Robbing Peter to pay Paul. Krugman.

Paul Krugman says that our national debt is not a problem.
Go here for his explanation.  (For those with little time for such, his explanation is "Those who rob Peter to pay Paul Krugman will always have the support of Paul Krugman, especially when Peter is still wearing diapers.")

Here's a handy chart, showing our Fed debt per capita as compared to other countries.

Here are some videos of what's happening in Greece - which doesn't even take the silver or bronze medal in this race.
If you think it can't happen here, you're sadly mistaken.
And this one:
Start saving your metal. The Mormons always put away one year's worth of food. I'm stockpiling Jim Beam and Purina dachshund chow.
 I betcha Krugman's getting nervous too.

A modest proposal from Perry de Havilland for those who are under attack

Samizdata's Perry de Havilland, one of the guys whose excellent typing got me hooked on this blogging thing, has an excellent suggestion for those trying to respond to the London rioters:  Be a vigilante. 

I am delighted to see that some people are 'taking the law into their own hands' and not just abandoning their communities to the barbarian thugs...

When the trouble came, hairdressers, sales assistants and butchers were among the scores of Turkish and Kurdish workers who stood outside their businesses in Green Lanes, Haringey, from 8pm having been warned by police to expect trouble.

The Guardian filmed others – some armed with baseball bats – on guard outside shops and restaurants in Kingsland Road, only a mile away from Hackney's burning high street. Three workers from Re-Style Hairdressers were among those out in Green Lanes, after word spread that an attack was imminent at about 4pm [...]

"We were outside ready and expecting them," said the manager of Turkish Food Market, who asked not to be named. "But I felt very panicky because we are not safe from either the rioters or police. We put all of our efforts into this shop. It took 20 years to get it like this. But we do not know about our rights. I'm scared that the police and the government will attack us if we defend our businesses. We are being squeezed between the two."

Firstly, to those blaming 'immigration' rather than the welfare state, and the utterly grotesque way the state demands you do not protect what is yours, well people would do well to emulate the Turkish and Kurdish community in Britain. Indeed the looters we see on television and streamed over the internet are so multi-racial it must gladden the hearts of the Welfare Statists who created them.

So when the police decry 'vigilantes', I would point out that communities can often do a better job at protecting themselves than the police can and the folks who got out on the streets, not to loot but to defend their neighbourhoods, well they are the real heroes here.

The safety of you and your property is only tangentially of interest to the state (certainly they want to tax what you own, so to that extend they do indeed care about your life and property), but as demonstrated starkly over the last few days, the state also created the conditions that led to these riots and is therefore rather uneasy about punishing people who, after all, only do what the state does every day only without having to smash any windows.

A community of few people with rifles and something worth protecting are not such a soft target to thugs, even armed thugs, than a disarmed general population looking vainly for the Plod to save them. But for all sorts of reasons, the British state has so effectively propagandised this country that to even suggest armed self-defence puts you on the lunatic fringe... so crowbars and cricket bats it is then.

If these last few days shows anything it is that when push comes to shove, only you and your neighbours can defend against what can only be called barbarian scum. Contrary to what the state would have you believe, you have the right to defend yourself and your property that morally supersede any law that would deny that right. The rioters 'took the law into their own hands' so I applaud those Turks and Kurds (and many others whom the Guardian would not be so keen to report on) who did the same... they took the law back from the barbarians with and put it where it belongs: in their own hands.

Go here to read de Havilland's last sentence.  It says it all. 

If any Fort Worth readers disagree or think it is over the top, come live in the East Side for a while.  Yeah, some places aren't safe.  But if you have proper armaments in your castle, you can sleep like a baby. 

Good luck, London !!!

The upside of the London riots

From Zero Gov:

The Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass has released a statement in support of the economic stimulus activities undertaken this week in London.

“Over the past three nights,” said guild spokesman JM Keynes, “The brave young people of London have taken it upon themselves to guarantee the economic health of our city for years to come.” Keynes went on to explain that the Glaziers expect a 10,000% increase in demand for new glass windows over the coming weeks, which will employ hundreds of new glassmakers, who are paid as much as six francs for each new window produced.

Shopkeeper F (Frederic) Bastiat took a rather dimmer view of the stimulus package, citing its cost to his business. “Look here,” he said, gesturing to his store’s broken window. “They broke that, broke the door, came in and took things right off the shelves.” Bastiat expects that his insurance will cover some of the damages, but that much of his inventory will be a total loss. “I had a year’s profits tied up, just in what was on the shelves,” he explained. “And some of it they just destroyed! This television was too heavy to steal, I suppose, so they just smashed it.”

Bastiat’s selfishness, though, is not representative of most Londoners. In addition to creating jobs and increasing private spending, the stimulus is providing an increased standard of living for some participants. ”I got tones of stuff todayyyy!” explained one of the stimulus agents via twitter, ” … whop whop … wat ev;; it was free so i took it ennit,, didn’t get caught so[.]”

Hit the link up top to read the rest.  This guy is greatness. 

The G20 Protests in Pittsburgh

Boy howdy, I love the Anarchists.
I employed several of them while in the Literary Retail industry. One concept that I couldn't get across to them: if they were ever succesful in their quest for a society with absolutely no rules or regulations, they would probably be the first people to be propped up against a wall and shot.
For any society to survive, you've got to be able to protect basic liberties and freedoms, one of which is the liberty and freedom to sell things for more than you paid for them - i.e. Capitalism.

Some of the recent unplesantness at the Pittsburgh G-20 conference was orchestrated by an Anarchist outfit called The Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project.

The Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project is a space where folks can come together and collaborate on ways to resist the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, PA. Our goals are to lay the groundwork, provide an information clearing house, create & distribute publicity and educational materials, build momentum for the mobilization, engage in local, regional and national outreach, and develop an action framework. We seek to help coordinate efforts among like-minded people in order to create a just and sustainable world.

In the words of our President, "Let me be clear". I think these are silly people.

Some of the rhetoric reminds me of the kid who took over NYU's Kimmel Center who was railing about bottled "corporate water" while rummaging through the iPhones and Mac laptops in his backpack.

There are some disturbing things in this video, though. I hope you have time to watch the whole thing, but at least click to the 1:50 mark. Since when do we have soldiers running around the U.S.A. in unmarked civilian vehicles? Who was this person that got snatched? What the hell?

And the kids at the 3:30 mark.... If they aren't voting Libertarian in the next election, they might need to be tear-gassed again. (That's a joke. Please don't send me hate mail for it.)

Here's Dr. Ron Paul on what's going on inside the G20. If you are new to these controversies, a "Fiat Currency" is paper money with no commodity backing it up. It can be printed on demand.


You can go to the UK's Telegraph to read about the calls for a Global Currency. I get a feeling that this currency won't be backed by anything that anyone wants. Interesting times, interesting times.