Daily Archives: 21 December 2009

Peter Schiff on the Death Tax and other legalized plunder

Many Austrian Economic principles come up in this talk. Government cannot create jobs, it can only redirect them. Estate taxes destroy accumulated capital.

Peter Schiff more on death tax, and the disaster of our healthcare legislation.

Peter Schiff on the Man of the Year

I’m very impressed with Peter Schiff.

Welcome to Post Office Health Care

America’s health-care system has problems — all traceable to government intervention — but it could be worse. And if the so-called reform emerging in Congress is enacted, it will be worse.

The nub of the plan is that everyone must have health insurance and that all but the smallest employers should provide it. If someone doesn’t have coverage, he’ll be penalized. Low-income people will be subsidized by the taxpayers. Government will determine what’s covered, which will set off a lobbying frenzy by providers of “indispensable” services and products. (This already goes on in the states, where “mandated benefits” include coverage for drug and alcoholism treatment, in vitro fertilization, and other less-than-widely-used services.) So people will be forced to have coverage they may not want.

Insurers will not be able to deny coverage or charge higher premiums to people already ill, that is, with so-called pre-existing conditions. The mandate to insure everyone and charge the same price regardless of health means that some will be forced to subsidize others. People of whatever income level whose insurance premiums would have been lower without the mandate will have to spend more because risk-based premiums will be illegal. That is not insurance; it’s welfare. (Read more from campaignforliberty.com)

WSJ: “$26 Software Is Used to Breach Key Weapons in Iraq; Iranian Backing Suspected”

Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations. (Read more from online.wsj.com)

My bullshit meter just went off the charts.

Europe Also Inflating — beware the red herring

Hey guys. Pay attention to this. The talking heads on Television will probably try to spin stories like this one to disguise the demise of the dollar. Europe’s inflationary policies do not help us, but they serve as a red herring for the propagandists.

The euro tumbled as debt woes spread around the euro zone from Greece, where pledges of austerity and fiscal rigor failed to stem growing fears that the Continent’s economic recovery could be derailed.

The euro fell as low as $1.4505 on Tuesday, its lowest level since early October. New worries about Austrian banking also roiled markets, with rumors of trouble at an Austrian lender with shaky investments in Eastern Europe following Monday’s surprise nationalization of another Austrian bank at the behest of the European Central Bank. (Read more from online.wsj.com)

Patrick Barron’s comments:

The Fed and the ECB are trying the old “beggar thy neighbor” policy, whereby each tries to cheapen its own currency in order to spur exports to its neighbor. Great plan. Now both currencies can crash together. Misery loves company, I guess.