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Subsidized Food Programs: 100 Million Americans

“You may have heard that 47 million Americans are on food stamps, or as they call it these days, SNAP: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. What about subsidized lunches for children? Add 32 million. What about school breakfast programs? What about WIC — Women, Infants, and Children? Don’t forget snacks at day care centers. Then there is the Special Milk Program for schools and a Summer Food Service Program. When schools close, the subsidies still flow. But the small farmer, in whose name the farm subsidy programs exist, disappeared after World War II. Only 2% of Americans live on farms. Then who wins? Agribusiness.” Continue reading →

Senior Italian parliament economist on Ludwig von Mises and the current economic crisis

“The vision Mises had about inflation as an illusion imposed is not so far from the Ricardian idea that government bonds are not net wealth, since future generations will have to bear their burden. Inflation and public debt, then, are two sides of the same coin, because they create substantial intergenerational redistributive effects that policy makers cannot evaluate ex-ante. We are realising today how accurate Mises was in his predictions. Mises had these issues clear in his mind and implicitly warned central bankers of the risk of losing money to its real meaning and of exposing the economy to the risk of currency devaluation.” Continue reading →

Crushing the Middle Class

“The policies of central banks, combined with those of overbearing government, are crushing the middle class and with them the single most important bastion of democracy. Students of history recognize this trend as dangerous. People who believe that society offers no hope of improvement are often willing to enlist in open class warfare and subscribe to the views of dangerous demagogues. Perhaps this is the direction that Washington, Brussels, and Tokyo want to go? We should take great efforts in spreading the word that freedom is good for everyone, not just the rich.” Continue reading →

The Internet Archive Rescues Bitcoiners From Banking Oblivion

“Yes, the Internet Archive. The outfit that so diligently records our web history also runs its own bank — The Internet Archive Federal Credit Union, or IAFCU, based out of New Brunswick, New Jersey. And when Hockenhull needed somewhere to turn, Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle gave him the means to keep his company alive. Since then, the IAFCU has taken on a half-dozen Bitcoin businesses, such as BitBox, giving them a critical link to the U.S. financial system. The Internet Archive’s role as the backer of one of the country’s most Bitcoin-friendly financial institutions is a bit of an unlikely tale.” Continue reading →

FDA approves first brain wave test for ADHD

“US regulators on Monday approved the first brain wave test for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, saying it may improve the accuracy of diagnoses by medical experts. Cases of ADHD are on the rise in the U.S., as are the number of prescriptions for stimulants doled out to young people who appear to have difficulty concentrating or controlling impulses. The new test, known as the Neuropsychiatric EEG-Based Assessment Aid (NEBA) System, measures electrical impulses given off by neurons in the brain. ‘The theta/beta ratio has been shown to be higher in children and adolescents with ADHD than in children without it,’ the FDA said.” Continue reading →

Chinese court compensates rape victim’s mother after labor camp sentencing

“A Chinese court awarded damages to the mother of a rape victim after she was sent to a labour camp for demanding her daughter’s attackers be punished, a spokesman said on Monday. Tang Hui, who became a figurehead for critics of the ‘re-education through labour’ system after she was condemned to 18 months in a camp, won a total of 2,641 yuan ($430) following an appeal, a court spokesman surnamed Zhang told AFP. The court in Changsha, the capital of the central province of Hunan, awarded compensation on the grounds that local authorities had violated Tang’s personal freedom and caused her ‘psychological damage’, Zhang said.” Continue reading →

Semi-Automatic Rifle Reporting Mandated in (Mexican) Border States

“The Obama Administration now requires gun dealers in states bordering on Mexico to report anyone who buys two semi-automatic rifles in a week’s time. A panel of three federal judges has upheld this. Gun dealers in these states are affected: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and California. The official explanation? It’s to keep guns from flowing into Mexico. The government has no similar plan for gun dealers in states on the Canadian border. Where is the ACLU on this one? Missing in action. Back when the Department of Justice ran its ‘sell guns to drug lords’ operation, called ‘Fast and Furious,’ there was no reporting required.” Continue reading →

All I’ll Say About Treyvon Martin

“There is a disparity of hysteria because in the Treyvon Martin case the outrage is horizontal, toward a citizen, but in the Ibragim Todashev case the outrage must be vertical, toward the State. Ibragim is ignored for the same reason that infants and children killed by US drone strikes are ignored, and the same reason the death of Abdulrahman Al Awlaki is ignored. Because the heartstrings of irrational mobs are loyal instruments in the hands of the media, and the media knows slaves may only criticize other slaves. They must not criticize masters.” Continue reading →