ars libertatis

Politicians love tax revenue, it’s like crack for them.

~ Dan Mitchell

Tearful Atlanta Cops Express Remorse for Shooting 92-Year-Old Kathryn Johnston, Leaving Her To Bleed to Death in Her Own Home While They Planted Drugs in Her Basement, Then Threatening an Informant So He Would Lie To Cover It All Up
[...]
This is what happens when you declare “war” on American citizens. You dehumanize them. And you instill an ends-justifies-the-means, win at all costs mindset in your “warriors.” This mindset infected the entire narcotics unit at Atlanta PD. You’d have to be awfully naive to believe the problem is limited to Atlanta.
[...]
Kathryn Johnston’s death is tragic. But the real tragedy here is that had the cops found a stash of marijuana in her basement that actually did belong to her–say for pain treatment or nausea–her death would have faded quickly from the national news, these tactics would have been deemed by most to be wholly legitimate, and we probably wouldn’t still be talking about her today.

These cops were evil. But they worked within an evil system that’s not only immoral on its face, but is rife with bad incentives and plays to the worst instincts in human nature.¹

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…the Harvard Law School is having a conference to analyze the “free market mindset.” The basic premise of the conference seems to be that people who believe in limited government are psychologically troubled.

The conference schedule features presentations such as “How Thinking Like an Economist Undermines Community” and “Addicted to Incentives: How the Ideology of Self Interest Can Be Self-Fulfilling.” The most absurd presentation, though, may be the one entitled, “Colossal Failure: The Output Bias of Market Economies.” According to the description, the author argues that the market “delivers excessive levels of consumption.” Damn those entrepreneurs for creating so much wealth!²

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While the immediate causes of the various bushfires are thought to include arson, discarded cigarette butts, faulty power lines, or lightning strikes, these initial fires transformed into huge infernos and spread uncontrollably across Victoria only because of extremely high fuel loads throughout the state’s bushland. The reason? For years, local governments have neglected to manage fire hazards on their land in order to be faithful to the principles of environmentalism — a philosophy that contends that nature has intrinsic value that must be preserved, regardless of any use it has to man.[6] The result has been that people have sacrificed their prosperity and even survival in an attempt to preserve the unspoiled sanctity of nature.³

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Würde man das Urheberrecht – d.h. das Prinzip des Geistigen Eigentums, d.h. Ideen als Eigentum anzusehen und das “Kopieren” einer Idee (was nichts anderes darstellt als das, was Kunst und Kultur, ja unsere ganze Zivilisation ausmacht: Imitation) unter Strafe zu stellen – konsequent auslegen, so müsste man auch Tanzschritte kopierrechtlich schützen. Jemand, der sich eine neue Choreographie ausdenkt, einen neuen Tanz, müsste das alleinige Recht haben, diese Tanz aufzuführen oder aufführen zu lassen. Nachtanzen wäre nicht erlaubt.⁴

1. Radley Balko – Tearful Atlanta Cops Express Remorse for Shooting 92-Year-Old Kathryn Johnston, Leaving Her To Bleed to Death in Her Own Home While They Planted Drugs in Her Basement, Then Threatening an Informant So He Would Lie To Cover It All Up [↩]
2. Daniel J. Mitchell – Is Libertarianism a Sign of Mental Illness? [↩]
3. Ben O’Neill – The Victorian Bushfires: How Environmentalism Leads to Disaster [↩]
4. Stephan Kinsella – Copyrighting Dance Steps–The Death of Choreography [↩]

Now that the so-called stimulus has been enacted, hopefully policy makers will turn their attention to policies that actually improve economic performance. This Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation video reviews the key finding in the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World and explains that, contrary to the policies of Presidents Bush and Obama, smaller government and free markets are the way to boost economic growth. For more information: freedomandprosperity.org

President Obama wants Congress to dramatically expand the burden of government spending. This CF&P Foundation mini-documentary explains why such a policy, based on the discredited Keynesian theory of economics, will not be successful. Indeed, the video demonstrates that Obama is proposing – for all intents and purposes – to repeat Bush’s mistakes. Government will be bigger, even though global evidence shows that nations with small governments are more prosperous.

[...] we need low-tax jurisdictions and financial privacy so that productive people have protection from greedy and venal governments. A good example comes from Germany*, where a politician wants the government to force people to “invest” in government bonds. Fortunately, this idea does not look like it will happen today, so hopefully more Germans will have time to put their money someplace hidden from the kleptocrat political class.¹

* Thomas Schäfer-Gümbel [...] says wealthy people with cash and real estate assets exceeding €750,000 ($1.04 million) should be forced to lend the state two percent of their assets for a period of 15 years, and at an interest rate no higher than 2.5 percent.²

Hugo Chavez is one of the world’s most despicable politicians, and he recently solidified his low rating by confiscating a major mall* being developed in Caracas. The rule of law has been shredded in Venezuela and the government now acts like a thief. Given these conditions, productive people have no choice but to escape – or to at least to move their money someplace where it can’t be stolen by the thugs that rule the nation. This is why tax havens are so critical, not just for economic liberty, but for personal protection from tyrants as well [...]³

* President Hugo Chavez ordered construction halted on a major shopping mall in Caracas on Sunday, saying the government will expropriate the unfinished building. The Venezuelan leader said it would be out of line with his government’s socialist vision to allow the new Sambil mall to take up precious urban real estate — and that unbridled consumerism isn’t his idea of progress either.⁴

1. Daniel J. Mitchell – Good Argument for Tax Havens, Part I [↩]
2. Spiegel – German Politician Wants Compulsory Bond for Rich People [↩]
3. Daniel J. Mitchell – Good Argument for Tax Havens, Part II [↩]
4. AP – Chavez says mall to be expropriated in Venezuela [↩]

via cato

via cato