From the Summit of the Moral High Ground

I've become so annoyed by demands for government intervention to solve this or that perceived social problem: low wages, inequality, lack of personal aspirations.  One of my Facebook friends facetiously wrote, “Why not just pass a law making everyone good?” You can almost define economics as the science that explains why passing a law won’t get it done. But taking that statement seriously has made me question the value of a treasured example I've used for many years. First of all, though, why won’t passing a law get it done? “The Man of System” Adam Smith explained that the market economy is so complex because it’s the result of countless ordinary people pursuing their own interests, under a “system of natural liberty.” With the right rules of the game, the pursuit of self-interest improves life for everyone, including the least well-off in society. Smith, in his magnificent book The Theory of Moral Sentiments , contrasts a benevolent and public-spirited person who re...

We have been reporting for quite some years that the world will move back to gold backed currencies, now we are seeing the first obvious signs.  The Central Bank of Russia has made a subtle, yet serious threat against the lynchpin of the American Economy, the US dollar. According to Russian media ,  Russia’s RIA Novosti Bank Rossiya has just released a new logo, which is a gold ruble. This action comes in response to JPMorgan entering the economic battlefield and blocking Russian wire transfers. Putin has made it quite clear that any attacks on the Russian economy will be answered in with retaliations of their own. This latest threat has the potential to derail the American economy. If Russia decides to use its vast gold reserves to back the Ruble, the ramifications for the global economy would be huge. Already the US Dollar, which has had the luxury of being the reserve currency of the World for far too long, was skating on thin ice. I have often sai...

Sometimes pictures are far more effective in communicating an important point. They are extremely effective in undermining respect and confidence, when in the cartoon format. A sequence of graphics struck the cognitive circuits recently. Long explanations will not serve well. The US Federal Reserve has been printing money since 2011 to cover USGovt debt securities in a frenetic manner. They have lost control. They call it stimulus, when it is actually the opposite. It does assist the speculators with nearly zero cost money to borrow, but one must be a club member to win loan grants.  The Quantitative Easing programs are deceptive. When the program was initially announced, the Jackass claimed it would be part of an endless sequence. With QE1 and QE2 and Operation Twist and QE3, following the failed trial balloon called Taper Talk, it is quite clear to anyone with an active brain stem and absent rose colored glasses that the USFed is caught in a trap called QE to Infinity. It is ...

The shocks will be many as the USDollar struggles and falls off the global financial stage in full view. The desperate maneuvers like in Syria and Ukraine should be seen as last ditch efforts to save a dying system. For two decades the USDollar has been defended by military means. Worse, for 50 years the USGovt has been a hidden nazi enclave of wicked fascists who have hidden behind their overt disdain for communism, with Kissinger the flag bearer, with Brzezinski the ideologue, with Papa Bush the executor, with narcotics and genetics and gold thefts their principal agenda. The official US support of fascist regimes includes a list of nations as long as your arm. Since 2008 when the Lehman kill was executed in order to rescue Goldman Sachs, when Fannie Mae was hidden under the USGovt roof to prevent its $trillion fraud from being exposed, and when AIG was tucked in the USFed basement closet for ample monetized rescues to patch the derivative black holes, the Anglo-American ...

HM Revenue & Customs will be able to directly access taxpayers’ bank accounts in order to recover unpaid tax, under measures announced in this month’s Budget speech. The little noticed move gives HMRC similar powers to raid bank accounts and recover tax and tax credit debts in excess of £1,000. In the Budget Red Book, the measure is described as follows: “The government will modernise and strengthen HMRC’s debt collection powers to recover financial assets from the bank accounts of debtors who owe over £1,000 of tax or tax credit debts, have the financial means to pay, and have been contacted multiple times by HMRC to pay.” At the moment, if HMRC want to seize your property or cash, they have to take you to court, win and then get a court order. Now, after a couple of warning letters and a phone call, they can do it in conjunction with your bank, with a touch of a button. Crucially, there’s no safeguard built into this system. There should be a transparent and fair proce...