Why Are We So Afraid?

An articulate and reasoned response to the swine flu is stated here by Doctor, and Congressman, Ron Paul. He echoes the sentence that I keep in the header of every one of my blog pages, a quote from Henry David Thoreau: "If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life."

Perspective is what we need right now, since what we're dealing with, ultimately, is nothing more than our worries, and not real problems from an actual epidemic. We're getting hourly updates to feed our worries from television. And then again from radio. Our newspapers and magazines then reaffirm our fear upon fear. The President has even held a full press conference on “the outbreak.” It's as if, as the good Congressman says in his video,

we have just been attacked once again by terrorists. Are we really that afraid of catching the flu? Or is there some other underlying fear that bothers us more?

I think this flu-induced panic is a reflection of something greater that now lies under the increasingly thin skin of American society – and obviously the societies of the rest of the world that have responded similarly. I know that a nation, or nations, of hypochondriacs isn't normal. It's strange. Eerie. Something akin to a green sky before the tornado touches down, or the waves on the beach that have suddenly stopped – and then pulled away. I feel a rumble somewhere. The world is changing. And I'm grasping, even as I sit here and write these words, that our collective consciousness must know that a big event is about to happen. I doubt totally that it's going to be the damn swine flu. But we can all feel something changing. It's as if we're all mentally preparing for – something. But what is it that we're afraid of?

I'll leave that question out there for you to answer. I think everyone is, of course, afraid of death. But that pat explanation is only a partial answer. I think the answer I'm really looking for is bigger still.

But let it not be said that impending doom can't have its opportunists. This web page reports that President Barack Obama is asking for “...$1.5 Billion to Fight Swine Flu.” As of this writing, the swine flu has killed one person in the United States. If we extrapolate, that's 1.5 billion dollars per person – just to alleviate our fears. We could bankrupt the country in a hurry by following such a path. But “...Fight Swine Flu” does make for a great headline. And, of course, it also allows our pro-government President to do what he does best – grow government.

So good, honest voices of reason are sometimes the most difficult to take seriously when your worries seem so large and looming. But perspective is what's needed now. Heeding the words of Doctor and Congressman Ron Paul might help. And I can help. I can offer you a little more.

Perspective:

This “outbreak” has been going on for about a week now. Just seven days.
In that time:

686 people have died from other flu variants – in just the United States.
714 people have died in car accidents – in just the United States.
9,538 people have died from smoking-related illnesses – in just the United States.
38,353 people have died from malaria – worldwide.
Oh, and 1 person has died from a falling coconut – in just Mexico.

Where has the media been hiding all of these extra stories? They sure have missed a lot of “If it bleeds, it leads” opportunities. Where is their perspective?

Evidence of how panicked people are, and in part why, can be found on this page.

The “Swine Flu: Top Five Reasons Not to Panic,” can be found here.

Virtually everything you could want to know about the swine flu can be found on this one, handy, dandy web page from ABCnews.go.com.

Have a nice day.

Britain Does Have Talent

Just in case you've missed the latest news coming out of England (no, it's not the swine flu), there were a couple of very talented ladies who's dreams have been partially realized. Singer Susan Boyle surprised everyone with her performance of “I Dreamed A Dream,” from Les Miserables. Her vocal talent is stunning. If you haven't caught it, let me just say that you don't get what you expect.

But no matter how big, tough and talented you think you are, there's always someone who's bigger, tougher and more talented than you.

Enter stage right, little Hollie Steel. This young lady is impressive beyond my comprehension. I was stunned and staggered. My jaw literally dropped. If there is anyone I've seen, in any show, between the two dueling talent shows on opposite sides of the pond, it's this little girl who appears to have the brightest future of all. She is awe-inspiring.

Congratulations to both Susan Boyle and Hollie Steel.

I just love to see peoples' dreams come true.

A Nation Of Hypochondriacs Loses All Perspective

I'm fascinated, just fascinated, with our latest big news. We live in such an incredible world, with such amazing possibilities. We can walk on the moon; we can breathe, live and work thousands of leagues under the oceans; we can genetically engineer the potential of our plants and (eventually) ourselves; we can even split the atom. Yet we can be overcome with fear and neuroses from every direction, from every source, with little or no advanced notice.

Some birds in Indonesia caught the flu? My GOD, whatever will we do? Genetically engineered tomatoes went to market in London? No! Disease resistant rice is for sale in Ethiopia? How can this be? Our government has banned trans fats? Oh, thank God.

If our neuroses are a sign of anything at all, I think they are a sign of how successful and comfortable we are as a nation – maybe as a species. Anything that upsets our o-so-delicately-balanced lives is seen not as what it should be, which is a temporary nuisance. But rather as a major intrusion – a malfunction of the highest, most disturbing order.

The current case in point is the swine flu that's made its way to America. As of this writing, it's killed no one in the United States (there are only 20 known infections), but roughly 70 people in Mexico have perished – which is where the problem seems to have originated. Again, as of this writing, I'm watching a soccer match, between I don't know who, with not a single person in the Mexico City stadium, because the authorities are so preoccupied with swine flu. Tens of thousands of empty seats. The authorities just don't want to risk that many people in the stadium at the same time. Someone might have the flu.

To my surprise, or maybe not, the World Health Organization already has web pages dedicated to the “outbreak.” And headlines like the AP's “World govts race to contain swine flu outbreak,” scream impending disaster.

I'm fascinated, just fascinated.

By comparison, about 52 people per year are killed in Mexico from falling coconuts – about one per week. The total known bird flu fatalities in the world were last reported at 222. This was widely reported as a “pandemic.”

According to a MedicineNet.com definition, a pandemic is:

Pandemic: An epidemic (a sudden outbreak) that becomes very widespread and affects a whole region, a continent, or the world.

So I have to ask a thoughtful, and (what I think is a) most insightful, question. Using the information in the above definition, does eighty deaths in Mexico sound to you like a “pandemic”?

Before you answer, let me point out that more than one hundred people per day die in car accidents in the United States. That's per day. Not per pandemic, or per month, or per year. That's per day.

Thirty-six thousand influenza deaths of a non-swine-type occur every year in the United States. That's a little over 98 influenza deaths per day – in just the United States.

Nearly half a million people die every year from smoking-related illnesses – in just the United States.

According to Answers.com, 300 to 500 million people are infected with malaria every year; and of those, over two million per year die from the disease.

So let's go back to the beginning. Does eighty deaths sound bad? Is it really a “pandemic”? Or has this become yet another simple media – “if it bleeds, it leads” – blitz? If anyone is to cry like Chicken Little, I think it's the general media. And if anyone is going to be blamed, of course, the immigrants are the easiest and most obvious targets who will most likely bear the brunt of American ire.

So I watched in amazement as the “bird flu” (not people flu), made headlines last year. And I'm amazed once again as the “swine flu” makes its way around the world as “World govts race to contain swine flu outbreak.” Eighty people die, and “world governments” respond. If we really want to help the population of planet earth, should we not get “world governments” to respond, and ban automobiles first?

How comfortable we have become.

GM Bailout Success... Decide For Yourself

As of today, GM has more than 82 billion dollars in losses, and is receiving prop up money from the government totaling over 13 billion dollars. For anyone keeping track of the numbers, that's 95 billion in the tank. And I can register a guess that those numbers are actually being underreported. But you would think that since President Obama has forced out their believed to be inept CEO, and appointed a “Presidential Task Force On The Auto Industry,” that some small miracles would begin to surface somewhere. That some good news would begin to creep out of the automotive businesses somehow – at least a little. But No. The news from the auto industry is just getting worse.

I've been keeping some headlines handy for the kind of auto industry news that's finally getting the press it deserves today.

-- GM CEO Forced Out As Part Of Gov't Plan - Yahoo News, March 30th
-- Obama Puts Chysler, GM on Short Leash - Yahoo News, March 30th
-- Will Wagoner's Exit Put GM on the Road to Recovery? - Time/CNN, March, 30th
-- Obama Asserts Gov't Control Over the Auto Industry - AP, March, 31st

GM, in the last few weeks, just so you can judge for yourself whether or not government intervention creates or solves economic problems, is shutting down many of its plants for the better part of 9 weeks. And it hasn't yet told its employees.

We'll find out if the bailout worked on June 1^st, when the company faces its deadline for restructuring, or bankruptcy. If I were forced to place a bet, bankruptcy would get my dollars – and then another “loan,” um, bailout, will most likely follow.

An Interesting Political Quiz

Ever wonder exactly where you fit in politically? Over eleven million people have taken “The World's Smallest Political Quiz” to find out where they fit in. I'm not surprised in the least about my position on the chart – top dead center. But you could be surprised by yours. Give it a try. It's only ten questions, and it takes about one minute.

An Excellent Mises.org Article

This “Enemies of Capitalism” article is one of the most articulate and clearly rational articles I've read in some time. It's refreshing to read truth. You always know it when you see it.

A Tea Party For Thousands

Today is the day. Your taxes are due. But wouldn't you like today to have a more entertaining activity than just putting a bunch of extra dollars into Uncle Sam's pockets? Maybe you can join one of over two thousand “Tax Day Tea Parties” being planned in 2,040 cities nationwide. This is supposed to be the largest single “multi-city demonstration in American history.” I'm not surprised that it's regarding taxes and government spending. I think the next kind of taxes “demonstrations” will be actual revolts. Let's just wait and see what kind of oracle I've become.

Self-Righteous Tesla M.C. CEO

I'm a fan of Tesla; but I'm not a fan of Tesla Motor Cars. The capitalist in me gets insulted, and the venom pours out when people justify, either privately or publicly, the use of taxpayer dollars to further their own interests. If you've read my blog more than once, you've read my use of the term “parasite” to describe such individuals and companies.

The conundrum is this: if you produce a product, and/or service, that is truly viable for the marketplace, then you don't need subsidizing. There's already enough demand in the market for what you produce. If the people want it; you will sell it. And if you do need subsidizing, then there isn't enough demand for what you produce. The marketplace doesn't want it. But you need, and get, extra money to prop up your company a little longer – long enough to live a bit longer at the taxpayers' expense, producing what they don't want, until the eventual happens anyway – bankruptcy.

These bailouts and subsidies are government-forced distortions of the “free” market – which right now is costing we taxpayers a fortune. So our market is no longer free, as in unregulated; nor is it free, as in costing us nothing until we decide to act within it. In our current conditions, all we have to do is go to work, if we still have a job, and go home. Having done just that much, our “free” market has cost us tremendously. Go nowhere – you pay. Buy nothing – you pay. Breathe the air – you pay. What does this say about our constitutional rights to pursue our life, liberty and personal happiness?

So in this video, the Tesla Motor Cars CEO “justifies” the company's use of tax dollars, above and beyond the large chunk of private venture capital they've already received, in a vitriolic response to a receptive interviewer. In essence, what he says is: why pick on the little guy, who's taking so little, when Detroit is taking much more? But the size of your unethical actions don't make the least bit of difference. They're still unethical. It's as if he's saying: hey, we're only taking a little bit of your money to produce some products you don't want. What's the problem?

In a truly free marketplace, the axiom “if you build it, they will come” doesn't hold true. The market rewrites such silliness to more like: if they want it, they will demand it, and someone will make it, and be rewarded handsomely.

I have a suspicion that Nikola Tesla would feel the same way about this car company that bears his name. The original Tesla invented and produced products that we still use today – alternating current, the A/C motor, the first remotely controlled devices and the first robotics, fluorescent light bulbs, current amplifiers, air hammers, remote power sourcing, and on and on and on.... The title of the story on Yahoo Finance states, “Tesla CEO Blasts Critic, Says Gov't Loan is 99% Sure – and Deserved.” Given the mindless largess of the current administration, I'm sure the “loan” is guaranteed. But “Deserved”? This critic agrees with the first critic. It's not in the least bit deserved. And I'll bet the real Tesla is spinning in his grave with the idea that a car company that has sold less than 400 cars to date, has to go hat-in-hand to the government for taxpayer financing.

The Argument For Legalizing Drugs

I was perusing the pages of Cato.org the other day, and I found one of their daily podcasts really interesting. It's an interview with author Glenn Greenwald, about his book “Drug Decriminalization in Portugal.” In 2000, Portugal decriminalized the possession of illicit drugs. Not surprisingly, they've had some impressive results. If the “war on drugs” in the US has you occasionally scratching your head as to why:

1. Drugs are more available today in quantity and variety than ever before.

2. Drugs are more expensive today than they have ever been.

3. There is more drug-related violence in Mexico and the US than there has ever been.

4. Drugs are now more potent than ever.

5. We spend billions of taxpayer dollars, with so little success in stemming the drug flow.

6. And the US makes up less than 5% of the world's population, but has 25% of the world's prisoners.

then you might be interested in this podcast. It takes about eleven minutes.

Hilarious Etrade Baby Commercials

Are you familiar with the Etrade talking, barfing baby commercials? They're funny, and they've become quite popular. But here on their website, Etrade has listed all of the commercials that have already aired, and a few that haven't. Pay special attention to the “New Baby Outtakes.” It's hilarious.

Jeffrey Sachs Talks About Murphy's Law

In a Huffington Post article called, “The Geithner-Summers Plan Is Even Worse Than We Thought,” economist Jeffrey Sachs tells us why “...the amount of potential rip-off in the Geithner-Summers plan is unconscionably large.”

Just A Few Reasons I became A Libertarian

I suppose anyone who has read my blog once or twice probably wonders why I yammer on so often about free markets, the individual, and Austrian economics. Well, it's because I'm a libertarian. All that really means is I believe that the responsibilities of government are few and far between – specifically, that they should only do for individuals that which individuals cannot possibly do for themselves. Things like, make and enforce laws that protect people from the use of force and coercion regarding their life, liberty and property; make and maintain infrastructure; provide all voluntary military and intelligence services that are used only in self-defence; and help to maintain peace and rebuild a given area when there's a natural disaster.

Beyond that, there isn't much that people can't do for themselves. Things like “entitlement programs” (Social Security, Welfare, Medicaid, Medicare, etc.) don't count in the least, because no one person is “entitled” to the monetary earnings of another. When these kinds of “entitlement” or “transfer” programs are enacted, they give government a chance to grow, and turn citizens into slaves. At the very least economic slaves. And slavery, of any kind, is evil. It's the very antithesis of your guaranteed constitutional rights to pursue your own life, liberty and happiness.

And then there's what they shouldn't do, which is intervene and distort the peoples' economy.

So if these make sense to you, I thought I would put up some links that may be of interest. It's all just reading, but most of it is down loadable to your computer for free. (That's one of the things I love about Mises.org. All of that wonderful intellectual property just being given away.)

Books For Libertarian Beginners:

“The Austrian Theory Of The Trade Cycle,” by Richard M. Ebeling – 125pp.

“The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality,” by Ludwig Von Mises – 95 pp.

“Economics For Real People,” by Gene Callahan – 352 pp.

“The Austrian Theory of Money” – by Murray Rothbard – 24 pp.

Advanced Reading:

“Man, Economy & State,” by Murray Rothbard – 1,400 pp.

“Bureaucracy,” by Ludwig Von Mises – 135 pp.

“Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles,” by Jesus Huerta De Soto – 906 pp.

Against Keynesian Economics Reading:

“The Failure of the New Economics,” by one of my favorite authors, Henry Hazlitt – 440 pp. This book refutes, line by line, Keynesian economics, the very same brand of economics being used in Washington today to promote the multi-trillion-dollar “stimulus program.”

The Classics That Helped To Make Libertarianism What It Is Today:

“The God of the Machine,” by Isabel Patterson – 298 pp.

“Human Action,” by Ludwig Von Mises – 930 pp.

“Capitalism, The Unknown Ideal,” (Personally one of my all time favorite books. I consider it to be one that has changed my life.), “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead,” all by Ayn Rand

A Comprehensive List Of Mises.org Reading By Subject:

A List Of Almost All Of The Books That Mises.org Offers For Free In .pdf Format:

Recommended Reading

I finished reading Micheal Panzer's book Financial Armageddon a few months ago. I was stunned. He first had the book published in 2006, which means he probably wrote it over the course of '04 & '05. I felt like I was reading a newspaper from this morning. Every page of it has come true. A coming depression, check; bank failures, check; insurance company failures, check; big bailouts and other government guarantees that don't work, check; on and on and on. At one point, I put the book down in front of Gaby, and I said “this man is a genius and a prophet.”

But then he goes off of the deep end, and becomes apocalyptic. I shook my head at almost all of the doomsday language. But here's the problem: his other predictions have been so accurate that his doomsday writing is credible. He also has over 25 years of experience in the financial markets. I'm still shaking my head at the doomsday business. Maybe I just don't want to believe it. His Financial Armageddon has been “revised and updated.” It's ranked #332,237 at Amazon.com, and it's only 185 pages long. Now he's following it up with a book called “When Giants Fall.”

He also has a blog with a great graph called “Putting the Recession in Perspective,” and an even better video called “Geithner Plan II: Let's Go to the Chalkboard.”

If The Creature From Jekyll Island, A Second Look at the Federal Reserve, sounds like slightly dry reading, it's not. It's written like a who-dunnit. Just reading the first sixty-six pages should get you hooked (the first three chapters). I'm in the middle of it right now, and I can't believe what our Federal Reserve system is founded upon. Nothing. Nothing. It's all a house of cards. And it was put in place intentionally to prevent the kinds of economic problems that it's now creating. Now I'm kind of mad at myself for getting so into it, since it's nearly six hundred pages long. Honestly, though, it's not boring reading.

All Hail The King Of Hypocrisy

Here are a couple of presidential quotes from the news conference held in The White House on Tuesday. Normally it's very easy for me to keep my cool in my blog posts. I like to write with objective distance. But this post is of a slightly different breed. I'm troubled and exasperated. And you should be also.

Obama: “At the end of the day, the best way to bring our deficit down in the long run is not with a budget that continues the very same policies that have led us to a narrow prosperity and massive debt. It's with a budget that leads to broad economic growth by moving from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest.”

My Response: I'm shocked. Just shocked. He has just passed the largest stimulus package and largest budget in history. Not in the history of the United States, but in the history of the world. And no one in the general media is calling him on this statement. Where the hell is the dissent? Conservative radio? What form of Barack hypocrisy and socialism is not acceptable to the American media and the general public?

What he really means to say is our government will spend and borrow more than ever before; grow more than ever before; and “invest” in rebuilding our economy, while they simultaneously try to get all Americans to spend, spend, spend – you know – to stimulate the economy. Mostly in the form of credit cards and bank loans – also known as debt.

The “policies” he's talking about getting government away from are exactly the same as they have ever been – borrow and go into “massive debt.” Only this time, our debts (the government's and the peoples') are bigger, and scarier, than they have ever been – in anyone's lifetime.

So what brand of “save and invest” (or “change,” for that matter) was The President talking about? I think what he really meant to say is that government will grow more, spend more, go into more debt, and take more in the form of taxes than it ever has in its history.

Obama: (I swear to GOD, I did not take this out of context) “And that's what clean energy jobs and businesses will do all across America. That's what a highly skilled work force can do all across America. That's what an efficient health care system that controls costs and entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid will do.”

My Response: Spending on an efficient health care system, spending on a highly skilled workforce, and spending on clean energy jobs and businesses are going to bring our deficit down and “...lead to broad economic growth by moving from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest.”? Hungh? How the hell will spending more tax money on a health care system, and spending more tax money on clean energy jobs and jobs training bring down our deficit? That's absurd. Those are ridiculous statements. The American media is giving that man a total pass on such idiocy. He has them eating out of his hands, just because he's telling them what they want to hear. They want to hear: “green,” “everything is under control,” “I'm a big, strong leader, who will take care of all of your problems.” Rubbish. He's leading us down the path to socialism faster than any president before him, and I'm including FDR – our country's worst president.

The only thing predictable about our economy right now is that the U.S. will be bankrupt very soon.

These statements are hypocrisy of the worst kind. They're extraordinarily bold and ignorant. And they lead me to believe that Mr. Obama thinks he can control everything – that he's suffering from Frederick Von Hayek's “fatal conceit.” Or, to put it in more plain english, “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.”