tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105051812024-03-07T01:35:04.208-05:00lettuce have peasAnarcho-capitalist rants with a focus on Real Estate, Books and Technologyiceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.comBlogger228125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-70113884198490894692009-11-20T10:44:00.004-05:002009-11-20T10:54:18.259-05:00offsetting costs<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">A government budgets' numbers may say a lot but they certainly don't say everything. It would be disingenuous to flout a lower budget number when the costs were simply offset onto other parties. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">For example, there is a guy in my nabe who was in the process of developing a six-story condo building as of right, in an area thats a mix of homes and apartment buildings. Some of the neighbors complained loudly to the local council member and had the area downzoned within a matter of months. In the interim the developer of course tried as best as he could to get his project vested to protect his interests, and so he engaged in illegal construction practices by racing the clock (working over hours) to beat the new zoning changes. In the end he was able to pour his foundation before the zoning change was made, but at the cost of quality and having to pay through the nose for the labor.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">During those frantic months, the neighbors were constantly complaining to the DOB, having inspectors constantly visit and hassle the construction teams all in an effort to stop the project from getting vested. At the end when the developer thought he was vested, the neighborhood alliance complained to the DOB and he ended up having to go before the BSA which is the last authority on zoning and variance grants, and they ruled against the developer saying that his foundation wasn't to the original approved architectural/engineering specifications it was thus incomplete and any project would be subject to the new downzoning, basically making his project financially impossible to complete.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Now get this; he presumingly paid for the land based upon the allowable development rights, the city changes that while he is already underway with approved plans (which can take months to get from the city!), and he went through the trouble of obtaining financing, paying labor, architects, inspectors, permits, etc. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Now here is the best part-- it's been almost two years since the city stalled him by making it impossible for him to develop his project-- now the neighbors are bitching about the vacant construction site!</span><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/11/19/2009-11-19_emergency_cleanup_homecrest_developers_must_make_repairs.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> So the city is now ordering this victimized developer to clean up his site</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, repair the construction fence that vandals have been breaking, and who do you think is being coerced to pick up the tag? The victim of course.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Government budgets never tell you the whole story. It's the same with recycling; <a href="http://iceberg18.blogspot.com/2007/09/that-which-is-not-seen.html">make your victims pick up the cost of sorting trash</a> so your budget can be that much lower.</span></div></div></span>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-81403046888641168042009-04-20T21:33:00.004-04:002009-04-20T21:53:13.130-04:00the elephant in the roomOn the topic of the USAG's silent holocaust via the FDA (<a href="http://iceberg18.blogspot.com/search?q=fda">which I've covered before</a>), Thomas L. Knapp explains in <a href="http://c4ss.org/content/394">his latest missive</a> over at C4SS.org:<blockquote>"Americans die when they’re not allowed to use a drug they need because FDA says “no.” Americans die when they can’t afford a drug they need because it costs hundreds of millions of dollars to get FDA to say “yes,” and that cost is passed on to the consumer. Americans die when drugs which would save their lives never make it out of the lab because the figures say that the costs of securing FDA approval would make it unprofitable to bring to market.<br /><br />The FDA’s delays in approving — or, to put it a different way, the FDA’s prohibition against prescribing until they had approved — a single drug, propranolol, were responsible for at least 30,000, and possibly as many as 100,000, avoidable deaths from heart attack and stroke."</blockquote><br />It's truly sickening (pun *NOT* intended) that people cannot see the FDA for what it is-- a cold-blooded killer auctioneering quality of human life to a cartel of oligarchic-pharmaceutical bidders.iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-54339523174680462002009-02-25T09:34:00.011-05:002009-02-25T10:27:09.479-05:00red books from red beards on red menMurray Rothbard (whose last name means "red beard") wrote about the role of the court intellectual ('red' or 'raed' is Old English for <a href="http://wiki.name.com/en/Alfred">wise counsel</a>).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.mises.org/store/Conceived-in-Liberty--P96C0.aspx"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 118px; height: 190px;" src="http://mises.org/store/oldimages/Conceived.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>"The ruling class — be it warlords, nobles, bureaucrats, feudal landlords, monopoly merchants, or a coalition of several of these groups — must employ intellectuals to convince the majority of the public that its rule is beneficent, inevitable, necessary, and even divine. The leading role of the intellectual throughout history is that of the court intellectual who, in return for a share of, a junior partnership in, the power and pelf offered by the rest of the ruling class, spins the apologias for state rule with which to convince a misguided public." --Conceived in Liberty, Vol. III, p.352<br /><br />R' Samson Raphael Hirsch wrote about the people who played the role in ancient Egypt-<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1583301968.01/ludwigvonmisesinst"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 116px; height: 160px;" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1583301968.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>"In Tanach <span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">[the bible]</span> we find, everywhere, Machshefim <span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">[illusionists/magicians]</span> in the service of the rulers of old, just as today we find scientists in the service of the state. If today's scientists were to attempt to solve problems such as how one can indulge in every excess and debauchery without having to fear consequences detrimental to one's health - that would be attempting a misuse of man's mastery of nature, and would be in line with the basic outlook of Kishuf. <span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">[magic]</span>" --Commentary to the book of Exodus, Chapter 7, Verse 11<br /><br />This is how you can explain Keynesians who magically believe that you can consume your seed cord into prosperity or otherwise turn stones into bread! Pharoah's scientists had nothing on these goys!iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-12306897267217821322009-02-25T09:17:00.004-05:002009-02-25T09:29:33.374-05:00the plague of [boiling] frogsR' Samson Raphael Hirsch's commentary to Exodus, Chapter 2, Verse 23--<br /><blockquote>As long as the initiators of an oppressive state project of such vast proportions as the enslavement of an entire free race are still alive, there is hope for an awakening of conscience and for the abolishment of the injustice. But once an institution - no matter how glaring the injustice that gave rise to it - has passed, along with the power of the state, into the hands of new authorities who are not aware of its origins and who accept it as traditional, legitimate prerogative of the state, the new governent will not consider itself authorized to tamper with time honored tradition. It will presume that all the institutions of the former regime have been sanctioned by the law of the land. The free people who have been enslaved by a Machiavellian tyrant will then be doomed to remain pariahs forever.<br /><br />This is the curse of obsolescence inherent in time-honored state institutions. The past cultivated a field with blood and tears, and the present harvests - with a clean conscience - the fruit of the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">fait accompli</span>, without considering that a curse hangs over every ear of corn that is brought home with joy.</blockquote><br /><br />The same applies to the New Deal, National Recovery Act, WWII and other shovel-ready infrastructure projects which 'brought us out of the last depresssion'.iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-73504588916800630122009-02-11T10:24:00.009-05:002009-02-11T11:21:12.013-05:00vaterland<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1583301968.01/ludwigvonmisesinst"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 116px; height: 160px;" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1583301968.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><blockquote>"The degree of justice in a country is measured not by the rights accorded to the native-born, the rich, and the well-connected (whose connections stand by them and represent them in their time of need), but by the justice meted out to the unprotected stranger. <i>Complete equality of the native-born and the stranger</i> is a basic characteristic of Jewish law. <i>In Jewish law, the homeland does not grant human rights; rather, human rights grant the homeland! Jewish law does not distinguish between human rights and citizen's rights. Whoever accepted upon himself the moral laws of humanity- the seven Noahide laws- could claim the right of domicile in Judea."</i></blockquote><i></i><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">-- Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch</span>, commentary to the book of Exodus, Chapter 1, Verse 14 [<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1583301968.01/ludwigvonmisesinst">Amazon link</a>]</div><div><br /></div><div>I'd love to try and squeeze his statement about morality granting property rights into an argumentation ethics framework to defend not the illegitimate, incoherent concept of "homeland", but rather one of property rights. It's clear that the good rabbi didn't hold that the land of Israel is the birthright, or that it belongs in come collective manner to the tribe of Israel, but to the contrary- it's a land that is open for acquisition to potentially anyone so long that they behave toward others in a moral fashion.</div><div><br /></div><div>According to some libertarians, the concept of property is derived via argumentation ethics [<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_ethics#Libertarian_approaches">link</a>]. Roughly speaking, a presupposition to the concept of an argument requires individuals to recognize the property rights of others to their own bodies and the use and/or possession of scarce goods, or what is then called property.</div>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-30496541058157634342009-01-28T08:19:00.005-05:002009-01-28T08:27:25.832-05:00conflicted emotions<div>From Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch's commentary on the blessings of Yaakov (Jacob) to his sons Shimon (Simon) and Levi, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Genesis Chapter 49, Verse 7</span>--</div><div><br /></div><blockquote>"It is most significant that here, at the cornerstone of the Jewish people, a curse is imposed upon any violent outburst that counter to justice and morality, even if it is intended for the common good.<br /><br />All other states and nations have adopted the principle that any action is legitimate as long as it serves the interest of the state. Acts of cunning and violence that would be punished by ostracism or execution if practiced by an individual for selfish gain are rewarded with laurels and civic honors if they are committed for what is alleged to be the welfare of the state. The laws of morality apply only in private life, wheras in politics and diplomancy the only recognized law is that of national self-interest.<br /><br />Here, by contrast, the last will and testament on which the Jewish people was founded pronounces a curse on cunning and violence, even if they are used for the nation's most legitimate interests, and it sets down for all time the doctrine that <i> even in public life and in the promotion if the common good, not only must the ends be pure, but so must be the means."</i></blockquote><i></i>I truly wonder what he would say had he been around today to see the founding of the Israeli state and the various wars and conflicts since then.iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-953444898899686242009-01-12T23:00:00.014-05:002009-01-12T23:57:08.825-05:00a time travelers case for the 100% gold standard<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ebEe85x2QnU/SWwahQc3HDI/AAAAAAAAALA/KYvK4fGMaX8/s1600-h/attache.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 218px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ebEe85x2QnU/SWwahQc3HDI/AAAAAAAAALA/KYvK4fGMaX8/s400/attache.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290632820907514930" /></a>Because fiat money makes it too difficult to time travel.<br /><br />This point was well illustrated in <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Back to the Future II</span>, in the scene where, or should I say <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">when</span>, Marty and Doc are in the 50's, and Doc opens up an attache case containing various denominations spanning different time periods, so as to prevent an intertemporal incident in which the errant time traveler attempts to pay a present debt with future fiat money.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ebEe85x2QnU/SWwanmGCXhI/AAAAAAAAALI/p1HuU1KbyZA/s1600-h/fiatmoney.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 216px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ebEe85x2QnU/SWwanmGCXhI/AAAAAAAAALI/p1HuU1KbyZA/s400/fiatmoney.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290632929796578834" /></a><div><br /></div><div>In contrast, Alex, the protagonist of Robert Heinlien's <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Job: A Comedy of Justice</span> is wont to carry his lifes' savings on his person at all times in the form of gold coins. The reason for this odd behavior is in response to an especially cruel Supreme Being, who like a cat toying with a mouse, is continuously whisking Alex from one parallel universe to the next as soon as Alex is getting in the swing of things. (Apparently this malicious God is capable of remapping objects in the multiverse, but won't strip Alex of his vestments in the process.)</div><div><br /></div><div>If there ever was a cause that fellow time-travelers and world-walkers could unite behind, this is it.</div>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-43148239045308583592008-12-28T14:38:00.009-05:002008-12-28T15:38:46.918-05:00counter-historical fictionI have just finished reading the fourth and final book in the Time's Tapestry series by Stephen Baxter. Overall, I find that the series is unlike the typical scifi novels I have read in the past and come to love. I would not say that I found the books boring, but I wouldn't recommend these to any scifi-reading friends unless I knew they had an earnest appreciation for millennia-spanning history lectures squeezed into the novel format.<div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0441014666/ludwigvonmisesinst"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 106px; height: 160px;" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0441014666.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></div><div>The first book of the series is titled <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Emperor</span> and the setting spans the course of Pre-Roman through Post-Roman historical England with fictional protagonists cast among famous historical figures. The pace of the story is that which will suddenly jump a century or two forward between chapters, and likewise, the following two books, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Conqueror</span> and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Navigator</span> follow the same breakneck speed.</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0441014968/ludwigvonmisesinst"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 108px; height: 160px;" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0441014968.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Conqueror</span>, still set in the England, follows a new group of fictional characters and recounts the invasions of the Vikings, the Normans, and the Germanic Saxons, though not necessarily in that order.</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/044101559X/ludwigvonmisesinst"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 106px; height: 160px;" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/044101559X.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Navigator</span> takes the reader through the Crusades, the back-and-forth conquests of Moorish Spain and the Iberian Peninsula, and culminates with the famous sea expeditions of trying to navigate the Atlantic passage to India and the far east.</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0441015921/ludwigvonmisesinstg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 108px; height: 160px;" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0441015921.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Weaver</span> slows the pace down significantly to follow a single group of main characters, who more or less make it through the entire novel and is firmly entrenched in World War II England under Nazi occupation. In this novel, we finally meet the fellows who tamper with the history of the first three books, but I will have to say I was disillusioned with this climatic element; metaphorically speaking it was more akin a bottle rocket that fizzles in disappointment than the atomic explosion of brilliance I patiently awaited.<br /><div><br /></div><div>I might add that not having read any of Harry Turtledove's alternate history novels, I can't say how Baxter stacks against this narrow category's 800-pound gorilla. My recommendation for your typical scifi reader would be to skip this series completely. But if you're anything like me, a guy who would love to have some idea of world history but never takes the opportunity to get cracking into the dryness of textbooks, you will probably enjoy having a history lesson crammed into a novel format.</div></div>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-43156254250615380072008-11-30T13:15:00.011-05:002008-11-30T14:01:48.812-05:00the non-Copenhagen interpretation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1568713452/ludwigvonmisesinst"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 104px; height: 160px;" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1568713452.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I'm in middle of reading this intriguing book by (Rabbi) <span style="font-weight: bold;">Akiva Tatz</span> titled <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=UkBKx2tDxiYC&dq=letters+to+a+buddhist+jew&pg=PP1&ots=qq0_D42Ktj&source=bn&sig=lm7_MuPGt-rX1LklWKte-bi1-iA&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#"><span style="font-style: italic;">Letters to a Buddhist Jew</span></a>, <span style="font-size:78%;">(<a href="http://www.letterstoabuddhistjew.com/">website</a>)</span> which is a compilation of an exchange of letters between himself and a [now formerly] Buddhist Jew by the name of David Gottleib. Tatz artfully blends the Jewish tradition with a fresh mix of philosophy, kabbalism, and a fascinating exploration into the etymology of the Hebrew language to demonstrate to Mr. Gottleib, a seeker of spiritual fulfillment, a small taste of the richness that Judaism has to offer.<br /><br />So without further ado, a favorite passage of mine.<br /><blockquote>As always, the words say it all: the Hebrew word for doubt is <span style="font-style: italic;">safek</span>, and for certainty, <span style="font-style: italic;">vadai</span>. Now these commonly used words are not to be found in Scripture. Nowhere does the Torah mention them; both are of Rabbinic origin. If the essence of an idea is contained in the Torah word for that idea, and we find that <span style="font-style: italic;">there is no word</span> for a particular idea we encounter, it surely means that <span style="font-style: italic;">at the deepest level, that concept does not exist</span>... If no word exists in the Torah corresponding to a thing we perceive in the world, that constitutes a strong suggestion that the thing we are perceiving is illusory. <span style="font-style: italic;">Someone has painted it up on the screen of reality</span>, but it is not being projected from the source. And of course - the world as formed by its root in Torah <span style="font-style: italic;">contains no doubt</span>: things either exist or they do not. There is nothing in the world that exists "doubtfully," tentatively; doubt is a problem of <span style="font-style: italic;">our perception</span>, not an objective reality. (And if there is no doubt, there is no certainty either - certainty exists only where doubt is a possibility; if there can be no doubt there can be no certainty, a thing simply "is.")<br /><br />The primal, pristine world is clear and open. We opacify and confuse it. The word for "doubt" is of human origin; it is a description of the damage we do to our own perception.</blockquote>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-8540813878554029472008-11-11T22:57:00.007-05:002008-11-12T00:00:09.981-05:00unorthodox commentaryThis [Jewish] calendar year, I began reading the commentary of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch to accompany the weekly Torah portion. While I have not able to finish even a quarter of the weekly commentary, I've learned some very fascinating insights, some of which I feel are apropos to this little blog of mine (I'm gonna let it shine!)<br /><br />A few weeks ago we read Parashat Bereshit, otherwise known as Genesis. We read of the two brother Kayin (pronounced "Cain" in English) and Hevel (A.K.A. "Able"). In explaining the etymology of the name 'Kayin' which means to acquire (and so named by Eve), R' Hirsch notes that the concept of ownership derives from that of production. Thus we find from here a biblical support to the Lockean theory of original acquisition, the 'mixing of one's labor' with unowned matter to create "property".<br /><br />In the following weeks reading of Noah, the Torah states that what sealed the fate of the antediluvians was that they engaged in "Cha'mas" (read that with a gutteral "kh" sound, just like 'Chumas' the famous chickpea spread). Cha'mas is etymologically related to two other words, "Cha'metz", leavened products which are forbidden on Passover, and "Cho'metz" which is vinegar. The common meaning of these three words is that they denote a gradual ruination of a substance until it is unrecoverable, as opposed to a quick-paced ruination.<br /><br />In this particular case, the wicked people in those times did not steal or rob from one another in a grand fashion. Instead, they each stole in very trivial amounts that were unrecoverable via the legal process. However this trivial amount was multiplied by the actions of many people until the victim was robbed to the point of destitution.<br /><br />To me, this sounds a lot like the effects of monetary inflation, in that it transfers a couple of percentage points in buying power to the first-recipients of the new money at the expense of those last receivers of money, usually those people on living on pensions or fixed incomes. As far as I know, there is no legal remedy to help the victims of monetary inflation, and so this would probably qualify as Cha'mas, as opposed to Gezel, what we call theft, which if the perpetrator were to be apprehended, we would have the opportunity of legal recourse and some chance of restitution.<br /><br />This last bit is from Perashat Lech-Lecha, in which R' Hirsch notes that, and I quote verbatim (from the English translation of his original German)-- <blockquote>"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Honesty, humanity, and love are duties incumbent upon the individual, but are regarded as folly in relations between nations and are viewed as unimportant by statesmen and politicians. Individuals are imprisoned and hanged for the crimes of fraud and murder, but countries murder and defraud on a grand scale, and those who murder and defraud "in the interest of the state" are decorated and rewarded.</span>"</blockquote>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-91301520115817329512008-11-03T23:43:00.002-05:002008-11-04T00:00:50.786-05:00meaningless noisesFor those interested in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_ethics">Argumentation Ethics</a>, you can find an echo of it in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Pinker">Steven Pinker</a>'s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stuff-Thought-Language-Window-Nature/dp/0670063274"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Stuff of Thought</span></a> in his analysis of the claims of linguisitical relativists- those who hold that there is no truth, "only competing metaphors, which are more or less apt for the purposes of the people who live by them."<br /><blockquote>"As such, Lakoff's version of relativism is vulnerable to the two standard rebuttals of relativism in general... The other rebuttal is that by their very effort to convince others of the truth of relativism, relativists are committed to the notion of objective truth. They attract supporters by persuasion — the marshaling of facts and logic — not by bribes or threats. They confront their critics using debate and reason, not by dueling with pistols or throwing chairs like the guests on a daytime talk show. And if asked whether their brand of relativism is a pack of lies, they would deny that it is, not waffle and say that the question is meaningless."</blockquote>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-91840347058178835482008-10-31T09:40:00.002-04:002008-10-31T09:46:14.721-04:00Why I'm not votingThere are a few reasons why I will not be "expressing" myself at the ballot box come this next election.<br /><br />Primarily so, because the very process disgusts my sensitivity to the ideals of individual liberty. What I mean is that the gross act in playing a very small part in selecting our next overlord should make every egalitarian cringe- if equal liberty is truly their goal, this could only be realized when there are no masters lording over us any longer.<br /><br />Secondly, because voting is a farce if you are given extremely limited options and no option for exit. The very concept of choice requires the ability to reject and so long that one cannot "express" this choice at the ballot box the only way to do so is to <a href="http://users.aol.com/xeqtr1/voluntaryist/beans.html">abstain from beans</a>.<br /><br />Third, because I think it borders on immorality to play even a minor a role in the perpetuity of the institution of mass enslavement. I won't argue that voting in presidential elections is per se immoral (a violation of rights), after all one may feel inclined to vote for pragmatic and strategic purposes. What I do have is a very strong preference of being averse to any situation through which my participation can be viewed as my lending moral support to such a rights-violating institution.<br /><br />Some people may question my hostility to democratic institutions- I will not deny this charge. I do not see the logic in being imposed upon and having my liberty infringed by the majoritarian opinion no matter the excuse. Whether or not it is better than the alternative (monarchy, oligarchy, communism) is to limit yourself to of a determination of rulership and to not admit the possibility of self-determination.iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-53189877223283432008-10-05T13:14:00.005-04:002008-10-05T13:26:51.347-04:00separated at birth?With profuse apologies in advance, I would like to make the case that our very own J. Tucker has an hyperinflationary alter-ego... You be the judge.<br /><br />Exhibit A:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ebEe85x2QnU/SOj292SAxbI/AAAAAAAAAIM/VhRrkDwC_sQ/s1600-h/jeff1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ebEe85x2QnU/SOj292SAxbI/AAAAAAAAAIM/VhRrkDwC_sQ/s320/jeff1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253720507731199410" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Exhibit B:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_LWQQrpSc4"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ebEe85x2QnU/SOj299dS6DI/AAAAAAAAAIU/1uWlNbL3tXk/s320/jeff2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253720509657573426" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Video source: <br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/t_LWQQrpSc4&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/t_LWQQrpSc4&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-55551402328693651172008-07-30T06:26:00.008-04:002008-07-30T07:25:45.900-04:00risk and uncertaintyAs the local hobbyist economist, I find myself constantly plied with questions for which I don't have readily prepared answers. The inability to predict and recommend less risky, more sound and profitable ventures somehow impinges on that reputation, because someone who thinks himself informally educated on that subject should be overflowing with policy suggestions, right?<div><br /></div><div>Yes, I can easily parrot what other notables have advised, such as Jim Rogers or Peter Schiff, but I've found that taking the role of an economic Cassandra quickly turns off people who want to hear that everything is fine and dandy in our mixed-economy.</div><div><br /></div><div>Personally, I've been looking for "the answer" too; I'm been considering transferring my little nest egg into various non-dollar assets, be that less-volatile foreign currencies, but especially into ventures such as GoldMoney.com.</div><div><br /></div><div>My take on the U.S. 'security' markets is exactly that; a bitter joke since I've yet to profit from any of the shares I've held in mutual funds. The minor amount of amateur stock trading I've tried hasn't been encouraging and the strategy of buying "solid companies" hasn't paid off for me as there has been no appreciation on those fronts. </div><div><br /></div><div>The only success I've had came from investing in technology companies for which I've had early knowledge of upcoming growth. For example, prior to the introduction of the XBOX 360, there were rumors circulating in the tech circles that Microsoft was talking with ATI to handle the graphics and was going to shun Nvidia which powered the first XBOX. Seeing that there was no public announcement of this, it did me well to purchase ATI shares which greatly appreciated when the announcement came some time thereafter. I've also had success in buying shares in Apple when it was at its $19 low in early 2003 sometime before the 3G iPod was released. I was positive that this was going to be a turning point for Apple to once-again become a household name. No more than six months later Steve Jobs was profiled on the cover of Time Magazine holding the 3G iPod.</div><div><br /></div><div>But even with those success stories, it is certainly nothing I could duplicate on a daily basis; they were one-off type of bets. The only way to reliably make money in the security markets is to collect commissions from gullible folks who think that their broker knows his stuff. A big thank you for that goes to the S.E.C. for its role in keeping the people stupidly complacent in this regard; after all if they are 'regulating' the markets, people can automatically trust anyone to look out for their best interests, right?</div><div><br /></div><div>As for real estate ventures, I made a decision back in late 2006 to exit the field for the meanwhile, and luckily so. I still follow developments in this field, but for the most part I am disgusted with how the U.S. Imperial Government is assuming new powers to further distort the market and stem ultimate recovery.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is the point where I hold out my hat to solicit some spare financial advice from my imaginary readership, e.g., how they've diversified their wealth. What I'm really looking for is a liquid type vehicle, something from which I would be able to regularly withdraw funds to pay for living expenses; something I'm not sure easily accomplished, say if I want pay an American Express bill with GoldMoney.com savings.</div>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-56677764253980748122008-06-23T23:29:00.001-04:002008-06-23T23:36:49.098-04:00aqua regia(Shamelessly pilfered from wikipedia.org)<div><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_Regia">Aqua regia</a> (Latin for royal water) is a highly corrosive, fuming yellow or red solution...It is one of the few reagents that dissolves gold and platinum. It was so named because it can dissolve the so-called royal, or noble metals...<blockquote><br />"When Germany invaded Denmark in World War II, the Hungarian chemist George de Hevesy dissolved the gold Nobel Prizes of Max von Laue and James Franck into aqua regia to prevent the Nazis from stealing them. He placed the resulting solution on a shelf in his laboratory at the Niels Bohr Institute. It was subsequently ignored by the Nazis who thought the jar—one of perhaps hundreds on the shelving—contained common chemicals. After the war, de Hevesy returned to find the solution undisturbed and precipitated the gold out of the acid. The gold was returned to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Nobel Foundation presented new medals to Laue and Franck."</blockquote></div>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-74590525651791429612008-06-19T15:12:00.000-04:002008-06-20T00:39:20.755-04:00bookmarking bastiat #2<span>It has been a while since I finished reading the <span style="font-style: italic;">Bastiat Collection</span> put out by the Mises Institute, so before I completely forget some of the best material I've found </span><span>in there I'll whip it up into this blogpost, which I realize should get quite lengthy as I quote stuff.<br /><br />In ridicule of the "balance of trade" protectionist theories, Bastiat writes;<blockquote>"There is still another inference to be deduced from this, which is that according to the theory of the balance of trade, France has a very simple means of doubling her capital at any moment. It is enough to pass them through the Customhouse, and then pitch them into the sea. In this case the exports will represent the amount of her capital, the imports will be nil, and impossible as well, and we shall gain all that the sea swallows up." <span style="font-style: italic;">--Economic Sophisms— Social Fallacies Chapter Six, Pages 224-225</span></blockquote>On the folly of central planning and practicality of spontaneous order;<br /><blockquote>"On entering Paris, which I had come to visit, I said to myself— here are a million human beings who would all die in a short time if provisions of every kind ceased to flow toward this great metropolis. Imagination is baffled when it tries to appreciate the vast multiplicity of commodities that must enter tomorrow through the barriers in order to preserve the inhabitants from falling a prey to the convulsions of famine, rebellion and pillage. And yet all sleep at this moment, and their peaceful slumbers are not disturbed for a single instant by the prospect of such a frightful catastrophe. On the other hand, eighty departments have been laboring today, without concert, without any mutual understanding, for the provisioning of Paris. How does each succeeding day bring what is wanted, nothing more, nothing less, to so gigantic a market? What, then, is the ingenious and secret power that governs the astonishing regularity of movements so complicated, a regularity in which everybody has implicit faith, although happiness and life itself are at stake? That power is an absolute principle, the principle of freedom in transactions. We have faith in that inward light that Providence has placed in the heart of all men, and to which He has confided the preservation and indefinite amelioration of our species, namely, a regard to personal interest— since we must give it its right name— a principle so active, so vigilant, so foreseeing, when it is free in its action. In what situation, I would ask, would the inhabitants of Paris be if a minister should take it into his head to substitute for this power the combinations of his own genius, however superior we might suppose them to be—if he thought to subject to his supreme direction this prodigious mechanism, to hold the springs of it in his hands, to decide by whom, or in what manner, or on what conditions, everything needed should be produced, transported, exchanged and consumed?" --<span style="font-style: italic;">Economic Sophisms, Social Fallacies Chapter Eighteen, Pages 272-273</span></blockquote><br />Bastiat was in favor of practicing <span style="font-style: italic;">wertfrei economics</span>, to not let personal preferences cloud judgment of economic fact;<br /><blockquote>"In political economy there are no absolute principles.<br />In plain language, this means:<br />“I know not whether it be true or false; I am ignorant of what constitutes general good or evil. I give myself no trouble about that. The immediate effect of each measure upon my own personal interest is the only law which I can consent to recognize.” --<span style="font-style: italic;">Economic Sophisms, Social Fallacies Chapter Twenty, Page 281</span></blockquote><br />On the dangers of mixing your metaphors;<blockquote>"The word invasion itself is a good illustration of this. A French ironmaster exclaims: Preserve us from the invasion of English iron. An English landowner exclaims in return: Preserve us from the invasion of French wheat. And then they proceed to interpose barriers between the two countries. These barriers create isolation, isolation gives rise to hatred, hatred to war, war to invasion. What does it signify? cry the two sophists; is it not better to expose ourselves to a possible invasion than accept an invasion that is certain? And the people believe them, and the barriers are kept up.<br /><br />And yet what analogy is there between an exchange and an invasion? What possible similarity can be imagined between a ship of war that comes to vomit fire and devastation on our towns, and a merchant ship that comes to offer a free voluntary exchange of commodities for commodities?" --<span style="font-style: italic;">Economic Sophisms, Social Fallacies Chapter Twenty-two, Page 296</span></blockquote><br />On being sold counterfeit goods;<blockquote>But among civilized nations surely the producers of riches are now become sufficiently numerous and strong to defend themselves.<br />Does this mean that they are no longer robbed? They are as much so as ever, and moreover they rob one another.<br />The only difference is that Spoliation has changed her agent She acts no longer by Force, but by Cunning.<br />To rob the public, it is necessary to deceive them. To deceive them, it is necessary to persuade them that they are robbed for their own advantage, and to induce them to accept in exchange for their property, imaginary services, and often worse." --<span><span style="font-style: italic;">Economic Sophisms, Social Fallacies Chapter Twenty-three, Page 304</span></span></blockquote><br />Looking now at my reference list I realize I have 29 bookmarks more to go, all from the second volume. Should I spare you the agony/joy for until the next time? I warn you though, I may be absent for a while.</span>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-59933168893686821022008-05-15T19:53:00.008-04:002008-05-15T20:47:21.152-04:00paramnesiasticThat is how a verbaholic such as myself would describe the sensation commonly referred to <span style="font-style: italic;">déjà vu</span>.<br /><br />For a while I was secretly embarrassed to think that although I've read most of Neal Stephenson's books, notably the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Age-Illustrated-Primer-Spectra/dp/0553380966/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210896625&sr=8-1"><span style="font-style: italic;">Diamond Age</span></a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cryptonomicon-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0060512806/ref=pd_sim_b_img_2"><span style="font-style: italic;">Cryptonomicon</span>,</a> and the enormous <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Quicksilver-Baroque-Cycle-Vol-1/dp/0380977427/ref=ed_oe_h">Baroque</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Confusion-Baroque-Cycle-Vol/dp/B0009K765I/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b">Cycle</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/System-World-Baroque-Cycle-Vol/dp/B0009K76DA/ref=ed_oe_h">trilogy</a>, I never got around to reading his first major, coming-of-age novel <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Bantam-Spectra-Book/dp/0553380958/ref=pd_sim_b_img_3"><span style="font-style: italic;">Snow Crash</span>.</a> Or so, that is what I thought to be the case.<br /><br />You see, I remember reading the <span style="font-style: italic;">Diamond Age</span> when it came out back in 90's when I was still in grade school; to be technical, while I summered at a sleepaway camp. To this day I cherish the memories of reading it, vaguely recalling the basic storyline and some of the more remarkable elements which still reside deep in my neurostructure.<br /><br />But I had no recollection whatsoever of ever reading <span style="font-style: italic;">Snow Crash</span> until I bought a fresh copy a few weeks ago and finally read the damn thing.<br /><br />And boom!, just like that, memories came flooding back-- the metaverse, the dentata, the rat thing. Even the parts about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossolalia#Literature">glossolalia</a>.<br /><br />I think I was 11 or 12 when I first read it. Hands down I think I've enjoyed it much more this time around.<br /><br />To recap a paragraph sure to bring a smile to fellow anarchonomists;<br /><blockquote style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">"<span style="font-style: italic;">It's always been a mystery to Hiro, too, but then, that's how the government is. It was invented to do stuff that private enterprise doesn't bother with, which means there's probably no reason for it;</span>"</blockquote>Well said, Mr. Stephenson.iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-64772453270978614462008-04-23T12:06:00.002-04:002008-04-23T12:08:14.118-04:00zoning for death<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">A NY Times editorial published today insinuates that the heady sin of avarice is alive and thriving in the real estate industry, to the detriment of public safety. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/nyregion/23about.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin">The article</a> speaks of various regulations that Department of Buildings has tried to implement in the wake of the tragedy at ground zero, among them the widening of and the increase of required staircases.<br /><br />The main force against such safety precautions is said to be the real estate industry, who are stalwart against the maximization of 'dead weight', space which is neither rentable nor salable, and hence unable to be capitalized.<br /><br />As usual, what we have here is a few bureaucrats attempting to supplant the will of the people, to try to overrule their desired level of safety, to force them to pay for more safety then what they are willing to voluntarily part for by themselves.<br /><br />[Monetary] greed, the most maligned, misunderstood characteristic <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/nyregion/23buildings.html?ref=nyregion">is bandied here</a> as though it simply were a destructive life force of its own. Say what you will of morality in general, but scratch an avowed amoralist, and you should find his instinctual hatred for avarice right there for all to see. I certainly can recognize the presence of greed, but I try to avoid ascribing to it the power of causal explanation.<br /><br />In this case, it would be far more fruitful to state that the prior intervention of zoning regulation has come at the expense of public safety. Zoning, by arbitrarily and artificially constraining the natural growth of the human habitat has upset the delicate balance of market preferences into favoring space-maximizing strategies at the cost of public safety. It is a safe bet to say that in the absence of such well-intentioned intervention, society will have a better chance at working to obtain an optimal admixture of safety, and pleasant cages than it would otherwise.<br /><br />Instead of pettily focusing on the motive of greed, it would be more mature (and productive!) to recognize it as an immutable nature of what it means to be human, and to let institutions and relations develop anarchically around that natural formation how they will.<br /></div>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-5858787033867629602008-04-10T20:29:00.015-04:002008-04-11T00:43:57.307-04:00bookmarking bastiat<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1933550074/ludwigvonmisesinst"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1933550074.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>I've been sending myself emails whenever I come across passages of particular interest when reading the new collection of Claude Frederic Bastiat's essays on economics prepared by the Mises Institute. I'm not quite done yet, but I've already live-tagged so many nuggets I figured I would start sharing them with my imaginary readership.<br /><br />So here without further ado is Bastiat on the topic of <span style="font-weight:bold;">justice</span>—<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">"When law and force keep a man within the bounds of justice, they impose nothing upon him but a mere negation. They only oblige him to abstain from doing harm... In fact, it is not justice that has an existence of its own, it is injustice. The one results from the absence of the other."<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> — book 1, page 64</span></blockquote><br />On the contradictory absurdness of <span style="font-weight:bold;">dialectical materialism</span>—<br /><blockquote>"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">They divide mankind into two parts. Men in general, except one, form the first; the politician himself forms the second, which is by far the most important.<br /><br />In fact, they begin by supposing that men are devoid of any principle of action, and of any means of discernment in themselves; that they have no initiative; that they are inert matter, passive particles, atoms without impulse; at best a vegetation indifferent to its own mode of existence, susceptible of assuming, from an exterior will and hand an infinite number of forms, more or less symmetrical, artistic, and perfected.</span>" — book 1, page 67</blockquote><br />Everybody except for themselves of course, a parody of fine quining.<div><br />Where he asserts <span style="font-weight:bold;">binary exchange is a trade of equal satisfactions</span> to each party—<br /><blockquote>"<span style="font-style:italic;">After much investigation it has been found, that in order to make the two services exchanged of equivalent value, and in order to render the exchange equitable, the best means was to allow it to be free... When we look into these subjects, we are always compelled to reason upon this maxim, that equal value results from liberty. We have, in fact, no other means of knowing whether, at a given moment, two services are of the same value but that of examining whether they can be readily and freely exchanged.</span>" — book 1, page 144</blockquote>And explicitly rejects Condillac's theory of the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">inequality of exchange</span>—<br /><blockquote>"<span style="font-style:italic;">The explanation Condillac has given appears to me to be quite unsatisfactory and empirical—in fact it explains nothing. “From the very fact,” he says, “that an exchange is made, it follows that there must be profit for the two contracting parties, for otherwise it would not take place. Then each exchange includes two gains for humanity"...Holding this proposition as true, we see in it only the statement of a result...Exchange includes two gains, you say. How? Why? It results from the fact that it takes place. But why does it take place? What motive has induced the contracting parties to effect the exchange? Has Exchange in itself a mysterious virtue, necessarily beneficial, and incapable of explanation?</span>” - book 2, page 90</blockquote></div><br />In the former quote Bastiat endorsed the idea that value is a subjective notion, an indeterminate quantum event valid to but a specific moment, observable only through the action of exchange. That's all nice and shiny, however I think Bastiat's criticism of Condillac's theory applies equally as well to his own notion of equal value; how do we know the observed exchange was of equal values? Through the fact that it took place? But why does it take place?<div><br /></div><div>It also seems odd to me that here Bastiat disapproves of Condillac utilizing an empirical method to prove his inequality of exchange theory when Bastiat himself asks the reader to do the same to arrive at the notion- stating that only upon examination of exchange do we know that the values are equal. It's odd to me because Condillac is in fact utilizing a deductive method, to reflect upon a given event to deduce that if it occurred, it was because each party gave up less than what they expected to receive. And furthermore, it seems to me that what Bastiat calls "examination" is also not empirical fact gleaned through a posteriori observation, but rather a priori deduction!</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">Note: Philosophy mavens and bowtied economists of the cloth are hereby invited to comment and set me straight as to what Bastiat is saying. For now, I'm taking this to be the sometimes unavoidable result of a translation where concepts get mangled when bridging that gulf.</span></div>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-15012804425988821862008-04-04T14:30:00.002-04:002008-04-04T14:37:12.273-04:00from the frontline trenches of the war on patternsI posted the following comment to a <a href="http://gothamist.com/2008/04/04/50000_pairs_of.php">Gothamist post</a> relating a NYPD raid on a Queens-based warehouse containing eight trailer loads of goods which were subsequently plundered.<br /><div class="comment-content"> <p></p><blockquote><p>In a non-Kafkaesque world, the headlines would read:</p> <p><b><em>"Brazen Bandits Make Off with $4.5m Worth of Goods, Kidnap and Take Hostages into Involuntarily Confinement"</em></b>.</p> <p>The government is the only agency which should be prosecuted for counterfeiting; the crime of defrauding [and coercing] customers into exchanging one good for another good of inferior quality.</p> <p>For a transaction in which both parties are fully aware of the nature of those items which they exchange, it cannot be justly said that there is a victimized party, i.e. when Ms. Tourist purchases a 'Gucci' purse in Chinatown neither party is harmed by the consensual exchange, and in fact both parties profit in the ex-ante sense.</p> <p>I know that some of you think that perhaps there are other victims here that should be taken into consideration, perhaps the Gucci corporation, or the NYC Department of Finance which didn't steal, umm, 'collect' a sales tax on the transaction.</p> <p>For one, the Gucci Co. can only be a victim if they were actively deprived of a physical good, or the use of that which they already own. In this case, fictitious rights to so-called "IP" is exactly that, a scam fostered upon the backs of society to prop up the sales revenue of pattern monopolists.</p></blockquote><p></p> </div>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-89895536212796393912008-04-03T13:22:00.009-04:002008-04-03T19:45:59.877-04:00cranial tragedyWhat's that poor excuse for government licensing requirements-- oh yes, oversight for public safety purposes.<br /><br />Stories like the recent tragic crane collapse in Manhattan which killed seven [see the shocking NY Times report <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/nyregion/03crane.html?_r=2&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">here</a>] bring to light what I call counterfeit goods, the supposed 'public goods' which the intervention of government is allegedly providing but is not in reality. It's no surprise at all to me that such tragedies occur when society mistakenly relies upon a unaccountable government agency whose task is to oversee that crane operators know what they're doing.<br /><br />This does not mean to say that I think that construction 'accidents' never just happen; I just think it more likely to be the case because of the existing statist-quo than perhaps what counterfactually might occur otherwise in a privately regulated industry.<br /><br />I'm also quite interested to learn if the insurance companies that insure the crane operators rely on those very same government-approved credentials/licenses to be their sole assurance against underwriting an excessive risk.<br /><br />In any case, the provision of the supposed oversight by government agency also tends to crowd out private efforts to do the same, especially if the insurance companies didn't overtly prefer a private evaluation of those same credentials.iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-82901768422532673592008-03-31T23:58:00.003-04:002008-04-01T00:15:35.864-04:00the ghost of iceberg pastI just found <a href="http://www.thestalwart.com/the_stalwart/2006/07/the_market_does.html#comment-25697092">an old post of mine</a>-- okay it's not that old, but old enough that I didn't recognize the authorship as my own until I reached the end of the post.<blockquote>"...Governments shouldn't attempt to regulate markets because they cannot. To the extent that they try to, they exaberate the problem on hand, and must seek to correct their earlier correction.<br /><br />Secondarily, governments shouldn't attempt to "correct" markets, because to say a market has failed is a normative statement, and cannot be proven. In fact, the market is never "right" nor "wrong", as all a market consists of is billions of individuals trading property rights, and who is to say what two or more consenting adults agree to is incorrect?<br /><br />Last, it's actually a joke to think that government "regulate" a market, because only markets can regulate themselves. The "regulation" that the government deems to provide is a poor substitute, and in fact in most times the regulatory bodies are captured by the special interests themselves, in a process known as regulatory capture. That's why our energy and telecommunication sector lags behind the world, and the biggest firms within that field are typically those that were granted monopolies by the same regulatory crew. And to think you call that "regulation".<br /><br />As for suggesting that Wal-Mart must take their business elsewhere is to say that government has the right to dictate when, where and which private individuals are permitted to exchange goods. They are not "free" to take their business anywhere, as the word free implies that they have an un-interfered choice. Otherwise it is like saying that a person being mugged is "free" to choose his money or his life.<br /><br />As for empirical observations, they are invalid as far as economic theory is concerned, since it is impossible to control for every variable. Economic theory can only be deduced from a axiomatic, a priori logic. To the extent that your observational data differs from theory, you must either admit that your data is incomplete or simply wrong."</blockquote>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-48109630110394051582008-03-26T23:51:00.005-04:002008-03-27T01:02:15.328-04:00the root of all evilIn concern to my last post, I meant to include a specific example indicating Murray Rothbard's even-handed approach to TPo1819, in that he would simply restate the arguments made by the differing parties without explicitly endorsing either.<br /><br />For example, money-brokers were at one point considered the scourge of the early colonial American bank system. These gentle folk were guilty of the crime of purchasing discounted bank notes belonging to out of town banks, and then taking these same notes and redeeming them at their respective banks for their par value in specie. However the banks wouldn't stand these slimy two-timers who dared to impoverish their banks by withdrawing specie and so they sought to outlaw them.<br /><br />It was here that I thought that Rothbard could interject that the banks had the duty to thank these money-brokers whose selfish, nefarious actions actually served to bolster the exchange value of the very same bank notes. To see why, simply imagine the lack of such money-brokers; after all if a vendor is presented with a bank note for a distant bank of which he knows almost nothing about, it would be more like that the note would have to be discounted even further before he would begin to consider it worth his trouble to accept it in lieu of specie, or in the notes of a closer banking institution.<br /><br />The money-brokers in their actions thus filled a role in minimizing the discounting of bank notes of distant banks, and countervailed the tendency to further discount then what would have been otherwise.iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-73282851629939770102008-03-24T22:38:00.010-04:002008-03-25T00:46:23.113-04:00don't panic!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.mises.org/store/Panic-of-1819-Reactions-and-Policies-P388C0.aspx"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ebEe85x2QnU/R-iCyUQCMSI/AAAAAAAAAIE/q7OUoJG8ml0/s200/Panicof1819.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5181535172230787362" border="0" /></a>Murray Rothbard's <a href="http://www.mises.org/rothbard/panic1819.pdf"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Panic of 1819</span></a> is quite unlike any other scholarly work of his that I'm familiar with in that he let the facts speak for themselves. Though he does color the arguments presented, he does it in a fair-handed, 'just the facts, mam' manner which might mislead the unknowing reader to think that that he doesn't have a horse in the race. Honestly, I can recall seeing the term "Austrian School of Economics" mentioned just once in the entire book, a shocker considering that in it he analyzes the conditions surrounding what could have been the great depression of the early 1800's in support of the Austrian Business Cycle Theory.<br /><br />The Rothbard that I'm familiar with, from the handful of his books that I've read is never dry, uncompromising, and his arguments intellectually-honed which can help the typical unmotivated reader to slog through the 1,400+ pages scholars edition of Man, Economy and State; perhaps not by the edge of his seat, but enough so.<br /><br />In contrast, TPo1819 is a work of drudgery, detailing the minutia of inductive economic research, one which Rothbard clearly set aside his prejudice for utilizing the thymological method of <span style="font-style: italic;">Verstehen</span> as pioneered by Mises in favor of appealing to those who favor a rather historical, empirical approach to the matter. After reading the first chapter I already was under the impression that Rothbard was writing not to the choir, but to mainstream historians and economic professors alike in an attempt to subtly win over academia to the ABCT.<br /><br />Though this book required more patience than what I usually have to offer, I was rewarded every now and then when I found insider comments passed off as innocuous statements. One such comments appears towards the end:<blockquote>"Stress on the moral virtues often took the form of attack on luxurious consumption and other extravagances of the day. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Embryonic Veblenians</span></span> called upon the rich to set an example in thrifty living to the lower classes, who tended to imitate the former."</blockquote><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ebEe85x2QnU/R-iBn0QCMRI/AAAAAAAAAH8/5PtT2kstPQU/s1600-h/DontPanic.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ebEe85x2QnU/R-iBn0QCMRI/AAAAAAAAAH8/5PtT2kstPQU/s400/DontPanic.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5181533892330533138" border="0" /></a>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10505181.post-80988190074360356662008-03-06T22:38:00.006-05:002008-03-07T00:15:37.333-05:00false bravadoThere was jitters in the air this morning as the local news-media prattled endlessly about an early morning explosion at the military recruitment station located in Times Square, which resulted in no bodily harm and minor property damage.<div><br /></div><div>Michael Bloomberg, ever the bloviating yenta, wagged his fingers and called out against the coward who perpetrated the attack, if one can call it that. </div><div><br /></div><div>What I can't understand is why this presently-unknown figure was labeled a coward, and why it should be considered an appropriate epithet in this case. Is it wrong that he lacked resolve to take life, and instead chose to 'attack' when it was certain nobody would be in harms way?</div><div><br /></div><div>If anything, one can legitimately make the opposite case-- that this is one hell of a brave fellow, who is risking life and limb to deliver a middle-finger salute to the imperial U.S. war regime and her insatiable hunger of destroying human life in her relentless meat grinder of "foreign policy". I reckon that Times Square is one of the worlds most surveilled locations, up there with Orwell's London, and this courageous act sends a loud message to our oppressors in blue that we are resolved to overcome their trigger-happy, cattle-prodding enforced servitude.</div><div><br /></div><div>Just compare this bomb-throwing 'coward' with the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Hercules</span> cavalcade of police squad vehicles which goes on pretty much every day in NYC. For those who've never heard of the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Hercules</span>, <br /><blockquote>"And there are the Hercules Teams, elite, heavily armed, Special Forces–type police units that pop up daily around the city. It can be at the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, or the stock exchange, wherever the day's intelligence reports suggest they could be needed. These small teams arrive in black Suburbans, sheathed in armor-plated vests and carrying 9-mm. submachine guns—sometimes with air or sea support. Their purpose is to intimidate and to very publicly mount a show of force." - <a href="http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/features/n_8286/">article link</a></blockquote><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bkmarcus.com/blog/2006/05/bombcaps-of-world-unite.html"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ebEe85x2QnU/R9DPO_bW2MI/AAAAAAAAAH0/yiVW19UzImM/s400/bombcap.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5174863828299995330" /></a>Pray tell, what bravery do these hostile brutes exhibit? Do they suppose it to be especially courageous to parade around the killing fields of Manhattan while waving around machine guns under the protection of cover from air support? The biggest danger any one of these S.S. knuckle-heads face is painful priapism from the hard-on they get from being 'in control of the situation'.</div><div><br /></div><div>If it were up to me, I'd reverse the conventional <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublethink">doublethink</a></span> application of the labels for coward and courageous. But as everyone knows, Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.</div>iceberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00092220167956120749noreply@blogger.com0