Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science.
The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.
These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.
Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete.
Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 – 6 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.
In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.
This characteristic of morons promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.
When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.
We asked the scientists involved whether it was dangerous:
"It causes a cancer," said one expert, with a beard, "but of a special kind. Instead of causing plain simple bodily cancer, like other heavy elements, it acts instead as a cancer throughout the whole of society, feeding upon free radicals and chewing them up through university professorship salaries to become further morons within the Governmentium mass."
"It is incredibly dangerous," said another scientist with a beard, "because once you are afflicted with it, you think it's a good thing and try to spread even more of it around to deflect the blame. Both of us have had to grow beards to try to offset its effects, but even we are feeling tempted to recommend that Governmentium be compulsorily administered to all children, from the ages of 3 through to 21, and then again in all hospitals, for every kind of treatment. Keep clear."
So there you have it folks, the new heaviest element of all time, Governmentium. I suppose we'll discover a use for it one day, but in the meantime, as the men with beards say, stay well clear.
With thanks to the Objective Analyzer
Friday, November 13, 2009
Yet more layers of bureaucracy planned to protect the 'Too Big to Fail's
Peter Schiff lays into the US Senate:
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The US creates its own NHS
It just seems bizarre to me.
The NHS in Britain is a rotten over-manned, over-paid, over-pensioned, filthy, disgusting waste of taxpayers' money, where you have to beg to be lucky enough to be placed on months-long queues for the simplest of treatments.
Doctors are arrogant, impossible to sack, massively compensated, and you're lucky to get more than two minutes with one before they're pushing you out of the door with a Big Pharma script in your hand.
If we had a National Food Service in the UK, the NFS, we all know that we would be queueing all week for filthy rotten potatoes, but still we put up with the same kind of miserable 'service' from the producer-led NHS.
And America wants to have the same system over there.
Oh Dear Lord.
They fight a revolution to get the British government out of their lives, and 250 years later they are copying the worst examples of British government stupidity.
Yes, we all know Obama is an Acorn-Chicago-Machine communist. But for the rest of the US government to push through this horrible health bill, to create an American NHS, is simply incredible.
If I was a Texan, an Alaskan, a Californian, a Hawaiian, or best of all a Vermonter in the "Green Mountain Boys" liberation army, I would be brushing off my legal text books on secession.
Its time has come.
The NHS in Britain is a rotten over-manned, over-paid, over-pensioned, filthy, disgusting waste of taxpayers' money, where you have to beg to be lucky enough to be placed on months-long queues for the simplest of treatments.
Doctors are arrogant, impossible to sack, massively compensated, and you're lucky to get more than two minutes with one before they're pushing you out of the door with a Big Pharma script in your hand.
If we had a National Food Service in the UK, the NFS, we all know that we would be queueing all week for filthy rotten potatoes, but still we put up with the same kind of miserable 'service' from the producer-led NHS.
And America wants to have the same system over there.
Oh Dear Lord.
They fight a revolution to get the British government out of their lives, and 250 years later they are copying the worst examples of British government stupidity.
Yes, we all know Obama is an Acorn-Chicago-Machine communist. But for the rest of the US government to push through this horrible health bill, to create an American NHS, is simply incredible.
If I was a Texan, an Alaskan, a Californian, a Hawaiian, or best of all a Vermonter in the "Green Mountain Boys" liberation army, I would be brushing off my legal text books on secession.
Its time has come.
The cure for Randianism
Surely, there can only be one cure; a single viewing of 'Mozart was a Red', by Murray N. Rothbard:
Better than sex.
Here's the text.
Better than sex.
Here's the text.
The cure for socialism
I was asked a curious question the other evening, about how it is possible for someone to be a hard-core Stalinist socialist one day, and then a hard-core Austrian anarcho-capitalist the next.
Well, it's very rarely an overnight thing. However, there are cases where such people have been instantly transformed simply by reading Human Action, understanding the reasoning behind the Socialism Cannot Calculate argument, and then instantly flipping straight across to full anarcho-capitalism. But this didn't happen for me (alas).
Instead, it was a decade-long road of mistakes, false trails, cul-de-sacs, and finally waking up one day and realising that government is not only unnecessary, it is positively a cancer which should be eradicated.
There's two other things to understand, too. First of all, very few people change their political stripes once they have reached the end of puberty, because of chemicals released by the body during this period which 'freeze' certain parts of the brain. For instance, if you learn a foreign tongue before the age of 12, it is likely you will speak it like a native and have no accent. If you learn a foreign tongue after the age of 18, it is highly likely you will always keep an accent.
But we're not after most people. A twenty-year-old who is a committed socialist is almost certainly a lost cause, and not worth the candle. They may come across of their own accord, but that's entirely down to them. I'm certainly not going to lift a finger to help these cretins, as the energy they soak up is just too high. If they're intelligent enough, they'll eventually work it out for themselves.
What we are after, however, are those uncommitted people who just want to see a better world. We have to rescue them before they are sucked into the socialist maw by constantly deriding and laughing at the stupidities of socialism, and pointing out a better way.
A very very few people can be persuaded to change their spots, but so very few it is not worth spending much time on the matter. (Though those that do change, say, after the age of 25, are often our greatest fighters, in the manner of anti-smoking zealots who used to be heavy smokers.)
The second thing is this, you have to realise that those who do change from one extreme to another, are most likely possessors of highly volatile minds. This is a polite way of admitting that I could in some ways be judged as being 'slightly short of a few bob in loose change', as could many of my fellow 'changelings'.
But it's certainly a factor to be considered.
Obviously, we 'changelings' consider ourselves highly intelligent, creative, passionate, innovative, soulful, and magnificent. However others just call us lunatics. But we can live it, so long as we realise it's a possibility.
(Though as Professor Thomas Szasz would say, 'mental health' may simply be an invention of the state to describe behaviours not wanted by the state.)
However, given that, where does one begin to cure one's self from socialism?
I think the root of this must be George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. Although Orwell himself remained a socialist until his dying day in a curious case of cognitive dissonance, this dystopic vision of the future rings so true as to the final nature of a socialist world, that it drives a fantastic nail into the heart of socialist ideals.
I think the next nail must be Hayek's Road to Serfdom, which describes the process via which 'well-meaning' government always comes to mean men with guns shooting people in the head for daring to disobey.
Next up, is Alexander Dolgun's story, An American in the Gulag, which caused the first major crack in my own Stalinist edifice. Much more compelling than anything Solzhenitsyn ever wrote, Dolgun is unusual in being one of the very few men to come through the dreaded Sukhanovka KGB prison.
Once this book shook my Stalinism, the rot was in, and although it was to be a long road to Austria, the journey had finally begun.
I suppose I must include Atlas Shrugged, which pushed me into all the works of Rand, though I always felt she was missing something, and wondered why she had proven incapable of writing a sequel to Atlas Shrugged, turning instead to non-fiction to avoid having to write about how John Galt could run a successful American state without succumbing himself to the ring of power.
But Rand is, and always will be, a cul-de-sac. She is a statist and a collectivist, and a world entirely peopled by Howard Roark and Dagny Taggart clones, all smoking one very rational brand of cigarette, to provide fires in their mind, would be a very dull and oppressive place indeed, probably even worse than living in a Gulag.
At least in a Gulag, as Alexander Dolgun testifies, there is still some room left for a little freedom and rebellion, if only behind the closed curtains of your own mind. The Randians wouldn't be happy until all rogue mental patterns, daring to deviate from the orthodox line of a long-dead woman, had been entirely eradicated by the comrades.
But Atlas Shrugged helps, as does her much more readable earlier work, Anthem, which I wouldn't be surprised to know had been read by George Orwell before he wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four.
I think by this time you will be turning for home on the last lap of the race, having done the hard yards already, especially if by this point you have discovered Mises.org.
So from then on it's a swift gallop through Economics in One Lesson (Hazlitt), The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality (Mises), Human Action (Mises), and finally, Man, Economy, and State, with Power and Market (Rothbard).
To finally kill off any remaining shreds and hangover vestiges of socialism, you must then hammer in the final stake through the heart, in the form of Socialism, by Von Mises himself. (IMHO, his finest work.)
From then on, there are hundreds of books to read and soak up. I'll let you work out your own non-fiction ones, but the fictional ones to read are Lord of the Rings, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, anthing by Robert Heinlein (especially the Moon is a Harsh Mistress), all of the Harry Potter novels, and Time Will Run Back, by Henry Hazlitt.
There's many, many, many other books that will help. For instance, The Prince, by Machiavelli, Democracy the God that Failed, by Hoppe, and A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism, also by Hoppe.
But by this point you should be well saved. So I'll leave it for you to work out where to go next.
Happy reading!
Right, it's getting on for 6pm, here, as the peachy round sun drops down over the western Gulf. So I'll be off for a rather large G&T, down by the beach, to whet my appetite for dinner.
By Gad, it's a tough life here in Maturin World.
Pip pip!!
Well, it's very rarely an overnight thing. However, there are cases where such people have been instantly transformed simply by reading Human Action, understanding the reasoning behind the Socialism Cannot Calculate argument, and then instantly flipping straight across to full anarcho-capitalism. But this didn't happen for me (alas).
Instead, it was a decade-long road of mistakes, false trails, cul-de-sacs, and finally waking up one day and realising that government is not only unnecessary, it is positively a cancer which should be eradicated.
There's two other things to understand, too. First of all, very few people change their political stripes once they have reached the end of puberty, because of chemicals released by the body during this period which 'freeze' certain parts of the brain. For instance, if you learn a foreign tongue before the age of 12, it is likely you will speak it like a native and have no accent. If you learn a foreign tongue after the age of 18, it is highly likely you will always keep an accent.
But we're not after most people. A twenty-year-old who is a committed socialist is almost certainly a lost cause, and not worth the candle. They may come across of their own accord, but that's entirely down to them. I'm certainly not going to lift a finger to help these cretins, as the energy they soak up is just too high. If they're intelligent enough, they'll eventually work it out for themselves.
What we are after, however, are those uncommitted people who just want to see a better world. We have to rescue them before they are sucked into the socialist maw by constantly deriding and laughing at the stupidities of socialism, and pointing out a better way.
A very very few people can be persuaded to change their spots, but so very few it is not worth spending much time on the matter. (Though those that do change, say, after the age of 25, are often our greatest fighters, in the manner of anti-smoking zealots who used to be heavy smokers.)
The second thing is this, you have to realise that those who do change from one extreme to another, are most likely possessors of highly volatile minds. This is a polite way of admitting that I could in some ways be judged as being 'slightly short of a few bob in loose change', as could many of my fellow 'changelings'.
But it's certainly a factor to be considered.
Obviously, we 'changelings' consider ourselves highly intelligent, creative, passionate, innovative, soulful, and magnificent. However others just call us lunatics. But we can live it, so long as we realise it's a possibility.
(Though as Professor Thomas Szasz would say, 'mental health' may simply be an invention of the state to describe behaviours not wanted by the state.)
However, given that, where does one begin to cure one's self from socialism?
I think the root of this must be George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. Although Orwell himself remained a socialist until his dying day in a curious case of cognitive dissonance, this dystopic vision of the future rings so true as to the final nature of a socialist world, that it drives a fantastic nail into the heart of socialist ideals.
I think the next nail must be Hayek's Road to Serfdom, which describes the process via which 'well-meaning' government always comes to mean men with guns shooting people in the head for daring to disobey.
Next up, is Alexander Dolgun's story, An American in the Gulag, which caused the first major crack in my own Stalinist edifice. Much more compelling than anything Solzhenitsyn ever wrote, Dolgun is unusual in being one of the very few men to come through the dreaded Sukhanovka KGB prison.
Once this book shook my Stalinism, the rot was in, and although it was to be a long road to Austria, the journey had finally begun.
I suppose I must include Atlas Shrugged, which pushed me into all the works of Rand, though I always felt she was missing something, and wondered why she had proven incapable of writing a sequel to Atlas Shrugged, turning instead to non-fiction to avoid having to write about how John Galt could run a successful American state without succumbing himself to the ring of power.
But Rand is, and always will be, a cul-de-sac. She is a statist and a collectivist, and a world entirely peopled by Howard Roark and Dagny Taggart clones, all smoking one very rational brand of cigarette, to provide fires in their mind, would be a very dull and oppressive place indeed, probably even worse than living in a Gulag.
At least in a Gulag, as Alexander Dolgun testifies, there is still some room left for a little freedom and rebellion, if only behind the closed curtains of your own mind. The Randians wouldn't be happy until all rogue mental patterns, daring to deviate from the orthodox line of a long-dead woman, had been entirely eradicated by the comrades.
But Atlas Shrugged helps, as does her much more readable earlier work, Anthem, which I wouldn't be surprised to know had been read by George Orwell before he wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four.
I think by this time you will be turning for home on the last lap of the race, having done the hard yards already, especially if by this point you have discovered Mises.org.
So from then on it's a swift gallop through Economics in One Lesson (Hazlitt), The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality (Mises), Human Action (Mises), and finally, Man, Economy, and State, with Power and Market (Rothbard).
To finally kill off any remaining shreds and hangover vestiges of socialism, you must then hammer in the final stake through the heart, in the form of Socialism, by Von Mises himself. (IMHO, his finest work.)
From then on, there are hundreds of books to read and soak up. I'll let you work out your own non-fiction ones, but the fictional ones to read are Lord of the Rings, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, anthing by Robert Heinlein (especially the Moon is a Harsh Mistress), all of the Harry Potter novels, and Time Will Run Back, by Henry Hazlitt.
There's many, many, many other books that will help. For instance, The Prince, by Machiavelli, Democracy the God that Failed, by Hoppe, and A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism, also by Hoppe.
But by this point you should be well saved. So I'll leave it for you to work out where to go next.
Happy reading!
Right, it's getting on for 6pm, here, as the peachy round sun drops down over the western Gulf. So I'll be off for a rather large G&T, down by the beach, to whet my appetite for dinner.
By Gad, it's a tough life here in Maturin World.
Pip pip!!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Lord Mandelson to become Minister of Information
Spot the difference:
Perhaps the most corrupt man in Britain, Lord Rio of Hinduja, is to become the British government's official minister of propaganda.
The descent of the once-proud Labour Party into fascist degeneracy really is quite profound. As a former once-proud member of the Labour Party myself, its current promotion of crookery and outrageous lying, after 12 years of abject failure, really makes me quite sick indeed, in the manner of being sick at the realisation of one of your own children becoming a foul murderer.
What a terrible shame that a political movement that was borne out of a justified feeling that the world was wrong and that this wrong should be righted, has descended to such abject crassness and mendacious 'Big Lie' cajolery.
Perhaps the most corrupt man in Britain, Lord Rio of Hinduja, is to become the British government's official minister of propaganda.The descent of the once-proud Labour Party into fascist degeneracy really is quite profound. As a former once-proud member of the Labour Party myself, its current promotion of crookery and outrageous lying, after 12 years of abject failure, really makes me quite sick indeed, in the manner of being sick at the realisation of one of your own children becoming a foul murderer.
What a terrible shame that a political movement that was borne out of a justified feeling that the world was wrong and that this wrong should be righted, has descended to such abject crassness and mendacious 'Big Lie' cajolery.
Days in the office
Well, here in Dubai I've had a pretty rough day because an evil New Zealander forced me last night to sample of couple of thimblefuls of amber nectar.Being more of a Martinborough Pinot Noir man these days, followed by creamy Stilton and a light cigarillo, I perhaps had one or two more than I should have had, so I needed to concentrate a little more on my business dealings today, than perhaps I would have wished.
I blame Peter Jackson, for encouraging all of these New Zealanders to believe that they are all Men of Gondor or Dwarfs of the Iron Mountains, therefore able to quaff flagons of strong ale before striding out to deal with Orcs.
Ah, well, Lissenen ar' maska'lalaith tenna' lye omentuva.
Fortunately, because it's nearly the weekend here, we all managed to slip down to the beach by 3pm, to soak up a few rays of lovely November sun and to get the beach butler to bring us down a few cold drinks, to quench our pre-Orc quest.
So fear ye not, fellow seekers of Mordor's ultimate Leviathanesque destruction. Things aren't too disastrous in Maturin World, today.
Now, after my bath to wash off all of that salty sand, surely it's time for a stiff one before dinner?
Pip pip!!
Bernanke is the apprentice of Gutenberg the printer
Marc Faber predicts that the future value of the dollar is precisely zero.
The interviewer, aghast, asks "zero against what?"
"Vell," says the Good Doctor, "against everyzing":
More here.
The interviewer, aghast, asks "zero against what?"
"Vell," says the Good Doctor, "against everyzing":
More here.
Climate change study shows Earth is still absorbing carbon dioxide
Not that it matters anyway, because there's still the question of explaining why the last ice age had much higher carbon levels in the atmosphere than we have now, but yet another scientific study has shown that the ecomentalists are a bunch of religoid gangsters, with fingers stuffed in their ears shouting "Cannot hear, Cannot hear, Cannot hear".
Superb.
Superb.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The second American revolution has begun
Uncle Gerald Celente calls the first three shots which have already happened, in the second American revolution.
He also predicts that as Obama's ratings continue to drop, then some significant 'event' will take place, to re-boost these ratings.
He skirts away from saying that the Bush administration deliberately caused 9/11, to overcome the malaise caused by the dot-com crash, but he does say that he puts nothing past the US government to renew itself in a time of crisis.
Crivens!
He also predicts that as Obama's ratings continue to drop, then some significant 'event' will take place, to re-boost these ratings.
He skirts away from saying that the Bush administration deliberately caused 9/11, to overcome the malaise caused by the dot-com crash, but he does say that he puts nothing past the US government to renew itself in a time of crisis.
Crivens!
The only way is up - or is it? Gold at $1100 dollars an ounce
Marc Faber thinks you should wait until gold drops to $800 dollars an ounce before you buy any.Hmmm...
Personally, I don't think we'll ever see gold go below $1,000 dollars ever again. However, Dr Faber is a very rich man and I am a very poor man, so maybe he knows something about IMF and World Bank policies that I don't, so I wouldn't entirely rule out a very short-term drop below a thousand again.
In the meantime, however, not being the greatest market timer in the world, I'm going to keep buying gold with every spare penny I have.
It's only a bubble when every idiot in the street is buying into it, and as Mark Dice has found, there are still plenty of zombies out there who think gold is only something you wrap chocolate sweets in.
Probing the depths of public ignorance on gold money at $1100 dollars an oz
Mark Dice, hero, fails to find the bottom of the depth of public ignorance on gold as money.
He tries to sell a 1 oz Canadian maple leaf solid gold coin for $50, in the smart part of town, and finds no takers.
The Fedsters and other counterfeiters really have got their serf zombies nailed.
Simply fantastic:
He tries to sell a 1 oz Canadian maple leaf solid gold coin for $50, in the smart part of town, and finds no takers.
The Fedsters and other counterfeiters really have got their serf zombies nailed.
Simply fantastic:
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Socialism cannot calculate
Above is a photo of the Boeing 777 I flew to Dubai in on Saturday. Look at the tremendous number of operations going on. There is luggage being loaded, food being loaded, (most importantly) drinks being loaded, and passengers about to be loaded. That's not to mention the 600 channels of entertainment, including the latest Harry Potter film, and quite a good romp called 'The Ugly Truth'.The flight crew are preparing their route and doing their pre-flight checks. The cabin crew are with us in the lounge getting us ready for the journey, and the plane itself is the direct descendant of the Wright brothers plane, made out of string and balsa wood, which hopped about on a Carolinas beach a mere 100 years ago.
(To put that into context, think about Roman imperial society in 100 AD, and then Roman imperial society in 200 AD. Any differences coming to mind? No? Thought not. This is because the socialism of the late Roman empire crushed all innovation and created a stagnant society ready for brutal crushing in the metal-crusher of history - but I digress.)
All of the progress in the photograph above is down to capitalism, particularly that of capitalist America before the two-headed monster of the Republican-Democrat government machine succeeded in destroying it and allowing China to take up the mantle.
Socialism cannot even calculate how many tons of coal to mine in any given year, in a coal-bearing area, to feed a single iron foundry.
This is the genius of Ludwig von Mises. Of his many astounding accomplishments, perhaps his greatest was the epiphany that socialism cannot calculate.
ANYTHING.
Without a free market there is no way of knowing what is the best use of scarce resources.
As an experiment for yourself to check this, play any 'Tycoon' computer game in 'Sandbox' mode (i.e. communist mode) and see how boring it gets, and how quickly it gets boring, and then take a look at the convoluted and stupid worlds you build when there is no competition forcing your hand to be efficient and productive, even when you have unlimited cash to build said resources, without any need to generate any kind of investment return.
This is why socialism appeals to people with the sandbox mentality of young children. Because it fails to take into account any kind of reality, in which real resources are scarce, and in which 'perfectionism' cannot be achieved in anything like a realistic time frame.
Mises realised all of this before computer games.
Mises truly was one of the greatest men of all time. Personally, I think the only man who came anywhere close, previous to this great Austrian, was Thomas Aquinas. Before that, probably Aristotle. Before that, perhaps the un-named Prometheus figure who invented fire-making, and before that, perhaps a close relative of the Bonobo chimpanzees who was the first brave 'man' to decide to come down from the trees and out from the forest.
We really are not worthy.
Just a random thought.
Uncle Gerald tells it like it is
US citizens should stuff cotton wool in their ears before they listen to 40 minutes of Uncle Gerald in full flow.
Brutal.
Brutal.
The Man Who Predicted the Depression
A superb article in the Wall Street Journal, on Ludwig von Mises' 1920s' prediction of a forthcoming economic crash.
The Austrian crusade may finally be beginning to get somewhere after 80 years of being right all of the time, and subsequently being ignored for being so damned smug about it.
(BTW, in case you're wondering, the Persian Gulf sea, just off the Hilton Jumeirah in Dubai, is superb at this time of year. Wearing my 'Murray Rothbard: Enemy of the State' drew a few confused looks, but what the heck.)
The Austrian crusade may finally be beginning to get somewhere after 80 years of being right all of the time, and subsequently being ignored for being so damned smug about it.
(BTW, in case you're wondering, the Persian Gulf sea, just off the Hilton Jumeirah in Dubai, is superb at this time of year. Wearing my 'Murray Rothbard: Enemy of the State' drew a few confused looks, but what the heck.)
Saturday, November 07, 2009
The power of language
Followers of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), will know all about the power of language, but for those less familiar, take a look at the following paragraphs I found in The Labourgraph, this morning:
US unemployment hits 10pc for first time since Ronald Reagan was in power
“While the US may be officially out of recession, there are too few signs yet that employers have confidence enough to begin taking on new staff,” commented Howard Wheeldon, BGC Partners’ senior strategist.
This “suggests that those working in the wider economy are still concerned that the stimulus benefit enjoyed in recent months can be turned into sustainable growth,” he continued.
Notice, "the stimulus benefit enjoyed", allied to the highest US official unemployment figures for 26 years (with the real jobless rate probably twice that).
I must say, as an NLP practioner myself, and someone used to its powers, this clever use of language even took me by surprise.
You might even believe, from the messages being put out by governments all over the world, that everything is so good that we should all burst spontaneously into song, singing "climb every mountain".
It is clever, though. You have to hand it to these bought-and-paid-for intellectuals, for being able to machinate this nonsense without their own brains melting.
US unemployment hits 10pc for first time since Ronald Reagan was in power
“While the US may be officially out of recession, there are too few signs yet that employers have confidence enough to begin taking on new staff,” commented Howard Wheeldon, BGC Partners’ senior strategist.
This “suggests that those working in the wider economy are still concerned that the stimulus benefit enjoyed in recent months can be turned into sustainable growth,” he continued.
Notice, "the stimulus benefit enjoyed", allied to the highest US official unemployment figures for 26 years (with the real jobless rate probably twice that).
I must say, as an NLP practioner myself, and someone used to its powers, this clever use of language even took me by surprise.
You might even believe, from the messages being put out by governments all over the world, that everything is so good that we should all burst spontaneously into song, singing "climb every mountain".
It is clever, though. You have to hand it to these bought-and-paid-for intellectuals, for being able to machinate this nonsense without their own brains melting.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Mises slideshow
Jeffrey Tucker has put together an amazing slideshow of Ludwig von Mises images. I particularly like the ones where he is with Hayek:
Reserve Bank of India’s Gold Purchase From the IMF - Bye bye dollar, hello gold
Michael Rozeff helps me in my ponderings about what's going on in the world gold market versus the dollar's status as the world's reserve currency.
Forget that. Gold is gradually becoming the world's reserve currency.
Forget that. Gold is gradually becoming the world's reserve currency.
Have the central banks given up?
With gold at $1,092.90/oz this morning, I was wondering whether the central banks (plus the Basel BIS, the World Bank, and the IMF) had all just given up.
For decades they have striven to keep gold below $1,000 dollars, to hide their counterfeiting practices from seeing the light of day.
Even with the forthcoming pre-announced sale of a further 200 tonnes of gold by the IMF (to whoever wants it, probably the Chinese government), has the heart gone out of the fight to keep the gold price down below the magically psychological $1,000 dollars?
If they have given up, what is the 'natural' ceiling, if gold were to be treated like copper or zinc, or any other regular metal commodity? (If it's such a barbarous relic, then why do all the Keynesians in central banking care so much about the price of gold?) Is the natural price of gold 'On the Moon' at $6,000 dollars, or somewhere in the $2,000 - $3,000 dollar range?
I suppose we shall see once the IMF has off-loaded its 200 tonnes.
Have the central banks actually run out? Gold leasing has been a joke for decades, with central banks giving away their hoards of treasure in the full expectation that they would never see them again. Is Fort Knox empty?
Who knows? They certainly won't allow an audit. If James Bond were to pay it a visit today, what would he find? Tumbleweed? Crickets?
It's all very interesting. If gold breaks through $1,100 without any sign of a central bank intervention then it will get even more interesting.
Will we ever see $1,000 dollar gold ever again? Have the central banks resigned themselves to locking the price of gold to under $2,000 dollars an ounce? If they have, this doesn't have the same 'ring' as $1,000 dollars, and I predict that if the price gets to the $1,900 mark, then it will sail through $2,000 like a train through cobwebs, despite any feeble attempts of the central banks to halt the onslaught.
So this morning, in the manner of Gandalf the Grey, I shall ponder these riddles.
For decades they have striven to keep gold below $1,000 dollars, to hide their counterfeiting practices from seeing the light of day.
Even with the forthcoming pre-announced sale of a further 200 tonnes of gold by the IMF (to whoever wants it, probably the Chinese government), has the heart gone out of the fight to keep the gold price down below the magically psychological $1,000 dollars?
If they have given up, what is the 'natural' ceiling, if gold were to be treated like copper or zinc, or any other regular metal commodity? (If it's such a barbarous relic, then why do all the Keynesians in central banking care so much about the price of gold?) Is the natural price of gold 'On the Moon' at $6,000 dollars, or somewhere in the $2,000 - $3,000 dollar range?
I suppose we shall see once the IMF has off-loaded its 200 tonnes.
Have the central banks actually run out? Gold leasing has been a joke for decades, with central banks giving away their hoards of treasure in the full expectation that they would never see them again. Is Fort Knox empty?
Who knows? They certainly won't allow an audit. If James Bond were to pay it a visit today, what would he find? Tumbleweed? Crickets?
It's all very interesting. If gold breaks through $1,100 without any sign of a central bank intervention then it will get even more interesting.
Will we ever see $1,000 dollar gold ever again? Have the central banks resigned themselves to locking the price of gold to under $2,000 dollars an ounce? If they have, this doesn't have the same 'ring' as $1,000 dollars, and I predict that if the price gets to the $1,900 mark, then it will sail through $2,000 like a train through cobwebs, despite any feeble attempts of the central banks to halt the onslaught.
So this morning, in the manner of Gandalf the Grey, I shall ponder these riddles.
Strikers win again in moribund Britain
The British government once again caved in to strikers in a stitch-up deal with the postal unions.
With so much bad news around, and with Christmas coming up, the Labour Party will not want to have been accused of 'Cancelling Christmas' with a failure of the delivery of tens of millions of Christmas cards, so their chief fixer Lord Rio has 'sorted' it.
No doubt we'll never know how much taxpayer has just been ripped off by, with various pension deals and other hidden pork placed into the mix, but as is usual with the Labour Party and government monopolies, the strikers have won.
Just get rid of the monopoly, Mandy. Then we'll never have this problem again.
With so much bad news around, and with Christmas coming up, the Labour Party will not want to have been accused of 'Cancelling Christmas' with a failure of the delivery of tens of millions of Christmas cards, so their chief fixer Lord Rio has 'sorted' it.
No doubt we'll never know how much taxpayer has just been ripped off by, with various pension deals and other hidden pork placed into the mix, but as is usual with the Labour Party and government monopolies, the strikers have won.
Just get rid of the monopoly, Mandy. Then we'll never have this problem again.
Bank of England signals the end is nigh for quantitative easing
A heroin addict found a couple of years back that their usual level of heroin intake, which had been working NICE-ly for a decade, was failing to deliver its usual kick.
They then experienced a junkie's crash, and found themselves looking face-up from the gutter.
To get out of this mess, they upped the heroin dosage, picked themselves out of the gutter, crawled onto the pavement, and got on with life again. Friends even said that they detected the 'green shoots' of a return to clean living.
The heroin addict told these same friends that they were now thinking about reducing their daily dosage.
Yeah, right.
They then experienced a junkie's crash, and found themselves looking face-up from the gutter.
To get out of this mess, they upped the heroin dosage, picked themselves out of the gutter, crawled onto the pavement, and got on with life again. Friends even said that they detected the 'green shoots' of a return to clean living.
The heroin addict told these same friends that they were now thinking about reducing their daily dosage.
Yeah, right.
We can leave if we want to
That very nice man, Mr Jonathan Pearce, writes an interesting article on the possibility of the UK leaving the satanic EU, now that the Stupid Party has ruled out a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Calling all UK-based Austrians
I think it's about time we had 'Ludwig von Mises Institute' here in the UK, perhaps allied to the one in Auburn, Alabama, and possibly even a commercial outpost, so we can get books and things posted from here to cut down on shipping costs, and help them arrange more European conferences, such as the one in Salamanca.
If you are an Austrian in the UK, do you agree?
Rough plan:
1. Inaugural meeting to discuss what the heck we're going to do with the thing, somewhere nice such as Henley, Oxford, Keswick, or Bath, in a nice out-of-season B&B beside a splendidly-rated public hostelry. I'll buy the first round.
2. Assuming we get past stage one, link to be formed with LvM in Auburn (I have some cunning tricks up my sleeve, for this one)
3. Errr... that's about it for the moment
Any comments?
If there are any rogue UK-based Austrian billionaires out there, who'd like to sponsor such a thing, then I'd particularly like to hear your thoughts. Especially if you own a splendid hostelry somewhere nice.
I know there's at least one other Austrian here in the UK. You know who you are. Do you think it's a good idea?
If you are an Austrian in the UK, do you agree?
Rough plan:
1. Inaugural meeting to discuss what the heck we're going to do with the thing, somewhere nice such as Henley, Oxford, Keswick, or Bath, in a nice out-of-season B&B beside a splendidly-rated public hostelry. I'll buy the first round.
2. Assuming we get past stage one, link to be formed with LvM in Auburn (I have some cunning tricks up my sleeve, for this one)
3. Errr... that's about it for the moment
Any comments?
If there are any rogue UK-based Austrian billionaires out there, who'd like to sponsor such a thing, then I'd particularly like to hear your thoughts. Especially if you own a splendid hostelry somewhere nice.
I know there's at least one other Austrian here in the UK. You know who you are. Do you think it's a good idea?
Big Pharma hates the Internet
I was trundling back to Henley from Paddington today, on the world's slowest Great Western train, when I saw a billboard splashed with the morgue photo above, at Slough station. I can't remember the exact slogan, but it was something like "Get real. Avoid Internet drugs. Get a prescription."
The message was clear: "If you choose and buy your own drugs over the Internet, and treat yourself, rather than going through a state-appointed doctor, whom we can more easily target with our Big Pharma sales concentration techniques, then you will die. Horribly. So don't ruin our profits. Don't do anything without the state's permission. You know it makes sense."
The bill-board advert was covered in Big Pharma logos, such as Pfizer, and a range of others, as on this website.
How dare people take control of what they ingest! How dare people treat themselves! How dare people take decisions without permission from the relevant health organs!
You'd think the tax sheep were independent rational free human beings with souls and minds of their own, rather than mindless worker drones educated to be fleeced by government, government health professionals, and Big Pharma.
It's an outrage!
Remember folks, with adverts such as this Big Pharma is only thinking of you. It cares nothing at all for the gigantic fat profits it is making out of you via the British state's NHS health cartel.
Right, now I've got that off my chest, where can I get that viagra I need?
Daniel Hannan resigns from European Parliament post
I found myself last night watching a pathetic and dissembling William Hague defending David Cameron's decision to now not have a national referendum on the British government's ratification of the EU Lisbon Treaty, which was signed in a closed unphotographed room by Gordon Brown a few months ago.
The moment I realised what Cameron had done was the moment I finally lost all and any hope for the Conservative Party.
It now to me makes absolutely no difference which political party runs the talking shop in Westminster. It can be Gordon, or Dave, or even Mrs Miggins from the pie shop. Power has finally come completely to rest in Brussels, and from now on we can expect this police power to wax its muscles and properly begin to oppress the people of Europe, as was the dream of Napoleon and Hitler, and the nightmare of George Orwell.
The Roman Empire is finally back, after sixteen hundred years in the wilderness.
And the reason for this change of 'policy' in the Conservative Party? Because the Czech government have ratified the EU Lisbon Treaty.
Well, it's nice to know William Hague thinks so much of the Czechs, when I had been under the mistaken impression that he 'represented' his own constituents in Yorkshire and the 'People of Britain'.
Secession from the EU will still come, of course. That much is fairly predictable, but now this secession will be much more painful, given that the Stupid Party has blocked the peaceful route out.
Which brings us to Daniel Hannan, and his resignation from being an 'official' Tory spokesman.
Bravo, sir. At least there is one man in the Tory Party who has still got some spunk left inside him, unlike the spineless spavined William Hague.
I think it's time for that video again:
The moment I realised what Cameron had done was the moment I finally lost all and any hope for the Conservative Party.
It now to me makes absolutely no difference which political party runs the talking shop in Westminster. It can be Gordon, or Dave, or even Mrs Miggins from the pie shop. Power has finally come completely to rest in Brussels, and from now on we can expect this police power to wax its muscles and properly begin to oppress the people of Europe, as was the dream of Napoleon and Hitler, and the nightmare of George Orwell.
The Roman Empire is finally back, after sixteen hundred years in the wilderness.
And the reason for this change of 'policy' in the Conservative Party? Because the Czech government have ratified the EU Lisbon Treaty.
Well, it's nice to know William Hague thinks so much of the Czechs, when I had been under the mistaken impression that he 'represented' his own constituents in Yorkshire and the 'People of Britain'.
Secession from the EU will still come, of course. That much is fairly predictable, but now this secession will be much more painful, given that the Stupid Party has blocked the peaceful route out.
Which brings us to Daniel Hannan, and his resignation from being an 'official' Tory spokesman.
Bravo, sir. At least there is one man in the Tory Party who has still got some spunk left inside him, unlike the spineless spavined William Hague.
I think it's time for that video again:
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
IMF sells 200 tonnes of gold to Indian government
On the day that gold hits a new record dollar high, Peter Schiff analyses the IMF's huge sale of gold to the Indian government, literally paying top dollar to get their hands on this barbarous relic.
Like the rest of the central banking world government cartel, the IMF is doing everything it can to bring down the price of gold to hide the effects of the massive global fiat monetary inflation going on.
So what does Der SchiffMeister think about all of this?
Simples.
Buy Gold!!!
Like the rest of the central banking world government cartel, the IMF is doing everything it can to bring down the price of gold to hide the effects of the massive global fiat monetary inflation going on.
So what does Der SchiffMeister think about all of this?
Simples.
Buy Gold!!!
Discovering a seam of diamonds
I have just discovered, for the first time, the writings of David Calderwood.
Absolutely superb.
He writes like I wish I could, with every article a veritable Silmaril gem.
Marvellous.
Here's his archive:
=> http://www.lewrockwell.com/calderwood/calderwood-arch.html
Absolutely superb.
He writes like I wish I could, with every article a veritable Silmaril gem.
Marvellous.
Here's his archive:
=> http://www.lewrockwell.com/calderwood/calderwood-arch.html
Five British soldiers shot in Afghanistan
What can you say? Why are the British government still there after eight years?
Isn't it obvious yet to everyone that the 'mission' of propping up a corrupt quisling puppet was never worth a single British soldier's life, never mind the five just killed in the latest disastrous episode?
Bring the troops home, Gordon. Do it now, you pusillanimous idiot.
Isn't it obvious yet to everyone that the 'mission' of propping up a corrupt quisling puppet was never worth a single British soldier's life, never mind the five just killed in the latest disastrous episode?
Bring the troops home, Gordon. Do it now, you pusillanimous idiot.
The difference between power and market
I recently changed some British sterling pounds for UAE Dhirams, at a Travelex exchange desk outside the security clearance area at Heathrow Terminal Three. As I got through the metal detector a message came over the Intercom. "Can Mr Maturin please return to the Travelex Desk". I instantly realised I had left my plastic bank card inside the PIN machine. I turned to go back out through the security checkpoint.
"I'm sorry," said a dull voiced British government security wonk, "now that you're through security, you can't go back."
What to do? Two weeks away and my bank card left in a Travelex shop, to fall to who knew what fate?
With a small amount of adrenaline pumping through my veins I approached a "security" desk. Three state chumps sat there, appearing to do "not much". I wondered how much each of them was costing me in salary and pension costs. Perhaps upwards of £50,000 a year each. As these were my servants, whom I pay for, I thought they might be able to help me.
I roused one of these wonder workers, whose probable only excitement in life is a once-a-week "random" test of the security system, every Tuesday, at 10:45am. I explained my situation to the chump. His expression ranged between not giving a monkeys and contempt.
JM: "Can I go back through security, and go back to the Travelex shop, and then straight back here again?"
Chump: "You can't do that. It's against immigration regulations."
JM: "Can one of you three accompany me out, and then accompany me back again?"
Chump: "We have to man this desk sir."
All three were doing absolutely nothing discernible. I suppose they may have been doing something intricate with their feet, but it wasn't showing up on their body postures. There was no-one else in the vicinity, except me. We were right beside the back of the Travelex shop. There was a door ten feet away labelled security, which fairly obviously went back out onto the external concourse. This was maddening.
JM: "So what do I do then?"
Chump: "You'll have to go through the terminal building, then through departures, then through customs and passport checks, then back up to the arrivals hall, get your card, then back through security."
This would have taken about 25 minutes at best and about 50 minutes at worst. My flight was leaving in one hour, with a last call in 45 minutes. Not the end of the world, but hardly what you might call convenient.
JM: "And there's no other way of doing it, and no way any of you three can help me?"
Chump: "No."
JM: "Could one of you go and get it for me?"
Chump: "That's against regulations."
All three men were openly on the verge of laughing at me now, despite my payment of their salaries and pensions, via her majesty's inland revenue department.
JM: "Well, Gentlemen, thanks for all of your help. I can see you're all really quite busy."
By this time my adrenaline was running quite high, and if I left it much longer I would really be pushing my flight to the wire. I then had a brainwave. I quickly walked up to the nearest Travelex inside the security zone and asked a busy desk member if they could get my card for me.
He looked a bit harassed, but made a quick phone call.
"Someone will be through in a minute with your card, sir. They had a trainee on today and she forgot to check the PIN machine was empty. We're sorry about that."
Sure enough, within five minutes a Travelex staff member had appeared and gave me back my card.
"Sorry it took me so long, sir. It's horrendous getting through airside security at this time in the morning."
Panic over.
And there we have the difference between power and market. Power is over-manned, lazy, inefficient, has poor to non-existent levels of service, is expensive, arrogant, is hidebound with rules, inflexible, sees the people who pay its wages as irrelevant insects, is contemptible, intolerant of mistakes, and robotic.
Whereas market is busy, efficient, serves the customer, helps to tackle mistakes, tries its best to get the job done as quickly as possible, is flexible, and is above all, human.
One serves itself. The other serves everyone else, despite being tied in knots by the rapacity of power.
Give me the market each and every day of the week.
"I'm sorry," said a dull voiced British government security wonk, "now that you're through security, you can't go back."
What to do? Two weeks away and my bank card left in a Travelex shop, to fall to who knew what fate?
With a small amount of adrenaline pumping through my veins I approached a "security" desk. Three state chumps sat there, appearing to do "not much". I wondered how much each of them was costing me in salary and pension costs. Perhaps upwards of £50,000 a year each. As these were my servants, whom I pay for, I thought they might be able to help me.
I roused one of these wonder workers, whose probable only excitement in life is a once-a-week "random" test of the security system, every Tuesday, at 10:45am. I explained my situation to the chump. His expression ranged between not giving a monkeys and contempt.
JM: "Can I go back through security, and go back to the Travelex shop, and then straight back here again?"
Chump: "You can't do that. It's against immigration regulations."
JM: "Can one of you three accompany me out, and then accompany me back again?"
Chump: "We have to man this desk sir."
All three were doing absolutely nothing discernible. I suppose they may have been doing something intricate with their feet, but it wasn't showing up on their body postures. There was no-one else in the vicinity, except me. We were right beside the back of the Travelex shop. There was a door ten feet away labelled security, which fairly obviously went back out onto the external concourse. This was maddening.
JM: "So what do I do then?"
Chump: "You'll have to go through the terminal building, then through departures, then through customs and passport checks, then back up to the arrivals hall, get your card, then back through security."
This would have taken about 25 minutes at best and about 50 minutes at worst. My flight was leaving in one hour, with a last call in 45 minutes. Not the end of the world, but hardly what you might call convenient.
JM: "And there's no other way of doing it, and no way any of you three can help me?"
Chump: "No."
JM: "Could one of you go and get it for me?"
Chump: "That's against regulations."
All three men were openly on the verge of laughing at me now, despite my payment of their salaries and pensions, via her majesty's inland revenue department.
JM: "Well, Gentlemen, thanks for all of your help. I can see you're all really quite busy."
By this time my adrenaline was running quite high, and if I left it much longer I would really be pushing my flight to the wire. I then had a brainwave. I quickly walked up to the nearest Travelex inside the security zone and asked a busy desk member if they could get my card for me.
He looked a bit harassed, but made a quick phone call.
"Someone will be through in a minute with your card, sir. They had a trainee on today and she forgot to check the PIN machine was empty. We're sorry about that."
Sure enough, within five minutes a Travelex staff member had appeared and gave me back my card.
"Sorry it took me so long, sir. It's horrendous getting through airside security at this time in the morning."
Panic over.
And there we have the difference between power and market. Power is over-manned, lazy, inefficient, has poor to non-existent levels of service, is expensive, arrogant, is hidebound with rules, inflexible, sees the people who pay its wages as irrelevant insects, is contemptible, intolerant of mistakes, and robotic.
Whereas market is busy, efficient, serves the customer, helps to tackle mistakes, tries its best to get the job done as quickly as possible, is flexible, and is above all, human.
One serves itself. The other serves everyone else, despite being tied in knots by the rapacity of power.
Give me the market each and every day of the week.
Your Ideal Job for the Greater Depression
If you find one, let me know.
Superb article on the unpredictability of the future by David Calderwood.
Superb article on the unpredictability of the future by David Calderwood.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Death to the East Asians
I must say I was horrified yesterday by the shots of the USS New York ploughing into New York harbour, with 7.5 tons of twin towers steel in her bows. I think a David Kramer article on the Lew Rockwell blog sums up my feelings better than I could, so here goes:=> Steel Yourself for This Story
Let's hope that some poor Afghani, Pakistani, or Iranian child sees the full majesty of the sentiment when they have their guts blown out by missiles launched from this new imperial billion-dollar 'Death Star'.
Church of the poison mind
Seeing as we now officially have a new eco-mentalist religion, I thought we better have a name for it.
Too close for eco-comfort
A hilarious story today, in which an eco-nutter is claiming that he was 'wrongly' dismissed by his former employer for his eco nut-job views and that he is proud to call his beliefs a 'religion' and wants these 'religious beliefs' recognised by law.Or something like that, anyway. I was too busy laughing to get the full details:
=> Eco-employee wins bid to appeal
Where do we start?
Because of course, the uncomfortable truth for all of the watermelon socialists in Britain, is that eco-mentalism IS a religion, as was its evil godfather, socialism.
The uncomfortable truth is that many who consider themselves 'logical rationalists', have sunk into what the ancient Greeks would have recognised as 'Mother Goddess' worship. They even use the same name for this Goddess, Gaia, and still think they are being rational.
They even think they're still being rational over 'global warming' when 1998 was the warmest year in recent times, and it has been getting cooler ever since, probably due to fluctuations in the Sun's power output.
And for one of their number to speak the truth and to call their following of eco-mentalism a religion will be perhaps a little too uncomfortable to bear. The trouble for 'atheists' of course, is that there might be a psychological 'God-shaped' hole in everyone's brain (possibly in the temporal cortex), and that if you expunge traditional religion, another one will slip right in there, which will be a lot less good for you.
Christianity et al may have their faults, but they have survived and evolved to become the dominant religions because they deliver a simple rules-based methodology for living which took us away from stone age violence and into modern civilisation. Boil down the ten commandments, and what do you have? You have a rational voluntary way of living based upon property rights: Love thy neighbour, but don't go poking into his affairs if you're not welcome. Do not steal. Do not be envious of the property of others. Do not harm others. Look to yourself for help first.
It's an almost perfect libertarian rationale for life, which maximises peace, wealth, civilisation, and happiness.
What does the religion of environmentalism give us?
Hate everyone who dares to question the thought police. Steal carbon taxes from people until they're too poor to keep themselves warm or to move themselves around in satanic vehicles. If a western man has a fridge and an eastern man doesn't, smash the western man's fridge because he has no business being better off than the eastern man. Throw anyone into jail who dares to be a global warming denier. Create a world government to police everyone into rigid eco-orthodoxy. Stick your nose into the lives of everyone, including checking whether they have recycled their potato peelings properly.
I know which religion I prefer.
The worship of the state, socialism, and environmentalism, despite all of the hatred for humanity contained within these religions, is thus a powerful trinity of despair, borne I think of teenage angst and self-loathing hatred. It dresses itself up as the 'font of logic', but this man's action today quite clearly demonstrates what the rest of us already know.
That eco-mentalism is a religion, and should be treated as such.
And don't get me started on employers not being able to sack anyone of their choosing.
In 'Maturin World' there will be no such thing as 'Employee Rights'. If you're good enough, I'll hire you. If you're not good enough, I'll sack you. And I'll be the judge of both. If you don't like it, go and get a job somewhere else. Or even better, start your own business and stop leaving it to other entrepreneurs to go out of their way to make your life easier.
I've probably broken about 50 damn stupid statist laws in the above piece of writing, so I better stop there. Though I must say, if I am brought up before a socialist judge I shall claim 'Austrianism' as my religion, and demand full equivalent rights with the eco-nutter above.
For an interesting article on that topic, try this:
=> Is Austrian Economics Merely Religion?
My own opinion on whether Austrianism is a religion itself, is perhaps fairly predictable. Austrian economics is merely the seeking for truth, as it is found in the universe around us, built upon axioms which are apodictic (necessarily or demonstrably true; incontrovertible).
Yes, there are lots of grey areas and a lot more will be uncovered in the future. But Austrianism generally moves forwards and drops what has been shown to be false, and adopts what has been shown to be true (or at least less false than the previous thought).
Without a five-hour diatribe on Popperian logic analysis, I think the more real-world demonstration of Austrianism's non-religiousness is its treatment of its leaders, from its inception with Carl Menger.
For instance, Rothbard criticised Mises for his mentor's belief in democracy. Kinsella has criticised Rothbard for Uncle Murray's belief in copyright, and everyone criticises Hans-Hermann Hoppe for just about everything he says (despite his being usually right about everything).
Compare that with Objectivists' treatment of anyone who disagrees with Rand, or eco-mentalists when you tell them you think anthropogenic global warming is a heap of hog's entrails. Austrians always try to stick to the truth, even if tempted to get emotional, and even if the truth is hard to define. Whereas religions (such as Objectivism, Socialism, Scientologism, Keynesianism, Environmentalism, et al) usually resort to bad-tempered emotion fairly quickly in any form of discussion when you stray from the straight and narrow path of orthodoxy.
Though I myself do believe in the one true God.
Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
IEA dies
Tom Harrington spots that the Institute of Economic Affairs, a rare voice of sanity in the UK, has just committed Cato-Institute-Style hari-kiri by appointing an EU-loving Westminster village insider as its leader. (Just to let you know the man's full quality, he is a former media director for the socialist 'Liberal Democrats'.)
Oh dear.
That'll serve the IEA right for being so physically close to the Hydra's head in Westminster.
The Ludwig von Mises Institute is in Auburn for a reason, and it ain't the climate. It's to make sure that they don't get contaminated by the evil ring of power 'Inside the Beltway'.
Perhaps the IEA should take the same medicine, before we lower its coffin into the ground? (Though perhaps it's already too late.)
Come to Henley On Thames, in Fair Ithilien, chaps. Get yourselves away from that Mordor smog inside the Westminster Mountains of Shadow.
Oh dear.
That'll serve the IEA right for being so physically close to the Hydra's head in Westminster.
The Ludwig von Mises Institute is in Auburn for a reason, and it ain't the climate. It's to make sure that they don't get contaminated by the evil ring of power 'Inside the Beltway'.
Perhaps the IEA should take the same medicine, before we lower its coffin into the ground? (Though perhaps it's already too late.)
Come to Henley On Thames, in Fair Ithilien, chaps. Get yourselves away from that Mordor smog inside the Westminster Mountains of Shadow.
Country roads, take me home
Well, Emirates airline take me home, on the 3:10am flight out of Dubai Airport.
I've been locked in the Jumeirah Emirates Towers hotel for two weeks now and I think a state psychiatrist could now officially sanction me as completely mad.
Heaven knows how people cope in socialist jail cages, for years on end, for victimless non-crimes, if I'm starting to lose my mind after two weeks in a luxury hotel, with eight restaurants, a thirty metre pool, and the most helpful hotel staff I've ever met?
It really is time to be going home.
Though I shall be shutting my eyes to the grim-faced passport checkers from Slough, at Heathrow Terminal Three, and ignoring all Daily Mail headlines of societal collapse caused by that idiot Gordon Brown, to try to regain my sanity, once my feet are back on the ground in the sceptred isle.
Though fortunately, my exit strategy for escaping this sceptred isle, when the Great Depression finally hits, is a step further forward. A few more heaves, and the escape rope will be in place.
And so, before my car to the airport arrives, one last soiree down to 'The Noodle Bar', for a last portion of Thai Green Curry...
I've been locked in the Jumeirah Emirates Towers hotel for two weeks now and I think a state psychiatrist could now officially sanction me as completely mad.
Heaven knows how people cope in socialist jail cages, for years on end, for victimless non-crimes, if I'm starting to lose my mind after two weeks in a luxury hotel, with eight restaurants, a thirty metre pool, and the most helpful hotel staff I've ever met?
It really is time to be going home.
Though I shall be shutting my eyes to the grim-faced passport checkers from Slough, at Heathrow Terminal Three, and ignoring all Daily Mail headlines of societal collapse caused by that idiot Gordon Brown, to try to regain my sanity, once my feet are back on the ground in the sceptred isle.
Though fortunately, my exit strategy for escaping this sceptred isle, when the Great Depression finally hits, is a step further forward. A few more heaves, and the escape rope will be in place.
And so, before my car to the airport arrives, one last soiree down to 'The Noodle Bar', for a last portion of Thai Green Curry...
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
We are not worthy
I had the great honour and privilege of spending several hours alone in conversation, recently, with a living breathing Professor of Austrian economics. We don't need to name names here, but the scope, the range, and the power of the thinking of such people, left me staggered with admiration.
As a mere back-street propagandist and barricade-manning volunteer for the Austrian cause, I felt a bit like Salieri in the company of Mozart; able to appreciate the splendour of the thought but incapable of reaching the same symphonic heights myself.
Oh well, perhaps if I'm good enough in this life I may come back as an Austrian Professor myself, at some point in the future.
If you are at that tender undergraduate age where such things are still possible, then I would recommend that you go for it, because it truly is the noblest cause; the salvation of civilisation will be in your hands.
What could be better than that?
As a mere back-street propagandist and barricade-manning volunteer for the Austrian cause, I felt a bit like Salieri in the company of Mozart; able to appreciate the splendour of the thought but incapable of reaching the same symphonic heights myself.
Oh well, perhaps if I'm good enough in this life I may come back as an Austrian Professor myself, at some point in the future.
If you are at that tender undergraduate age where such things are still possible, then I would recommend that you go for it, because it truly is the noblest cause; the salvation of civilisation will be in your hands.
What could be better than that?
Will Spain lead the world towards an anarchocapitalist future?
Jesus Huerta de Soto thinks it might, in an article so full of clarity, I almost cut myself reading it.
Hyperinflation or Great Depression? The 'Event Horizon' is close
If I'm reading him right, Dr Gary North is predicting that central bankers will continue propping up their government treasuries until a financial hyperinflationary 'Event Horizon' is reached.
Because of our hugely complex modern societies, urban society will collapse if the central bankers allow hyperinflation to occur. As central bankers are generally urban dwellers, who do not know one end of an unplucked chicken from another, the self-preservation instinct of central bankers will cause them to cut their government treasuries adrift at the moment just before the event horizon.
They will stop buying government bonds with counterfeit money. They will allow interest rates to gravitate upwards towards a more 'natural' level. (I.e. a lot higher than they are now.)
This 'Event Horizon' choice will immediately create a Great Depression in the economies thus affected, as unwanted and unnecessary businesses, currently propped up by false interest rates, collapse by the tens of thousand. Because governments will have no funds to 'bail these businesses out', due to being cut adrift by their own central bankers, and so long as governments do not resort to guns and bullets, these Great Depressions could be over quite quickly.
However, if as is likely, governments do resort to price controls, guns, and bullets, to 'prop up' these unwanted businesses, then we could be in these depressions for decades. In the UK's case, I think they will try to bounce us (probably successfully) into the Euro. But could the current Euro countries cope with a moribund Britain begging at their knees?
If central bankers do cave in to government pressure, and go past the event horizon with their counterfeit cheque books still open and their purchases of government bonds remaining at full tilt, the ensuing hyperinflation could kill millions of people in the 'western' world, as food riots and other revolutionary forces run amok in cities full of people who can create nothing worth bartering for in a society where food and energy suddenly command the vast majority of everyone's attention.
Think Argentina on steroids. Zimbabwe is perhaps the wrong analogy to use, because of its fairly small cities and the ability of much of its population to return to the land to feed itself and produce useful agriculural products which can then be bartered, plus a strong tribal tradition where you look after your own. After a hundred years of deliberately trying to destroy the family and the extended family, to create state subservience, the western world's welfare state socialists have even severed this potential lifeline.
The Weimar republic itself is also a bad example, because much of Germany's population at the time was still close to the land and could still generate the basics required for day-to-day living by popping over to Uncle Hans's farm and working all day slopping out the cow shed in return for a hatful of eggs. Or even in Austria by selling tasteless paintings to dumb-schmuck tourists on the streets of Vienna.
Could a graphic design consultant in North London barter his way into a hatful of eggs by 'selling' his logo creation skills in a hyperinflationary society where money is useless? Or more importantly, in Dr North's analysis, could a central banker barter his apparatchik political and financial blathering skills for a hot chicken sandwich? I wouldn't have thought so. I wouldn't even ask one to shine my shoes, as they would probably be incapable of even combing their own hair without help.
So expect a great big financial crunch, when central bankers know that the hyperinflation event horizon is near. They already know that they will be the first against the wall in a hyperinflationary situation, especially when there are lots of lamp-posts and piano wire around, therefore they will probably not allow it to happen. (At least we hope they won't.)
Purely from a personal perspective, a Great Depression may be fairly bad for most people, but central bankers aren't really going to suffer, are they? They'll still be picking up salaries of valuable money and will be the last to be made unemployed. In a hyperinflationary situation, they will be the first to go down, as the middle classes bear down upon the central banks armed with avocados and artichokes. I'll bet, for instance, that there weren't too many central bankers begging on the streets in the 1930s. So what would you do if you were in their shoes? I would go for a Great Depression choice every time and to heck with the car manufacturing plants in Sunderland.
So what you gonna do, Pilgrim? Is Uncle Gary right? Or is he being too spectacularly pessimistic, in the style of Marc Faber, Gerald Celente, Jim Rogers, and Peter Schiff?
Obviously, you may know that if I had to bet my own life on the opinions of the above gentlemen against the prognostications of Obama, Bernanke, Brown, and King, I would tend to go for the former. But that's just my humble opinion. In the meantime, while you're thinking about it, may I suggest:
Physical gold. Physical silver. Well-hidden. As much physical protection for your property as you can safely provide. Get yourself out of a large city and into the country. An exit strategy to a commodity-based or manufacturing-based economy, which produces something people need. Along with gold coins stuffed into a money belt buried somewhere unobtrusive in your back garden.
Just in case.
Of course, I'm assuming that Gordon Gecko Brown and other idiots do not sack all the central bankers and then with 'Emergency Powers', just start running the printing presses directly under the command of their own miserable government treasuries.
And then we will generate those same angry political forces which the Weimar republic created, and all of those bone-head 'intellectuals' in Britain, who refuse to lay the blame for anything at their paymaster government's door, will have all the British National Socialists they could ever wish for, to march against. If they aren't rounded up and shot first.
No, surely not. Politicians are far too sensible and long-sighted to be so stupid.
Aren't they?
Because of our hugely complex modern societies, urban society will collapse if the central bankers allow hyperinflation to occur. As central bankers are generally urban dwellers, who do not know one end of an unplucked chicken from another, the self-preservation instinct of central bankers will cause them to cut their government treasuries adrift at the moment just before the event horizon.
They will stop buying government bonds with counterfeit money. They will allow interest rates to gravitate upwards towards a more 'natural' level. (I.e. a lot higher than they are now.)
This 'Event Horizon' choice will immediately create a Great Depression in the economies thus affected, as unwanted and unnecessary businesses, currently propped up by false interest rates, collapse by the tens of thousand. Because governments will have no funds to 'bail these businesses out', due to being cut adrift by their own central bankers, and so long as governments do not resort to guns and bullets, these Great Depressions could be over quite quickly.
However, if as is likely, governments do resort to price controls, guns, and bullets, to 'prop up' these unwanted businesses, then we could be in these depressions for decades. In the UK's case, I think they will try to bounce us (probably successfully) into the Euro. But could the current Euro countries cope with a moribund Britain begging at their knees?
If central bankers do cave in to government pressure, and go past the event horizon with their counterfeit cheque books still open and their purchases of government bonds remaining at full tilt, the ensuing hyperinflation could kill millions of people in the 'western' world, as food riots and other revolutionary forces run amok in cities full of people who can create nothing worth bartering for in a society where food and energy suddenly command the vast majority of everyone's attention.
Think Argentina on steroids. Zimbabwe is perhaps the wrong analogy to use, because of its fairly small cities and the ability of much of its population to return to the land to feed itself and produce useful agriculural products which can then be bartered, plus a strong tribal tradition where you look after your own. After a hundred years of deliberately trying to destroy the family and the extended family, to create state subservience, the western world's welfare state socialists have even severed this potential lifeline.
The Weimar republic itself is also a bad example, because much of Germany's population at the time was still close to the land and could still generate the basics required for day-to-day living by popping over to Uncle Hans's farm and working all day slopping out the cow shed in return for a hatful of eggs. Or even in Austria by selling tasteless paintings to dumb-schmuck tourists on the streets of Vienna.
Could a graphic design consultant in North London barter his way into a hatful of eggs by 'selling' his logo creation skills in a hyperinflationary society where money is useless? Or more importantly, in Dr North's analysis, could a central banker barter his apparatchik political and financial blathering skills for a hot chicken sandwich? I wouldn't have thought so. I wouldn't even ask one to shine my shoes, as they would probably be incapable of even combing their own hair without help.
So expect a great big financial crunch, when central bankers know that the hyperinflation event horizon is near. They already know that they will be the first against the wall in a hyperinflationary situation, especially when there are lots of lamp-posts and piano wire around, therefore they will probably not allow it to happen. (At least we hope they won't.)
Purely from a personal perspective, a Great Depression may be fairly bad for most people, but central bankers aren't really going to suffer, are they? They'll still be picking up salaries of valuable money and will be the last to be made unemployed. In a hyperinflationary situation, they will be the first to go down, as the middle classes bear down upon the central banks armed with avocados and artichokes. I'll bet, for instance, that there weren't too many central bankers begging on the streets in the 1930s. So what would you do if you were in their shoes? I would go for a Great Depression choice every time and to heck with the car manufacturing plants in Sunderland.
So what you gonna do, Pilgrim? Is Uncle Gary right? Or is he being too spectacularly pessimistic, in the style of Marc Faber, Gerald Celente, Jim Rogers, and Peter Schiff?
Obviously, you may know that if I had to bet my own life on the opinions of the above gentlemen against the prognostications of Obama, Bernanke, Brown, and King, I would tend to go for the former. But that's just my humble opinion. In the meantime, while you're thinking about it, may I suggest:
Physical gold. Physical silver. Well-hidden. As much physical protection for your property as you can safely provide. Get yourself out of a large city and into the country. An exit strategy to a commodity-based or manufacturing-based economy, which produces something people need. Along with gold coins stuffed into a money belt buried somewhere unobtrusive in your back garden.
Just in case.
Of course, I'm assuming that Gordon Gecko Brown and other idiots do not sack all the central bankers and then with 'Emergency Powers', just start running the printing presses directly under the command of their own miserable government treasuries.
And then we will generate those same angry political forces which the Weimar republic created, and all of those bone-head 'intellectuals' in Britain, who refuse to lay the blame for anything at their paymaster government's door, will have all the British National Socialists they could ever wish for, to march against. If they aren't rounded up and shot first.
No, surely not. Politicians are far too sensible and long-sighted to be so stupid.
Aren't they?
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
False flag flu event unravels even further
We all know governments are incompetent, and that the bigger and more powerful they are the more incompetent they get, but the swine flu 'pandemic' just gets more ridiculous each day.
More real science here.
More real science here.
Global cooling continues
And if you want the real science behind this, rather than the cock and bull propagated by the watermelon socialists behind the global warming lobby (green on the outside, red on the inside), then try this excellent article, by George Giles.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Karl Marx was a communist!
No, really.
As a former die-hard religoid head-banging socialist, all of my favourite Austrian writings are in the area of curing people from this dreadful mentally disfiguring disease. Hence, 'Socialism' by Ludwig von Mises, 'A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism' by His Hoppe-ness, and 'The Road to Serfdom' by F.A.Hayek, are all on the well-thumbed shelf.
All marvellous. All brilliant. All salvationary. Particularly in my own personal case.
But no-one can beat Uncle Murray. In this tour de force, the Archangel Gabriel of the Austrian School shreds into Karl Marx like a collective tribe of ravenously famished Tasmanian Devils.
He starts with the fairly obvious line that Karl Marx was a communist, but then takes you from there into a whirlwind tour of a thousand years of history, in the way only Uncle Murray can, causing old socialists like me to laugh out loud at our utter stupidity at originally believing this bilge.
Yes, it's always good to top up my anti-socialism immunogens. Thank you Murray Rothbard.
The only question, once again, is how did he manage to read so much. Are there really 27 Murray Rothbards out there? It's the only rational explanation.
BTW, look out for the line on yachts.
As a former die-hard religoid head-banging socialist, all of my favourite Austrian writings are in the area of curing people from this dreadful mentally disfiguring disease. Hence, 'Socialism' by Ludwig von Mises, 'A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism' by His Hoppe-ness, and 'The Road to Serfdom' by F.A.Hayek, are all on the well-thumbed shelf.
All marvellous. All brilliant. All salvationary. Particularly in my own personal case.
But no-one can beat Uncle Murray. In this tour de force, the Archangel Gabriel of the Austrian School shreds into Karl Marx like a collective tribe of ravenously famished Tasmanian Devils.
He starts with the fairly obvious line that Karl Marx was a communist, but then takes you from there into a whirlwind tour of a thousand years of history, in the way only Uncle Murray can, causing old socialists like me to laugh out loud at our utter stupidity at originally believing this bilge.
Yes, it's always good to top up my anti-socialism immunogens. Thank you Murray Rothbard.
The only question, once again, is how did he manage to read so much. Are there really 27 Murray Rothbards out there? It's the only rational explanation.
BTW, look out for the line on yachts.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
The last post
Back in the stone age there were probably British post men complaining about their working conditions. The message then was probably the same as it should be now:
"If you don't like what you're doing, then go and do something else. The world does not owe you a living."
But Mandy knows that the Labour Party does owe the post men a living, because their union helps bankroll the socialist cause in Britain, and has done so for many decades.
So while the oil of small industry in Britain, cheques through the post, grinds to a halt due to a nationwide postal strike, causing further misery to those brave enough not to be lumpen employees, Mandy fiddles away with brinkmanship and other feeble foibles, to steal from working Britons, to hand tithes to the postal unions.
His only concern is can he get away with it. Can he continue to pour more yet untold billions down the maw of the postal unions, without those being forced to provide these resources marching on Downing Street and dragging Mandy and his quisling Gecko down from their high armoured residences and throwing them both into the Thames?
We did it to King James II in 1688. Perhaps we ought to do it to our new King Mandy the First, too?
How long does anyone think it would take Federal Express, UPS, or Deutsche Post, to start delivering letters in the UK if the Royal Mail monopoly was taken out from the statute book and then ceremoniously burnt at Tyburn Cross?
I reckon it would take about 17.562 nanoseconds.
"Oh, what about crofters without email living on isolated Scottish islands with brothers living on similarly remote Cornish islands who they need to send regular written updates to, about their business interests in islands off the Welsh coast. Their postal services might be slightly worse than two businesses right next to each other in London."
Well, we could argue about that, and I am sure I would win that argument, but we can leave that for another day. Because today, everyone's mail services are definitely identical to everyone else's, due to government monopoly, i.e. there is absolutely no service whatsoever. And it's costing us a fortune.
Even when the appalling Post Office is open, the letters service is terrible, expensive, and confusing. Just like everything else the dead hand of government touches.
Destroy their monopoly. Do it now. I thought all you socialists were opposed to monopoly anyway? So what on Earth are we waiting for?
No monopoly. No problem. The issue will disappear entirely in 24 hours, never to return. It is such a no-brainer, it defies belief that we haven't done it already. But then, with a bought-and-paid-for intellectual class in Britain, much that was once incredibly easy to understand is now tortuously bound in socialist rigmarole and clap-trap.
Just take that monopoly page out from the statute book, Mandy, and burn it. Maturin Towers will even be happy to pay you for the matches.
As the Meerkat says. Simples.
"If you don't like what you're doing, then go and do something else. The world does not owe you a living."
But Mandy knows that the Labour Party does owe the post men a living, because their union helps bankroll the socialist cause in Britain, and has done so for many decades.
So while the oil of small industry in Britain, cheques through the post, grinds to a halt due to a nationwide postal strike, causing further misery to those brave enough not to be lumpen employees, Mandy fiddles away with brinkmanship and other feeble foibles, to steal from working Britons, to hand tithes to the postal unions.
His only concern is can he get away with it. Can he continue to pour more yet untold billions down the maw of the postal unions, without those being forced to provide these resources marching on Downing Street and dragging Mandy and his quisling Gecko down from their high armoured residences and throwing them both into the Thames?
We did it to King James II in 1688. Perhaps we ought to do it to our new King Mandy the First, too?
How long does anyone think it would take Federal Express, UPS, or Deutsche Post, to start delivering letters in the UK if the Royal Mail monopoly was taken out from the statute book and then ceremoniously burnt at Tyburn Cross?
I reckon it would take about 17.562 nanoseconds.
"Oh, what about crofters without email living on isolated Scottish islands with brothers living on similarly remote Cornish islands who they need to send regular written updates to, about their business interests in islands off the Welsh coast. Their postal services might be slightly worse than two businesses right next to each other in London."
Well, we could argue about that, and I am sure I would win that argument, but we can leave that for another day. Because today, everyone's mail services are definitely identical to everyone else's, due to government monopoly, i.e. there is absolutely no service whatsoever. And it's costing us a fortune.
Even when the appalling Post Office is open, the letters service is terrible, expensive, and confusing. Just like everything else the dead hand of government touches.
Destroy their monopoly. Do it now. I thought all you socialists were opposed to monopoly anyway? So what on Earth are we waiting for?
No monopoly. No problem. The issue will disappear entirely in 24 hours, never to return. It is such a no-brainer, it defies belief that we haven't done it already. But then, with a bought-and-paid-for intellectual class in Britain, much that was once incredibly easy to understand is now tortuously bound in socialist rigmarole and clap-trap.
Just take that monopoly page out from the statute book, Mandy, and burn it. Maturin Towers will even be happy to pay you for the matches.
As the Meerkat says. Simples.
All-women shortlists: David Cameron chooses tokenism over principle
Sir Simon Huffchester paints David Cameron for what he is: Tony Blair Mk II.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Britain is still mired in recession, latest numbers show
I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.
Don't worry though, folks.
I'm sure the Bank of England will eventually print enough pounds to get prices growing again.
£10 million pounds for a bag of nuts, anyone?
Don't worry though, folks.
I'm sure the Bank of England will eventually print enough pounds to get prices growing again.
£10 million pounds for a bag of nuts, anyone?
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The first full day in Salamanca
So, the Mises Institute crosses the Atlantic and opens up a conference in Salamanca, the long-time home of the Spanish scholastics, who via the Spanish-Austrian Catholic Habsburg link transmitted their economic ideas to Vienna, hence to New York, hence to Maturin Towers?
And I'm here stuck in the Middle East (drinking Pina Colladas)?
Monkeys.
And I'm here stuck in the Middle East (drinking Pina Colladas)?
Monkeys.
I'm with Stupid
I know. Here's a plan.
You take a stalled economy, which has failed because of too much tax being extracted to pay for useless government programs.
You then try to help this stalled economy recover by adding more taxes and spending even more money on even more useless government programs.
This, alas, is what passes for 'radical free-market conservatism' in the UK.
George Osborne, the oily friend of shady Russian mafia billionaires, really is an idiot. Is he really the best financier the Conservative Party can find?
If Margaret Thatcher was dead, she would be turning in her grave.
You take a stalled economy, which has failed because of too much tax being extracted to pay for useless government programs.
You then try to help this stalled economy recover by adding more taxes and spending even more money on even more useless government programs.
This, alas, is what passes for 'radical free-market conservatism' in the UK.
George Osborne, the oily friend of shady Russian mafia billionaires, really is an idiot. Is he really the best financier the Conservative Party can find?
If Margaret Thatcher was dead, she would be turning in her grave.
The intellectual class in Britain - Bought and paid for
I was having a conversation with a friend of this site, yesterday, and the subject came up of the English intellectual class and its sheer apathy and supinity.
What exactly is wrong with them all?
From Thomas Becket through to Lord Acton, via Shakespeare and Cobden and Bright, the star of influence of England's intellectuals has sometimes shone very brightly, usually coinciding with an overall expansion in human freedom. But now, the historical quality of these people is a dying ember in a cold fire of docile passivity.
This is despite more people in England now perhaps claiming to be 'intellectuals' than have ever claimed this dubious title before.
Yes, there are exceptions, such as heroic Dr Sean Gabb, and the two Libertarian Alliances. However, where is the opposition to the state and its horrific power grabs in the last one hundred years, particularly in the last couple of years?
Where is the opposition to the state in the universities, in the media, in politics, and in every other nest of comfortable sinecured 'intellectualism'? To ask the question, obviously, is to know the answer.
Because virtually all of England's intellectuals are now bought and paid for.
The state has stolen its shilling from the working people and then handed this shilling over to the 'intellectual classes' via their jobs in its subsidised universities, in its licensed media, and particularly within its tame poodles at the BBC. It has bought their subservience and their support with a guaranteed daily dog bowl of stolen pensioned sustenance.
Perhaps their patron saint is the rotten professional northerner Melvyn Bragg, who has become a millionaire many times over through his unparalleled ability to wag his tail and lick the hands of his political masters?
The 'intellectuals' of England are bought and paid for. Just like camp dogs.
I have only one thing to say to all of these pathetic rent-paid-for Rovers, Fidos, and other assorted lap dogs.
Woof!
What exactly is wrong with them all?
From Thomas Becket through to Lord Acton, via Shakespeare and Cobden and Bright, the star of influence of England's intellectuals has sometimes shone very brightly, usually coinciding with an overall expansion in human freedom. But now, the historical quality of these people is a dying ember in a cold fire of docile passivity.
This is despite more people in England now perhaps claiming to be 'intellectuals' than have ever claimed this dubious title before.
Yes, there are exceptions, such as heroic Dr Sean Gabb, and the two Libertarian Alliances. However, where is the opposition to the state and its horrific power grabs in the last one hundred years, particularly in the last couple of years?
Where is the opposition to the state in the universities, in the media, in politics, and in every other nest of comfortable sinecured 'intellectualism'? To ask the question, obviously, is to know the answer.
Because virtually all of England's intellectuals are now bought and paid for.
The state has stolen its shilling from the working people and then handed this shilling over to the 'intellectual classes' via their jobs in its subsidised universities, in its licensed media, and particularly within its tame poodles at the BBC. It has bought their subservience and their support with a guaranteed daily dog bowl of stolen pensioned sustenance.
Perhaps their patron saint is the rotten professional northerner Melvyn Bragg, who has become a millionaire many times over through his unparalleled ability to wag his tail and lick the hands of his political masters?
The 'intellectuals' of England are bought and paid for. Just like camp dogs.
I have only one thing to say to all of these pathetic rent-paid-for Rovers, Fidos, and other assorted lap dogs.
Woof!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Who killed JFK?
Fifty years after the slaying of a US President, who dared to try to dismantle the military-industrial complex, the truth may finally be emerging:
=> The New York Times Shines a Light into the JFK-CIA-Joannides Scandal
So who does Maturin Towers think did it? Well, see if you can work that out from part of the speech delivered two years before the JFK killing, by outgoing President, Dwight E. Eisenhower:
=> The New York Times Shines a Light into the JFK-CIA-Joannides Scandal
So who does Maturin Towers think did it? Well, see if you can work that out from part of the speech delivered two years before the JFK killing, by outgoing President, Dwight E. Eisenhower:
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961
Jeff Randall - Britain should get out of Afghanistan
As Tom Harrington notes, the orthodoxy of 'reasonable' opinion in Britain, that we should be killing Afghanis to prop up a corrupt US satrap in Kabul, to enable US oil exports from central Aisa, is beginning to crack.
Well done Jeff Randall for daring to step outside the fold:
=> Make Britain safer
The blood of all the dead and maimed British troops lies on the hands of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, along with all the dead Afghanis who have been slaughtered in the carnage.
We should get our troops out of this disgusting imperial bloodbath right now.
Well done Jeff Randall for daring to step outside the fold:
=> Make Britain safer
The blood of all the dead and maimed British troops lies on the hands of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, along with all the dead Afghanis who have been slaughtered in the carnage.
We should get our troops out of this disgusting imperial bloodbath right now.
Why I love Dubai
The longer I spend in Dubai the more cleansed I feel, because I am away from the snake-pit of socialist welfare-warfare rent-seeking politics that passes for life in modern Britain.I am away from 'The Tube', postal strikes, postal unions, the NHS, Gordon Gecko Brown, David Cameron, quantitative counterfeiting from the Bank of England, the BBC, the British police, environmentalist bums, socialist bums, and other destroyers of civilisation and other legions of lazy self-righteous rent-seeking parasites.
I couldn't tell you what Gordon Brown has been saying, and what the headlines are in the Times, the Daily Mail, or the Daily Labourgraph.
Last night, I also sat on a private beach, underneath the 'Burj Al Arab', watching the sun go down over the Dubai Palm, while sipping a Bombay Sapphire gin and tonic. The view I had of the hotel was virtually identical to the shot above.
And for a few wonderful hours, the horrors of thinking about life in Britain melted away to nothing. If I was a single man, I would never go back. And it would be a joy never to hand the rats who run Britain another pound of tax, to prop up their rotten miserable little US imperial satrap.
I'm also surrounded by highly intelligent Arabs who cherish the family, moral values, self reliance, zero taxes, and entrepreneurship.
Yes, Dubai has its problems, which we needn't go into now, but for at least a little while, it is great to be outside the bubble of daily British life.
Plus, I'm really learning how to haggle in 'souks'.
Marvellous.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Evolutionary fitness
A great PDF article on evolutionary fitness and how to develop a healthy program of food intake and exercise based upon our lives in the Neolithic.
The best part, is that the article says you should never exercise for more than 40 minutes, under any circumstances.
I can live with that! :-)
=> Evolutionary Fitness
The best part, is that the article says you should never exercise for more than 40 minutes, under any circumstances.
I can live with that! :-)
=> Evolutionary Fitness
The regulation of the shape of toilet seats
In a classic speech, Tom Di Lorenzo shreds the regulatory system that passes for 'Hallowed Democracy', in the failing welfare-warfare states of the western world, with their populations where more than 1 in 20 is a regulatory bureaucrat preying on the rest of us:
=> The Regulatory Imperium (MP3)
=> The Regulatory Imperium (MP3)
Walter Block on Socialized Medicine
In a superb analysis of socialised medicine, Uncle Walter takes apart the socialist clap-trap behind disastrous state-run health care systems, rotten limb by rotten limb.
Canadian lovers of the appalling Canadian health system will want to block their ears about twenty minutes in:
=> Blog description of speech (including link to MP3)
=> MP3 file
Go, Uncle Walter, go.
Canadian lovers of the appalling Canadian health system will want to block their ears about twenty minutes in:
=> Blog description of speech (including link to MP3)
=> MP3 file
Go, Uncle Walter, go.
The 2nd American Revolution
Gerald Celente predicts a second American revolution, in a devastating piece where absolutely no punches are pulled.
Don't bet against him.
His predictive record is unparalleled.
Don't bet against him.
His predictive record is unparalleled.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Brrr... Wrap up warm - Global warming is making it colder
Environmentalist morons everywhere must be hating the fact that the Earth is getting cooler at the moment. Muppets:
=> Global Warming is Melting
UPDATE: Another excellent article on why the global warming scam is crumbling:
=> Climate change dominoes fall
=> Global Warming is Melting
UPDATE: Another excellent article on why the global warming scam is crumbling:
=> Climate change dominoes fall
Government crime: Or did I repeat myself?
The Northster explains Gresham's law and how it applies to bimetallism and the modern counterfeited monetary system:
=> The Fed's Bad Money
=> The Fed's Bad Money
Friday, October 16, 2009
Deflation and Liberty
Currently, the vast majority of the world's Keynesian economic "gurus", all of whom failed to spot the greatest depression in history, are pushing the hilarious line that we should all be terrified of the boogie-bear of "deflation".
Of course, AngloAustria wonders why the entire 19th century in both the UK and the US, which saw the greatest economic growth in the whole of human history, was marked by a hundred years of almost continuous deflation, give or take the odd statist war.
But Jörg Guido Hülsmann absolutely nails this fantastical mass-inflationary boogie-bear in the following brilliant PDF. Read it and weep:
=> http://mises.org/books/deflationandliberty.pdf
Of course, AngloAustria wonders why the entire 19th century in both the UK and the US, which saw the greatest economic growth in the whole of human history, was marked by a hundred years of almost continuous deflation, give or take the odd statist war.
But Jörg Guido Hülsmann absolutely nails this fantastical mass-inflationary boogie-bear in the following brilliant PDF. Read it and weep:
=> http://mises.org/books/deflationandliberty.pdf
The myth of the Marshall Plan
Many of the world's dicators, particularly in Africa, drive around in armoured Mercedes paid for unwittingly by western taxpayers. Much of this funding comes in the form of "aid" trying to match the "success" of the Marsall Plan, which followed WWII in Europe.
Therefore, to stop these dicators, we need to destroy the myth that the Marshall Plan was in any way useful.
This is done spectacularly well by Tyler Cowen in the linked-to PDF below:
=> http://www.gmu.edu/jbc/Tyler/Marshall_Plan.pdf
This debunks the five central myths of the Marshall Plan:
Myth #1: The Marshall Plan played a significant role in the recovery of Western Europe following WWII
Myth #2: The Marshall Plan encouraged free markets and sound economic policy
Myth #3: The Marshall Plan boosted the American economy
Myth #4: The Marshall Plan's operation was not influenced by domestic US special interests
Myth #5: US foreign policy, following WWII, was one of "free trade" and an "Open Door"
Hopefully such excellent research, debunking the myth of the Marshall Plan, will help free the people of Africa from ongoing dictatorial oppression and debilitating welfare dependency.
Therefore, to stop these dicators, we need to destroy the myth that the Marshall Plan was in any way useful.
This is done spectacularly well by Tyler Cowen in the linked-to PDF below:
=> http://www.gmu.edu/jbc/Tyler/Marshall_Plan.pdf
This debunks the five central myths of the Marshall Plan:
Myth #1: The Marshall Plan played a significant role in the recovery of Western Europe following WWII
Myth #2: The Marshall Plan encouraged free markets and sound economic policy
Myth #3: The Marshall Plan boosted the American economy
Myth #4: The Marshall Plan's operation was not influenced by domestic US special interests
Myth #5: US foreign policy, following WWII, was one of "free trade" and an "Open Door"
Hopefully such excellent research, debunking the myth of the Marshall Plan, will help free the people of Africa from ongoing dictatorial oppression and debilitating welfare dependency.
Crickets
I have now watched every film that I think worth watching on the current Etihad, Emirates, and Virgin Atlantic movie rolls.
So thank the Lord for Mises.org podcasts!
The Tom Woods podcasts are particularly entertaining. He tries to work the word 'crickets' into every one. I now play a game of trying to guess where it's going to come before he says it.
Hey, it helps pass the time in an educational way:
=> http://mises.org/media.aspx?action=author&ID=424
So thank the Lord for Mises.org podcasts!
The Tom Woods podcasts are particularly entertaining. He tries to work the word 'crickets' into every one. I now play a game of trying to guess where it's going to come before he says it.
Hey, it helps pass the time in an educational way:
=> http://mises.org/media.aspx?action=author&ID=424
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The Biggest Bust Will Follow the Biggest Bubble
Excellent Bill Bonner article on the coming curves of the Depression, the prospects for Dubai, global warming, and much else.
Harrods to sell gold bullion for first time
Tom Harrington spots the growing trend for gold sales in the UK.
Where communism meets selfishness
I'm currently re-reading Justin Raimondo's excellent "Enemy of the State", his concise biography of Murray Rothbard. I'm currently up to the bit where Rothbard lays into the proto-Objectivists in New York, for wanting all of humanity to become virtual "communoid" clones of each other (all presumably smoking very rational brands of cigarette).This is just before the Reisman split.
Superb.
Especially if you need any ammunition to deal with infestations of modern Objectivists.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The importance of being Ludwig
Uncle George Reisman writes an excellent tribute on the importance of Ludwig von Mises to the future of mankind.
Flash Forward flash in the pan
I must say, I've been dreadfully disappointed by 'Flash Forward', the most heralded American TV import since 'The Bionic Man'.With a brilliant 'Lost'-like idea, of everyone falling unconscious for two minutes, and then waking up with premonitions, it soon tailed off into the usual cliches of 'Government is Good', 'Heroic FBI officers saving the world', predictable dialogue, awful tinny music, and the more senior the person in the US government machine, the more female and the more black they are.
Indeed, you can almost work out someones seniority on sight, in the glorious mankind-saving machine that is the US government in American TV, by their skin melatonin content and their X-chromosome ratio.
It's the white guys at the bottom, then the black guys above them, and then the black women above them. And all of them use the same corny lines taken from the authorised US scriptwriters' book of cheesy phrases. "You gotta do what you gotta do", "I just wanted some me time", "Suck it up", etc, etc, ad nauseam, in that brutal mechanistic way typical of "Fringe", "Stargate Universe", and all the other "Government is Good" twaddle that passes for 'cutting edge' entertainment on our TV screens.
It makes you realise just how good 'Lost' is, when you endure such tedious state-loving rot. What was funniest was when the most senior government drone appeared (a black woman) and complained about the FBI men having spent too much money on their research. Since when did anyone in Mordor-on-the-Potomac ever complain about their people spending too much of other people's money? At that point I just switched off.
No doubt in Flash Forward the FBI will eventually save the world and the evil people will turn out to be some white men in some rogue part of some private "free market" corporation.
Well, maybe. Fortunately I won't be sticking around long enough to find out.
Poor old Joseph Fiennes. Although his American accent is much better than Hugh Laurie's, fancy having to deliver such dreadful dialogue after having been so wonderful in 'Shakespeare in Love'.
As the Great Bard himself may have put it, if forced to listen to such appalling script writing; "That it should have come to this!"
No doubt Fiennes' pay cheques are making up for the disappointment. So good luck to him on that front, at least.
I wonder if he'll make as much as Hugh Laurie? And don't get me started on 'House' having been forced to give up his opiates by the genuflection of his own scriptwriters to the DEA.
A plague on all their houses.
Cash for Clunkers Success
I just love this graphic on Karen De Coster's Lew Rockwell post, explaining the "success" of Obama's Cash for Clunkers program:
Fantastic! :-)
Fantastic! :-)
Madness! Why I know I'm not Peter Schiff
I'm about to embark on a lightning trip to New York to deliver a 2-hour lecture on finance, in Wall Street, followed by an immediate return to the UK.
And here's why I personally think this 'Green-Shoots' recovery is a figment of Ben Bernanke's over-active imagination. Because this is going to be an economy class trip!
I went into the City and derivatives a couple of years ago, to both understand finance better after reading 'Man, Economy, and State', to be in a position in a few years time to help the coming Austrian revolution, and to also always travel business class, after years of schlepping it in coach while working in the IT sector.
But the credit crunch has put paid to all of that.
Yes, crossing the Atlantic twice in 24 hours really sticks it to the greens, but to cross it twice in cattle is really going to stick it to my poor aching body.
I just hope I haven't seen all of the in-flight movies.
Fortunately, the magic of online check-in has allowed me to change my seat from 62G (Yikes!) to 35G. Yes, it's not much of an improvement, but it'll be an extra inch of leg-room, and an extra inch wider, and a tiny bit quieter.
I bet Peter Schiff doesn't have to subject himself to this kind of treatment.
So why am I subjecting myself to this torture? Well, it's a new business opportunity which I'm keen to explore, and if it goes well, I could be in a position to at least demand 'Premium Economy' next time, if not the full Business Class banana, before the UK and US economies really collapse in a couple of years' time.
But there's more.
Because after I get back late Friday night, on Saturday morning I'm flying out to Dubai, for two weeks.
Fortunately, for this trip, I'm turning left at the door and going Business. Thank the Lord! They better have plenty of champagne on board, because I'm going to need it.
Do you need any more evidence? Forget the West. The money is in the East, my friend. So go East!
Have you started learning Arabic or Mandarin yet? D'you not think you ought to?
You may find it hard (I'm finding Mandarin really tough), but at least get your children immersed in Mandarin, if you should get the opportunity.
The brain's ability to learn languages fluently freezes at puberty, so this will best be done before the age of 14, if at all possible.
Good luck.
And here's why I personally think this 'Green-Shoots' recovery is a figment of Ben Bernanke's over-active imagination. Because this is going to be an economy class trip!
I went into the City and derivatives a couple of years ago, to both understand finance better after reading 'Man, Economy, and State', to be in a position in a few years time to help the coming Austrian revolution, and to also always travel business class, after years of schlepping it in coach while working in the IT sector.
But the credit crunch has put paid to all of that.
Yes, crossing the Atlantic twice in 24 hours really sticks it to the greens, but to cross it twice in cattle is really going to stick it to my poor aching body.
I just hope I haven't seen all of the in-flight movies.
Fortunately, the magic of online check-in has allowed me to change my seat from 62G (Yikes!) to 35G. Yes, it's not much of an improvement, but it'll be an extra inch of leg-room, and an extra inch wider, and a tiny bit quieter.
I bet Peter Schiff doesn't have to subject himself to this kind of treatment.
So why am I subjecting myself to this torture? Well, it's a new business opportunity which I'm keen to explore, and if it goes well, I could be in a position to at least demand 'Premium Economy' next time, if not the full Business Class banana, before the UK and US economies really collapse in a couple of years' time.
But there's more.
Because after I get back late Friday night, on Saturday morning I'm flying out to Dubai, for two weeks.
Fortunately, for this trip, I'm turning left at the door and going Business. Thank the Lord! They better have plenty of champagne on board, because I'm going to need it.
Do you need any more evidence? Forget the West. The money is in the East, my friend. So go East!
Have you started learning Arabic or Mandarin yet? D'you not think you ought to?
You may find it hard (I'm finding Mandarin really tough), but at least get your children immersed in Mandarin, if you should get the opportunity.
The brain's ability to learn languages fluently freezes at puberty, so this will best be done before the age of 14, if at all possible.
Good luck.
Who needs state-bloated universities?
You want to learn mathematics to degree level? Here was the old primary choice:
1. Take three years out of your life, put yourself into horrendous debt, and pay the state-bloated charges of a state-bloated university, to subsidise the "old socialist" views of a tired mathematics lecturer hack and their tenured cronies.
And now here's the new choice:
2. Pay nothing, and work your way through the Kahn Academy in your own time, while you keep working to pay the bills:
=> http://www.khanacademy.org/
The state-licensed gatekeepers of knowledge are coming down.
Excellent.
1. Take three years out of your life, put yourself into horrendous debt, and pay the state-bloated charges of a state-bloated university, to subsidise the "old socialist" views of a tired mathematics lecturer hack and their tenured cronies.
And now here's the new choice:
2. Pay nothing, and work your way through the Kahn Academy in your own time, while you keep working to pay the bills:
=> http://www.khanacademy.org/
The state-licensed gatekeepers of knowledge are coming down.
Excellent.
Exposed: The Swine Flu Hoax
Great Lew Rockwell article on the pandemic Gordon Brown wanted to be more serious so he could have something to do:
=> http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/bosworth1.1.1.html
Thanks to Paul.
=> http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/bosworth1.1.1.html
Thanks to Paul.
Uncle Gary kick starts the slumbering AngloAustria
The "free speech" by Uncle Gary North, on your calling in life, which brought your reluctant English Austrian back from the beach:
=> http://www.lewrockwell.com/podcast/?p=episode&name=2009-08-31_136_making_a_difference_in_the_world.mp3
Listen out for the line to Lew Rockwell, on the benefits of being paid.
=> http://www.lewrockwell.com/podcast/?p=episode&name=2009-08-31_136_making_a_difference_in_the_world.mp3
Listen out for the line to Lew Rockwell, on the benefits of being paid.
Sky News political debates
Sky News have recently been running a campaign to get Gordon "Gecko" Brown to dare to appear in a 'Leaders Debate'. Although they have finally managed to get the craven man to finally agree to this (after Mandy will have ordered him to do it), what was really interesting was the video they kept pumping out 24 hours a day, to force Mandy's well-manicured hand.
Alas, I can't find a copy of this either on the Sky News site, or on YouTube, but the essentials of it were this:
"They want to have power" - Cut to three shots of Cameron, Clegg, and Brown - "They want your taxes" - Cut to various shots of bureaucrats spending money - "And they want your vote"
Now I don't know whether the author of this script was a closet Hans Hoppe fan, but I reckon it's pretty much impossible to more succinctly state the reasoning behind the ideology of democracy.
If you lend these idiots your vote, you thus lend them your power and thus the ability to empty your wallet, whenever they feel like it, to pay off their clients.
So if you want an end to these idiots attempting to run your life, to their vast personal benefit, you know what you've got to do.
Don't vote.
The day that every genuine tax payer stops voting for these muppets is the day that marks our victory over them. They will have no legitimacy at that point, and therefore no taxes and no power.
So now you know why there is a continuing campaign to encourage us to vote, mainly led by the Westminster village cheerleaders in the government licensed media, "or lose the right to criticise any newly elected government".
If I refuse to vote for one of three selected Mafia Capos in a Henley Organised Crime election, does this mean I lose the right to criticise the local Mafia when it robs me on its next protection racket run?
I should coco.
So well done, Sky News, for condensing this message so brilliantly, if albeit unwittingly, about the link between voting and being robbed by criminals.
UPDATE: As Paul says in the comments, no-one puts the message above any better than Uncle George Carlin:
Alas, I can't find a copy of this either on the Sky News site, or on YouTube, but the essentials of it were this:
"They want to have power" - Cut to three shots of Cameron, Clegg, and Brown - "They want your taxes" - Cut to various shots of bureaucrats spending money - "And they want your vote"
Now I don't know whether the author of this script was a closet Hans Hoppe fan, but I reckon it's pretty much impossible to more succinctly state the reasoning behind the ideology of democracy.
If you lend these idiots your vote, you thus lend them your power and thus the ability to empty your wallet, whenever they feel like it, to pay off their clients.
So if you want an end to these idiots attempting to run your life, to their vast personal benefit, you know what you've got to do.
Don't vote.
The day that every genuine tax payer stops voting for these muppets is the day that marks our victory over them. They will have no legitimacy at that point, and therefore no taxes and no power.
So now you know why there is a continuing campaign to encourage us to vote, mainly led by the Westminster village cheerleaders in the government licensed media, "or lose the right to criticise any newly elected government".
If I refuse to vote for one of three selected Mafia Capos in a Henley Organised Crime election, does this mean I lose the right to criticise the local Mafia when it robs me on its next protection racket run?
I should coco.
So well done, Sky News, for condensing this message so brilliantly, if albeit unwittingly, about the link between voting and being robbed by criminals.
UPDATE: As Paul says in the comments, no-one puts the message above any better than Uncle George Carlin:
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
How Much Vitamin D Do You Really Need?
While living on airplanes over the summer, I've been taking about 5,000 I.U. of Vitamin D3 each day. You can buy 5,000 I.U. doses, here.
Obviously, while all around me have sniffled and coughed their way through the entire world's recycled collection of colds, coughs, and weaponized accidentally-released flus, I've been breathing the free clear air of the blessed.
As one who used to spend half the year with some form of cold, this has been a great relief. For more on Vitamin D, try this.
For my sins, I know someone who is very close to the UK's NHS 'Task Force' on swine flu. He's never heard of Vitamin D and its ability to fend off flu. And neither has anyone else he knows on the 'Task Force'.
Well, at least the hundreds of millions the Labour government has just spent on untested flu shots, from pharmaceutical companies who will no doubt contribute towards the Labour party at the next election, has not been wasted on anything as cheap and simple as 5000 I.U. Vitamin D pills.
For more on government ineptness over the mysterious swine flu, which has never been anywhere near any swine, try here.
Remember, if the idiots and morons in any government near you try to make their death medicine vaccines compulsory, to make all that spending on them seem reasonable, then do whatever it takes to avoid taking these deadly organomercury cocktails of untested viral poisons.
Later on you can ask these same governments whether the whole swine flu affair was caused by the accidental release of a weaponized strain of the 1918 Bird Flu virus.
Some people, of course, have said that this has been a conspiracy to 'test' the virus out, and to deliberately induce a mass panic to take our eyes off the global inflation crisis.
Poppycock, I say. If it is a weaponized flu that is currently going around the world, its release was entirely accidental, in fact probably the definitive government cock-up. Just like every other government cock-up.
Obviously, while all around me have sniffled and coughed their way through the entire world's recycled collection of colds, coughs, and weaponized accidentally-released flus, I've been breathing the free clear air of the blessed.
As one who used to spend half the year with some form of cold, this has been a great relief. For more on Vitamin D, try this.
For my sins, I know someone who is very close to the UK's NHS 'Task Force' on swine flu. He's never heard of Vitamin D and its ability to fend off flu. And neither has anyone else he knows on the 'Task Force'.
Well, at least the hundreds of millions the Labour government has just spent on untested flu shots, from pharmaceutical companies who will no doubt contribute towards the Labour party at the next election, has not been wasted on anything as cheap and simple as 5000 I.U. Vitamin D pills.
For more on government ineptness over the mysterious swine flu, which has never been anywhere near any swine, try here.
Remember, if the idiots and morons in any government near you try to make their death medicine vaccines compulsory, to make all that spending on them seem reasonable, then do whatever it takes to avoid taking these deadly organomercury cocktails of untested viral poisons.
Later on you can ask these same governments whether the whole swine flu affair was caused by the accidental release of a weaponized strain of the 1918 Bird Flu virus.
Some people, of course, have said that this has been a conspiracy to 'test' the virus out, and to deliberately induce a mass panic to take our eyes off the global inflation crisis.
Poppycock, I say. If it is a weaponized flu that is currently going around the world, its release was entirely accidental, in fact probably the definitive government cock-up. Just like every other government cock-up.
Tweet tweet
Crikey, I think I've figured out Twitter. I've embedded a widget on the right-hand side, where you can link to my "Tweets" (if that's the right word).
I still haven't worked out how to 'follow' anyone, but what the heck. It's a start.
I still haven't worked out how to 'follow' anyone, but what the heck. It's a start.
I Aten't Dead
"I Aten't Dead" was the catch phrase of Granny Weatherwax, one of my favourite characters in the Discworld series. Like the apocryphal "borrowing" witch, I've just been resting, folks.
But Uncle Gary has spurred me once more to man the breach, with his talk on fighting the enemy.
Alas, I think the 4,000 word diatribes may be a thing of history (except occasionally), as I have discovered that time really is the most precious of resources. However, until I spot Mises.org opening up a UK franchise, which I'll gladly volunteer to work for, the flag of Austrianism must be kept flying in England, somehow, somewhere, while the slough of British socialism hisses and snarls its way towards a horrible One World government, via bin inspectors who will trawl their way through your garbage, so they can fine you a thousand pounds for failing to recycle all of your potato peelings.
That it should come to this.
Onward, fellow believers in liberty. We shall not stand for these pygmies, their self-loathing hatred, and their propensity to steal from everyone in the name of making everyone better off.
Unfortunately, there's little we can do directly to get them off our backs, while the vast majority of the population believes in democracy, so let's just try to laugh at them instead, until their rampant Ponzi systems of inflation, taxation, debt, and regulation, collapse of their own accord.
Let us raise a toast to that glorious day. It may be sooner than we think.
Pip pip!!
But Uncle Gary has spurred me once more to man the breach, with his talk on fighting the enemy.
Alas, I think the 4,000 word diatribes may be a thing of history (except occasionally), as I have discovered that time really is the most precious of resources. However, until I spot Mises.org opening up a UK franchise, which I'll gladly volunteer to work for, the flag of Austrianism must be kept flying in England, somehow, somewhere, while the slough of British socialism hisses and snarls its way towards a horrible One World government, via bin inspectors who will trawl their way through your garbage, so they can fine you a thousand pounds for failing to recycle all of your potato peelings.
That it should come to this.
Onward, fellow believers in liberty. We shall not stand for these pygmies, their self-loathing hatred, and their propensity to steal from everyone in the name of making everyone better off.
Unfortunately, there's little we can do directly to get them off our backs, while the vast majority of the population believes in democracy, so let's just try to laugh at them instead, until their rampant Ponzi systems of inflation, taxation, debt, and regulation, collapse of their own accord.
Let us raise a toast to that glorious day. It may be sooner than we think.
Pip pip!!
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