Defending capitalism - real capitalism

Laurence M. Vance has an article today on Mises.org that recommends two books on capitalism aimed at the general reader. "These defenses of capitalism are not only vigorous; they are uncompromising, up to date, understandable, and eminently readable. And neither one is a textbook on economics," Vance writes. The two books are Robert P. Murphy's The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism and Thomas J. DiLorenzo's How Capitalism Saved America.

I've read, reviewed, and given away copies of DiLorenzo's book. Murphy's is still on my wish list.

Why is it that capitalism is always under attack in times of economic crisis but never interventionist schemes such as corporatism, socialism, or fascism? Though the titles of the two books might suggest we live under capitalism, in fact we do not and have not lived under such a system. Vance writes:

Real capitalism — that is, capitalism based on secure private-property rights, sound money, the division of labor, social cooperation, freedom of contract, freedom of association, voluntary exchange, and the absence of government control, oversight, and regulation — is the answer to the current economic crisis.

I agree emphatically, but we've never had "real capitalism." Ayn Rand explained why in the pages of Atlas Shrugged. Ludwig von Mises presented his answer in The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality.

Time Magazine's Predictable Call

Isn't it curious that in the age of big government, big government worshippers get away with blaming every crisis that comes along on the severely hampered market, claiming with nauseating tediousness how the free market has once again failed and now it's time for government to step in and save the day? The same mentality views the interventionist Hoover as laissez-faire's hack, a guy who sat back and let markets drive us to the depths of despair, until we got Roosevelt, the king of big government, who saved capitalism by doing everything he could to kill it, who kept us mired in the Depression until he dragged us through a war that killed some 50 - 72 million people - depending on whose figures you believe -- most of them civilians. Conscripting and killing people is certainly one way to solve pesky unemployment.

And now we're about to enter the Age of Obama, whose frenzied supporters are imploring him to lead us through another hyper-interventionist New Deal, this time with tidal waves of green. It is sometimes said government never does anything right. Not true. Government is unsurpassed at selling itself as the remedy for all the misery it creates.

"The people and the economy can only wax fat and prosperous when their government is starved and puny." - Murray Rothbard, Repudiating the National Debt

What causes global warming?

"[T]he mechanism of global warming is well established," writes Vin Suprynowicz. "It’s primarily solar, and has nothing to do with the tiny amount of 'greenhouse gas' mankind produces. Or were there too many cars and coal-fired generating plants 10,000 years ago, when the last Ice Age spontaneously melted away? (See the nice charts here.)"

Further on he argues:

"Energy use per capita is a pretty good measure of how far you’re advancing from the stone age, when life expectancy was under 40. There is no energy shortage. God’s and Nature’s challenge to man is to promote life – not to flagellate ourselves over the sin of being alive – to use all the stuff provided to better our lives and those of the generations to come."

"If the Greens choose to use less energy, God bless them. Let them go squat around some jungle fire in a loincloth, eating half-cooked monkey meat. But somehow, this prospect does not appear to please them. Somehow, they will be happy only if they can impose energy-deficient poverty on ME."

FDA Turns on Asthma Sufferers

In an article this morning on LRC, Vin Suprynowicz reports that as of January 1 asthma sufferers will have new, "environmentally-friendly" inhalers to use. They will have these new inhalers whether they like it or not, because the government has acted in the "public interest" in forcing them to switch; the old ones have been pulled from the shelves. Quite coincidentally, the new inhalers cost some three times more than the previous ones, raising their costs to about $40 apiece. Given that many respiratory sufferers are poor, this is hardly welcome news. Suprynowicz writes:

Why not wait to make the change after generic alternatives become available? Skeptics point out that changing now could mean billions more dollars for the three drug companies that hold patents on the replacement HFA-albuterol inhalers, according to Emily Harrison, writing in the August issue of Scientific American.

For many people the cost of breathing will not only soar, it will be more of a hassle because the approved gadgets need to be primed more often and tend to clog more frequently. With the tripled expense and the additional usage problems, some asthmatics will be less rigorous in applying treatment, and this could mean an increase in avoidable deaths. But who cares about 22.9 million American asthma sufferers when there's a planet to save?

Of course, no one knows for sure that the old inhalers were a threat to our existence, but that's irrelevant. The radical greens treat their computer models as papal decrees and regard inconvenient findings as heresy. Mimicking the greens, Suprynowicz says: “The debate is over! No time to dilly-dally! By the time we know, it’ll be too late!”

They might be right. By the time they're done working us over, it could be too late.

Model 271 a hot seller

Muntader al-Zaidi, the Iraqi broadcast journalist who threw his shoes at George W. Bush recently, has created a hot market. According to Istanbul-based Baydan Shoes, al-Zaidi hurled one of their products, model 271, at the neocon U.S. president and has since received tens of thousands of orders worldwide for the shoe, which it has renamed the Bush shoe. Durgham al-Zaidi, the journalist's brother, disputes the claim of the Turkish firm, saying he believes the shoes were made and purchased in Iraq. He also criticized people for trying to make money from his brother's act of protest.

Happy Birthday, PC!

Without the personal computer, the status of liberty in today's government-dominated world would be much lower than it is. I'm sure there's controversy over when the PC was born, but December 19, 1974 is certainly a significant date in its history. On that day, the January, 1975 issue of Popular Electronics made its appearance with the Altair 8800 on its cover and caught the attention of Paul Allen and Bill Gates. The Harvard freshmen dropped out of school to write programs for the Altair and went on to found a software company.

Today's "This Day in Tech History" feature at Wired.com commemorates the Altair and that landmark issue of Popular Electronics.

Michael Crichton's "perfect writing environment"

Michael Crichton was a fascinating writer and I'm still saddened that he's no longer living, though I never met him. Amazon published a short quiz they gave him and I was particularly fond of one of his replies.

Q: Describe the perfect writing environment.
A: Small room. Shades down. No daylight. No disturbances. Macintosh with a big screen. Plenty of coffee. Quiet.

State of Fear has had 1,273 reviews on Amazon, with an average rating of three stars. The breakdown is as follows:

1,273 Reviews
5 star: (381)
4 star: (246)
3 star: (170)
2 star: (171)
1 star: (305)

It blasts the environmental movement for its political character. The book deserves five stars.





It deserves five stars.

The Real Meaning of Thanksgiving

Richard Ebeling explains that when the first settlers tried communism, most of them died. There was incentive to shirk, not work. What saved them?

Gary Galles also has a piece on the real meaning of Thanksgiving, as does Gary North, who relates the event to marginal utility theory.

Unlikely friends

A friend sent me a link to this YouTube video, which has over 5 million views. There's no indication of how this "friendship" ends, but it's amazing to see.

Armistice Day Slaughter

As economist Bill Anderson notes, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month is memorable for one more eleven: There were 11,000 casualties that day, including 320 Americans killed in action. His great-uncle was one of the fallen.

John Hayes-Fisher writes:

The respected American author Joseph E Persico has calculated a shocking figure that the final day of WWI would produce nearly 11,000 casualties, more than those killed, wounded or missing on D-Day, when Allied forces landed en masse on the shores of occupied France almost 27 years later.

What is worse is that hundreds of these soldiers would lose their lives thrown into action by generals who knew that the Armistice had already been signed.

Of course, the myth persists that these and the millions of others who lost their lives were "serving their countries." They were pawns whom the politicians and their banker buddies manipulated and eagerly sacrificed. Commenting after the war, H. L. Mencken observed:

The Government hospitals are now full of one-legged soldiers who gallantly protected [J. P. Morgan’s] investments then, and the public schools are full of boys who will protect his investments tomorrow.

And the Federal Reserve was behind that lovely war, too [p. 124].

Michael Crichton

I was shocked this week to learn of the death of Michael Crichton, 66, from cancer. Thirteen of Crichton's books became films, including the blockbuster hit, Jurassic Park. The Harvard medical school graduate also published under pseudonyms, John Lange and Jeffery Hudson. His Jeffery Hudson novel, A Case of Need, won the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel, 1969. He created the hit TV show, ER, and directed or wrote several movies, including Coma, a Robin Cook bestseller.

As his Wikipedia biography states, "In December 1994, he achieved the unique distinction of having the #1 movie (Jurassic Park), the #1 TV show (ER), and the #1 book (Disclosure, atop the paperback list)."

Crichton was rumored to have written 10,000 words a day at his peak. "He wrote seven days a week and would hide himself away in a sparsely furnished room to minimise distraction, eating the same thing for lunch every day . . . He would break off from his labours only to take exercise or to see his family. As each work progressed, he would wake up earlier and earlier until towards the end of each book he would be at his computer at 2am."

His books have sold over 150 million copies worldwide. As Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg commented, “Michael was a gentle soul who reserved his flamboyant side for his novels. There is no one in the wings that will ever take his place.”