Free Stuff
Posted by M. C. on March 26, 2024
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Joe Biden Is Now Targeting 82-Year-Old Veterans
Posted by M. C. on March 25, 2024
The Biden administration is trying to send an 82-year veteran to prison for life for the crime of repeating ‘Russian misinformation.’ The scariest, most important criminal case you’ve probably never heard of.
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Affordable Housing – Government Topples Realtors
Posted by M. C. on March 25, 2024
We can be assured, this is not the last private industry that will take a hit. Hospitality is likely the next playground to be hit by the bullies. Having fun needs to be relegated to the elite with money, not the plebes.
by Helena
Posted on by Helena
Houses are not affordable. Despite all the best efforts of government to control the value of your property, they have continually failed. Prices continue to rise. The culprit? Realtors. Apparently, the agency fees to represent the buyer and seller transaction have caused the real estate boom that has made housing unaffordable. How much truth is in this new indoctrination?
In 1940 the realtor commission was 5%. In 1980, the realtor commission rose to 6%. The same 6% it is today. But somehow, despite 40 years of paying the same commission, The Economist powers that be, have decided this isn’t equitable. It isn’t fair. And therefore, elimination of this fee will reduce the cost of a home and make it affordable… That would be the logic. But what is the reality?
Homeowners have the option of selling without a realtor. They also have the option of using the flat fee companies.. Or they had the option of utilizing the expertise of a realtor who has passed rigorous courses and exams on contract law, title law, foreclosures, and inspections. A choice. That choice is being removed by the Powers. Why?
HINT: it has absolutely nothing to do with affordable housing.
When you remove an industries ability to charge a fee and make money, you are attacking the industry – not helping the poor. Let’s say doctors are no longer allowed to charge a fee, does that mean healthcare costs will drop? No. It means there will be no more doctors and healthcare won’t exist. For the Real Estate industry that translates to homeowners being left to mitigate scams, fraud, theft, liability, and corruption. And the tight housing market will become that much more tight as homeowners decide to renovate instead of move.
Builders reap the benefit.
Builders can dangle the carrot of discounted interest rates. They run the show. When no agent is there to represent your best interest – for free – you pay top dollar. And who is selling at top dollar? The Hedge Funds that scooped up entire neighborhoods at a 2% fixed rate of interest and now want to divest their inventory – charging a ‘discounted’ interest rate of 5.5% when the market is 7.25%. Now you are buying more home for the same price because of the “interest rate” – not because of realtor fees.
How much more home? A $500,000 home at 7.25% costs $3,411 per month. At 5.5% – you can now afford a $600,000 home for the same monthly payment. Who wins? The BUILDER!
Did eliminating the realtor bring down home values? No. It moved the buyers from existing homes to new homes that are sitting vacant.
And the headlines read: 2024 Primed To Be Stellar Year For Homebuilders. Realtors? Not so much.
The realtor settlement for repaying homeowners deemed to have been over-charged/gouged by 6% over the last decade – is $418 million. Number of potential homeowners eligible for a cut? 50 million. Amount that will go to legal representation to collect any money? 35%. Which is somehow NOT deemed excessive.
According to The Economist, the realtor commission is a racket, a mob rule that gouges the buyer and the seller. The average estimated savings for a median home sale – $10,000. Example: a house selling for $500,000 would incur a commission fee of $30,000. A negotiated commission at 4% would save $10,000. By comparison, a reduced interest rate from 7.25% to 4.25% would save $11,400. If the Federal Reserve dropped interest rates to the level they were prior to Brandon, the annual savings would be $17,220.
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Asian-Americans are Overachievers, This is Why | Thomas Sowell
Posted by M. C. on March 25, 2024
“Because they work”
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From Boom To Bust: Doug Casey on Fading Enthusiasm for Electric Vehicles
Posted by M. C. on March 25, 2024
They forgot that Tesla is run by a genius who designed an electric car from the ground up with lots of technical innovations. GM, Ford, and the other legacy companies are run by ESG-oriented suits whose first consideration is kowtowing to their HR and compliance departments.
Doug Casey: The shareholders and customers take a back seat to legislators and regulators. It’s perverse.
by Doug Casey
International Man: Outside of Tesla, fewer and fewer people want electric vehicles (EVs). Other car companies have spent billions producing EVs that buyers don’t trust. Why are they developing products their customers clearly don’t want?
Doug Casey: Perhaps they thought that if Tesla, an undercapitalized start-up run by an eccentric with no auto manufacturing experience, could become a trillion-dollar company, then how hard could it be? They forgot that Tesla is run by a genius who designed an electric car from the ground up with lots of technical innovations. GM, Ford, and the other legacy companies are run by ESG-oriented suits whose first consideration is kowtowing to their HR and compliance departments.
Apple was working on an EV, but they just pulled the plug on it after dropping US $10 billion. Building a good EV isn’t as easy as Elon made it look.
There’s nothing wrong with the concept of electric vehicles. The problem—as with most economic problems in today’s world—is the State. The government has basically decided that fossil fuels are evil, and so are the vehicles that burn them. They hate fossil fuels for all kinds of specious and hysterical reasons that mostly revolve around “saving” the planet. Most of which are nonsensical, at least if you want to have an industrial civilization.
The kind of people who go into government hate cars and the freedom that they give the common man.
That’s why they want to put everybody in 15-minute cities, where you presumably won’t need real cars, just EV golf carts.
The federal government has lots of legal mandates designating what kind of cars manufacturers can and cannot make. Average fleet mileage specifications are a major factor in determining what kind of cars we have. But governments are going farther, essentially trying to ban most conventional ICE (internal combustion engine) cars by 2035 or even 2030. Their mandates against ICEs have skewed production towards electronic vehicles.
At the same time, they’ve offered large tax advantages to consumers, getting them to buy EVs that they’d otherwise avoid. So, although EVs have merit for certain places and conditions and have a place in the automotive world, government pushing and pulling creates huge distortions in how people act.
International Man: Last year, Ford lost $4.7 billion on its EV models, and it’s projected that this year, it could lose up to $5.5 billion.
The Wall Street Journal estimates that Ford could actually boost its profits by 50% by ditching EVs altogether. It seems Ford and other companies could care less about serving their shareholders or their customers.
What is really going on here?
Doug Casey: The shareholders and customers take a back seat to legislators and regulators. It’s perverse.
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It’s Not Theft…
Posted by M. C. on March 25, 2024
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I Have Been Called Worse
Posted by M. C. on March 25, 2024
“If you want government to intervene domestically, you’re a liberal.
If you want government to intervene overseas, you’re a conservative.
If you want government to intervene everywhere, you’re a moderate.
If you don’t want government to intervene anywhere, you’re an extremist.” – Joe Sobran
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The Principled Cannot Convince the Irrational
Posted by M. C. on March 23, 2024
Smedley Butler’s words are often cited by anti-imperialists, though he is an example of the cynical veteran, waiting until after he served his warmasters heroically for decades to write a book about his deeds which made their imperialism possible at all. George W. Bush paints portraits of his victims while in retirement, seemingly delusional with his legacy.
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-principled-cannot-convince-the-irrational
by Kym Robinson
No matter how brutal an event, there will be those who can justify, rationalize, or spin a positive narrative. Real and imagined injustices inspire reactions that lead to more injustice, creating a spiral of revenge. Or a group can decide that it is superior, righteous by default, and has the right to claim territory in order to thrive. Outside observers can grapple with favoring one party over others, claiming that it was a “lesser evil.” Despite any pretense or deceptions, most violent actors do the irrationally vile for little reason other than self service or with inhuman distance. Trying to argue against such irrationality with reason and rationality can be a fool’s errand. Decency and moral dignity are seldom in consideration for those who would murder on a large scale. This is the prevailing predicament for those who oppose war and injustice with principles, trying to find compassion and empathy within those who appear callous, indifferent, or even deranged.
Despite this, we often argue and appeal with reason to those who may not see the world as we do. They may understand it differently, seeking a particular utopia or a piece of the imperial pie for themselves. They do not care about how many “eggs are broken” to achieve such an omelette. So how do we find common ground?
It seems that it is only after the fact that many of the killers and their masters come to understand the demented business that they made possible; rarely do many protest and object early on. It was only decades afterwards when Robert McNamara exhibited a degree of remorse, or years later when veterans may experience moral injury that leads them to challenge their original mission. Smedley Butler’s words are often cited by anti-imperialists, though he is an example of the cynical veteran, waiting until after he served his warmasters heroically for decades to write a book about his deeds which made their imperialism possible at all. George W. Bush paints portraits of his victims while in retirement, seemingly delusional with his legacy.
Those labelled conscientious objectors or “draft dodgers” tend to be viewed as cowards, ridiculed because they would not join the brave (nearly always men) who march into the meat grinder of war. In 1918, Reverend John Kovalsky and three other men were attacked by a mob of around three hundred in the town of Christopher, Illinois. The mob violently tarred and feathered the four men, and the reverend was forced to kiss the American flag because of disloyal language. Despite being fined by law enforcement, a mob saw it fit to humiliate and punish the men for disloyalty. The four disloyal men needed to show fidelity to a government that was waging war for human rights and free expression; because the four challenged the war and government with words, both the law and a mob punished them.
“The country was in peril; he was jeopardising his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them.”- Joseph Heller, Catch 22
Such acts of mob violence are often looked back on as moments of group insanity. Yet time and time again the world over we see such displays of unreason and violence tear away individual rights.
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: draft dodgers, group insanity, Individual Rights, Irrational, Principled, Robert McNamara | Leave a Comment »
On “Hamstringing the Government”
Posted by M. C. on March 23, 2024
Justice Jackson misses the entire point of the First Amendment
“My biggest concern,” said Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Monday, “is that your view has the First Amendment hamstringing the government in significant ways.”
The whole point of the First Amendment is to “hamstring the government” from abridging the freedom of speech. The Constitution grants the government certain defined and limited powers, but abridging the freedom of speech is NOT one of them.
“My biggest concern,” said Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Monday, “is that your view has the First Amendment hamstringing the government in significant ways.”
The whole point of the First Amendment is to “hamstring the government” from abridging the freedom of speech. The Constitution grants the government certain defined and limited powers, but abridging the freedom of speech is NOT one of them.
Unfortunately, Jackson is not alone in her incomprehension of the First Amendment. As reported by a columnist for Reason: Free Minds and Free Markets:
[Jackson’s] “hamstringing” comment came attached to a hypothetical scenario she posed to Benjamin Aguiñaga, Louisiana’s solicitor general, who argued the Biden administration had overstepped when it contacted social media platforms and attempted to pressure them to remove posts it found objectionable. Suppose a challenge circulated on social media concerning “teens jumping out of windows at increasing elevations,” Jackson said. Could the government try to persuade those platforms to remove that content?
No, Aguiñaga said, because that’s still protected speech, no matter how dangerous.
That might very well be the correct interpretation. But Jackson’s take—that such a view could place too much restraint on the government—is one that’s held by many, including, it appears, some of her more conservative colleagues. Kavanaugh, for example, invoked his experience working with government press staff, who regularly call reporters to criticize them and try to influence their coverage.
Here we see Justice Jackson (who is supposed to be an impartial judge) making a Straw Man out of the plaintiff’s argument, and the plaintiff’s attorney apparently accepting this fallacious supposition instead of rejecting it outright (which he should have done).
I doubt there is a singlereasonable adult in the country who would object to law enforcement intervening to stop the encouragement of teens to jump out of windows to their likely injury or death.
Jumping out of windows at increasing elevations is understood by all reasonable adults on earth to be an action that will likely result in injury or death to the jumper, depending on the height and hardness of the landing surface. Encouraging minors to do this is obviously NOT comparable to my interview with Dr. Peter McCullough in May 2021 in which he spoke about his research on the early treatment of COVID-19—research he conducted in collaboration with Drs. Harvey Risch, George Fareed, Didier Raoult, and other top experts in their fields.
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Biden’s Hail Mary Budget is Just Another Anchor Baby
Posted by M. C. on March 23, 2024
But, ever your humble(sic) servant, I endeavored to persevere and what I saw was typically horrifying, as always. And my quick conclusions were that this budget is a political wish list of a dying party to buy votes however and wherever they can.
It does nothing but remind me that Harry Browne was right all those years ago when he said that all government really does is break your legs and then hand you a crutch. While you are limping along on that crutch they say, ‘See! Without us you wouldn’t be able to walk.”
Author: Tom Luongo
Last week I was contacted by Sputnik News to give some comments on “President” Biden’s $7.3 trillion budget proposal. To be honest, having to read up on what was in the budget proposal was enough to ruin my day before it even began.
But, ever your humble(sic) servant, I endeavored to persevere and what I saw was typically horrifying, as always. And my quick conclusions were that this budget is a political wish list of a dying party to buy votes however and wherever they can.
The party I’m speaking about isn’t the Democrats, it’s the Uniparty that has the Capitol under foreign control. Because nothing I see in this budget is for America’s prosperity. It is ultimately capital destructive and feeds into the needs of all of America’s enemies, foreign and domestic.
$7.3 trillion paid for with more ‘soak the rich’ taxes is throwing napalm grenades on an already burning fire. And it serves to further sell today’s Americans out for tomorrow’s anchor babies currently being invited across the border at record numbers, given billions in tax dollars to shelter them in our homes and hotels while forcibly denying that they are doing any of it.
It’s not just perverse folks, it’s intentional, with the ultimate end to drive capital away from the US towards other parts of the world. For our friends in Europe it’s clearly a mechanism to make us as bad as them.
Every day in Brussels is another day to vandalize the people of Europe and reinforce who wields real power. Every ludicrous headline I see come out of France or Germany or the Netherlands somehow always looks similar to some brain-dead idea floated by the Biden administration.
The latest, this morning, is Joe’s further assault on car manufacturers by radically upping the restrictions on emissions to the point of outlawing internal combustion vehicles.
This go-round, Biden is “preparing to roll out the toughest-ever” emissions restrictions, according to Bloomberg.
The report says that the Environmental Protection Agency is poised to implement emissions limits that (Biden thinks) could significantly boost electric vehicle sales, requiring EVs to constitute about two-thirds of new car and light truck sales by 2032, a sharp increase from less than 10% last year.
Unless, of course, people stop buying new cars.
This is yet another example of the desperate need for the Supreme Court to take up the Chevron Deference and strike it down. The agencies should not be making law. That’s Congress’ job.
And I don’t care if Congress is allergic to doing its job, new emission regulations should not be in the hands of unelected bureaucrats run by chiefs who are chosen by the current political party.
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