High Five, Fellow Capitalist Pigs!

Thanks to free markets, over the last 20 years nearly 1 billion people have been raised out of extreme poverty.

The 2013 Index of Economic Freedom

We're Number 10, which means we rank as "Mostly Free" instead of "Free" and got whipped by

1. Hong Kong
2. Singapore
3. Australia
4. New Zealand
5. Switzerland
6. Canada
7. Chile
8. Mauritius
9. Denmark

From the blurb about the US ranking:

The United States, with an economic freedom score of 76, has lost ground again in the 2013 Index. Its score is 0.3 point lower than last year, with declines in monetary freedom, business freedom, labor freedom, and fiscal freedom. 

Come on, people!  We have got to do better than this!

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey on the Moral Case for Capitalism

Take a look.  I love how Mackey starts off by noting the nannyish desires of those meddling busybodies who think they "know best."  Don't you also find the politicization of food to be terribly tiresome?  I know I do.

Happy 100th Birthday, Milton Friedman

Alas, the great man is no longer around to celebrate his centennial, but his ideas remain and seem to be more relevant than ever.

Reading Recommendations From An Econ Prof

Usually this sort of thing would have me rushing for the doors, but econ professor Art Carden (Samford University) has some interesting-looking choices.  Carden also links to some cool TED talks and free online lectures.  Ain't technology grand!

The 2012 Index of Economic Freedom Is Out

We're not doing so well?  The US is out of the top tier at #10. What would Milton Friedman say?  By the way, the top tier rated "Free" consists of Hong Kong at #1, followed by Singapore,  Australia, New Zealand, and (the first non-Asian country on the list) Switzerland.  Taiwan is #18.  C'mon, guys, we can do better than that.

Classic Milton Friedman

Harvard econ prof Greg Mankiw has an intriguing post on what Milton Friedman might say to the Occupy movement.  Get a load of the dipstick in the first video who asks, "Isn't it necessary to forcibly redistribute wealth?"  Um, NO.  Note too how courteously Friedman disassembles these young clowns who have more idealism than sense.

Welcome to the Future: the Global Black Market

Comprising $10 trillion and growing.

Nerd Analysis: An Econ Prof On the End of Borders Bookstores

Here's an interesting post by an economics professor.  The comments are largely interesting as well.  You may recall one author's take on the end of the Borders chain.

A Tale of Two Shale States

Read this.  Also this.

Quote of the Day: Government in the Economy

Who said this?

"The ... economy ought to be dominated by private businesses and private investors. The government must protect the choice and property of those who willingly risk their money and reputation."

So, who said this?  You might be surprised.

The 2011 Index of Economic Freedom

Here are the top 3 nations in this year's Index of Economic Freedom:

1. Hong Kong
2. Singapore
3. Australia

You notice who's not up there?  Ummm ... yeah.  The U.S. finished barely in the top 10 at #9.  What would Milton Friedman say?  Here is some commentary.

Wealth Redistributionism in a Nutshell

Check this out:

Sometimes I like to play a little game with my liberal friends. Let us suppose, I say to them, that you have one hundred dollars with which you plan to purchase food for your family at a local grocery. Now let us suppose that I come along and rob you while you are on your way to the store, taking half of your one hundred dollars.

At this point I ask my friend: Is the robbery good or bad for you economically?  “Bad,” they invariably answer, for “I now have less money for groceries.” Then I ask them: Is my robbing you good or bad for the grocer?  “Bad,” they again answer, for “now he, too, has less money for his family.” Next question: Was it morally right or wrong for me to rob you? “Wrong, of course,” they answer, for “the money did not belong to you.”

Then, the coup de grace:  What if I planned to give your money to someone else, I ask, someone whom I felt was more worthy or deserving of your money?

Teehee!  Shall we have a little chat about property rights?

Blast from the Past: Silent Cal Speaks

President Calvin Coolidge, famous for his laconic approach, earned the nickname "Silent Cal" ... but when he had something to say, he said it.  Check this out from a White House address in 1924, if only as a cool bit of historical archiving joy:

Transcript here.  Here is a blurb:

"Taxes take from everyone a part of his earnings and force everyone to work for a certain part of his time for the government ... I want the people of America to be able to work less for the government and more for themselves. I want them to have the rewards of their own industry; this is the chief meaning of freedom.  Until we can reestablish a condition under which the earnings of the people can be kept by the people, we are bound to suffer a very severe and distinct curtailment of our liberty."

Dollars and Sense: Two Thoughts on Wealth and Poverty

Read this and look for a great quote: "The only way to fight poverty is with employment."  Well, duh.  Handouts accomplish little in the long run.  Do I really have to give you the fortune-cookie-worthy quote about how to feed a man for a day versus how to feed him for a lifetime?  (Hint: the first involves a handout.  The second involves skills.) I would add that the corollary to employment is really trade and wealth creation (and add t0o the protection of private property).  There really is a vital nexus among the ideas of free markets, free people, and property rights.  Then watch this:

Of course you know that I am firmly in the camp of the "let's make more wealth and then everybody wins."  Consider, perhaps, the experience of standards of living in Taiwan just from WWII to the present day.  Frankly, a lot of leftists seem to look at people whom they define as "wealthy" (and you better hang onto your wallets, because pretty soon that means you, as their rapacious appetite for both spending and confiscatory taxes continues) and consider them as the barbarian hordes considered the cities of medieval Europe -- as things to be plundered and pillaged.  Rant below the fold.

Quotes of the Day and 2 Thoughts on Capitalism and Wealth Creation

Here is an interesting video and a short but very readable analysis, both by university instructors.  Two quotations from them:

From the video: "Exploitation is not exclusively capitalist, but wealth creation is."

From the article: "The intellectual critics of capitalism believe they know what is good for us, but millions of people interacting in the marketplace keep rebuffing them. This, ultimately, is why they believe capitalism is “bad for the soul”: it fulfils human needs without first seeking their moral approval."

Cowboy Up: Vote Like You Mean It in November

PREACH IT:

We are challenged to answer again the momentous questions our Founders raised when they launched mankind's noblest experiment in human freedom. They made a fundamental choice and changed history for the better. Now it's our high calling to make that choice: between managed scarcity, or solid growth ... between living in dependency on government handouts, or taking responsibility for our lives ... between confiscating the earnings of some and spreading them around, or securing everyone's right to the rewards of their work ... between bureaucratic central government, or self-government ... between the European social welfare state or the American idea of free market democracy.

What kind of nation do we wish to be? What kind of society will we hand down to our children and future generations? In the coming watershed election, the nature of this unique and exceptional land is at stake. We will choose one of two different paths. And once we make that choice, there's no going back.

This is not the kind of election I would prefer. But it was forced on us by the leaders of our government.

Read the whole thing.

As I've said before, I don't LIKE politics. I would prefer to be left alone to live my life in peace (to bake cookies, watch movies, and search for the perfect pair of cute spring sandals). But the current political class won't leave me alone. So who's going to be surprised when I -- and plenty of other angry voters -- push back? Calling me all kinds of nasty names is not going to stop me from thinking, speaking, and voting as I please.

Read this too.

Nerd Analysis + Book Review: Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" Flying Off the Bookshelves

Duke University professor of economics Bruce Caldwell has an analysis of why free-market economist F.A. Hayek's classic book "The Road to Serfdom" is currently enjoying a massive reader renaissance. It is selling very well. No wonder, given the zeitgeist.

I'll say this for the current recession and the concomitant government follies that are going on in the name of "fixing it": it has unexpectedly lit a fire under the chairs of people all over -- a fire that drives them to educate themselves and think for themselves and READ ... and engage in a debate of ACTUAL IDEAS. That is the silver lining to a gloomy cloud.

You'll recall too how Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" is also selling well.

RELATED POST: Satire Alert: DHS issues No-Read List.

Nerd News: Campus Invasion of the European Free-Market Economists

Welcome! Come on in; sit a spell.

I think I've mentioned before how the nerd scuttlebutt says that European universities are increasingly not a great place to work if you have any new ideas.

North Korea: Currency Chaos = New Misery in Asia's Communist Cesspool

Just when you thought things couldn't get much worse in the basket-case nation known as North Korea, they did. Take a look:

A recent move by North Korean officials to rejigger the nation's economic system has introduced a new level of misery to everyday life.

In the last month, the price of rice rose tenfold at private markets, and residents often had to wait in line for hours in subzero temperatures to buy food.

. . . At the heart of the turmoil is a series of dictates imposed late last year by Kim Jong Il's regime: revaluing the currency, closing down privately run markets in favor of state-owned shops and banning the use of foreign currency and the sale of many imports from China.

Recent visitors to North Korea, aid agencies and defectors say the changes have sent the already-troubled economy into a tailspin.

. . . The new dictates appear designed not only to put the entrepreneurs out of business but to confiscate any accumulated wealth.

"We need to strengthen the principle and order of socialist economic management," Cho Song Hyun, an official with North Korea's central bank, said in December to a pro-regime newspaper in Japan.

The result has been chaos and panic. Here's some awesomely direct analysis from the news story. Pay attention, kids:

"Was it incompetence or callousness that led them to do this? You take your pick," he [Marcus Noland, a North Korea specialist and deputy director of the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics] said. "There is so little accountability in the system, the regime has considerable capacity to inflict misery on the population without any significant political risk."

And that is why that entire form of government is rotten and has always produced mass human misery.

RELATED POSTS: Pushback Against Kim's Money Grab. Also, NK is the world's worst nation in terms of economic freedom.