MCViewPoint

Opinion from a Libertarian ViewPoint

False Virtue: The Life and Death of “American Exceptionalism”

Posted by M. C. on October 20, 2023

In the foreign policy realm one must never speak the truth about the real purpose of imperialistic wars and invasions, as did Marine Corps General Smedley Butler in his famous essay, “War is a Racket.”  General Butler was a two-time Congressional Medal of Honor winner and is said to have been the most highly decorated Marine ever.  Published in the post World War I era, General Butler explained what he really spent his illustrious career doing:

“I spent most of my time being a high class muscle man for big business, for Wall Street and for the bankers . . . .  I helped make Mexico safe . . . for American oil interests . . . .  I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank . . . .  I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers . . . .  I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests . . .”

False Virtue: The Life and Death of ‘American Exceptionalism’

By Thomas DiLorenzo

The impending decline of the dollar is apparently imposing a real Halloween scare on the American foreign policy establishment.  An August 22, 2023 article on the Council on Foreign Relations Web site entitled “The Future of Dollar Hegemony” explained that:

“The dollar’s global hegemony gives the U.S. government power to impose crippling sanctions and wage other forms of financial welfare against adversaries . . . .  In 2022, more than twelve thousand entities were under sanction by the Treasury Department, a more than twelve-fold increase since the turn of the century.  U.S. sanctions . . . do ensure that targeted adversaries pay a significant price for continuing to engage in actions the United States opposes” (emphasis added).

This reminds yours truly of a very memorable bumper sticker that had an American flag in one corner and read:  “Do As We Say Or We Will Bring Democracy to Your Country!”  The bumper sticker is memorable because it speaks truth to power in a very sarcastic manner.  It also highlights how “sanctions” are an act of war that has long assisted the U.S. government in acting as the bully of the world.  Dollar dominance is the cornerstone of such bullying since so many dollars are held in so many other countries as their reserve currency.  This allows a massive amount of foreign policy blackmailing to occur.

The bullying is always all about the money, one way or another, just as “follow the money” is always good advice when one investigates the causes of any war anywhere.  But a golden rule of politics is to never, ever admit that one is interested in anything but the moral uplifting of mankind, the eradication of poverty in foreign lands, saving the widows and orphans of the world, or some other selfless, magnanimous gesture.  Protectionists never admit, for example, that their real goal is to use the powers of the state to plunder and legally steal from their customers.  They must cloak their greed in nationalism, national defense arguments, anything but the truth.

See the rest here

Be seeing you

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Commentary: Making sense of a weaponized FBI

Posted by M. C. on October 20, 2023

“A party led by the likes of Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) would pose no threat to those in charge,” – No Kidding!

“There is absolutely nothing different that the left is now doing in this country to achieve the same result, which is a one-party dictatorship. The only new feature is that we’d be getting woke indoctrination together with political oppression.”

The FIB has always been someone’s tool.

https://www.theblaze.com/columns/opinion/commentary-making-sense-of-a-weaponized-fbi

Paul Gottfried

In what seems to be a largely objective report, Newsweek points out the “impossible” situation in which the FBI now finds itself. The federal agency has been charged with keeping tight surveillance over “domestic terrorism,” and this means for the present administration going after “Donald Trump’s followers” as a dangerous threat to domestic peace and order. Not surprisingly, this move has led to a reaction among Republican lawmakers and journalists who insist this surveillance operation represents a “weaponization” of an agency that is supposed to be above politics.

Unfortunately, the bureau has now been turned against a particular national party. Moreover, the FBI’s reference to Trump’s followers can be broadly and not at all unreasonably understood as referring to the many millions of American citizens who voted for the Republican candidate in 2020. Sweeping attacks on “MAGA extremists” have come repeatedly from Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats in Congress, and we may assume these partisan speakers were not denouncing only one small group within the Republican fold. This demonization makes it clear exactly who is being demonized. It is those who had the temerity to vote against the state party.

Although such slander and harassment are divisive, they are also purposeful. They represent attempts to gear up for what will likely be a venomous presidential race next year by putting the other side on notice. Democrats expect the beleaguered opposition to play nice. If the Democrats pull out their predictable bag of tricks to win a close race, no disruptive complaints will be allowed. Just remember what happened to Trump, who was bombarded with criminal arraignments by Democratic judges for making too much fuss over the outcome of the last presidential election!

And what about all those obvious Republican voters hanging around the Capitol on January 6, 2021, who were unceremoniously thrown into prison for years for making a commotion? The demonstrators didn’t unleash the kind of violence that the “Summer of Love,” supported by Democratic politicians and operatives, did back in 2020. But let’s not make such invidious comparisons. Neither Democrats nor their minions in the deep state want unsettling outbursts to mar next year’s presidential election, especially since the Democratic incumbent will be spending the campaign season once again out of harm’s way. Nor is Biden likely to debate his Republican opponent, particularly if that opponent is the no-holds-barred Trump, who will stress Biden’s undeniable dementia.

Mind you, neither the Democrats nor the “public servants” who back them are just being mean. Their attempt to intimidate “MAGA extremists,” most broadly understood, advances their goals. Biden’s handlers and their allies in the Justice Department and government surveillance agencies want a clear path to victory. They certainly don’t want those who are supposed to lose to protest their defeat too loudly, and they most definitely don’t want the losers to behave the way Democrats did in 2016 and in other off years when Hillary Clinton, Jamie Raskin, and sundry Democratic politicians went bonkers contesting election results. It has to be driven home how the expected losers should behave when the inevitable befalls them. Complaints will be treated as insurrectionary actions, and those who might act up are already under surveillance.

This doesn’t mean that no semblance of opposition will be permitted in the new order. “Democracies” are supposed to have opposition parties, but in the new version of democratic government, which is already thriving in Germany, Canada, and in other supposedly constitutional regimes, the permissible parties all look alike. Those that don’t, and which for example want to limit immigration and remove hate speech laws, are stigmatized by the state and the state media as fascist, racist, or simply “undemocratic.” The unwelcome dissenters are also placed under state surveillance, exactly as Biden and the FBI are doing to their uncooperative opposition in our former constitutional republic.

Read the Whole Article

Be seeing you

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

1,000 Days Without A Trial: Jan. 6 Prisoner Shares His Story of ‘Endurance, Perseverance, And Hope’

Posted by M. C. on October 20, 2023

“About 10 months later, Mr. Lang was brought back up to the pod—an independent section within the facility that holds a small number of prisoners. His fellow Jan. 6 prisoners gathered at his cell door to greet him.

“One of the guards yelled for them to get away from my door, just arbitrarily enforcing a rule that didn’t exist,” he explained. “He called the sergeant, who opened the door and unloaded a whole can of military-grade pepper spray directly into my eyes.”

“Naked and in cuffs, an emergency response team dragged him from the cell and brought him to a shower. Female guards watched, “laughing hysterically” at his pain.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/1000-days-without-trial-jan-6-prisoner-shares-his-story-endurance-perseverance-and-hope

Tyler Durden's Photo

by Tyler Durden

Thursday, Oct 19, 2023 – 10:00 PM

Authored by Patricia Tolson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Jake Lang rescued Philip Anderson from a stampede at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Courtesy of Jake Lang)

On Oct. 12, Jake Lang passed a milestone: 1,000 days in jail without a trial. To mark the anniversary, he wanted to share with the American people “the horrific conditions of confinement,” which he says he and many of his fellow Jan. 6 prisoners have had to endure.

“During this time, I’ve done 20 months of solitary confinement,” Mr. Lang told The Epoch Times. “For 15 months of that, I wasn’t allowed to have a haircut or a shave.”

This was intentional, he said, to make Jan. 6 prisoners look like “homeless vagrants” or “deranged terrorists” during video court appearances.

Jan. 6 prisoners are frequently denied family visitation, Mr. Lang said. They spend months with no sunlight. Lights in their cells remain on at night, depriving them of sleep.

His account aligns with first-hand reports from other Jan. 6 prisoners, detailed in a Congressional report in 2021.

Troublesome prisoners are subjected to “diesel therapy,” where inmates are shackled together—frequently with violent gang members—for long bus or plane rides to another facility. The trips can take hours, days, or weeks. Fights are frequent. Personal belongings and discovery for their trials—family photos, exculpatory documents, and notes related to their cases—are often lost.

Family members lose track of them.

The 28-year-old Mr. Lang (full name: Edward Jacob Lang) has been charged with several counts, including an “obstruction” charge, for which he could receive a 20-year sentence. As reported by The Epoch Times, Mr. Lang has challenged this charge with the Supreme Court.

Following his arrest on Jan. 16, 2021, Mr. Lang has been shuttled from one prison to another. In New York, he was moved to three different facilities, including the MDC Brooklyn where Jeffrey Epstein was held.

Then he was taken to an airport in Newburgh, New York, put on a plane with about 200 convicted felons, and transported to Oklahoma, he said.

He was moved to Northern Neck Regional in Warsaw, Virginia, and then to the DC Jail, known to Jan. 6 prisoners as “The Gulag.”

See the rest here

Be seeing you

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

On Ethnic Cleansing, Washington DC Has Always Been the Hypocrite

Posted by M. C. on October 20, 2023

The U.S. double standard has been apparent as well with respect to Israel’s “slow motion” ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homes on the occupied West Bank. For decades, Israeli governments have confiscated land—even portions long inhabited by Palestinian families—and turned those plots over to Jewish settlers. The once predominantly Palestinian West Bank now resembles a geographic Swiss cheese,

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/on-ethnic-cleansing-washington-dc-has-always-been-the-hypocrite/

by Ted Galen Carpenter

depositphotos 415885866 s

Flags of Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkey on the background of the map of Nagorno-Karabakh

U.S. administrations have repeatedly condemned foreign adversaries for engaging in ethnic cleansing of minority populations. That has been an explicit grievance against the People’s Republic of China (PRC) because of Beijing’s treatment of its Uygur population in Xinjiang province, and against Syria and Iran because of their conduct toward Kurdish inhabitants. Serbian authorities in both Bosnia and Kosovo became high-profile targets of Washington’s outrage because of their alleged ethnic cleansing campaigns directed against Muslim populations. In the latter case, Bill Clinton’s administration cited that factor as the most important justification for the U.S.-NATO air wars against Serbs in 1995 (Bosnia) and 1999 (Kosovo).

U.S. leaders have adopted a very different stance, however, whenever Washington’s allies or dependents behave in that fashion. Such hypocrisy became evident most recently when Joe Biden’s White House reacted with nonchalance as Azerbaijan’s military forces attacked and expelled Armenian residents from their long-standing enclave inside Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh. The principal policy statement came from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and it treated the episode as akin to a humanitarian crisis caused by a natural disaster. “The United States is deeply concerned about reports on the humanitarian conditions in Nagorno-Karabakh and calls for unimpeded access for international humanitarian organizations.” The administration not only failed to explicitly condemn the brazen case of ethnic cleansing, it (along with Israel) had been providing arms aid to Azerbaijan.

It was hardly coincidental that the Azeris are important political and security clients of Turkey, while both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh had close economic and military ties with Moscow. This episode offered an ideal opportunity for Washington to placate an increasingly restless Turkey and help take down two Russian clients. Considerations of justice and international law seemed to play little role in the U.S decision. Russia, bogged down in its stalemated war in Ukraine, was in no position to protect its Armenian allies.

The United States and Turkey thus scored a geo-strategic victory and further eroded the Kremlin’s power in Russia’s near abroad. However, both countries were accomplices in a clear case of ethnic cleansing that has led to the expulsion of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians from the enclave as of October 2, 2023. This episode has to be especially painful for all Armenians, given the history of Turkish oppression that culminated in the Ottoman government’s orchestration of the Armenian genocide during World War I that claimed the lives of at least 664,000 victims and involved the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of other Armenian inhabitants.

It is not the first time that Washington appeared to be content when an ethnic cleansing campaign benefited fellow NATO member Turkey. In July 1974, Richard Nixon’s administration—and especially Secretary of State Henry Kissinger—did little more than make insincere clucking sounds of disapproval when Turkish forces invaded the Republic of Cyprus and took control of the northern third of that country.  Kissinger and Nixon’s successor, Gerald Ford, remained indifferent even as Turkey expelled Greek Cypriot residents from the conquered territories.

See the rest here

Be seeing you

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Parasitic Rich Men North of Richmond | Mises Wire

Posted by M. C. on October 20, 2023

“The tax recipient class is not the product of voluntary exchange nor is it providing value to consumers; it is the parasite on the productive class of society. What the productive class provides to the average man, the parasitic class takes through violence. It does not need to provide value to the average man nor is it receptive to the market price system—it is accountable only to the voting populace after years of its parasitism. This parasitic class provides no value, only extracting it from the better members of society.”

“Anthony’s “rich men” are this parasitic class.”

https://mises.org/wire/parasitic-rich-men-north-richmond

David Brady, Jr.

Seemingly coming out of nowhere was the song “Rich Men North of Richmond,” by singer-songwriter Oliver Anthony. Overnight, the laments of one man from Appalachia over the state of the American economy and government spread like wildfire.

In “Rich Men North of Richmond” Anthony decries the declining value of the US dollar, the lack of accountability for those on Jeffrey Epstein’s client list, and the use of taxpayer dollars to fund obesity through food stamps amidst high taxation. Whilst one could deconstruct the individual issues pointed at by Anthony, it can best be understood by the song title and the chorus:

Livin’ in the new world

With an old soul

These rich men north of Richmond

Lord knows they all just wanna have total control

Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do

And they don’t think you know, but I know that you do

‘Cause your dollar ain’t shit and it’s taxed to no end

‘Cause of rich men north of Richmond

The song is a lament about the poor state of America at the hands of these “rich men north of Richmond.” These men, of course, are none other than the politicians and bureaucrats of Washington, DC. Any libertarian worth their salt can both empathize and sympathize with the message. Government bureaucrats and politicians have racked up $32 trillion of debt (not including unfunded liabilities), have become involved in at least seven foreign wars since September 11, 2001, and devalued the dollar by more than 90 percent since 1913. It has hardly been easy to be in the working class since the advent of progressivism.

The explosion of Anthony’s song is a fitting time to discuss libertarian class theory, which provides insight into the very problems of these “rich men” and how they have led to the plundering of productive citizenry.

The first proper articulation of libertarian class theory is in Murray Rothbard’s book For a New Liberty, where he applies the theory of John C. Calhoun. This theory is that of the most basic conflict because of government: between those who are net “taxpayers” and those who are net “tax receivers.” The net taxpayers are, of course, those who are expropriated through taxation. They are the productive ranks of society, who fall victim to the contradictorily named “progressive income tax.” They are those who receive less in benefit than they pay into the system.

The other side to this class distinction are the net “tax receivers” or “tax recipients.” These are those who generate their income from the state taxation apparatus: the politicians, the bureaucrats, government contractors, and propaganda class. These are the corporations that not only build and maintain the road apparatus but also the dreaded military-industrial complex and other various industries.

The university system, feeding off subsidies through federal student loans, would be another such industry. These industries survive not through a marketplace of free exchange but through government handouts. Politicians might be the most easily identifiable member of this class, taking not only a salary but also other benefits that come with controlling the monopoly on violence.

See the rest here

Be seeing you

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

TGIF: Extend Tolerance to Commerce

Posted by M. C. on October 20, 2023

Let’s look at some common examples, so common they are taken for granted. We have minimum product standards (outlawing less-expensive options), the minimum wage (creating unemployment), price controls such as rent control and so-called gouging bans (creating shortages), housing regulations and zoning (ditto), restrictions and taxes on trade with foreigners (creating higher prices), immigration control (preventing the free exchange of labor, etc.), occupational licensing (barring the choice of one’s work), industrial policy (picking winners), and drug and other “vice” prohibition (including the drinking of raw milk!).

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/tgif-extend-tolerance-to-commerce/

by Sheldon Richman

conscience

Perhaps you’ve noticed that we live in intolerant times. Many people claim to be endangered by the mere spoken or written expression of views on a range of issues. This has led to direct action to disrupt speakers on college campuses and elsewhere and to indirect government efforts to censor users of social media, which so far the courts have frowned on.

Believe it or not, this has had a silver lining. It’s elicited articulate renewed defenses of free speech and tolerance — long taken for granted.

But the tolerance movement should go further to include what the late philosopher Harvard Robert Nozick called “capitalist acts between consenting adults.” Those are also known in sum as the free market, an unfortunately unnoticed option these days. When it comes to human action, we find wide and increasing support for a host of government measures that interfere with the freedom of individuals to trade with one another on their own terms. Those who have become disillusioned with the intolerant so-called left seem to think the free-market alternative is unworthy of consideration. This may also be true of those who are disillusioned with the intolerant so-called right. They may embrace freedom of conscience, but they draw a line at freedom of exchange, as if conscience had no part in that.

This line seems arbitrary. A product innovator or builder of an enterprise is a creator who may well be as passionate about this chosen life purpose as a writer or an artist. (Ayn Rand stressed this.) The creator offers the product to consumers (or downstream producers), who are free to decide if what’s offered on given terms will serve their purposes. They are of course also free to decide that they do not want the offering and to go their own ways. Freedom of conscience permeates life in the marketplace, make no mistake about that.

Why should the work of people who dedicate their lives to such creations rank lower in our estimation than the work of artists? Is it because their products improve “only” material well-being and not spiritual well-being? That’s not a good reason. We are not ghosts.

More pertinent, why should the government interfere in consensual transactions deemed merely “economic”? You can see the discrimination in the matter of free speech. Generally, freedom of speech, at least until recently, has been sacrosanct. The First Amendment says it must be. But commercial speech can be and has been regulated and even banned in various ways. It gets no respect.

The courts have long distinguished between so-called fundamental liberties and non-fundamental liberties, a distinction for which no support exists anywhere. What we think of as economic liberties are in the second category and so are deemed less worthy of protection from the government. That means politicians and bureaucrats can put themselves between consenting parties and either forbid or regulate transactions without even the semblance of a compelling reason. They just need to tell the judge that a decree is aimed at some articulated objective. Those who are interfered with may not tell the meddlers, “Mind your own business. If you think you have a better way of doing things, start your own business.” That would get them heavily fined at the least. The consequences could be more severe.

See the rest here

Be seeing you

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Left Will Tell You That Raising the Minimum Wage Will Boost Productivity – Don’t Let That Fallacy Fool You

Posted by M. C. on October 18, 2023

But what about the producers of airplanes, yachts and office towers? There is no way that the average individual employee can be able to purchase these pricey items.

Is this then yet another “market failure”? Hardly. The failure, rather, is one of logic. There is simply no earthly reason why those who work on a product should be able to purchase it, too.

https://substack.com/inbox/post/137999590

According to this fallacy, Henry Ford raised wages so as to increase productivity

The “newspaper of record” trots out this economic fallacy: “Perhaps the most famous illustration of the benefits [of higher wages stoking the sputtering engine of economic growth] is the story of Henry Ford’s decision in 1914 to pay $5 a day to workers on his Model T assembly lines. He did it to increase production — he was paying a premium to maintain a reliable work force. The unexpected benefit was that Ford’s factory workers became Ford customers, too.”

Who says so? What is the evidence that he did this so as to increase productivity? His own claim? Why believe him?

Were his workers starving and feeble before this great generosity of his? Of course not. And, even if this were true, it by no means follows that this is the royal road to profits.

From an economic point of view, even if this were the result, it would have been in spite of this “decision” of his, not due to it.

See the rest here

Be seeing you

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Is Biden Sneaking The US Into a Massive Middle East War?

Posted by M. C. on October 18, 2023

The Ron Paul Liberty Report

Remember that congressional authorization thingie in the Constitution?

Be seeing you

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Arab Leaders Refuse To Meet Biden As Protests Rage Around The World After Gaza Hospital Strike

Posted by M. C. on October 18, 2023

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-evacuates-residents-28-towns-near-lebanese-border-hezbollah-attacks-increase

Tyler Durden's Photo

by Tyler Durden

Update (2100ET): Wednesday is shaping up as quite a global day of rage as the following series of clips from major cities around the world demonstrates.

…So even before arriving in Israel, the Tuesday massacre – which Israel is actually blaming on Palestinian militants (specifically PIJ) – has effectively served to box-in Biden. France’s Macron has just issued a condemnation to boot, saying “nothing can justify targeting civilians” in a statement which appears to place blame squarely on the Israelis. Biden will now also face the pressure to join the chorus of international condemnation. “International humanitarian law is binding on all and must enable the protection of civilian populations. Humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip must be opened up without delay,” the French foreign ministry said in the statement…

See the rest here

Be seeing you

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Doug Casey on Governments Scapegoating Businesses for Inflation

Posted by M. C. on October 18, 2023

Having caused a problem, they present themselves as a solution to the problem. Their solutions are typically counterproductive—stupid, actually. Taxing grocery stores adds to their costs. If they’re to stay in business, those taxes must be passed on to the consumer.

Trudeau is a criminal personality who should be punished for the evil he’s doing. On the other hand, he was popularly elected, largely because he has name recognition from his nominal father and good looks from Fidel Castro, who’s probably his actual sire. In any event, he’s apparently what the majority of Canadians must prefer…

Doug Casey on Governments Scapegoating Businesses for Inflation

International Man: Thanks to rampant currency debasement, the price of everything has gone up recently.

As the pain from inflation becomes a normal part of life in places like the US and Canada, there are growing calls for politicians to “do something.”

Recently, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau threatened to tax grocery stores if they don’t lower their prices, accusing them of causing inflation and profiting from higher prices.

What’s your take on this?

Doug Casey: Trudeau epitomizes, in many ways, all that’s wrong with the kind of people who go into politics. Things are as expensive as they are partly because taxes take 20% or 30% of everybody’s income when they earn it. Then, when they spend it, they pay another 10%, 20%, or even 30% in sales taxes and VATs. Add on the burden of regulations, which add to costs while decreasing the amount of production.

Taxes and regulations are disastrous. But the big thing is currency debasement. Governments are printing up money by the bushel because they believe in Modern Monetary Theory—paying for what they want by simply printing money.

People like Trudeau are the reason why food prices, and all kinds of prices, are as high as they are.

Having caused a problem, they present themselves as a solution to the problem. Their solutions are typically counterproductive—stupid, actually. Taxing grocery stores adds to their costs. If they’re to stay in business, those taxes must be passed on to the consumer.

Trudeau is a criminal personality who should be punished for the evil he’s doing. On the other hand, he was popularly elected, largely because he has name recognition from his nominal father and good looks from Fidel Castro, who’s probably his actual sire. In any event, he’s apparently what the majority of Canadians must prefer…

International Man: Many Third World countries have scapegoated business owners for rising prices.

The next step is for them to pass laws regulating how businesses can price their products and services.

Where does this all lead?

Doug Casey: As we’ve just discussed regarding Trudeau, government sticks its nose absolutely everywhere. That’s because the type of people who go into government love power, as well as making themselves famous and wealthy.

Almost all economic problems originate with government intervention. The solution isn’t more laws regulating how businesses can act and price their products but less laws. And by less, I mean none at all.

See the rest here

Be seeing you

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »