Free Republic

Capitalism gotta exploit someone....

Paul Krugman sees America as a stratified society, with the top tiny layer controlling a staggering amount of wealth, and the rest of us consigned to a life of Sisyphean struggle.  He rails against Our Invisible Rich, who he believes prosper at the expense of all of us, and waxes about how the golden sunbeam of knowledge of these rich parasites on our nation could kindle the proletariat to action. I can’t compete with Krugman in academic honors, or experience in the hallowed halls of the Ivy League, or in the busy newsrooms at flagship newspapers.  When I read such...

Andy Xie: Why One Bubble Burst Deserves Another 09-28 15:34 Caijing comments( 0 ) The financial crisis taught crucial lessons about the dangers of bubbles, loose regulation and debt. It's a pity we didn't learn. By Andy Xie, guest economist to Caijing and a board member of Rosetta Stone Advisors Ltd. (Caijing Magazine) Lehman Brothers collapsed one year ago. The U.S. government refused a bailout and warned other financial institutions to be careful. The government felt other institutions had already severed their dealings with Lehman's investment network, and that a collapse could be walled in. Little did the government realize...

Resurgence of mercantilist influence is neither coincidental nor recent. Eighty years ago, mercantilists stuck their noses back into the Republican political tent and imposed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act on the U. S. and the world. Franklin Roosevelt then delivered the Democratic Party to them, turning previously free-trading farmers into government-subsidized champions of trade barriers. Mercantilists won control of the Federal Reserve in 1971 after years of Keynesian whittling at the Bretton Woods pledge to keep the dollar’s value stable relative to gold.

With all the recent hype and demagoguery about gasoline price-gouging, maybe it's time to talk about the basics of exchange. First, what is exchange? Exchange occurs when an owner transfers property rights or title to that which is his. Here's the essence of what transpires when I purchase a gallon of gasoline. In effect, I tell the retailer that I hold title to $3. He tells me that he holds title to a gallon of gas. I offer to transfer my title to $3 to him if he'll transfer his title to a gallon of gas to me. If this...

What Surprise? The Nuclear Core of North Korea's Strategy By Nicholas Eberstadt Tuesday, March 1, 2005; Page A15 North Korea's declaration that it possesses nuclear weapons and intends to hold on to its nuclear arsenal "under any circumstances" was greeted with shock and astonishment in much of the world. In fact, the most astonishing part of this momentous development was the fact that North Korea's bold move has come as a surprise, both in Washington and abroad. The North Korean government did not suddenly claim to join the world's nuclear weapons club on a bizarre and inexplicable whim. The announcement...