Blog 105 | The Libertarian Institute

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Scott Adams Tweeted Something So Imbecilic It Ruined My Thanksgiving

by Keith Knight | Nov 24, 2022 | Blog

I wasn’t expecting to see a compelling argument for letting the state raise kids instead of parents, but here it is.

– Scott Adams

The situation is as follows:

Person X committed murder
Person X was raised by a Parent Y who is an explicit bigot and advocate of violence
Therefore, Adams says, we have a compelling argument for “letting” the state raise kids

The question is: Can the shortcomings of Person X and Parent Y also be applied to the state?

1. Have members of governments ever committed murder? Let’s not be bigoted and only stick to the US government, let us get a global and historical account of this institution to better understand its nature. There was a wold war, twice, between governments which murdered tens of millions of people and thrived of bigoted propaganda. There was a Cold war where proxy wars were fought in Vietnam, Korea, and Afghanistan which left millions dead and dismembered. The Holodomor was a government program which murdered millions. Mao and the Communist Chinese Party murdered millions. The Japanese government from 1933-1945 murdered millions of people in China. There were civil wars in America and England which killed hundreds of thousands. Pol Pot’s government murdered as many as 2 million people. The current U.S. government has murdered innocent people with drones in Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Libya. Ukraine murdered civilians in Donbas and Russia is murdering civilians in Ukraine. It’s clear that on point 1, Scott has no leg to stand on. His main criteria, namely that murder is bad, applies many times over to the state, the very organization he thinks can solve this issue.

2. Adams also ignores that this situation occurred in America where the state has a legal monopoly on compulsory schooling. Not all education of course, but only the state can legally force you to fund and attend their schools. So after most people have spent 12 (wasted) years of their lives in these places we get a stupid population* which is bigoted. Adams apparently looks at this situation and believes more state involvement is necessary, even though they are the source of the problem today. Politicians, college professors, and teachers are the primary bigots in society using their institutional power to divide people by accidents of birth. Black v. White, men v. women, rich v. poor, Russia v. America, etc. Of course the corporate press is a major player in bigotry as well, but for the sake of argument, every short coming Adams applies to the citizens applies many times over to the state therefore the state raising kids is the worst possible solution.

3. The contradiction almost everyone holds: Monopolies are bad because they give few people too much power and with no competition we all get higher prices and lower quality of goods and services. Also, the state should monopolize compulsory schooling, taxation, law and order, regulation, welfare, the money supply, and tons of other things. No matter how bad things are, giving some people a monopoly is far worse than doing nothing. I put “letting” in quotes because that is often code for “some people supporting government coercing people by law with the threat of jailing them”.

Consider the argument with different variables:

Humans are often imperfect, ignorant, bigoted, and dishonest. Therefore, everyone should be forced to fund and attend Catholic Church schools.

Is it possible that Adams seeing one example of a person being evil was enough to make him justify this position? Such evil has always existed and will likely exist in any society with more than a few thousand people. The ignorant are always one example away from justifying tyranny. COVID! Terrorism! Poverty! Ignorance! Violence! Stock market decline! This is mind control. They hear about a problem, and without thinking at all they justify state intervention. Adams knows all the historical events I mentioned above and still can’t think clearly on the issue.

I wonder if such stupidity has anything to do with the state controlling how the vast majority of people are raised from ages 5-18?

I invite Mr. Adams to withdraw and retract his double standard for the state and embrace the peaceful and consistent philosophy of libertarianism.

*Its not that people are stupid per se, it’s that they don’t have the humility to only speak on topics which they have carefully researched and pondered. The vast majority of intellectual achievements that occur do so in spite of state schooling not because of it.

An Economics Lesson for Idiot Robert Reich

by Keith Knight | Nov 20, 2022 | Blog

…Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, became one of the wealthiest men in the world by figuring out how to cut the price of just about everything to the benefit of everyone, but especially of lower-income consumers. That’s one of the other virtues of the free market: it rewards people who can figure out how to supply products and services that might have originally only been affordable to the wealthy so cheaply that just about anyone can afford and enjoy them. Henry Ford became wealthy by producing cheaper and cheaper (and better and better quality) automobiles; John D. Rockefeller became wealthy by selling refined kerosene and other oil industry products cheaper and cheaper for decades; Cornelius Vanderbilt got his start in business by managing a steamship business on the Hudson River in which the ride was free (!), making money by selling food and drinks on board; and on and on.

For their efforts such men have been denigrated by the enemies of economic freedom (including various politicians, government bureaucrats, socialist ideologues in academe, journalism, and elsewhere) as “robber barons.” Of course, they did not “rob” anyone.

Unlike government, they could not force anyone to buy their products; they had to persuade people to buy them by making them cheaper and better. Only government can rob you of your hard-earned money by threatening imprisonment for refusal to pay what it demands of you for services or products that you may have no need for whatsoever, and whose existence you may even deeply resent. It’s called tax evasion, a crime that is punished under federal and state law by fines, imprisonment, or both…

That is why the most menial local government tax-collecting bureaucrat can have more power over your life than the wealthiest businessperson in the world. Businesspeople must persuade people to purchase more of their products or services; unelected government bureaucrats can order you to shut down your business, take your kids out of school, or quit your job, and get the police to enforce the orders (as all Americans learned during the pandemic of 2020–2022).

– Dr. Thomas J. DiLorenzo, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Economics

Addendum: Jeff Bezos has also become wealthy by lowering the price of almost everything – including books! – making the poorest among us better off. This completely contradicts the statist claim that private goods only benefit the rich. Google search, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Odysee, Tinder, are free and the socialist has yet to appreciate such a gift. Steve Jobs with Apple products and companies like Uber fall into the same category.

More freedom = More voluntary social cooperation = Higher standards of living.

Why the Cops Murdered Duncan Lemp

by The Libertarian Institute | Nov 20, 2022 | Blog

As widespread as the standard view regarding the necessity of the institution of a state as the provider of law and order is, it stands in clear contradiction to elementary economic and moral laws and principles.

First of all, among economists and philosophers two near-universally accepted propositions exist:

1. Every “monopoly” is “bad” from the viewpoint of consumers. Monopoly is here understood in its classic meaning as an exclusive privilege granted to a single producer of a commodity or service, or as the absence of “free entry” into a particular line of production. Only one agency, A, may produce a given good or service, X. Such a monopoly is “bad” for consumers, because, shielded from potential new entrants into a given area of production, the price of the product will be higher and its quality lower than otherwise, under free competition.

2. The production of law and order, i.e., of security, is the primary function of the state (as just defined). Security is here understood in the wide sense adopted in the American Declaration of Independence: as the protection of life, property, and the pursuit of happiness from domestic violence (crime) as well as external (foreign) aggression (war).

– Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Ph.D., The Great Fiction (2021, Mises Institute), p. 190.

I really enjoyed reading the book discussed in todays podcast, short and to the point: A Crash in the Night: The Assassination of Duncan Lemp

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Sam Harris Is Dumber Than I Thought

by Keith Knight | Nov 19, 2022 | Blog

“The sovereign citizen lunatic cult in white society” is what Sam Harris calls someone who has the same standards for the police they would have for anyone else.

You know what sounds like a cult?

A person (President/Congress) who claims the right to issue executive orders or laws that must be obeyed and those who disobey will be jailed.

A group that forces you to fund them regardless of whether or not you value their services (government taxation).

An organization which compels children to be indoctrinated in its schools for 12 years (government truancy laws).

Being heavily pressured to thank employees of a group “for their service” even if that “service” involves murdering innocent people overseas.

Government regulation can be summed up as, “obey these arbitrary and often contradictory commands which hurt consumers and create oligopolies or else we’ll put you in a jail cell and shoot you if you resist us.”

Is this the skeptical, rational atheist I always keep hearing about?

If citizens can’t justifiably cage people for victimless crimes, and government/cops get their rights from the citizens, how can cops justly jail someone for a victimless crime?

How can “we the people” in a democracy, delegate rights we don’t have?

I hereby invite Mr. Harris onto the Libertarian Institute podcast anytime to discuss this matter further.

P.S. On episode #87 of The Waking Up Podcast at the 1:16:40 mark Harris mentions the 17 Agencies Hoax. Harris and other conspiracy theorists still believe that Russia installed Trump as President despite it being debunked numerous times.

Context:

A White House Memo article on Monday about President Trump’s deflections and denials about Russia referred incorrectly to the source of an intelligence assessment that said Russia orchestrated hacking attacks during last year’s presidential election. The assessment was made by four intelligence agencies — the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency. The assessment was not approved by all 17 organizations in the American intelligence community.

New York Times, Corrections: June 29th, 2017

Fake News Exposed: Inflation, Iran, College, America First, and Poland

by The Libertarian Institute | Nov 18, 2022 | Blog, Economics, Libertarian Institute Roundtable, Politics

What Makes Wages Rise

The buyers do not pay for the toil and trouble the worker took nor for the length of time he spent in working. They pay for the products. The better the tools are which the worker uses in his job, the more he can perform in an hour, the higher is, consequently, his remuneration.

What makes wages rise and renders the material conditions of the wage earners more satisfactory is improvement in the technological equipment.

American wages are higher than wages in other countries because the capital invested per head of the worker is greater and the plants are thereby in the position to use the most efficient tools and machines. What is called the American way of life is the result of the fact that the United States has put fewer obstacles in the way of saving and capital accumulation than other nations.

The economic backwardness of such countries as India consists precisely in the fact that their policies hinder both the accumulation of domestic capital and the investment of foreign capital.

As the capital required is lacking, the Indian enterprises are prevented from employing sufficient quantities of modern equipment, are therefore producing much less per manhour and can only afford to pay wage rates which, compared with American wage rates, appear as shockingly low.

There is only one way that leads to an improvement of the standard of living for the wage-earning masses, viz., the increase in the amount of capital invested. All other methods, however popular they may be, are not only futile, but are actually detrimental to the well-being of those they allegedly want to benefit.

– Ludwig von Mises, Ph.D., “Wages, Unemployment, and Inflation,” Christian Economics, March 1958.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

6 Facts That Debunk Feminism

by Keith Knight | Nov 16, 2022 | Blog

Listing the main ways that society appears to treat men less fairly than women requires only a little more reflection to complete.

a. Men are overrepresented at the bottom levels of society. They do most of the nasty, dangerous work, are much more likely to be homeless or imprisoned, and much more likely to kill themselves.
b. Men spend much more time on the job than women.
c. The law heavily favors women in child custody and child support disputes.
d. Men are more likely to be victims of violent crime.
e. Men are much more likely to die in combat; in fact, during serious military conflicts, they face military slavery (“the draft”).
f. Women view men as “success objects.”

– Dr. Bryan Caplan, Don’t Be a Feminist

Men v. Women, Rich v. Poor, Black v. White, Russia v. America; are all false divides. The one true divide: Those who achieve their ends voluntarily v. Those who achieve their ends violently.

College: 4 Years of Labor for $0.00 an Hour

by Keith Knight | Nov 15, 2022 | Blog

Has it ever occurred to the “Fight for $15” Democratic Socialists that volunteer work and college violate their principle of “all work should render a $15 an hour wage”?

College involves thousands of unpaid hours listening to trivial nonsense which no student remembers. Students graduate with little to no humility, or a decent grasp on history, economics, science, politics, or philosophy.

Yet, the Imperialist Democratic Socialist (IDS) is undeterred.

Everyone must be coerced into funding and attending government schools. The IDS must continue to regulate the economic behavior of the masses too ignorant to know what is good for them.

Putting everyone in college to make them “smarter” is like putting everyone in the NBA to make them taller. You end up with…

Credential Inflation: Also known as academic inflation, is the process of inflating the minimal credentials necessary for a particular job while at the same time devaluing certificates and degrees.

Credential Inflation: “An individual with a printing press prospers, but a society can’t get rich simply by printing more money. The same goes for credentials”

– Dr. Bryan Caplan, @bryan_caplan

Why Governments Should Never Be Trusted

by Keith Knight | Nov 13, 2022 | Blog

Terrific news. I’m about to be a millionaire, check out the email I just received:

I am Aisha Al-Gaddafi, the only biological daughter of Former President of Libya Col. Muammar Al-Qaddafi. Am a single Mother and a Widow with three Children. I have investment funds worth Twenty Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars ($27.500.000.00 ) and i need a trusted investment Manager/Partner because of my current refugee status, however, I am interested in you for investment project assistance in your country, may be from there, we can build business relationship in the nearest future.

What would you think of someone who read this email, then concluded the daughter of Qaddafi’s daughter wanted to hand millions of dollars over to a 26 year old (me) she has never met nor knows anything about?

Do you know who Qaddafi’s children are or what his estate situation was?

No you don’t, but you understand that if someone did have this much money and leverage they would not have the incentive to risk everything for the sake of arranging a partnership with a stranger via email. Knowing what you know about how the world operates, how people respond to incentives and risks, how people value large sums of money, how people value experience in business, there is no way such an email could be legitimate. You likely have also heard about such an email scam dozens of times.

This is the proper way to approach any government “solution” to a “problem”.

Yes terrorism, disease, ignorance, and poverty exist. But knowledge about incentives and countless historical examples tell any reasonable person they should always oppose any government swindle claiming more spending and regulation will solve these issues.

Terrorism: Pearl Harbor was provoked by FDR to pull America into war evidence can be found in the McCollum Memo. 9/11 was blowback from the U.S. Military bombing Iraq throughout the 1990’s from bases in Saudi Arabia and sanctioning the country leading to untold civilian deaths, as well as U.S. arming Israel with weapons used against Palestinians.

Disease: Yes COVID-19 was bad, and arguably the result of a government lab-leak, but lockdowns, mandates, and money printing did not save any lives. Anyone who wanted to stay home, mask, and vaccinate always has had the right to.

Ignorance: The assumption is ignorance exists, therefore the state must coercively fund and monopolize compulsory education. After 12 years and untold thousands of dollars spent per student, people graduate without a basic understanding of history, science, economics, philosophy, logic, civics, or humility. Nor is there a causal correlation between more spending on schooling and a more intellectual and moral population.

Poverty: Government officials promised the 1960’s war on poverty would lower medical costs via Medicare and Medicaid while decreasing the overall poverty rate. The U.S. government spends roughly $6 Trillion annually and we have seen no drastic decrease in the poverty rate. In areas where government is most involved such as housing, health care, and schooling, we have seen prices increase at a faster pace than areas where there is less government involvement. More regulation and spending leads to less incentives for producers to please consumers and more focus on pleasing politicians yielding fewer choices and higher prices for employees and consumers.

If government “solutions” were so beneficial, taxation would be as voluntary as church donations.

In short, just as you have a solid intellectual foundation for rejecting all “here’s a million dollars” emails right off the bat, you are equally justified in rejecting all government intervention.