Mad Statists

Why Do Bureaucrats Hate Bambi?

"I never thought I would have a special category about bureaucrats vs. Bambi. 1. Bureaucrats in Virginia filed three misdemeanor charges against a man for the horrible crime of rescuing a deer that was hit by a car. 2. Bureaucrats in Maryland fined two men $90 each for not having life jackets when they had the gall to rescue a deer that fell through some ice. 3. Bureaucrats in Indiana are threatening prison time for a family that rescued a baby deer from coyotes. The paper pushers of the world seem to harbor a special grudge against these harmless ruminants, since we now have another story about a baby deer. But this time, Bambi was the victim." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy Do Bureaucrats Hate Bambi?

Government Proposes in Effect to Put Itself in Charge of Apple Pricing

"This was actually an attempt by publishers to regain control over their e-book pricing from retailers, and ended when publishers signed consent decrees with the government. This should be the end of the story but instead the government now wants to appoint a monitor who will review all Apple pricing for the next ten years. No economy can thrive without an honest and unmanipulated price system, as the Soviet Union demonstrated so vividly by collapsing. Yet we are at a moment in which our government wants to control more and more prices throughout the economy, now even wanting to control a leading technology company’s prices for a decade." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGovernment Proposes in Effect to Put Itself in Charge of Apple Pricing

Greece should defy the gunboat creditors

"Nothing whatsoever has been resolved, either in Greece, or in Portugal, or in Cyprus, or in Spain, or in Italy. Nor will there be under the current contractionary policy structure. There is no Deus Ex Machina. These nations will remain trapped in slump and mass unemployment until they take matters into their own hands, form a debtors cartel, confront the head-on gunboat creditors from a position of strength, and dictate the outcome. But first they have to defenestrate out their own cowed elites." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGreece should defy the gunboat creditors

Top Federal Reserve economist slams ‘incoherent’ European Central Bank

"A paper by the Richmond Fed said the ECB is hamstrung by institutional problems and acts on the mistaken premise that excess debt is the cause of the eurozone crisis when the real cause is the collapse of growth. 'The ECB lacks a coherent strategy for creating the monetary base required to sustain the money creation necessary for a growing economy,' said the paper, written in July by Robert Hetzel, the bank’s senior economist. It called for direct action to buy 'bundles' of small business loans, as well as 'packages of government debt' across EMU states, including German Bunds." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTop Federal Reserve economist slams ‘incoherent’ European Central Bank

Indian central bank has debased the rupee 99% vs the dollar; no hope in next Guv too

"The rupee has lost almost 99 percent of its value against the US dollar since 1947 when the rupee was at parity with the dollar. The dollar itself has been no great paragon of virtue and has lost 98 percent of its value against gold in the same period ($35/ounce in 1947 to around $1,330 today). So to state the the RBI has decimated the value of the rupee would actually be an understatement of sorts. But it continues to amaze me when I see the RBI Governors being extolled to the realm of divinity by the media. 'Headless Chicken' would be a much more appropriate description of how they have performed over the last few decades." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndian central bank has debased the rupee 99% vs the dollar; no hope in next Guv too

Father of foster child who died after being seized by state over marijuana speaks out

"Alex was living with foster parents after DFPS removed her from her parents' home last November for 'neglectful supervision.' Hill admits they were smoking pot when their daughter was asleep. 'We never hurt our daughter. She was never sick, she was never in the hospital, and she never had any issues until she went into state care.' For two months, Alex was placed in a home that Hill says was dangerous. 'She would come to visitation with bruises on her, and mold and mildew in her bag. It got to a point where I actually told CPS that they would have to have me arrested because I wouldn't let her go back.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFather of foster child who died after being seized by state over marijuana speaks out

Escape From the Grasp of Congress

"With 11.5 million illegal aliens in the country, it’s hard to understand how a relatively small number of departing U.S. emigrants is threatening to U.S. lawmakers. Maybe it’s because those numbers are rising and the federal government fears an increasing number of U.S. citizens moving beyond its control. The only other national regimes to have adopted similar punitive tax laws were Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union under Stalin and apartheid South Africa. I admit expatriation is certainly a drastic plan. However, as we see in the statistics, more and more U.S. citizens are choosing that option as the America we knew and loved fades farther from memory." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEscape From the Grasp of Congress

David Galland: Answers from a Monetary Master

"Mr. Bernanke will get to visit his ideal world of 2% price inflation, but it will only be a whistle stop. The price inflation that lies ahead will be at least as bad as what happened in the 1970s episode, when the annual inflation rate approached 15%. The money that's already been printed so far may be enough to produce such a 1970s-size problem. Making matters worse is that the devices for paring down the amount of cash that you need for the sake of convenience—such as credit cards, ATMs and online banks—are now far more widely available and cheaper to use than they were in the 1970s." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDavid Galland: Answers from a Monetary Master

Peter Schiff: Detroit Broke City

"The good news is that the same forces that built Detroit could help turn it around. First off, Detroit needs to default on its debt. This means the bond holders and the citizenry will suffer. But after this painful process is complete, Detroit will have a few things going for it. It will boast abundantly cheap real estate and plenty of desperate workers. [..] Liberals would rather the unemployed stay that way rather than suffer the degradations of capitalism. So instead of such honest cures, look for Detroit to borrow its way out of the crisis while pretending to fix its chronic problems. If we laugh at their foolishness, we should all look in the mirror." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPeter Schiff: Detroit Broke City

Official refuses to resign after saying Japan should follow Nazis’ constitution overhaul

"'The German Weimar constitution changed, without being noticed, to the Nazi German constitution. Why don’t we learn from their tactics?' Days later, Aso insisted he had been misunderstood and that he was not praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s political prowess, but rather saying constitutional reform should be not be influenced by media criticism or animosity from Japan’s neighbours. Aso is known for his sometimes clumsy and uncomfortable remarks, including saying earlier this year that elderly people should 'hurry up and die' to avoid taxing the country’s medical system." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOfficial refuses to resign after saying Japan should follow Nazis’ constitution overhaul