How Piracy Works Against an Unnatural Monopoly

What the market giveth, the state rises to taketh away.

One of the more striking features of this whole modern spectacle must surely be the stark contrast between the state and the free markets that exist stubbornly, gloriously, in spite of its best efforts. Wherever evidence presents itself, it appears to do so with the sole purpose of expressing this juxtaposition in ever-higher relief.

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Taking Back Habeas Corpus

“I’m a little Ron Paulish,” declared bond king Bill Gross to CNBC.

Recall from yesterday’s 5 that in his monthly letter, Gross groused that near-zero interest rates would hamstring developed economies and even “give a rise to commodities and gold as store of value alternatives when there is little value left in paper.”

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The Speak-Easy Economy

There’s a Mexican restaurant I like (I’m not saying where it is) that seems to thrive in good times and bad. It never has a shortage of servers, cooks and people to bus the tables, even when there are only a few customer cars out front. Actually, it is hard to tell the workers from the customers, and extended family seems to appear from nowhere, people of all ages, sometimes eating, sometimes just visiting and sometimes going back and forth to the kitchen.

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Persistent Questions About the Future of the US Economy

We’ve covered a lot of ground over the past few months. Not much action in the markets yesterday, so let’s stop here and take stock.

What we know so far…

First, it was clear from the get-go that there was a bubble in finance and housing. The only people who couldn’t see it were the people in finance and housing…and the feds. It reached its peak in ’05-’07…then, exploded.

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Unattainable Government Goals

Yesterday, investors digested the big news from Wednesday…the Fed’s announcement that it would continue handing out money, asking nothing in return, for the next three years.

Stocks went down. Oil stayed under $100. The yield on the 10-year note fell under 2%. And gold just kept going up.

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Obama’s Fairness Doctrine

“The US is going to hell,” we told the group at the Watergate last night.

“You mean the economy is really going to get worse, huh?”

“No, I mean it’s going to hell.”

We had been invited to watch the State of the Union address with a group of dinosaurs…a group approaching extinction with dignity and intelligence. You might call them ‘thinking conservatives,’ ‘paleo-conservatives’ or ‘constitutionalists.’ Whatever they were, they were not like the scoundrels currently running for the Republican nomination or the yahoos who vote for them. They were more like a renegade, retrograde group…like a secret society of White Russian intellectuals after the Revolution of 1917. They cling to hope…that the nation will come to its senses…that the constitution will again be honored…and that the old republic, established by the founding fathers, will be resurrected…

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Knowing Your Role as an Obedient Citizen

We can see them there, huddled under cover of night, assembled in the darkened corners of dimly-lit bars, conversing in hushed tones, eyes darting nervously, wondering who among them might turn coat. Which man here conceals a Ministry badge? Do I hide one myself? Dare I even ask?

How their hands do tremble. How their voices quiver, knowing that a second of free expression might cost the author his life. How shall we ever find our way home again, to the land of the free?

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Getting out of Dodge, Part II

Doug: Stating that the US is turning into a police state when you started this conversation was quite accurate. You can see more and more videos spreading over the Internet, not just of police brutality, but demonstrating the militarization and federalization of police, who are being inculcated with both disdain for and paranoia about ordinary citizens.

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Power vs. People in the Digital Age

The government seems determined to turn out the lights on the digital age. And this is with or without SOPA or the other bills that were only this week shouted down by the global digital community on Blackout Wednesday. The very next day after support for that legislation collapsed after an impressive mass protest, the FBI and the Justice Department demonstrated that they don’t have to pay any attention to all this silly clamor. Congress, legislation, polling, debates, politicians, the will of the people — it’s all a sideshow to these people.

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