Atlantis

"There are two ways we can produce automobiles. We can build them in Detroit or we can grow them in..."

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 23:37:16 -0700

“

There are two ways we can produce automobiles. We can build them in Detroit or we can grow them in Iowa. Everyone knows how we build automobiles. To grow automobiles, we first grow the raw material from which they are made – wheat. We put the wheat on ships and send the ships out into the Pacific. They come back with Hondas on them.

From our standpoint, growing Hondas is just as much a form of production – using American farmworkers instead of American autoworkers – as building them. What happens on the other side of the Pacific is irrelevant; the effect would be just the same for us if there really were a gigantic machine sitting somewhere between Hawaii and Japan turning wheat into automobiles. Tariffs are indeed a way of protecting American workers – from other American workers.

”

- David D. Friedman (via eltigrechico)

Losing Our Objectivity: Hyper-Partisanship Destroying Our Civil Liberties

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 16:19:00 -0700

After the recent revelation of the NSA spying program partisan hypocrisy seems to be in full force. This country is running down a vicious line with two camps simply deadset on hating the other. A duopoly that has become so ingrained in our psyche it threatens to destroy any shred of objective reasoning. Democrat v. Republican, Conservative v. Liberal, Red v. Blue all issues seem to boil down to that.

Recently a new poll was released that seems to confirm the obviously partisan nature of our political system. Where 75% of Republicans were okay with the NSA tapping phones in 2006 whereas in 2013 it seems only 52% still think that way. I would love to think that it’s because the Libertarian Party is having some good influence on the Republicans, but this big of a shift seems pretty suspect. On the other hand the once anti-war protesting civil liberty loving Democrats seem to have had a major change of heart. Where only 37% thought it was okay to collect data from you without a warrant or court order in 2006, now a whopping 64% seem to think it’s just fine.

It seems civil liberties are only important when your guy is not in charge.

This phenomenon is evident in the media we watch. When the white papers for the drone program were being disseminated Krystal Ball proclaimed her trust in Obama’s values on extra-judicial killings. Al Sharpton has said that he will not criticize Obama publicly. The Republicans that are all of a sudden freedom loving civil libertarians, after spending 8 years begging the public for more executive power is of course a big joke as well.

Even if we take the democrats (or the republicans 7 years ago) at their word that their guy can be trusted with this power, isn’t it also true that we live in a democracy and your trusted party or guy won’t always be in power? Don’t give your allies weapons you don’t want your enemy to have.

Is there any way we could get back to our principles? Should the party lines matter on issues as big an unprecedented as data collection by the NSA? It’s time to stand up on principle whether it be the NSA, IRS, the Justice Department, or the State Department that is violating our rights, harassing us, or covering up facts we need to stand strong on our civil liberties.

Forget your party, and voice your concerns based on objective reason. Let no one else tell you that it’s okay when one president does it, but not the other. The only thing you have to lose are the chains that bind you to your partisanship.

Selling Your Organs: Should it be Legal? Do You Own Yourself?

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 14:30:23 -0700

Selling Your Organs: Should it be Legal? Do You Own Yourself?:

By Marcia Clark and William Travis Clark Imagine your little girl needs a heart transplant. If she gets it in time, she

William Easterly Talking Shit to World Bank President over Twitter!

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:17:36 -0700

The World Bank President shows a remarkable lack of understanding of Economics of Incentives 101 bit.ly/176fsRs
— William Easterly (@bill_easterly) June 13, 2013

Dr. Kim, there is a science of delivery already: “supply curve slopes upward” Yours, an economist bit.ly/176fsRs
— William Easterly (@bill_easterly) June 13, 2013

HAHA! Priceless

Tax Reduction v. Government Spending - Which Expansionary Policy Works Best?

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:15:51 -0700

So based on a study published by 2010 on OECD countries attempts at expansionary fiscal policy since 1970 it would seem that successful fiscal stimulus depends almost entirely on cuts in business and income taxes whereas failed fiscal stimulus has relied primarily on increases in government spending. Seems pretty obvious to me what the federal government should do if they don’t care about solving the deficit now, and only want to focus on full employment and boosting aggregate demand. Yet, it seems that beyond logic economists like Paul Krugman have called for higher taxes and more governmental purchase stimulus. Some people are just immune to facts.

barticles: The predictable partisan split: Republicans are far...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:08:40 -0700

barticles:

The predictable partisan split: Republicans are far more likely to support domestic surveillance programs when a Republican holds the Oval Office, and Democrats are far more likely to do so when a Democrat holds the Oval Office.

Which is rather depressing.

Too few seem to understand that powers approved under one administration will be inherited by future administrations with sharply different views. If you don’t want your enemies to wield a particular weapon, don’t give it to your friends, either.

"It is sometimes argued that if a company with a monopoly of light bulbs invents a new bulb that..."

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 21:32:49 -0700

“

It is sometimes argued that if a company with a monopoly of light bulbs invents a new bulb that lasts ten times as long as the old kind, the company will be better off suppressing the invention. After all, it is said, if the new bulb is introduced, the company can only sell one tenth as many bulbs as before, so its revenue and profit will be one tenth as great.

The mistake in this reasoning is the assumption that the company will sell the new bulb, if introduced, at the same price as the old. If consumers were willing to buy the old light bulbs for $1 each, they should be willing to buy the new ones for about $10 each. What they are really buying, after all, are light bulb hours, which are at the same price as before. If the company sells one tenth as many bulbs at ten times the price, its revenue is the same as before. Unless the new bulb costs at least ten times as much to produce as the old, costs are less than before and profits therefore are higher. It is worth introducing the new bulb.

”

- David Friedman, Price Theory: An Intermediate Text, ch. 2, p30 (via utilitymaximiser)

hipsterlibertarian: This video — called “The Conversation” — is...

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 09:38:08 -0700

hipsterlibertarian:

This video — called “The Conversation” — is a great explanation of the non-aggression principle, and it actually is very well done. Highly recommended for sharing with your non-libertarian friends and family.

What Would Milton Friedman Say?

Thu, 30 May 2013 11:57:14 -0700

What Would Milton Friedman Say?:

iates:

“Quoting the most-revered champion of free-market economics since Adam Smith has become a little like quoting the Bible: There are sometimes multiple and conflicting interpretations. So it is that both sides of the immigration debate are invoking Friedman to bolster their position on the current immigration bill.”

From the Wall Street Journal

"The problem with American conservatism is that it hates the left more than the state, loves the past..."

Wed, 29 May 2013 00:45:13 -0700

“The problem with American conservatism is that it hates the left more than the state, loves the past more than liberty, feels a greater attachment to nationalism than to the idea of self-determination, believes brute force is the answer to all social problems, and thinks it is better to impose truth rather than risk losing one soul to heresy. It has never understood the idea of freedom as a self-ordering principle of society. It has never seen the state as the enemy of what conservatives purport to favor. It has always looked to presidential power as the saving grace of what is right and true about America.”

- Reminder that this quote is literally from Lew Rockwell. (via hatredismymuse)

Stuff I think is Cool: vancouvervegan answered your question: Does Noam Chomsky publish under...

Tue, 28 May 2013 22:56:16 -0700

Stuff I think is Cool: vancouvervegan answered your question: Does Noam Chomsky publish under...:

eltigrechico:

vancouvervegan answered your question: Does Noam Chomsky publish under Creative Commons?

Where is the evidence that he works for/accepts money directly from the Pentagon?

— Chomsky described the Pentagon as “one of the most evil institutions in world history,” “the most…

Chomsky, the hypocrite

"Note that although the system of fractional-reserve banking creates money it does not create wealth...."

Mon, 27 May 2013 14:08:29 -0700

“Note that although the system of fractional-reserve banking creates money it does not create wealth. When a bank loans out some of its reserves, it gives borrowers the ability to make transactions and therefore increases the supply of money. The borrowers are also undertaking a debt obligation to the bank, however, so the loan does not make them wealthier. In other words, the creation of money by the banking system increases the economy’s liquidity, not its wealth.”

- N. Gregory Mankiw

Inventor Of ADHD's Deathbed Confession: "ADHD Is A Fictitious Disease"

Sat, 25 May 2013 15:27:03 -0700

Inventor Of ADHD's Deathbed Confession: "ADHD Is A Fictitious Disease":

This unfortunately doesn’t surprise me

Thomas Sowell discussing Intellectuals and Race. Seriously worth...

Sat, 25 May 2013 13:07:18 -0700

Thomas Sowell discussing Intellectuals and Race. Seriously worth the the 38 minute run time. I think I’m going to buy this book after listening to this.

"Marx and the Marxians, foremost among them the “proletarian philosopher” Dietzgen, taught that..."

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:00:34 -0700

“

Marx and the Marxians, foremost among them the “proletarian philosopher” Dietzgen, taught that thought is determined by the thinker’s class position. What thinking produces is not truth but “ideologies.” This word means, in the context of Marxian philosophy, a disguise of the selfish interest of the social class to which the thinking individual is attached. It is therefore useless to discuss anything with people of another social class. Ideologies do not need to be refuted by discursive reasoning; they must be unmasked by denouncing the class position, the social background, of their authors. Thus Marxians do not discuss the merits of physical theories; they merely uncover the “bourgeois” origin of the physicists.

The Marxians have resorted to polylogism because they could not refute by logical methods the theories developed by “bourgeois” economics, or the inferences drawn from these theories demonstrating the impracticability of socialism. As they could not rationally demonstrate the soundness of their own ideas or the unsoundness of their adversaries’ ideas, they have denounced the accepted logical methods. The success of this Marxian stratagem was unprecedented. It has rendered proof against any reasonable criticism all the absurdities of Marxian would-be economics and would-be sociology. Only by the logical tricks of polylogism could etatism gain a hold on the modern mind.

Polylogism is so inherently nonsensical that it cannot be carried consistently to its ultimate logical consequences. No Marxian was bold enough to draw all the conclusions that his own epistemological viewpoint would require. The principle of polylogism would lead to the inference that Marxian teachings also are not objectively true but are only “ideological” statements. But the Marxians deny it. They claim for their own doctrines the character of absolute truth. Thus Dietzgen teaches that “the ideas of proletarian logic are not party ideas but the outcome of logic pure and simple.” The proletarian logic is not “ideology” but absolute logic. Present-day Marxians, who label their teachings the sociology of knowledge, give proof of the same inconsistency. One of their champions, Professor Mannheim, tries to demonstrate that there exists a group of men, the “unattached intellectuals,” who are equipped with the gift of grasping truth without falling prey to ideological errors. Of course, Professor Mannheim is convinced that he is the foremost of these “unattached intellectuals.” You simply cannot refute him. If you disagree with him, you only prove thereby that you yourself are not one of this elite of “unattached intellectuals” and that your utterances are ideological nonsense.

”

- Ludwig von Mises, Omnipotent Government (pp. 150-151)

iates: Ayn Rand in a nutshell.

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:48:58 -0700

iates:

Ayn Rand in a nutshell.

"Nobody spends somebody else’s money as carefully as he spends his own. Nobody uses somebody else’s..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 23:22:40 -0700

“Nobody spends somebody else’s money as carefully as he spends his own. Nobody uses somebody else’s resources as carefully as he uses his own. So if you want efficiency and effectiveness, if you want knowledge to be properly utilized, you have to do it through the means of private property.”

- Milton Friedman (via iates)

Photo

Sat, 18 May 2013 23:25:35 -0700

anobjectivistblog: Yaron Brook: Capitalism Without Guilt

Sat, 18 May 2013 21:04:25 -0700

anobjectivistblog:

Yaron Brook: Capitalism Without Guilt

thinksquad: A Theory of Mental Health Part 1 Stefan Molyneux,...

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:50:47 -0700

thinksquad:

A Theory of Mental Health Part 1
Stefan Molyneux, Host of Freedomain Radio, advances a theory of mental health, and a way forward for society that does not require the drugging of helpless children and badly informed adults.