Soros the Keynsian
Markets do not correct their own excesses. Either there is too much demand or too little. This is what the economist John Maynard Keynes explained to the world, except that he is not listened to by some people in Germany. But Keynes explained it very well — when there is a deficiency of demand, you have to use public policy to stimulate the economy. 
In the rest of the interview, I think he says that Germany should bailout the Euro Zone, but as is usually the case with Keynsians, it isn’t completely clear.
A space alien asks: ‘What is Government?’
Walnuts are DRUGS! FDA makes bizarre claim after seller says they ‘reduce risk of heart disease and cancer’
They may just be the hardest drugs on the market, if the FDA are to be believed.
A company which sells walnuts has been told they are dealing in drugs because their packaging suggests health benefits which the Food and Drug Administration has not approved, it has been reported.
A fiercely-worded letter from the agency allegedly insisted Diamond Foods, from Stockton, California, remove the health claims or send off for a new drug application if it did not wish to be closed down.
The nut company has been selling its products with packaging which states the omega-3 fatty acids in walnuts have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and some types of cancer.
But while the claims are backed up by research, including 35 published medical papers supporting assertions that eating walnuts improves vascular health and may reduce risk of heart attacks, the FDA is said to have insisted the company is ‘misbranding’ its foods because the ‘product bears health claims that are not authorised by the FDA’. (Read more)
“No Treason” — Lysander Spooner on the War of Secession, the Constitution, Consent and Liberty
This was an very courageous essay by Lysander Spooner written in 1867, in the aftermath of the war.
Biggest Holders of US Government Debt
This borrowing adds to the national debt, which has recently surpassed $15 trillion and is rising every second. The amount of debt is quickly approaching the federal debt ceiling, a legal limit to borrowing that currently stands at $16.4 trillion.
Much of that debt is held by private sector, but about 40 percent is held by public entities, including parts of the government. Here’s who owns the most. Foreign countries listed include private and public investors, according to monthly U.S. Treasury data.
1. Federal Reserve and Intragovernmental Holdings
U.S. debt holdings: $6.328 trillion
. . . .
2. China
U.S. debt holdings: $1.132 trillion
. . . .
3. Other Investors/Savings Bonds
U.S. debt holdings $1.107 trillion
With the most recent numbers from June 2011, this extremely diverse group includes individuals, government-sponsored enterprises, brokers and dealers, bank personal trusts, estates, savings bonds, corporate and noncorporate businesses for a total of $1.107 trillion.
. . . .
4. Japan
U.S. debt holdings: $1.038 trillion
. . . .
5. Pension Funds
U.S. debt holdings: $842.2 billion
. . . .
6. Mutual Funds
U.S. debt holdings: $653.5 billion
. . . .
7. State and Local Governments
U.S. debt holdings: $484.4 billion
. . . .
8. The United Kingdom
U.S. debt holdings: $429.4 billion
. . . .
9. Depository Institutions
U.S. debt holdings: $284.5 billion
. . . .
10. Insurance Companies
U.S. debt holdings: $250.1 billion
Israel teams with terror group to kill Iran’s nuclear scientists, U.S. officials tell NBC News
By Richard Engel and Robert Windrem
NBC News
Updated: 11:14 a.m. ET — Deadly attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists are being carried out by an Iranian dissident group that is financed, trained and armed by Israel’s secret service, U.S. officials tell NBC News, confirming charges leveled by Iran’s leaders.
The group, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, has long been designated as a terrorist group by the United States, accused of killing American servicemen and contractors in the 1970s and supporting the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran before breaking with the Iranian mullahs in 1980.
The attacks, which have killed five Iranian nuclear scientists since 2007 and may have destroyed a missile research and development site, have been carried out in dramatic fashion, with motorcycle-borne assailants often attaching small magnetic bombs to the exterior of the victims’ cars. (Read more)
Opposition leader in S Ossetia in coma as riot police raids her office
Russia and Georgia fought a brief war over the status of South Ossetia, which resulted in their semi-autonomy, and increased Russian influence.
The situation in Tskhinvali region became tense, Alla Dzhioyeva, the candidate of the so-called presidential elections of South Ossetia was hospitalized on Thursday, after law enforcers break into the headquarter of the party.
A doctor in the hospital said Dzhioyeva suffered a hypertensive crisis and was presently in intensive care.
Her opponent, Anatoly Bibilov, claimed to be backed by Russia.
Schiff: Don’t believe the hype — the U.S economy is not recovering, it’s getting sicker.
Not just the Euro putting pressure on EU unity. Also, Immigration.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday threatened to wreck the European free travel zone unless there is a new pact to cut down on illegal immigration.
His warning in an election campaign speech threw a question mark over the future of the Schengen zone, regarded by Brussels as the EU’s second most important achievement after the single currency.
The 25 Schengen countries allow travellers to pass each other’s borders without checks or the need for visas.
But a wave of immigrants who began arriving in Italy and southern Europe following the Arab Spring last year has put the 27-year-old zone under unprecedented pressure.
(Read more)
Alexander Selkirk WAS Robinson Crusoe
This is a deviation from my usual themes. Posting it just because it’s so damn interesting:
Selkirk had grave concerns about the seaworthiness of this vessel. He tried to convince some of his crewmates to desert with him, remaining on the island; he was counting on an impending visit by another ship. No one else agreed to come along with him. Stradling declared that he would grant him his wish and leave him alone on Juan Fernández. Selkirk promptly regretted his decision. He chased and called after the boat, to no avail. Selkirk lived the next four years and four months without any human company. . . .
Hearing strange sounds from inland, which he feared were dangerous beasts, Selkirk remained at first along the shoreline. During this time he ate shellfish, and scanned the ocean daily for rescue, suffering all the while from loneliness, misery and remorse. Hordes of raucous sea lions, gathering on the beach for the mating season, eventually drove him to the island’s interior. Once there, his way of life took a turn for the better. More foods were now available: feral goats – introduced by earlier sailors – provided him with meat and milk and wild turnips, cabbage, and black pepper berries offered him variety and spice. Although rats would attack him at night, he was able, by domesticating and living near feral cats, to sleep soundly and in safety.
Selkirk proved resourceful in using equipment from the ship as well as materials that were native to the island. He built two huts[1] out of pimento trees. He used his musket to hunt goats and his knife to clean their carcasses. As his gunpowder dwindled, he had to chase prey on foot. During one such chase he was badly injured when he tumbled from a cliff, lying unconscious for about a day. (His prey had cushioned his fall, sparing him a broken back.)[2] He read from the Bible frequently, finding it a comfort to him in his condition and a mainstay for his English.
When Selkirk’s clothes wore out, he made new garments from goatskin using a nail for sewing. The lessons he had learned as a child from his father, a tanner, helped him greatly during his stay on the island. As his shoes became unusable, he had no need to make new ones, since his toughened, callused feet made protection unnecessary. He forged a new knife out of barrel rings left on the beach.
Two vessels had arrived and departed before his escape, but both were Spanish. As a Scotsman and privateer, he risked a terrible fate if captured and therefore he hid himself. At one point, his Spanish pursuers urinated at the bottom of a tree he was hiding in, but did not discover him.[3]
(Wikipedia)
Philippines: Most-wanted terror leaders killed
This is from last month. There’s a quiet war in the Philippines too!
The Philippine military said it killed Southeast Asia’s most-wanted terrorist and two other senior militants Thursday in a U.S.-backed airstrike marking one of the region’s biggest anti-terrorism successes in recent years.
The dawn strike targeting a militant camp on a southern Philippine island killed Malaysian Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, a top leader of the regional, al Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, said military spokesman Col. Marcelo Burgos.
The U.S. had offered a $5 million reward for the capture of Marwan, a U.S.-trained engineer accused of involvement in a number of deadly bombings in the Philippines and in training new militants. A U.S. official confirmed Thursday that the Pentagon had assisted in the strike. (Read more)
Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops
This is from way back in 2000, but it remains relevant. It speaks to the larger point that government are crappy providers of security. They inevitably value obedience over the safety of their population.
See my essay on the state monopoly of violence here.
A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court’s decision that the city did not discriminate against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test. (Read more)
Peter Schiff asks Paul Volcker a question
The question is crystal clear. The explanation is rambling and full of obfuscation.
FBI warns of threat from anti-government extremists
Anti-government extremists opposed to taxes and regulations pose a growing threat to local law enforcement officers in the United States, the FBI warned on Monday.
These extremists, sometimes known as “sovereign citizens,” believe they can live outside any type of government authority, FBI agents said at a news conference.
The extremists may refuse to pay taxes, defy government environmental regulations and believe the United States went bankrupt by going off the gold standard. (Read more)
Expect more of this. Dissent cannot be tolerated for long. Dissenters must be demonized.