Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness

Double Double Speak: Socialism Is Capitalism Is Socialism

by AW

Long observed by the defenders of liberty, a common bi-partisan pattern among politicians is this: use free market rhetoric to practice socialist policies. More precisely, blaim market "failure" to put in place statist policies that increase government control of economic & social activities. Bush did it without apology (steel tariffs, no-child-left-behind, etc.) and Obama does it with impunity (GM takeover, saving favored banks, etc). 

Deconstructing Auto Czar's Speech

by AW

In his blog Cafe Hayek, Russell Roberts writes this about our Auto Czar Obama's speech to rescue the industry's tottering titans.

You could teach a semester-long class in economics from this speech. So many errors and insults to the intelligence of the citizenry.

Read the whole bog post to enjoy section-by-section deconstruction of the fatal conceit of our reigning savior.

A Lynch Mob! ... and the disengagement of private enterprise

by Rakinder Grover

A good article by David R. Kotok in The Big Picture compares the recent action in the House of Representatives with that of a lynch mob.  Besides the issues of the violation of the rule of law, the abrogation of contracts and property rights, that have been raised by some over the last few days, he also highlights the real and immediate risk of businesses becoming extremely cautious.  Careful, lest their profit seeking activity attract the ire of a populist lynch mob, private enterprise is likely to try and stay as far as it can from government. With the expanding scope of government, that is becoming increasingly harder to do, so the risk translates to a retrenchment of private enterprise unsure of the rules, risks and rewards.  This does not portend well for economic recovery, innovation and freedom in general.

Soviet vs. Russia

by Anurag Wadehra

The Soviet gulags may have faded from the public eye. Today, Russia is viewed as a nationalist, corrupt state that jails its few billionaires and kills its few brave dissidents. A bone-chilling review of the book Inside The Stalin Archives by Jonathan Brent illustrates just how far has the country traveled from its previous political model - and in what way it is still pinned to its past.

The books shows that the Soviet political model was based on three points: an ideological view that human nature was socially constructed putty, that the policy tool for shaping humans was terror and this required active destruction of any and all laws. 

"How We Got Into This Frackin' Mess" Chart

by Anurag Wadehra

Stephen Hicks has a conceptually elegant but simple chart explaining the pathologies of a mixed economy - when free market is "mixed" with government intervention. For fancier titles of the chart, Dr. Hicks suggests...

Academic title: “The Sociology of Dysfunctional Nonstandard Political-Economic Systems.”

Public Intellectual title: “The Evolution of the Mixed Economy.”

I wonder if there is a similar attempt by the Socialists to explain their worldview. At least their arguments - good, bad and ugly - could be laid bare.

The Europeanization of America?

By Anisha Kahai

Insightful piece in the WSJ on what's ahead if (or should I say when?) Obama becomes president. Pete Du Pont predicts that "...Mr. Obama will most likely be our most liberal public policy president since Franklin D. Roosevelt." Here is an excerpt from his article:

Tax Cuts Explained

by Rakinder Grover

I came across this very interesting explanation of tax cuts.  This has been attributed to several people but the author seems to be unknown.

----

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

Ascendancy of Marxism?

by Rakinder Grover

Karl Marx's Das Kapital has had unusually high sales this year, reports the BBC.  The impending fall of capitalism?

Unchecked left-wing ascendancy

by Rakinder Grover

Amidst all the buzz sourrouding the Presidential election there seems to be an important development that could have a profoundly negative impact on this country - that of the Left dominating the government like it has not done in a long time and the possibility of it being able to charge ahead with an activist, spending-spree agenda, unchecked!  An opinion in yesterday's WSJ, highlights this and makes me fear for a future that may be all too real!!

Socialism - Thriving in USA!

by Reena Kapoor

It's getting harder to write these blog entries given the state of affairs.  Distracting to say the least!

And now it seems we have bi-partisan consensus that nationalization of industries is a great answer to any economic problem.  An insurance carrier failing? Let's nationalize it and the government can run it.  Health care coverage not covering everyone? Let's get the government (read = tax payers) to pay for everyone. And as if Obama's Marxist ideology and economic illiteracy is not bad enough, now we have the so called "maverick" Republican nominee wanting to "purchase mortgages directly from homeowners and mortgage servicers, and replace them with manageable, fixed-rate mortgages that will keep families in their homes"  in his own words! 

This short editorial McCain, Obama misjudge voter appetite for spending in The Detroit News (sent to me by Shikha Dalmia of Reason) offers a spot-on analysis for why both candidates are so utterly dangerous for America's economic future. 

Both candidates on Wednesday night gave a nod to fiscal discipline and a need for belt-tightening. And both then ignored their own admonitions and ticked off a long list of new spending programs and tax cuts. Voters deserve more responsible policies than they were offered Tuesday night by these two candidates.

I say, reject them both on election day this November!