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Bitcoin Accepted Here [by freeborn] (Photo credit: Adam Crowe)
Bitcoin = The Unstoppable Ingenuity Of Individuals
Posted July 30, 2013 by austrianaddictCategories: Econ. 101, Government and Politics
Tags: Barter, Bitcoin, Buttonwood Tree, Federal Reserve, Free Market Money, Individual Liberty, Medium of exchange, Wall Street
Thomas Sowell’s Random Thoughts.
Posted July 29, 2013 by austrianaddictCategories: Miscellaneous
Tags: Economics, Edmund Burke, Friedrich Hayek, Random Thoughts, Thomas Sowell
Thomas Sowell gives us some Random Thoughts (read here) from wise thinkers. Here are a few examples.
• “We shall not grow wiser before we learn that much that we have done was very foolish.” (F.A. Hayek)
• “There is no safety for honest men, but by believing all possible evil of evil men, and by acting with promptitude, decision, and steadiness on that belief.” (Edmund Burke)
• “The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises; and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false.” (Paul Johnson)
As a bonus, here are some short videos of Thomas Sowell, from commonsensecapitalism.com.
Equality As A False Norm.
We Can’t All Be Made The Same.
Thomas Sowell Discusses His Ideology.
Must Reads For The Week 7/27/13
Posted July 27, 2013 by austrianaddictCategories: Must Reads For The Week
Tags: China's Bubble Activities, Civil and political rights, Creative Destruction, Data Mining, Detroit Bankruptcy, Eagle Ford Shale, economicpolicyjournal.com, Government Property Seizure, Losing Our Liberty, Oil Production, Shelby Steele
The pen is mightier than the sword… (Photo credit: mbshane)
Liberty Slipping: 10 Things You Could Do In 1975 That You Can’t Do Now, at economicpolicyjournal.com. You can probably think of ten more right off the top of your head.
Disruptions: Ride-Sharing Upstarts Challenge Industry, by Nick Bilton, at nytimes.com. I found this article through aei-ideas.org. Creative destruction of the market in spite of government trying to prop up the status quo. This is the spirit of our founders.
The Decline Of The Civil -Rights Establishment, by Shelby Steele, at online.wsj.com. Shelby Steele analyzes todays civil rights establishment as compared to the original leaders of the movement.
The Nightmare Ahead: 19 Cities Have More Public Workers Per Resident Than Detroit, at economicpolicyjournal.com. You’re traveling down the road to serfdom when you consistently consume more than you produce.
Your Place In The Data Base, by Brae Jaeger, at americanthinker.com. The ability of benevolent Government to collect your data is staggering. Oh by the way, your fourth and fifth amendment rights are being flushed down the toilet.
Feds Seize Gold Coins Worth $80 Million From Pennsylvania Family, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Lets flip for it, heads I win tails you lose.
Police Are Ordered To Return $1 Mill. in $1 Dollar Bills Confiscated From Stripper, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Government tramples on fourth amendment right against illegal searches and seizures.
U.S. Oil Output Increased By 2M Barrels Per Day In Just Two Years, Reversing 20 Year Decline, by Mark J. Perry, at aei-ideas.org. The Government will try to shut this down through environmental regulation (EPA).
Texas Eagle Ford Shale Sets New Oil Output Record In May, by Mark J. Perry, at aei-ideas.org. Who needs the Key Stone Pipeline to bring oil from Canada to Texas refineries? The market finds a way to supply oil even when Government tries to restrict supply.
Welcome To Jiangsu, China’s Flashing Red Canary-In-The-Coal Mine, at zerohedge.com. Central bank induced credit expansion creates bubble activities, which in turn produce a misallocation of capital and resources, which will eventually be liquidated sooner, when the credit expansion stops, or later, when there is a collapse. We are doing the same thing in the stock, bond, and housing sectors.
Some Cartoons That Make You Think Instead Of Laugh
Posted July 26, 2013 by austrianaddictCategories: Miscellaneous
Tags: Government, Joseph Sobran, Lady Justice, Mob Rule, Rule of law, Stand Your Ground, theburningplatform.com, Zimmerman Verdict
Once again I found these at theburningplatform.com.
We live in a country that is supposed to be ruled by the rule of law. The rights of the individual trump government power and mob rule. The constitution is the only thing that guards us against Government abuse, and majority abuse. We are either hanging on by a thread or as the late Joseph Sobran said, “The constitution is no threat to our current form of Government”. Just something to think about.
Specialization And Trade Create Wealth
Posted July 24, 2013 by austrianaddictCategories: Econ. 101
Tags: Comparitive Advantage, Free market, Free trade, Scarcity, Specialization, Trade, Wealth Creation
In our previous post I briefly touched on specialization and trade. Civilization advances through specialization and trade not just from the stand point of creating more wealth, but also from the stand point of creating a more peaceful world because of the cooperate involved in trade. This short video from LearnLiberty.org, featuring Art Carden, is a very good explanation of these concepts.
Specialization and trade utilize scarce resources, time, labor, and capital as efficiently as possible. Labor, time, capital, and resources are freed up, because of specialization and trade, and can now be used for other activities that couldn’t have been attempted before these scarce resources were freed up. These new activities may prove to be productive or they may not. The good news is that in a free market they will be allowed to succeed or fail depending on their ability to produce more value than the cost of the production.
For a more in-depth analysis of this subject read, People Can Just Get Along, by Robert P. Murphy, at mises.org.
Group Politics Hides The Relevant In The Trivial, Benefiting Politicians
Posted July 22, 2013 by austrianaddictCategories: Government and Politics
Tags: Cooperation vs Conflict, Counterfeit money, Federal Reserve System, Government, Group Politics, Liberty, Politics, Winston Churchill
Divide-and-conquer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
SELF IMPOSED BORDERS
I read an article in the LA Times titled, “British Choice Of Churchill On 5-Pound Note Leaves Women Out”, by Henry Chu, in which women are upset that Winston Churchill’s image will replace Elizabath Frys on the five-pound note starting in 2016. They’re saying “It’s another instance of women’s contributions being wiped out”. Because we have accepted the political model that each of us belongs to a different group; whether it’s men or women, white or black, rich or poor, old or young, gay or straight, union or non-union, democrat or republican, etc, etc, etc, we think of every politically contrived situation as an us versus them zero sum battle. These self-imposed borders become an imaginary ideological prison that we can’t reason our way out of. This prison prevents us from understanding that the true battle is between each person individually, vs. the only entity that can take individual liberty away, Government. This entity of Government exists only Read the rest of this post »
Must Reads For The Week 7/20/13
Posted July 20, 2013 by austrianaddictCategories: Must Reads For The Week
Tags: Charles Barkley, Detroit Bankruptcy, Dog Walkers Need License, NSA Spying, Raison Farmer, Regulation Adds To Costs, Secession, What Microsoft Monopoly
The pen is mightier than the sword… (Photo credit: mbshane)
Feds Shake Down Farmer For Free Raisons, by Tony Lee, at brietbart.com. This is Government Tyranny.
Effort To Create New State Called “Northern Colorado” Grows, at cbslocal.com. This is good for liberty.
NSA Help Wanted Commercial, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Sign me up!
In The People’s Republic of San Francisco, Dog Walkers Must Now Be Licensed, at economicpolicyjournal.com. They’re just looking out for the safety of the dogs.
USA vs. NSA animation. Trampling on our rights.
BREAKING: City Of Detroit Files For Chapter 9 Bankruptcy, at economicplicyjournal.com. If they could print money (like the Federal Government can), they could put off the day of reckoning. Detroit was forced to face reality, the Federal Government will eventually face this day. Any bets on whether we the tax payers will be forced to bailout Detroit?
Charles Barkley Talks About Zimmerman Verdict, in this interview at cnbc.com. You could have a serious discussion about race with Charles Barkley. Unlike our politicians and bureaucrats he won’t sugar coat what he is thinking, because he isn’t trying to pander to a particular person of group.
Creative Destruction In The Personal Computing Market Have Destroyed The Windows “Monopoly”, at aei-ideas.org. Excerpt from the article, “…what has really destroyed Microsoft’s choke hold on the global personal computing market over the past 15 years hasn’t been a legal threat but a market shift.”
The Left In NC Discovers Anew An Ancient Truth, by Mungowitz, at mungowitzend.blogspot.com. The progressive may have discovered that regulation can make it more difficult and expensive to pursue the regulated activity. I guess regulation is only cool when they do it.
Real Savings vs. Counterfeit Savings
Posted July 19, 2013 by austrianaddictCategories: Econ. 201
Tags: Barter, Counterfeit money, Fed, Financial Bubble, Housing Bubble, Money supply, Saving, Scarce Resources, Tech Bubble
Savings (Photo credit: 401(K) 2013)
RESULTS OF COUNTERFEITING
In a previous post titled, Financial Markets Move When The Puppet Master Speaks, we talked about some of the consequences the Fed creates, when it electronically counterfeits money and injects it into the economy. Some of these are 1) the misallocation of scarce resources into activities that can’t be sustained when the counterfeit money injections are halted, and 2) people’s real production is being redistributed to the first receivers of the counterfeit money (which is known in my world as theft). What’s the difference when real savings enter the market as opposed to counterfeit savings? Lets see what happens, but first let’s talk about money.
WHAT IS MONEY? Read the rest of this post »
Thomas Sowell Weighs In On The Zimmerman Case
Posted July 18, 2013 by austrianaddictCategories: Government and Politics
Tags: George Zimmerman, Government, Law, Legal Process, Politics, Thomas Sowell
When Thomas Sowell weighs on an issue there is usually not much more that can be said. In this article titled, Is This Still America? (read here), he is concerned about how this mess is going to affect the rule of law, peoples faith in the legal system and their faith in the country. Thomas Sowell has said in the past that, “People have to be aware of the dangers in letting economic decisions be made through political processes”. I think we can change a couple of words, and the meaning will still hold true. Let’s try this, People have to be aware of the dangers in letting legal decisions be made through political process.
Politics is poison, it pits groups against each other. Our constitution was set up to insure the rights of the individual against the coercive power of groups in general and Government power in particular. Our Constitution has nothing to say about group rights. I hate politics because, logic and reason are tossed aside because it gets in the way of the emotional orgy that is at the heart of politics. Everyone wants to have their way, which is impossible, except in the utopian world of political promises.
Quote from the article, “The only real heroes in this trial were the jurors. They showed that this is still America — at least for now — despite politicians who try to cheapen or corrupt the law, as if this were some banana republic. Some are already calling for a federal indictment of George Zimmerman, after he has been acquitted.”
“Will this still be America then?”
Read This Speech by Thomas Sowell titled, “The Quest For Cosmic Justice”, at tsowell.com.
Related article – Thomas Sowell Explains How Democracy And Freedom Are Not The Same Thing, by austrianaddict.com.
Some Humor To Take The Edge Off
Posted July 17, 2013 by austrianaddictCategories: Miscellaneous
Tags: Affordable Care Act, Cartoons, Constitution, KTVU, Morsi Removal, Plane Crash at SF International, Student Debt, theburningplatform.com
I found these on theburningplatform.com.
Related Article – What Is Tyranny? at austrianaddict.com.
Related Article – The Economics of Health Care vs. The Right to Health Care, at austrianaddict.com.
Related Article – Young People Get Hooked Into Huge Debt When They Take The Student Loan Bait, at austrianaddict.com.
Related Article – The Most Recent Arbitrary And Unrestrained Exercised Of Power By The Federal Government, at austrianaddict.com.
TV Station KTVU thinks it’s revealing the names of the pilots who crash landed the Asiana flight at San Francisco International Ariport, but it turns out to be a prank. How long would it have taken you to figure out what was going on?
AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS ADDICT 