As the multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Wall Street insider Bernard Madoff unravels in the media spotlight, the nation is being presented with a rare opportunity to understand the true nature of many of our most cherished financial structures. Hopefully we have the wisdom to connect the dots. Although the $50 billion loss engineered by Madoff is truly a staggering … [Read More]

The following address was given to the H.L. Mencken Club’s Annual Meeting; November 21-23, 2008. Before William F. Buckley settled on writing God and Man at Yale in 1951, the 25 year-old had something quite different in mind as a debut volume. Buckley planned, and may have begun drafting, a book caustically entitled Revolt Against the Masses, his full-frontal assault on … [Read More]

For the first time in my life (and I trust it will be the last), I find myself siding with the otherwise abhorrent neocons against a young, courageous giant of the Right, Tom Piatak. Equally surprising, I differ from Tom on the kind of issue that I would usually agree with him about. Now I’m not on principle against protecting established … [Read More]

What are Republicans thinking of, pulling the plug, at Christmas, on GM, risking swift death for the greatest manufacturing company in American history, a strategic asset and pillar of the U.S. economy. The $14 billion loan to the Big Three that Republican senators filibustered to death is just 2 percent of the $700 billion the Senate voted to bail out Wall … [Read More]

In honor of the 2008-09 North American ski season, I give you the following rant. As of March 18, 2008, Taos Ski Valley in New Mexico, Alta and Deer Valley in Utah, and Mad River Glen in Vermont were the last skiers-only resorts in North America. The next day, Taos Ski Valley opened up its slopes to snowboarders. Now only three … [Read More]

I find the fact that Bernard Madoff is walking around free and smoking cigars an outrage. The press and media have reported that his two sons gave him away. That’s almost as big a lie as Madoff’s life and career. The whole scam was based on only the family knowing. When the game was up due to redemptions, the crook obviously … [Read More]

When Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was caught on tape trying to sell president-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat, commented federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald: “The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering.” But Blagojevich’s “pay-to-play” scheme, in which political favors are dispensed by public officials in exchange for compensation, is so common in government that the line between corrupt and … [Read More]

The majority of the American people oppose bailing out the Bit Three automakers at a clip of 61 to 36, and it was thus perfectly sensible for Senate Republicans to reject the $14 billion “rescue” bill that was presented to them on Friday. The idea that the GOP should have attempted to buy the votes of Ohioans by giving their employers … [Read More]

Tough times bring out the best in us, as people like to say.  People say a lot of things.  From my personal experience, mankind responds to catastrophe very unevenly.  That can-do, community spirit that brings folks together to roll up their sleeves and solve a problem can yield a hardy band of men to raise a barn—or form an extremist political … [Read More]

Like many pragmatic economists I have always warned that rapid expansions of government debt would result in inflation and higher interest rates. The explanation was always simple: rising supply of government debt inflates the money supply and weakens the government’s ability to service its debt through legitimate means. But in recent months, government has flooded the market with hundreds of new … [Read More]