I know I said The Older Brother was taking over the blog for a little while, and he is. But I was interviewed a couple of days ago for a libertarian site called Liberty.me and the video is now available online, so I’m interrupting just long enough to post it. Pierre-Guy Veer, the host, is a libertarian living in Quebec. (I heard there was a libertarian living in Canada, but didn’t believe the rumors. Glad I met him.) His microphone cut in and out, but his questions were brief and you can pretty much guess what he was asking from my answers.
We now return to your regularly scheduled guest host …
If you enjoy my posts, please consider a small donation to the Fat Head Kids GoFundMe campaign.
Just a little precision: I now live in Idaho. But my heart is still in Canada, the freer country 😉
Thanks for the correction.
Just a little precision: I now live in Idaho. But my heart is still in Canada, the freer country 😉
Thanks for the correction.
Wow. Mighty beard you have going there.
Ditto. That thing would put every Amish male elder to shame, and Abe Lincoln to boot.
I had never heard before this interview that the food stamp program might have had anything to do with formulating dietary policy. But knowing our USDA, I am not one bit surprised.
I wasn’t aware of the food-stamp connection until I read “Death by Food Pyramid.”
Wow, small world, I know the guy who started that site.
Also, there seems to be something horribly wrong with the audio of the video.
Wow. Mighty beard you have going there.
Ditto. That thing would put every Amish male elder to shame, and Abe Lincoln to boot.
I had never heard before this interview that the food stamp program might have had anything to do with formulating dietary policy. But knowing our USDA, I am not one bit surprised.
I wasn’t aware of the food-stamp connection until I read “Death by Food Pyramid.”
Wow, small world, I know the guy who started that site.
Also, there seems to be something horribly wrong with the audio of the video.
Putting my arm up as a libertarian who lives in Canada.
Heh-heh … that should make it easy to pick you out of a crowd.
Putting my arm up as a libertarian who lives in Canada.
Heh-heh … that should make it easy to pick you out of a crowd.
This is almost certainly a knee-jerk reaction here. Great stuff overall but…Milton Friedman as a libertarian hero? Ummm. Mr trickle-down who has made the ruling classes so rich? I am very confused. I’m not trying to start a flame war in fact please do NOT. I am just being inquisitive and earnest. If there is something I’m missing I do try to stay open minded. I’ve been thrilled that lately the city of Seatac has dumped a living minimum wage on their city with the result that commerce is expanding despite the ruling class doing a lot of hand-wringing over how they would have to lay off people and contract their business. Has not happened. This is not very MiltonF. I’m quite okay with Fatheading while disagreeing. I just want more info here.
Trickle-down (a.k.a supply-side economics) didn’t make the ruling classes rich. Lower tax rates certainly encouraged the rich to report their incomes (thus producing an instant “rise” in their income) and put their capital to work instead of seeking tax shelters. What’s made the super-rich even richer is the funny-money economy that resulted from the Federal Reserve creating new money out of thin air. The new money created by the Federal Reserve is deposited in banks owned by super-rich families, who then get to lend it out and collect millions in interest for doing nothing but some paperwork. (No wonder the Rockefellers and other bankers created the Federal Reserve in the first place.) Meanwhile, the new funny money devalues everyone else’s paychecks and savings. So the funny money created out of thin air is essentially a method of transferring wealth from ordinary folks to the super rich.
Friedman argues quite effectively in “Free To Choose” (which I highly recommend) that it’s the most regulated but nominally capitalist economies that lead to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The rich know how to game the system and make sure those regulations work in their favor.
Well, I suppose I should do a bit of reading. I do agree that the rich know how to game the system (and to flat out buy the system as well) while the rest of us wind up with the burden.
That’s why it’s not at all uncommon to see large and very wealthy corporations lobbying for regulations. People often assume rich corporations are pro-capitalist, but that’s not necessarily true. Many are just pro-themselves, and they’ll happily jettison free-market principles when it works to their advantage.
This is almost certainly a knee-jerk reaction here. Great stuff overall but…Milton Friedman as a libertarian hero? Ummm. Mr trickle-down who has made the ruling classes so rich? I am very confused. I’m not trying to start a flame war in fact please do NOT. I am just being inquisitive and earnest. If there is something I’m missing I do try to stay open minded. I’ve been thrilled that lately the city of Seatac has dumped a living minimum wage on their city with the result that commerce is expanding despite the ruling class doing a lot of hand-wringing over how they would have to lay off people and contract their business. Has not happened. This is not very MiltonF. I’m quite okay with Fatheading while disagreeing. I just want more info here.
Trickle-down (a.k.a supply-side economics) didn’t make the ruling classes rich. Lower tax rates certainly encouraged the rich to report their incomes (thus producing an instant “rise” in their income) and put their capital to work instead of seeking tax shelters. What’s made the super-rich even richer is the funny-money economy that resulted from the Federal Reserve creating new money out of thin air. The new money created by the Federal Reserve is deposited in banks owned by super-rich families, who then get to lend it out and collect millions in interest for doing nothing but some paperwork. (No wonder the Rockefellers and other bankers created the Federal Reserve in the first place.) Meanwhile, the new funny money devalues everyone else’s paychecks and savings. So the funny money created out of thin air is essentially a method of transferring wealth from ordinary folks to the super rich.
Friedman argues quite effectively in “Free To Choose” (which I highly recommend) that it’s the most regulated but nominally capitalist economies that lead to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The rich know how to game the system and make sure those regulations work in their favor.
Well, I suppose I should do a bit of reading. I do agree that the rich know how to game the system (and to flat out buy the system as well) while the rest of us wind up with the burden.
That’s why it’s not at all uncommon to see large and very wealthy corporations lobbying for regulations. People often assume rich corporations are pro-capitalist, but that’s not necessarily true. Many are just pro-themselves, and they’ll happily jettison free-market principles when it works to their advantage.