Greece and the Welfare State in Ruins
"WASHINGTON -- It would be possible in other circumstances to disregard the ongoing story ofGreece and its debts as a tedious tale of financial markets. But there's much more to it than that. What's happening in Greece speaks to two larger issues affecting hundreds of millions of people everywhere: the future of the welfare state and the fate of Europe's single currency -- the euro. The meaning of Greece transcends high finance."
Don't worry - Greece is the first of many, the death spiral comes for us, too.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Paying One's Debt To Those Paying Their Debt To Society
Would be interesting to see what drives these costs. Most likely, employees are the number one cost drivers, and who's to say that folks working under these conditions don't deserve all they can get? Or that we shouldn't reward them handsomely so as to be able to attract competent folks to manage what could only be described as a bad situation?
What would the costs be if there were no 'drug war'? How many of these costs - which become a repression of those not in jail at a certain fiscal tipping point - are the unintended consequences of the 'prisoner rights' crusades which require that we treat them 'just so'?
http://reason.com/blog/2010/04/09/cut-california-prison-costs/print
What would the costs be if there were no 'drug war'? How many of these costs - which become a repression of those not in jail at a certain fiscal tipping point - are the unintended consequences of the 'prisoner rights' crusades which require that we treat them 'just so'?
http://reason.com/blog/2010/04/09/cut-california-prison-costs/print
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Classic Quotes - Einsteain
"A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving."
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Courtesy of http://www.crossfit.com/
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Courtesy of http://www.crossfit.com/
Dr. B Swings a Heavy Fist
No Longer Slaves to Petty 18th-century Notions of Individual Rights
Posted: 22 Feb 2010 06:06 AM PST www.cafehayek.com
Here's a letter that I sent to the Washington Post:
Robert Samuelson observes that "Every advanced society, including the United States, has a welfare state. Though details differ, their purposes are similar: to support the unemployed, poor, disabled and aged" ("Greece and the welfare state in ruins <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/21/AR2010022102914.html> ," Feb. 22). True, but incomplete.
The founder of the modern welfare state, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, wanted, as he said, "to bribe the working classes" into devotion to the German state. What better way to ensure that families are willing to send ample supplies of their young men off to die for the Fatherland?
And it's telling that an American admirer of this German system, Frederic C. Howe - who was influential in planting these "progressive" ideas in America's upper Midwest - admitted that one result of government-dispensed welfare is that "The individual exists for the state, not the state for the individual <http://www.thefreemanonline.org/from-the-president/marching-to-bismarcks-drummer-the-origins-of-the-modern-welfare-state/> ."
If Mr. Samuelson is correct that welfare 'entitlements' now threaten to bankrupt governments around the globe, we persons whose puny individual needs are nothing as compared those of the state had better beware.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Posted: 22 Feb 2010 06:06 AM PST www.cafehayek.com
Here's a letter that I sent to the Washington Post:
Robert Samuelson observes that "Every advanced society, including the United States, has a welfare state. Though details differ, their purposes are similar: to support the unemployed, poor, disabled and aged" ("Greece and the welfare state in ruins <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/21/AR2010022102914.html> ," Feb. 22). True, but incomplete.
The founder of the modern welfare state, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, wanted, as he said, "to bribe the working classes" into devotion to the German state. What better way to ensure that families are willing to send ample supplies of their young men off to die for the Fatherland?
And it's telling that an American admirer of this German system, Frederic C. Howe - who was influential in planting these "progressive" ideas in America's upper Midwest - admitted that one result of government-dispensed welfare is that "The individual exists for the state, not the state for the individual <http://www.thefreemanonline.org/from-the-president/marching-to-bismarcks-drummer-the-origins-of-the-modern-welfare-state/> ."
If Mr. Samuelson is correct that welfare 'entitlements' now threaten to bankrupt governments around the globe, we persons whose puny individual needs are nothing as compared those of the state had better beware.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Virgins into Volcanoes - Tea Partiers?
The inevitability is - if the government is not sufficiently bound, we must all fight tooth and nail for control over it - the lament that politics is too partisan can only be uttered from those ignore this fact.
"Pity the Virgins
Bob Beckel and Cal Thomas wonder why politics is uglier today than in the past <http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-04-08-column08_ST_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip> .
One reason is that with fewer and fewer constitutional restraints on the exercise of Uncle Sam's power, struggles among politicians and interest-groups to get that awesome power - and struggles by ordinary people for protection from that power - grow more intense.
Politicians and interest-groups use the state to further their own narrow goals. And in this greedy quest they are cheered on unwittingly by intellectuals whose blind "Progressive" faith assures them that pretty words in a statute book combined with Smart and Caring Public Servants working away in the capital city are both necessary and sufficient to cure society of all real and imaginary ailments.
I suspect that Tea Partiers - whatever their flaws and internal differences - at least understand that this "Progressive" faith is as laughable as was the faith cherished by some primitive tribes that the way to appease angry gods was to hurl virgins into volcanoes.
Because it's insulting, degrading, and dangerous to be ruled by the primitivism that calls itself "Progressivism," sensible people react harshly when, as now, that primitivism gains ground."
http://cafehayek.com/2010/04/pity-the-virgins.html
"Pity the Virgins
Bob Beckel and Cal Thomas wonder why politics is uglier today than in the past <http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-04-08-column08_ST_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip> .
One reason is that with fewer and fewer constitutional restraints on the exercise of Uncle Sam's power, struggles among politicians and interest-groups to get that awesome power - and struggles by ordinary people for protection from that power - grow more intense.
Politicians and interest-groups use the state to further their own narrow goals. And in this greedy quest they are cheered on unwittingly by intellectuals whose blind "Progressive" faith assures them that pretty words in a statute book combined with Smart and Caring Public Servants working away in the capital city are both necessary and sufficient to cure society of all real and imaginary ailments.
I suspect that Tea Partiers - whatever their flaws and internal differences - at least understand that this "Progressive" faith is as laughable as was the faith cherished by some primitive tribes that the way to appease angry gods was to hurl virgins into volcanoes.
Because it's insulting, degrading, and dangerous to be ruled by the primitivism that calls itself "Progressivism," sensible people react harshly when, as now, that primitivism gains ground."
http://cafehayek.com/2010/04/pity-the-virgins.html
Monday, April 12, 2010
Secession, Slavery, Terrorism and Liberty
"Slavery was not the cause of this war. Secession was -- that and Lincoln's determination to drown the nation in blood if necessary to make the Union whole again.
Nor did Lincoln ever deny it.
In his first inaugural, Lincoln sought to appease the states that had seceded by endorsing a constitutional amendment to make slavery permanent in the 15 states where it then existed. He even offered to help the Southern states run down fugitive slaves.
In 1862, Lincoln wrote Horace Greeley that if he could restore the Union without freeing one slave he would do it. The Emancipation Proclamation of Jan. 1, 1863, freed only those slaves Lincoln had no power to free -- those still under Confederate rule. As for slaves in the Union states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, they remained the property of their owners."
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=36428
I take another moment to process my disgust the blight that was slavery on what was otherwise a unique moment in the advancement of human rights and individual liberty. Personally, practically, conceptually, and for the wages we all still pay for the sin of slavery - can we transcend? On a personal level, absolutely, for those of us alive today. Culturally, it seems we may not.
Nor did Lincoln ever deny it.
In his first inaugural, Lincoln sought to appease the states that had seceded by endorsing a constitutional amendment to make slavery permanent in the 15 states where it then existed. He even offered to help the Southern states run down fugitive slaves.
In 1862, Lincoln wrote Horace Greeley that if he could restore the Union without freeing one slave he would do it. The Emancipation Proclamation of Jan. 1, 1863, freed only those slaves Lincoln had no power to free -- those still under Confederate rule. As for slaves in the Union states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, they remained the property of their owners."
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=36428
I take another moment to process my disgust the blight that was slavery on what was otherwise a unique moment in the advancement of human rights and individual liberty. Personally, practically, conceptually, and for the wages we all still pay for the sin of slavery - can we transcend? On a personal level, absolutely, for those of us alive today. Culturally, it seems we may not.
Economic Growth and Environment
While I question the use of 'pollution' in the piece below, at least as regards CO2, even if you believe in the "CO2 as a toxin" narrative, the point stands.
"The first of these facts is that China's economy is "barely one-third the size of the $14 trillion U.S. economy." The second fact is that "China is now the biggest producer of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming." That is, America's economy - nearly three times larger than China's economy - produces less pollution than does China's economy.
So much for the myth that economic growth inevitably and always increases pollution and environmental damage. Clearly, after some point, continued growth can reduce pollution and environmental harm."
http://cafehayek.com/2010/04/the-environmental-kuznets-curve.html
"The first of these facts is that China's economy is "barely one-third the size of the $14 trillion U.S. economy." The second fact is that "China is now the biggest producer of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming." That is, America's economy - nearly three times larger than China's economy - produces less pollution than does China's economy.
So much for the myth that economic growth inevitably and always increases pollution and environmental damage. Clearly, after some point, continued growth can reduce pollution and environmental harm."
http://cafehayek.com/2010/04/the-environmental-kuznets-curve.html
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