laws wouldn’t allow Obamacare to work. Now 60% of Tennessee’s Obamacare consumers will lose their coverage in 2017. Remember when Obama said: “if you like your plan you can keep your plan.” He was lying just like he was lying about those “shovel ready jobs”. Remember when he said: “it looks like those shovel ready jobs weren’t so shovel ready.”

1.4 Million Americans Who “Like Their Healthcare Plan” Set To Lose Them In 2017, at zerohedge.com. As insurance companies pull out of Obamacare exchanges, millions are going to lose their health insurance plans. Central planning provides less care at a higher price. Markets delivers the best possible care at the lowest possible price.

The Reason LA Has 10,000 Food Trucks And Chicago Only Has 70, at economicpolicyojurnal.com. The Chicago city council’s regulations has chosen the incumbent brick and mortar restaurants over the newer food truck businesses. Monopolies can only exist with government sanction. This is like the incumbant taxi cartel trying to get local governments to stop Uber from entering the market.

How Crony Contact Lens Manufacturers Are Trying To Destroy The Free Market In Contact Lenses, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Johnson and Johnson is trying to use government to restore its monopoly position in contact lens sales. Instead of using their time and effort to satisfy consumers, Johnson and Johnson is putting its resources toward lobbying government to regulate competitors out of business. Once again the consumer loses.

“Sharing Economy” Reveals That Licensing Laws Are Really About Shutting Down The Competition, by Brittany Hunter, at mises.org. The sharing economy has provided opportunities for individuals to start their own businesses. Existing businesses want to have the final say if these new competitors are allowed to enter the market. In a free market these existing businesses wouldn’t have the power to stop the competition. They would have to provide better service to keep their customers. Unfortunately we live in a hampered market economy where government has the power to force these competitors out of the market. Status quo businesses lobby government to get them to use force to keep competitors from entering the market. The status quo gains at the expense of the consumer and the upstart businesses.

When Government Fails Papa John Delivers, at economicpolicyjournal.com. An 87 year old Florida grandmother lost power last week because of Hurricane Matthew. Her family, who lived in Nebraska, couldn’t get a hold of her. They called area police and fire departments to get them to reach her to see if she was OK. When police and fire couldn’t get the job done, the grandson decided to call Papa Johns and have a pizza delivered to his grandmother. If it could be delivered, they knew she was OK. They had the delivery man call them when he arrived at her house so their grandmother could talk to them. Markets work better than government.

The Fed Who Cried Growth, by Jonathan Newman, at mises.org. The Fed can’t even predict it’s own behavior. They keep saying they will raise interest rates but for some reason they never pull the trigger. Maybe the economy isn’t in as great of shape as they are telling us it is.

Janet Yellen Tries To Explain The Elusive “Great Recovery”, at zerohedge.com. When you read, or worse yet, listen to one of these Fed central bankers talk it is mind boggling. They use words that sound like their saying something so nuanced that regular people can’t understand their brilliance, but they are actually saying nothing. And that is what they are trying to accomplish. Their monetary policies haven’t worked and they are trying to cover their asses with words.

Us Economy To Grow Just 1.4% In 2016 After Atlanta Fed Slashes Q3 GDP To 1.9%, Half Its Original Estimate, at zerohedge.com. The Fed can’t even print a solid GDP number, even though they have printed $4 plus trillion over the last 8 years. You would think that the policy makers at the Fed would have figured out that you have to first produce before you can consume. Money printing is consumption before production. All money printing does is allow the people who receive it to go out into the market and demand goods with pieces of paper. It is no different than if I counterfeited a $50 dollar bill and purchased $50 dollars worth of goods from a store. I would be stealing these goods just as if I had shoplifted the goods. The Fed is no different than a counterfeiter.

 

CARTOONS

From the burningplatform.

Political Cartoons by Nate Beeler

Political Cartoons by Steve Breen

Political Cartoons by Jerry Holbert

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Must Reads For The Week 10/8/16

October 8, 2016

Minnesota Commissioner Slams Obamacare As “Unfair & Unsustainable” As Rates Soar, at zerohedge.com. Individuals who administrate the apparatus of the state, and individuals who receive government largess, have no understanding that government regulations are crushing the middle class. They are inoculated from the reality of these regulations because they never have to deal with these regulations.

Let’s Make Oil Our Friend, Not Our Enemy. It Is Earth’s Precious Gift, at misesca. Oil is not evil. Oil is one of our most important resources. It has helped produce our modern world. Leftists freak out about “oil” like they freak out about the word “gun”. Oil is good.

Let Airbnb Providers Discriminate As They Please, at zerohedge.com. In a free market individuals loose market share if they discriminate. Government shouldn’t intervene to change there behavior. In a market they will either change their behavior, or eventually go out of business.

Uber Vs. Taxi Cab Racism, by Alex Tobarrok, at marginalrevolution.com. HT carpediemblog. Government created monopolies, like the taxi cartel, can discriminate without impunity. But, as soon as they have competition, they change their attitude.

White House Wants To Add New Racial Category For Middle Eastern People, at usatoday.com. Just what we need, another category in which to place individuals. Government does this so they can pit groups against each other, and then ride in as the peace maker.

Where The September Jobs Were: Secretaries, Waiters, Retail And Social Workers, at zerohedge.com. 150 thousand jobs have to be created each month to replace the 150 thousand jobs that are lost because of the natural market process of creative destruction. Since there were only 156 thousand jobs created in September, there was only a net gain of 6 thousand jobs.That’s a rounding error, not a recovery.

Part Time Jobs Soar, As Multiple Job Holders Surge To August 2008 Numbers, at zerohedge.com. A large number of the 156 thousand jobs created were part-time jobs. For my leftist friends who played politics and called high paying full-time jobs created during the Regan administration “hamburger flipper jobs”, I have news for you. These part-time jobs created during this Presidents recovery are literally “hamburger flipper’ jobs. Full time jobs actually declined. If the same person holds two of these part-time jobs, each job counts as a job created. I have a question: If fewer people are working fewer hours at jobs that are less productive, ergo producing less wealth, is this a robust recovery or is this recovery a bust?

Spain Is Without A National Government – And Spaniards Are Digging It, by Joseph T. Salerno, at mises.org. Gridlock has stopped the Spanish government in its tracks as no new legislation is being passed. Believe it or not, everything is proceeding smoothly. Markets work, government muck up the works. Excerpt from the article: “The lesson has been pithily summed up by Felix Pastor, a language teacher, who states: “No government, no thieves.” Mr. Pastor believes that, without politicians around to inflict more harm, Spain could last without a government “Until hell freezes over.”

Too Big To Fail. The EU Proposes Tax Payer Funded Derivatives System Bailout, at zerohedge.com. Deutsche Banks $40 TRILLION derivatives problem is too big to be made whole by bailing in their depositors money. They will need tax payer money to back up (bail out) the bad investments Deutsche made. Deutsche will never suffer the consequences of their bad decisions, creating even more moral hazard than existed before.

The Heroic Central Banker Who Has Rejected Keynesianism, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Russian central banker, Elvira Nabiullina swims against the Keynesian current that all other central bankers float with. She thinks economic growth comes from actual savings (investment) and increasing productivity. Not from printed money and artificially low interest rates. Can we trade Janet Yellen and three central bankers to be named later for Elvira Nabiullina?

THE FBI, STATE DEPARTMENT, DOJ, AND MEDIA ARE BIASED TOWARD THE RULING ARISTOCRACY

FBI Agreed To Destroy Laptops Of Clinton Aids With Immunity Deal, at tammybruce.com. The breakdown of the rule of law. Who trusts the FBI after their actions in the investigation, (or lack of investigation) into Hillary’s Email crime. The FBI will never take down the status quo, because they want more power.

State Department Looses Smoking-Gun Clinton Greek Bond Insider-Trading Email, at zerohedge.com. The breakdown of the rule of law. Does anyone believe these Emails are lost? The State Dept. is covering up for the status quo.

Hillary Campaign Admits Hillary Used Same Tax Avoidance “Scheme” As Trump, at zerohedge.com. An example of corruption and bias in the media. I want both sides to be treated the same. I want both candidates to be treated like the main stream media treats Trump. I want Trump and Hillary to be treated as if everything they say is a lie.

Obama Justice Dep. Drops Case Against Arms Trader, After He Threatened To Expose Obama and Hillary’s Role In Arming Libyan Rebels, at dailymail.co.uk. The breakdown of the rule of law. The Justice Department, like the FBI will never take down the status quo, because they are a part of the status quo.

 

CARTOONS

Political Cartoons by Glenn McCoy

Political Cartoons by Mike Lester

Political Cartoons by Jerry Holbert

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Must Reads For The Week 10/1/16

September 30, 2016

Krugman: Obamacare Is Starting To Unravel, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Obamacare is working exactly as planned. It was the next step toward a single payer Government run system.

Doctors Drowning In Flood Of Obamacare Regulations: Cleveland Clinic CEO, at cnbc.com. Cleveland Clinic CEO Dr. Toby Cosgrove said, “The regulation paperwork comes in the form of a 7-foot-tall stack of 16,000 pages.”

Feds Force Michigan Cherries To Rot – In order To Raise Prices, at michigancapitalconfidential.com. Who says government bureaucrats don’t understand economics. Constricting supply raises the price. FDR mandated these type of edicts during the great depression. Pigs were killed and buried in pits so the price of pork would remain high (read here), even though people were starving. Central planning isn’t easy!

Sweden Creates 55 “No-Go Zones” As It Loses Control Of Refugee Crisis, at zerohedge.com. The Refugees are trying to implement Shira law and they are succeeding. Police have given up trying to control the violence in the No-Go zones. What’s happening in Europe can’t happen here, can it?

France’s New Sharia Police, at zerohedge.com. If immigrants don’t assimilate into the existing culture, the existing culture will be taken over. This can’t happen here?

In Most States, First-Generation Immigrants Receive More In Government Services Than They Pay In Taxes, at economicpolicyjournal.com. You can’t have open borders and a welfare state. It incentivizes the wrong kind of people to come to America. We need people who want to produce. We don’t need anymore people who want to consume without any corresponding production (welfare recipients).

Confessed Mall Gunman, A Non-Citizen, Voted In 3 Elections In Wa., at tammybruce.com. Do we want non-citizens voting? Democrats do.

FBI Investigating More Dead People Voting In Key Swing State Of Virginia, at zerohedge.com. Do you trust the FBI in the wake of the investigation of Hillary? There is no way the FBI will find voter fraud in a state where Clinton crony Terry McAuliffe is the Governor.

Who Really Lost This Weeks Presidential Debate? America Did, at zerohedge.com. America is an ideal where the individual is sovereign and the government is subordinate. Hillary and Trump are for bigger government. The bigger the government the smaller the individual. The debate was between big Government and bigger Government. America lost.

Are The “Invisible Americans” The Key Players In This Election?, by Charles Hugh Smith, at oftowminds.com. Excerpt from the article: “The gulf between reality and the official happy story of “recovery” spewed by the status quo’s well-paid army of apparatchiks, flunkies, flacks, hacks, toadies, lackeys and functionaries gorging at the trough of the status quo is widening to the point of surrealism. Memo to the D.C. Beltway/mainstream media apologists and propagandists: the 25 million Invisible Americans are no longer buying your shuck-and-jive con job.” This article has great analysis by CHS.

Let’s Take A Break From All This B.S.

Ryder Cup Heckler Has To Put Up Of Shut Up. He Makes Putt He Said He Could Make.

The European Ryder cup guys were great. I like how Dave Johnson didn’t want to take the $100 dollar bill from Justin Rose that Rose put on the green next to the ball before Johnson hit the putt.

Drone Captures Northern Lights Over Iceland

 

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Must Reads For The Week 9/24/16

September 24, 2016

San Francisco State Builds Segregated Dorms Where African-Americans Can Safely Live, at zerohedge.com. I had friends tell me that Obama getting elected would make race relations better. I told them it would get worse because race hustlers like Obama need the issue of race to keep power. They don’t want the issue to get better.

Gov. Jerry Brown Signs Law Regulating Cow Farts, at sacramento.cbslocal.com. You can’t make this s#!+ up! Would you agree that Government is too big if they are sticking their nose into cow farts?

Internal Email Shows Fed Immigration Bosses Pushing To Swear In New Citizens ‘Due To Election’, at tammybruce.com. Another example of corruption in government. Bureaucrats are working overtime to swear in new citizens before the Nov. election. Do you think these immigrants are going to vote for the Democrats? In an unrelated story, Number Of Refugees Nancy Pelosi’s District Has Taken In: Zero, at tammybruce.com. Since Pelosi’s district doesn’t need any more democrat votes, she wants you to,  do as I say, not as I do.

Hillary Clinton’s “Exit Tax” Is An Unseemly Example Of Banana Republic Economics, at cato.org. Hillary wants to tax companies who move their business out of the country. Hey Hillary, it is not the Governments property, it is the private property of the business. To be fair Trump said he won’t let businesses leave the country. Two candidates who don’t understand the Constitutional powers of government and the Constitutional rights of the people.

Indoctrination: 35 Years Of The U.S. Department Of Education, by Carol Pettegrew, at mises.org. Let’s get rid of the Department of Education. Excerpt from the article: “Students in institutional schools are measured repeatedly, however. A Typical student takes 112 mandated standardized tests between pre-K classes and 12th grade; by contrast, most countries that outperform the U.S. on international exams test students three times during their entire school careers. In spite so much testing and measuring, the standards are being manipulated to enhance the illusion of improving student performance.”

IT’S DONE: Mitch McConnell Surrenders, at economicpolicyjournal.com. This is a perfect example of why Trump won the Republican Presidential nomination. The Republican Establishment won’t fight for smaller government. People are fed up with Republicans not standing up to the President. The establishment should blame themselves and no one else.

ECONOMICS

Dallas Police Pension On Verge Of Collapse As Record Number Of Cops Seek Full Withdrawal, at zerohedge.com. Many of these public pension plans are underfunded to the point that they are Ponzi schemes, just like social security. Government can’t implement their utopian ideas because economic forces constrain them.

Deja Vu: Fannie and Freddie Lower Lending Standards, by Tho Bishop, at mises.org. Government proving its stupidity. Excerpt from the article: “The companies responsible for mortgage origination will not be the ones holding the mortgages, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will. It’s always easier to make loans when you know the taxpayers are the ones that will be holding the risk……..the only things government is worse at than pricing risk, is learning from past mistakes.” This is a smaller version of the 08 housing crisis all over again.

Patrick Barron, An Austrian Economist: There Is No Such Thing As A Negative Interest Rate, at patrickbarron.blogspot.com. Excerpt from the article: “What the mainstream media and the public call a “Negative interest rate” is an abuse of language. Time preference can never be negative, because that would require a total change in human nature. People will always want something sooner rather than later. It is Hard to save and delay consumption. People have to be disciplined to save and delay gratification. The idea of a “negative interest rate” is an attempt to turn reality on its head. It is another tactic in the Keynesian attempt to refute Say’s Law: i.e., that production must precede consumption and that what one produces becomes the means by which he consumes. One can neither consume nor sell something that was never produced, which is the absurdity that is implied by a “negative interest rate”.

Infrastructure Spending Does Not “Grow The Economy”, by Patrick Trombly, at mises.org. Excerpt from the article: “Ultimately, spending on infrastructure no more “creates wealth” than any other kind of government spending. Like all other government spending, it’s a matter of taking money from some people to give to others. The money taken from the taxpayers must be subtracted from the money spent, and we’re left with no net gain.”

Oh What A Twisted Web We Weave, When First We Practice To Deceive: Andy Griffith.

Dear FBI, This Is Intent: Hillary’s Oh Shit Guy Sought Reddit Advice On How To “Strip VIP EMails“, at zerohedge.com. If you didn’t think so before, this should make it very clear that the FBI is not an independent agency searching for the truth. It is a political agency. This is the breakdown of the rule of law. Does anyone believe the FBI is an honest broker? The law doesn’t apply to our ruling aristocracy.

Former Haitian Senate President Charges Clinton Foundation With Massive Fraud; at economicpolicyjournal.com. The breakdown of the rule of law. The Clinton money laundering machine.

Trey Gowdy: Did The FBI Grant Immunity For Destroying Subpoenaed Records And EMails, at youtube.com.

 

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