Essays

Former CIA Officer Philip Giraldi: ‘Edward Snowden Is No Traitor’

"Even accepting the somewhat fast and loose standard for being at war, it is difficult to discern where Snowden has been supporting the al-Qaeda and 'associated groups' enemy. Snowden has had no contact with al-Qaeda and he has not provided them with any classified information. Nor has he ever spoken up on their behalf, given them advice, or supported in any way their activities directed against the United States. The fallback argument that Snowden has alerted terrorists to the fact that Washington is able to read their emails and listen in on their phone conversations—enabling them to change their methods of communication—is hardly worth considering." Continue reading →

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Inflation: Robbing You Since the 10th Century

"Humans have been screwing up money for centuries, beginning with China's printing of jiaozi in the 10th century. History is littered with episodes of hyperinflation, but my favorite is that of revolutionary France. France's hyperinflation began as all hyperinflations do: the state printed too many assignats (pictured below), and they rapidly lost their purchasing power. French citizens sought alternative stores of value and mediums of exchange, as any intelligent person would. The French government, correctly perceiving this as a threat to its financial hegemony, reacted violently." Continue reading →

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If Edward Snowden Had Read This Book …

"In most countries, extradition is not automatic. A hearing is usually required, with the person subject to extradition given the opportunity to argue his or her case. Some countries, such as Brazil, almost never allow extradition. Many refuse to return a person they deem to be wanted for 'political' offenses. Usually, an extradition request seeks persons facing criminal prosecution or an already convicted escapee, but there are other grounds for such official demands. Generally, tax offenses have not been extraditable. However, fraud per se is an extraditable offense, so a government that wants to pursue a tax case claims 'tax fraud.'" Continue reading →

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A CEO’s-Eye View of ObamaCare

"The ACA could actually cause the number of our covered employees to decrease, particularly in the first year. The penalty for declining coverage will be low compared with the cost of coverage; and employees will know that if they happen to get sick, they can get insurance after that. So the economically rational decision for young people, like our crew employees, is to pay the penalty and forego the insurance. Despite what the government may believe, our employees are smart enough to figure this out. For insurers, it's simple math: Premiums collected must exceed claims paid. If too few young healthy people enroll, insurers will raise premiums on those who do." Continue reading →

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How a Pacifist Accidentally Infused the FBI with Cash

"First, never underestimate the incompetence of the bureaucracy. Second, a fugitive bomber can always be 'found' whenever security agencies feel shortchanged by their current budgets. The first might give you a measure of relief in the face of another IRS witch hunt and Edward Snowden’s revelations: The NSA might not be able to do too much with all those emails and text messages you sent. The second puts a damper on that: For one thing, that security we keep being promised — if we’ll just cough up a little more liberty in exchange — never quite seems to materialize. Unfortunately, there are no refunds." Continue reading →

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Criminal Enterprise Operations of the Police

"Under RICO all cops can seize your property, and it’s up to you to prove that the money isn’t connected to a crime. This is an obvious violation of the Fifth Amendment which requires the government to prove in court that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This application of RICO is unconstitutional on its face and it is still being allowed. Why? Because RICO money is being used by the law enforcement agencies to enrich their department as well as to host lavish department/agency parties. This is no different than what the Mafia or the Mexican Federal Police does." Continue reading →

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How to Be a Rogue Superpower: A Manual for the Twenty-First Century

"Highlighted in all this has been a curious fact of our twenty-first-century world. In the Cold War years, asylum was always potentially available. If you opposed one of the two superpowers or its allies, the other was usually ready to open its arms to you, as the U.S. famously did for what were once called 'Soviet dissidents' in great numbers. The Soviets did the same for Americans, Brits, and others, often secret communists, sometimes actual spies, who opposed the leading capitalist power and its global order. Today, if you are a twenty-first-century 'dissident' and need asylum/protection from the only superpower left, there is essentially none to be had." Continue reading →

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Chris Becker on South Africa, Gold and the Ludwig von Mises Institute

"We've seen huge growth in private education, private security and private medical industries in recent years, without which we would have seen rapidly declining living standards of South Africans. In a micro sense this inefficient and disorganized state leaves the space for quite a lot of personal liberty and allows people to get on with things outside of government control. With this strong central planning and regulatory ethos, if the government could actually follow through with its grand plans, South Africa would be a very unfree place. I call it 'dangerous efficiency.'" Continue reading →

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With Gold, Don’t Miss the Top

"Zero Hour is the moment the price of physical gold starts to run away from the ‘paper price’ you see on CNBC’s ticker. The most likely catalyst is a chain of events that goes like this: Western central banks have leased their gold to commercial banks like JPMorgan Chase at an interest rate of less than 1%. The commercial banks have sold that metal and ploughed the proceeds into assets that earn more than 1%. The chain of custody on gold bars has become so cloudy that a major exchange like the Comex in New York is liable to ‘default’ on a gold contract – settling in cash, instead of metal. A rush for real metal would then be underway." Continue reading →

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A Dozen Things I’ve Learned From Michael Mauboussin About Investing

"1. 'The only certainty is that there is no certainty… With uncertainty, the underlying distribution of outcomes is undefined, while with risk we know what that distribution looks like. Corporate undulation is uncertain; roulette is risky…' There is no single number which can be used to predict the future price of an investment because the future is not only risky (like roulette) but uncertain (unknown unknowns). There are known future states for which probability is unknown and future states that are unknown for which probability is not computable." Continue reading →

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