The great debate between capitalism and socialism suffers from a lack of clarity about definitions. This is why when Walter Block lectured in Brazil this past week, he was very careful to distinguish between crony capitalism and authentic capitalism. And it's why when I was interviewed, the question came up immediately: What precisely do you mean by capitalism?
Every day, for example, we read how the European economic mess is a "crisis of capitalism." Huh? It's been more than a ce... (more)
Senator Chuck Schumer claims Facebook's Eduardo Saverin is not paying his "fair share," that's why he wants to pass a law, the "EX-PATRIOT Act," requiring expats to fork over a third of their assets to the US government for the privilege of being allowed to leave, and after giving up all their money, they would then be banished from the country forever.
Thanks to a misbegotten ruling from a divided Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, police in nine states have been left at an insurmountable disadvantage when dealing with criminal suspects. At least, that’s what we’re told in a legal brief submitted to the Supreme Court by a coalition of police unions.
“It won’t be long before the word spreads through society’s criminal underworld that the Ninth Circuit hasn’t simply given them a `get out of jail f... (more)
Regular patrol officers in Florida are to be provided with bullet-proof ballistic shields in another sign of how police departments are preparing for violence and civil unrest in America.
“Saxon Security and its partner LCOA Defense have been named suppliers to the St. Petersburg (Florida) police department for new ballistic shields for general patrol officers,” reports BusinessWire. 45 ballistic shields will be provided to routine beat cops.
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Looking to hit the spot with a savory ice cream at Great Brook Farm State Park this week?
You may be out of luck.
The park's popular ice-cream stand was unexpectedly shut down by state officials over the weekend, after the stand's operator made building improvements at the site without getting permission first.
Mark Duffy, who has operated the dairy farm at the state-owned park for 26 years and has a lease with the state to run the stand, said armed E... (more)
My most surprising findings in Brazil, aside from the amazing fruits that I didn't know existed because the U.S. government doesn't think I need them, were the young American kids who have moved here to find economic opportunity. This I had not expected, but now fully understand.
Brazil is a marvelous and massive country where private wealth thrives without embarrassment, where well-protected and healthy familial dynasties form the infrastructure of social and economic life, where... (more)
Opponents of a U.S. law they claim may subject them to indefinite military detention for activities including news reporting and political activism persuaded a federal judge to temporarily block the measure.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan yesterday ruled in favor of a group of writers and activists who sued President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the Defense Department, claiming a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act, signed in... (more)
A federal district judge today, the newly-appointed Katherine Forrest of the Southern District of New York, issued an amazing ruling: one which preliminarily enjoins enforcement of the highly controversial indefinite provisions of the National Defense Authorizatio... (more)
JASPER COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) - From the waiting room to a jail cell. A case of mistaken identity leads to a 12-year-old who said he was wrongfully jailed.
Now the Jasper County Sheriff's Office is investigating.
"He was holding his belt in one hand and had tears coming down his face and I said, 'Jacob, where were you,' and he said, 'I was in jail," Michelle Magruder said. "I said, 'what do you mean, did you ask for them to show you' and he said, 'no.' "
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For many years I've been pointing out the basics of economics concerning concepts like "free" and the importance of marginal cost to pricing in an efficient market. After one such recent post, I got an angry email from a college professor who has worked in the entertainment industry for many years, telling me that clearly I had never taken an economics class. That, ... (more)
The May 15 city council meeting in Fullerton, California was packed with outraged citizens ready to voice reactions to newly released security camera footage showing police brutally beating Kelly Thomas to death at a bus depot. Thomas was a 37-year-old schizophrenic drifter who died after a July, 2011 altercation with six police officers in which he was tasered, beat w... (more)
D.C. police responding to a report of a man with a gun shot and killed a random man who was walking his dogs and reportedly talking on his cell phone with his wife. Police claim upon co... (more)
The third time wasn't the charm for Colorado legislators trying to pass a "per se" drugged driving bill aimed directly at marijuana users. The bill died last year in the Senate, it died this year in the House, and on Tuesday, it died once again after Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) brought it back for consideration during a short-lived special session he called to deal with unfinished business.
The bill, House Bill 12S-1005, would have mandated that anyone found driving with more ... (more)
Time was tight and people were rushing to catch flights. This particular terminal in Miami was usually fast, everyone knew, but for some reason, the TSA was seriously understaffed. What do they care whether people spend 90 minutes waiting in the checkpoint? They have no stake in the profitability of the airlines and no real concern for the well-being of the customer.
So there we all stood, being blasted with Orwellian messages like, "If you see something, say something." Time marc... (more)
The mass-BitTorrent lawsuits that are sweeping the United States are in a heap of trouble. After a Florida judge ruled that an IP-address is not a person, a Californian colleague has gone even further in protecting the First Amendment rights of BitTorrent users. The judge in question points out that geolocation tools are far from accurate and that it’s therefore uncertain that his court has jurisdiction over cases involving alleged BitTorrent pirates. As a result, 15 of these mass-BitTorre... (more)
There is nothing wrong with being optimistic, but there is something wrong with having blind faith that things are going to get better when all of the evidence is screaming at you that things are going to get worse. According to a brand new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, 71 percent of all Americans consider economic conditions in the United States to be poor right now, but an astounding ... (more)
Jim Rogers is hedging his gold (and silver) positions reflecting that this is normal, following such a tremendous run, and that this is good for the precious metal in the long-run. In his discussion with Maria Bartiromo this afternoon, he notes India's anti-gold 'protectionism' (and its potential balance of payments issues) that are trying to force the hoarding into risky 'productive' assets (as others might say). The immutable commodity maven suggests JPMorgan (and its peers) c... (more)
