Essays

Stop Cops’ Carjacking

"Civil asset forfeiture became law over 40 years ago as part of the failed and insane 'War on Drugs.' But seizures from ACTUAL drug couriers are a small expense for the drug lords. Police also have an incentive to ALLOW drug deals to be made so they can seize more money afterward. That's because the wealth they steal helps fund their departments and often pays for their bonuses. As a result, cops become carjackers. Police stole a woman’s car because she loaned it to her son, who was carrying a handgun. Police stole $28,500 in church offerings. Police stole FORTY cars in one night at an art gallery event. An outdated Detroit 'speakeasy' law was the excuse. Of course, the police also steal houses and other valuables. In Philadelphia, the police steal 100 houses each year." Continue reading →

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Stop Cops’ Carjacking

"Civil asset forfeiture became law over 40 years ago as part of the failed and insane 'War on Drugs.' But seizures from ACTUAL drug couriers are a small expense for the drug lords. Police also have an incentive to ALLOW drug deals to be made so they can seize more money afterward. That's because the wealth they steal helps fund their departments and often pays for their bonuses. As a result, cops become carjackers. Police stole a woman’s car because she loaned it to her son, who was carrying a handgun. Police stole $28,500 in church offerings. Police stole FORTY cars in one night at an art gallery event. An outdated Detroit 'speakeasy' law was the excuse. Of course, the police also steal houses and other valuables. In Philadelphia, the police steal 100 houses each year." Continue reading →

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America’s Gulag

"America’s gulag is its prison system, filled up by the War on Drugs. This major domestic tyranny hits black and Hispanic males disproportionately. About 7 percent of black men between the ages of 25 and 39 are in prison. No matter what the causes of the higher imprisonment rates of black males are, they are now 5 times higher than in 1930, and the rate relative to the also higher white male number has also jumped. The War on Drugs has to be one major reason, no matter how complex are the causes, which remain very controversial, of the various other differences between the white and black populations." Continue reading →

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The wealth transfer effect of bitcoins

"Earlier this year, I wrote about a number of countries that would do well by adopting bitcoins, mostly because of either inflation or poor investment options in those countries. Those are still valid reasons for investing in BTC for citizens of those countries. But it now seems that in hindsight it would be a complete governmental collapse that would fuel increased interest in bitcoins. A loss of faith in a monetary system by a country’s citizens and stakeholders is likely more of a predictor of increased interest in bitcoin. So, what are the countries out there today that face big problems in terms of credit risk?" Continue reading →

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David Galland: I’m from the Government, I’m Here to Bend You Over

"Yet, just as a woman can't be 'a little pregnant,' constitutions can't really be a little—or, in the case of the USA these days, a lot—flexible. When that happens, the constitution becomes something else. A document with some general suggestions? A paper with loose ideas that governments are free to accept—or not—depending on the day and circumstance? But it's not a constitution any more. The problem, as I hope you begin to see, is that once a nation—scratch that: once the government of a nation—is allowed to make it up as they go along, the system of laws is certain to quickly deteriorate. The consequences are as clear as the mountain across the valley from where I sit." Continue reading →

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What would the Rev Martin Luther King think of Obama’s presidency?

"John Lewis, now a Georgia congressman, is the only survivor of the March’s original organizers. [..] Lewis has also lived long enough to see that even a black president can be tone deaf to the spirit of King’s life. If King, an apostle of non-violence and advocate for the poorest of the poor, were alive today, what would he make of President Obama’s careless-with-life drone assassinations, his bullying of journalists and whistleblowers, his assent to slashing Social Security via his Scrooge-like 'deficit commission'? Without irony, the current 50th birthday organizers have invited Obama to speak from the very same podium where King made history." Continue reading →

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Diamonds, Advertising, DeBeers and Sex

"Starting in 1935 in Indiana, U.S. states started altering their laws to abolish the action for breach of promise. Women responded, by Brinig's account, by requiring a down payment from their fiancees in the form of an expensive ring—which forfeited if the fiancee terminated the engagement. Think of it as a performance bond. Brinig looked at data on diamond imports and concluded that the demand for diamonds started to rise about 1935, four years before the Ayer marketing campaign that is usually given credit for creating the demand for engagement rings. The evidence also suggested that the custom began declining once premarital sex became widely accepted." Continue reading →

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The Economic Philosopher’s Outcast: Mises

"SS Gestapo Chief Henrich Himmler's agents sped through the streets of Vienna on an early morning, March 11, 1938, to capture and eliminate Nazi Germany's enemies. One of his prime targets lived in a middle-class Jewish neighborhood at 28 Weihoffen St. Apartment 7. Ludwig Von Mises, a 58-year-old political philosopher, was Jewish and defenseless. Hitler deemed this man an enemy of the state and one of the top targets to be seized during the Nazi takeover of Austria. Fleeing from the city the day before, Professor Mises narrowly escaped to Switzerland. Despite attempts on his life, Mises spent the 92 years of his life fighting totalitarianism." Continue reading →

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The Chart of the Century

"In the late 1970s, when did we see the critical tipping point that marked the beginning of the surge? It was after three things happened: First, we witnessed two periods of real interest rates below zero (same as recent years) … Second, we experienced an initial collapse in bond markets that began to drive yields higher (same as now) … Third, we saw a cross-over into the black, as interest rates rose above the inflation rate (same as just happened earlier this year). And THAT’s when interest rates went through the roof, carrying the U.S. Treasury-bond yield to 13% and the Treasury-bill rate to 17%." Continue reading →

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An Idiot’s Guide to Bitcoin: the man behind the book

"He explains, 'Because I’m from Africa, I pay a lot of attention to what’s happening there. The developing world is absolutely poised to pioneer this revolution, if you want to call it that, because their national fiats are inflation-ridden, over-taxed and over-controlled; the places with the highest buy into bitcoin is the developing world. Then you have the western world, who are complacent, who are comfortable, who are kept that way and who don’t have an immediate, on the ground need for bitcoin, where the developing world do. If it can go viral in India then a sixth of the world’s population will accept bitcoin. That would be wonderful.'" Continue reading →

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