AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS ADDICT

San Francisco Restaurants Can’t Afford Waiters. So They’re Putting diners To Work, by Emily Badger, at cnbc.com. This is similar to full service gas stations changing to self-service stations back in the day (young people probably don’t remember when all gas stations were full service). The cost of artificially raising the minimum wage above what it would be under normal market conditions has to be paid by someone. Restaurant workers pay the cost by having their hours cut back or by losing their jobs to automation. The owner has to figure out how to absorb the cost that he can’t push onto his customers in higher prices. Ultimately he may go out of business because his business can’t profitable under the new regulations. The consumer pays in the higher prices charged by the restaurant for the food and service. Now the owners are trying to separate the food from the service (like gas stations did).

Are costumers willing to absorb the cost of physically performing the labor that they previously paid the waiter to do? Fast food restaurants have made this work. But the quality and the price of the food has to out weigh the cost of the labor the customer has to perform or else the consumer will go somewhere else. This weighing of the cost is subjective to each individual customer who walks in the door of the restaurant. The next question is; How much are individuals willing to pay for the ‘dining experience’? In the case of this restaurant not enough people valued it more than the price that was being charged. The market ultimately wins. Government intervention never produces what the planners planned.

Military Seizes Control Of Water Supplies As Venezuelan Infrastructure Collapses, at zerohedge.com. Socialist central planning of the economy produces a lower standard of living. Venezuela standard of living has been in a steady decline for years since Government central planners have taken over increasing numbers of decisions that used to be made by individuals in the market. Central planners utopian plans must always obey the reality of economic laws. No one should be surprised by this outcome.

2 Million Americans Quit Food Stamps In Trump’s First Year, by Ivan Pentchoukov, at theepochtimes.com. Improvement in the job market and the economy is the reason for this. Businesses are more productive even when the weight of government is lifted a little bit. Or when businesses don’t believe there is a threat of government intervention for the foreseeable future.

Disability Applications Plunge As The Economy Strengthens, by Nelson Schwartz, at wral.co. This and the food stamp article show incremental movement in the right direction. Lets hope Trumps tariff gambit doesn’t destroy this trend. Although we know there will be economic consequences for his actions. Why? Because economic laws will always win out against government intervention in the market.

Trump’s Trade War Causing Harley-Davidson To Move Some Production Out Of The United States, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Government intervention into the market produces consequences that were not planned by the planners. This is an example of economic laws winning out over government intervention. Economic reality cannot be wished away by government decree.

Dear High School Graduates: The Status Quo “Solutions” Enrich The Few At Your Expense, by Charles Hugh Smith, at oftwominds.com. The cost of college, housing and healthcare are rising because of government intervention. Not direct intervention mind you, but interventions into the financial system. Government tried to make these industries “affordable” by making money easy to borrow. When money (real or printed) pours into any industry, the price (not the cost) of the good or service is driven higher. This rising price is caused because the money supply has been inflated. This allows individuals to borrow in order to purchase these goods or services. It is a debt created bubble. If the money supply had not been inflated, the interest rate would have been higher. Why? Because there would have been fewer dollars for competing borrowers. Simple supply and demand. The higher interest rates would have directed these funds to their most valued use according to the subjective valuations of each individual. But the artificial increased of the money supply brought about artificially low interest rates. This allowed a level of activity to occur in these industries, a level which would have never come about if interest rates were higher. Of course if there was no inflation of the money supply, the interest rates would have increased to a level reflecting the true amount of funds able to be borrowed. And the inflated prices in these industries would have been kept in check because of these higher interest rates.

Excerpt from the article: “The status quo is pressuring you to accept its “solutions”: borrow mega-bucks to attend college, then buy a decaying bungalow or a hastily constructed stucco box for $800,000 in a “desirable” city, pay sky-high income and property taxes on your earnings, and when the stress of all these crushing financial burdens ruins your health, well, we’ve got meds to “help” you – lots of meds at insane price points paid for by insurance – if you have “real” insurance without high deductibles, of course.”

“Student loan debt only makes your life harder, not easier, as the claimed “value” of a college degree is based on the distant past, not the present. The economy is changing fast and the conventional “solutions” no longer match the new realities.”

“The high cost of housing isn’t “solved” by buying in at the top of an unprecedented bubble. Buying into bubbles only makes the problem worse, for all bubbles pop.”

“The “solution” to crushing levels of debt is not to borrow more just to prop up a rotten, corrupt, dysfunctional and self-serving status quo….the young generations are being groomed to be the hosts for the parasitic classes that feed on young taxpayers, student loan debt-serfs, young buyers of bubble prices housing, unaffordable sickcare “insurance” and all the rest of the status quo “solutions”.”

If Hillary And Democrats Laundered $84 Million, They Should Face Justice, by Dan Becker, at thefederalist.com. Hillary and Bill have been laundering millions through the Clinton global Initiative for years. So it is not hard to believe that Hillary laundered millions of campaign dollars.

More Than 685 Million Call Records Deleted By The NSA, at chicago.suntimes.com. We have given the State too much power.

The Police State Takes A Giant Step Towards Pre-Crime, at zerohedge.com. Excerpt from the article: “If you think we still have privacy rights or a 4th Amendment, you are living in the past. Technology has moved past our individual rights and technology is now determining what day and time a crime will be committed in your meighborhood and produce a list of suspects that need to be “questioned” prior to a crime being committed.”

The Four Dissenting Votes In The Travel Ban Ruling Are A Dangerous Sign, by Kyle Sammin, at thefederalist.com. This case should have never gotten this far. The question was simple. Does the presidency have the power to make this ruling. The judges, up to and including the 4 dissenting Supreme Court justices were trying to be Kreskin like mind readers of the President motive. The order was legal according to the law. But these judges were trying to strike down a lawful order because of political differences with the President. It became a political decision. These Judges are tasked to make legal decisions not political decisions. Making political decisions through the judicial process creates a mess. Just look at the mess created by Roe vs. Wade.

What Is The Religion Of Mass Public Shooters? by John Lott, at thedailycaller.com. Is it politically correct to even ask this question? No but it has to be asked.

Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat 4th Ranking House Democrat Joe Crowley In NY Primary, by Ray Downs, at upi.com. The Democrat party is moving towards the ideology of socialism. Let me try this again. The Democrats have always been socialist central planners. They have just always tried to hide what they truly are. They now have more and more people in power who are not afraid to say it.

I’m going to go way out on a limb but here is a prediction in regards to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  She is going to be fast tracked to run for president just like Barack Obama was. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was born October 13 1989 which would make her age eligible (35) to run for president in 2024. You can check mark all the boxes with her. She is a female minority. She is intelligent and speaks well in front of audiences. She is young and attractive which means she is photogenic. And she is a big government socialist central planner. I bet she will give one of the prime time speeches at the 2020 Democrat convention. This will be her official introduction to the country. The main stream media will take the baton from there and run with it. The propaganda campaign will be on full display. 18 months after the convention she will start her run for the 2024 presidency. Bernie Sanders will run again in 2020 in an attempt to mainstream “socialism”.  They hope the stigma of the word “socialist” won’t be as bad for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when she runs in 2024. What do you think?

CARTOONS from the rightreason.net.