Gruber’s Congressional Comments, and The Senate Report On Torture

Posted December 9, 2014 by austrianaddict
Categories: Government and Politics
Tags: , , , ,

I’ve figured out over the years that these congressional hearings are strictly political theater. One side trying to make political hay by hammering the person testifying, and the other side trying their best to protect him [which means protect their ideology}. Nothing of consequence ever comes out of these kinds of hearings other than political posturing.

APOLOGY NOT ACCEPTED MR. GRUBER

Here is Jonathan Gruber’s opening statement in front of a congressional committee concerning his comments about The Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. Watch these comments under oath with his lawyer present.

Now watch his comments about the ACA when he felt he could speak freely.

Which Jonathan Gruber is telling the truth?

TORTURED DEFINITION OF TORTURE

In the stories I’ve read about the Senate report on torture that was released today, water boarding and sleep deprivation are the techniques mentioned as torture. They are also called,  ‘harsh’ or ‘enhanced’ interrogation techniques. They can’t be both. My problem with this whole report is we can’t agree on what is and is not torture and what is and is not an interrogation technique. Pulling out fingernails, hamstringing, thumbscrews, tarring and feathering, pulling or drilling teeth, beating or physical violence, breaking bones, scalping, knee capping, and branding are what I would call torture. What John McCain went through in Viet Nam was torture. Sleep deprivation and water boarding are not torture.

Many of these Senators who are planting their flag on the political high ground against torture knew that these enhanced interrogation techniques were going on during the Bush Presidency. It is much easier to be righteously indignant after the fact than it is to do what you consider to be the right thing at the very moment it happens. Always remember, politicians view everything through the lens of politics.

Related Article – Burger King, Corporate Tax Inversions, and Political Theater, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – Fiscal Cliff or Political Theater, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – Human Action Reveals The Reality About Political Decisions, at austrianaddict.com.

 

 

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Must Reads For The Week 12/6/14

Posted December 6, 2014 by austrianaddict
Categories: Must Reads For The Week
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
The pen is mightier than the sword...

 The pen is mightier than the sword… (Photo credit: mbshane)

Opinions vs. Facts, by Thomas Sowell, at jewishworldreview.com. Dr. Sowell lends us his common sense analysis, so we can better understand the Ferguson situation. The must read of the must reads.

Race Hustler Eric Holder Called Out, at economicnoise.com. Milwaukee County Wisconsin Sheriff, David Clarke, unloads on race hustlers like Sharpton and Holder.

Watch Obama Make The Case Against His Executive Order On Immigration.

The Worlds Biggest Chocolate-Maker Says We’re Running Out Of Chocolate, by Roberto Ferdman, at washingtonpost.com. I love chocolate so this article is important to me. Dry weather along with a fungal disease in West Africa has reduced global cocoa production by 30%. The demand for more cocoa is rising because of economic growth in China and more over all world demand for dark chocolate, {which contains 70% chocolate compared with 10% in regular chocolate bars). But don’t worry because the same economic forces of supply and demand that are bringing the price of oil and gas down, will eventually do the same thing for chocolate. As the price goes up individuals will produce {supply} more at the higher price, and individuals will consume {demand} less at these higher prices, eventually bringing the price down.

Forget High Minimum Wage Order Takers: Pizza Hut Will Just Read Your Mind Instead, at economicpolicyjournal.com. You can order based on what toppings your eyes look at the longest. We are at the beginning of big changes in the way we do everything. Individuals in Government won’t be able to keep up with, let alone try to regulate things that are about break through.

Your Barber May Be Closed But We’re Always Open, at shortcut.com. Shortcut is an on demand service that brings a barber to your house, work, or hotel room. It’s Uber for hair.

Vision For The Future: 1 Million Fewer Cars On The Road, by Kimiko, at uber.com. It’s Uber’s version of car pooling. When there are multiple trips that start and end at similar locations, or when there are riders along the route taken, they will take the same car and share the cost. Spontaneous activity in the market that will help ease traffic congestion in ways that the smartest central planners could never imagine.

The Flying Car Is (Almost) Here, by Josh Dean, at bloomberg.com. A step closer to “The Jetsons“.

Under Pressure From Uber, Taxi Medallion Prices Are Plummeting, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Once again the status quo monopoly is about to crack. Government regulations have artificially kept the prices for taxi medallions high for decades. Economic forces in the market always have a way of winning.

Jobs: Shale States vs. Non Shale States, at zerohedge.com. The President is trying to take credit for this, even though his administration has done everything in its power to shut down or limit oil production.

Uber Banned In Vegas, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Big taxi doesn’t like competition from the little guy, so they run to the Government for some help.

Here It Comes: Master Card Seeks “Level Playing Field” For Bitcoin Regulation, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Are we beginning to see a pattern: Status quo companies lobby their buddies in Government, in order to get rid of their upstart competitors. It is apparently less costly to do this, than compete in the market with these upstarts. The myth is, big business likes competition. In reality they liked competition when they were the up start competitors. They don’t like it as much once they get near the top.

The Difference Between Men And Women, thechive.com. I will make no comments about this post!

 

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Are People Smarter Today Compared To People 100 Years Ago?

Posted December 3, 2014 by austrianaddict
Categories: Government and Politics, Miscellaneous
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Thinker Statue by the French Sculptor Rodin - stock photo

I asked myself this question, “are people smarter today compared to people 100 years ago”, after reading an article titled, Dumb And  Dumber – Scientific Proof  That People Are Getting ‘Stupider’, at zerohede.com. In the article, the writer makes the assertion that people are getting ‘stupider’ {then humorously asks, is ‘stupider’ even a word}. The article states that there is now scientific evidence that this is so. SAT reading and verbal scores have been going down for decades, are examples cited as evidence to support the theory. The article also posts a 1912 eighth grade exam from  Bullitt County Schools in Kentucky. Try to answer some of these questions, you will be humbled.

DEFINE STUPID AND SMART

The question: are people getting stupider, needs to a few qualifying questions asked before we can answer it. 1) What are the standards used for comparing the intelligence of people who lived 100 years ago to people alive today? 2) Who decides what constitutes being smart and being stupid? 3) Does reciting  facts from memory, like a contestant on Jeopardy, show higher intelligence than being able to take facts and logically reason your way from point A, to a conclusion at point Z? 4) Does being smart in your chosen field magically make you smart in other fields? These are just a few questions we need to think about before we make a pronouncement about intelligence or lack of intelligence.

DIFFERENT ERAS REQUIRED DIFFERENT KNOWLEDGE

People today need to know less about some things and more about other things than the people who lived 100 years ago. If you look at the eight grade test in the article linked to above, you will find questions about spelling, arithmetic, grammar, geography, physiology, civil government, and history that not many of us could answer today. However the answers to these questions are just a click on the computer, or a swipe on a cell phone away from getting answered in today’s world. The knowledge that people had to memorize back then is now stored on a computer chip and is able to be called up at a moments notice. Think of the times you have been with people and someone asks a question that no one can answer until someone uses their cell phone to look it up. The ability to write these posts would be exponentially more time-consuming if it wasn’t for computers. The ability to use spelling and grammar checks makes writing so much easier (some times these tools can’t even save me from spelling and grammar mistakes). Think about a sports writer decades ago pounding out his story on a typewriter: talk about having to get it right on the first take. Calculators have made complex math problems easy for dummies like me. You don’t have to know how to read a map today because you have GPS on your phone with the hot British female voice telling you, “in 200 feet turn right”.

The advance in the standard of living since the industrial revolution brought about a situation where more and more people didn’t have to know how to produce food, clothing, shelter, etc in order to win their battle against the planet for their survival. People began to specialize in producing these things more efficiently which freed up time and labor to be used to produce new products and services that were created by entrepreneurs who speculated, but were not assured, that markets existed for these new products and services. Through this trial and error process of becoming more productive, we can safely say that the over all amount of knowledge in society is obviously expanding, while at the same time we can say that an individual needs less over all knowledge to survive. The process of production has become so specialized that an individual can be a welder at a John Deere plant and literally trade his labor for food, instead of knowing how to actually produce food.

THOMAS SOWELLS TAKE

Thomas Sowell writes about what we are talking about in his book, Knowledge And Decisions ( one the best books I have ever read),  was inspired by F.A Hayeks essay, The Use Of Knowledge In Society.

Dr. Sowell writes in Knowledge and Decisions (which was written in 1980), “The growing complexity of science, technology, and organization does not imply either a growing knowledge or a growing need for knowledge in the general population. On the contrary, the increasingly complex processes tend to lead to increasingly simple and easily understood products. The genius of mass production is precisely in its making more products more accessible, both economically and intellectually to more people.”

Think of how much more true this is thirty-four years after Dr. Sowell wrote this. Things we use in our everyday life weren’t around in 1980.

More from Dr. Sowell. “…Matthew Brady required far more knowledge of photographic processes to take pictures with his cumbersome equipment during the Civil War than a modern photographer requires to operate his automated cameras…..The printing press performs daily communications miracles beyond the ability of an army of the most highly trained and dedicated scribes of the Middle Ages….An ordinary individual can easily arrange travel across thousands of miles through cities he has never seen by tapping the knowledge of travel agents and/or the American Automobile Association.”

Photographic equipment? The printing press? Travel agents? Seriously. We take pictures with cell phones. We have the internet and inkjet printers. We don’t call Triple A to make travel arrangements, we call Triple A if we need a tow.

THE ONE AREA IN WHICH WE ARE CERTAINLY DUMBER

If you haven’t seen the eighth grade exam from 1912 in the Dumb and Dumber article above you should go look at it. The civil government and history part of the eighth grade exam is where we have become woefully ignorant. Unfortunately these two areas are the most important areas we as individuals need to be smart about if we want to have continued prosperity. Being smart in these areas would have kept us vigilant about the incremental taking of individual freedom by people in Government that has happened over the last 50 plus years. Two questions from the civil government part of the exam prove my assertion. How many adults, let alone eighth graders today, could get these two questions right. 1) Name three rights given Congress by the Constitution and two rights denied Congress,  and 2) Define the following forms of Government: Democracy, Limited Monarchy, Absolute Monarchy, Republic. Give examples of each.

These questions aren’t even asked today. The first question, “name three rights given congress by the constitution…and two rights denied congress”, speaks volumes about what was understood about the constitution in 1912 that isn’t even taught in schools today. The fact that congressional powers are limited is stated in the question. Today most people think congress has unlimited power to make any law individuals in congress wish to make. Most people today think the President has unlimited power to decree what he wishes. But I bet most eight graders in 1912 knew that the President had limited powers.

CONCLUSION

The amount of over all knowledge has expanded exponentially over the last 100 years, while at the same time the amount of knowledge an individual needs to survive is less, and also the kind of knowledge each individual needs to survive is different.

The real question is not; are we smarter today than 100 years ago,? The real question is; are we smart enough to understand that the process that produced today’s standard of living stretches far back in time? Free individuals cooperating in free markets produced the standard of living we enjoy today. Central planning by Governments didn’t produce it, in fact, it has hampered our advance. The passage of time has separated us from the founding principles of our country.  If we aren’t smart enough to understand this, we will continually allow democratically elected tyrants to incrementally crush our individual freedom under the heel of their central plans.

Related Article – We’re All Born In The Middle Of The Story, by austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – July 4th, Declaring Independence From Tyranny, by austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – Spontaneous Order = Free Markets, by austrianaddict.com.

 

 

 

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Must Reads For The Week 11/29/14

Posted November 29, 2014 by austrianaddict
Categories: Must Reads For The Week
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
The pen is mightier than the sword...

 The pen is mightier than the sword… (Photo credit: mbshane)

How Government Officials Are Using Bank Regulations To Shut Down Industry, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Government regulators are pressuring banks to stop doing business with industries that are not liked by the administration such as firearms makers, payday lenders, ammunition dealers, and others. It’s called Operation Choke Point. It chokes off banking services for these industries with the hope of driving them out of business. Oh that’s right that can’t happen here!

Grab Some Popcorn: Investigators May Have Found Up To 30K Lois Lerner E-Mails, at targetliberty.com. These were found three weeks after the election. In the words of Hilary Clinton, “What difference at this point does it make?”

Obamacare Enrollment Numbers Have Been Bogus, at investors.com. Who among us would ever believe that Government officials would “put their thumb on the scale” in order to get a desired outcome?

The People’s Republic Of San Francisco Is Now Micro-Managing Employee Schedules Of Chain Stores, at economicpolicyjournal.com. There is no limit to what central planners think they can regulate.

58 Experts Who Do Not Believe Global Warming Is A Crisis, at targetliberty.com. These 58 heretics should be burned at the stake for denying the religion of global warming.

SendMyBag Arrives In The In The U.S. To Take Your Luggage When Airlines Won’t, by Steve O’Hear, at techcrunch.com. People are looking for cheaper and more reliable ways of getting their luggage to their destination, and SendMyBag has stepped in to supply the service. Why couldn’t central planners in Government have come up with this idea?

Find A Loving Dog Sitter And Dog Walker, at rover.com. Once again the dynamism of the free market creates a service that people are willing to pay for. This is the Uber idea, for dogs.

Airbnb Is 2014 Company Of The Year, by Bert Helm, at inc.com. This is how technology is bringing buyers and sellers together, creating a more efficient use of scarce resources. Just as Big Taxi is against Uber, Big Hotel will be against this bed and breakfast company.

Uber Against Racial Profiling, by Howard Baetjer Jr., at fee.org. Here is an excerpt from the article, “Uber has a strong incentive to give its drivers the incentive to pick up every rider — black, white, or brown — right away. It does that in two ways. First, it reduces its drivers’ reasons for racial profiling. Uber has each rider’s name, cell phone number, credit card information, and the time and route of the ride, so Uber riders are unlikely to rob drivers.” The free market makes discrimination costly policy.

Saudi Texas: An Amazing Chart Of An Amazing Job Creating State, by Mark J. Perry, at aei.org. If it wasn’t for the jobs created in Texas, the US would have negative job growth since the economic collapse of 08.

Looters Of Trinkets & Looters Of Treasures, at targetliberty.com.

Here is a video of Odell Beckham Jr. making an unbelieveable catch for a touchdown.

 

If you want to know how you make a catch like that, watch this video.

 

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice practice practice.

 

 

 

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The Real Thanksgiving Story

Posted November 27, 2014 by austrianaddict
Categories: Econ. 101
Tags: , , , , ,

hand drawn illustration of Pilgrims celebrating first thanksgiving dinner - stock photo

An article titled, “The Great Thanksgiving Hoax“, by Richard J. Maybury, at mises.org, tells the true story of Thanksgiving. Here are some excerpts from the article.

“In his History of Plymouth Plantation, the governor of the colony, William Bradford, reported that the colonists went hungry for years because they refused to work in the field. They preferred instead to steal food. He says the colony was riddled with “corruption,” and with “confusion and discontent.” The crops were small because “much was stolen both by night and day, before it became scarce eatable.”

“In the harvest feasts of 1621 and 1622, “all had their hungry bellies filled,” but only briefly. The prevailing condition during those years was not the abundance the official story claims, it was famine and death. The first “Thanksgiving” was not so much a celebration as it was the last meal of condemned men.”

“But in subsequent years something changes. The harvest of 1623 was different. Suddenly, “instead of famine now God gave them plenty,” Bradford wrote, “and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God.” Thereafter, he wrote, “any general want or famine hath not been amongst them since to this day.” In fact, in 1624, so much food was produced that the colonists were able to begin exporting corn.”

“What happened? After the poor harvest of 1622, writes Bradford, “they began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop.” They began to question their form of economic organization.“

“This had required that “all profits & benefits that are got by trade, traffic, trucking, working, fishing, or any other means” were to be placed in the common stock of the colony, and that, “all such persons as are of this colony, are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provisions out of the common stock.” A person was to put into the common stock all he could, and take only what he needed.”

“This “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need” was an early form of socialism, and it is why the Pilgrims were starving. Bradford writes that “young men that were most able and fit for labor and service” complained about being forced to “spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children.” Also, “the strong, or man of parts, had no more in division of victuals and clothes, than he that was weak.” So the young and strong refused to work and the total amount of food produced was never adequate.”

“To rectify this situation, in 1623 Bradford abolished socialism. He gave each household a parcel of land and told them they could keep what they produced, or trade it away as they saw fit. In other words, he replaced socialism with a free market, and that was the end of the famines.”

“Thus, the real meaning of Thanksgiving, deleted from the official story, is: Socialism does not work; the one and only source of abundance is free markets, and we thank God we live in a country where we can have them.”

If these sparsely populated settlements couldn’t make socialism work, how could our present day leaders think that trying to implement socialist policies (like Obamacare), incrementally to a population of 330 million possibly work? Oh that’s right, they think it hasn’t worked because it hasn’t been tried by people with superior wisdom like themselves. We will never learn the lessons of history, let alone economics.

Related Article – Why Socialism Won’t Work? Human Nature, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – We Can’t Recreate The Garden Of Eden, at austrianaddict.com.

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Walter E. Williams: Obama vs. Us

Posted November 25, 2014 by austrianaddict
Categories: Government and Politics
Tags: , , , , , ,

Walter E. Williams writes in this article, Obama vs. Us, how the President isn’t incompetent at all. His actions are perfectly compatible with his ideology, and he will not allow something like the constitution get in the way of his agenda. Here are some excerpts from the article.

“In my colleague Dr. Thomas Sowell’s column last week, he says, “Pundits who depict Obama as a weak, lame duck president may be greatly misjudging him, as they have so often in the past.” After suffering an elective trouncing at the polls, President Barack Obama issued Congress an ultimatum, saying that if it doesn’t enact the kind of immigration law that he would like, he will unilaterally issue an executive order to change the nation’s immigration laws. This threat, along with other abuses of his office, is not a sign of presidential stupidity or incompetence“.

“Obama is doing precisely what he promised during his 2008 presidential campaign, to cheering and mesmerized crowds: “We are going to fundamentally change America”….. Obama is living up to those pledges by subverting our Constitution and adopting the political style of a banana republic dictator. He showed his willingness to ignore the Constitution when he eliminated the work requirement in welfare reform laws enacted during the Clinton administration. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, was enacted by Congress and hence is the law of the land. Obama has used executive orders to change the law on several occasions. Ask yourself whether our Constitution permits the president to unilaterally change a law enacted by Congress“.

“Seeing as all branches of federal government ignore most of the provisions of the Constitution, I think we can safely say that we’ve reached the post-Constitution stage of our history. Washington politicians are not to blame. It’s the American people who’ve lost their love and respect for our Constitution. Washington’s politicians are simply the agents for that contempt“.

THE PROGRESSIVE IDEOLOGY

The President is the current face of an ideology that stretches far back in time. The people who believed in the ideals of the French Revolution shared this ideology as did the progressives in the early 20th century. These people think that their superior wisdom gives them the right to decide whats best for us. This ideology is pervasive in Washington DC in both parties. The constitution is suppose to be a check on governmental and bureaucratic power grabs by people with the central planning ideology. Unfortunately as the late Joseph Sobran stated so well, “The constitution is no threat to our current form of Government”.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE SKIT

Here is a skit from Saturday Night Live that drives the point home about the Presidents lack of respect for the rule of law in general and our constitution specifically.

 

Related Article – Tyranny Is Hidden Inside The Bureaucratic Maze, at austrianaddict.com.

Related Article – What Is Tyranny? The President Should Know The Definition, at austrianaddict.com.

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Must Reads For The Week 11/22/14

Posted November 22, 2014 by austrianaddict
Categories: Must Reads For The Week
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
 PipelineThe pen is mightier than the sword...

 The pen is mightier than the sword… (Photo credit: mbshane)

Ex-CBS Reporter Sharyl Attkisson Shares New Emails From Govt. Official: “She’s Out Of Control, by Erica Ritz, at theblaze.com. This story should be known by everybody. If you stand in the way of big Government, you will pay a price. I love when people use to tell me, “That can’t happen here”. Well it is happening here.

Grubergate For Idiots (Such As American Voters): All You Need To Know In 2 Minutes, at zerohedge.com. Nancy Pelosi isn’t as skilled at lying as the President, as you will see in this short video.

John Kerry Called Gruber, “Our Guide On A Lot Of This, at targetliberty.com. Why do we allow people like these pompous Senators  make decisions about our lives. Gruber may be correct, we are idiots. Looking at our elected officials tells us more about ourselves than it does them.

25% Of Americans Prefer Socialism Over Capitalism, at zerohedge.com. When you look at the chart you see that about 63% of the people in the world believe that free market decision-making produces a better outcome, and 29% of the people think that socialism will produce a better outcome. But I would guess that if politicians and bureaucrats were asked the same question, the outcome would probably be that 80%  believe that socialism produces a better outcome than free market decision-making.

How Fraudsters Turned The 24th Warmest October Into The 4th Warmest, at economicpolicyjournal.com. More Global warming chicanery run wild. With the earth cooling over the last 17 years, I think it’s about time we start burning more fossil fuels, which would put more green house gasses into the atmosphere, which in turn would supposedly raise the earth’s temperature back to normal. Who arbitrarily defines normal ?

Man Forced To Apologize For “Sexist” Shirt After Updating Press On Spacecraft That Landed On Comet, at targetliberty.com. This is a combination of political correctness gone wild, and the feminization of the male.

Wow California County Quietly Votes For Independence From State And Federal Laws, at targetliberth.com. This is always good for overall liberty even though this council will pass more restrictive regulations than the Federal laws they hope to escape. At least the new democratic tyranny can actually be fought at a local level instead of the federal level.

Middle-Of-The-Road Policy: Lessons From Argentina And Venezuela, by Ivan Carrino, at mises.org. The middle of the road policy is chaotic.  A country is either moving toward free markets, or toward a centrally planned economy. In which direction are we moving?

Write Your Own Caption, at mungowitzend.blogspot.com.

Some Captions.

Like An 80’s Boy Band Gone Badly Sadly Wrong.

I Can Understand Obama Wearing This. But Putin!

 

 

 

 

 

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Obama Wants “Net Neutrality” Regulations. That’s Why We Should Oppose Them.

Posted November 19, 2014 by austrianaddict
Categories: Government and Politics
Tags: , , , , ,

Here is a video of The President talking about net neutrality.

Sounds like he really wants to protect us, the little guys, from big corporations doesn’t it. Why should we believe the man who pushed a bill titled, “The Affordable Care Act”, which made healthcare less affordable. Is the term “Net Neutrality” any different from “The Affordable Care Act”. You can bet your life that Net Neutrality regulations will make the internet less neutral, less free, and more expensive.

This video is an example of the truth about Obamacare aka The Affordable Care Act. The administrations favorite economist when it came to Obamacare, Jonathan Gruber, is proud of the lies that were told in order to sell Obamacare to the public. When you watch this guy, you are actually watching what the President, his administration, and the Congressmen and Senators who voted for this, think about you.

Obamacare has made individuals less free to choose how they want to pay for their healthcare. Insurance companies were for this law because they thought they would benefit by its passage. With the stroke of the pen, the law created 30 million more costumers for insurance companies. The fact that it expanded Governments power over the individual makes politicians and bureaucrats happy. But who among us wouldn’t want our power expanded?

Net neutrality laws will help the already established tech companies and hurt the upstart competitors who, under normal market conditions, would normally be a check on the big providers. The threat of competitors trying to get market share keeps them in line. This is what Uber is doing to the taxi cartel. Big tech companies will be for this, or at least be tepid in their resistance to it. Once Government regulates the internet, these tech companies will be the protected cartel.

Politicians and bureaucrats will not only be able to tax the internet more easily, they will be able to make rules about content and access. Think of what bureaucrats (Lois Lerner) in the IRS did to stifle liberty minded groups from getting their message out. Politicians and bureaucrats are only in favor of free speech if they agree with what is said, they are never neutral when it comes to losing power.

Politicians and bureaucrats have been trying for years to figure out how to intervene into the internet. The internet is what has allowed our economy to grow in spite of the interventions by the Government and the Fed. Now, for some reason, the President and bureaucrats want to intervene into an area of the economy that has had exponential expansion without the “help” of Government regulations.

Tyrants want to control information because truth is never on their side. Since the internet is the marketplace for truth, even democratically elected tyrants want to have the ability to control and/or propagandize their message.

Even if the President and the FCC succeed in getting regulations, the internet Jeannie is out of the bottle. They will show their true tyrannical colors with these regulations, but the marketplace will find ways to deliver a highly demanded market good outside of these Government regulations. The tighter they squeeze, the more will slip from their hands.

 

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Bowling Ball And Feather Fall At The Same Rate

Posted November 17, 2014 by austrianaddict
Categories: Miscellaneous
Tags: , , , , , ,

Brian Cox visits the worlds largest vacuum chamber in Sandusky Ohio to prove that all objects fall at the same rate in a vacuum. What results the first time the bowling ball and the feather are dropped, before the air is pumped out of the chamber, is what we would all expect because this is what we observe in our everyday life in earths atmosphere. What happens when they are dropped after the air is pumped out of the chamber, is a surprise to most people who have never seen this before.

 

APPOLO 15 PROVED THIS IN 1971

I have seen this experiment before. In the summer after my freshman year in high school I watched Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott perform the same experiment on live TV from the moon. He dropped a feather and a hammer in the vacuum of space, proving Galileo’s theory that all objects fall at the same rate.

 

The Space Power Facility that houses the worlds largest vacuum chamber was built in 1969. This must have been where the faked moon landings were filmed. Why did they go through all that trouble, just to show one experiment that wouldn’t have worked anywhere on the earth?

I saw the bowling ball and feather story at theblaze.com.

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Must Reads For The Week 11/15/14

Posted November 15, 2014 by austrianaddict
Categories: Must Reads For The Week
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
 PipelineThe pen is mightier than the sword...

 The pen is mightier than the sword… (Photo credit: mbshane)

China’s Latest Ghost Town: A $50 Billion Fake Replica Of Manhattan, at zerohedge.com. If you build it they will come. Not really. Printing counterfeit money by China’s central bank has created a real estate bubble that can’t be supported by economic reality. When counterfeit money is created and pushed into and economy, it creates counterfeit economic activity. These counterfeit activities will eventually be liquidated. Scarce resources, land, and labor that could have been used in real economic activity is instead wasted on activities that was made possible by the central banks counterfeit money.

Venezuela Using Fingerprint Scanners To Ration Food Basics Including Milk, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Free market prices coordinate production and consumption. When prices are fixed by central planners in Government, information about supply and demand is distorted and shortages are the result. Prices ration scarce resources in a free market, and Government planners ration scarce resources in a centrally planned system. If you don’t know someone important in Government, expect to be hungry.

The Fed’s Paint By The Numbers Delusion About The Labor Market, by David Stockman, at davidstockmanscontracorner.com. Look at the charts in this article to see what is really happening in the labor market.

Reducing Capital gains Taxes Would Encourage Investment And Grow Canada’s Economy, at fraserinstitute.org. Rolling back Government intervention, no matter how small, will encourage economic activity. Governor Scott Walker didn’t roll back government very much in Wisconsin and the States economy improved. What would happen economically in the US if Government intervention was rolled back by just 5%?

Landrieu Pushes Keystone Vote In Bid To Boost Energy Industry, Runoff Chances, at foxnews.com. If she truly wanted to boost the energy industry, Senator Landrieu would have been pushing this for the last 4 years. The only reason she is pushing this now is to save her political skin. I hate politics because staying in power is the over-riding incentive in every decision politicians make. Public servants, or self servants? You decide.

Africa: A Tragic Continent, by Walter E. Williams, at jewishworldreview.com. The answer to all of our problems in America is, in the words of Dr. Williams, ” a political system in which there are guarantees of private property rights, free markets,…and the rule of law.” Unfortunately, as Joseph Sobran said decades ago, “the constitution is no threat to our current form of Government.”

Legislators Block Low-Cost Eye Exams In Michigan, by Anne Schieber, at michigancapitalconfidencial.com. Either Government wants to make decisions for us because they 1) think they are smarter than us, or 2) they want to protect status quo businesses who disdain competition. Either way we loose. I saw this article at carpe diem blog.

Five Things That Used To Be Free, But Aren’t Anymore, at economicpolicyjournal.com.

Germany Wants Gender Equality For Traffic Lights, at washingtonpost.com, via cape diem blog. Political correctness out of control.

I Love Cell Phone Cameras, at targetliberty.com. The more police overstep their authority when dealing with the people they are supposed to “serve”, the more citizens will escalate their resistance to cops. The young men obviously have no respect for the police, and with good reason. The good will, that was accorded fireman and cops after 9/11, no longer exists. Who’s fault is it? The militarization of police forces started the escalation.

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