Category: Uncategorized

The facade crumbles

The era of Fed extend-and-pretend appears to be fast approaching an end:

On Monday the Federal Reserve held a major reverse repo test, as was announced by the NY Fed and by Zero Hedge. We have subsequently received several unconfirmed reports that the conducted test has been a disaster (we have calls into the Federal Reserve to confirm or deny this, we are eagerly awaiting their reply).

In related news, Karl Denninger reports that JP Morgan/Chase is down to only $21 billion in actual cash. But don’t worry, they have lots of other assets… unfortunately, most of them are the sort that keep showing up at only 50 percent valuations whenever a bank is seized by the FDIC. All of the professional economists have been saying that the crisis is over for months now. I, on the other hand, don’t think that the next stage has even begun yet. But surely all the experts can’t be wrong… again!

Of might and right

One of the tangential topics that has come up in relation to yesterday’s discussion of the mistitled and oft-misapplied Euthyphro Dilemma is the question of whether the concept “God’s Game, God’s Rules” is equivalent to declaring that “might makes right”. Setting aside the obvious and unproven assumption that might inherently does not make right, I think it is quite easy to demonstrate that the authority of the Creator God to establish a code of rules that make up human morality does not derive from His might, however great that might be, but rather from His act of creation.

Consider, for example, the National Football League. The NFL organization owns and creates the rules of the game, by which the players on the field are expected to abide. Now, the NFL certainly possesses greater might than any one player and arguably even more than all the players combined. But, the NFL is significantly less mighty than, just to pick one example, the People’s Liberation Army. Now, no one disputes the right of the NFL to change the rules so that the penalty for offsides is fifteen yards instead of five, even if we think the change is a ridiculous one. But is this right determined by the NFL’s might? I don’t think so.

Why not? Because if the right to determine the rules was simply a matter of might, then it would be entirely proper for the PLA, which already owns vast quantities of corporations around the world, to land a division in Manhattan, forcibly seize the NFL offices and unilaterally declare a change to the offsides penalty. There would be no rational justification for complaining about this action, except of course for the same objections to the desirability of the rule change that would have applied in the previous scenario. So, unless you are willing to accede to the right of the PLA to change the NFL rules on the basis of its might, it is obvious that there must be a significant distinction between creative ownership making right and might making right, even if might is a necessary component of the original creation.

I also think it is relevant to point out that one cannot reasonably subject the NFL to its own rules. I am certainly unaware of any sitting commissioner ever being penalized for holding or pass interference.

RGD: the second review

Chad the Elder of the Fraters Libertas reviews RGD:

Let me start by passing on a shocking piece of information: Vox Day is not an economist. That may lead some to discount his views on matters economic, but in this case it proves to be beneficial. He approaches the subject as an outsider and is not wedded to any particular school of economic theory from his background. This allows him to be rather dispassionate in his analysis and also forces him to be more vigorous in his research since he doesn’t come into it with a great deal of experience.

It also makes The Return of the Great Depression a more understandable and entertaining read than your average economic tome. That’s not to say its been dumbed down or overly simplified. Vox takes on some rather weighty and complicated economic topics. But, as he previously did in The Irrational Atheist, he does so in his own unique voice (Vox’s vox?). Even while explaining the inner workings of the money supply or the components that make up GDP, he maintains his straight-shooting style infused with the mix of cynicism and sarcastic humor that readers of his blog have come to expect.

I have to admit, after the complete, utter, and admitted failure of mainstream economics to foresee or forestall the present crisis, or to present potential solutions beyond increasing the amount of debt-funded spending, I would think that not being a credentialed economist would be seen as a strength rather than a weakness these days. If the basic theory is bad, learning more sophisticated ways of playing with it is not going to help you understand anything.

In which an epidemic of pain is foreseen

Among the 18-24 black t-shirt wearing crowd. These new guidelinescould add billions to the cost of health care reform:

Federal drug agents won’t pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana, under new legal guidelines to be issued Monday by the Obama administration. Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law.

It’s hardly full legalization, but the Obama administration is taking one tiny step in the right direction. One must give credit where credit is due.

You don’t know Euthyphro

I’ll be addressing Luke’s fourth letter in a day or three, but in the meantime, I couldn’t possibly let this very funny comment by drj pass unremarked. As I pointed out in TIA, half-educated atheists often like to resort to the Euthyphro Dilemma, but because they haven’t actually read Plato, they have absolutely no idea that the argument doesn’t merely fail due to moral arbitrariness or because of its intrinsic inapplicability to a non-polytheistic concept of the divine, it first fails on the basis of a dishonest, logically invalid, and admitted modification of an integral definition by Socrates.

What’s funny is… the Euthyphro dilemma is supposed to work on people like Vox. Its supposed to confront them with a reductio ad absurdum – that it should to be absurd to think morality is arbitrary, evils are actually goods when commanded by the right being, and that all statements about the goodness of God become meaningless. What can you do though, when one simply fails to recognize the “absurdum”, in reductio ad absurdum?

Drj clearly doesn’t realize there is no absurdum to be recognized because the attempt to reduce the argument to the required tautology falls apart before it is completed. Any time you encounter someone appealing to Euthyphro in a discussion of religion or morality, you can be very confident that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. See TIA pp 291-300.

RGD: reviews

Right Condition reviews The Return of the Great Depression:

Once in a while, a book comes along that shakes so many of your core beliefs that you are left questioning either the integrity of what you have read or your own knowledge. In this particular case, I had the privilege of a sneak peek at The Return of the Great Depression by Vox Day and with most certainty can state, it is the latter. RGD as it shall be referred to from now on, as can be inferred from its title makes a very compelling case as to the state of our economy and where this nation is potentially headed. However do not be misled by its name, for this is much more than a prophecy, it is principally and foremost an economic text diligently spending the majority of its efforts in explaining why we are standing on the edge of a precipice.

Chad the Elder of the Fraters Libertas reviews RGD:

Let me start by passing on a shocking piece of information: Vox Day is not an economist. That may lead some to discount his views on matters economic, but in this case it proves to be beneficial. He approaches the subject as an outsider and is not wedded to any particular school of economic theory from his background. This allows him to be rather dispassionate in his analysis and also forces him to be more vigorous in his research since he doesn’t come into it with a great deal of experience.

It also makes The Return of the Great Depression a more understandable and entertaining read than your average economic tome. That’s not to say its been dumbed down or overly simplified. Vox takes on some rather weighty and complicated economic topics…. if you want to read an informative, thoughtful, and even sometimes entertaining book on the current economic situation, you can’t go wrong with The Return of the Great Depression.

Letter to Vox Day IV

Luke has posted his fourth letter:

Vox,

Holy crap that’s a lot of insults. I tried to count them but couldn’t. I can see that your readership is impressed and excited by your continuous stream of insults, but I come from a different tradition (analytic philosophy) that values clarity, argument, and evidence – not insults.

I agree we should leave the topic of evolution behind. But I’m sure our readers will remember that one of us gave argument and evidence for his views on evolution, and the other did not.

Thank you for finally explaining your view that Satan rules the Earth. But again, to just assume I should understand your views on Satan by way of vague references to children’s literature and a sci-fi novel is, I think, too optimistic. Christian teaching about Satan has a long, complex, and variegated history. I can’t just guess what your theological views are: I need you to tell me what they are.

This was written in response to my third letter to Common Sense Atheism.

The media is awful

Even the sports media has become increasingly dumbed-down to the point of completed retardation these days, and I’m not referring to its tendency to interject politics into sports, I’m talking about the ability of the announcers to simply do their freaking jobs.

Last week, the announcers at the Steeler-Lions game were rambling on interminably about Brett Favre playing in the dark. Brett Favre, you may note, does not play for either the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Detroit Lions. Yesterday, as the Vikings defense was suddenly getting shredded in the fourth quarter and every Vikings fan was wondering what in the sainted name of Bud Grant special teams player Karl Paymah was doing on the field, the announcers couldn’t bother to mention that both Antoine Winfield and Benny Sapp, the Vikings #1 and #3 cornerbacks, were injured in the first half. Winfield was out for the rest of the game and Sapp was less than 100 percent as he was playing with what looked like a concussion.

On the other hand, give credit to Peter King as he is spot on with this comment:

We were stunned at NBC Sunday to see the Vikings — with 2:30 left in the game, trailing Baltimore 31-30, with a third-and-nine at the Ravens’ 17 — to not go aggressively for the first down. “We were a little surprised too,” Peterson said. Peterson ran for a three-yard gain, with the Vikings happy to settle for the field goal. It was a poor call because the Ravens had scored 21 points in the fourth quarter, the Vikes looked gassed on defense, and even if Ryan Longwell made the field goal, Baltimore would have two minutes to win it. Longwell made it, Baltimore drove into field goal range, and Steve Hauschka lined up for a 44-yarder with two seconds left. Wide left. I don’t care if the kick was wide left; if you’ve got a quarterback as hot as Favre (playing nearly mistake-free in his first six games), you give him a chance to get the touchdown before settling for three.

Especially when you’ve got two downs if you play for the first down instead of the field goal. Childress really reminds me of Denny Green, a decent coach who doesn’t understand when to go for it and when not to. The Vikings once scored to put themselves within a point of the heavily-favored Cowboys at the end of the game, Green ordered the PAT team on, and the Cowboys marched straight down the field to win it in overtime. I’m not sure which play had me shouting at the screen more, that handoff on third-and-nine or the idiotic big blitz that Frasier called when the Ravens were just outside of field goal range.

On an unrelated note, yesterday was clearly a sign from the football gods that the Patriots must return to the Pat Patriot look. 59-0! And 85 percent completion percentage… in the snow!

Just one question

Karl Denninger notes that no one in the media seems interested in asking it:

Note that nobody in the mainstream media bothers to bring up “Prompt Corrective Action” and demand from Bair and rest the answer to one simple question: “How does a bank get into a situation where it has a 20, 30, 40, 50% loss on it’s asset base when Prompt Corrective Action and Tier Capital requirements are supposed to cause banks to be seized before ANY loss occurs?”

The present U.S. financial system isn’t merely based on sand, it’s based on the pretense of sand. Meanwhile, Mike Shedlock catalogs a surprisingly long list of stories about the incestuous Goldman-government circle before wondering why so few Americans are upset about the way a few financial interests are exercising their power to monopolize the economy for their own benefit and to the detriment of the nation, the economy, and the public. The post is well worth reading; I’m sure you’ll all be relieved to know that the responsibility for avoiding the regulatory failures of the recent past has been placed in the capable hands of the new COO of the SEC, a 29 year-old Goldman guy.

Unfortunately, since both the Republican and Democratic elite are beholden to the banks rather than to their party’s bases, there is very little chance of this coming to an end in a rational manner. A small percentage of the American people are infuriated already, but most are still fat and happily feasting on junk food regardless of their employment status. If they ever become lean and hungry, they’re not likely to sit idly by watching bankers pay themselves billions for stealing taxpayer money while they fall from the comfortable middle class into poverty.

It’s good to be a bankster now. But keep in mind, there was also a time when it was good to be a French aristocrat.

WND column

End the Fed
by Ron Paul
Rating: 10 of 10

“The Federal Reserve System must be challenged. Ultimately, it needs to be eliminated. The government cannot and should not be trusted with a monopoly on money. No single institution in society should have power this immense. In fact, I believe that freedom itself is at stake in this struggle.”
– Ron Paul, “End the Fed,” p. 11

In 17 years of writing game and book reviews, I can count on two hands the number of times I have ever given out the highest rating. True excellence is to be distinguished from the merely very good, and it is far rarer than the heavy use of superlatives in our everyday language would tend to indicate. End the Fed is more than a timely political polemic, it is also the story of the long and patient campaign by a small group of freedom-loving patriots to restore economic liberty to the American people.