News Commentary

Housing Up, Home Ownership Down: The Mysterious New Housing Bubble

"If the number of people who actually bought a home and moved in dropped by 175,000, then what we’re seeing is industrial-scale investment by Wall Street speculators who are getting lavish financing perks from the banks to buy distressed properties that, if they had been sold on the MLS or via bank auctions, would have driven prices down even further pushing bank balance sheets deeper into the red. In other words, the Obama administration, the banks, the Fed and the behemoth private equity firms are all in bed together to reward the people who blew up the financial system with another backdoor bailout." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHousing Up, Home Ownership Down: The Mysterious New Housing Bubble

Chained CPI: Diet COLA for Social Security

"Before we discuss the nuances of the different measures of the CPI, it is important to keep in mind that millions of Americans rely on Social Security benefits for income protection. In fact, 65% of all beneficiaries rely on Social Security to provide 50% or more of their incomes, while 36% rely on benefits for 90% or more of their incomes. For non-married beneficiaries, including widows, the reliance is higher with 74% relying on benefits for 50% or more of their incomes and 46% relying for 90% or more of their incomes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChained CPI: Diet COLA for Social Security

While Much of America Suffers with Stagnation, Washington’s Political Class Is Having a Very Merry Christmas

"In the town that launched the War on Poverty 48 years ago, the poor are getting poorer despite the government’s help. And the rich are getting richer because of it. The top 5 percent of households in Washington, D.C., made more than $500,000 on average last year, while the bottom 20 percent earned less than $9,500 – a ratio of 54 to 1. That gap is up from 39 to 1 two decades ago. It’s wider than in any of the 50 states and all but two major cities." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhile Much of America Suffers with Stagnation, Washington’s Political Class Is Having a Very Merry Christmas

Why the Gun Control Movement Is Doomed

"Within a decade, it will be possible for people to manufacture handguns inexpensively in their own homes. Even if it takes two decades, it is clear what is going to come. The ability of the government to confiscate handguns is surely limited when somebody can download a free piece of software that will enable him to manufacture a handgun, or the components of a handgun, in the privacy of his own home. The Left is now facing an ideological crisis. Either it bans 3D printers, raising civil rights issues, or else it must give up having any shot at banning guns." Continue reading →

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Anthony Gregory: States Thumb Their Noses at the Drug War

"Since California legalized medical pot in 1996, drug policy developments have put the lie to the federal government’s reputation as a bulwark of civil liberties, humanitarian rights, and rational policy. Whether Colorado and Washington outright defy the federal government—as the medical marijuana states have done—or Obama is forced to concede this ground, it is an embarrassment for national supremacy, the administration, and the DEA, and a triumph for the doctrine of nullification." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnthony Gregory: States Thumb Their Noses at the Drug War

Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke

"If you're not an important cog in the global financial system, you can't get away with anything, not even simple possession. You will be jailed and whatever cash they find on you they'll seize on the spot, and convert into new cruisers or toys for your local SWAT team, which will be deployed to kick in the doors of houses where more such inessential economic cogs as you live. If you don't have a systemically important job, your assets may be used to finance your own political disenfranchisement. On the other hand, if you are an important person, and you work for a big international bank, you won't be prosecuted even if you launder nine billion dollars." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOutrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke

The Military-Industrial Complex, Neocons and General Patraeus

"Frederick and Kimberly Kagan, a husband-and-wife team of hawkish military analysts, put their jobs at influential Washington think tanks on hold for almost a year to work for Gen. David H. Petraeus when he was the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. The pro-bono relationship, which is now being scrutinized by military lawyers, yielded valuable benefits. The Kagans’ proximity to Petraeus provided an incentive for defense contractors to contribute to Kim Kagan’s think tank. For Petraeus, embracing two respected national security analysts in GOP circles helped to shore up support for the war among Republican leaders on Capitol Hill." Continue reading →

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David Galland: Justice

"Regardless of what the popular corruption indexes show, when you take into account the systematic skewing of the judicial and electoral systems to favor the entrenched politicos and their friends in high places, the level of corruption in the Anglosphere would make an African despot blush. It's not an accident that the Republicans and the Democrats, two sides of the same coin despite all the rhetoric, are never remotely at risk of losing their collective grip on power – the system has been carefully and thoroughly rigged to prevent that from happening." Continue reading →

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Doug Casey on the Fiscal Cliff

"Stimulated, or let's say 'simulated' – signs of recovery aren't needed if people have savings, accumulated capital, that can be deployed. Instead, today they mostly have debt. Government stimulation won't work if capital doesn't exist or is punished for being used. If you've destroyed people's jobs, taxed them more for investing wisely, piled on so many regulations that you can't sell lemonade without decades of permitting and clinical trials, all the stimulus in the world won't create a vibrant economy." Continue reading →

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Now Obama wants your 401(k)

"Since 2010, the U.S. Treasury Department and the Department of Labor have been holding combined hearings on various plans designed to introduce government-mandated retirement plans and investment options, including government annuities invested primarily in U.S. Treasury debt, into the private retirement savings market. With the issuance of the White House 256-page Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2013, the Obama administration endorsed 'Automatic IRAs,' in which private companies would be automatically enrolled into government-mandated IRAs, forcing those businesses to contribute on behalf of their employees unless an employee opts out." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNow Obama wants your 401(k)