Category Archives: Economics

Obama on Student Loans, LOL!

To sum it up… clueless!

Listening to him talk about student loans makes me want to throw up. He is calling for Congress to “stop interest rates from doubling”. He is calling for an artificial interest rate which means more pain in the future. The price of money being set artificially low will mean more loans. More loans that can’t be paid back means more bailout. More bailout means more pain.

He is also calling for easing on people who can’t pay back their loans. How does one accomplish this? More money in the market! More money printing. More money printing means higher cost of education. It’s a catch 22! If there is more money in the market then prices rise, this is the essence of inflation.

He wouldn’t know this because his economic advisors are a bunch of Keynesian clowns. Get the government out of education and there won’t be a need to “bail out” kids with loans. The price of education will drop! Government subsidizing education only results in the mess we have in front of us. Maybe these kids will learn that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Somewhere, somehow, someone pays for it.

Fools.

Hot: Ron Paul debates Paul Krugman on Bloomberg TV

This is amazing and as usual Ron Paul shines. This is the best example of good economics v. bad economics. Krugman is a joke.

Robert Wenzel Smashes Through the New York Federal Reserve

Personal hero Robert Wenzel of Economic Policy Journal delivered what many are considering one of the most prolific and important speeches in the history of Economics. Wenzel took on the entire New York Federal Reserve at their invitation this last week. Like a prophet from the future Wenzel brought the word of Austrian Economics to the Keynesian world.

I simply do not understand most of the thinking that goes on here at the Fed and I do not understand how this thinking can go on when in my view it smacks up against reality.

Wenzel eventually asks the members of the Federal Reserve to abandon the building and walk out with him, never to return. Such nerve is exactly what may be needed to wake up these “intellectuals” who refuse to abandon a broken and dead system of economics.

Let’s have one good meal here. Let’s make it a feast. Then I ask you, I plead with you, I beg you all, walk out of here with me, never to come back. It’s the moral and ethical thing to do. Nothing good goes on in this place. Let’s lock the doors and leave the building to the spiders, moths and four-legged rats.

I urge all you to read the entire speech available in text here. Fantastic job to Mr. Wenzel, he never disappoints.

The New Global Currency

I have said that the IMF and the United Nations are enemies to our financial freedom for ages. It’s no secret that these organizations seek to “unite” the globe under one global currency. The issue with this of course is the currency would not be market selected, it would have no value, and it would be backed only by policy — all of that translates to “worthless”.

The idea of replacing one fiat currency with another fiat currency that can and will be printed at will by global banksters will result in economic disaster the likes of which we have never seen. Ron Paul is now bringing light to the situation on the campaign trail. This is possibly the most important issue we face.

Must Watch: Ron Paul Predicts the Future in 2002

Friend to the site Reason and Liberty writes:

“Hey, wanna give this video a watch to see whether it’s worthy of being on your website? It literally left me crying and frozen to death.”

I spent six minutes watching this video and then fifteen minutes picking up my jaw. I am a known Ron Paul supporter. He is a champion of liberty and a fantastic scholar on austrian economics. Up to this point though, I had no idea he could see the future.

The following video is from April 2002. Yes, you read that correctly… 2002! Like a true Austrian he doesn’t give specific dates, that can’t be known — he does offer a time frame though.

“…the next five to ten years.”

The next six minutes of your life will be eye-opening.

The Debt Limit as a Household Budget

Haha, imagine walking into your bank and raising your debt limit. The United States is headed for fiscal disaster. A very clever YouTube video to illustrate the issue:

Gold v. The United States Dollar; Some Observations

Some important observations I’d like to share. I got thrown into a debate on Facebook of all places. I hate the “Facebook comment debate” but some of these facts I listed are worth sharing.

- Prior to 1913*, a man could walk into a tailor and purchase a nice new suit with either 1oz of gold (a 1 ounce gold coin) or a $20 dollar bank-note ($20 dollar bill). Today a man can still walk into a tailor and buy a suit with the 1 oz gold coin, but what about the $20 bill?

- In and around the 1970’s one could purchase a single family home for ~1,000 oz of gold (roughly $35/oz). Today you can still buy a home with 1,000 oz of gold but what about the $35,000 dollars?

Government destroys markets, money, and value. It monopolizes money to fund itself. This must end for our future to be lucrative. What has government done to our money? It has destroyed it. Just let that settle in. Bring it up in class or around the dinner table. Explain it to friends and family, with love, from me.

1913 is the year the Federal Reserve was created through the Federal Reserve Act.

Last Night I Witnessed a Miracle; Thank You Capitalism!

Last night I witnessed a miracle. I was sitting on my couch and a little electronic rectangular device laying next to me began to make noise and shake. What was this sorcery? It was my cell phone. An object used to transmit data and information from one area to another through invisible radio waves.

What was being transmitted? Well, millions of bits of information was sent from London England by my good friend Bill. He too has one of these magical devices. He wrote me a message by tapping on a screen with his fingers. After composing the message he had it zapped to my phone. It traveled thousands of miles in an instant. Much faster than he could ever walk, run, or fly the message to me. It said:

“Alright bruv, I got my new iPhone 4S now so I’m presuming this text is free :) , what have you been up to son?”

Imagine that, I was now conversing across the globe with a friend I have never even shared a room with! All of this made possible by capitalistic pursuit and market demand. Could you imagine what would happen if the government and state controlled all means of production — you know, a Socialist society? Do you really think without profit based incentive there would be a product half, or half of a half as good as this magical iPhone?

And forgetting that — we were talking for “free” (I recognize subscriber fees and the cost of electric to charge the phone but for argument’s sake it was free). That’s right, no need for SMS charges. The grand wizard named Steve Jobs has bestowed upon us a magical machine that made communication possible.

People all across the planet communicate like this everyday, with all different types of miracle boxes called cellular phones. All because of capitalism makes it possible. All because of a market demand by consumers and entrepreneurs’ ability to meet said demand for a profit. These are modern-day miracles. Not only that — because of capitalism, everyday this magic is cheaper and cheaper to own! Not because government gets involved but because entrepreneurs find cheaper means of production while increasing performance and availability. Need proof — look at the price of data storage over the years.

Lesson: if you feel capitalism is a problem then you are mistaken. Your gripe is with government and big business manipulating you. This is called Corporatism and it is dangerous to mix the two.

Capitalism drives innovation and without it we would all be standing in line for our government food rations like they did in Soviet Russia. We would not be sitting on our couches talking with friends across a vast ocean named the Atlantic, on a device not much bigger than a deck of playing cards.

Thank you Capitalism!

San Francisco’s $10 Mandatory Minimum Wage

San Francisco now has the highest minimum wage in the country. $10. The economically ignorant will cheer this as a massive success! They feel they are increasing the standard of living by forcing entrepreneurs to pay entry-level workers more money for jobs that may not call for that money in the open market.

While the economically ignorant rejoice, the backbone of our economy, small business owners will grieve. They are now forced through government policy to pay these immense wages. Demand for employment will now decrease. Furthermore what will become of people higher up the food chain who now can’t receive the wages they deserve?

David Kramer has a great write-up from one of San Francisco’s top eating spots. He illustrates that he will now be punished. He will have to pay entry-level waiters a minimum of $10 plus tips which means money is diverted from his chefs and other areas of the business. The spread is now not there, profits will tumble. If profits tumble there is no chance to stay in business.

With the mandatory wage hike the small business owner will now have to lay off top members of his staff who earn (without government intervention) their wages. As Henry Hazlitt teaches in “Economics in One Lesson” it is the unseen effects of policy that destroy the economy. While the economically illiterate feel they have created better conditions — all they have done is increase unemployment.

“The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.”

– Henry Hazlitt

I implore anyone who is interested to please read “Economics in One Lesson” for free here [pdf].

A Letter to Walter Block

Professor Block wrote a great article about what he calls “self hating libertarians” and some of their criticism of Dr. Ron Paul. I responded with the following:

Thank you for the great post. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I have but a simple question in response:

If Dr. Paul were to become President wouldn’t he now head up the very state that voluntaryists and An-caps oppose? Personally I love Dr. Paul but I can’t mindfully bring myself to voting for him as this one action would mean that I am accepting the state as legitimate. Voting for Dr. Paul and having him win would mean that I am no better than a democrat or republican. Mad at the system when “my guy isn’t running things” but thrilled when he is.

Would this not mean after all of my reading from Rothbard to Hoppe, I would merely be ignoring everything I hold dear so I could use a broken system of democracy as my own “failed god” to force others into my ideal version of majority rule?

How then, can one support him in his electoral campaign? Again I love and support Dr. Paul — I have read a majority of his books and followed his career since the early 2000′s. He is the true libertarian philosopher of our time but a head of state is still a head of state. No?

Much respect to you sir, you have been a source of inspiration for many years. Just my two cents.

Regards,
Jaison De Montalegre

Sent from my iPad

More as it develops. I really hope I get to speak with him on this subject. I have a really had time rationalizing this whole “voting is violent”, “democracy is a failed god”, but “vote for Ron” mess I find myself in. I realize Block isn’t an An-Cap but he is sort of calling us out, no? And for the record none of his reasons provided even remotely apply to me in terms of why I wouldn’t vote.