Archive for June, 2010

30
Jun

Economics IS Hard. Especially If You Lack Self-Awareness

By libertyvini 2 Comments
Categories: Austrian Economics, autarky, comedy, commentary, Constitution, economics, education, fascism, liberty, mercantilism, monetary policy, politicians, politics, protectionism, recommendations, reference, regulation, Ron Paul, socialism and US Constitution

This guy thinks we are stupid jerks. Big surprise - he works for the Fed.

This guy thinks we are stupid jerks. Big surprise - he works for the Fed.


This is rich. Tyler Durden via lewrockwell.com points us to a rambling, anti-blogger rant from some faceless Fed functionary about how people without PhDs in economics should just shut the hell up and allow our betters to make everything all better by a heavy application of Keynsian theory (Durden’s commentary is priceless, and you MUST read the comments).

Well, forgive me if I am being impolite to even mention it, but the esteemed Lord Keynes, did he have a PhD in economics? Why, no, he did not. Did he have a PhD in anything? Why, no, he did not. Well surely he MUST have had an undergraduate degree in economics, at very least. Well, uh, also no, his Bachelor’s degree was in mathematics. Which tells you all you need to know about Lord Keynes’ facility with classical economics, e.g., virtually none.

Meanwhile, the leading figures in the late classical economics movement, Austrians Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek, along with Murray Rothbard, Hans Hoppe, Joe Salerno, and a cadre of others, who propound a body of economics colloquially called the Austrian School, are being proved right again and again (as we repeatedly have pointed out) , as stimulus after massive stimulus (as propounded by lackeys like Kartik Athreya) fails to revive the corpse of the Keynsian economy of the past century.

Oh, and all of the major Austrian School scholars had PhDs.

17
Jun

Joe Barton’s Capitol Offense – Telling The Truth

By libertyvini 0 Comments
Categories: economics and Uncategorized

Right Twice A Day

Right Twice A Day


Forgetting for a second what a tool Joe Barton is, he is correct about the positive analysis; Based on current federal law (OPA of 1990) Obama hasn’t got a legal leg to stand on in demanding one red cent more than $85 Million. Sure, it’s an immoral, unconstitutional abomination, but it’s the law, $20 Billion slush fund or no. I will tell you this – absent the OPA, $20 Billion is a pittance compared to their real, common-law civil liability. BP and Obama are simply floating a large-sounding figure for PR purposes. It won’t actually BE $20 Billion, and it won’t be in real restitution.

16
Jun

Repeal The Oil Pollution Act of 1990

By libertyvini 5 Comments
Categories: Austrian Economics, autarky, commentary, Constitution, economics, energy independence, environment, fascism, foreign oil, liberty, mercantilism, politicians, politics, protectionism, regulation, Ron Paul, socialism, technology and US Constitution

Actually, THIS is the site of the worst environmental disaster in US History

Actually, THIS is the site of the worst environmental disaster in US History


From the Act;
“SEC. 1004. LIMITS ON LIABILITY.
(a) GENERAL RULE.—Except as otherwise provided in this section,
the total of the liability of a responsible party under section 1002 and any removal costs incurred by, or on behalf of, the responsible party, with respect to each incident shall not exceed—
(1) for a tank vessel, the greater of—
(A) $1,200 per gross ton; or
(B)(i) in the case of a vessel greater than 3,000 gross tons, $10,000,000;
(NOTE: This limit is missing from the current reg here)
or (ii) in the case of a vessel of 3,000 gross tons or less, $2,000,000;
(2) for any other vessel, $600 per gross ton or $500,000, whichever is greater;
(3) for an offshore facility except a deepwater port, the total
of all removal costs plus $75,000,000…”

So, let’s see, the federal government, in response to the (now) second-worst worst marine environmental disaster in US History, passed an act which limited any company’s total financial liability for anything bad that might happen to $85 million (completely destroying the property rights of millions of people), in effect subsidizing risky deep-water drilling, and leading directly to THE worst marine environmental disaster in US history.

Yeah, sounds about right.

Repeal section 1004 of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

(shout-out to Destination 360 – thanks for nothing, a$$hole$)

01
Jun

Bloomberg Doesn’t Want You To Know What’s In Your Air (1/2008)

By libertyvini 3 Comments
Categories: commentary, Constitution, environment, fascism, liberty, mercantilism, police state, politicians, politics, regulation, socialism, terrorism, Uncategorized, US Constitution and war

‘

(PHOTO: New Yorkers posess these by the thousands, the NYPD wants to make these people criminals)

UPDATE: Bloomberg is at it again;

The NYPD’s deputy commissioner for counterterrorism wants to ban private ownership of Geiger-Muller counters, air sampling pumps, and (SOME – ed) carbon monoxide detectors. The city ‘government’ of Bloombergia-On-The-Hudson, hot on the heels of forcing chain restaurants to list the calorie counts of their menu items directly on the menu (but not New York City-based restaurants), seems to believe that the time is right to take away the right to sample and monitor the air in the city without a city permit;

Dave Kotelchuck, deputy director of the New York/New Jersey Education and Research Center, pointed out the absurdity of having police regulate and permit research science. “Think about industrial-hygiene folks who are going from Boston to Atlanta to measure, and have atmospheric detectors,” he said. “They land in LaGuardia and JFK. As soon as they land, because possession is a misdemeanor, they’ve committed a misdemeanor. They’re not going to test in New York City; they’re just travelling through. But possession, which is the way the law has stated it, alone is a misdemeanor—not use. Not attempting to make measurements—just possession. That is just unwarranted.”

The ostensible reason for this extraordinary action is that unscrupulous vendors are selling defective detectors to the public, a ludicrous explanation. The real reason might be a bit more sinister;

Dave Newman, an industrial hygienist for the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, claimed that under this law, the West Virginia air-quality experts who tested the air after 9/11 would have been a bunch of criminals (emphasis mine.)

I should note that I am a Certified Industrial Hygienist, who, as well as having planned and worked on some of the biggest environmental cleanups in the city, has probably transported or posessed hundreds of such instruments on thousands of trips throughout the Five Boroughs, and while the idea of being a kind of righteous outlaw in the city is somewhat dashing and romantic on one level, it would quickly become a gigantic pain in the ass.

More seriously, this attempt at ass-covering on the part of the multiply culpable city government is both a local fascist power grab and a federally-encouraged experiment to find out if similar repugnant legislation could be fastened on to the American people at large;

There are currently no guidelines regulating the private acquisition of biological, chemical, and radiological detectors,” warned Falkenrath, adding that this law was suggested by officials within the Department of Homeland Security.

Nevermind professional people, for technical people, hobbyists, ordinary citizens, academics, and students who want to take basic measurements relating to environmental quality in the most polluted city in North America (and possibly soon, elsewhere,) this ordinance would be an unmitigated disaster, and a wholesale abrogation of rights.