The show this week was great! Thanks to callers and listeners alike. Who knew the European Debt Crisis could be so much fun? To tell you the truth, the truth is so horrible that ya gotta laugh at it or you’d cry! Central economic control and the socialist state are as much a failure in Europe as they were in Russia and North Korea, and as I’m sure we will find, in China, yet Europeans continue to double down by betting again on socialism (in France) and communism (in Greece) in the elections of last week. What are they crazy? (Actually, maybe they are: check out my video preview of the show and the article I reference in that post: 40% of Europeans are reported to suffer mental illness!)
European Debt Crisis
If you haven’t been following the European Debt Crisis, the upshot is that the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece & Spain) are already effectively bankrupt and other countries, including France, are not far behind. Despite this, France replaced it’s “conservative” President Nicolas Sarkozy with a socialist, Francois Hollande, as Hollande promised to spare the French people austerity and still somehow spare them bankruptcy. I don’t even think Hollande believes this is possible, but he will raise taxes in a last ditch effort to placate the masses that he’s doing everything he can to get them their free lunch.
Austerity vs. Liberalization
Frankly, although I am the most fiscally conservative person you could imagine (I think government expenditure should be $0!) I don’t think the austerity they are talking about in Europe would work anyway.
Economics
Hans-Hermann Hoppe Explains It All!
My favorite Austrian economist (actually, he‘s German!) is Hans-Hermann Hoppe. Here he is giving a lecture in Brazil (the intro is in Portuguese but his lecture is in English) about private law society. If you enjoy this, you should consider listening to his lectures on CD–they are a joy for the anarcho-capitalist and the anarcho-curious … Read more
Ron Paul Guest Hosts Squawk Box & Debates Yale Professor Stephen Roach: RP 1, Prof Roach 0
Below is the youtube video of Ron Paul guest hosting on CNBC’s Sqawk Box earlier this week. The whole thing was great watching and worth the time. At one point, Dr. Paul is debating with a guest, Yale Professor Stephen Roach (beginning at 10:27). Dr. Paul claims that the dollar has lost 97% of its … Read more
Ron Paul Responds To Elizabeth Warren! Plus Bonus: Is Ron Paul a Voluntarist?
On the show Saturday night I played a clip from Elizabeth Warren describing her vision of America, which is based on a socialist conception of government. Little did I know, Ron Paul responded to this very same clip on ABC News awhile back. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7otK5NsuA4k] As an added bonus, here’s a video Eric Bigelow sent me … Read more
Trayvon Martin, Gun Control & the Drug War: On & About This Week's Show
This week on the show I discussed the disingenuousness of Mayor Bloomberg as he says in the video below that because of loose gun laws he is concerned for the safety of his family, while he is widely quoted as having said in November that “I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world….I have my own State Department.” But what galls me is that he and others are using the Trayvon Martin killing to set the stage for a new push to further curtail our Second Amendment rights. Although I’m not a gunslinger myself (yet), I do believe that the Second Amendment is what stands between us and complete tyranny. Below the video are a couple of links I think may be of interest in defense of gun rights.
Monica Perez Guest Appearance on Butler on Business
It was my GREAT pleasure last week to be an in-studio guest of Alan Butler and Jason Riddle on Bloomberg Radio’s Butler on Business. They have posted the audio on their website if you care to listen: Monica Perez explains what it means to go the “Full Rothbard”
Money, Banking and the Federal Reserve
A friend recently asked me to recommend a book that explains the Fed. In my efforts to find the best book to introduce the topic, I came upon this documentary. Although it must be several decades old, it clearly and thoroughly lays out the basics of money and the Fed and can serve as an … Read more
Review of Democracy, The God That Failed, by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
For my review of this book, click: Continue reading…
Joe Sobran, brought to me by twitter…
I have a bit of a twitter problem–it keeps me up way past my bedtime and delays me from starting my day’s work. I’m not sure whether or not to feel guilty about this. Am I educating myself or amusing myself? Does this count as work or leisure? Is following twitter the future equivalent of reading the newspaper everyday, or is it merely a narcissistic distraction? Well, this morning decided the issue: I happened upon a tweet by @libertarianmike: “The chances of being harmed by terrorists are mathematically minute. The chance of being robbed by your own govt? That’s easy:100%–J.Sobran.” I recalled that my father (a Classical Liberal like Ron Paul) loved Joe Sobran, but I still pegged Sobran for a neo-con, so complete had I thought was that sect’s dominance of conservatism. I had to follow up, though, just to be sure. I searched for Sobran references in other tweets and each one was better than the last, so I looked for Sobran’s twitterfeed. I obviously didn’t know much about Joe, because apparently he died in September 2010, so no twitterfeed. Still intrigued, I started googling “Joe Sobran” and found a tribute, upon his death, by neo-con Ann Coulter*, and another one by one of my favorite libertarian anarchists, Professor Robert Higgs–this was getting interesting…Upon further googling, I quickly found an article by Mr. Sobran himself on LewRockwell.com explaining beautifully his conversion from conservative to philosophical anarchist, a conversion I myself had undergone. Now I will add Joe Sobran to my list of favorite anarchists, and will read everything by him I can get my hands on–if I can stop tweeting long enough!
All of this simply to share with you these illuminating articles by and about Joe Sobran, which I wouldn’t have found if I were not addicted to twitter….
The Reluctant Anarchist, by Joe Sobran
Joe Sobran, 1946-2010, by Robert Higgs
Not Your Average Joe, by Ann Coulter*
*To her credit and my great surprise, I just saw that Ann Coulter said she would prefer Ron Paul to Newt Gingrich as the Republican nominee. Who knows? Maybe an intriguing tweet set her on a new path!
UPDATE: Apparently, Joe and William F. Buckley had a public feud. For Joe’s side of the story, read How I Was Fired by Bill Buckley, by Joe Sobran