LewRockwell Roundup: December 21st

1. Weapon of Monetary Destruction
Lew Rockwell on the Fed.

(Hardcore Rockwell, bang on the money. Literally! :-)

2. Coming: a 400% (and Higher) Excise Tax
Mike Rozeff on Obama’s rip-off plan for you.

(Remember those Bostonians who threw that tea into the harbour? The tax they were complaining about was the Stamp Duty Tax. The revolt from that tax produced the united states of America, as opposed to 'America' simply being the southern neighbour to Canada, in the British commonwealth. There is just one thing left that is keeping Lincoln's United States economy going, and that is its relative investment freedom, and a widespread knowledge of investment throughout the US public, because of relatively low transaction and taxation costs. Obviously, the socialist parasites in Washington can't stand to see an ordinary man in Milwaukee making a few bucks which could be used to buy even swankier cars and jets for the elites of the Beltway, so they're going to introduce a more modern version of the Stamp Duty Tax, to cut one of the last few remaining threads of American entrepreneurship. This is all going to be very ugly when it finally unravels in a few years time. My bet is still on either Texas or Vermont to secede first, once the dollar collapses and Washington can no longer pay its soldiers enough to get them to shove gun barrels into the faces of Texans and Vermonters. What do you think?)

3. The Growth of Jobless Claims, the 'Shadow Inventory' of Houses
The depression continues, says Bill Bonner.

(Choice three was hard today, with at least two other significant contenders, but Bill Bonner wins for coming at the problems from a different angle.)

OK, so it's all a bit miserable. How about this to cheer you up?