Essays

Herbert Spencer: Patriotism (from Facts and Comments, 1902)

"Were anyone to call me dishonest or untruthful he would touch me to the quick. Were he to say that I am unpatriotic, he would leave me unmoved. 'What, then, have you no love of country?' That is a question not to be answered in a breath. [...] To me the cry – 'Our country, right or wrong!' seems detestable. By association with love of country the sentiment it expresses gains a certain justification. Do but pull off the cloak, however, and the contained sentiment is seen to be of the lowest. Let us observe the alternative cases." Continue reading →

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The State: Always the Accuser, Never the Defendant

"As Harvey Silverglate points out, each of us commits at least three acts each day that could be described as felonies by any reasonably ambitious prosecutor. By using NSA-provided metadata to conduct a 'pattern of life' analysis of a targeted individual, law enforcement agencies could probably contrive an excuse to arrest practically anybody at any time. This capacity will dramatically expand opportunities for official retaliation against Mundanes who seek redress for abuses committed by police – including family members of deceased victims." Continue reading →

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All Eyes on Europe This Summer

"Nothing, and I mean nothing, has been solved in Europe. The crisis will soon escalate with a vengeance. When, not if, Europe’s economy roils again, likely later this summer: First, you’re going to see trillions of euros stampede for the exits. Second, that will likely send global interest rates rocketing higher. Third, it’s going to send the U.S. dollar into rally mode, right along with gold. Fourth, it’s also going to send our stock markets roaring higher. Fifth, it’s going to give you many profit opportunities to potentially make more money that you ever dreamed of. In stocks. In commodities. In the dollar. And in gold and silver." Continue reading →

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$179,000 Each–In Debt

"Government and household debt has reached $179,000 per person in the U.S. For the past several years, we've heard pundits blathering on about the 'great deleveraging' that's reduced the household debt burden, freeing up American consumers to borrow more, more, more. The Great Deleveraging is shown here--yes, it's that thin slice of debt writeoffs. Debt has since resumed its inexorable rise. That which is unsustainable will go away. That includes debt, malinvestments, currencies, deficits and yes, entire empires." Continue reading →

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Why Serial Asset Bubbles Are Now The New Normal

"Asset bubbles are inevitable when the pool of good investment opportunities is much smaller than the pool of credit-money sloshing around seeking a higher yield. It really is that simple. It's astonishingly easy to create hot money: just create the money in a central bank and then make it available to financiers, investment banks, global corporations and other Financial Elites at near-zero real rates of interest. It's considerably more difficult to create a good investment opportunity: an investment that is worthy of the risk must have a sound base in fundamentals such as cash flow, return on investment, etc." Continue reading →

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About That Supposed Correlation of the U.S. Dollar and Gold….

"One of the most widely accepted truisms in what passes for our financial media is that the dollar and gold are correlated: when the dollar weakens, gold rises, and when gold rises, the dollar declines. Nice, except this vaunted correlation isn't remotely visible in the charts. Conclusion: there is no correlation between gold and the U.S. dollar index. Not even close.The two move independently; any apparent correlation is semi-random signal noise. They are not on a simplistic see-saw." Continue reading →

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Government Spying Has Always Focused On Crushing Dissent … Not On Keeping Us Safe

"High-level American government officials have warned for 40 years that mass surveillance would lead to tyranny. They’ve warned that the government is using information gained through mass surveillance in order to go after anyone they take a dislike to. And a lieutenant colonel for the Stasi East German’s – based upon his experience – agrees. You don’t have to obsess on the NSA’s high-tech spying to figure out what the government is doing. Instead of focusing on catching actual terrorists, police spy on Americans who criticize the government, or the big banks or the other power players." Continue reading →

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