THANK YOU READERS!

Dear Readers,

I have decided to put LibertyandEconomics.com in stasis. I am not taking the site down and I very likely will write in it again. Time however forces me to focus efforts elsewhere for now.

I am continuing to write at AGAINSTCRONYCAPITALISM.ORG. I hope you will join me there and read often.

In the mean time, keep fighting for liberty. Don't despair when losses come. Be contained when wins happen. Just keep moving toward a freer society.

Sincerely,

Nick

New euro 'empire' plot by Brussels

The proposal, put forward by Herman Van Rompuy, the European Council president, would be the clearest sign yet of a new “United States of Europe” — with Britain left on the sidelines.

Click here for the story.

China begins to unwind.

China Bad Debt May Reach 60% of Bank Equity, Credit Suisse Says

As we have said quite a few times here China's penchant for central control and opacity would eventualy chip away at the Chinese "miracle." And frankly it HAS been a miracle. However, the ride is about to get bumpy we think.

Click here for the story.

What I saw at Occupy DC.

Protestors love sunny weather. Yesterday there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so there were a lot of protesters in Freedom Plaza for the Occupy DC rally.

As I walked up the first thing I saw was a girl holding a sign that said “Love not hate.” OK, I’m for love, I can definitely go with that. I crossed the street to the main shindig.

At the end of the plaza a stage had been erected where people who seemed more inclined toward hanging out in sociology department lounges than working ranted about Wall Street and it’s greed, the wars, and the death penalty.

Frankly, the beefs most of the people had seemed at least somewhat legitimate. But almost all of the speakers I heard identified “capitalism” as the cause of their problems. It was to be expected but was nonetheless frustrating. As Michael Moore said earlier this week, and I am paraphrasing, “We don’t need to end the Fed, we need to end capitalism.”

Most of the people I saw yesterday probably agreed with that statement.

Click here for the rest of my piece in AgainstCronyCapitalism.org

Important poll on the nature of the Tea Party- How libertarian is it?

A good bit it appears. I had estimated the conservative/libertarian split to be about 60% "Teaocons" and 40% more or less libertarian. Turns out I'm about right!

The media characterizes the Tea Party as a socialy conservative movement. This makes it much easier to demonize. This poll shows, as most of us know, that the compolsition of the Tea Party is more complicated than the establishment might think.

Click here for an article on the poll at Reason.com

These are the issues that define the GOP presidential race at this moment.

For those who don't know these (above)are word clouds. They are the words most associated with an issue according to Google at this moment. They represent the issues that candidates neglect at their peril.

Gamers solve puzzle which stumped scientists for years and could hold key to curing AIDS

Interestingly gaming is ideal way to organize mass collaboration. There are a set of rules by which people must abide (which focuses the endeavor) but beyond that the individual if free to riff off of other individuals at they see fit. Gaming allows for an "intellectual jam session."


Click here for the story.

DoD Biggest Employer In the World

Great post in LewRockwell.com. Our DoD bigger than the Peoples Liberation Army of China. And Walmart too.

Click here for the story.

'Buy All the Euro You Can' If Greece Defaults: Jim Rogers

A Greece bankruptcy would actually be a good thing because "it's time for people to acknowledge reality," well-known investor Jim Rogers told CNBC Friday.

Click here for the story.

Is The Need for Stimulus "Undeniable"? As Schiller says.

A recent article by the best known Keynesian economist at Yale, Robert Schiller, begins this way: "[A] ... fact... about our current economic situation... can no longer be denied: our economy is in desperate need of government stimulus."

Does the rest of the article provide a defense of stimulus? No. Since the need for stimulus it is undeniable, there is no need to defend it. No reasonable person would disagree. Right?

Wrong. There is a problem here. Reasonable people do disagree, strongly disagree. Robert Barro, the distinguished Harvard economist, wrote an article about the same time as Schiller's explaining why neither logic nor evidence supports government stimulus programs. Barro is far from alone, among either economists or the general public.

Click here for the article.