Manumission Of Slaves

The Many Shades Of Gray

Slavery as so many other subjects in human history is neither white nor black. There are many shades of gray to the topic of slavery as well.

Manumission is the act of a slave owner freeing his slaves. Different approaches developed, each specific to the time and place of a society's slave system.

Laws of manumission varied widely from society to society and within societies across time. They are often viewed as the litmus test of a particular society’s views of the slave, that is, of the capacities the slave was likely to exhibit as a free human being.

The Augustan Manumission Laws

There were apparently three different laws attempting to limit manumission during the reign of Augustus:

Lex Aelia Sentia of 4 AD

Lex Fufia Caninia of 2 BC

Lex Iunia Norbana, 17 BC/19BC

The rate of manumission did not necessarily correspond to the legal ease of manumission. It should be noted, however, that in Rome manumission was relatively easy and was widely practiced, even though there was a 5% tax on manumission in the Republic, and the Lex Fufia Caninia of 2 BC forbade manumission by testament of more than a fifth to a half of one's slaves, depending on the number owned.

“The Lex Aelia Sentia took away the automatic right to full citizenship on manumission from a large number of slaves.” (Source).

“The Lex Fufia Caninia was designed to regulate the proportion of an owner’s slaves that they could free at death.” (Source).

“Lex Iunia Norbana … stated that slaves who were emancipated without the proper formalities and rituals being observed were not recognized as freedmen by the state, essentially illegalizing all such circumstances. This was passed to ensure that the jurists were always aware of all manumissions, and hence keep tabs on the exact numbers of slaves in the Empire.” (Source)

Were the Romans concerned that manumission could undermine their system of slavery? Quite possibly. It is astounding to say the least that during Augustus’s reign alone three respective laws dealing with manumission were passed.

Manumission In The United States

This is not an exhaustive history of manumission in the US, but just a few pointers.

The first President, George Washington, did manumission at death.

The third President, Thomas Jefferson, released some of his slaves upon death.

Benjamin Franklin freed his slaves.

Manumission was forbidden in South Carolina in 1820, Mississippi in 1822, Arkansas in 1858, and Maryland and Alabama in 1860. Here it is again big government’s role in upholding something as appalling as slavery and imposing its dim witted views on everybody.

Emancipation Proclamation 150 Years Later

Posted: 1/4/2013

Trigger

The American Enterprise Institute published a paper by John Yoo titled “The Emancipation Proclamation's unforgettable lesson about presidential power”. The article e.g. emphasized following excerpt “The link between the Emancipation Proclamation and Lincoln’s broad view of presidential power should cause us to reflect on current controversies over the executive.”

Some Reflections On The American Civil War

Was the American Civil War really worth fighting for? Over 750,000 soldiers and a still undetermined number of civilians died because of this Civil War.

The balance of power of states vs. central government was permanently shifted towards the federal government; it was demonstrated that the Commander in Chief could subdue any state or group of states if necessary and so on.

What If Or Lessons Learnt

What would have happened if the Union had only defended against any attacks by the Confederacy instead of an all out war to defeat the rebellious Confederacy? What would have happened had the Union just ignored, but not accepted the secession of the Confederacy?

Would it not have been much cheaper in treasure and blood to just to buy off slaves from southern states? We know in hindsight that the Civil War did not end racism, which would take another 100 years and more.

Slavery Was Already Nearing Historical Extinction

Slavery would have been phased out over time anyway with or without the Civil War. Brilliant men like Abraham Lincoln should have been aware of that. Whether, the Civil War expedited this phase out is debatable and at what cost.

The Vermont constitution of 1777 was the first document in the United States to abolish slavery.

In 1807 the British abolished the slave trade with their colonies. In the Caribbean, slavery was abolished by British Parliamentary fiat, effective July 31, 1834, when 776,000 slaves in the British plantation colonies were freed and so on and so on.

It was only a matter of time …

Mysterious Accidents Cause Party Of God’s Weapon Depots To Detonate

You got to love this! 

The Weekly Standard reports on 12/31/2012 that a series of ‘accidents’ caused Hezbollah weapons depots in Lebanon to be destroyed. God have mercy on the Party of God, because they are dealing with biblical David.

Why does a Party of God need stockpiles of weapons anyway?

The National Labor Relations Act Of 1935 Should Be Immediately And Entirely Repealed

The New Deal And Its Many

Surviving Big Government Acts

This Act a.k.a. Wagner Act is one of many appalling acts still in effect since the horrible New Deal.

Taken Straight From The Socialist Playbook

Just reading the language of Section 1 of this Act abundantly reveals that its sponsors were guided by socialist theories of the time [Emphasis added]:

·         “The denial by some employers of the right of employees to organize and the refusal by some employers to accept the procedure of collective bargaining lead to strikes and other forms of industrial strife or unrest, which have the intent or the necessary effect of burdening or obstructing commerce …”

·         “The inequality of bargaining power between employees who do not possess full freedom of association or actual liberty of contract and employers who are organized in the corporate or other forms of ownership association substantially burdens and affects the flow of commerce, and tends to aggravate recurrent business depressions, by depressing wage rates and the purchasing power of wage earners in industry and by preventing the stabilization of competitive wage rates and working conditions within and between industries.”

·         “Experience has proved that protection by law of the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively safeguards commerce from injury, impairment, or interruption, and promotes the flow of commerce by removing certain recognized sources of industrial strife and unrest, by encouraging practices fundamental to the friendly adjustment of industrial disputes arising out of differences as to wages, hours, or other working conditions, and by restoring equality of bargaining power between employers and employees.”

·         “Experience has further demonstrated that certain practices by some labor organizations, their officers, and members have the intent or the necessary effect of burdening or obstructing commerce by preventing the free flow of goods in such commerce through strikes and other forms of industrial unrest or through concerted activities which impair the interest of the public in the free flow of such commerce. The elimination of such practices is a necessary condition to the assurance of the rights herein guaranteed”

·         “It is declared to be the policy of the United States to eliminate the causes of certain substantial obstructions to the free flow of commerce and to mitigate and eliminate these obstructions when they have occurred by encouraging the practice and procedure of collective bargaining …”

This Section I one of the Act is littered with strong and wrong presumptions. The Act is also a major infringement of private property rights by mandating employers to comply with “collective bargaining”. The leniency of this Act on criminal activities or extortion as the Act euphemistically says “certain practices by some labor organizations …”

As they say sometimes the prescribed medicine is worse than the disease. This Act fully qualfies as an example imposing “collective bargaining” as a remedy at the expense of employers.

Were lawmakers inspired by the erroneous concept of countervailing power (although prominently published only in 1952) or by monopolistic/oligopolistic or state monopoly capitalism?

There are fundamental differences between enterprises in a free market and legally protected and preferentially treated labor unions:

·         Labor unions are not as exposed to competition as individual enterprises

·         Employees are free to choose to work elsewhere or establish their own enterprise

Missing Constitutional Amendments

In order to establish a society of free, responsible, and self governing individuals following amendments are missing from the US Constitution:

1.       For as long as government runs a central bank the function of this central bank should only be concerned with internal and external monetary stability. Nominal interest rates cannot be set lower than the inflation rate plus some factor (e.g. long-term trend of real GDP growth). The central bank is strictly prohibited from direct or indirect financing of government.

2.       Supreme Court justices should be randomly drawn from a considerable pool of suitable candidates, which ought to include people without judiciary experience or law degrees. Term limits for Supreme Court justices are overdue.

3.       The size of federal government as measured by revenue or expenditures should be limited to a maximum of let’s say 20% of GDP except for extremely extraordinary events. For this purpose, federal government should be defined in a comprehensive way, e.g. including off budget items, Social Security, Medicare etc.

4.       Federal government debt should be limited to maximum of let’s say 30% of GDP except for extremely extraordinary events. For this purpose, federal government debt should be defined in a most comprehensive way, e.g. including promises to future retirees etc.

5.       Federal government needs to completely stay out of providing subsidies to businesses, education, health care, welfare, unemployment insurance, and retirement security except perhaps for the most needy individuals. Free individuals and free markets are capable of handling these areas without government meddling. Besides, if these areas need government intervention at all these areas are prerogatives of the individual states.

6.       Federal taxes should never be confiscatory and should only serve as a source of revenue and not to implement any social or economic policies. Ideally, taxes should be paid exclusively by voluntary choice of free individuals. Confiscatory taxes are defined as cumulative taxes exceeding let’s say 30% of a person’s income irrespective of the form of taxation (e.g. income or sales taxes). The tax code has to be kept very simple. A person’s wealth should be tax free. Businesses should not be taxed.

7.       It is overdue to reign in the many abuses of the Commerce Clause by the federal government and the US Supreme Court. It is quite clear that the original meaning of this clause was limited to commerce in the narrow sense of economic exchange like foreign trade or trade between states.

Falling Homicides Thanks To Advances In Medicine

Front Page News

The Wall Street Journal on 12/8/2012 published a long front page article titled “In Medical Triumph, Homicides Fall Despite Soaring Gun Violence” (subscription required).

Some excerpts from this article:

“Improved medical care doesn’t account for the entire decline in homicides but it experts say it is a major factor.”

“… more people survive because of the spread of hospital trauma centers … the increased use of helicopters … better training of first responders …”

“… the estimated number of people wounded seriously … by gunshots … rose 47%  to 30,759 in 2011 from 20,844 in 2011 …”

Confirmation Of Anecdotal Evidence

This article kind of confirms observations such as the famous almost miraculous survival of former Congress woman Gabrielle Gifford despite a gun shot in the head at close range.

Not least since the first Gulf War, we have learnt of dramatic improvements in medicine that saved the lives of severely injured US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Future Is Even Brighter

I believe strongly, that the excellent care that Congress woman Gifford received is only the beginning for future gunshot victims. I surmise, in a few years we are able to restore damaged brain cells.

History Of Saint Nicholas Aka Santa Claus

Trigger

The Wall Street Journal recently (12/6/2012) published review of “The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus” a book written by Adam C. English.

Other Sources

According to Encyclopedia Britannica:

·         Saint “Nicholas’s existence is not attested by any historical document, so nothing certain is known of his life except that he was probably bishop of Myra in the 4th century”

·         “Nicholas’s reputation for generosity and kindness gave rise to legends of miracles he performed for the poor and unhappy.”

·         “He was reputed to have given marriage dowries of gold to three girls whom poverty would otherwise have forced into lives of prostitution and to have restored to life three children who had been chopped up by a butcher and put in a tub of brine.

·         “In the Middle Ages, devotion to Nicholas extended to all parts of Europe. He became the patron saint of Russia and Greece; of charitable fraternities and guilds; of children, sailors, unmarried girls, merchants, and pawnbrokers; and of such cities as Fribourg, in Switzerland, and Moscow. Thousands of European churches were dedicated to him”

Unfortunately, the Catholic Encyclopedia does not have much information on him not even why and how he was declared a saint.

Marriage Dowry

The review tells the story about the marriage dowries as follows: “Another favorite story, first told by the eighth-century monk Michael the Archimandrite, concerned a once-wealthy man who lost his fortune and decided to sell his three daughters into prostitution because he couldn't provide dowries. Nicholas, whose own parents had left him a large inheritance, sneaked up to the man's house in the dead of night and threw three bags of gold through the window, enabling the girls to find respectable husbands. He thus became the patron saint of spinsters and of pawnbrokers (for whom he became a "guarantor of payment"); the three balls on pawnshop signs are stylized versions of Nicholas's bags of gold. … He [author] suggests that the story of the sisters saved from prostitution plausibly reflects fourth-century social realities. The practice of destitute or debt-ridden parents selling their offspring to brothels or slave-traders was so common that the Emperor Constantine made public funds available to families so that they wouldn't abandon their children.”.

Wikipedia adds: “In one version the father confronts the saint, only to have Saint Nicholas say it is not him he should thank, but God alone. In another version, Nicholas learns of the poor man's plan and drops the third bag down the chimney instead; a variant holds that the daughter had washed her stockings that evening and hung them over the embers to dry, and that the bag of gold fell into the stocking.”

Other Miracles

From the review we also learn: “The author seeks a historical basis for other St. Nicholas tales: his miraculous appearance aboard a foundering ship that guided it to safe harbor (an incident that made him the patron saint of sailors) and his intercession via a dream that prompted Constantine to spare the lives of three Roman military officers unjustly condemned to death.”

A Wealthy Man

Saint Nicholas is being described as an affluent man: “After his parents had gone to the Lord and left him much property and an abundance of money and possessions, he reckoned that he had God as his father.” (Source).

Such miracles only happen when big government does not confiscate your fortune.

It Is High Time For More Telecommuting And Smarter Traffic Management

The Current Situation

This will obviously be an incomplete description of the current situation.

How many hours are lost each day due to traffic congestion during rush hours? How much gas is wasted? And so on, because so many employees still follow this convention of driving to and from work every week day at about the same time. More flexible work hours so far appear to have had only a minor positive impact.

For various reasons roadways are not being built to alleviate some of this daily traffic ordeal during rush hour. Environmentalists and urban planners are against it and they tirelessly try to make commuting more of a hassle, e.g. HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes.

Telecommuting Is Ready For Prime Time

Like the paperless office in recent times, telecommuting was overhyped and overpromised when it started in the early 1970s. But what a difference 40 years makes! Before the industrial revolution it was very common to work at home for most workers.

Given today’s technology in the 21^st century it would be very feasible to implement telecommuting on a large scale to achieve something like that the average employee drives to work only a few days a week, the rest of the time he or she works from home or some other location that requires less driving. Nowadays, many office jobs could be done from home even those where sensitive information is involved. Most IT/software development work could be done from home as well.

Today, according to the Wall Street Journal just 6.6% of the US workforce work from home fulltime in 2010 up from 4.8% in 1997. That is a positive development in the right direction, but less than three percentage points in over a decade is very slow.

However, I do not advocate government intervention or subsidies to promote more telecommuting. Government could play a role in educating about the benefits of telecommuting. It could also reduce business taxation so businesses could opt to implement more telecommuting, if beneficial to their business.

More telecommuting offers businesses the opportunity to reduce all kinds of costs, e.g. buildings or other infrastructure.

US Health Insurance Companies Do It

A recent Wall Street Journal article titled “Out of the office but still on the job” (subscription required) by David Wessel published on 12/20/12 highlighted that at least two major health insurance companies in the US, i.e. Aetna and Cigna Corp., where a substantial number of employees work full time from home.

According to the article, “nearly half – 47% - of Aetna’s 35,000 US employees work from home. It allowed Aetna to “drive down costs, particularly real-estate costs … estimates … are 15% to 25% lower than they would otherwise be. … reduced Aetna’s total office space by 2.7 million square feet …”. “About 20% of employees at Cigna Corp … work from home.

Smarter Traffic Management

Something that I personally find offending when I commute to or from work or in general is that urban surface street traffic lights are too often timed in such a way that you are stopped at one light to be stopped again at the light just one or two blocks away on non-residential streets. Is this intentional or just coincidence? Given the ideological mindset of urban planners preoccupied with routing traffic or discouraging certain traffic I assume the former.

A recent article by the UC Berkeley NewsCenter titled “Cellphone, GPS Data Suggest New Strategy for Alleviating Traffic Tie-Ups” published on 12/20/12 gives you a flavor of what might be possible in the near future to smartly route commuter traffic based on our smart cell phones with built-in GPS, accelerometers etc.. This study got it a little wrong when it blames basically the commuter for the congestion by saying something like “not all drivers are contributing uniformly to congestion”. The focus of this study was probably also too narrow, but it nevertheless offers insights how our cell phone data could be used to minimize traffic congestion by offering advice to redirect traffic or by adjusting the timing of traffic lights etc.

Too Many Politicians Are Terrible Opportunists

Therefore Politicians Do Not Like Limited Small Government

This is one more profound reason to advocate and defend limited small government!

The reactions by politicians to the latest mass shootings by mentally ill male individuals provide ample evidence of this observation!

Good politicians instead resist the temptations of the moment and their ideological biases to serve the larger good!

The List Of Political Overreactions Is Very Long

Way too much federal legislation is driven by such opportunism. Here are just a very few examples of such irrational overreactions by big government:

·         Dodd Frank Act (2010)

·         ObamaCare Act (2010)

·         Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002)

·         Gun Control Act (1968)

·         Medicare under the Social Security Act (1965)

·         Pure Food And Drug Act (1906)

The Silent Majority

One has to fear that such crass opportunism is part of the human condition. How much longer have free, responsible individuals to suffer from this?

To learn more about political opportunism see, e.g. Wikipedia.

Revolution From The Top In France

The Last French Revolution Was From The Bottom

The famous predecessor of 1789 that wiped out the Ancient Regime was not least caused by punishing taxation of lower classes in France. This time it is perhaps the affluent citoyens who protest against consfiscatory tax increases imposed by the new socialist French President Francois Hollande. Mr. Hollande appears to be a remanent of the Ancient Regime since he did not learn the lessons of 1789.

Mr. Hollande during his election campaign advocated, e.g. a 75% tax on high income earners and raising taxes on capital gains and household wealth. This is legalized plunder by big government.

A One Man Resistance

French actor Gerard Depardieu in an open letter surrendered his French passport and social security after the French government made derogatory remarks about him. Mr. Darpadieu apparently grew up in humble circumstances before he became a nouveau riche through his career.

Mr. Depardieu told the public that he paid about €145 million in taxes over his 45 year long career and employed about 80 people in his business.

Mr. Depardieu is not the only rich French citoyen to leave France after the imposition of new, confiscatory taxes aimed at the rich citizens of France. Usually, the rich citoyens remain silent as not to attract the orchestrated violence of the mob or for other reasons when they protest, but Mr. Depardieu chose to be more outspoken. Bravo! Something for Hollywood actors to learn from.

Moving Across The Border

Mr. Depardieu moved from France into a small town in Belgium, i.e. Néchin, next to the French-Belgian border ostensibly protesting the latest confiscatory tax hikes. The French government calls him a tax evader, but he is more like a political dissident.

Recycling Of Consumer Packaging Material Is For Robots Not Humans

A Bright Future For Robots

Recycling of consumer waste by unpaid humans is inconvenient, a nuisance and a hassle.

Just read a summary of an article titled “Artificial Intelligence Helps Sort Used Batteries”. This article reminded me of my long held opinion that government efforts called recycling by having a large part of the population constantly separate trash by different categories is a nice modern public works program for its citizens exploiting their cheap labor.

German Efficiency And Uniformity To The Max

In Germany, its citizens have been mandated by big government since about the 1980s to comply with a nationwide “Trennmüll Sammlung” (separation of trash by various categories into different bins). All over the country, you find recycling bins at residences, businesses as well as in public spaces even for clear, green, and brown colored glass. A whole industry sprung up created by government mandate.

Robert Bork’s Antitrust Paradox Or Why Competition Is So Crucial To Free Markets

Bork’s Insight

Reportedly, the book title refers to late Robert Bork’s most famous book. He argued that antitrust laws and jurisprudence is to serve consumer welfare and competition. While former goal is a vague and debatable term, however the latter goal of competition definitely deserves attention. Too often antitrust measures are aimed at preserving certain competitors or industries, which is totally irrelevant.

Free Markets And Competition Are Complementary

It is competition among companies, competition for markets and consumers that makes companies come and go or win and lose. It is a very dynamic process. Individual companies do not matter, they serve their purpose for as long as they survive competition.

One of the primary objectives of economic policy is to increase competition to the largest extent possible between domestic and foreign companies, between small and large companies and so on.

Beware Of Nanotechnology Scares

Today, the Neue Zuericher Zeitung published an interesting article (German language) about how immature the research into health risks potentially caused by nano particles is.

Poor Quality Of Health Risk Research

To summarize the above newspaper article:

·     Claims are being made that not enough funds are available for research into health risks

·    There are only few experts so far in the field of toxicology of nanotechnology

·   Almost any research is published in this field, therefore it attracts incompetent newcomers

·    Published research by far does not yet meet strict criteria of scientific research procedures. E.g. researchers in the field abuse overdosing of nano particles; some research reports lack positive control tests and so on

Conclusion

If you see an article published about purported dangers of nanotechnology, take it with a big grain of salt.

The Federal Reserve Is An Incompetent Servant Of Two Masters

A Servant Of Two Masters

Here is the interpretation as it applies to this blog post:

1.       A servant of two masters will have a hard time to serve both masters well.

2.       Under some circumstances it is conceivable that the servant can play the two masters and pursue his own interests. This applies in particular in this case since the two masters are only economic concepts.

A Desperate Ben Bernanke

Economics professor Ben Bernanke this week (on 12/11/2012) took an unfortunate ambivalence of US monetary policy to a new low when he linked the continuation of recklessly low interest rates to an unemployment rate target.

Is Bernanke obsessed with proving that Milton Friedman got it wrong?

A Bit Of Background

1978 the US Congress passed the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act which among many other things requires the Federal Reserve to achieve simultaneously full employment growth and price stability. By the way, this big government law should be repealed the sooner the better.

Economists have for a long time debated whether a central bank has the means to achieve two disparate economic goals at the same time with limited instruments at its disposal. For decades, the consensus among economists (if there ever is such a thing among economists) is that a central bank is better at maintaining domestic and external monetary stability than stimulating economic growth. Monetary policy should be rule bound and predictable. This fact is well known among economists for decades.

One Of The Best Acronyms Of Recent Times: PIGS

This acronym PIGS stands for Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain.

Delectable Pejorative Connotations

This straightforward acronym not too well known beyond the financial industry has become greater than life since the sovereign debt crisis in the Euro zone. In particular, I like the fitting pejorative connotations.

Out Of The Bible

To quote from the Bible: “Do not cast … pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.” (Bible Matthew 7:6 as part of the Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount). Is this not what almost happened to the Euro zone?

Gluttonous Animals

Do they not say that pigs have a propensity to eat too much when offered lots of food? Like the PIGS, they could not resist low interest rates etc. to load up excessively on government debt.

Conservative Soul Searching After The Debacle

A Recent Article

Post presidential election of 2012, conservatives of all persuasions are analyzing and debating. Most recently Mr. Peter Berkowitz in an Opinion page article titled “Conservative Survival in a Progressive Age” (unfortunately, subscription required) in the Wall Street Journal on 12/13/2012.

What’s In A Headline

The headline chosen by Mr. Berkowitz can easily make one cringe.

First, conservatives (Mr. Berkowitz means those advocating individual liberty and self-government) do not have to worry about survival. The general trend of all human history is and will likely continue to be towards more individual liberty.

Second, Mr. Berkowitz implies in his headline that we are living a “Progressive Age”. The Bible was already very progressive, I might say. Age of Reason or Enlightenment is perhaps too old fashioned. For a fellow of the Hoover Institution to allude that conservatives maybe dispensable in a progressive age is a poor judgment of conservatism.

Berkowitz Advocates Limited Big Government

To quote Berkowitz: “The first entrenched reality is that big government is her to stay. Instead [conservatives] should think and speak in terms of limited [big] government.”. How awful is that for a conservative? To accept big government as an eternal reality is to have it backwards. A big mistake of analysis and judgment. There is no compelling reason why government has to be big in a sense that it significantly affects or controls all aspects of each citizen’s life.

Worse, Mr. Berkowitz contradicts himself since he defines conservatism as individual liberty and self-government. Well, if all people would exercise responsible self-government we would barely or rarely need a government. Thus, good limited government helps people to become more responsible for themselves and improves self-government of the people.

The Sexual Revolution Perhaps The Greatest Social Revolution

To quote Berkowitz: “The second entrenched reality, this one testing social conservatives, is the sexual revolution, perhaps the greatest social revolution in human history. The invention… of the birth control pill meant for the first time … women could … reliably control reproduction. … to enter the workforce and pursue careers.”. Mr. Berkowitz spends about a third of his article to argue that “… social conservatives should refrain from attempting to use the federal government to enforce the traditional understanding of sex, marriage and the family”. I think, he gives way too much weight to the influence of so called social conservatives.

Without the Age of Reason/Enlightenment and Capitalism, the birth control pill would probably still not be invented. The Agriculture or the Bible was already a social revolution.

Ben Bernanke - The Worst Central Banker Ever

Ben Bernanke Secured His Place In History

He sure will go down in history as one of the worst and most reckless governor of a major central bank of all times. At the same time this Princeton professor will also have the honor to be one of the worst influential economists of all times.

This week Ben Bernanke did it again instead of resigning immediately he continued his reckless policies. A Wall Street Journal op-ed article captured it quite well.

Ben Bernanke Committed Again Multiple Counts Of Recklessness

As I said before in other blog posts (e.g. here, and here), money and credit should never be cheap as it only fuels speculation, overinvestment, government overspending. Interest rates are the price of money, they are also a rate of return. Savers, insurance companies, other countries (e.g. South Korea) etc. are hurt by excessively low US interest rates. In the presence of extremely low interest rates massive amounts of capital will be misallocated. Any economist who does not understand this relationship is lousy.

Here are two more links to my previous blog posts covering US monetary policy: here, here.

Ben Bernanke Is An Accomplice In Covering Up Profligate Government Spending

Bailing out the government by buying large amounts of government bonds and keeping interest rates so low is a sure recipe for higher inflation. In their latest statement, the fed even admitted that they are willing to allow inflation to go up by 0.5 percentage points. Do these highly compensated amateur economists at the Fed really believe inflation is dead or that they are capable of controlling it should inflation begin to accelerate? Why do these Fed economists think that more monetary easing will stimulate economic growth?

Reportedly, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that every 100 basis points increase in interest rates adds $100 billion a year to government interest spending.

Ben Bernanke Inflated The Fed’s Balance Sheet Fourfold To $4 Trillion

In the next 12 months or so, the Fed plans to buy another trillion dollar of government bonds and mortgage backed securities. That is insane! When Ben Bernanke started as governor the Fed was holding less than a trillion dollar of such securities, by the end of 2013 it will be about four trillion dollars or more. To put this into perspective, the annual US GDP is about $15-16 trillion.

Few Examples Of How Arizona High Way Patrol Officers Waste Tax Payers' Money

Parking On The Sideline

Quite often during rush hour you see a highway patrol car parked highly visible next to the shoulder like a scare crow. All of a sudden traffic slows down in fear of this one vehicle. What a costly nonsense!

Not only does this cause ripple effects, as I surmise, but it makes driving on the highways more dangerous since this contributes to those dreaded, irrational sudden stops on the highways during rush hour.

Reporting A Low Impact, No Casualty Accident

How long does it take a highway patrol officer to write-up a traffic accident of two vehicles involved in a slow speed, little damage, and no casualties accident? More than 30 minutes, despite the fact that this officer is equipped with a tough notebook.

Do you think in the 21^st century, the highway patrol officer would take any digital pictures of the accident or digitally record the statements made by the persons involved in the accident? Are you kidding! The least you would expect is that the highway patrol officer takes digital pictures of the scene and persons.

Why did this highway patrol officer feel obliged to officially report this accident? Because the estimated damage of this accident was above $1,000. If this is the official threshold for reporting an accident by highway police, then that means almost every accident a highway police officer encounters need to be reported. Is that right?

Receiving A Copy Takes A Minimum Of 15 Days

One of the notes at the bottom of the “Arizona Department Of Public Safety – Collision Exchange Slip” says “Please allow for 15 days before requesting a copy of your collision report.” This “Slip” is not to be confused with the “report”. E.g. it does not contain any details about the collision.

Is this the 21^st century and it takes the police 15 or more days to furnish a collision report? The police must be seriously understaffed or …

Proposal For Profound Reforms Of Western Big Government Democracies

Introduction

As I mentioned before it is sometimes appropriate to take the tabula rasa approach meaning to start with a clean slate.

Governments of Western democracies have become way too big and intrusive over the past hundred years or so, in particular in the US. Individual liberty and responsibility have become hollow. A substantial correction is overdue.

A Brief Definition Of Public Service

Public service as defined here is to include everyone including elected representatives, first responders (police officers, firefighters, etc.), judges, and civil servants paid primarily by tax payers for their service. As an aside, fire fighting could potentially be privatized.

Election By Random Drawing Of Everyone In Public Service

This might be too radical a proposal. However, I would argue that the democratic principle of one man, one vote is a dead end road. But if jurors are randomly drawn for jury duty in our courts of justice why not everyone who works in public service. This would certainly remove much of the ridiculous partisanship we have observed for decades.

This would improve the understanding that everyone, not only those who claim they have a particular vocation for public service, has the responsibility to serve the public. Public service by the people, for the people, and of the people.

Finally, elected representatives would be a representative sample of the population. E.g. Gerrymandering would be a relique of the past.

Just imagine if judges were randomly drawn. Perhaps, finally more common sense instead of lofty or construed legal principals would prevail in the court system.

A randomly chosen candidate should pass a qualification/aptitude test. Once the candidate has passed this test, he or she will be trained thoroughly for the job.

We may need three heads of government (e.g. three US presidents) or three judges for every court.

Strict Term Limits For Everyone In Public Service

Everybody who works in public service should be term limited. No exception!

Public service should not be a live time occupation or sinecure. Overall, I believe such a rotation of public servants would be beneficial compared to the status quo.

No Health Care For Everyone In Public Service

Everyone in public service should be adequately compensated so they can buy health services or insurance on the free markets. Living by example.

No Pensions For Everyone In Public Service

Everyone in public service should be adequately compensated so they can buy services or products or save for their retirement on the free markets. Living by example.

Epilog

This is just a taste!

Why Mitt Romney So Awfully Failed!

Sandy Was Romney’s Opportunity To Shine

Besides being way too vague and timid on policy issues or his reform plans, he missed his opportunity when superstorm Sandy hit the north east coast. Mitt Romney turned out to be as timid as those too big to fail bank CEOs who were arm twisted by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

A Mormon Without Charity When It Counts

Did nobody advise Mitt Romney to write immediately a check of one million dollars to the Red Cross or other aid organizations in the wake of Sandy? This would have been one heck of a photo op.

If the some of the richest Americans commit half of their billions of dollars of their wealth to good causes why couldn’t he seize the opportunity?

Fuel Trucks Anybody?

Why did Romney not immediately buy hundreds of fuel trucks to help the victims of Sandy to fill up their cars? Each truck could have been emblazoned with “Vote For Romney!”. Thus, he would have proven leadership and that one man alone can outdo the federal and state governments.

Losing Faith In The American People

Yes, I do as a first generation immigrant to the USA!

Four More Years With Obama

What happened on election day of November 6, 2012? The souls of the founders of this great nation had to witness how one of the worst presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt was reelected. This must have hurt! Was this a vote of a food stamp nation or an electorate of which 40% or so pay no federal taxes?

Those Who Voted For Obama

Deserve Neither Liberty Nor Safety

The Great American Experiment is only 236 years old, but the majority of the current generation of American people is too complacent and ignorant. Many contemporaries would never subscribe to “give me liberty or give me death” or would never pledge “our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor”.

Benjamin Franklin said it best “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” What would Benjamin say today?

What happened to the Tea Party that turned the election of 2010 around?

Is it possible that conservative Christians did not vote for a Mormon to become president, because e.g. Mormons are considered to be a sect?

Last Best Hope

The World is watching as this exceptional Nation continues to vanish from earth by its own doing.

Let me conclude with Abraham Lincoln’s famous quote from his Second Annual Message on December 1, 1862: “In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free--honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth.”

My hope is that non-Western countries like India, China, Brazil and so on will not repeat these mistakes, but learn from them and exceed were the Westerners failed.

Arizona Proposition 114: Protecting Crime Victims From Liability For Damages Deserves No Vote

Preface

I know, I am coming late, only two days left to the November 6, 2012 election. Unfortunately, I did not have time to read the Arizona’s General Election Guide any earlier.

Official Content Of Proposition

Here is the link to the official webpage for Proposition 114.

“1. Article II, section 31, Constitution of Arizona, is proposed to be amended as follows if approved by the voters and on proclamation of the Governor:

 31. Damages for death or personal injuries

Section 31. No law shall be enacted in this state limiting the amount of damages to be recovered for causing the death or injury of any person, EXCEPT THAT A CRIME VICTIM IS NOT SUBJECT TO A CLAIM FOR DAMAGES BY A PERSON WHO IS HARMED WHILE THE PERSON IS ATTEMPTING TO ENGAGE IN, ENGAGING IN OR FLEEING AFTER HAVING ENGAGED IN OR ATTEMPTED TO ENGAGE IN CONDUCT THAT IS CLASSIFIED AS A FELONY OFFENSE.

 2. Article XVIII, section 6, Constitution of Arizona, is proposed to be amended as follows if approved by the voters and on proclamation of the Governor:

 6. Recovery of damages for injuries

Section 6. The right of action to recover damages for injuries shall never be abrogated, and the amount recovered shall not be subject to any statutory limitation, EXCEPT THAT A CRIME VICTIM IS NOT SUBJECT TO A CLAIM FOR DAMAGES BY A PERSON WHO IS HARMED WHILE THE PERSON IS ATTEMPTING TO ENGAGE IN, ENGAGING IN OR FLEEING AFTER HAVING ENGAGED IN OR ATTEMPTED TO ENGAGE IN CONDUCT THAT IS CLASSIFIED AS A FELONY OFFENSE.

 3. Short title

This measure may be cited as the "Crime Victims Protection Act of 2012".”

No Arguments Against Proposition 114

According to the above mentioned General Election Guide “[t]here were no arguments “against” Proposition 114” only two separate arguments for it.

This caught my eye. Do we have to assume everything is OK with this proposition? Is it so self-evident? I doubt it.

My Arguments Against This Proposition

Such common sense, detailed legalistic instructions should never be written into a constitution! Period. A constitution should be written in a concise language that almost anyone can understand. It should be strictly limited to essential principles.

If a criminal successfully sues an innocent victim of the crime for injuries inflicted by the victim while committing the crime, then something is wrong with the judge or jury or the victim’s attorney was incompetent. Instead of a constitutional amendment, a law would be in my estimation sufficient to achieve this purpose.

Just the long winded definition of these two constitutional amendments are big red flags indicating there will be lots of trouble ahead to interpret these legalese.

Mideast Peace Drip By Drip

Sometimes It Takes Only One Man

His name Daniel Hillel. A Jew born in Los Angeles who moved to what later became Israel in 1931. The Wall Street Journal had an interview on 10/15/2012 with this soil scientist who developed micro-irrigation techniques (better known as drip irrigation) since the 1950s.

Thus, he contributed to turn Israeli’s deserts into productive agricultural farms. Israel thanks to him and others is a world leader in agricultural technologies and exporter of agricultural goods.

Helping The Arab & Muslim People

Mr. Hillel helped numerous Arab and Muslim countries to improve their agricultural output by using water more efficiently like Jordan, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Iran, Pakistan and Palestine.

Such individual contributions to peace and prosperity are more valuable than many of these foolish high level peace talks or sophisticated diplomacy that are often more photo op for politicians than anything else.

Indispensable Plastics

In the above interview, Mr. Hillel made the point that it was the plastics boom in the 1960s that made among other things low-cost weather-resistant plastics available. Without plastics, micro-irrigation would likely not have taken off.

The Future Of Hydrocarbon Fuels

Replacement Of Fossil Fuels

I cannot predict how long humans will still largely depend on hydrocarbon fuels for most of their growing energy needs, but I guess this dependency will not really be reversed for another 50-100 years.

Despite the current ongoing discovery of new recoverable oil/gas fields and improved extraction technologies, I believe, the next big thing is to be able to produce hydrocarbon fuels in large quantities using genetically modified bacteria or plants or the like. Given the current exponential pace of technological and scientific progress, I think, such a breakthrough is imminent.

So Called Renewable Energies Are More Like Dead End Roads

Most renewable energies in use today (e.g. wind, water, solar, food for fuel, geothermal) are for various reasons only sources of supplemental energy instead of becoming a substitute to current sources of energy.

Biofuels are obviously so problematic, I don’t think I have to discuss this here. They are an insult to our intelligence.

The massive return to unreliable wind energy by using modern wind mills is an idea born by Don Quixotes.

The exploitation of water energy has also run into serious limitations (environmental as well). Mankind now has thousands of years of experience with engineering water for irrigation and more recently for energy use.

If solar energy efficiency can greatly be increased, solar energy has perhaps the best chance to make significant contributions in the future since the sun is much more reliable and a fairly constant source of energy that can be tapped into with fewer negative side effects.

What would be the consequences if we were to tap into geothermal energy on a massive scale? Would it cool down our planet faster and what happens then? I would guess this is also a limited source of energy.

Other Sources Of Energy

For decades we are waiting on nuclear fusion to become a viable source of almost unlimited energy production. However, the deep seated, human confusion and superstition about nuclear weapons, radioactive radiation, and nuclear energy are tough to beat. The Fukoshima nuclear accident and what followed has been a prime object lesson of human irrationality and folly even as we enter the 21^st century.

Maybe one day we will be able to harness hydrogen power on a large scale. Presumably, this would be a fairly safe and environmentally friendly source of energy. However, too many humans still remember the Hindenburg accident of 1937, right? Had this major accident not be so extraordinary well covered by radio broadcasts and photography …

As with hydrocarbon fuels (see above), I suspect that perhaps within the next two decades we might be able to cheaply produce sufficient hydrogen through genetically modified organisms/plants or by other means.

What about photosynthesis? Photosynthesis may one day in the near future become the true form of solar energy.

Future Energy Demand At A Crossroad?

Over history, the worldwide demand for energy per capita has been rising ever since and there is a good chance that this trend will continue for at least another 100 years. The question is how fast will this demand rise?

However, world population growth may finally peak in the next few decades and there is a good chance that world population may even begin to shrink before we enter the 22^nd century thanks to declining total fertility rates, increased life expectancy and other factors.

As long as the per capita energy use is so divergent among humans on this planet, there is a huge demand waiting to be fulfilled. Thus, during the next two or three decades world energy demand will rise fast, but once per capita energy use is more homogeneous across the earth than today, we may see a significant slowdown.

There is a huge potential for energy savings or conservation like more telecommuting/teleconferencing, more energy efficient homes, self-driving cars, LED light and so on, but I am afraid this will only slow down rising energy demand.

As we go along with the exponential progress of the technology revolution that brought as computers, modern telecommunications, the Internet etc., energy consumption has increased dramatically. We are only at the beginning of this revolution. The massive built out of networks, data storage and processing etc. or whatever the future holds in store will continue.

In summary, I believe, worldwide per capita energy demand will rise significantly for the foreseeable future. Therefore, e.g. so called renewable energies are not more like a supplemental source of energy to satisfy an enormous future energy demand.

COBRA Health Insurance - A Big Government Joke

A Bit Of Background

COBRA stands for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985. As far as its health insurance portion is concerned it is a prime example of lousy big government legislation coming out of Washington, DC.

Essentially it allows an employee to keep his/her employer-sponsored health insurance if a “qualifying event” like lay off occurs as if the qualifying event did not occur. This coverage is available for a maximum of up to 18 months. Great idea, but big government is what it is incapable: monstrosities instead of designing practical, cheap, and free market solutions.

This law is also a fine example of what ails the US health care system, where big government has essentially taken over health care to an extent that it resembles national health care services like in the UK or Germany.

COBRA Health Insurance Is Very Expensive!

Having been recently laid off myself, I received the usual notice letter from my former employer about my “right to continue health care coverage” under COBRA.

The catch: It would cost me $386 for single and $829 for employee & spouse coverage per month. These premiums include the employer share as well. While I was employed, I used to pay $208 per month.

On the market of individual health insurance, I would be able to obtain health insurance with a similar coverage for significantly less than $386. My unemployment benefits here in Arizona are $240 per week (the maximum benefit). What were the legislators in Washington, DC thinking or smoking to come up with such a lousy law?

Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Is Too Expensive

Given my example above, it is clear that at $386 the employer-sponsored coverage was way too expensive compared with what is available to the individual on the market of individual health insurance. The company, I worked for was small.

I venture to guess that my example is typical across the country irrespective of the size of the employer. Thus, I would presume that health insurance for most employees in the US is significantly overpriced thanks to this prevalent employer-sponsored group health insurance system.

Better Solutions

Apart from a fundamental, free market reform of health care insurance, which I would prefer, federal legislators have had at least two choices for a more sensible reform:

1.       Abolish the tax deductibility of health insurance for companies or

2.       Allow individuals to enjoy the same kind of tax deductibility as companies