In a civilized society, should anyone or any government ever force anyone to do anything against his or her will as long as that person does not infringe upon the life, liberty, or property of another?

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Late 1890's redux

I don't know who said it, but it's a great quote: "The only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history." Well, we're not learning, and the ones really not learning are the fascists in Washington.

In the late 1890's, after the Panic of 1893 was over, big business and a new group of "progressives" kicked off what's called the Progressive Era. These groups called for more government regulation because, they claimed, that free- market or laissez-faire capitalism failed. They spun the whole story, making it sound good to an uniformed public that the government was good and that they were here to help.

Now the powers that be (the government and the mainstream media) are spinning the whole story again, and once again are blaming capitalism. As you can read in this article (thanks to prudentbear.com), politicians and pundits alike say that de-regulation is the root cause of our economic woes. Actually, it's the Federal Reserve's reckless behavior of printing almost worthless dollars that is the root cause.

Don't buy into the spin! Instead, read Murray Rothbard's great, short book, The Case Against the Fed. Find out the truth, and don't let the government dupe us once more. Entrepreneurs create wealth; the government, through taxation and regulation, destroys wealth. So let's say no to more government intervention in the economy.

Just click on the title of Murray's book and you can purchase it for only $7.00. And be careful of Wikipedia's entries on the Progressive Era and the Panic of 1893. They may have been written by statists who also blame the free market.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Turn off your TV!

Turn off your television and no longer watch the loons in Washington, D.C. or the crazy financial pundits talk about how they are going to fix all of our financial problems. As you can see by this article, a major U.S. bank has gone under. This is serious stuff. Lehman Brothers, a Wall Street investment bank, is also looking quite shaky. Remember, Bear Stearns became insolvent and went away a few months ago. May it rest in peace.

Mark my words: the government will step in and make things worse. They'll spin it and make it sound good, and they'll even blame the free market and laissez-faire capitalism. They'll say we're here to save the day, and only the Fed, acting in concert with Congress and the Treasury, can fix our problems.

Nothing is further from the truth! There will be more regulation and oversight, and things will get worse. The rest of this year and the next will be brutal. The market will get hit, more banks will fail, unemployment will rise, and the foreclosures will continue.

Start saving your weak dollars, which are only worth four cents. Don't buy that new car or big screen TV. You might need the money to get out of Dodge.