Liberty & Power: Group Blog
Entries by Mark Brady
Sunday, October 5, 2008
So What Did You Expect?
"Fed under pressure to do more on credit crunch."
"New law extends legal mandate for intervention."
"Germany guarantees savings to avert panic."
"Funds dry up in Golden State."
"Iceland in emergency talks to prevent bank meltdown."
"Short Selling Is the Pursuit of Truth"
So says Hugh Hendry, co-founder of London hedge fund Eclectica. This and a great deal more in a very informative article on short selling in Monday's Financial Times.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Worth a Look
"London Banker" explains Paulson's plan.
"America is now a centrally planned economy where the Treasury will determine which firms survive and prosper through allocation of scarce capital to an undercapitalised financial sector."
"This bill is about engineering survivor bias to friends of the Bush administration so that they profit disproportionately from the collapse of these markets using the funds provided by the taxpayer via the unreviewable and unconditional authority of the Secretary of the Treasury."
"Fight the survivor bias. It’s not your survival they’re engineering."
Looking for Work? Look No Further!
Employment opportunities in today's economy.
One Vote Tells a Story
Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) wraps himself in the flag and votes for the bill.
"Monday, I cast a blue-collar vote for the American people. Today I am going to cast a red, white and blue-collar vote with my hand over my heart for this country, because things are really bad and we don't have any choice".
And Wamp is a member of the Liberty Caucus!
Plutocracy Triumphs!
The ruling class can sleep comfortably tonight, knowing that its efforts were not in vain.
The U. S. Will Do Anything to Avoid the Congestion Charge
The U.S. embassy in London plans to move to a former industrial site south of the Thames.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
The Biden-Palin "Debate"
If, like me, you missed the "debate," or even if you didn't, check out Oliver Burkeman's blog here. He's very funny and quite perceptive.
UPDATE: Over at LRC, our very own Anthony Gregory provides a libertarian perspective that readers will enjoy.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Who Said This?
"Isn't it time for fundamental change to our debt-based monetary system so we can free ourselves from the manipulation of the Federal Reserve and the banks? Is this the US Congress or the Board of Directors of Goldman Sachs?"
Ron Paul? No, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio).
"The normal legislative process that should accompany a monumental proposal to bail out Wall Street has been shelved. Yes, shelved! Only a few insiders are doing the dealing. These criminals have so much power they can shut down the normal legislative process of the highest lawmaking body in this land. All the committees that should be scanning every word that is being negotiated have been benched. And that means the American people have been benched. We are constitutionally sworn to protect this country against all enemies foreign and domestic, and yes, my friends, there are enemies....The people who are pushing this bill are the very same ones who are responsible for the implosion on Wall Street. They were fraudulent then; and they are fraudulent now. We should say No to this deal".
Chuck Baldwin? No, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio).
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
More from Glenn Greenwald
This past weekend I recommended Glenn Greenwald's superb article against the Paulson plan.
Greenwald is always worth reading, not least for his wry observations on the growing right-wing opposition to this proposal. He welcomes their new-found resistance to unconstrained executive authority but points to their amazing hypocrisy on this matter.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Luigi Zingales on Why Paulson Is Wrong
Luigi Zingales, Robert C. Mc Cormack Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at the Graduate School of Business in the University of Chicago, explains why Paulson is wrong even on the assumption that some sort of Federal government action is desirable.
"The decisions that will be made this weekend matter not just to the prospects of the U.S. economy in the year to come; they will shape the type of capitalism we will live in for the next fifty years. Do we want to live in a system where profits are private, but losses are socialized? Where taxpayer money is used to prop up failed firms? Or do we want to live in a system where people are held responsible for their decisions, where imprudent behavior is penalized and prudent behavior rewarded? For somebody like me who believes strongly in the free market system, the most serious risk of the current situation is that the interest of few financiers will undermine the fundamental workings of the capitalist system. The time has come to save capitalism from the capitalists."
Where's My Pitchfork?
Glenn Greenwald is spot on. The complete (though ever-changing) elite consensus over the financial collapse.
"One doesn't have to be an economics expert in order for several facts to be crystal clear:
"First, the fact that Democrats are on board with this scheme means absolutely nothing. When it comes to things the Bush administration wants, Congressional Democrats don't say "no" to anything. They say "yes" to everything. That's what they're for."
"Second, whatever else is true, the events of the last week are the most momentous events of the Bush era in terms of defining what kind of country we are and how we function -- and before this week, the last eight years have been quite momentous, so that is saying a lot. Again, regardless of whether this nationalization/bailout scheme is "necessary" or makes utilitarian sense, it is a crime of the highest order -- not a "crime" in the legal sense but in a more meaningful sense."
"Third, what's probably most amazing of all is the contrast between how gargantuan all of this is and the complete absence of debate or disagreement over what's taking place."
"[W]hat I do know is that an injustice so grave and extreme that it defies words is taking place; that the greatest beneficiaries are those who are most culpable; and that the same hopelessly broken and deeply rotted institutions and elite class that gave rise to all of this (and so much more) are the very ones that are -- yet again -- being blindly entrusted to solve this."
There's No Free Lunch and No Free Economy
Christopher Caldwell, who writes a weekly column for the Financial Times, has a characteristically insightful article this weekend. He is no libertarian but I think he understands the significance of what is going on better than most commentators.
"President George W. Bush, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and treasury secretary Hank Paulson all declare their preference for free-market solutions and a desire to minimise moral hazard. But they sound like François Mitterrand in mid-1983 when he abandoned his socialist 'programme commun' in the face of capital flight and a collapsing franc, all the while proclaiming his devotion to socialism."
"By the time the situation calms and memories fade, there is unlikely to be enough capital in the economy to fund a restoration. Right now, the oldest baby boomers are 63. The ratio of earners to dependents has been at an all-time high. A vast earner generation is about to begin its transformation into a dependent generation. Probably a more dependent one than anticipated."
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Winners and losers
Winners like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs and losers like the American taxpayer.
"An extraordinary week in Wall Street history drew to a close with one of the biggest two-day rallies on record.
"Financials, whose violent movements have consistently led the wider market over the week, gained the most from the prospect of a vast government intervention attempting to ease anxiety over near unprecedented turmoil in the financial system."
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Is Goldman Sachs Bankrupt?
Have the short-sellers correctly called that Goldman Sachs is bankrupt? Is this why the Financial Services Authority has clamped down on short-selling in publicly listed financial companies until January 16, 2009? Did Goldman Sachs have a word with the British Treasury? Isn't crony capitalism wonderful?
After Lehman Brothers: Desperate City Wives
Pleeeze! This is priceless.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
John Gapper Is Mad As Hell
You probably won't care for his conclusion but his analysis of the bailout of AIG is spot on.
"But AIG takes the biscuit. Here was a huge multinational insurance group with a reputation for solid underwriting and risk management that decided to diversify from insuring risks it knew well – car crashes and fires – to covering derivatives it did not understand.
"Of course, it thought it understood them. In presentations to investors this year, it emphasised how thoroughly its AIG Financial Products arm assessed the risks of insuring CDOs. It ran all the data and decided that, in the worst case, it risked losing $2.4bn on the portfolio.
"Well, $24bn of write-downs later – a mere 10 times its maximum estimate – the company has burned through its equity, spread financial chaos to all corners of the earth and humiliated the US Treasury. The job of insurance companies is to guard others against catastrophes, not cause them.
"The word 'irresponsible' does not begin to describe AIG's behaviour. Like Bear, Lehman and others, it saw a way to get in on the growing action in mortgage-backed derivatives. Its bankers were soon earning huge fees for themselves and AIG by piling up unimaginable risks."
Read the entire article here.
The Incredible Shrinking Banks
Go here and scroll down to the find out how much market capitalization the banks have lost...so far.
The Layman's Finance Crisis Glossary
If you're confused by what's going on, or you just enjoy new words, go here.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Dan Klein, Are You Reading This? John Gray Talks Sense
John Gray, of whom at one time some libertarians had a high opinion and even higher hopes, but with whom in recent years some of those same, and other, libertarians have become progressively disillusioned, has written an interesting article about Putin's Russia in the Guardian. With the obvious caveat that I'm not endorsing all that he says, it strikes me as containing a large dose of common sense that deserves wide circulation.
"The current panic about Russia is a curious phenomenon. By any objective standard Russians are freer in the authoritarian state established by Putin than at any time in the Soviet Union. Many are also materially better off. Russia has abandoned global expansionism, and is now a diminished version of what it has been throughout most of its history - a Eurasian empire whose chief concern is protection from external threats. Yet western attitudes are more hostile than they were during much of the cold war, when many on the left viewed the Soviet Union, which was responsible for tens of millions of deaths, as an essentially benign regime."
Read the rest here.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Sarah Palin's Blog
Welcome to The PalinDrome. It's really quite funny. And don't miss the wedding registry for Bristol and Levi.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Ben Goldacre: Bad Science
Ben Goldacre is a British physician and journalist, and the author of the The Guardian newspaper's weekly Bad Science column. He describes himself as "a junior doctor in London and a shameless geek". You can read past columns here at his website. His first book, Bad Science, is published today in the UK (London: Fourth Estate).
Don't miss today's column which discusses the medicalization of everyday life. Although Goldacre doesn't mention the topic of intellectual property, at least not here, it seems to me that pharmaceutical patents have played a crucial role in this process. In any event, read the article and don't miss his account of how the golden age of medicine has creaked to a halt (see below).
Thursday, August 28, 2008
A Global Warming Advocate Makes the Case Against Carbon Offsets
Melissa Checker, assistant professor of Urban Studies at Queens College, The City University of New York, makes a strong case against carbon offsets.
"Between 2005 and 2007 the market for carbon offsets grew 175%, reaching $110 million (Faris 2007). But just as buying indulgences in the Middle Ages never really erased your sins, carbon offsets rarely counteract your carbon use. Moreover, in some cases, carbon offset projects actually hurt local people. Many experts now believe that well-intentioned consumers are not just wasting their money on offsets, but that purchasing them actually does more harm than good."
Read her essay here.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Starbucks and the Socialism of Fools
"Commentators' glee at the closure of 700 coffee shops, and the loss of more than 12,000 jobs, exposes the inhumanity of anti-globalisation." Marxist Brendan O'Neill has had quite enough of contemporary anti-capitalist sentiment.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Playing the Race Card
Well, that's a relief! Finally, a presumptive presidential candidate has played it or, at least, McCain is accusing Obama of playing it. No election would be the same without it!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
What Are the Odds That We're Baking the Planet?
Professor Johnston does the math.
"Decriminalise All Drugs Now, but Don't Celebrate Them"
Rob Lyons has written an excellent article here. "All drugs should be decriminalised and people should be free to choose what they ingest." If I had written the article, I should have chosen to call for the legalization of all drugs. That said, it seems to me that that is what Lyons advocates.
It Was Ever Thus
Geoffrey Wheatcroft provides the historical context to the British reputation for drunkenness. He concludes with the celebrated words of William Connor Magee, Bishop of Peterborough and, for four months before his death, Archbishop of York, that he would rather see England free than England sober, and suggests that today Magee might think again. Yet Magee's actual words were, "It would be better that England should be free than that England should be compulsorily sober." An admirable and impeccably liberal sentiment.
Reading this prompted me to read the entry on Magee in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (behind subscription). There I read that "[a]lthough his religious views were always of an evangelical tone, they broadened considerably in later years ... In a sermon of December 1885 Magee accepted evolution ... All fanatical excesses in religion were abhorrent to him. He had little sympathy with the eccentricities of teetotal fanatics and other social reformers, and some remarks in his later speeches that he would rather see England free than sober, and that under certain circumstances betting was not wholly sinful, led to much misconception, but were fully consistent with his hatred of exaggeration and misapplied enthusiasm." Evidently he was a pretty sound fellow with whom I could enjoy a drink or two.
UPDATE (August 1): Today the Financial Times has seen fit to publish my letter about Bishop Magee together with a picture of the prelate himself.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Transgender or Gay?
Here's a seriously interesting story from Thailand: Thai school offers transsexual toilet.
"The headteacher, Sitisak Sumontha, estimates that in any year between 10% and 20% of his boys consider themselves to be transgender - boys who would rather be girls."
"A ratio of 10% to 20% of boys calling themselves transsexual in a provincial high school does seem very high, but Mr Sitisak assured me that in his experience it was not unusual."
"[The headmaster] said that, in his 35 years of working in the Thai education system, he had come across many boys like this, and they never changed. Many go on as adults to have sex-change surgery, while others will live as gay men, he said."
So how many of the boys are transgenders (either transexuals or transvestites) and how many are gay or bisexual? There's a huge difference, of course. And how many are intersexuals? This is not a possibility discussed in this article. And what about the girls? Inquiring minds want to know. Seriously.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
An Insightful Essay on Hayek's Road to Serfdom
Although some of you may be aware of Jesse Larner's recent essay about F. A. Hayek's The Road to Serfdom, I was unaware of his article until this morning when a friend sent me the link.
Larner may be characterized as some sort of democratic/libertarian socialist and has written an informed and insightful essay about Hayek's political philosophy as revealed in The Road to Serfdom. (Yes, of course, there's tensions and contradictions between these three concepts -- democracy, liberty, and socialism -- but clearly many writers identify with and defend some combination of these ideas, from which some offer thoughtful criticisms of classical liberal/libertarian arguments.)
Larner's article may be read with advantage by (at least) two groups of people. First, those on the left who likely have not read Hayek but are nonetheless apt to dismiss Hayek as a conservative reactionary who wrote nothing worth reading. And, second, admirers of Hayek whose understanding of his ideas would benefit from thoughtful criticism of their hero from whatever perspective, not least in order to participate seriously in the debate about Hayek's ideas.
Srebrenica: The Story Behind a Name
Today’s news headlines announce that Radovan Karadzic has been arrested in Serbia and will stand trial at the UN Tribunal in The Hague on fifteen counts of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and other atrocities, most notably for organizing the siege of Sarajevo and for his role in the massacre of Muslims at Srebrenica (1995).
If you read The Times, the Srebrenica massacre involved "more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys."
If you read the Guardian, the massacre involved "nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys." Elsewhere the Guardian reminds us, "That the Serbian forces under Karadzic's command committed genocide against the Muslims of Srebrenica in July 1995 is an established legal fact."
If you read the Independent, the massacre involved "more than 7,500 Muslim men and boys."
And if you read the Telegraph, "Some 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were executed in and around the town of Srebrenica in 1995."
Would it surprise you, dear reader, if I suggested that these accounts are far removed from what likely happened? According to Diana Johnstone's detailed inquiry into the Srebrenica massacre, some 3,000 persons were killed and the massacre did not constitute genocide as defined in international law. She also explains why the U.S. and the European Union have been keen to promote their own very dubious version of this event and thus how the name of a town—Srebrenica—has become a powerful propaganda symbol—"Srebrenica"—of the New World Order.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Goodbye Capitalism
Joshua Rosner has written a fine defense of free capital markets here.
As he reminds his readers, every equity or debt offering of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac explicitly states that these "are not guaranteed by the US and do not constitute an obligation of the US or any agency or instrumentality thereof other than" of the two entities.
Rosner is the managing director of the research firm Graham Fisher.
Niall Ferguson on China Today
An informative and insightful analysis.
American Arrogance
Speaking before a backdrop of two huge American flags and invoking the names of Harry S Truman and George Marshall, presidential hopeful Barack Obama yesterday explained his foreign policy. He called for "America -- once again -- to lead", to be "ready to engage the world", "to lead the world anew."
Does it ever occur to the Columbia-and-Harvard-educated Barack Obama that perhaps the world does not want to be "led" by the United States?
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher
Recently I read a favorable review of Kate Summerscale's new book. Now it has won the Samuel Johnson prize for nonfiction. Her book is the story of a real-life murder that inspired the birth of modern detective fiction. Think Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone (1868).
A (Henry) Georgist Perspective on the Crisis and Bailout
Well worth reading. Michael Hudson explains how the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will reward the bubble's enablers. It's too bad commentators like Gerald O'Driscoll, Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok see fit to accept (albeit reluctantly) the bailout and leave sound class analysis (predators versus producers) to Professor Hudson, who was Dennis Kucinich's economic guru.
BBC Coverage of Barr and Nader
Max Deveson reports on Bob Barr and the Nader effect.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The Day George Bush Visited the Queen
At least 69 flights were cancelled and 40,000 passengers had their travel plans disrupted. And that's all because George Bush flew into and out of Heathrow airport on his recent visit. The presidential entourage included two Boeing 747 jets and four helicopters! You can read the full story here.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
The Very Model of a Modern Central Banker
USA Today carries a story about Randall S. Kroszner, who finds it hard to shed his reputation as a free market economist. "Kroszner hasn't assuaged Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who has refused to schedule a vote on his nomination to a full 14-year Fed term. Kroszner, initially approved to fill out a partial term that expired Jan. 31, can remain at the Fed until a successor is named."
Kroszner is the chairman of the Fed's internal committee on consumer affairs. For some time he has been busy designing new regulations for mortgage lenders and credit card issuers. "Kroszner, who earned a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics-economics at Brown and a doctorate at Harvard, says he's doing what he always has: analyzing facts to make the best decision." He defends his inductive methodology thus, "Being a very much empirically oriented economist,...I'm really trying to get into the data and see what the data say. That's how I come to my approach and how I've always come to my conclusions."
Larry White, professor of economic history at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and noted scholar of free banking, comments drily: "I would have expected [Kroszner] to be helping to repeal some of the regulations that were passed in a hurry during the New Deal....I guess that hasn't happened."
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Raising a Glass to Freedom of Choice
Ten thousand people protest the ban on drinking alcohol on London's buses and tubes.
This was the plan. If only all this energy were directed against state repression in other aspects of life!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Islamofascists?
Ron Paul and Senator Borah
In yesterday’s Republican primary in Idaho Ron Paul won 24% of the vote and six delegates. There’s an historical context for this, of course. The noted anti-interventionist Senator Borah represented Idaho from 1907 until his death in 1940. Although his economics were far removed from those of Ron Paul and he supported FDR’s confiscation of privately-held gold by executive order in 1933, he favored a low tariff and was opposed to much New Deal legislation. To this day Borah remains the longest-serving member of the United States Congress in Idaho history.
For a bare-bones account of his life, go here. For a left-of-center appreciation of him, go here. And for a fine defense of Borah against G. W. Bush’s recent slander, go here.
The Libertarian Dark Horse Still Rides
Pakistani Muslim American Wajahat Ali interviews Ron Paul here.
Counterpunch.org reprints the interview as today's lead article with the title The Libertarian Dark Horse Is Still Kicking.
Life Was Less Fun If You Were Jewish
"Paris during Nazi occupation was 'one big romp'". Patrick Buisson's new book 1940-1945 Années érotiques: Vichy ou les infortunes de la vertu (Paris: Albin Michel, 2008) and a recent photographic exhibition challenge the conventional wisdom about occupied Paris.
The artistic elite partyed like there would be no tomorrow. "It was only in the course of those nights that I discovered the true meaning of the word party," was how Simone de Beauvoir put it. Jean-Paul Sartre was no less enthusiastic: "Never were we as free as under the German occupation."
For another take on the book go here. You can read more about the book here. And to read about the author go here.
Which reminds me to recommend John Lukacs' The Last European War: September 1939-December 1941 (1976; reprint, Yale University Press, 2001) to anyone interested in reading about a time when most Europeans thought Hitler had won and adjusted their lives accordingly.
Monday, May 26, 2008
So Much Love for Wayne Allen Root
This is from Las Vegas!
Bob Barr Wins LP Nomination for President
This is the Associated Press report posted at the New York Times website.
What impact will Bob Barr and his VP candidate, Wayne Allen Root, have on the elections in November? What are the implications for getting libertarian ideas discussed more widely? And what impact will the Barr-Root ticket have for the Libertarian Party? What do our readers think?
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Oil Costs Up, House Prices Down--Good News
The market has delivered in months what the Treasury failed to force on us, a better husbanding of scarce resources.
Although libertarians wouldn't agree with everything Simon Jenkins writes here, he presents his crucial argument about the role of the price mechanism in allocating scarce resources rather well.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Can You Claim Expenses Like These?
Can you claim expenses like these? I doubt it somehow.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
The First Step on the Road to Serfdom?
"Sacking a person who is doing a good job because you disapprove of what he does in the privacy of his own dungeon is the first step on the road to serfdom."
Thus concludes Matthew Syed on the Mosley affair.
For those who don't follow the world of motor-racing or, for that matter, the recent adventures of Max Mosley, understand that he is the younger son of the late Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists, and his second wife, Lady Diana Mosley, one of the Mitford sisters. Doubly embarrassing, therefore, when it was claimed that Max liked to act out sadomasochistic fantasies on a Nazi theme.
Rod Liddle defends his right to privacy here. "Those complaining most loudly about his alleged behaviour ought to worry that one day the bedroom door might be opened on their private passions."
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
London's Illiberal, Intolerant New Rulers
Brendan O'Neill explains why the new Conservative mayor's ban on drinking alcohol anywhere on London public transport suggests we can expect more loss of liberty under his regime.
I guess it may surprise our American readers that drinking booze on buses and tube trains in London is legal. But if the thought disturbs you, cheer up because from Sunday, June 1, it is PROHIBITED. Just another nail in the coffin of individual liberties historically enjoyed by Londoners.
Monday, May 12, 2008
If You're Not Doing Anything Wrong, You Have Nothing to Fear. Don't Count on It.
Amateur Photographer, which bills itself as "The world's number one weekly photography magazine," is not necessarily where you would expect to find disturbing stories about state surveillance. On second thoughts, perhaps you would.
If you do a search for police harrassment, you'll find stories like this, this, and this, and ninety-one other stories.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Questions for Christians
Matthew Syed raises some questions for Christians.
Jamie Whyte on How to Make Progress
Dramatic, not slow, remedies are the best way, says Jamie Whyte, former lecturer of philosophy at Cambridge University and author of Bad Thoughts: A Guide to Clear Thinking (London: Corvo Books, 2003) / Crimes Against Logic (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004) and A Load of Blair (Corvo Books, 2005). You can read an interview with him here.
Mounting U.S. casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq
Real Clear Numbers: 101,000 U.S. Casualties a Year.
"Here's how the figures add up, just for Americans. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have thus far produced 300,000 psychological casualties, 320,000 brain injury casualties, plus 35,000 (probably understated) officially reported "normal" casualties. This adds up to 655,000 US casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, an average of just under 101,000 Americans killed or wounded every year since the wars began. If the idea of 101,000 casualties for every extra year in Iraq and Afghanistan gets out and infects the voting public, imagine the effect on the currently torpid national debate over leaving in five years versus fifteen years!"
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Atomic Tragedy
Atomic Tragedy: Henry L. Stimson and the Decision to Use the Bomb against Japan (Cornell University Press, 2008) is a new book by Sean L. Malloy, a young scholar at the University of California, Merced, that has received praise from many quarters, including Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, author of the much acclaimed Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan (Harvard University Press, 2005), and Lloyd C. Gardner. Gardner is author of many books including Economic Aspects of New Deal Diplomacy (1964), Architects of Illusion: Men and Ideas in American Foreign Policy, 1941-1949 (1970), and The Long Road to Baghdad: A History of U.S. Foreign Policy from the 1970s to the Present, to be published this fall by The New Press.
To view ten never-before-published photographs illustrating the immediate aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing that dramatically convey the human as well as material destruction unleashed by the atomic bomb, go here. Hat tip to Manuel Lora at LewRockwell.com.
For an important earlier book on the atomic bombing of Japan, read Gar Alperovitz's Atomic diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam: The Use of the Atomic Bomb and the American Confrontation with Soviet Power (1965/1985/1994). And if you want to follow the controversy, you may care to read Robert James Maddox’s essay here on History News Network. Regrettably, but not surprisingly, Maddox fails to raise, let alone discuss, the question of whether the U.S. decision to demand the unconditional surrender of Japan was either wise or moral.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
The Worst of Its Kind
I'm always reading horror stories like this one, but this particular state atrocity is the worst of its kind that I've come across in recent months. Hat tip to Mike Tennant over at the LewRockwell blog.
"But there was really nothing any of them could do, they all said. They were just adhering to protocol, following orders." Now where have I heard that before?
In the UK it was, and I think still is, legal to supply an alcoholic drink to your seven-year-old. I seem to remember my father, a secondary school principal, would allow me a glass of (alcoholic) cider some weekends when I was a kid. I understand the tradition continues today throughout Old Europe.
UPDATE: Lew Rockwell has an excellent article here on the state versus the family.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Then and Now
Then. The Fat Owl of the Remove. Follow the links, and don't miss this one.
According to Guinness World Records, Charles Hamilton (1876-1961), who wrote the Greyfriars stories under the nom de plume of Frank Richards, is the most prolific author of all time with a lifetime output calculated at 72-75 million words.
Now. Pupils shun Jamie Oliver's healthy diet for junk food runs.
And here is the money quote: "One young smuggling mastermind, when finally caught, said to his school's headmaster unapologetically: 'But we were only doing what you taught us in business studies, Sir.'"
Saturday, April 26, 2008
An English Gentleman
Melvyn Bragg on Humphrey Lyttelton (1921-2008), the jazz musician.
Here is the late George Melly's (updated) obituary.
And here is Bob Cryer's appreciation.
The Rosa Parks of 2008?
Last August Pennyslvania state troopers kidnapped Mennonite dairy farmer Mark Nolt and confiscated many thousands of dollars of his property.
Now they've raided his farm again.
Friend and fellow-farmer Jonas Stoltzfus compared the state to the Gestapo and drew a parallel between Nolt's right to sell raw milk products directly to his customers with Rosa Parks' right to sit wherever she wanted on the bus. Linn Cohen-Cole who quotes Stoltzfus writes about the war on raw milk products here (but conflates the two raids).
Read the FDA's threatening letter to Mark Nolt here and the state of New York's undercover activities against Meadowsweet Dairy here.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Rethinking the Second World War
Peter Wilby has an interesting article in today's Guardian. "Seeing the second world war as a pure struggle to defeat an evil dictator has led us into foreign policy traps ever since."
Wilby believes the war should have been fought but departs from the conventional wisdom when he acknowledges that "the war was not fought for humanitarian or democratic ends. Britain fought Germany for the same reason it had always fought wars in Europe: to maintain the balance of power and prevent a single state dominating the continent. America fought Japan to stop the growth of a powerful rival in the Pacific."
That, of course, was understood in 1939/1941. But it has been largely forgotten in recent years. Recognizing that fact again may help us question the wisdom of those fateful decisions that culminated in the declaration of war in 1939/41.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Citizen Gives Cop a Parking Ticket
Here's the story. The citizen was an attorney. Follow the discussion here at the Volokh Conspiracy.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Ron Paul's Strategy Vindicated?
Despite the pleas of Eric Garris and Liberty & Power's own Anthony Gregory, and a great many other libertarians, Ron Paul has declined to quit the Republican primaries and run as an Independent/Libertarian. At least so far.
Tonight Fox News reports that, with 88% of precincts reporting, Ron Paul has won almost 16% of the vote in the Republican primary in Pennsylvania. This beats Mike Huckabee (less than 12%) although, it ought to be added, Huckabee conceded to McCain some weeks ago. Today McCain received just over 72% of the vote. This means that Paul has won more than a fifth as many votes as McCain. Certainly there are a good many Republicans who are unhappy with McCain and his policies of high spending, inflation and war. Ron Paul's decision to stay in the race demonstrates this very clearly and sets down a marker for future Republican contests. And his impressive vote total raises some interesting questions. What will be the impact on the race for the Libertarian Party nomination? And how will those Ron Paul supporters vote, if they vote at all, this November?
In the Harry Truman Tradition
This morning on ABC's Good Morning America Hillary Clinton was asked how she would respond if Iran launched a nuclear attack on Israel.
"I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran. That's what we will do. There is no safe haven."
"Whatever stage of development they might be in their nuclear weapons program in the next ten years during which they may foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them," Clinton said.
A New Low Blow to Freedom of Speech in Britain
Brendan O'Neill explains how the rantings of Trevor Brooks, er, Abu Izzadeen, got him four years in prison, and why we should care.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Legacy of Empire
Perry Anderson explains all you need to know about Cyprus.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Pipe Dream
Another episode in the invention of tradition.
Read the news story. And, if you'd care to read similar stories, get the book.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Last Night's Democratic Debate
"The first 45 minutes were Barack Obama's toughest time in any debate. He came under withering assault from the moderators (and Hillary Clinton) on a whole host of issues from the comments of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former pastor, to his decision not to wear a flag lapel to his connections with a one-time member of the Weather Underground. Time and again, Obama dismissed the questions as part of the politics of the past, something that he was running to change." (Chris Cillizza writing in today's Washington Post)
I'd have more respect for Obama if he would defend the Reverend Wright, his decision not to wear a flag lapel, and his connections with a one-time member of the Weather Underground. Or is it too much to hope that he would break with "the politics of the past"?
Sunday, April 13, 2008
George H. Smith: Thinking About War
Liberty has now published George Smith's essay on just war theory, in which he discusses what (1) Murray Rothbard and (2) Objectivists Yaron Brook and Alex Epstein have written about the subject.
A few thoughts. His essay is a well-informed discussion that is grounded in a considerable knowledge of the history of political thought. That said, I note that more than once he elides the distinction between country and nation-state. And I am struck by how much Smith (sometimes by default), Walzer, and Brook and Epstein assume particular historical accounts as true. Consider the following examples, viz., "Islamic terrorism," the origins of the Six-Day War, Sherman's March through Georgia, and the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki:
Saturday, April 12, 2008
The Long and the Short of It
Matthew Engel discusses the origins of English surnames (and thus many American names) in a nice tribute to Constance Mary (Molly) Matthews (1908-2008) and her celebrated book English Surnames (1966/1967).
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Then and Now
"And with this goes something that is always written off by European observers as 'decadence' or hypocrisy, the English hatred of war and militarism. It is rooted deep in history, and it is strong in the lower-middle class as well as the working class. Successive wars have shaken it but not destroyed it. Well within living memory it was common for 'the redcoats' to be booed at in the street and for the landlords of respectable public-houses to refuse to allow soldiers on the premises."
"What English people of nearly all classes loathe from the bottom of their hearts is the swaggering officer type, the jingle of spurs and the crash of boots. Decades before Hitler was ever heard of, the word 'Prussian' had much the same significance in England as 'Nazi' has today. So deep does this feeling go that for a hundred years past the officers of the British Army, in peace-time, have always worn civilian clothes when off duty."
-- George Orwell, England Your England, in The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius (London: Secker & Warburg, 1941).
"Plans for comprehensive school pupils to sign up for military drills and weapons training backed by PM."
"The report also unequivocally recommends that soldiers should be encouraged to wear their uniform off-duty, a policy that has been relaxed since British military personnel ceased to be targets of the IRA."
-- The Observer, London, April 6, 2008.
Ferdinand Mount on Working for Mrs Thatcher
If you're interested in the character of Margaret Thatcher and how she ran her Cabinet, you'll enjoy reading this extract from Ferdinand Mount's memoirs, Cold Cream: My Early Life and Other Mistakes (London: Bloomsbury, 2008).
Friday, April 4, 2008
Pauper Chic: How Commerce Made Workers Better Off
Do read Ferdinand Mount's fascinating review of John Styles' recent and abundantly illustrated The Dress of the People: Everyday Fashion in Eighteenth-Century England (Yale University Press, 2008). You won't regret that you did.
The author's findings rebut the condescending conclusion of Marxist historian E. P. Thompson in his classic study The Making of the English Working Class (1966) that the share of the average working man in "the benefits of economic progress" was paltry, consisting of "more potatoes, a few articles of cotton clothing for his family, soap and candles, some tea and sugar, and a great many articles in the Economic History Review."
As the review explains, "John Styles, formerly a costume scholar at the Victoria and Albert Museum, has squirrelled together a remarkable, and often poignant, heap of evidence of what the poor actually wore...Styles never underplays the piercing poverty that the worst off endured. Nor is he claiming that eighteenth-century England was a fully fledged consumer society. But what he does show conclusively is that while the poor did not have a huge choice at the best of times, they did have some, and what they had they grasped with both hands...[W]hat strikes one throughout is the variousness of working-class experience and the determination of people to be agents rather than patients whenever they had a chance."
That said, please don't take my summary as an adequate subsitute for reading the entire review, one that will surely encourage you to read or even buy the book itself. The Dress of the People sounds like an essential addition to a shelf of books on British history that might include John Styles and Amanda Vickery's edited volume Gender, Taste, and Material Culture in Britain and North America, 1700-1830 (Yale, 2006) and would certainly hold Jonathan Rose's acclaimed The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes (Yale, 2001/2003). This award-winning book tracks the rise and decline of the British autodidact from the pre-industrial era to the twentieth century.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Where Are the Libertarians?
An article in today's Financial Times entitled "Homeowner bail-out hits resistance" caught my eye, and it's every bit as fascinating as the title suggests.
Above the story is a picture of protesters outside Bear Stearns and three paragraphs down readers are told, "Opposition to government aid to homeowners also has a broad base - pitting renters against homeowners, the young against the old and prudent savers against ambitious housing entrepreneurs."
"A poll last week found that 53 per cent of Americans reckoned the government should not help out homeowners who borrowed more than they could afford, with only 29 per cent in disagreement and 17 per cent unsure. Opposition to government help for banks that made bad loans was even stronger, with naysayers outnumbering proponents four to one, the Rasmussen Reports survey reckoned."
"Patrick Killelea, 42, a computer programmer and part-time blogger in Silicon Valley, is unconvinced [by the proposed homeowner bail-out].
"He has never voted Republican but said he might vote for John McCain, the Arizona Republican, in the November presidential election purely because of his cautious opposition to the bail-out issue."
Should libertarians (and Libertarian Party activists) be reaching out to this popular majority against the bail-out? And if so, what's the best way we (and they) might do this?
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
The Most Celebrated Hoaxers in British History
Today being April Fool's Day, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography presents the lives of the most famous and infamous hoaxers in British history.
So What Are Their Kids Up To Now?
Learn about the lives of the children of some leading Nazis and Nazi sympathizers here.