Francisco D’Anconia published in Ecuador

When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion–when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed.

The above quote was published in Ecuador to protest the imprisonment of newspaper publishers and editor for an op-ed critical of the Equadorian president. Freedom of speech and economic statism can not co-exist. In Ecuador, statism is expanding.

What will we tolerate in the U.S.?

If you think it is far fetched, remember Sebelius' threats and Waxman's subpoena to companies who revealed inconvenient truths about the effects of ObamaCare.

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The World is Getting Richer

Developing Economies Fall from 58% to 39% of All Countries in 15 Years

HT Carpe Diem

Free Market University---in Guatemala

What a cool thing!!



HT Ideas Matter.

The President is Wrong About Taxes.

from Carpe Diem:

During Monday night's national address, President Obama recited the Buffet line that millionaires and billionaires pay lower tax rates than their secretaries. Democrats in Congress routinely cite Mr. Buffett's tax confessions as irrefutable evidence that tax rates on the very rich are too low and the system is unfair.

Except it is not true.

(Data is from the IRS.)

2008 Crash--unfettered government, not unfettered capitalism

Washington and Wall Street: The Revolving Door

The recent report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission blamed all the usual suspects — Wall Street banks, financial regulators, the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and subprime lenders — which is tantamount to blaming no one. “Reckless Endangerment” concentrates on particular individuals who played key roles. --NYT Sunday Book Review

In particular, "when the Clinton administration called for a partnership between the private sector and Fannie and Freddie to encourage home buying...[T]axpayers were unknowingly handing Fannie billions of dollars a year to finance a campaign of self-promotion and self-­protection."

In our mixed economy, statists like to blame capitalism---when it is actually the toxic mixture of free markets and government intervention that is so destructively destabilizing.

For explanations which counter "market failure" theories of our recent financial crash, read the rest of the book review, and then consider reading the book.