Essays

The First Step to a Free Detroit: Let Them Work

"What might the ordinary people of Detroit achieve if all barriers to the free use of their labor were removed? What if taxes were eliminated, allowing workers to keep all of their pay? We could expect the early emergence of personal services, such as hairdressers, barbershops, cleaning services, home maintenance, babysitting, etc. If capital has confidence that it can be protected, then next we could expect to see small scale capital-intensive enterprises spring up, such as food vendors, private taxis, bodegas, and tobacco shops. If these are allowed to flourish, then we could expect to see larger capital intensive enterprises arise, such as small scale factories." Continue reading →

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Thai doctor: “I’m not a slave to insurance companies or regulations…”

"People often presume that the medical care in the developed West is the best in the world. But over the years, it’s become a centralized, bureaucratic mess. In Thailand, private medical care is excellent, efficient, and tremendously cost effective. Many of the international hospitals are more like five-star hotels and luxury shopping malls. And there’s very little waiting. The quality of the care is also first rate. Many of the doctors were trained at western universities and fellowships. One of the physicians I met yesterday received her MD in Singapore, plus a Masters degree and PhD in her field at a top university in California, and then another fellowship at Harvard." Continue reading →

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Obamachow: Is National Food Insurance The Next Big Idea?

"John Goodman of Southern Methodist University, a leading voice for free market medicine, has asked us to imagine what our groceries stores would look like if they were run like the medical system. In this piece, we will take his observations and add some of our own. As you enter the store, note that there will be no prices posted. In addition, the price you pay will vary according to who you are and how you will pay. You’ll have to come in during office hours because the store will close on weekends and holidays. What you want probably won’t be on the shelf. You will be told to come back later. If you do find what you want, you will have to wait to pay, perhaps a long time, [..]" Continue reading →

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Our Huge, Stinking Mountain of Debt: Student Loans

"Notice anything about this chart of student loan debt owed to the Federal government? Direct Federal loans to students have exploded higher, from $93 billion in 2007 to $560 billion in early 2013. This gargantuan sum exceeds the gross domestic product (GDP) of entire nations—for example, Sweden ($538 billion) and Iran ($521 billion). Non-Federal student loans total another $500 billion, bringing the total to over $1 trillion. Does this look remotely sustainable? Does it look remotely healthy for students, society, taxpayers now on the hook for a half-trillion dollars in potential defaults or the U.S. economy?" Continue reading →

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A Measure of Our Impoverishment (Which They Hope You Haven’t Noticed)

"The federal government can fudge – can outright lie – about the various indicators of economic health. Can shift perceptions of reality. But reality can’t be dismissed so easily. If it takes more dollars to purchase cocoa or sugar then the price of a Creme Egg or chocolate bar has to increase commensurately in order to maintain the same equilibrium between the cost to make the item and the profit it earns. When the economy is flooded with funny money, the value of a given thing remains the same but its apparent cost increases. It takes more sheaves of funny money to buy the same item. This is inflation." Continue reading →

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Hong Kong Wrong [2006]

"Though a colony of socialist Britain, Hong Kong followed a laissez-faire capitalist policy, thanks largely to a British civil servant, John Cowperthwaite. Assigned to handle Hong Kong's financial affairs in 1945, Cowperthwaite was so famously laissez-faire that he refused to collect economic statistics for fear this would only give government officials an excuse for more meddling. The results of his policy were remarkable. At the end of World War II, Hong Kong was a dirt-poor island with a per-capita income about one-quarter that of Britain's. By 1997, when sovereignty was transferred to China, its per-capita income was roughly equal to that of the departing colonial power." Continue reading →

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Employment: Trending Down

"Charts and data provided by longtime correspondent B.C. reflect what many know from first-hand experience: employment is trending down. The growth rate of employment is declining over time, as positive growth weakens and recessionary declines deepen. Though the 3-year average annual change has improved to near-zero, the 5-year (i.e. longer-term trendline) is still solidly negative. There are two other trends in employment: 1. Decline of full-time jobs and the rise of part-time jobs 2. Stagnation of high-wage employment and increases in lower-wage job sectors." Continue reading →

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The future of work: on to a freelance model?

"If work is changing and freelance-like work is on the rise, bringing with it increased freedom, autonomy and diversity but also probably added unpredictability in terms of steady incomes, then we’ll probably also need a societal change and start questioning our need to own things and how we approach borrowing and lending money. For many, facing all this change can seem daunting, which was probably why at some point of our interesting dinner conversation my friend suggested that for a couple maybe one could pursue a project-based/entrepreneurial activity of some sort while the other could guarantee some 'stability' from a 'traditional' job." Continue reading →

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Why I renounced US citizenship

"I flew to Switzerland and was hired by two large international firms at the same time within a few weeks, both offering double the pay and with better benefits. I had to choose. Months later, my spouse joined me there. 11 years later, I learned that Swiss banks were rejecting little people simply because they had US citizenship and as a result of US policy. It was clear that the US citizenship had to go. Overall, I find that the American job market is often trigger-happy, overreacting to strongly to non-issues. In Switzerland, I’m trusted, my skills and motivation are respected and appreciated and my minor human errors are forgiven. To anyone thinking about working in America: think again." Continue reading →

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What can you buy from the IRS for $50,000?

"Well, that depends very much on who you are. For the same amount of protection money, you will get very different results. Companies with expensive international law firms on retainer have an irritating tendency to take their fights to Tax Court. Much better to go after soft & clawless prey who will roll over and beg for mercy because they’ve been psychologically conditioned with a visceral reflex against doing anything as 'drastic' as renouncing citizenship to protect themselves & their families." Continue reading →

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