Walter Williams on Election and Sound Money
Walter Williams has been a professor of economics at George Mason University in Virginia since 1980. He is the author of many books, hundreds of articles and a weekly syndicated column. You may have caught some of his many radio and television appearances – a champion of free-market economics speaking out against socialism and intrusive government. He has described laissez-faire capitalism as “the most moral and most productive system man has ever devised.”
Casey Research: Good morning, Dr. Williams. I was immensely relieved to learn that you were not the author of the recent article No Matter What, purporting to explain why, no matter how bad things get, President Obama would win a second term. The article was widely circulated, however, and I have some concern that a lot of people were misled but never learned that you had not written it.
Walter Williams: Of course the article was a hoax. When it first came out and people started sending it to me, I sent it to the Creators Syndicate that handles my column. They contacted the website that ran the article, and that website ran an apology.
Robespierre's War on Terror
Robespierre's War on Terror
Dominant Social Theme: Safety requires the vigilance of top authorities. And if civil protections are squashed and people's rights are violated, well ... so be it.
Planned Chaos of Euro Collapse?
Planned Chaos of Euro Collapse?
VIDEO: ICC and NATO: Increasingly Political Tools of the West?
VIDEO: ICC and NATO: Increasingly Political Tools of the West?
While the International Criminal Court ( ICC) seeks arrest of leaders of Libya, it has failed to take action against leaders of USA, UK, France, Israel, etc. for true and enormous war crimes, (including torture and killing of almost a million Iraqis), committed during illegal wars and on the occupied territories of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and now Libya. It is obvious to the world that the ICC is a tool of domination by the U.S. and NATO and as such ICC refuses to take action against dominant powers or their favored tyrants. Accordingly, it has relegated itself to merely being a means of enforcing imperial politics, justifying imperial crimes and perpetrating victor's justice. –Libertarianism in One Lesson
Libertarianism in One Lesson
– by Tibor Machan
Dr. Tibor Machan
Libertarians uphold the sovereignty of each adult individual in social life. They distinguish themselves in the political arena in most western countries from both the Left and the Right because, on the one hand, the Left is inclined primarily to impose restrictions on individuals pertaining to their economic or material actions, while the Right embarks upon imposing on individuals when it comes to their spiritual or mental actions. Both Left and Right enlist government for the purpose of regimenting certain aspects of the individual's life, whereas the libertarian sanctions only those laws or rules that aim at keeping everyone's sovereignty, at protecting individual rights to life, liberty and property.
Building NWO: UN Again Involved in Int'l Criminal Court Rulings
Building NWO: UN Again Involved in Int'l Criminal Court Rulings
Harvard's Rogoff: Is Capitalism Finished?
Harvard's Rogoff: Is Capitalism Finished?
Kenneth Rogoff
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Child Poverty In America Is Absolutely EXPLODING – 16 Shocking Statistics That Will Break Your Heart
If the U.S. economy is improving, then why is child poverty in America absolutely exploding? If we are experiencing "economic growth", then why are more than half of all children in major U.S. cities like Cleveland and Detroit living in poverty? If we are the "greatest economy on earth", then why are one out of every four American children on food stamps? The shocking statistics that you are about to read below should absolutely break your heart. Tonight, millions of precious American children will go to bed without any dinner. Tonight, millions of American children will shiver as they try to go to sleep because their families cannot afford any heat. How bad does child poverty have to get before we all finally admit that our economic system is completely failing many of the most vulnerable members of our society? If you want someone to blame, you can blame Congress, the Obama administration, the Bush administration and the corrupt Wall Street bankers. But most of all, blame the Federal Reserve and the debt-based monetary system that the Fed administers. Our economy is in the midst of a long-term decline and is slowly but surely dying. Many of those that are suffering the most from this decline are children. (Read More....)
What happens when you attempt a cold shutdown of one of the biggest debt spirals that the world has ever seen? Well, we are about to find out. The politicians in Europe have decided that they are going to "take their medicine" and put strict limits on budget deficits. They have also decided that the European Central Bank is not going to engage in reckless money printing to "paper over" the debts of troubled nations. This may all sound wonderful to many of you, but the reality is that there is always a tremendous amount of pain whenever a massive debt spiral is interrupted. Just look at what happened to Greece. Greece was forced to raise taxes and implement brutal austerity measures. That caused the economy to slow down and tax revenues to decline and so government debt figures did not improve as much as anticipated. So Greece was forced to implement even more brutal austerity measures. Well, that caused the economy to slow down even more and tax revenues declined again. In Greece this cycle has been repeated several times and now Greece is experiencing a full-blown economic depression. 100,000 businesses have closed and a third of the population is living in poverty. But now Germany and France intend to impose the "Greek solution" on the rest of Europe. This is going to create the conditions needed for a "perfect storm" to develop and it means that the European financial system is heading for an implosion of historic proportions. (Read More....)
Never in the history of the NFL has there ever been anything like this. Today, Tim Tebow engineered yet another miraculous 4th quarter comeback. Almost everyone has been expecting this unprecedented string of comebacks to come to an end, yet Tebow just keeps pulling off miracle after miracle. It seems like nearly every week now we are talking about another unbelievable Tim Tebow comeback. It is truly a great story, and what is wonderful about Tebow is that he is not out to glorify himself. He is very humble, he always recognizes his teammates and he is a terrific role model for a generation of American youth that is in desperate need of one. Unfortunately, there is not going to be a similar comeback story for the U.S. economy. It is late in the 4th quarter, we have accumulated over 50 trillion dollars of total debt as a nation, and our economic guts are being ripped out at a rate that is almost impossible to believe. The game is essentially over and we are headed for an incredible amount of economic pain as a nation. (Read More....)
How do you decide whether you are wealthy or not? Do you determine that by how much money you spend at the stores? Of course not. You can tell if you are wealthy or not by comparing your assets (the money in your bank account, equity in your home, etc.) to your liabilities (your mortgage, credit card debt, student loan debt, etc.). Well, a lot of Americans seem to believe that just because a lot of money is circulating in our economy that it must mean that we are a wealthy nation. But that is simply not true. To tell whether or not America is a wealthy nation, you need to look at the balance sheet numbers. And when you look at the balance sheet numbers, a very sobering story emerges. Over the past three decades, government debt, business debt and household debt have absolutely exploded, but our assets have not. That means that we are getting poorer as a nation. Hopefully the shocking charts and statistics in this article will help a lot of Americans to wake up. Yes, we once were the wealthiest nation on earth, but today America is no longer a wealthy nation. (Read More....)
Millions of American citizens have already left the United States in search of a better life. As the economy continues to crumble and as our society slowly falls apart, millions of others are thinking about it. But moving to another country is not something to be done lightly. The reality is that there are a vast array of social, cultural, economic and safety issues to be considered. If you have never traveled outside of North America, then you have no idea how incredibly different life in other parts of the world can be. For those that are unfamiliar with international travel, it can be quite a shock to suddenly be immersed in a foreign culture. In fact, no matter how experienced you are, choosing to relocate to a new country is never easy. But things have gone downhill so dramatically in the United States that picking up and moving to a foreign nation is being increasingly viewed as a viable alternative by millions of Americans. A lot of people have decided that they simply do not want to be in the United States when the excrement hits the fan. So what is the best country in the world for Americans to relocate to in order to avoid the coming economic collapse? (Read More....)How the Debt Crisis Will End. by Richard W. Rahn
It became increasingly clear last week how the debt crisis will end — and it is not going to be comfortable. The latest phony solution is for the large, "responsible" countries to demand more fiscal responsibility from the smaller and purportedly "less responsible" countries. In Europe, Germany's Angela Merkel and France's Nicolas Sarkozy are demanding that other European states give up some of their sovereignty and agree to strict limits on their deficit spending. President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, as well as British Prime Minister David Cameron, have been lecturing the European Union about being more fiscally responsible. How odd and hypocritical, based on their own behavior.
U.S. Should Leave Iraq — for Good by Doug Bandow
Despite the Obama administration's best efforts, U.S. troops are on their way home from Iraq. Only Iraqi opposition prevented American forces from garrisoning yet another nation forever.
It is time to leave. Finally. Completely. Permanently.Many of Washington's wars have been unnecessary. Few have been as foolish as Iraq.
This Is No Middle Class Tax Cut. by Alan Reynolds
To hear President Obama tell it, Republicans in Congress “actually said ‘no’ to cutting taxes for middle class families.” The deal he struck a year ago was to keep the Bush tax cuts through 2012 in exchange for a one-year reduction in employee payroll taxes — the levies that fund Social Security and Medicare — to 4.2% from 6.2%. The year is up and the President hopes to renege on the deal. He now wants to cut the payroll tax in half — to 3.1% — and Congress is expected to vote on it this week, perhaps as soon as Tuesday.
No free lunch
The environmental movement has long downplayed the fact that environmental protection comes with a price tag. Companies, they say, routinely lie about the costs they face in complying with environmental laws. Some environmentalists, such as those at the EPA, actually argue that their regulations are massive job creators, technology stimulators, and so forth. Those claims don’t stand up on either basic principles or economic analysis, but that’s their story, and they’re stickin’ to it.
Alas, reality has a way of slipping into one’s wallet. As USA today points out:
The End of Stagnation and the Coming Innovation Boom
Economist Alex Tabarrok discusses bringing smart ideas to market, the college bubble, and why Paul Romer reminds him of Nobel Prize winner Ronald Coase.
Why Unemployment Is Worse Than You Think
The widely quoted unemployment rate misses an important factor: demographics.
The large demographic shift that has taken place over the last few decades—driven by the maturing of the baby boom generation—now places considerable downward pressure on the unemployment rate, which makes the current malaise look a bit better than it really is.
The Class Warfare We Need
The class deserving voters’ wrath is composed of society’s predators and parasites, who span all rungs of the income ladder.
In short, the class war as it stands today finds "Democrats accusing Republicans of siding with the rich, and Republicans countering that Democrats were taxing small business owners who create jobs." Voters are faced with an apparent dilemma, a contest between the two powerful emotions of envy and fear: should we let our envy of the supposedly too-wealthy, too-powerful “rich” outweigh our fear of damaging the economy’s ability to create private sector jobs? Which side should we take in the unfolding class war: the Democrats’ message exploiting envy, or the Republicans’ message exploiting fear?
The Political Implications of Ignoring Our Own Ignorance
Do individuals’ cognitive biases provide a justification for government intervention? No.
1. Cognitive hubris: each of us believes that his map of the world is more accurate than it really is.
2. Radical ignorance: when it comes to complex social phenomena, our maps are highly inaccurate.
This essay is focused on exploring the causes and consequences of cognitive hubris. Cognitive hubris can explain large, persistent disagreements over such issues as financial regulation and Keynesian fiscal stimulus.
Cognitive hubris is particularly troublesome when combined with radical ignorance. Indeed, this configuration justifies limiting government intervention in order to avoid setting up systems that are excessively fragile.
Fed Less Gloomy on Economy, No Change in Policy
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Fed Less Gloomy on Economy, No Change in Policy
Brian S. Wesbury - Chief Economist
Robert Stein, CFA - Senior Economist
Date: 12/13/2011
Once again, the Federal Reserve made no significant changes to monetary policy. No change in interest rates, no changes to the size of its balance sheet, and no changes to its current policy of paying interest on excess reserves. In other words, no third round of quantitative easing. Given the re-acceleration in the economy we continue to think QE3 is a ship that will never sail.
The only changes the Fed made today were some slight alterations in the language of the statement, which, like last month, signaled modestly greater optimism on economic growth. The Fed said the labor market shows “improvement,” versus “continuing weakness” after the last meeting in early November.
One subtle change was that last month the Fed said there were significant downside risks to “the economic outlook, including strains in global financial markets.” This implied that there were downside risks from other un-mentioned factors as well. By contrast, today’s statement made it clear that the significant downside risks were only related to the strains in global financial markets.
In terms of its balance sheet, the Fed reiterated what it originally said in September, that it would keep rolling over the principal payments it receives so that the size of its Treasury portfolio would remain unchanged and the size of its mortgage security portfolio would remain unchanged as well.
Also, as in November, the only dissenter was Chicago Bank President Charles Evans, who wanted more policy accommodation.
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