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.
Category: Political
This category covers posts with political content.
One clear-as-day indicator that the state is out of control is its desire for censorship.
Now, a “good” state (if such a thing is possible) is not interested in forcing the people to think a certain way about any particular issue. If it does anything, it provides facts or arranges for round-tables where a variety of perspectives are discussed.
The state loves to regulate the market. They often couch their regulations in words like “efficiency,” “savings,” and “choice,” but the fact is that all their regulations can do is impede the efficiency of the market, force savings where consumers want better solutions, and eliminate choices.
There has been a lot of noise about some recent tweets by the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire. Apparently they’re too edgy.
I’m here to provide a different perspective. Enjoy the video!
David Boaz has an article out about a book some dude at the WSJ called “an obituary for libertarianism.”
The article has a… few problems, let’s say. Boaz is a bit… hypocritical in it.
I wrote a response to the article but you know what? Maybe I was too mean to Boaz. So I’m rewriting it to be a little less combative.
Coming soon…
Check out my latest at the Mises Wire. It’s about how the Modern Monetary Theory clowns use something like the Motte and Bailey fallacy to gain influence with politicians and feed them really bad ideas. The negative consequences of those ideas are well known to MMTers, but they can omit them and pretend they’re “unintended.”
Here’s a little bonus bit that I wrote about it:
My focus was how MMT’s use of odd definitions, convenient tautologies, and strategic vagueness leads to politicians thinking they be more aggressive parasites without negative consequences.
Court intellectuals remain so by justifying the actions of their state masters. MMT is just another place for would-be court intellectuals to do this. It’s as easy as omitting secondary consequences (“unintended” consequences) from their writing.
The modern capital structure is vast and complex but can quickly and easily be destroyed by an overzealous state. The USSR’s policies turned Ukraine from a breadbasket into a valley of death in just a few years, and it can happen again.
Good economists stand in the way of idiots demanding our seed corn. Bad economists cheer the thugs on. They omit vital caveats and let the state’s greed take its course.
(Also available on Bitchute.)
There is a tendency for thinkers to use metaphor and allegory to reframe a problem or issue in a way that clarifies or simplifies it. The problem with metaphor and allegory is that they necessarily change or obscure details. Therefore, the solutions you propose from looking at a metaphor might be way off.
Even worse, the retreat into metaphor can be so deep that no concrete solutions even appear, and you end up with long periods of idle musing.
Categories
Effective Altruism Isn’t
The idea of “effective altruism” is that you do the most good by making as much money as possible, and then living frugally and using the rest of that money for charity.
Of course, nowadays, with the state having the stranglehold on the economy that it does, it turns out that the easiest way to make a bunch of money is to have a bunch of government connections that will help you win a contract or two. Actual entrepreneurship is hard.
Then, it gets worse! The fact you’ve spent so much time hanging around politicians and bureaucrats warps your sense of charity. Instead of serving the people, you serve the state.
More in the video above, also available on Bitchute.
After reading a few reactions to my review of George Orwell’s Road to Wigan Pier, it looked like I was a little bit unclear about Orwell’s position on socialism. I’m aware that he never denounced socialism as an ideology. However, the issue that becomes painfully clear when reading Wigan Pier is that he really had no clear idea of what socialism was or what it meant. With that in mind, I thought I’d make a quick video explaining this point a bit more clearly, so I hope this helps.
You can read my review here.
…and all the men and women merely Doomers.
But seriously, I recently read a little piece over at Of Two Minds and Mr. Smith spends a lot of time defining Doom Loops, but not really explaining how we should be reacting to them. So, I figured I’d contribute a little analysis, and maybe some advice.