Great Googlely-Mooglely

There is a real danger in reading this post. Your eyes will likely cross, gloss over, and a bit of spittle will possibly begin to trickle from the corner of your mouth. In my attempt to understand the causes of the recent financial crisis, I, by necessity, undertook what has turned out to be self torture - the attempt to understand the mechanisms and definitions of the "shadow banking system." Mortgage backed securities are the most well known component of this shadow system. The least painful exposition of some of these instruments has been provided by Mr. Holloway. Read his article "Is this complicated, or What?," by scrolling to the last article on the page.

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Anything You Want to Do

If you conceive of freedom as somehow the *right* to do anything you want , or the *right* to do anything you want with no ill consequences, then the entire reasoned structure of rights disintegrates into just another philosophy of might makes right. Take the example even of a desert island. Even there, a single person can not 'do anything they want' - not in the context of: *and continue living* or *continue living with comfort or security.* Reality itself dictates that the human being must spend of his/her life time acting based on reason to secure values necessary to continue living and live with any kind of comfort or security. How a human persists in conscious existence - what is necessary for that to occur - is dictated by the real nature of a human - his physiology - his physical needs - and the means (reason) - by which he must secure values in the existence in which he finds himself. Here are some conclusions from the example: ...

Universal Slavery

We all want people who need health care to get care, just as we all want the hungry fed, etc. In accomplishing this, however, it is immoral to revoke another human's right to the product of his mental and physical effort - his property. It is evil to steal from Bob and give to Jane, and this will always be the case, even if Bob is rich and Jane poor. (This may not have been true in the case of a rich feudal lord or monarch whose wealth came by forcible economic rape of the people, BUT, in American capitalism, wealth is CREATED by the producer of value through mental or physical effort. The value is in the created good or service. Men voluntarily trade monetary markers of value for that CREATED value. Except for those rich who became so and thrive by lobbying (bribing) the government to favor their company/interests with legislation, regulation, or the competition stifling tax code --- except for those evil parasites --- wealth in America is NOT come by through the oppressi...

A Beginning

This blog is intended to articulate what made this country great, and why and how that greatness is disintegrating. In the broadest of strokes, this country became great by doing what no country had done, and no country has done since - setting out to defend the rights of the individual (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness) as SUPERSEDING the rights or demands of government, or society as a whole. Based on a Christian worldview, the founders of the United States created a government that saw each man and woman as AN END IN THEMSELVES, and NOT as the means to the ends of society or government. They conceived the government as a policeman, protecting the products of each man and woman's minds and efforts from the clutches of other men, other groups, government, and most importantly from the community as a whole. Men and women were NOT to be slaves. This was historic in the most awesome sense. It led to the greatest period of economic growth, increase in living standard, w...

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