I will be on a panel discussion at York College, October 4 focusing on economic, social and foreign policy issues. For more information, see http://athena.ycp.edu/wv3/wv3_servlet/urd/run/wv_event.DayList#wv_event.Detail?id=719890.
Archive for September, 2012
The kabuki continues
30
Sep
Ban hospitals
22
Sep
The Wall Street Journal article, How to Stop Hospitals From Killing Us, is a sober reminder that life has enormous risks. When highly trained individuals are responsible for nearly 100,000 deaths annually due to medical errors, where is the outrage among the gun prohibitionists, who claim that gun ownership must be severely restricted because of the needless deaths associated with gun violence. If the number of deaths is considered the standard by which we should judge whether something should be prohibited or restricted, then an excellent case could be made that hosptials are three to four times more lethal than gun owenership.
Scoop: New York City’s population to explode after Mayor Bloomberg’s next really big announcement
13
Sep
New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg basking in the glow of getting the Health Department to ban large size sodas in most food establishments will soon announce his latest initiative to improve life in his city. According to reliable sources, after Rosh Hashana Mayor Bloomberg will annouce that he will outlaw death in the Big Apple. Bloomberg will say that it is time we in government use our powers to end the pain of suffering of widows, widowers, children, grandchildren, friends, collegaues and neighbors. He will say that death denies New Yorkers their right to live forever, enjoy good health for eternity, and collect Social Security. By outlawing death Bloomberg will say we can end overpriced funerals and end the demand for garrish caskets in which organized crime figures are laid to rest.
Mayor Bloomberg will order all his department heads to draw up plans to accompany the influx of tens of millions of Americans who will want to live in New York now that they will no longer have to face the Grim Reaper. In addition, Bloomberg will argue that by outlawing death New York will be the safest city in the world, thereby allowing his administration to dramatically reduce the police force. Bloomberg will announce that he will live in New York forever, because his edict about outlawing death is void if any New Yorker leaves the city. He will say, “I love New Yorkers, and I want everyone to live happily until the end of time, and remember that the ban on large soda containers is just the beginning to make my people the healthiest in the universe.”
REFLATION!!!!!!
13
Sep
Some of my opening prepared remarks: “Why the federal government creates Ponzi schemes”
13
Sep
Some observations before I begin:
There are no tax loopholes; there are deductions, exemptions and credits in the tax code. A loophole is a political word.
Herbert Hoover was not a laissez faire president; federal spending increased, taxes increased, the Federal Reserve boosted the money supply, government got bigger and unemployment skyrocketed under HH. Dems have been successfully running against HH for the wrong reasons. FDR was the fiscal conservative in the 1932 presidential campaign. FDR expanded the HH’s expansion of federal government power. Result: depression lasted for more than a decade.
My letter in The Record Sept. 7 about the Federal Reserve
07
Sep
Only gold standard can revive economy
Regarding “More Fed help available” (Page A-1, Sept. 1):
The last thing the U.S. economy needs is another round of dollar debasement. To prevent a greater economic catastrophe that is already baked into the cake because of its previous quantitative easing, the Federal Reserve should not create any more money out of thin air.
The Fed’s dual mandate, stable prices and low unemployment, is unachievable because a market economy relies on savings and investment, not artificially low interest rates, to create goods and services the people want. In a free-market economy, prices are not “stable” but decline slowly as the supply of goods increases over time. Massive unemployment is the result of the bubble bursting and subsequent repeated attempts to “stimulate” the economy with more government spending and quantitative easing, the very policies that are responsible for the current sluggish economy.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke should have learned the foremost principle of monetary economics from Ludwig von Mises: “The gold standard alone makes the determination of money’s purchasing power independent of the ambitions and machinations of governments, dictators, political parties and pressure groups.”
Fiat money has failed to create sustainable prosperity with low unemployment. It is time to make the dollar as good as gold once again.
Murray Sabrin
Fort Lee, Sept. 1
The writer, professor of finance at Ramapo College of New Jersey in Mahwah, has been a Libertarian and Republican Party candidate for statewide public offices.
Clinton warns the Dems
06
Sep
Corey Booker…wants the “wealthy to pay their fair share”
05
Sep
At the Democratic convention, Newark mayor Corey Booker’s call for higher taxes on the wealthy so the federal government can spend more on welfare programs is emblematic of the morally bankrupt ideology of the Democratic party. Shamelessly, Booker is another example of why most politicians are nothing more than slick Willie Suttons.