tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-197698292024-03-07T03:51:55.394+00:00AngloAustriaRandom Misesian Blipverts from an English Rothbardian HereticJack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.comBlogger1728125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-35790418464015157862011-07-13T23:18:00.002+01:002011-07-13T23:19:11.511+01:00The New ParadigmAs I am currently engaged in a hugely complicated property deal in Greece, I have little time to write a web log. However, I have even less time to read those long articles on Cobden Centre, any more. I am much more inclined to read the new blog pieces produced by a very good friend of mine, on a new Austrian Economics web site, in England.<br />
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I cannot recommend this <a href="http://godfailed.wordpress.com/">web site</a>, highly enough.Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-975384113510040442010-10-08T16:19:00.000+01:002010-10-08T16:19:39.567+01:00The Maturin World TourI am currently engaged in an extensive world tour of all the world's finest Shiraz, Pinot, and Gewurztraminer grape wineries.<br />
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I may be some time.<br />
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In the meantime, you may like to follow England's other source of Austrian-related information:<br />
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=> <a href="http://www.cobdencentre.org/">The Cobden Centre</a><br />
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Cheers, and Pip pip!!Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-56003937973192952782010-06-25T09:08:00.004+01:002010-06-25T09:19:44.472+01:00Wimbledon's longest match: John Isner victorious as marathon match finally ends<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSr3cUhpA2I48q9e_exe3fTfZSImHPhvJXJkNqRFBiv-k27HJq4XDAMcH3r0m1bgKGrRy2oqw-A3JRMAOoatZIUG8IxLrKMHnYhKqT7aB9aC6ajs08Div6os6yDkuNMAyJOkSH/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-25+at+09.14.56.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 252px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSr3cUhpA2I48q9e_exe3fTfZSImHPhvJXJkNqRFBiv-k27HJq4XDAMcH3r0m1bgKGrRy2oqw-A3JRMAOoatZIUG8IxLrKMHnYhKqT7aB9aC6ajs08Div6os6yDkuNMAyJOkSH/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-25+at+09.14.56.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486622006840534418" /><br /></a><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/wimbledon/7852253/Wimbledons-longest-match-John-Isner-victorious-as-marathon-match-finally-ends.html">Incredible</a>. Herculean. Magnificent.<br /><br />Will there be a movie? There ought to be. Here's a YouTube, instead:<br /><br /><object width="540" height="330"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vQRHw_VD1lU&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vQRHw_VD1lU&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="540" height="330"></embed></object>Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-39857140700173511542010-06-25T08:44:00.006+01:002010-06-25T09:00:34.828+01:00World Cup, Sunday: Germany versus England<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrr1k4_ZHvIEyu1RxwDVxPt8dBpQUUKl_4A-TMkDRhePNMTlLHOR6XX74ohRRK4P6DeUPfshVo1hs8V8_D57Dk6zi_sUKC1zHqBEnWgn4PQ26Hx4SvDgL48s16pEwxm59kBS6X/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-25+at+08.50.25.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 298px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrr1k4_ZHvIEyu1RxwDVxPt8dBpQUUKl_4A-TMkDRhePNMTlLHOR6XX74ohRRK4P6DeUPfshVo1hs8V8_D57Dk6zi_sUKC1zHqBEnWgn4PQ26Hx4SvDgL48s16pEwxm59kBS6X/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-25+at+08.50.25.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486615696530501170" /></a><center><span style="font-style:italic;">"Don't tell him, Pike!"</span></center><br />One to <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup-2010/teams/england/7852701/England-v-Germany-Jermain-Defoe-says-he-is-confident-of-winning-if-it-goes-to-penalties.html">watch</a> through the fingers from behind the sofa, methinks.<br /><br />Here's the YouTube of Germany and England's finest encounter:<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0V3SqxUomwk&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0V3SqxUomwk&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">UPDATE</span>: AngloAustrian prediction. It will go to penalties. Slight concern this end that although England are finally practicing penalties at the end of every training session, that they are<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup-2010/teams/england/7852701/England-v-Germany-Jermain-Defoe-says-he-is-confident-of-winning-if-it-goes-to-penalties.html"> not doing the full walk from the halfway line</a>. If <span style="font-style:italic;">Maturin Towers</span> were coaching England, then we would do this to enable full motor memory skills to come into play during the actual game. The more you do something 'for real', and the more real you make the practice experience, then the less nerve-racking will be the real thing, when it finally happens, as the body falls into a pre-programmed neuronal motor pattern, as determined by neural linguistic programming. Oh well. What the <span style="font-style:italic;">heck</span> do we know? Not that I'm nervous, or anything.Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-57044925145029710172010-06-25T08:32:00.000+01:002010-06-25T08:32:38.370+01:00Are those green shoots wilting, Ben?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstR2T2hPn5gJ-OE-BT7fXpYnbPN5Xx23dev4EYRyynenicyzdkUh9ZGvLzeZzpsSSkUUSyCd4PQvE4IwoC9A374hNuPxKI5fQOr3SNoq4ohCrrNO8XoZRdFk4XyH5i2o9fRC7/s1600/Ben_Caption.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjstR2T2hPn5gJ-OE-BT7fXpYnbPN5Xx23dev4EYRyynenicyzdkUh9ZGvLzeZzpsSSkUUSyCd4PQvE4IwoC9A374hNuPxKI5fQOr3SNoq4ohCrrNO8XoZRdFk4XyH5i2o9fRC7/s400/Ben_Caption.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Ben Barnacle's money-printing game is beginning to go all a bit wobbly:<br />
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=> <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/7852945/Ben-Bernanke-needs-fresh-monetary-blitz-as-US-recovery-falters.html">Ben Bernanke needs fresh monetary blitz as US recovery falters</a><br />
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Oh dear. How sad. Never mind.<br />
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<object height="275" width="400"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eZA0qNsf4m0&hl=en_GB&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eZA0qNsf4m0&hl=en_GB&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="275"></embed></object>Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-2940744465513788792010-06-25T08:14:00.003+01:002010-06-25T08:20:31.042+01:00Barack Obama is refusing to listen to reason on economic policy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp_ga72GMbSLiWms8jVrro4yp1hPsmTznCvWgBh81qD5MjuV-LAJ7d5eEXWPiW8c2zhFRuJ2jbc0BOUODTihyFNX3KuJD9IOCqb0OBC6kgKsYc4nYxEq0kg_-Byp-Iq_NuA6Ja/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-25+at+08.18.23.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 295px; height: 398px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp_ga72GMbSLiWms8jVrro4yp1hPsmTznCvWgBh81qD5MjuV-LAJ7d5eEXWPiW8c2zhFRuJ2jbc0BOUODTihyFNX3KuJD9IOCqb0OBC6kgKsYc4nYxEq0kg_-Byp-Iq_NuA6Ja/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-25+at+08.18.23.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486607420657572130" /></a><center><span style="font-style:italic;">See no evil, hear no evil</span></center><br />I rarely cover Jeremy Warner of <i>The CoalitionGraph</i>, because usually he is too statist for my tastes; however, today he <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/7852801/Barack-Obama-is-refusing-to-listen-to-reason-on-economic-policy.html">writes</a> a considered piece about the growing monetary divergences between Europe and America.<br /><br />He has some fine words for Paul Krugman, too:<br /><blockquote><i>As it happens, nobody is asking America to axe and burn with immediate effect, though you might not think this to read Professor Krugman's ever more hysterical commentaries on the fiscal austerity sweeping Europe. But some sort of a plan for long-term debt reduction, other than blind reliance on growth, might be helpful.</i></blockquote>Is the tide changing on Keynesianism? It's certainly coming in less quickly if it hasn't quite turned yet.<br /><br />There is hope, after all.Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-71330772967734713472010-06-24T19:21:00.003+01:002010-06-24T19:22:54.248+01:00The Myth of Political Consent<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlw9BSbf_44-a7KyKOFFJNpPlLsrLeDeE5bae-5DhqLV2CUh_rg1Ztc_s8WLfqvLAI-iMMg-vzKvQe7NcifMNNjvnK5eY9fA4ThdaItQmfJ1BO7wKqWhaBxVLMC8AL_yJ3fjZF/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-24+at+19.22.01.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 355px; height: 382px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlw9BSbf_44-a7KyKOFFJNpPlLsrLeDeE5bae-5DhqLV2CUh_rg1Ztc_s8WLfqvLAI-iMMg-vzKvQe7NcifMNNjvnK5eY9fA4ThdaItQmfJ1BO7wKqWhaBxVLMC8AL_yJ3fjZF/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-24+at+19.22.01.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486407365899815570" /></a><br />Excellent <a href="http://www.lewrockwell.com/ostrowski/ostrowski98.1.html">article</a>, by James Ostrowski.Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-20015472740494440792010-06-24T19:14:00.000+01:002010-06-24T19:14:46.586+01:00Bernanke: "I Don't Understand the Gold Price"Ben Bernanke is either stupid or he is lying.<br />
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He may think <i>we're</i> idiots, which makes <i>him</i> an idiot, but I don't think he's stupid.<br />
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So he's almost certainly just lying.<br />
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<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ta5HkhucMw4&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ta5HkhucMw4&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-8586410917185010812010-06-24T13:52:00.003+01:002010-06-24T13:57:48.115+01:00Keynesian policies have brought Britain to the brink of ruin<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEqMgygU0gKHbIiNdB5Vn6lVzu57vPq7L5D7teyxzqzLKSPH129AAbfBvh2F27rde5UsvaeDg87V6dixpTWKIm59VkJoI1kzy4TmTWkhi4xBHGSW5-tof6uDp-Y4CpYDpcrIPu/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-24+at+13.56.45.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 314px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEqMgygU0gKHbIiNdB5Vn6lVzu57vPq7L5D7teyxzqzLKSPH129AAbfBvh2F27rde5UsvaeDg87V6dixpTWKIm59VkJoI1kzy4TmTWkhi4xBHGSW5-tof6uDp-Y4CpYDpcrIPu/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-24+at+13.56.45.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486323513691506914" /></a><br />Professor Kevin Dowd <a href="http://blog.iea.org.uk/?p=3188">maps out</a> the hole that Gordon Brown and the other Keynesians have put us in:<blockquote><i>In 1930, Maynard Keynes wrote a splendid essay (”Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren“) in which he looked forward 100 years hence. His musings did not age well: he anticipated that by then the economic problem – endless toil – would be resolved and we would be working 3 hour days to keep our hand in as it were, and he worried about the effects of so much leisure time and boredom on our mental health. This was the same genius who told us the government should spend its way out of recession and that in the long run we were all dead anyway.</i></blockquote>Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-83152513440610213032010-06-24T07:45:00.003+01:002010-06-24T09:25:16.970+01:00How Libertarians Should Live in a State-Run World<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh2hjjCE7PLKMXFAATyBWRKGzrHQkS_TeveYTcZkI17e9KLK28mTosTmgJMCUQQQ3VbJyQW5ZNqFC0xYqvshZVu3izYQgqzk9emUHi1yv6cusgFn4guVNQBFflsZid1iRY6xyy/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-24+at+08.55.47.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh2hjjCE7PLKMXFAATyBWRKGzrHQkS_TeveYTcZkI17e9KLK28mTosTmgJMCUQQQ3VbJyQW5ZNqFC0xYqvshZVu3izYQgqzk9emUHi1yv6cusgFn4guVNQBFflsZid1iRY6xyy/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-24+at+08.55.47.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486246107684375410" /></a><center><span style="font-style:italic;">The arms of the soccer club AC Milan, which contains the arms of the City of Milan on the right, which are based upon the "Vexillum Ecclesiae" of Pope Alexander II (1061 to 1073), the bloody cross of Christ, which William the Conqueror used as a consecrated banner to justify his rape and pillage of England</span></center><br />Thank goodness for Uncle Murray, for <a href="http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard232.html">helping us to understand</a> how to remain sane in a world of statist madness.<br /><br />Just to add to his thoughts, some of us occasionally encounter the argument from statists that the state 'owns' the country we live in, and that if we don't like the state's rules, then we have three choices; (1) Leave - though this is often either difficult or impossible and there's nowhere left in the world anyway, which isn't in the clutches of some state, or which one state or another won't rule out from invading at its own will, so that even your own ship in international waters can be invaded by a state in hostile violent mode with the statist press defending them for their heroic actions; (2) Stop complaining, and buckle under; (3) Commit suicide.<br /><br />Well, I feel that the state 'owns' its own territory in the same way that a Mafia mob 'owns' its bit of turf in Manhattan. Yes, some of these mafias have 'ruled' their bit of turf for a long time, but that doesn't make it any better or any more morally legitimate when they 'ask' you for protection taxes. In fact, so weak is their position on their original 'ownership' of a territory, that states usually turn to some deity or other to justify their possession of a controlled territory in which they run a monopoly on forced payments in return for monopoly 'protection' provision.<br /><br />A case in point is the British government. Duke William of Normandy got the distant Pope of the day to give him 'permission' (presumably on behalf of the Christian God) to invade England. Even today the flag of England, the bloody cross of Christ, is that same <a href="http://exlaodicea.wordpress.com/2008/01/17/st-georges-cross-a-theory/">papal emblem</a>, the <i>Vexillum Ecclesiae</i>, which William carried into battle with him at Hastings after it was sent to him by Pope Alexander II.<br /><br />It does seem rather ironic, of course, that the same flag that millions of Englishmen are draping themselves in as they watch the World Cup, is the same flag that was used to wrap them in chains; it must be some kind of Stockholm syndrome writ large. But I digress.<br /><br />Having decapitated the previous regime, William then took over England, slaughtering, taxing, and regulating, as he went, handing over massive parcels of stolen land to his lieutenants, keeping the best lands for himself. Oh, and while he was at it, he got his state-appointed judges to declare that he did in fact own all the land he could see (and much land that he couldn't see), and that all of these grants of land to the Dukes of Northumberland, Montgomery, Norfolk, et al, could all be revoked at the King's pleasure.<br /><br />To this day, the Queen of England still 'owns' every square inch of land in England, by right of conquest emanating directly from William. It is at her <i>blessing</i> that the 'freehold' you may possess underlying your English castle is not revoked back to her, at her discretion. Hence, the British government can legally (under the British state's common law ruled upon by British state judges who work for and who swear allegiance to the crown) put a motorway through your back garden, should they so choose to do so, at any time, and if you die without any heirs, then 'your' land goes <i>back</i> to the crown.<br /><br />But William was a murdering raping bandit. And although it has admittedly been a long time since his band of robbers decided to swing by England and settle down, cataloguing the people as tax cattle in the Doomsday Book, this time effect does not make the English crown's 'ownership' of England any more legitimate. Just as the Romans were not the legitimate 'owners' of Britain by conquest when they raped this land, or just as the EU - the modern descendant of the Roman Empire - is not now the current legitimate 'owner' of Britain, because the crown's ministers signed us over to them in the Lisbon treaty; we weren't theirs to give away in the first place, as they are basing this right to hand us over on the right of conquest a thousand years ago, which was a criminal act.<br /><br />In the same way, the US government does not 'own' the Moon, just because they planted a few flags there, paid for with stolen money, and does not own virtually the entire western half of continental America because Jefferson used stolen money to buy a piece of paper from a corrupt French government, in the Louisiana purchase, covering millions of acres of land no <i>Frenchman</i> had ever seen, let alone any King called Louis.<br /><br />Forget John Locke and mixing your labour with previously unowned land. Buying everything from a bankrupt French King, from the Mississippi to the Pacific, without any European having seen much of it, with money stolen from the American people, is a neat trick if you can get away with it; I wonder how the native American peoples who occupied the land at the time thought about this? Let's face it; they probably didn't even know about this piece of paper going from one white man to another for fifty years, until some more white men turned up in their village with guns to shoot them up, one day, while waving this grubby piece of paper as justification for the slaughter.<br /><br />But just supposing for a second that we accept that the British state does 'own' Britain. Does that mean we must knuckle under and obey, tug our forelocks, and pay our taxes? Of course it doesn't.<br /><br />If you are in a prison for a crime you didn't commit, or even if you have just been captured as an enemy combatant by some repulsive state or other, or even if you have been locked up just for disagreeing with the powers-that-be, then as far as I am concerned you are at perfect liberty to try to escape or to make the life of the guards as much hell as possible, or to burn down the prison camp to replace it with a better place, just as you would be if you were born in the Soviet Gulag, the biggest prison camp of all time.<br /><br />The prisons the state has built to house us as tax cattle may be 'owned' by them. But the land they built these prisons on was stolen and the money they used to purchase the bricks and cement of the prison, and to pay the guards with, was stolen; often from us!<br /><br />Everything the state builds and owns was done through either theft or violence, or both. Therefore, it can never be 'legitimate' if you believe in a system of morals in which theft and initiated violence are repulsive. Thou shalt not steal is at the bedrock of every form of law in the world; it doesn't become okay just because you call yourself a <i>state</i> rather than a <i>gang</i>.<br /><br />The state is nothing but an immoral band of robbers writ large. And it should be treated as such.Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-60988624001694474772010-06-24T02:16:00.003+01:002010-06-24T02:19:34.876+01:00Is the world's supply of oil virtually inexhaustible?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjYPmnsSuUxvGuhYIDBSwN0XWARRbQmrLfUwRtbH7_CqCJqIjPgjcIOToleLh0RYPhA1BEsxBxrrHQLi06PVGBHFlSBc-fB7UOUySwYLO1t5bCGjwmqe1s_3eNe1b7_ZrAtMaR/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-24+at+02.17.35.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjYPmnsSuUxvGuhYIDBSwN0XWARRbQmrLfUwRtbH7_CqCJqIjPgjcIOToleLh0RYPhA1BEsxBxrrHQLi06PVGBHFlSBc-fB7UOUySwYLO1t5bCGjwmqe1s_3eNe1b7_ZrAtMaR/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-24+at+02.17.35.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486143413083744498" /></a><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gold#Origins_of_petroleum">Crazy stuff</a> from an Austrian physicist named Gold.<br /><br />Or <i>is it</i> crazy?<br /><br />I hope no-one tells the Mogambo Guru. His oil futures may be worth less than he thought.Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-61745095459236676192010-06-24T01:48:00.004+01:002010-06-24T02:00:54.989+01:00England Slay the Mighty Slovenia<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8aIuIC6JzHHfQJD9x4T3-DL4ZDOG0u4wIHxSd6rNeo5XBmxvPLK0UkJfqnzdDlghFcx9D5WF_Nu0oWSdNRG1OAwThCN1z2Afff8ZRkP7SE7Ymu59l7ScyyGOgJtUsF8_41PTr/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-24+at+01.51.25.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 315px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8aIuIC6JzHHfQJD9x4T3-DL4ZDOG0u4wIHxSd6rNeo5XBmxvPLK0UkJfqnzdDlghFcx9D5WF_Nu0oWSdNRG1OAwThCN1z2Afff8ZRkP7SE7Ymu59l7ScyyGOgJtUsF8_41PTr/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-24+at+01.51.25.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486136564305475538" /></a><br />Yes, once more into the breach, the David of England slayed the mighty Goliath of Slovenia by one incredible stone's-throw goal to nil.<br /><br />I am now going to bet my house, my shirt, and my farm, on England beating Germany, Brazil, Spain, and Argentina, in that order, to win the World Cup!<br /><br />I believe.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Where is Slovenia, BTW?</span>Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-80030654759852902532010-06-24T01:46:00.002+01:002010-06-24T01:48:31.569+01:00Gold bubble? What Gold Bubble?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAO4Y-v57qxpEb-xXrp4gO4TXBOBi944vT0E_E8S4zhN5kJuNt5TtLl1bFw44WS54bwH_8j98ZdT93-_L-Vxx9Z0tGiVn8fKWk_y9rjNksYTzf6eAR2k-v55uZ1lf5h4NBtecp/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-24+at+01.45.09.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 286px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAO4Y-v57qxpEb-xXrp4gO4TXBOBi944vT0E_E8S4zhN5kJuNt5TtLl1bFw44WS54bwH_8j98ZdT93-_L-Vxx9Z0tGiVn8fKWk_y9rjNksYTzf6eAR2k-v55uZ1lf5h4NBtecp/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-24+at+01.45.09.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486135496710081378" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Casey Research</span> think talk of a gold bubble is <a href="http://www.caseyresearch.com/displayCdd.php?id=464">years too early (scroll down a bit)</a>.Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-5759297966569171682010-06-23T10:18:00.003+01:002010-06-23T10:24:12.975+01:00AngloAustrian Advice: Stay away from America<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfEUolGJ6MbCe8C0TddB7WC8ESJL_oDt14_XeDEP6SnXGYcxw6bJgfaKKdkhsUvKqQk13wE8nvKObt-nkOQm7GgAjeXcag2WidmlH5GyyAQcj2uMwVofDmlVJbJlPlaNHLQ4u/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-23+at+10.21.19.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 294px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfEUolGJ6MbCe8C0TddB7WC8ESJL_oDt14_XeDEP6SnXGYcxw6bJgfaKKdkhsUvKqQk13wE8nvKObt-nkOQm7GgAjeXcag2WidmlH5GyyAQcj2uMwVofDmlVJbJlPlaNHLQ4u/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-23+at+10.21.19.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485897110534609442" /></a><br />The US police state grows <a href="http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w153.html">more dangerous</a> each passing day. If you don't <span style="font-style:italic;">need</span> to go, stay away.Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com131tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-69844574206787204782010-06-23T08:55:00.003+01:002010-06-23T09:02:03.845+01:00Beware of Mr. Wolf<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjELnvXAAwWWUMButJE2GaPYAxvSEuOC_w2McSWhxtkh36fFtWe1RodfNCx5wrPgirSbPkh-M4wsS0Uo4PkboFwqSf8iIC9GUu9ZscZsRLXhM1u1fYZI8R0sGoXN_-2IPOCWAED/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-23+at+08.57.18.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 371px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjELnvXAAwWWUMButJE2GaPYAxvSEuOC_w2McSWhxtkh36fFtWe1RodfNCx5wrPgirSbPkh-M4wsS0Uo4PkboFwqSf8iIC9GUu9ZscZsRLXhM1u1fYZI8R0sGoXN_-2IPOCWAED/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-23+at+08.57.18.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485875244751925106" /></a><br />Dear God, it's more densely packed than the matter in a neutrino star, but Sean Corrigan's <a href="http://www.cobdencentre.org/2010/06/wolf/">demolition</a> of the Keynesian position is both intense and wonderful, like a seared bloody Aberdeen Angus steak drenched in hot fresh Puttanesca sauce.<br /><br />Brilliant!Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-81277765081245507812010-06-22T21:56:00.000+01:002010-06-22T21:56:40.472+01:00Peter Schiff: Connecticuters can now vote for himThe Duke takes one step closer to the US senate:<br />
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<object width="540" height="330"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4YxhyNrohes&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4YxhyNrohes&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="540" height="330"></embed></object>Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-31237078250146264332010-06-22T20:17:00.000+01:002010-06-22T20:17:28.221+01:00The Six-Lesson Schoolteacher<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9oE2QzpajlQ3SDOPKPZ5t5BclkshQwltId6GRuTVS6FxtBEE0gMACH5MOJQLj4MnBD_PNUhF54DwpSfHXJCJVigbyHcj_W-MtaAVW4m2mQ9H1Y5LZqaYin7ouazhIMlg03kuH/s1600/last_day_at_school.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9oE2QzpajlQ3SDOPKPZ5t5BclkshQwltId6GRuTVS6FxtBEE0gMACH5MOJQLj4MnBD_PNUhF54DwpSfHXJCJVigbyHcj_W-MtaAVW4m2mQ9H1Y5LZqaYin7ouazhIMlg03kuH/s400/last_day_at_school.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407194819814280802" /></a>John Gatto delivers another seminal lesson on <a href="http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/gatto2.1.1.html">what state schools are for</a>.<br />
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Brilliant.Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-33073421506223038952010-06-22T19:57:00.000+01:002010-06-22T19:57:29.036+01:00Vuvuzelen sind verbotenAdolf gets himself in a sauerkraut pickle over the nine-year-old South African cultural implement:<br />
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You don't get this kind of service on LewRockwell.com! :-)Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-85519284560251520472010-06-22T08:26:00.000+01:002010-06-22T08:26:01.169+01:00Gold reclaims its currency status as the global system unravels<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjin1d3-dx5Qq_RwIR1nZV9YdH2UyFttkRf7bwDvUy49IN1MzZeW9cAgWbxBjzo5QFNK7G9xKPQnCvK5v5muUcHeoT8GaNC2AyiIPp1Q9Lqnw99BDJmW_FV3FpYIuZR9ZDb2NiJ/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-04-06+at+14.25.52.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjin1d3-dx5Qq_RwIR1nZV9YdH2UyFttkRf7bwDvUy49IN1MzZeW9cAgWbxBjzo5QFNK7G9xKPQnCvK5v5muUcHeoT8GaNC2AyiIPp1Q9Lqnw99BDJmW_FV3FpYIuZR9ZDb2NiJ/s320/Screen+shot+2010-04-06+at+14.25.52.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457015291410387106" /></a>Ambrose finally spots the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/7841961/Gold-reclaims-its-currency-status-as-the-global-system-unravels.html">Austrian elephant in the room</a>.<br />
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Look out for the interesting comments at the bottom, BTW.<br />
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I haven't left one myself; I was simply too busy <i>laughing</i>! :-)Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-38346813908956359742010-06-21T22:20:00.004+01:002010-06-21T22:29:10.564+01:00Stand by your wallets<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjze-aBruFtsdS7eUk4c_qZpY0PD4qAMKgqKO8kXXjFZjoUkLYxqHxMLeC71QgE5fUMnylkMeN-BkDtzBLQVTOSrYZucRyw3YkCR7_Xc1S1H2WZycwHY4GQwm_nS_XA1GcpaFoa/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-21+at+22.24.23.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 396px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjze-aBruFtsdS7eUk4c_qZpY0PD4qAMKgqKO8kXXjFZjoUkLYxqHxMLeC71QgE5fUMnylkMeN-BkDtzBLQVTOSrYZucRyw3YkCR7_Xc1S1H2WZycwHY4GQwm_nS_XA1GcpaFoa/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-21+at+22.24.23.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485341177891729746" /></a><center><span style="font-style:italic;">The British government in action</span></center><br />Tomorrow morning, that economic klutz George Osborne is going to attempt to empty your wallet to make you pay for the British government's mistakes, to ensure that British government staff don't have to suffer for these mistakes and to make sure that you bear the cost of all of this jobbery.<br /><br />Osborne's plan won't work, of course, and they'll still end up printing their way out of this, rather than daring to take a real axe to all of that spending above their means.<br /><br />So when the recession comes back again, for Part II, after its rest while the Keynesian stimulus was tried, we'll really know how George's desperate plan has done.<br /><br />It <span style="font-style:italic;">ain't</span> gonna be pretty.<br /><br />Make sure you get a good accountant. Avoid as much of this theft as you can. Spend what you can save on physical gold and store it in such a way that the British government cannot steal it from you when they get really desperate in a few years' time.Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-17203282733098960482010-06-21T21:57:00.002+01:002010-06-21T22:01:23.157+01:00Uncle Gary's 101 on Keynesianism<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkFKNQvXws1WTcfaxblmaPhnl8h4-ROnER9MHvLyPdyor4NJQrYIYIr2MSbnH3go9rr60NRbNfQrP_2t4plWEtN-Q-PC8GVQYaUI6gmpAhSXGUnGYgCmAmtO_pcECVvzZcoDYM/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-21+at+21.59.42.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 257px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkFKNQvXws1WTcfaxblmaPhnl8h4-ROnER9MHvLyPdyor4NJQrYIYIr2MSbnH3go9rr60NRbNfQrP_2t4plWEtN-Q-PC8GVQYaUI6gmpAhSXGUnGYgCmAmtO_pcECVvzZcoDYM/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-21+at+21.59.42.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485334852047760482" /></a><br />Crikey.<br /><br />That Uncle Gary's a card, and no mistake.<br /><br />Just check out this 101 on why the US economy is in such a mess.<br /><br />Try seeing if you can get through the whole thing without taking more than one breath:<br /><br />=> <a href="http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north856.html">101 Thoughts on America's Economy</a>Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-72460703175483799552010-06-21T15:35:00.001+01:002010-06-21T16:05:05.837+01:00'How to save the NHS £12bn in one year without stopping a single operation'<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3hSr6ze0M47ekLaTL-ZipI1XLr917mFiDAUMi97C9loNJ8bRx5y-Ka9Z5liVLFaLKQO4SFP6aKyWVuGrShyphenhyphenyb2FGYhavcujbKO9SHFpXmqQGnb9Lo3MFTS6150hV858n5-n4W/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-21+at+10.46.07.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px; height: 265px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3hSr6ze0M47ekLaTL-ZipI1XLr917mFiDAUMi97C9loNJ8bRx5y-Ka9Z5liVLFaLKQO4SFP6aKyWVuGrShyphenhyphenyb2FGYhavcujbKO9SHFpXmqQGnb9Lo3MFTS6150hV858n5-n4W/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-21+at+10.46.07.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485161199375718370" /></a><br />The blue-rinse socialists at <i>ConservativeHome</i> have a <span style="font-weight:bold;">central plan</span> to improve the <span style="font-weight:bold;">governmental efficiency</span> of the NHS.<br /><br />Yes folks, <a href="http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thinktankcentral/2010/06/how-to-save-the-nhs-12bn-in-one-year-without-stopping-a-single-operation.html">they really don't get it at all</a>.<br /><br />Here's my pointless response which no-one will read, and even if they do, completely ignore, but it does make me feel better to know that at least they have seen a glimpse of the truth, even if they are incapable of understanding it:<blockquote><b>Jack Maturin said...</b><br /><br />I hate to sound too radical, ConservativeHome, but none of the measures you have outlined will work. The tens of thousands of overpaid bureaucrats who would administer any such cuts are far too well buried and camouflaged to be outed by such measures, and they are the ones who make the decisions anyway.<br /><br />If the central government tries to cut down these useless people, these rent-seekers will sack doctors, nurses, and ambulance drivers instead, to cover their own tracks and to deliberately create a crisis, in which they will keep their bloated pensions and salaries, and all the palaces that they work in (often located in leafy grounds well away from the dreadful hospitals they use as excuses to rape the taxpayer).<br /><br />The central state cannot do anything about these people. It appointed them and it pays them to make the decisions on the ground. These people will always choose themselves first, seeing as they are human beings (though largely immoral ones).<br /><br />Central planning, can never work. It has never worked. And it will never work, even if the central plan is to cut spending. The Men from the Ministry only ever ending up cutting what is useful and keeping what is useless.<br /><br />There is only one answer. And until it is tried, we will never be rid of 'Save Our Hospital' campaigns, and the like, and a wasteful inefficient system which prefers people dying within its bowels to cut down on bed usage, with 'death committees' (e.g. NICE) deciding who lives and who dies on the basis of political influence.<br /><br />What is this radical answer? I don't know whether I dare whisper its horrific name.<br /><br />Privatise the whole shooting match.<br /><br />It's heady stuff, I know, but can you imagine (even for a second) a 'Save Our Hospital' campaign, if the whole thing was privatised? Do we have 'Save Our Supermarket' campaigns in the much more private food-provision market? Can you just imagine how terrible a 'National Food Service' would be, if the government put the same level of central control into food provision as it does into health service provision? We would first starve and then there would be a revolution.<br /><br />Why do we put up with this miserable government control in the health system then? Because you do not die within weeks if the government controls the health system, as you would if they controlled the food system, that's why. And so we don't notice just how bad they are at managing it. Instead, we die years earlier than we should, usually in miserable conditions.<br /><br />And I don't mean American-style privatisation either, which is massive government control and spending fronted by privileged 'private' front organisations, and run by a union, the American Medical Association, to keep doctors rich and patients poor.<br /><br />I mean full-blown complete removal of government interference in the health market completely. Everything government touches it turns to dust. The more government involvement you have, the worse things get. The less government involvement you have, the better things get.<br /><br />You chaps may have heard of this radical solution before.<br /><br />It's called the 'free market'.<br /><br />Or are you blue-rinse socialists still too afraid to dare say its name?<br /><br />The system wasn't even broken before the Labour party created the NHS monster, based upon the soviet system. There was a slight shortage in arthritis treatment services, and that was it.<br /><br />The entire nationalisation was a political scam to try to socialise the people into politically correct thinking. They wanted to make it literally unthinkable, in the Orwellian sense, for people to dare to remove their socialist controls.<br /><br />It would appear that this scam worked.</blockquote><i>UPDATE</i>: Oh dear, I have upset the controllers of the memory hole. My comment has been deleted by the bed-wetting blue-rinse socialists of <i>ConservativeHome</i>. What a miserable bunch of feeble and pathetic cowards. No doubt there'll be some technical reason for this. It will have nothing to do with daring to mention the taboo phrase of 'the free market' in relation to the NHS. <br /><br />No wonder I left the Tory party.<br /><br /><i>HT to Archie Dean</i><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">UPDATEII</span>: After Archie D. pointed out that my initial comment had been deleted, I left the following hilarious rejoinder which I fully expected to be deleted too.<blockquote><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jack Maturin said...</span><br />Oh dear, Blue Beep, it appears you don't like it up you. What a terrible shame.<br /><br />I was right then. You really are a bunch of bed-wetting blue-rinse socialists.</blockquote>Remarkably enough, it wasn't deleted! Instead, my original comment popped back up again. Crazy.<br /><br />Even better than that, some nitwit called Allan had decided to tear a strip off me by accusing me of believing in the free market. <br /><br />Well, <span style="font-style:italic;">duh</span>?! :-)<br /><br />I won't bother boring you with his witless pathetic reply. Here's my rejoinder, instead:<blockquote><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jack Maturin said in reply to Allan...</span><br /><br />So Allan, you believe that the market fails and must be bolstered by socialised government interventions. In the old days, this would have meant that you were a SOCIALIST. I suppose nowadays it means that you're a 'radical conservative'.<br /><br />Why are such radical conservatives so terrified of the free market?<br /><br />Why does the free market have to be defended from attacks by these radical conservatives?<br /><br />I'm not even going to try, as it's pointless. You either believe in the free market or you do not. You either believe that the free market can deliver ALL services better than socialised government or you do not. No amount of argument ever made a single socialist give up socialism, with extremely rare exceptions such as Hayek.<br /><br />But Allan, please do not think that you are NOT a socialist. Everyone who 'believes' in the NHS is a socialist. Just as everyone who 'believes' in the BBC is a socialist. And everyone who believes in subsidies for farmers is a socialist.<br /><br />Your pet groups as to who gets subsidies forced out of others may differ from those of the Labour party or the Liberal party, but it's a question of degree, not of substance. If you want socialised systems of service provision then you are a socialist.<br /><br />That's what the word means. Look it up in a dictionary:<br /><br />so·cial·ist (ssh-lst)<br />n.<br />1. An advocate of socialism.<br /><br />so·cial·ism (ssh-lzm)<br />n.<br />1. Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.<br /><br />Now please define the NHS in a way which isn't trapped by that definition above? I would be fascinated to see how you do it.<br /><br />Please enjoy the rest of your socialist life.</blockquote>That should raise his blood pressure a bit. If he goes down the NHS, I suppose they'll treat it for him with a life-long treatment of expensive Big Pharma drugs.Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-28406885272096089492010-06-21T07:25:00.001+01:002010-06-21T07:31:57.534+01:00Peter Schiff RoundupThe Duke is worried about the signs for business in the US of 'political risk', and how Barry Ocuda may use the BP situation to ram through more communism:<br /><br /><object width="540" height="330"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/y5BU62HYwcM&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/y5BU62HYwcM&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="540" height="330"></embed></object><br /><br />The Duke then discusses a new article by Ally Greenfin and the appreciation of the Sinopian's currrency:<br /><br /><object width="540" height="330"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EGfE2cLodWo&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EGfE2cLodWo&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="540" height="330"></embed></object>Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-79315204707363788762010-06-21T06:51:00.000+01:002010-06-21T06:51:42.098+01:00Labour's legacy is a choice between unpleasant cuts in public spending, a sovereign debt crisis or currency debasement<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsNNa9NfaEJdqGLNZYdLDkN-YXiVyCswff-cydJg8NooIhaK0p9mEiLvuHCFl7urm45_p4vashKb0wfa_XVZJhEhSgB7sI1i7GGBESZCxRJgzPP0Fs75b4vpoLQlOoDQQjhmf5/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-11+at+09.01.34.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 266px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsNNa9NfaEJdqGLNZYdLDkN-YXiVyCswff-cydJg8NooIhaK0p9mEiLvuHCFl7urm45_p4vashKb0wfa_XVZJhEhSgB7sI1i7GGBESZCxRJgzPP0Fs75b4vpoLQlOoDQQjhmf5/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-11+at+09.01.34.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481423515078843474" /></a>Steve Baker, the Misesian MP for Wycombe, <a href="http://conservativehome.blogs.com/centreright/2010/06/labours-legacy-is-a-choice-between-unpleasant-cuts-in-public-spending-a-sovereign-debt-crisis-or-cur.html">writes</a> the finest exposition on real (i.e. Austrian) economics, that I have ever read.<br />
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And yes, I'm including Rothbard and Hoppe in that.<br />
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It would seem that Ursula really does appear to have found our very own English Dr. No:<i><blockquote>"The Government does not have an inexhaustible horn of plenty. Government has nothing to give without first taking. Government funds itself by taking today, by borrowing against a promise to take a greater sum tomorrow and by debasing the currency. We have reached the limits of all three."</blockquote></i>Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19769829.post-84780194149858480482010-06-20T10:56:00.003+01:002010-06-20T11:15:34.835+01:00We're all Prussian Now - Why Schools Really Exist<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9oE2QzpajlQ3SDOPKPZ5t5BclkshQwltId6GRuTVS6FxtBEE0gMACH5MOJQLj4MnBD_PNUhF54DwpSfHXJCJVigbyHcj_W-MtaAVW4m2mQ9H1Y5LZqaYin7ouazhIMlg03kuH/s1600/last_day_at_school.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9oE2QzpajlQ3SDOPKPZ5t5BclkshQwltId6GRuTVS6FxtBEE0gMACH5MOJQLj4MnBD_PNUhF54DwpSfHXJCJVigbyHcj_W-MtaAVW4m2mQ9H1Y5LZqaYin7ouazhIMlg03kuH/s400/last_day_at_school.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407194819814280802" /></a>We have <a href="http://angloaustria.blogspot.com/2009/11/why-state-schools-are-like-prisons.html">likened schools to Nazi prisons before</a>, here on AngloAustria, but nobody <a href="http://www.spinninglobe.net/againstschool.htm">puts this argument better</a> than <span style="font-weight:bold;">John Gatto</span>, the former high school teacher from New York state. Here are his six reasons why schools, particularly state schools, exist, and no peeps, it's not to educate people. In fact, it's the very opposite:<blockquote>1) <span style="font-style:italic;">The adjustive or adaptive function</span>. Schools are to establish fixed habits of reaction to authority. This, of course, precludes critical judgment completely. It also pretty much destroys the idea that useful or interesting material should be taught, because you can't test for reflexive obedience until you know whether you can make kids learn, and do, foolish and boring things.<br /> <br />2) <span style="font-style:italic;">The integrating function</span>. This might well be called "the conformity function," because its intention is to make children as alike as possible. People who conform are predictable, and this is of great use to those who wish to harness and manipulate a large labor force.<br /> <br />3) <span style="font-style:italic;">The diagnostic and directive function</span>. School is meant to determine each student's proper social role. This is done by logging evidence mathematically and anecdotally on cumulative records. As in "your permanent record." Yes, you do have one.<br /> <br />4) <span style="font-style:italic;">The differentiating function</span>. Once their social role has been "diagnosed," children are to be sorted by role and trained only so far as their destination in the social machine merits - and not one step further. So much for making kids their personal best.<br /><br />5)<span style="font-style:italic;"> The selective function</span>. This refers not to human choice at all but to Darwin's theory of natural selection as applied to what he called "the favored races." In short, the idea is to help things along by consciously attempting to improve the breeding stock. Schools are meant to tag the unfit - with poor grades, remedial placement, and other punishments - clearly enough that their peers will accept them as inferior and effectively bar them from the reproductive sweepstakes. That's what all those little humiliations from first grade onward were intended to do: wash the dirt down the drain.<br /><br />6) <span style="font-style:italic;">The propaedeutic function</span>. The societal system implied by these rules will require an elite group of caretakers. To that end, a small fraction of the kids will quietly be taught how to manage this continuing project, how to watch over and control a population deliberately dumbed down and declawed in order that government might proceed unchallenged and corporations might never want for obedient labor.</blockquote>As Murray Rothbard reveals in his brilliant <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceived_in_Liberty">Conceived in Liberty</a>, the state school system in the United States sprang directly from the theocracy of Massachusetts and its need to make children obey the theocrats. The rigid Christian theocrats in Massachusetts copied this school system directly from Prussia, where it was used to make children obey the Prussian state, the same state which eventually became the Third Reich national socialist state.<br /><br />So now you know why Massachusetts 'liberals' are so like Nazis.<br /><br />Subsequently, we in Britain copied the 'progressive' American schools system. So now you also know why Gordon Brown used to like visiting Massachusetts for his 'political inspirations' before he became Chancellor and really screwed this country over. (And no, it was nothing to do <span style="font-style:italic;">at all</span> with visiting <a href="http://gaytravel.about.com/od/gaymassachusetts/p/Cape_Cod.htm">Provincetown</a>, and its famous gay colony on the seminal tip of the phallic Cape Cod. Because Gordon Brown isn't gay. Oh no. He's a happily married man.)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlqdymvK3GlgT7V9_XMts0L8J28Z19GkVBqKdim0DovK3Pv39R8ujC4RowKJC0Aqu6fa0jejf4VFNpRuhckjlxn611z1UV_qDFJ-3l-qeQlYIUxV0kfviSpeerX1MVlKjd-TVS/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-06-20+at+11.12.36.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 283px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlqdymvK3GlgT7V9_XMts0L8J28Z19GkVBqKdim0DovK3Pv39R8ujC4RowKJC0Aqu6fa0jejf4VFNpRuhckjlxn611z1UV_qDFJ-3l-qeQlYIUxV0kfviSpeerX1MVlKjd-TVS/s400/Screen+shot+2010-06-20+at+11.12.36.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484796933550458354" /></a>Jack Maturinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00903651577858853608noreply@blogger.com5