Essays

Neofeudalism’s Tax Donkeys and the Battle for Control of Resources

"Those with access to the low-interest unlimited credit spigot of the Federal Reserve are free to snap up tens of thousands of houses and tens of thousands of acres of productive land, along with other rentier assets such as parking lots and meters, fossil fuels in the ground, and of course the engines of credit creation, the banks. Should a legitimate (as opposed to black market/cash business) small business manage to open its doors, it faces a blizzard of junk fees, permits and taxes that make its survival a dubious prospect. No wonder self-employment and small business are in structural decline." Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: Jailhouse humour

"We’re not going to let a little thing like forced labour spoil our Freedom Fest holiday. Anyway, it is only poor people who get caught up in the prisons’ slave market. So, we have nothing to worry about. We can hire a shyster lawyer when we need one. Besides, we like the Land of the Free. Which is to say, we appreciate hypocrisy. After all, it is the 'homage that vice pays to virtue'. Without it, virtue wouldn’t get any strokes at all. Free minds and free markets are virtues too. Nobody cares about them either. Not in America. We have the schools to shackle minds. And we have the feds to lock up, beat up, and tie up the markets." Continue reading →

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The World’s Biggest Ponzi Scheme Exposed

"The poor saps in this Ponzi scheme are on the hook for a whopping $222 TRILLION! Just like Charles Ponzi and Bernie Madoff, paying off promises with other people’s money is exactly how the United States Government operates. For decades, the US government has been racking up debt in your name and the names of your loved ones. Your personal stake in this Ponzi scheme is $714,000 and growing. Even newborn babies are immediately stuck with this bill! And it’s not like the United States Government is doing all of this for our own good. Ponzi and Madoff stole to live a life of luxury. What the American government is doing with your money is much, much worse…" Continue reading →

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Ron Paul on the Evolution of Freedom in the 21st Century

"Fewer people depend on regular TV and you see more programs being deleted from TV. So the Internet is the wave of the future and that's one of the reasons the freedom movement is growing, because it's not dependent on the establishment. When I got interested in these ideas in the '50s and '60s it was very, very difficult to get any information but today it's so easy and it spreads like a wildfire. It is worldwide. I've said it so many times – this is not a Republican deal. If the ideas are correct they will be pervasive. Interventionist foreign policy and Keynesian economics was endorsed by the Republicans and Democrats; they just argued over who got to be the managers." Continue reading →

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Ludwig von Mises: Come Back to Gold

"In every instance of inflation or credit expansion there are two groups, that of the gainers and that of the losers. The creditors are the losers; it is their loss that is the profit of the debtors. But this is not all. The more fateful results of inflation derive from the fact that the rise in prices and wages which it causes occurs at different times and in different measure for various kinds of commodities and labor. Some classes of prices and wages rise more quickly and to a higher level than others. While inflation is under way, some people enjoy the benefit of higher prices on the goods and services they sell, while the prices of goods and services they buy have not yet risen at all or not to the same extent." Continue reading →

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Central Planning by Central Bankers

"The agency that controls monetary policy for the United States has an unlimited amount of money to buy support, compliance, or least silence within that segment of professionally trained economists that specializes in money and banking. The Federal Reserve gets to keep all the money that it wants for operations. It has to turn back over to the Treasury Department any money that is not used for operations, but it does not answer to Congress or the Treasury with respect to how it spends its money. This means that the Federal Reserve has essentially unlimited funds available to buy off those critics who might challenge Federal Reserve policy." Continue reading →

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Niall Ferguson: Networks and Hierarchies

"The near-autarkic, commanding and controlling states that emerged from the Depression, World War II, and the early Cold War exist only as pale shadows of their former selves. Today, the combination of technological innovation and international economic integration has created entirely new forms of organization—vast, privately owned networks—that were scarcely dreamt of by Keynes and Kennan. Are these new networks really emancipating us from the tyranny of the hierarchical empire-states? Or will the hierarchies ultimately take over the networks as they did a century ago, in 1914, successfully subordinating them to the priorities of the national security state?" Continue reading →

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The US and China: A Difference in Approaches

"The threat from the US sheriff is very real. But presumably, this bullying approach would be less effective if attempted against one of the world's more powerful countries. If, for example, the US were to find itself in a situation such as the present one with China, in which the US appeared to be losing its battle over the dollar's power as the world's reserve currency, what would occur? Would the US sheriff attempt to bully China? And if the ploy did not succeed, would the US draw its six-guns and fire off a few rounds in the air for emphasis? And if the above were to take place, what would the Chinese reaction be?" Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: Why I Sued Washington 28 Years Ago

"When the Spanish conquered South America, their encomienda system of slavery typically required only 40 days of work from their victims. The French conquered Madagascar; they forced male Hovas between 16 and 60 to work 50 days a year. The US example is closer to that of Russia – where Emperor Paul I, in 1797, declared that three days a week was enough for serfs to give their lords and masters. That works out to nearly 150 days a year. A 50% tax rate – federal, state and local – is the equivalent of about 125 days of forced labor a year. Pretty steep. But that’s just the beginning. In our system of crony democracy, all the major industries have whips in their hands." Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: College is a con

"Gradually, making things in the US became less and less profitable. So, if you wanted to earn a good salary you had to go somewhere else. Finance, administration, accounting, law, education, or health care. The good jobs in these industries required college. That’s why you’re here. But wait, there’s more to the story. Unlimited credit also made it easier to support zombies and parasites. Government connived with industry to create quasi-monopolies, cartels, subsidies, guarantees and price supports. And the feds could add bureaucracy, controls, rules and regulations. For example, the education industry added few teachers, but lots of ‘educators’ and policy coordinators." Continue reading →

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