Why you should read "Meltdown"

Iceland went under, Austria's banks are about to collapse, and England is teetering. The news from China is just as bleak: 70,000 factories have closed in the last few years, and the unemployed from those closings has hit 20 million. Why?

The root cause is that every country now, following our foolish lead, has an inflating central bank. The favorite tool of these banks: fiat currency. Fiat means "of nothing." So all of this supposed "money" is simply paper backed by nothing.

Thomas Woods, one of the best historian/economists in the country, has come out with a great, relatively short book that explains it all. Meltdown: A Free Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse.

If you read it, you will know more than over 95% of the people in the U.S., and then you can figure out and implement a plan to save your investments and yourself. A small price to pay in these turbulent and scary financial times.

Socialized medicine in Japan fails again

Socialism doesn't work because economic calulation is impossible because of the lack of prices. Socializing goods and services leads to long lines, shortages, higher taxes, less quality, and ultimately, rationing.

As you can read here in this article, the socialized hospitals in Japan killed a man because they wouldn't accept him. He was turned down by 14 hospitals! Gee, I can't wait until Obama gives us "change we can believe in" and implements full-blown socialized medicine, I mean "universal health care," here in the America. Not!

Keynesian economics is dead

Well, at least it should be. But the government rolls it out, year after year, teaching it in the schools and using it to "guide" us to prosperity. Well, we know how that's turned out. As Hans Herman-Hoppe stated in his The Misesian Case Against Keynes:

I will show that Keynes's new economics, like that "underworld" tradition, is nothing but a tissue of logical falsehoods reached by means of obscure jargon, shifting definitions, and logical inconsistencies intended to establish a statist, anti-free-market economic system.

Why is the U.S. economy in bad shape? Because of the Federal Reserve, its fiat currency, and devotion to Keynesian economics. When, and only when, we are able to free ourselves from paper money backed by nothing and the cranky economics of Keynes will we be able to return to true prosperity.

Privatize the Postal Service

The U.S. Constitution is a flawed document, with five really bad clauses that are the cause of most of our troubles. Another bad clause, though less dangerous, is the one that allows Congress to establish post offices and post roads.

It's time to override that clause with a Constitutional amendment and end government involvement of the mail. In 2008, the inefficient Postal Service lost $2.8 billion. It must be given help (a bailout) to stay in business.

Privatize the Postal Service by selling it off to UPS, DHL, Airborne, Fed Ex, and any other company that wants a piece. The private sector, with its own money at risk, will do a much better job. The competition will drive costs down and improve service.

Sorry James Madison, Ben Franklin and the rest of the framers, you got this one wrong too.

Do you need any more proof?

All presidents and congresses use Keynesian economists to "help" them guide the economy. Unfortunately for all of us, Keynesian economics, what they teach in high schools and colleges, doesn't work. How do I know? History. Take a look at the current state of California, which is going broke. After years of Keynesian economics, how well is California doing? Take a look from an article on Bloomberg today:

California, the most-populous U.S. state, forecasts it will collect about $42 billion less than it will need to pay its bills over the next 18 months because of the yearlong national recession.

If Keynesian economics was so good, why is California in dire straits? Is there anyone who needs any more proof? The U.S. is in a recession that will last a long time. Time to get rid of Keynesiansim and use free market, or Austrian, economics. Ludwig von Mises and the rest of the Austrians get it. The government and the Keynesians don't.

Is Africa next?

As the mighty U.S. empire continues to spread around the globe (the Pentagon planners have a military presence in about 130 countries now), the question is what part of the planet is next? Could it be Africa? Back in 2007, Bush and his fellow neocons created Africom to "assist" African countries with security and combat terrorism. Of course, all with the permission of those countries that need help. Just like Iraq - they gave permission, didn't they? Here's a short excerpt from the government's African command website:

The command inherits a small but meaningful U.S. military presence already existing in numerous African nations, to include Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, as well as Defense Department personnel assigned to U.S. Embassies and diplomatic missions to coordinate Defense Department programs supporting U.S. diplomacy. Any additional presence on the continent will take place only in full diplomatic consultation and agreement with potential host nations.

This setup is not authorized by the Constitution, but that doesn't seem to stop any politicians these days. Eventually, another continent will despise us. Just like the Founding Fathers and the Framers intended. Not.

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.