"Startup Cities," Honduras, and Experiments in Freedom. Professor Tom W. Bell Talks With Reason.
"I often hear friends of liberty, classical liberals, libertarians say bad things about democracy, and I understand why," says Tom W. Bell. "It's not very good at building programs. But it is good at getting rid of things. In a 'corrective democracy,' people only vote against particular laws."
Bell, a law professor at Chapman University and a legal consultant... (more)
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Detroit Broke CityIt should come as no surprise that the lessons that should be learned from the bankruptcy of Detroit, a city that once stood as the shining example of America's industrial might, are being ignored by the American political establishment and its allies in the docile press corps. While the death spiral of the Motor City may be extreme in relation to conditions throughout the country, it is a difference of degree rather than design. In truth, Detroit is our canary in the coal mine. It is succumbing... (more)
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What Does Heart Surgery Really Cost, And Why Is It 70 Times More Expensive In The US?Indian philanthropist and cardiac surgeon, Devi Prasad Shetty is obsessed with making heart surgery affordable for millions of Indians. As Bloomberg notes, Shetty is not a public health official motivated by charity. He's a heart surgeon turned businessman who has started a chain of 21 medical centers around India. By trimming costs, he has cut the price of artery-clearin... (more)
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Feds vs. Raisins: Small Farmers Stand Up to the USDA
"They want us to pay for our own raisins that we grew," says Raisin Valley Farms owner Marvin Horne. "We have to buy them back!"
This is but one absurdity that Marvin and his wife Laura have faced during their decade-long legal battle with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Every year, the Hornes plant seeds, tie vines, harvest fruit... (more)
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Your Tax Dollars At Work: How Commerce Dept. Spent $2.7 Million Cleaning Out Two Malware-Infected ComputersThe cyber-Pearl Harbor is upon us and the only way to defeat it is to sink our own ships at the first sign of invasion. This is the sort of thing that happens when the legislators and advisors with the loudest voices value paranoia over rational strategy. The Department of Commerce, aided by a tragicomic string of error... (more)
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Peter Schiff: The Golden Cycle The New York Times had the definitive take on the vicious sell off in gold. To summarize one of their articles:
Two years ago gold bugs ran wild as the price of gold rose nearly six times. But since cresting two years ago it has steadily declined, almost by half, putting the gold bugs in flight. The most recent advisory from a leading Wall Street firm suggests that the price will continue to drift downward, and may ultimately settle 40% below current levels.
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Federal Regulations Have Made You 75 Percent PoorerIf anything, this is a conservative estimate. As Doug Casey has said, absent the state, we'd be living in the world of Star-Trek. - Chris |
A 20-30% S&P Drop Coming?Dr. Marc Faber, the Swiss fund manager and publisher of the 'Gloom, Boom and Doom Report' always enjoys illuminating the Wall St. talking heads and displaying his awesome command of numbers, dates and predictions.
The Fed's 'tapering' comments have ramped up market volatilaty and Faber gives some advice for short and long-term strategies. For example: ""The best course of action is to actually not buy anything, but rather to reduce positions on a rebound," Faber said: ... (more)
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Dr. Doom Gets Some Hearty Laughs
Dr. Marc Faber, the Swiss fund manager and publisher of the 'Gloom, Boom and Doom Report' always enjoys educating the Wall St. talking heads. In this interview one asked if Bernanke meant what he said about ... (more)
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Tapering the Taper Talk As usual the Federal Reserve media reaction machine has fallen for a poorly executed head fake. It has been fooled by this move many times in the past and for its efforts it has tackled nothing but air. Yet right on cue, it took the bait once more. Somehow the takeaway from Wednesday's release of the June Fed statement and the Bernanke press conference is that the Central bank is likely to begin scaling back, or "tapering," it's $85 billion per month quantitative easing program sometime ... (more)
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