Government VS. The People

Government tends toward centralizing decision making farthest from those affected, for the benefit of the central authority and its connected interests. Completely asymmetrical. Freedom, on the other hand, fosters granular decision making. That is, under freedom, decisions are made closest to those affected, by those affected most. Perfectly symmetrical.

This is What "Compromise" on Healthcare Reform Means

Candidate Obama On Single- Payer Healthcare\n\"House Democrats overcame their own divisions and broke an impasse that threatened the bill after liberals grudgingly accepted tougher restrictions on abortion funding, as abortion opponents demanded.\"

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AH, this explains the french-kissing I heard from the pulpit this past Sunday.

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\"In (sic - the) Senate, the stumbling block is the idea of the government competing with private insurers. Liberals may have to swallow hard and accept a deal without a public plan in order to keep the legislation alive. As in the House, the compromise appears to be to the right of the political spectrum.\"

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To my principled liberal friends - how's that 'single-payer' thing going?

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpAyan1fXCE

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Candidate Obama On Single- Payer Healthcare "House Democrats overcame their own divisions and broke an impasse that threatened the bill after liberals grudgingly accepted tougher restrictions on abortion funding, as abortion opponents demanded."

AH, this explains the french-kissing I heard from the pulpit this past Sunday.

"In (sic - the) Senate, the stumbling block is the idea of the government competing with private insurers. Liberals may have to swallow hard and accept a deal without a public plan in order to keep the legislation alive. As in the House, the compromise appears to be to the right of the political spectrum."

To my principled liberal friends - how's that 'single-payer' thing going?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpAyan1fXCE

The God Of The Machine, Indeed

[caption id=\"attachment_725\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"250\" caption=\"Nothing to see here, just a little old radio-controlled model aircraft\"]\"Nothing[/caption]\nMichael Gaddy, an Army veteran of Vietnam, wrote an article on LewRockwell.com the other day about how filling it from top to bottom with decent, law-abiding people would still fail to result in a 'good' government.

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He included a quote that seems particularly well-suited, given the violent actions and rhetoric of the current Emperor, by all accounts a fundamentally 'decent guy' UPDATE: Validated by The Obamessiah (PBUH) receiving the Nobel \"Peace\" prize for what amounts to ten days' work;

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\"\u2026What good does it do to have a saint of every conceivable virtue operating a guillotine? Personally, the man may be above reproach. He may have the highest of morals and ethics. He may be imbued with a passion for doing good. But the mechanism he is hired to operate cuts off heads. He may dislike to cut off heads. He may weep with true sorrow whenever a head falls into the basket. But he was hired to pull the rope that lets the knife drop. And when it comes down, off comes the head. That is the way the tool works.\" Isabel Patterson, The God of the Machine

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[caption id="attachment_725" align="aligncenter" width="250" caption="Nothing to see here, just a little old radio-controlled model aircraft"]Nothing to see here, just a little old radio-controlled model aircraft[/caption] Michael Gaddy, an Army veteran of Vietnam, wrote an article on LewRockwell.com the other day about how filling it from top to bottom with decent, law-abiding people would still fail to result in a 'good' government.

He included a quote that seems particularly well-suited, given the violent actions and rhetoric of the current Emperor, by all accounts a fundamentally 'decent guy' UPDATE: Validated by The Obamessiah (PBUH) receiving the Nobel "Peace" prize for what amounts to ten days' work;

"…What good does it do to have a saint of every conceivable virtue operating a guillotine? Personally, the man may be above reproach. He may have the highest of morals and ethics. He may be imbued with a passion for doing good. But the mechanism he is hired to operate cuts off heads. He may dislike to cut off heads. He may weep with true sorrow whenever a head falls into the basket. But he was hired to pull the rope that lets the knife drop. And when it comes down, off comes the head. That is the way the tool works." Isabel Patterson, The God of the Machine

The Next Bubble - Government Bonds

[caption id=\"attachment_336\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"374\" caption=\"Which One Goes Next?\"]\"Which[/caption]\nThere seem to be a couple of likely candidates for the next bubble to pop, among them commercial real estate, with its heavy dependence on (collapsing) retail sales, and government bonds, which are are intimately tied to (ballooning)\u00A0 government infrastructure spending.

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The people I have talked to about commercial real estate (owners / investors) seem split on whether / when the commercial realty bubble will pop, or whether it will be a slow outgas followed by gradual recovery.

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In contrast, no one\u00A0 that I have heard or conversed with is optimistic about government bonds. Talking to a municipal bond trader the other day, I remarked \" the infrastructure spending in the proposed stimulus has got to be good news for your business, right?\" He replied to the effect that no, most people in the bond business are very concerned that there is in actuality a growing bubble in government debt, which the stimulus bill has every chance of making much worse.

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So, how do you short government bonds again?

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(Image from philadelphia reflections, a monetarist's blog, unfortunately)

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[caption id="attachment_336" align="aligncenter" width="374" caption="Which One Goes Next?"]Which One Goes Next?[/caption] There seem to be a couple of likely candidates for the next bubble to pop, among them commercial real estate, with its heavy dependence on (collapsing) retail sales, and government bonds, which are are intimately tied to (ballooning)  government infrastructure spending.

The people I have talked to about commercial real estate (owners / investors) seem split on whether / when the commercial realty bubble will pop, or whether it will be a slow outgas followed by gradual recovery.

In contrast, no one  that I have heard or conversed with is optimistic about government bonds. Talking to a municipal bond trader the other day, I remarked " the infrastructure spending in the proposed stimulus has got to be good news for your business, right?" He replied to the effect that no, most people in the bond business are very concerned that there is in actuality a growing bubble in government debt, which the stimulus bill has every chance of making much worse.

So, how do you short government bonds again?

(Image from philadelphia reflections, a monetarist's blog, unfortunately)

FDA Misses Salmonella, Cripples Tomato Industry

[caption id=\"attachment_121\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"179\" caption=\"Poison Fruit? \"]\"Poison[/caption]\nIncompetent government agency fails to perform its job ((YAWNNNN)) cripples an industry ($100 billion worth), and still cannot say with any certainty what exactly happened. Yet absolutely no one in the FDA was harmed.

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[caption id="attachment_121" align="aligncenter" width="179" caption="Poison Fruit? "]Poison Fruit? [/caption] Incompetent government agency fails to perform its job ((YAWNNNN)) cripples an industry ($100 billion worth), and still cannot say with any certainty what exactly happened. Yet absolutely no one in the FDA was harmed.

Steps Toward A Voluntary Society

Fascinating, absolutely fascinating video by voluntarist Sam Dodson, who has the temerity to ask a judge a valid, legal question;[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFpQAjYbhu8]

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Try to restrain any impulse to think \"this guy's just dicking the court around\", and watch him ask fundamental questions about the charge against him, and the court's proper role, and watch the officers of the court squirm under his polite, civil questioning.

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We need many more like him;

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For more entertaining legal viewing, watch Regent University Law professor James Duane demonstrate why you should never, ever talk to the police;

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik]

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(Link to first video from Lew Rockwell's blog; link to second video from skip at postal blowfish)

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Fascinating, absolutely fascinating video by voluntarist Sam Dodson, who has the temerity to ask a judge a valid, legal question;[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFpQAjYbhu8]

Try to restrain any impulse to think "this guy's just dicking the court around", and watch him ask fundamental questions about the charge against him, and the court's proper role, and watch the officers of the court squirm under his polite, civil questioning.

We need many more like him;

For more entertaining legal viewing, watch Regent University Law professor James Duane demonstrate why you should never, ever talk to the police;

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik]

(Link to first video from Lew Rockwell's blog; link to second video from skip at postal blowfish)