The private sector does it better

For the last 115 years, a private company has been testing many of the items we use at home and work. Shouldn't that be enough? Well, politics is the dirtiest game in town, and it was politics that gave us the inefficient behemoth called OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Somehow, America survived 363 years without the wasteful agency signed into law by the criminal Richard Nixon, the only president ever to resign.

Read this nice article by Mark Thornton on Underwriter Labs, and thanks to the Mises Institute for posting it on their website.

The Gold Standard

Thanks to the Mises Institute for posting another great article by Robert Murphy. Read his concise defense of the gold standard here. Note the chart regarding consumer prices. See how it really starts to go up at the beginning of the 1970's - that's when President Richard Nixon put the final nail in the coffin when he closed the international gold window.

By the way, I own and highly recommend Murphy's book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism.

Nixon, I mean Bush wants to . . .

The decider-in-chief wants to pull a Richard Nixon and suspend the fundamental laws of economics. He says he wants to "freeze" all mortgages that may reset to a higher interest rate. What a disaster this will be. Just like the disaster in the '70's when then President Nixon did almost the same thing and suspended all wages and prices for 90 days! Isn't it a good thing that government officials can't suspend the fundamental laws of physics too?

Amazingly, the decider-in-chief's plan is backed by the equally incompetent Secretary of the Treasury. Read the amazing news here.

Sucked into the maelstrom

As more banks, mortgage companies, investment houses, etc. are sucked into the maelstrom known as the credit bubble collapse, people wonder: what should be done? After all, some say it's like a perfect storm: oil at almost $100 a barrel, real estate foreclosures way up, big investment companies writing down billions in losses, the dollar collapsing, and threats by foreign nations to move away from the dollar.

Maybe the government should pull an early 1970's Nixon: a 90-day wage and price freeze. Then gas and food can't go up - sounds good, doesn't it? Might sound good, but that would lead to more pain. In fact, the government should do nothing but let the malinvestment wash itself out. It will be painful, but forestalling the pain only makes it worse. Watch the Republican debate Wednesday night, and see who brings up the subject. Only Ron Paul, who understands the markets and the Fed, will. He's the only one with the courage to talk about it.