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Publisher's
Weblog Written Saturday, July 26, 2008  Right in the teeth of a global credit crisis, Bank of America's board of directors has authorized a 75,000,000-share stock buyback using up to $3.75 billion of its "own" cash. You won't see any financial reporters questioning such reckless behavior on the part of B of A's management. To be sure, it makes perfect sense (if you're a crook) to weaken the bank's balance sheet at the expense of depositors, other customers, and non-well-connected shareholders. This is nothing short of audacious. http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080723/bank_of_america_buyback.html Who benefits? Well, of course, B of A's managers and executives with stock options and a desire to cash out before Bank of America implodes. Just another example of the wealth transfer Wall Street enables. Buy Gordon Brothers' Wines Written Sunday, May 25, 2008 It is quite common for wine lovers to be left-leaning global warming alarmists. To be sure, such folks are predictably shallow and tolerable in only very small doses. With this being said, I was pleasantly surprised by the contents of Gordon Brothers Family Vineyards' Spring 2008 newsletter. This is what Jeff Gordon (owner) stated: "This has been an extremely cool spring. There has been a lot of damage to the fruit trees in the State, but fortunately the grapes have thus far escaped injury. We should be past the frost threat by now, but after this spring, I am not banking on anything. In the wake of the cool spring, we find our bud break about two weeks behind normal. This in some ways is good, because we were protected from the frost, but two weeks in the fall means a lot for fruit ripeness. So much for global warming!" Gordon Brothers makes some of the finest wines in the world. The vineyard is located right on the Columbia River in Pasco, WA. For a winemaker to say something so politically incorrect is refreshing. This is why I will make a point to buy Gordon Brothers' wines every opportunity I have. Paul Potts: An Opera Star is Born Written Monday, March 03, 2008 Paul Potts was a British cell phone salesman with a background in singing. He performed, as an amateur, in a handful of operas. He entered "Britain's Got Talent" and blew away the field. You'll love this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA Indeed, in 2007, he won the "Britain's Got Talent" championship. It couldn't happen to a better person: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwkVnyfdGYQ&feature=related Enjoy! Anthropogenic Global Warming is Bunk Written Wednesday, January 02, 2008 Do you ever get into debates about anthropogenic (manmade) global warming? If you want to put a few more "bullets" in your arsenal, then you must read "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism." The author is Christopher C. Horner. This book provides a devastating refutation of the baloney greenies call "settled science" and it completely dismantles Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth." Jim Riswold Making Fun of Totalitarian Monsters Written Sunday, September 23, 2007 There is an artist from Oregon who loves to poke fun at bad guys. Perhaps it is a stretch calling this art, however, it is wonderful political satire. What is especially endearing is the fact that Jim Riswold goes after Mao. As we all new, leftists love Mao and refuse to acknowledge his unmitigated evil. For an artist to take on Mao is quite refreshing. Here is his website and enjoy your tour: http://www.jimriswold.com/musings.html
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About the Publisher
In 2000, I wrote a lengthy paper about the interesting similarities between Austrian economics and the emerging science of complexity (which seeks to understand spontaneous order). Human prosperity (thanks to capitalism) is at its maximum when Adam Smith's "invisible hand" (a metaphor for a capitalistic spontaneous order) is not tied by the shackles of central planning (which includes monetary central planning as practiced by the Federal Reserve). In other words, a free-market/capitalist society is a spontaneous phenomenon. Therefore, in turn, less government means more prosperity/liberty and vice versa. Along these lines, I must include a fabulous quote from Murray N. Rothbard (as found in his book Man, Economy, and State): Directly, voluntary action - free exchange - leads to the mutual benefit of both parties to the exchange. Indirectly, as our investigations have shown, the network of these free exchanges in society - known as the 'free market' - creates a delicate and even awe-inspiring mechanism of harmony, adjustment, and precision in allocating productive resources, deciding upon prices, and gently but swiftly guiding the economic system toward the greatest possible satisfaction of the desires of all the consumers. In short, not only does the free market directly benefit all parties and leave them free and uncoerced; it also creates a mighty and efficient instrument of social order. Proudhon, indeed, wrote better than he knew when he called 'Liberty, the mother, not the Daughter, of Order'. With the U.S. government's reckless spending and massive debt accumulation, I see economic chaos just around the corner. How in the world can the United States' government meet its massive debt and entitlement obligations? One thing is for sure, no fiat currency experiment has ever succeeded. Thus, the dollar will meet the same fate as all other fiat currencies; death by inflation. Indeed, these obligations will be met by printing massive amounts of dollars. The invisible hand will be amputated to rescue the body politic. People will suffer. Perhaps my bringing back into print The Hyperinflation Survival Guide: Strategies for American Businesses, will help alleviate human suffering. Dr. Swanson (the book's author) and Harry E. Figgie, Jr. (the book's sponsor) deserve a lot of credit as they understand that businesses must survive in order to continue serving people. There will be economic instability, as wrought by inflation, and this book will prove to be a valuable manual to help businessmen survive the chaos. I look back upon my education with fondness. I have a B.A. in Business Administration (Cum Laude) from Washington State University and also have an MBA (4.0 GPA) from Boise State University. With the intellectual "tools" provided to me by Austrian economics and paleolibertarianism, in retrospect, I chuckle at the pro-statist biases exuded by the professors at the two aforementioned universities. In turn, I have gone through a process of "unlearning" the pro-central planning/Keynesian curricula that dominated most colleges and universities when I was in school (and are ever more so today). Nevertheless, my experiences at WSU and BSU, were wonderful due to the excellent people I met in the wonderful communities of Pullman, WA and Boise, ID. Every once in a while, I get the urge to write an article. To date, I have had articles published by LewRockwell.com, by KarenDeCoster.com, and by The Tocquevillian. In the meantime, my day job is that of a surety bond underwriter. This has been my profession since 1984. |
I
am an ardent believer in a 100% gold standard and, thus, I am an
adherent to Austrian economics (the pro-market, anti-statist school
of economics). I firmly believe that a free society can exist only
under conditions that include an absolute respect for private property
rights, the right to self-ownership, a negative rule of law, and
a 100% gold standard. It is no wonder why I am a paleolibertarian.
My intellectual heroes include Austrian economists Ludwig von Mises,
F.A. Hayek, Murray N. Rothbard, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, and Roger Garrison.
