EDITORIAL Showing 1401 - 1450 of 1951
Where Do Things Come From?
November 02, 2011
We all know where babies come from: the stork, right? Ha ha. That, of course, is a tale told to young children by uncomfortable parents. How ridiculous would it be if millions of people in America actually thought that this were so? But the reality is that ...
Leaving Iraq?
November 01, 2011
It is not too often I am pleased by the foreign policy announcements from this administration, but last week's announcement that the war in Iraq was in its final stage and all the troops may be home for Christmas did sound promising. I have long said that we sh ...
Column on Dyson's Nonsense
October 31, 2011
In a recent review essay Freeman Dyson flatly asserts that "social justice demands equality. Fair reward for enterprise and achievement demands inequality." Well, neither of these is true but for soundbites in a publication like The New York Review of Books one ...
Could the Euro and Dollar Go One-to-One?
October 29, 2011
This is a funny question to ask given that the dollar is in the dumps and the euro has had a strong rally since the region's top Eurocrats "saved" the euro this week. But in Europe, where some DB elves are traveling and especially in Spain, those in the banking ...
Occupy Wall Street's Lack of Focus
October 28, 2011
Rolling Stone magazine ran a piece recently arguing that what OWS is doing doesn't amount to attacks on money or banking but is aimed at corruption. While this is a spin that may work for some folks, it doesn't sound credible for me. When someone, some org ...
Liberty and Virtue
October 27, 2011
In order to begin this essay with a degree of coherence, I need first to discuss two types of liberty. The one kind I will designate as metaphysical liberty; it means the capacity for initiating, starting or being the first cause of movement supposedly possesse ...
The Tea Party Nation's Sellout
October 26, 2011
On February 19, 2009, CNBC commentator Rick Santelli put forth a marvelous patriotic rant for several minutes declaring that Americans should stand up and protest the Obama administration's outrageous socialist policies. And he promised to organize a Chicago Te ...
TSA Releases VIPR Venom on Tennessee Highways
October 25, 2011
If you thought the "Transportation Security Administration" would limit itself to conducting unconstitutional searches at airports, think again. The agency intends to assert jurisdiction over our nation's highways, waterways, and railroads as well. TSA launched ...
Did Rubio's Parents Do Right?
October 24, 2011
Despite what Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio has reportedly believed throughout much of his political career, it seems that his parents didn't flee Fidel Castro's communist Cuba for political freedom in the US. What some media appear to have "revealed" i ...
Limited Hangout at the Fed vs. the Internet Reformation
October 22, 2011
The Federal Reserve needs more transparency, as noted in a report last week from the Government Accountability Office, a "nonpartisan" research division of Congress. But this is nothing but an elite limited hangout. In this article I'll try to explain why. ...
The Evil 1%
October 21, 2011
The "occupy" protest movement is thriving off the claim that the 99% are being exploited by the 1%, and there is truth in what they say. But they have the identities of the groups wrong. They imagine that it is the 1% of highest wealth holders who are the probl ...
Trust and Freedom
October 21, 2011
"I just don't trust that people are smart enough to make the right choices. Do you really think that there are enough intelligent people to have this kind of freedom?" This is a sentiment that I've heard many times from seemingly goodhearted people on the left. ...
What Chinese Unemployment?
October 20, 2011
"There is gold in them thar hills!" Occasionally we read in various columns of mainstream journalists that the Chinese have shot themselves in the foot when they (in violence of Friedmanite precepts) failed to revalue their currency upwards. The world will reta ...
Why are You so Bullish on the Dollar?!
October 20, 2011
A reader recently asked me why I was "so bullish on the (US) dollar." I'd like to comment on that to avoid any possible confusion or misunderstanding. Am I bullish on the dollar? The answer depends, as so often, on the time horizon we are referring to. Thu ...
Abusing the Social Contract
October 19, 2011
At the outset it needs to be noted that whatever is called the social contract, it is not actually a contract, which is "an agreement entered into by two or more parties with the serious intention of creating a legal obligation or obligations, which may or may ...
Musings on GOP Follies
October 19, 2011
The Empty Suit...In the wake of the recent New Hampshire debate televised on Bloomberg October 11th, one has to conclude that Rick Perry's star is not just fading; it has crashed into that horrible fate known as FIP (flash in pan). He desperately needed to thro ...
The Business of Government
October 18, 2011
Amid the din of economic nonsense being bandied about since the collapse of the housing bubble and the steep ramping up of our national debt, there has been the persistent refrain that Washington should be run more like a business. If only more business people ...
The Dawn of Late Fascism
October 18, 2011
The downgrading of US debt this summer didn't have huge economic consequences, but the psychological ones were truly devastating for the national elites who have run this country for nearly a century. For a State that regards itself as infallible, it was a huge ...
The Moral Unraveling of the EU, Bailouts and Central Banking
October 15, 2011
Slovakia has now approved European debt-crisis bailout fund, but the problems Europe is experiencing are similar to those faced by America in the grip of the Fed's immense bailouts of the past two years. Increasingly, these are seen as morally repugnant by citi ...
Warren's Non-Sequitur
October 15, 2011
So Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts candidate for the US Senate, says "there is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody." And so she is said to reject that it is possible for Americans to become wealthy "in isolation." (As if someone defended that ...
A Dangerous Precedent
October 11, 2011
According to the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution, Americans are never to be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The Constitution is not some aspirational statement of values, allowing exceptions when convenient, but rather, ...
The Ron Paul Revolution Past 2012
October 10, 2011
Times of great crisis in history are usually the crucible from which nations form new leaders and new visions. Such leaders seem to suddenly appear, often out of nowhere, to alter the national path pursued, to cleanse the old ways and stake out a saner, more ju ...
Greece in America
October 10, 2011
Most of us who are aware of world financial trends know that earlier this year thousands of Greeks took to the street and mercilessly engaged in destruction of property around Athens. They were upset about having to tighten their belts in the wake of the possib ...
Hope for Occupy Wall Street?
October 08, 2011
It is interesting to watch the expansion of the Occupy Wall Street movement. As I wrote last week, I hoped it would provide an opportunity to for people to proclaim clearly that central banking was the fundamental problem with the Western world today. The artic ...
Obama the Wuss!
October 08, 2011
Here is why President Obama is a wuss. He has never shown much taste for the war on drugs yet he has done nothing to stop it. He could save a bundle of money (certainly vital in these times) and, more importantly, get people out of jail and prison who shouldn't ...
Will Congress Declare A Trade War Against China?
October 06, 2011
The approval ratings for both the US House and Senate are currently in dramatic free-fall. A September 2011 Gallup Poll warns that 81% of Americans are dissatisfied with how the United States is being governed. Other findings include a near record criticism of ...
The Fed Twists, The Market Shouts
October 04, 2011
Last week the Federal Reserve began the second incarnation of "Operation Twist," an attempt to drive down interest rates by purchasing long-term Treasury debt and selling short-term debt. This is just the latest instance of the central bank desperately flailing ...
Currency: The Hidden Portfolio Risk
October 04, 2011
In today's investment landscape, risk can come in all shapes and sizes. When structuring a stock portfolio most investors try to gauge the risk in buying particular stocks. Savvier investors also factor in sector risk, business cycle risk and recession risk. Ca ...
Blaming Wall Street Is Wrong
October 01, 2011
The Blame Wall Street meme is back. A popular movement called Occupy Wall Street is attracting attention by protesting in and around the US financial district. In this editorial, I want to examine what the protest means in a larger context. The impulse of the d ...
On the Recent Gold Pullback
October 01, 2011
The past couple weeks have seen a strong pullback in both commodity prices and stocks. Gold fell sharply off its peak after soaring just past $1,900. Volatility in commodity, currency, and equity markets has been very high recently, and these short-term price m ...
Good Bye, Reason?
September 29, 2011
This passage comes from the managing editor of Reason magazine, which I helped launch back in 1970 and which set out to be a corrective to our society's widespread embrace of various versions of subjectivism and relativism. The passage exemplifies just such a v ...
A Palestinian State?
September 27, 2011
The Palestinian Authority's recent announcement that it would seek UN recognition as an independent state dominated the news and the political debate in the United States last week, though in truth it should mean very little to us. Only a political class harbor ...
The Police State Abolishes the Trial
September 27, 2011
Several years ago, the police entered the office of a young professor at a reputable university and arrested him for an online crime. They took the professor away, booked him, and then offered him a deal: admit guilt and get off easy. The professor said to the ...
Infrastructure Stimuli
September 26, 2011
One of my colleagues, who is in substantial agreement that the free market is best, argues that if one is going to have a stimulus – and given how politicians always need to do something, whatever it is, this is very likely in the face of crises such as the c ...
Will the Real Culprits of Euro Doom Stand Up?
September 24, 2011
The Telegraph has carried an article entitled "The Great Euro Swindle" by Peter Oborne and Frances Weaver who have written a book on the subject (Guilty Men) from which the article is excerpted. They ask a good question, which is why those who have backed the u ...
Government as a Venture Capitalist
September 20, 2011
In January 2009, the administration claimed that if Congress passed a rush stimulus bill, the United States would be saved from economic catastrophe that was threatening to send unemployment figures above 8 percent. Government stimulus was the answer and if we ...
Big European Leaders Flex Muscle
September 20, 2011
Last Wednesday in a conference call followed around the world, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicholas Sarkozy and Prime Minister George Papandreou of Greece gave broad assurances that in exchange for Greek commitment to enact further austeri ...
SS: Ponzi Scheme Isn't the Problem
September 19, 2011
Everyone by now knows what a Ponzi Scheme amounts to. We all became familiar with it when Bernie Madoff was caught using it to amass a fortune at the expense of clients who were unaware that his plan to put away money for them amounted to such a scheme. The iss ...
Rogue Trading Is Not the Problem
September 17, 2011
UBS trader Kweku Adoboli supposedly lost £1.3bn and is now under arrest. People wonder how one individual can inflict such large losses on bank-run trading firms over and over again; the real question is why doesn't it happen more often? In this article, I wil ...
Welfare Statism and Compassion
September 17, 2011
There are many debates in political theory, most of them focused on what kind of legal system is just. It is an ancient topic, of course, and the various positions do not change all that much; they merely get slightly revised by their new generation of champion ...
Foreign Occupation Leads to More Terror
September 13, 2011
Ten years ago shocking and horrific acts of terrorism were carried out on US soil, taking over 3,000 innocent American lives. Without a doubt, this action demanded retaliation and retribution. However, much has been done in the name of protecting the American p ...
Who Builds Obstacles to Real Stimulus?
September 12, 2011
Where I work we have a retirement plan. It comes with the job, so once you gain your employment you are also part of the system. Turns out that the accounts set up can contain quite a lot of cash. However, even if one is over the age of 65, even 70, the plan do ...
A Moral Steam Engine
September 12, 2011
There are times in a life, or in a world, where a single idea, conceived, committed to, and followed through, can bring about the most breathtaking change. I want to recommend a very moving film, Amazing Grace. It is the story of how a small group of people bro ...
9/11, the Damage of the Aftermath and the Brightness Ahead
September 11, 2011
Many of today's articles in the mainstream press will focus on 9/11 and its aftermath in terms of a war on terror. But here at DB, we take it sorrowfully for granted that the 9/11 narrative is not accurate and that something else happened on that day that is no ...
The Failure of the Government Employment Meme
September 10, 2011
I've noticed that an old and misleading dominant social theme has taken center stage in America, lately. It's the idea that politicians and the political process itself can create jobs. Of course, government can't create jobs. Government can make things worse, ...
Liberty: Both Radical & Traditional
September 10, 2011
At times libertarian or classical liberal – or, in yet other words, pure laissez faire capitalist – ideas are dismissed as part of a misguided modernity that's lacking proper pedigree. But this is all wrong. Already back in circa 600 B.C.E. the Chinese sage ...
Obama's Keynesian Superstition
September 09, 2011
President Obama gave a speech on Thursday afternoon announcing the American Job Creation Act. There were numerous points that were open to criticism but before dealing with a few, it is important to state what creates jobs: Jobs are created when people who have ...
Helping People Versus Fixing People
September 08, 2011
People on the left talk incessantly about helping people, but it is not helping people that they are interested in; they are interested in fixing people. That profound difference defines the conflict between the visions of classical liberalism and progressive c ...
Job Killer in Chief
September 07, 2011
Many on Wall Street were stunned by the big fat zero put up by the August jobs report, the worst showing in 11 months. The data convinced many previously optimistic economists that the United States will slip back into recession. I believe that we have been in ...
Moral Responsibility and the Poor
September 07, 2011
Two central dogmas of contemporary liberalism are that the rich are to be blamed for all our ills and that in the end all people are the same and no one is more or less worthy than anyone else. Blaming those who are not so well off as others is unjust because t ...
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