(Also available on Bitchute)
Doug French wrote an article last week called “Bank CEOs Have Their Heads in the Clouds” and he talks about how all of the bank CEOs are very optimistic, but he notes that their real estate agents are optimistic, and so are their loan officers.
One of the tools necessary for a relatively free (but not stateless) society to function is free speech. Free speech allows for vigorous arguments to flourish and help people understand contentious issues. As a state becomes more censorious, or as people become more vindictive about those presenting differing opinions, it is natural for people making arguments that counter the narrative to want additional protection. The use of anonymity or pseudonyms provides this additional protection for dissidents.
The other day I read an article over at Mises that makes an interesting, if somewhat obvious point: that despite incentives which encourage long time preferences in monarchical rulers compared to democratic rulers with limited terms, other circumstances can encourage rulers of all kinds to have different time preferences.
The modern U.S. federal government cannot serve the purposes for which it was created. It has interceded in too many issues, and now it is only an instrument of tyranny to be passed back and forth by elites to subjugate you while providing a veneer of freedom.
Had the idea for this video after watching a couple of episodes of the Bob Murphy Show. In the first, Bob has Oren Cass on. Oren did some really excellent work debunking the economic hysteria around climate change, but these days he seems to be going down an oddly protectionist pathway. Bob lets him talk without too much pushback (because Bob’s a nice guy and is genuinely interested in giving opposing views a fair shake).
On Friday, September 8, 2023, the governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham, unilaterally and unconstitutionally ordered that open and licensed concealed carry of firearms was banned in all counties above a certain threshold of violent crime. A U.S. District Court judge quickly blocked her order with a temporary restraining order, but the safe money is on the governor getting away with this attempt to curtail the liberties of the people of New Mexico with no personal consequences.
Breaking down a really economically illiterate article by Caitlin Johnstone, who has some good positions (on say, censorship and government surveillance) but economics apparently isn’t one of them…
I watched a great video from Michael Boldin over at the Tenth Amendment Center the other day. Even though it was one of their shorter “Fast Friday” episodes, Michael touched on a very interesting topic: happiness and freedom. He argued that the Founders placed extreme value on freedom, to the point where several of them said things to the effect of: “You cannot be truly happy unless you are free.” That simple but profound statement got me thinking.
The structure and details of investing is one place pop “economists” seem to love to be ignorant. For example, we have the eminent Thomas Piketty, who says the return on investment in capital exceeds the overall rate of growth of the economy. We’ll get into that in more detail in a minute, but first let’s start with a great example of what he’s missing: the potential downsides of investment.
First off, I cannot recommend highly enough this recent episode of the Scott Horton Show. Scott talks to Matt Taibbi about the recent court order (released on July 4, 2023) that prevented the Feds from asking social media websites to censor you.