News Commentary

Interventionists Should Hang Their Heads in Shame

"Never mind the disastrous consequences of such notable post-World War II interventions as Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Korea. It’s clear, at least to interventionists, that Syria’s dictator, Bashar al-Assad, is another Hitler who, unless punished for his purported use of chemical weapons, will begin conquering countries in the Middle East, work his way over to Europe, cross the Atlantic and invade Argentina, sweep northward through Central America and Mexico, and finally invade and conquer the United States, enabling Syrian officials to begin running the IRS, the DEA, the ICE, the public schools, the Interstate Highway System, and other attributes of America’s free way of life." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInterventionists Should Hang Their Heads in Shame

Eric Margolis: Syrian March To Disaster

"Politicians invoke credibility as a excuse after they have made a huge blunder –notably Obama’s foolish 'red lines' in Syria that boxed the president into a corner of his own making. What we are seeing is the latest, 21st century version of the new era of colonialism and imperialism, with a touch of Crusader zeal thrown in. Today, the favored euphemism is humanitarian intervention, but the song remains the same. Syria is not about poison gas or human rights: it’s about a proxy war against Iran, the only nation now challenging total US and Israel military domination of the Mideast. For France, it’s about reasserting its former colonial rule in Syria and Lebanon." Continue reading →

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Bloomberg: “Libertarians Are The New Communists”

"Nick Hanauer & Eric Liu wrote an absurd piece in Bloomberg called 'Libertarians are the New Communists.' You might wonder how people get paid to write such ridiculous articles. But then you realize that someone actually gets paid to bomb foreigners, steal en masse from the world via the monetary system, and regulate voluntary business out of the market. Perhaps it is just the evil world in which we live. Regardless, one still wonders if the authors of the Bloomberg piece actually believe in the claims that they make." Continue reading →

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Obama Administration Denies AP Requests For Syria Evidence

"The AP's Zeina Karam and Kimberly Dozier wrote that 'the U.S. government insists it has the intelligence to prove it, but the public has yet to see a single piece of concrete evidence produced by U.S. intelligence -- no satellite imagery, no transcripts of Syrian military communications -- connecting the government of President Bashar Assad to the alleged chemical weapons attack last month that killed hundreds of people.' The Obama administration has released videos to make its case, but the AP noted that its requests for additional evidence the government claims to possess have been denied." Continue reading →

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Government Tattoo Statists of America

"Always on the lookout for opportunities to violate individual constitutional rights, statists want to interfere with that longstanding classic right of personal self expression – tattoos -- a practice which has been unregulated since the dawn of mankind. The Department of Health for the city of Washington D.C., is proposing a new regulation requiring a 24-hour waiting period and other onerous requirements for the provision of tattoo services. Sixty-five pages of rules and regulations designed to stifle tattoo parlors would require that a tattoo artist cannot apply a tattoo or body piercing until at least 24 hours after a customer requests it." Continue reading →

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NSA encryption, Latin American fallout and US/UK attacks on press freedoms

"In Europe this week, President Obama has been making similar claims when asked about NSA spying, repeatedly assuring people that NSA surveillance is overwhelmingly devoted to stopping terrorism threats. One big problem the NSA and US government generally have had since our reporting began is that their defenses offered in response to each individual story are quickly proven to be false by the next story, which just further undermines their credibility around the world. That NSA denial I just excerpted above has already been disproven by several reports, but after Sunday, I think it will prove to be perhaps the NSA's most misleading statement yet." Continue reading →

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Personal Retirement Accounts Are Great only if You Can Stop Confiscation

"Most Western nations have huge long-run fiscal problems because of unfavorable demographics and misguided entitlement programs. That’s the bad news. The good news is that dozens of nations have fully or partially shifted to mandatory private savings as a pro-growth way of modernizing bankrupt tax-and-transfer Social Security systems. But good news in the short run doesn’t mean good news in the long run if greedy politicians decide to loot the wealth accumulated in personal retirement accounts. That’s already happened in Argentina and Hungary, and now it’s happened in Poland." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPersonal Retirement Accounts Are Great only if You Can Stop Confiscation

Rebalance To Buffer Crises?

"Sovereigns may save themselves at the expense of citizens. Poland has withdrawn $37 billion in government holdings from national pension funds to pay down sovereign debt. Its markets dropped 4.8% the day the news hit. Given relative GDP size, a similar take here would be north of $1 trillion and laws have been prepared to bail-in major banks. Many cities already are bankrupt and pension funds are at risk as pensioneers and bond holders battle over the remains. Those who buy the official narrative are riding in a ticker-tape parade on which Central Banks are showering confetti. When the dreamers awake, they will be looking at a demonic jack-o-lantern." Continue reading →

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Bill Bonner: A Personal Appeal to Barack Obama

"We don’t share the common fantasy of central bankers: that they can know better than the market what interest rate, employment rate and inflation rate the country should have. We mention the three because the Fed sets short-term interest rates through its conventional monetary policy. And it tries to keep a lid on long-term Treasury yields through its 'unconventional' QE programs. And it does so, it claims, to adjust two other important rates: employment and inflation. Every candidate for the top post at the Fed – except us – believes it is his right and duty to do these things. Which means none should be allowed anywhere near the Fed." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: A Personal Appeal to Barack Obama

Bill Bonner: It’s a dangerous time of year

"A stream of income – either from a stock or a bond – is a promise. The value of it depends on how much you trust the promisor and his money. That is the problem. As much as we like Ben Bernanke as a human being, we find grave fault in him as a god. Only a god could know more than the sum of all the knowledge held by all people who are active in the world economy. Only a god could select an interest rate better than the one they select for themselves. And only a god-awful economist could claim to do such a thing with a straight face. The galling thing is that he may be able to keep the whole shebang going for many years more." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: It’s a dangerous time of year