Greenspan exposed

Another great article from the Mises Institute, this one exposing the former Fed boss Alan Greenspan. Unfortunately for America, Greenspan tried to nullify the fundamental laws of economics. Once of his worst sins was printing money, and printing money, and printing money. The "Great Printer" printed so much in the 90's that the NASDAQ went up ten times in ten years! That's not really supposed to happen, and it all began to unravel in 2000.

So when your friends tell you it was the "free market" that caused all of our problems, just have them go to mises.org or here to find out the truth.

Capitalism at its finest

Walt Disney was a wealthy man. Why? Because he pleased millions of people. One of his dreams, Disney World, is a true testament to the power of the most moral economic system on the planet: capitalism.

Having just returned from my first visit there, I am still blown away. The food was great, service awesome, shows and rides incredible. And it costs Disney World a fortune to provide all of that to the world. The payroll at the Magic Kingdom alone is $1.1 billion a year. The amount spent on maintenance: $100 million!

Anyone who advocates socialism should spend a few days at Disney World. No government in the world can plan the parks the way the Disney corporation has. Without the incentive that capitalism provides, a government-run theme park would be a disaster. The government can't even run a simple railroad (AMTRAK) properly - so how could they plan theme parks that employ thousands? The old saying will always hold true: markets work, central planning doesn't.

Big Brother wants you slimmer

The ever-expanding and meddling state is at it again. Soon, they will control all aspects of our lives, just as George Orwell wrote in 1984. Amazingly, the war on the fat, which began recently, continues with a possible obesity tax. As reported in the Financial Times (courtesy of prudentbear.com):

New York state could impose an “obesity tax” on high-calorie soft drinks such as non-diet versions of Coke and Pepsi as public concerns over obesity turn potentially fattening foods into a politically acceptable target for taxation.

Soon nothing will be safe from the clutches of the state. That's one reason why I fight it and wear my Albert Jay Nock t-shirt (purchased from the Mises Institute) which bears the slogan: "Our enemy the state."

Ron Everitt wants reparations

Ron Everitt, who calls himself Maulana Karenga, is the man who started the holiday known as Kwanzaa. He's an interesting character for sure, and he wants to violate your property rights by taking your money. As he wrote in 2005 about reparations:

" . . . reparations also requires compensation in various forms. Compensation can never be simply money payoffs either individually or collectively. Nor should the movement for reparations be reduced to simply a quest for compensation without addressing the other four aspects. Indeed, compensation itself is a multidimensional demand and option and may involve not only money, but land, free health care, housing, free education from grade school through college, etc."

Interestingly, he spent almost four years in a California state prison for assaulting and torturing over a two-day period two women from an organization he founded. The conviction was for felony assault and false imprisonment. According to the wikipedia account on him, he embraced Marxism while in prison.

I'll admit I don't know enough about the man, but I'm sure I don't want to celebrate a holiday started by some guy born on a poultry farm in Maryland and who embraces communism while wanting to violate my property rights.

By the way, everybody, Merry Christmas!

More evidence

Even though the government hasn't officially declared our current economic crisis a recession, we all know it's here. Car dealers know for sure, and he's an excerpt from an article on cnn.com regarding a car dealership in Florida:

Mr. Thomas has stopped ordering new vehicles, and he is relentlessly cutting costs, including his own salary. He is slashing medical benefits and matching funds for the retirement accounts of his remaining employees. He has stopped giving free oil changes and tires to charities, stopped offering coffee to customers and even canceled janitorial services for the bathrooms.

Sounds like the contraction phase of the business cycle. Government grows the money supply leading to easy credit, malinvestment occurs, we reach a peak (consumers are tapped), and then the pain begins, as you can see above.

More government help - please no!

Governments around the world are trying to figure out how to "save" their economies. They all vow to do something, and usually use the term "stimulus." So, they want to stimulate their economies. Unfortunately for them, that is impossible. Only entrepreneurs, who invest capital to start businesses and employ millions while providing the goods and services we want and need, can "stimulate" the economy. Since governments don't make bicycles, candles, pizza slices, pens, shirts, cars, and the billions of other items we desire, they cannot "stimulate" their economies. They can only get out of the way, and leave businesses alone.

The loons who created this mess (by allowing their central banks to inflate) are meeting to discuss the problem. The problem is, they are prescribing the same medicine - the wrong medicine. Get out of the way, stop taxing and regulating, eliminate your central bank, and stop printing fiat currency. Then, and only then, will economies flourish. They won't do this, of course, so we're in for a decades-long global recession. Mark my words.

Just the first step

Governments usually take small steps when they take away our freedom. If they didn't, we would revolt. So they do it slowly, one step at a time. They sell it - it's all about patriotism. And they keep rolling out Kennedy's famous "ask what you can do for your country" line.

As reported on the examiner.com, the first step is to expand national service:
"President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start."

Amazing. So I guess they own you and me. It says "requiring." What if you don't want to go? What if you want to do with your property (yourself) as you see fit? Will you face jail time by refusing to report?

This is dangerous - very dangerous.