It’s the calculation problem. Always has, always will be: By arbitrarily changing existing markets for internet service, regulators risk corrupting the fragile preconditions necessary for firms and consumers to calculate rationally, and the incentives necessary to lure investment and risk-laden innovative enterprises. The result could be excess demand in the market for internet service if … Net Neutrality Is Still Retarded
It’s not the sex of the president necessarily that I’m wary of, since, if I voted in the first place, I’d vote for a solid libertarian lady much more readily than a normal state-loving dude. That’s possibility is not the in the cards this season, regardless. What I’m more concerned about are the aftereffects of … I Don’t Want a Female President
Interesting conversation between Scott Adams and Stefan, in the early minutes before they get into the politics. I like Adams, but he’s inaccurate in the self-assessment of his childhood religious beliefs, which he describes at around the 1:20 mark. He didn’t necessarily decide to not believe. He didn’t believe in the first place because he … You Don’t Believe in the First Place
Another good one from Cafe Hayek: “No. Just No.” Second and even more importantly here: “national productivity strategies” are, practically speaking, strategies or plans imposed by the state. They are schemes pressed down from on high by politicians and bureaucrats each of whom not only is motivated chiefly by political goals (and, thus, likely to … Planned Economies
Donald Boudreaux elaborates on a reader’s letter regarding minimum wage: Although the economic outcome of minimum wages would be unchanged if the enforcement were imposed directly on workers rather than on employers, the true nature of minimum wages would be made clearer if enforcement were imposed directly on workers. The reason is that the minimum … The Shell Game
I knew Aaron was deep in economic knowledge, so I’m glad he posted some definitive armchair analysis of the funny business of large-scale, central planning of economies (emphasis his): And about 20 years ago, I did precisely that. Arguably one of my best charts I ever compiled proved me correct – government spending as a … Stabbing People’s Money
I ignore such salacious, morally complicated stories as the Kim Davis fiasco, but the bleating on Facebook has been hard to ignore. I have little true opinion about it since it has no direct bearing on my life, but it does serve as a working example of competing loyalties that demand full allegiance. As a … Separate the Church and the State
It bears repeating: God doesn’t owe you a damn thing. That He doesn’t owe you anything doesn’t mean He doesn’t offer anything. It’s self-evident in many ways that, if you are reading this, there are some things He’s already given to you, and continues to give. There’s a reflection of this duality in the two … How to Stay Sane
I’ve been reading Chasing the Dragon and read up a bit on Kowloon Walled City. Here’s a blog post that claimed KWC was an anarchy. Sort of: However, for about 50 years after the end of World War II, there was an experimental, if you will, Libertarian paradise, just outside of Hong Kong, known as … Kowloon Walled City Was Not An Anarchy
Serfs in Santa Monica can’t make agreements with other serfs to have them stay over their house because of arbitrary rules…rules that were created by lords who have nothing to do with the potential transaction. From Forbes: The Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica has instituted the nation’s toughest regulations on short-term rentals like Airbnb. … The Serfs May Not Talk Amongst Themselves
If you’re ever in a position to “do good” for a large amount of people, take stock of the people who would make this happen. You may find you’ve been airdropped into the middle of unsavory individuals of questionable character. Some brutal plainspeak from abolishgovernmentnow.com: You are the selfish ones. You care nothing about the … Stop Trying to Make the World a Better Place
Dropping in quickly again to mention Just Thomism’s post on the Catholic Church’s socio-economic policy, as stated in its catechism: The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modem times with “communism” or “socialism.” She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of “capitalism,” individualism and the absolute primacy of the … Catholicism’s Social Teaching
I’ve said it before on here. Other, more adept and well-known writers have said similar: a non-belief in God requires, philosophically, that one must find or apply Godlike attributes to something else. It’s an accidental side meaning smuggled in Voltaire’s famous quote: “If God didn’t exist it would be necessary to invent him.” Related to … When Living is a Crime
I normally pay no attention to legislative news because, as Michael Corleone said, politics and crime are the same thing. Inordinately fixating on the schemes of social deviants does not reside in the realm of the sane. But since the issue of net neutrality has some personal impact as a software engineer, I have some … Net Neutrality is a Bad Idea
It’s a common question but there’s a lot of philosophical assumptions behind it, much like the loaded question logicians have pointed out. One has to take a step back to really address it properly. Julie Borowski, who isn’t much of a skeptic from what I can see, asked this on her personal Facebook page. I … “How Do You Know Your Religion Is the Correct One?”
Vox Day posted recently about female suffrage. Talking about “their votes are equally incompatible with the long-term national interest as the other classes of current non-voters”: This can be done using a variety of metrics, including what Shelles describes as another possibility to the only way. Just to give one example, if the reason children … Suffer(age) the Little Children
While reading The Not So Wild, Wild West: Property Rights on the Frontier, I came across one of the earliest forms of stupidheadedness in the American government, concerning property: On March 3, 1889, [President] Harrison announced the government would open the 1.9 million-acre tract of Indian Territory for settlement precisely at noon on April 22. … The Cockamamie Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889
Some blunt thoughts from Christopher Cantwell’s post, “Top 10 Reasons Libertarians Aren’t Nice To You” (emphasis his): 6. All those “what ifs” you’re so concerned about, they’re called choices. …. You have become so used to the State being the arbiter of all things, that you seem to panic at every uncertainty. The funny part … Governments Are Leprosy, Speeding Drivers Are Acne
I was debating doing a post on this in the past, but it popped up on theChristian Libertarians group on Facebook: how does the God-commanded genocide of the Canaanites in Joshua 6:20-21 square if you’re a libertarian and Christian? The first commenter offered a good start with 5 options: 1. They deserved it. The Canaanites … Justification for Divinely-Directed Genocide
The first search result for “why do borrowers pay pmi” on DuckDuckGo (fifth on Google) is this helpful page, which explains in as basic English as possible, why borrowers pay personal mortgage insurance and not the lender. The reason I searched for this is because 1) I have a mortgage, 2) I pay for PMI, … Why Borrowers Pay Mortgage Insurance