Observation regarding Free Enterprise

"Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look on it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon." -- Winston Churchill (1874-1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

"The uniform, constant, and uninterrupted effort of every man to better his condition ... is frequently powerful enough to maintain the natural progress of things toward improvement, in spite of the extravagance of government, and of the greatest errors of administration." -- Adam Smith (1723-1790) Scottish philosopher and economist

"Capital will always go where it’s welcome and stay where it’s well treated. Capital is not just money. It’s also talent and ideas. They, too, will go where they’re welcome and stay where they are well treated." -- Walter Wriston
(1919-2005) Chairman and CEO of Citibank/Citicorp (1967-84)

Grab the Oil: Pollution Absolution

Jim Amrhein tells us three misguided assertions by environmentalists about American oil consumption, and says that the truly environmentally responsible thing for the US to do would be to Grab the Oil before anyone else gets it.

http://whiskeyandgunpowder.com/grab-the-oil-pollution-absolution/

An Admonition from Paul Harvey

This is a short radio broadcast from legendary radio broadcaster Paul Harvey delivered 4/3/65.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Az0okaHig&feature=youtu.be

"You didn't build that"

President Obama's "you didn't build that" statement to successful business owners has created a serious backlash. In rebuttal, his defenders point to his more complete statement for "clarification":

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

http://mises.org/daily/6136/You-Didnt-Build-That

Ayn Rand and her fight to limit government

Ayn Rand, author of the 1957 classic Atlas Shrugged, is one of history’s most celebrated champions of capitalism. Her books have sold in the tens of millions, and her ideas continue to be debated thirty years after her death. Many of today’s top opinion leaders, businessmen, and politicians—everyone from Rush Limbaugh to Mark Cuban to Paul Ryan—have cited Rand as an important influence on their development.

Today we need Ayn Rand more than ever. The ideals of the Founding Fathers—individual rights, limited government, political and economic freedom—are under attack, and a black cloud of government debt hangs over our economic future. If we want to put a stop to the runaway growth of government, those of us who value the Founders’ achievement need to learn from Rand’s success.

Here are four of the crucial lessons Rand offers those of us who want to fight for a freer, more prosperous America.

http://capitalism.aynrand.org/ayn-rand-and-the-fight-to-limit-government/

Who Really Invented the Internet?

A telling moment in the presidential race came recently when Barack Obama said: "If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen." He justified elevating bureaucrats over entrepreneurs by referring to bridges and roads, adding: "The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all companies could make money off the Internet." It's an urban legend that the government launched the Internet.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444464304577539063008406518.html

Occupy Gotham? An Austrian Economist's Perspective

One of the remarkable things about this Batman series is the way Hollywood — a bastion of tired, often-rehashed, leftist propaganda — has unwittingly allowed an obscenely wealthy capitalist who lives a decadent bourgeois lifestyle (when not fighting crime) to be the hero! I

http://mises.org/daily/6125/Occupy-Gotham

Socialism in Practice: The Lethal Laboratory

From the Ludwig von Mises Institute

http://mises.org/daily/6066/Socialism-in-Practice-The-Lethal-Laboratory

Bill Whittle - It's a Miracle

Barack Obama said something stunning. He thinks that government is responsible for private sector success, not individual initiative and hard work. This doesn't surprise Bill Whittle, who reminds viewers that Obama was surrounded by socialists growing up, and even started his political career in the living room of a radical, violent socialist. See a detailed history of Barack Obama's left-wing background, on this Afterburner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXEoQJ7ZMZs

Insights in to the Federal Reserve

"When you or I write a check there must be sufficient funds in our account to cover that check, but when the Federal Reserve writes a check, it is creating money." -- Boston Federal Reserve Bank

These statements were made during hearings of the House Committee on Banking and Currency, September 30, 1941. Members of the Federal Reserve Board call themselves "Governors." Governor Marriner Eccles was Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board at the time of these hearings:

Congressman Patman: "How did you get the money to buy those two billion dollars worth of Government securities in 1933?"
Governor Eccles: "Out of the right to issue credit money."
Patman: "And there is nothing behind it, is there, except our Government's credit?"
Eccles: "That is what our money system is. If there were no debts in our money system, there wouldn't be any money."
Congressman Fletcher: "Chairman Eccles, when do you think there is a possibility of returning to a free and open market, instead of this pegged and artificially controlled financial market we now have?"
Governor Eccles: "Never, not in your lifetime or mine."
-- Marriner Stoddard Eccles
(1890-1977) US banker, economist, and Chairman of the Federal Reserve (1934-48)

"The power to determine the quantity of money... is too important, too pervasive, to be exercised by a few people, however public-spirited, if there is any feasible alternative. There is no need for such arbitrary power... Any system which gives so much power and so much discretion to a few men, [so] that mistakes - excusable or not - can have such far reaching effects, is a bad system. It is a bad system to believers in freedom just because it gives a few men such power without any effective check by the body politic - this is the key political argument against an independent central bank." -- Milton Friedman
(1912-2006) Nobel Prize-winning economist, economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan, "ultimate guru of the free-market system"