Another Blogger Note

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Sorry to keep posting on this subject.

I am not replying from my current email account altogether.

Mail that goes there will redirected and opened in another account.

My new email account will be private and not available publicly any longer.

I apologize and hope you will direct any mail to the blog  from now on. If you do not wish me to publish it, simply write as much on top.I will also set up a new email contact for anyone wishing to reach me directly for professional or media inquiries of any kind.

Note:
(1) Cyberstalking is a crime

(2) Hacking is a crime

(3) Impersonation, malicious posting, and net vandalism are crimes

(4) Slander and libel are crimes

(5) Violation of privacy and infliction of emotional distress are crimes

(6) Making threats (veiled or not) is a crime

They are also of course highly immoral behaviors that do little credit to the ideology of  the people who engage in them.

Note also:

(1) I  have a second amendment right to self-defense that I’m fond of.

(2) Several US states have concealed weapons laws.

Boethius On the Golden Mean

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THE GOLDEN MEAN.

Who founded firm and sure
Would ever live secure,
In spite of storm and blast
Immovable and fast;
Whoso would fain deride
The ocean’s threatening tide;–
His dwelling should not seek
On sands or mountain-peak.
Upon the mountain’s height
The storm-winds wreak their spite:
The shifting sands disdain
Their burden to sustain.
Do thou these perils flee,
Fair though the prospect be,
And fix thy resting-place
On some low rock’s sure base.
Then, though the tempests roar,
Seas thunder on the shore,
Thou in thy stronghold blest
And undisturbed shalt rest;
Live all thy days serene,
And mock the heavens’ spleen.

— Boethius, The Consolation of  Philosophy, Transl. by H. R. James,  1897

Bernays On Citizen Parrot

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Theory:

“Opinion polls are designed to gauge whether the agitprop of the corporate state is having the desired narcotic effect on the general population. The more the average citizen can parrot back what he has been told by his betters, the more democracy, as defined by the elite, can be preserved.”

– Edward Bernays, the father of modern marketing psychology

Practice:

“When You’re Flush But Acting Flat Broke: Social Cues Can Drive a Downturn” Washington Post, April 16, 2009, is an interesting piece by Michael Rosenwald, which quotes Robert Cialdini on how social influence can make a downturn even worse.

Interestingly, we referenced Cialdini’s enormously useful work in “Mobs, Messiahs and Markets” (Bonner & Rajiva, 2007) in Chapter 4, footnote 14. p.88. I happened on the book purely by chance, but now, reading the Post piece, I’d like to read his other work.

Rosenwald’s take in his piece is rather close to mine, with one crucial difference.

I see no reason why people who have money in their pockets should hold off buying when there are so many bargains to be had.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s your patriotic duty to go forth and spend when the economy is hurting.  But there’s certainly no reason why doom-saying should prevent people who are far from the edge from continuing with their investments. Panic only makes things worse. And many astute people are no doubt making things much worse because they’re on that end of the trade.

I don’t believe in papering over how serious the economic situation is. But ‘serious’ is not the end of the world, even if such a thing could be.

So I think the Wash Po piece gets the “Mobs” part of the equation right.

But I’m not sure if getting experts to sell optimism is the right advice. That’s where the “Messiahs” part of our book comes in.

Whatever you decide to do should be based on your own study of the matter at hand and should suit your own circumstance, life-style, psychological profile, risk appetite, and responsibilities.  Trading gurus, commodity mavens, gold boosters, currency experts, professors, analysts, and talking heads – take all the advice you want and look through as many eyes as you can.

But in the end, choose for yourself.

Ultimately, it’s the only way to build up your own economic and moral well-being.

No one else will do it for you.


Ortega Y Gasset On the Mass Mind

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“In the presence of one individual we can decide whether he is “mass” or not. The mass is all that which sets no value on itself — good or ill — based on specific grounds, but which feels itself “just like everybody,” and nevertheless is not concerned about it; is, in fact, quite happy to feel itself as one with everybody else.The mass believes that it has the right to impose and to give force of law to motions born in the café. I doubt whether there have been other periods of history in which the multitude has come to govern more directly than in our own.

The characteristic of the hour is that the commonplace mind, knowing itself to be commonplace, has the assurance to proclaim the rights of the commonplace and to impose them wherever it will. As they say in the United States: “to be different is to be indecent.” The mass crushes beneath it everything that is different, everything that is excellent, individual, qualified and select. Anybody who is not like everybody, who does not think like everybody, runs the risk of being eliminated.

It is illusory to imagine that the mass-man of to-day will be able to control, by himself, the process of civilization. I say process, and not progress. The simple process of preserving our present civilization is supremely complex, and demands incalculably subtle powers. Ill-fitted to direct it is this average man who has learned to use much of the machinery of civilization, but who is characterized by root-ignorance of the very principles of that civilization.

The command over the public life exercised today by the intellectually vulgar is perhaps the factor of the present situation which is most novel, least assimilable to anything in the past. At least in European history up to the present, the vulgar had never believed itself to have “ideas” on things. It had beliefs, traditions, experiences, proverbs, mental habits, but it never imagine itself in possession of theoretical opinions on what things are or ought to be. To-day, on the other hand, the average man has the most mathematical “ideas” on all that happens or ought to happen in the universe. Hence he has lost the use of his hearing. Why should he listen if he has within him all that is necessary? There is no reason now for listening, but rather for judging, pronouncing, deciding. There is no question concerning public life, in which he does not intervene, blind and deaf as he is, imposing his “opinions.”

But, is this not an advantage? Is it not a sign of immense progress that the masses should have “ideas,” that is to say, should be cultured? By no means. The “ideas” of the average man are not genuine ideas, nor is their possession culture. Whoever wishes to have ideas must first prepare himself to desire truth and to accept the rules of the game imposed by it. It is no use speaking of ideas when there is no acceptance of a higher authority to regulate them, a series of standards to which it is possible to appeal in a discussion. These standards are the principles on which culture rests. I am not concerned with the form they take. What I affirm is that there is no culture where there are no standards to which our fellow-man can have recourse. There is no culture where there are no principles of legality to which to appeal. There is no culture where there is no acceptance of certain final intellectual positions to which a dispute may be referred. There is no culture where economic relations are not subject to a regulating principle to protect interests involved. There is no culture where aesthetic controversy does not recognize the necessity of justifying the work of art.

When all these things are lacking there is no culture; there is in the strictest sense of the word, barbarism. And let us not deceive ourselves, this is what is beginning to appear in Europe under the progressive rebellion of the masses. The traveler knows that in the territory there are no ruling principles to which it is possible to appeal. Properly speaking, there are no barbarian standards. Barbarism is the absence of standards to which appeal can be made.

Under Fascism there appears for the first time in Europe a type of man who does not want to give reasons or to be right, but simply shows himself resolved to impose his opinions. This is the new thing: the right not to be reasonable, the “reason of unreason.” Here I see the most palpable manifestation of the new mentality of the masses, due to their having decided to rule society without the capacity for doing so. In their political conduct the structure of the new mentality is revealed in the rawest, most convincing manner. The average man finds himself with “ideas” in his head, but he lacks the faculty of ideation. He has no conception even of the rare atmosphere in which ideals live. He wishes to have opinions, but is unwilling to accept the conditions and presuppositions that underlie all opinion. Hence his ideas are in effect nothing more than appetites in words….”

Ortega Y Gasset, The Revolt of the Masses (1930)

Steven Kinsella on Stalking (Update)

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Great blog post at Mises on stalking as a violation of libertarian ethics.

Meanwhile, just to double check –  I had someone email my personal account. I was just told by someone who posted on this blog that it’s been blocked.

Not sure if it’s by some kind of spambot or  something else. Or if it’s related to some stalking I’ve experienced.

I mailed myself and my mail wasn’t blocked so someone might just be playing with my head, as the expression goes.

Not a very interesting game.

OK. Apparently, I can get mail.

I just sent a reply. Let’s see if it reaches.

It did.

(Sigh)

Susan Boyle: Individualism Can Trump Ageism, Sexism, Classism

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By being themselves. By being true to themselves. By cultivating themselves and their abilities.

And by being bigger people than the snide folk  on American Idol, who were shocked by just how well one frumpy, middle-aged woman without any Hollywood glam could sing.

I’d rather listen to Susan Boyle anyday than some of the no-talents whom nobody would listen to without the hype, glitz, skin, and sensation accompanying them.

Individualism has many faces. Ayn Rand’s isn’t the only one… or the truest one.Don’t let misinterpreted words or misunderstood theories scare you away from the one approach that has a chance of succeeding in the political climate today.

Libertarian Communication

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I was thinking this morning how we can communicate with each other in a way different from the one encouraged by the ideological mind-set. And I was thinking of it because I rushed to make a response to someone and then had to edit and cut my own words out because they came out sharper than I intended.

Writing, especially on the web, is addictive because it can be done so quickly. So what works? (This is advice to myself…musing out aloud)

(1) Think a minute before you write something. Or, write it and save it but don’t send it.

(2) Try to focus on what the other person actually said, rather than what you think their motives for saying it might be. Even if they do have those motives.

(3) Try to start from some place where you agree with that person.

(4) Try to show appreciation for that person, even if you don’t like their view point. Make a distinction in your response between the person and the opinion.

(5) When you are disagreeing sharply, try to avoid personal pronouns and the active voice. This will tone down the sharpness of your retort. The person is more likely to engage with you in a constructive way.

(6) Don’t get a person’s first name wrong, especially, when you write or comment on their blog. (Sorry, Doug Boggs, at “The Banterer”). Wait until you’ve had coffee in the morning, if necessary.

(7) Try to link as often as you can, even when you comment. People like it.

(8) Try not to let the bitterness of past experience affect your willingness to believe that people might still wish to help you or engage with you. A lot of people who don’t agree with everything you say might support you in spite of that. Appreciate it.

(9) Keep your posts to one or two points and try to be informative. Argument is good too, but focus on reasons and evidence.

(10) On big questions, nobody is ever convinced only by an argument.  They need to be convinced by the person who makes the argument

Goldman Games: Massaging the Numbers

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In the news:

“Goldman Sachs, the most profitable Wall Street firm before it converted to a bank last year and posted its first quarterly loss since going public in 1999, said yesterday it earned $3.39 a share, in the first quarter. A surge in trading revenue outweighed asset writedowns, and the result beat the $1.64 estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.”

More here at Bloomberg.

My Comment

“Beating expectations”  has turned into a short-sighted game of bluff. Companies deliberately underestimate earnings so they can beat analyst estimates. That gives them a temporary boost for the quarter that’s entirely misleading.

The point of all this tarting up on the part of the firm was to boost it enough to raise capital to repay some ($10 billion) of its TARP debt. Why? Because GS doesn’t want to abide by TARP limits on compensation.

But even so, debt with FDIC backing is more “attractive,” according to CFO David Viniar. You see, the FDIC backing won’t require caps on compensation.

In other words, TARP or no, as far as the public recouping anything for taking the risk, it’s heads we win, tails you lose.

Meanwhile the share price on the new capital fell by 12% on anxiety that the first quarter results weren’t sustainable.

What’s also interesting is that Goldman also changed its financial calendar to include December in the results of the previous quarter….

Hmm.  Can YOU do that with the IRS?

Here’s more on GS’s move.

In Advance of Tax Day

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 From Jake Towne:

Facts about the Federal Income Tax synthesized for an April 15th handout, available by email. Join your local Tea Party and Tax Day Coalition on April 15th!!

“In a Time of Universal Deceit, Telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act.” – George Orwell, author of 1984

1) The premise behind collecting the federal income tax is a complete farce. The IRS claims the tax is voluntary, whereas any sane American realizes that she or he will go to jail if the tax is not paid. This is evident from not only the legal code, but even from the latest 1040 instructions to the taxpayer!  (1A) (1B) (2) (3)

IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman writes that the American taxpayer willing pays income tax “of their own free will” but laments “unfortunately, there will always be some that cheat their fellow citizens by avoiding the payment of their fair share of taxes.” Shulman then infers that IRS enforcement will be “prompt” and “strong” (read: ‘swift’ and ‘merciless’) for this voluntary tax. (4)

The Treasury calls it “our voluntary tax system.” The IRS claims it pursues “enforcement programs to promote voluntary compliance” and establishes “strategies to maximize voluntary tax law compliance by emphasizing customer satisfaction.” (5)

2) The federal income tax was originally a Marxist idea. Karl Marx wrote the 10 Planks of a Communist State in his Communist Manifesto. The second plank, right after the abolition of private property was “a heavy progressive or graduated income tax.” (6)  In 1909, this Marxist idea was politically accepted by Americans as retribution against the “evil capitalists” who had caused the Panic of 1907. 100 years later, both political parties now scapegoat all those in the financial industry as “evil doers.” (7)  By claiming an ever-increasing amount of your income, the State literally owns your labor.

3) The federal income tax is unconstitutional. The 16th “Income Tax” Amendment of 1913 was likely never officially ratified, and even if it was, in 1916 the Supreme Court ruled “the Sixteenth Amendment does not purport to confer power to levy income taxes” in Brushaber vs. Union Pacific Railroad. (8, 9, 10, 11)  The income tax was first placed into circulation as a 1-7% tax on only the very richest Americans.  This top tax bracket grew to an onerous 92% in the 1950s.  While this receded, for the middle class this tax has grown 500% to 1000% from this time period. (12)

4) The income tax is mostly used for War-Making, the Welfare State, and the National Debt – not general government and law enforcement! The income tax amounted to $1.2 Trillion for 2008. (13)  Outlays were for $2.9 Trillion plus the $0.8 Trillion October bailout.  (14)  We spent just $0.067 Trillion for general government and law enforcement!  (15) Out of every tax dollar, the IRS estimates we spend about a quarter on defense, a dime on the national debt, two pennies on general government & law enforcement and the remainder on Social Security (a giant Ponzi scheme) and other welfare and social programs. (16, graph)

5) The $1.2 Trillion federal income tax is unnecessary. Cutting our overseas military empire spending of $1 Trillion per year would justify its elimination. (17)  Instead of bailing out the banks for $0.8 Trillion in October and $1.1 Trillion of the Obama stimulus plan, we could have bailed out the increasingly unemployed taxpayer for at least the 2008 tax bill as I argued in January. (18)

6) The federal income tax code is time-consuming, confusing and baffling for many Americans. No wonder – the code itself now consists of 3.4 million words and if printed would fill 7,500 pages. (1B)  The code and regulations together were 66,498 pages long in 2006. (19)  The taxpayer’s 1040 instructions are 161 pages long.  (4) Americans spent 6.4 Billion hours filing their taxes in 2006.  (19)

7) America’s “Tax Army” employs more people (1.2 million) than we have armed forces stationed in the United States (0.9 million). (20, 21) Collecting taxes is a completely non-value added task, adding nothing to our economy. Some of our brightest minds – lawyers, accountants, and computer experts – pound away at keyboards trying to figure out either how to plunder more money from others or find loops in the tax code to “save costs” for their clients. The total cost of collecting taxes is estimated at $63 billion, ironically just $4 Billion short of funding general government and law enforcement! (22) (15) The IRS employs 91,000 and will spend $11.6 Billion in 2009 collecting taxes. (23) (24)

Patriots willing to exercise their natural right to peacefully assemble at your closest local protest site (or just start a protest yourself) are encouraged to enlist with both the Tax Day Coalition (TaxDayCoalition.com) and Tax Day Tea Party (TaxDayTeaParty.com) as I have for events on both on and after April 15. If you would like to join me at a very peaceful protest in east-central Pennsylvania on 4/15, please email me or leave a comment below. [For any government officials reading this, I have paid my taxes every year because I do not want to be imprisoned at the moment, and the collective “you” has failed to intimidate or scare me.]
________________________________________________________________________

List of Sources

(1A) The IRS Tax Code. The IRS strangely recommends visiting Cornell University to view the code and they are correct, it’s easier to view.  http://www.irs.gov/taxpros/article/0,,id=98137,00.html#irc

(1B) The IRS Tax Code.  Easier to search than the IRS or Cornell version. http://www.fourmilab.ch/uscode/26usc/

(2) The Great IRS Hoax, Chapter 5.   http://famguardian.org/Publications/GreatIRSHoax/GreatIRSHoax.htm

(3) America: Freedom to Fascism.  Recommended free movie.  http://freedocumentaries.com/film.php?id=199

(4)  IRS 1040 instructions p2/161,  http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040.pdf

(5) Edwards, Chris.  2003. “10 Outrageous Facts About the IRS.” Fact #7. http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3063

(6)  Marx, Karl. 1848. “Manifesto of the Communist Party” p. 21/44.  http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/manifest.pdf

(7)  Armstrong, Martin.  2008.  It’s Just Time.  p. 12/77. Contemporary visit and extension of Kondratrieff cycles.  http://www.contrahour.com/ItsJustTimeMartinArmstrong.pdf

(8) The Constitution of the United States of America.  http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html

(9) Benson, Bill. “The Law That Never Was.” http://www.thelawthatneverwas.com

(10) Tax Facts, #1 through #19.  http://www.voluntarytax.info/tax_facts1.htm

(11) Brushaber vs. Union Pacific Railroad. US Supreme Court, 1916. http://supreme.justia.com/us/240/1/case.html

(12) Quinn, James.  2009. “GRAND ILLUSION – THE FEDERAL RESERVE“ http://www.nolanchart.com/article6123.html

(13) White House. FY 2009 Budget. p. 35/342. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/pdf/hist.pdf

(14)  White House. FY 2009 Budget. p. 26/342. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/pdf/hist.pdf

(15) White House. FY 2009 Budget. p. 59/342. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/pdf/hist.pdf

(16)  IRS 1040 instructions p91/161,  http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040.pdf

(17)  Paul, Ron. March 2008.  “Intervening Our Way to Economic Ruin.”

http://www.antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=12519

(18)  Towne, Jake. January 2009. “Why Obama’s Stimulus Plan Will Fail… and a Better Alternative.” Idea #1.    http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=3

(19)  Edwards, Chris.  2007. Testimony to House Budget Committee. p. 4/6 http://budget.house.gov/hearings/2007/02.16edwardstestimony.pdf

(20)  Edwards, Chris.  2003. “10 Outrageous Facts About the IRS.” Fact #2. http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3063

(21)  Towne, Jake. April 2009. “America’s Military Empire.” http://www.nolanchart.com/article6271.html

(22)  Angier, Chuck.  2008.  “Why a Fair Tax Won’t Happen.”  http://www.nolanchart.com/article2776.html

(23) Internal Revenue Service, Data Book. 2008. p. 72/81.  http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/08databk.pdf

(24)  Internal Revenue Service, Budget-in-Brief.  FY 2009. p. 2/14.

My Comment:

From deep love for the Federal  Government and with thanks for the care with which it’s consulted each and everyone of us before spending our money maiming and massacring civilians in countries we’ve never visited and don’t plan to and bailing out billionaires who don’t even live here,  I devote the whole of today and tomorrow to my favorite task of chasing paper and instructing the IRS in elementary math.

Mind-Body Politic Makes It To Top 100 Libertarian Blogs

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Just saw this incoming link from American Conservative Daily.

I’m at 67.

(Do not ask me why I’m up at4:53 AM looking at my blog)

1. The Official Website of the Libertarian Party (U.S.)

2. The Official Blog of the Libertarian Party (U.S.)

3. The Cato Institute

4. Cato at Liberty (The Cato blog)

5. The Ludwig von Mises Institute

6. The Mises Economics Blog

7. The Acton Institute

8. The Acton Institute PowerBlog

9. Reason Magazine

10. Hit & Run – The Reason Magazine blog

11. The Foundation for Economic Education

12. The Free Man Online

13. The Institute For Humane Studies

14. Liberty Guide

15. The Adam Smith Institute

16. The Adam Smith Institute Blog

17. The Competitive Enterprise Institute

18. OpenMarket.org The CEI Blog

19. The Independent Institute

20. The Beacon (The Independent Institute Blog)

21. The Heritage Foundation

22. The Foundry (Heritage Foundation’s Blog)

23. National Center for Policy Analysis

24. The Ayn Rand Institute (with apologies to Ayn Rand)

25. The Institute For Justice

26. Library of Economics and Liberty

27. Bureaucrash

28. The Free State Project

29. The Prometheus Institute

30. Capitalism Magazine

31. RonPaul.org

32. Ron Paul’s Perpetual Campaign for Liberty

33. Young Americans For Liberty

34. Liberty PAC

35. Cafe Hayek

36. The Libertarian Alliance Blog

37. The Austrian Economists

38. Marginal Revolution

39. Will Wilkinson

40. Samizdata

41. Libertarian Christians

42. Advocates For Self-Government

43. The Fraser Institute

44. Libertarianism.com

45. The Coyote Blog

46. RonPaul.com

47. The Freedom Factory

48. GetLiberty.org – Americans for Limited Government

49. International Society for Individual Liberty

50. ReTeaParty.com

51. Schiff2010.com

52. Rand2010.com

53. JudgeNapolitano.com

54. Libertarians for Life

55. Liberty Maven

56. Libertarian Rock

57. GOP for Liberty

58. The Entrepreneurial Mind

59. Libertarian Party of England

60. Megan McArdle

61. The Liberty Papers

62. Libertarian Republican

63. The John Locke Foundation

64. QandO

65. The Big Picture

66. Austro-Libertarian.com

67. MindBodyPolitic

68. Acre of Independence (recommended by NYU Law Libertarian)

69. LewRockwell.com

70. The Agitator

71. The Freedom Association

72. Chris Moody

73. The Freedom Revolution

74. Freedom Politics

75. TennZen

76. Liberty Watch

77. JasonPye.com (recommended by SWGA Politics)

78. Libertarian Papers

79. Foundation For Individual Rights in Education

80. Libertarian Meetup Groups

81. Chris For Liberty

82. Libertarian Leanings

83. Thoughts on Freedom

84. Reform the LP

85. Kole Hard Facts of Life

86. The Volokh Conspiracy

87. Local Liberty Online

88. Liberty vs. Leviathan

89. The Classic Liberal

90. The Holy Cause

91. Skyler Collins

92. MainManX

93. Strike The Root

94. David Friedman

95. Ron Paul Blog

96. The Atlasphere Meta-Blog

97. Positive Liberty

98. Light of Liberty

99. Henry North London

100. The Humble Libertarian
Contributor’s website: http://www.libertarianleanings.com

My Comment:

Wow. I know there are a few people who read this blog ‘cos I know stuff I say gets picked up by all sorts of people (without attribution often – naughty, naughty). But since there are all these ideological purity tests that make them forget (ahem) to give me back any link-love, I’m a wee bit surprised I made this list.

Actually, I didn’t even know this list existed.

Maybe that’s the secret.

Ignorance.

Until the end of last year I was nearly always holed up in an Internet cafe in some foreign country, trying to figure out Google in Arabic, German, French, or Spanish…..or living out of a suitcase, tripping over statues of the Nataraja….while trying to decipher/negotiate hideous legal clauses without bankrupting myself on some 400 buck-an-hour suit.Ergo, this blog was dead…or rather, comatose.

On top of that, I am a never-wazzer on all technical matters.

On the other hand, freed from any ability to measure what works or doesn’t, what to say or not, and whom to please or not, I finally got around to just saying what I think.

That’s turning out not to be so bad.

Moral of the story: Flying  blind sometimes help.

Update:  Greg at The Holy Cause (also on this list) turns out to be my guardian angel.  A big thanks and blogroll link coming up.

And Humble Libertarian gets a link too