ilustração do parasitismo estatal

Something More Important than the Debt Limit:

The chart is built upon the indisputable fact that the private sector creates wealth. Governments do not create wealth; they consume it. This observation makes it clear that the private sector supports government spending, which is an important fact not captured in most discussions about the US economy and the one-sided view of it given the way GDP is normally presented. A growing GDP is deemed to be a good thing, but in reality, one must look under-the-hood to see the engine that is really driving the US economy – and it is not government spending because governments do not create the goods and services that enable the American people to fulfill their needs and wants to maintain and hopefully increase their standard of living.

The feathers are being plucked from the goose at a record rate. Government spending has become an even bigger force in the economy than when the US was on a war-footing during World War II. Never before has government consumed so much of the private sector’s wealth creation.

Watermelon ecofascism

Via Heritage, Watermelons: The Green Movement's True Colors


Watermelons the Green movement's true colors

“I think there is built into our DNA, this innate catastrophism. Every generation believes that it will be the last, it will be the one that so shapes the world, that it will destroy the world through its own evil.” It is that human response that leads environmental extremists, as Delingpole notes, to deride and disregard anyone who has not been convinced by their conclusions as a ‘denier’ of ‘scientific fact.’

Default Is the Enemy of the Social Welfare State

Default Is the Enemy of the Social Welfare State:

.. some interesting factoids about how America got to this point:

• Not one penny of U.S. debt has been repaid for 51 years: the last time US government funded debt actually decreased on a year-over-year basis was 1960;
• 97% of today’s funded debt has been accumulated since August 1971 – the end of the Bretton Woods agreements when President Nixon took America off the gold standard;
  
• ..
• The US government borrows 40-50 cents for every dollar it spends. A balanced budget without reducing the existing debt will require cutting government spending in half.
• ..

The American Social Welfarists promised that government bureaucrats could manage the economy so effectively we would avoid the pain of deleveraging the ludicrous amount of mortgage and credit card debt we ran up in the “good times”. Congress did put Welfare State on steroids, but much of the $5 trillion in deficit spending went to not-so-well-intentioned bailouts and subsidies for powerful cronies.

.. With federal, state and local governments all threatened with debt defaults and the public angry over failed spending; the American Social Welfare State is doomed! Can you hear that catchy tune from that great American economist Fergie:

“If you ain’t got no money take your” – you know the rest.

Música Liberal do Dia

what are u gonna do with all that junk inside your trunk?


Black Eyed Peas - My Humps

Adoption in Liberty

Relembrando The Ethics of Adoption, Crushing Venerable Adoption Agencies—and Religious Liberty:

The passage of a same-sex marriage law in New York has fueled speculation about whether Catholic and other faith-based adoption agencies in the Empire State have a religious exemption from its effects .. These religious charities, many a century or more in operation, may soon be forced to choose between closure or violating their core beliefs about the nature of the family and the role of mothers and fathers in child well-being.

Ambiguous as the New York statute may be, some advocates for same-sex marriage have been very clear in other contexts that religious liberty concerns about same-sex marriage can be dismissed. To date, Catholic adoption agencies have been closed in Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and the Diocese of Rockford, Illinois after adoption of homosexual marriage or civil union legislation. Operating in tandem with sexual orientation nondiscrimination laws, these new statutes have effectively nullified state licenses and funding of these agencies.

Ron Paul for President 2012

Ron Paul gets to give indepth answers without some hack interrupting

Ron Paul, not running for Congress again

Ron Paul Will Not Run for Congress Again:

Ron Paul, the amazing and principled politician, is not running for Congress again. It's the end of an era, but the beginning of a new one. But why is Ron not running, after finally getting a little of what he is due with his monetary committee? He has been thinking about this for some time, and wants to concentrate on the presidential campaign and future and enhanced educational efforts that will blow your socks off. Also, he has had it--to name just a few items--with: twice weekly groping by the TSA (since he has metal knees and is selected for the full feel-up every time); dealing with the crooks and creeps in Congress, especially in the rotten Texas delegation; and the deadly new district the Republicans have placed him in. There are sad aspects to this, of course. He has been the greatest congressman in American history, by many leagues. But I predict that he will have even more and even more lasting influence as he uses his moral authority for teaching freedom, peace, and Austrian economics outside of politics. More later.

Como se desenvolve uma economia e porque se afunda

Via O Insurgente,


Como se desenvolve uma economia e porque se afunda

Lagging indicators

E se as agências de rating até nos estivessem a tratar melhor que os mercados?:

Sin embargo, cuando uno mira el ráting de Moody’s con el ráting al que cotizan los bonos de los países soberanos de la eurozona se da cuenta de lo contrario. Moody’s está dando un ráting mucho más favorable a estos dos países que el que le está dando el mercado.

Moody’s tiene a España con un rátinga Aa2 (dos escalones por debajo de la nota máxima), pero el mercado está dando a España una calificación propia de un ráting Baa3 (siete escalones por debajo de la nota que pone Moody’s y a uno sólo del bono basura). En el caso de Portugal, el patrón se repite. El ráting de Moody’s es de Ba1 (bono basura), mientras el mercado le está dando una categoría inferior a Caa1."

Plano inclinado

Retirado do baú da memória, a parte boa começa aos 15'40"

MEDINA CARREIRA-14 10 2008-SIC-N integral

PS - não é minha intenção, ao repostar este vídeo, que a intelligentsia portuguesa passe a culpar Medina Carreira pela crise.

Troll Catalogue

Troll Catalogue pela Lucy Pepper:

Harder to ignore are the trolls. Spend more than a little time on anywhere but the froufrouest twee-est sweetest sites and you’re going to come across a troll from time to time. Generally, trolls aren’t AS stupid as the stupids. They have other problems. They are bitter and sad little people. They look for the weaknesses of others and try hard to undermine them for their own entertainment and, I imagine, the entertainment of other trolls, though they are probably just as afraid of other trolls as they are of reasonable people, daylight and women. Trolls can be found everywhere, all over the world, but they come from a small base of archetypes, archetypes that I am going to catalogue right here, because I’m sick of the snivelling little sods and this is CATHARTIC, DAMMIT!

Why The Global Warming Agenda Is Wrong

Via O Insurgente,


Why The Global Warming Agenda Is Wrong

Volver a la realidad

Volver a la realidad:

El juego electoral consiste en una apuesta entre los dos partidos socialistas mayoritarios (de izquierda y derecha), que pugnan por ofrecer el caramelo más apetecible para los votantes que, una vez cada cuatro años, se olvidan de que el resto de los días son ellos mismos los contribuyentes que pagarán las promesas envenenadas.

No se trata de que los hijos vivirán peor que los padres, los hijos deben asumir que hasta ahora han vivido por encima de sus posibilidades, como nuevos ricos que nunca fueron. En lugar de generar riqueza, han vivido de las rentas producidas por quienes les antecedieron. Volver a la realidad será muy duro para todos aquellos que hasta la fecha creían que su sola existencia conllevaba que todas sus necesidades y muchas comodidades estaban aseguradas por un Estado benefactor de fondos ilimitados. Las burbujas se han pinchado, el dinero de nuestros padres se ha terminado y hay que ponerse a trabajar. Y si no lo hacemos, la realidad terminará por arrollarnos.

Drug Decriminalization in Portugal (2)

No seguimento de Drug Decriminalization in Portugal,


Glenn Greenwald - Drug Decriminalization in Portugal

O modelo sueco

Sweden was a socialist dreamland. But then it woke up:

The main trouble is that, when Sweden was as close as it ever has been to being a socialist welfare state, it went bust. For a while it may have seemed like a great model, but the Swedish government ran out of money.

Why? Because Sweden found, like Britain, that if you pay people to be unemployed, take early retirement or be sick, you get a gradually increasing number of people who claim the relevant benefits. And if you have sky-high taxes, people don’t work as hard, or they cheat, or they leave.

There has been a series of measures over the past 20 years aimed at making Swedish capitalism freer and more effective. You could call them Thatcherite reforms.. Then Sweden went beyond what Margaret Thatcher introduced in Britain.

Free schools — schools started by parents, teachers or private companies which get paid the same amount per pupil as government schools — now educate 10 per cent of children taught in Sweden. And the proportion is still growing .. Supposedly socialist Sweden has gone further .. by allowing profit-making private companies to open schools ..

Sweden is also adopting a free market, capitalist approach to health .. Nearly a third of all primary healthcare — that is, of the work of general practitioners — is provided by private practices. Private competition is now to be opened up in specialist care, too.

Beyond all that, there is a complete ignorance .. of just how capitalist Sweden is ..

To put it bluntly, Sweden is not a socialist, welfare state paradise .. They saw how socialism and over-generous welfare statism were causing potential disasters. And they reacted.

o absurdo

A figura acima é tirada de um episódio do South Park e costuma ser usada para parodiar business plans absurdamente optimistas. Ora, se a country is not a company, e portanto não se exige ao Estado que tenha um business plan, há muita gente que cultiva o pensamento mágico exemplificado na figura. Mais concretamente, hoje em dia o pensamento é:

Fase 1. cumprir o acordo com a troika;
Fase 2. ???
Fase 3. recuperação económica!

As pessoas pensam assim porque 1) acreditam que "o FMI" vem cá "consertar isto" 2) há muito que acreditam em soluções deus ex machina 3) estão deseducadas dos mecanismos de criação de prosperidade (como é atestável por mais de três décadas de estatismo).

Algumas pessoas "sabem" intuitivamente o que o Estado tem de fazer - "apostar" na agricultura nacional, no turismo nacional, na capacidade exportadora nacional. Estes voodoos até podem ser benéficos, particularmente aos políticos e burocratas. Contudo, e apesar das boas intenções, só aprofundariam a obsolescência da economia nacional.

Outras pessoas acreditam que "o exterior" sabe o que o Estado tem de fazer - porque "nós" somos incapazes. E como é possível que "o exterior" não esteja coordenado, e que agências de rating torpedeiem a troika? O exterior, claro, é agora visto como um panteão de entidades que se guerreiam, e a solução é "Portugal" escolher bem um "protector". Trágico e patético.

Os portugueses querem ser marionetas neste teatro do absurdo estatista, e não faltará trabalho aos salvadores da pátria, dentro e fora do país. Ainda nem chegámos à fase 2 — a auto-sabotagem ainda agora começou.

[ publicado n'O Insurgente ]

Secessão e Independência (2)

No seguimento de Secessão e Independência,


The Making Of South Sudan - Sudan

Caloteiros e calões

Via O Insurgente, Portugal no lixo:

A reacção à notação atribuída pela Moody's à dívida pública portuguesa fez-me lembrar a daqueles alunos que depois de prestarem fraquíssimas provas de exame ficam indignados com a classificação atribuída. Vêm depois dizer que não foram examinados na altura correcta, que lhes deveriam ter dado mais tempo para estudarem, que estão a ser objecto de perseguição por qualquer razão, que a escola é má, que o sistema de ensino é péssimo, que não lhes deram condições para terem bons resultados, etc., etc., etc. Naturalmente que eles estão totalmente isentos de responsabilidade pelo fraco resultado que tiveram, o qual foi totalmente devido a esses factores externos.

As reacções dos mais altos responsáveis do Estado a esta decisão da Moody's foram absolutamente despropositadas.

Farmaggedon

The Unseen War on American Farms

assim se vê a maturidade da democracia portuguesa

E que tal se nos portássemos como adultos? A Moody's não disse mentira nenhuma (e até fomos nós que lhe pagámos para nos dizer a verdade) de Francisco Mendes da Silva no 31 da Armada:

As reacções à avaliação da Moody's são a prova de que ela é correcta: fica agora demonstrado, para lá de qualquer dúvida, que a maioria dos portugueses - com um número assustador de políticos e jornalistas à cabeça - não tem a mínima intenção de se confrontar com a dureza da realidade ou, pura e simplesmente, é analfabeto quanto às razões da crise e à natureza da actividade das agências de notação.

.. há uma pergunta essencial a que ninguém parece querer responder: afinal, que mentira veio agora a Moody's dizer? A pergunta é óbvia mas incómoda, porque a resposta é ainda mais óbvia e incómoda. A verdade é que a Moody's não disse mentira nenhuma.