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Happiness
Posted by M. C. on October 2, 2023
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Should We Allow U.S. Land to Be Sold to the Chinese?
Posted by M. C. on October 2, 2023
Third, according to that old folk wisdom, if goods don’t cross borders, armies will. Farm land is not usually thought of as a tradeable good, but it is.
https://substack.com/inbox/post/137566977
Admittedly, this idea sounds bad. Both “sell out” and “selling out” have a bad odor to them. Rather, we should “stand firm!” And there is nothing like perking up that patriotic spirit that compares to bashing supposed foreign enemies. However, there are deep and dire problems with this attempt at demagoguery.
First of all, there is simply no mention in the U.S. Constitution, let alone prohibition of, selling land to foreigners. We have been doing so since practically the beginning of our country. A relatively recent high-profile case in point is the sale of Rockefeller Center in New York City to Japanese interests. This land parcel contains 19 buildings ranging from three stories to sky scrapers, and comprises 22 acres dab smack in the middle of Manhattan. A 51% share was purchased for $846 million in 1989 by the Mitsubishi Corporation. As it happens, this sale did not go all that well for the buyers; they sold out in 1995 for a loss (but that is entirely beside the point). If the U.S. Constitution prohibited sales of this sort, this one never would have occurred.
Second, according to one opponent of such sales, a Republican candidate for Governor of Washington state:
“The practice of selling American land to anyone other than American citizens is heinous and unconstitutional. American soil belongs to American citizens. End of discussion.”
Did you notice anything missing from this harangue, apart from a failure to mention which part of the U.S. Constitution is of relevance? In most sales, nay, all sales without exception, there is a buyer and seller. So far, so good. There are these two countries. But there is also a price! What is the price the Chinese are willing to pay for our precious farm land? Typically, fertile agricultural acreage sells for about $3,800 per acre in the United States. Well, suppose the people of the Middle Kingdom offered double that amount, or $7,600 per acre. Then, the likelihood of Americans going without “access to reliable and sufficient quantities of affordable, nutritious food” would be decreased, not increased, by all such sales. American farmers could then purchase twice as much arable land in nearby Canada or Mexico; they would be enriched, and we would have more food rather than less.
Here is a multiple-choice question for those of you who have not yet had Economics 101: are the Chinese likely to offer less than $3,800, that exact amount, or more than that figure, for their average purchase? Go to the head of the class if you selected that latter option. For an explanation: with these new offers for our terrain, the demand curve for it will shift to the right and prices will tend to be higher, not the same or lower. Maybe not double, as in this example, but higher!
Should we sell the entire country to the Chinese? It all depends upon what they offer for it! If it is the sun, the moon, and the stars, then yes. If it is eternal life, plus the entire remainder of the planet, including China itself, then, again, yes, of course. Without knowing what the precise financial and otherwise offer is, it ill behooves anyone to reject any deal!
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General Milley’s Last Words Confirm His Sedition and Likely Treason
Posted by M. C. on October 2, 2023
“Now that we are globally witness to Gen. Milley’s seditious outgoing ‘hate speech’ he should be stripped of his rank and pension. Milley’s illustrious career ended with Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Afghanistan Freedom. Which liberated Iraq and Afghanistan of roughly 350,000 lives and Taxpayers of $4-$6 TRILLION. Afghanistan is now controlled by the Taliban and Iraq is an ally of Russia. WELL DONE!“
by Helena
General Milley formally exited ‘stage left’ by evoking Hate Speech’: “We don’t take an oath to a country, we don’t take an oath to a tribe, we don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or a tyrant or a dictator. And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator,” he spat. “We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
Not only does this crude statement reveal a man enshrined in hate, it reveals a General who has no idea what the oath of office is for officers! A) he takes an oath to the Constitution of the United States our COUNTRY – not to China – not to Ukraine – not to Taiwan! B) he takes an oath to ‘obey the President of the United States’.
He did neither of these things and has now gone on record digging his grave for the world to hear and absorb. His last words are words of sedition. Sedition: Speech or organization that includes subversion of The US Constitution.
The Oath states:
I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed …
The media has an interesting take on defining ‘hate speech’ – and instead references this ‘Generals’ choice of outgoing statements as a simple Trump ‘jab’. Of course the media has zero understanding of the Military, its vows of discretion and honor and respect! They only know Hollywood Che Guevara Sean Penn deviance of how military officials are supposed to be conduct themselves, and the hierarchy that entails. The President is Milley’s Commander in Chief. Not the other way around. And if he cannot abide that Commander – he has the option to RESIGN. Effective immediately.
Worse yet, Private First Class Milley, made his statements in front of cadets, other servicemen, and media, thereby enhancing his choice of words within the colossal potential for Treason by admitting he failed to uphold his Oath of Office under Trump, did not uphold The Constitution, and instead colluded with China – and made secret phone calls with CCP officials while still under Oath to President Trump. An allegiance deviance.
In addition to Hate Speech, sedition, and treason – Milley revealed rampant ‘stupidity’ in his public display which he can not now deny happened.
In a similar vein of idiocy, Twitter influencer, Mehdi Hasan, made the unproven declaration that Hate Speech on Twitter has increased 1000x since Musk bought the company. Without anyone asking, he decided to take upon himself to hold his own Challenge and thus prove he is right. But in classic liberal scream fashion, he failed to edit his own tweets, which are rife with “Hate Speech”! Stupidity has taken the reins of the liberals. They cannot undo.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Constitution, General Milley, Sedition, treason | Leave a Comment »
TGIF: Limited Government’s Bait and Switch
Posted by M. C. on October 2, 2023
Well, why does market anarchism, unlike minarchism, inspire reasonable confidence about the chances of protecting liberty? That’s a topic for another day, but suffice it to say that, as Caplan argues, rational self-interest, free competition, the need for a good reputation, and today’s general expectation of peaceful conflict resolution provide our best chance.
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/tgif-bait-switch/
In a fundamental respect, libertarian minarchism (minimal, or limited, government) and market anarchism (or anarcho-capitalism) have something important in common: neither can guarantee individual rights.
But there’s a big difference: unlike market anarchism, minarchism appears to offer a guarantee, which allegedly makes it preferable to market anarchism. Actually, it’s a false guarantee, a bait-and-switch. So it’s not preferable to market anarchism, at least on those grounds.
However, what market anarchism can do is show how everyday incentives will tend to protect liberty (and already do now). Minarchism can’t credibly say the same thing because constitutionally limited representative democracy is riddled with well-known perverse political incentives. That makes market anarchism the better bet.
It’s instructive to watch the recent Soho Forum debate on the proposition “Anarcho-capitalism would definitely be a complete disaster for humanity.” Yaron Brook, chairman of the Ayn Rand Institute, took the affirmative, and Bryan Caplan, libertarian professor of economics at George Mason University, took the negative. I think Caplan demolished Brook’s case, which isn’t exclusive to Ayn Rand Objectivists. This was a debate between two people starting from similar premises in favor of individual freedom, rational self-interest, and competition.
While what follows may not convince anyone to advocate market anarchism, it should eliminate a big argument against it.
Most limited-government advocates think that only a monopoly government can produce the objective law and fair and peaceful adjudication/enforcement that human beings need to flourish. The problem, as indicated, is that minarchism is all talk. It can’t deliver.
Remember the old joke in which a tourist asks a grumpy local how to get somewhere? The local responds, “You can’t get there from here.” That’s the problem. Brook’s theory of constitutionally limited government promises to get us to a place we cannot go because it doesn’t exist. Why not? As Dr. Seuss might say, because it’s people all the way down. Limited-government advocates ignore this obvious fact.
Contrary to its fans, limited government is conceptually impossible. It, not anarchism, is a “floating abstraction.” If this standard argument for limited government disappears, what’s left?
Any advocate of liberty who knows even a little U.S. political history should see the problem for minarchism. In freedom-loving quarters, the American constitutional system wins kudos — the obvious serious contradictions such as slavery excepted. But what about the government’s horrendous expansion since 1789? Isn’t that a hint that something did not quite work?
Some Americans began complaining about the bigness of the national government at the turn of the 19th century! And let’s not forget that the first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, denied the national quasi-government the power to tax and regulate trade. Within a few years, that changed. Wasn’t that a bad omen?
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Anarcho-Capitalism, Bait and Switch, Liberty, limited government, Minarchism | Leave a Comment »
The Role of Government Should Be To Protect Individual Liberty
Posted by M. C. on October 2, 2023
The Ron Paul Liberty Report
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Government, individual liberty | Leave a Comment »
Talking about Stoicism 248 Wealth and Sympatheia
Posted by M. C. on October 1, 2023
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: stoicism, Sympatheia, wealth | Leave a Comment »
Disease X And How The Ruling Class Is “Preparing” For It
Posted by M. C. on September 30, 2023
“The main problem with this tyrannical plan is the slave class not willing to comply because they figured out they don’t have to be slaves to anyone. The Washington Post admits as much, however, using language designed to try to mentally mani[ulate the human livestock:“
“Humanity is quickly approaching a junction in our evolution. We will either devolve into permanent slaves with no control over our own lives, or we will realize we are free beings, beholden to no one but ourselves, and conduct our lives accordingly. There won’t be any gray areas when the global tyrants are done. We will be permanent slaves, or we will be free.”
https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/disease-x-and-how-the-ruling-class-is-preparing-for-it
by Mac Slavo
The term “Disease X” was coined years ago and refers to a pandemic of any kind that could happen in the future, but hasn’t yet. It has been a way to panic the public and get them to accept the onslaught of vaccines the rulers keep pushing to “protect” them from an invisible threat.
The ruling class will stop at nothing to panic the slaves into continued submission, but at some point, if enough figure out the game, it is possible a real disease and contagion that could cause real-world harm and death could be released in order to mentally recapture the willing masses.
According to a report by The Washington Post, The World Health Organization added Disease X in 2017 to a short list of pathogens deemed a top priority for research, alongside known killers like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Ebola.
The current list of diseases that the WHO is “concerned” about are:
• Covid-19
• Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever
• Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus disease
• Lassa fever
• Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and SARS
• Nipah and henipaviral diseases
• Rift Valley fever
• Zika
• Disease X
Why is the ruling class concerned about DIsease X?
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Disease X, pandemic, Ruling Class, SARS | Leave a Comment »
Biggest Debate Joke: Ukraine Aid is a “Loan” That Will Be Paid Back
Posted by M. C. on September 30, 2023
“Interestingly, a footnote in the first sentence did recognize that $2 billion of the $3 billion of Marshall Plan loans made to West Germany was forgiven in 1953, while most other European nations received direct grants rather than loans from the program and therefore didn’t have to worry about repayment.“
“As the report goes on to document, any pre-existing federal commitment to debt repayment began to quickly erode during the George H.W. Bush Administration.“
https://mises.org/power-market/biggest-debate-joke-ukraine-aid-loan-will-be-paid-back
Last night’s Republican debate was a farce from beginning to end.
The first laugh line of the evening was Fox Business personality Stuart Varney having a difficult time getting through the name of his co-host Ilia Calderón.
Awkward start for Stuart Varney… #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/MwSwVJj4Kh— ElectionMuse (@ElectionMuse) September 28, 2023
The debate’s conclusion ended in a similarly awkward moment for the moderators, with candidates rebelling against an attempt to turn the debate into a political game of Survivor.
Fox News actually tried to get the candidates to play Survivor and write down who they would “vote off the island.”
The candidates looked at Dana Perino like she was an insane person. pic.twitter.com/rL5YD4rrdM— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) September 28, 2023
In between, the politicians on stage attempted to deliver carefully planned one-liners designed to demonstrate more personality than what comes naturally to them. In particular, while there is plenty to laugh at Mike Pence about, his attempted joke was not one of them.
Mike Pence absolutely bombs with the debate crowd with this joke:
“Look, I do sagree with something Tim Scott just said. Joe Biden does not belong on a picket line. He belongs on the unemployment line.” pic.twitter.com/iXHM5HIddi— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) September 28, 2023
The most comedic line of the night belonged to South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. Scott, whose ten-year career in the Senate has left him with no argument for his candidacy beyond latent Republican desires for diversity on the ticket, dutifully stood up to defend the increasingly unpopular bipartisan financial aid lawmakers have provided Ukraine. In response to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stating that he would reject further US financial support for the Ukrainian effort, Scott contended that 90% of the assistance is a loan that will be paid off.
Dissension arises over the proper response to the Ukraine war
Tim Scott: 90% of the money we send over there is a loan pic.twitter.com/cWuYTcB3cd— MRCTV (@mrctv) September 28, 2023
It is difficult to know whether or not Senator Scott actually believes this; most of what is said on a political debate stage should not be taken at face value. Even if we put aside the question of his 90% figure, which is significantly inflated from the percentage of financial aid that is currently considered a loan, a sincere belief that Ukraine will be expected to actually pay back war-time loans shows a disconnect with the way the modern American empire operates.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Republican debate, Ukraine Aid, Loan | 1 Comment »
Is the Money in Your Checking Account Yours or the Bank’s?
Posted by M. C. on September 30, 2023
“With such an agreement, “fractional reserve free banking” proponents say, depositors would know that they are effectively creditors to the bank and that the bank is therefore a debtor to them. This means that the deposits are technically and legally owned by the bank and that what the depositor has is technically and legally a callable loan to the bank. Clear agreements would mean that depositors understand that there is a chance that they won’t be able to get their money (actually, the bank’s money, in this view) immediately in the event of a bank failure. Of course, central banking and government-backed deposit insurance diminish customers’ expectation of bank responsibility…”
https://mises.org/wire/money-your-checking-account-yours-or-banks
When Silicon Valley Bank and other banks failed earlier this year, the debate over the sustainability of fractional reserve banking resurfaced. Under fractional reserve banking, banks keep only a fraction of customers’ deposits in reserve. The difference is bank credit, such as government debt, mortgages, business loans, and many other kinds of loans. This practice leaves the bank open to a run, in which panicky depositors attempt to withdraw their funds from the bank en masse but the bank doesn’t have the cash on hand. The following FRED graph gives an idea of the extent of the mismatch between deposits and reserves.
But we shouldn’t worry about bank runs because the government is here to help. In the US, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures checking accounts up to $250,000, and the banking system is regulated by a host of agencies, including the Federal Reserve, which also acts as a lender of last resort. These measures are intended to prevent and mitigate bank runs for the benefit of both the banks and their depositors. Though it should be obvious that they only conceal the fundamental problem and disperse the costs.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Checking, FDIC, fractional reserve banking, Silicon Valley Bank | Leave a Comment »
Yet Another Fear-Mongering COVID Surge Turns Into Trickle As Hospital Admissions Wane
Posted by M. C. on September 30, 2023
Time for the CDC to stop reporting data. Just as it did with influenza.
by Tyler Durden
Friday, Sep 29, 2023 – 07:20 AM
Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)
After multiple weeks of increasing COVID-19 hospital admissions, federal data show that the figure is now falling.
In the week ending Sept. 16, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data show hospitalizations are down 4.3 percent. The number had been increasing since July, although the CDC’s historical trends shows that hospitalization numbers were relatively low compared with previous increases in the virus—notably compared with a prior “surge” that occurred in the summer of 2022.
Meanwhile, the latest figures show that emergency department visits are down 19.3 percent and test positivity is down 1.6 percent. Deaths are up by about 12.5 percent, the data show, but that figure is also relatively low when compared with previous years.
The EG.5 variant, which has been dubbed Eris, accounts for about 24.5 percent of all cases, according to the CDC’s variant tracker. FL.1.5.1, known as Fornax, is estimated to be responsible for about 13.7 percent of COVID-19 infections, the CDC figures show.
About a month ago, amid a steady rise in hospitalizations, some health officials suggested that it doesn’t appear to be as bad as before.
“Looking at that graph [of] hospitalizations, even though it’s on an upward trend, that’s still lower than it was last year at this time,” Dr. John Segreti, an epidemiologist and the medical director of infection control and prevention at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, told ABC News. “The fact that the numbers are going up fairly slowly, I think is a good sign.”
Responding to the figures last month, Dr. Shira Doron, chief infection control officer for Tufts Medicine, said that the recent “upswing is not a surge; it’s not even a wave.”
“What we’re seeing is a very gradual and small upward trajectory of cases and hospitalizations, without deaths really going along, which is great news,” the doctor added.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: CDC, COVID Surge, fear-mongering | Leave a Comment »
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