Category Archives: Essays

What Uber Can Teach Us About American Government

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“Uber’s clash with government is uniquely popular among apolitical folks but its struggles are all too common. I applaud readers for following these developments and supporting Uber. But I encourage them to also pay attention when this happens to firms without huge national followings; to support the rights of all businesspeople to freely conduct their affairs and engage in mutually-agreeable transactions with other consenting adults.  It’s easy to stand up to abuses when a company is widely known and loved. But the universal applicability of the rights we want Uber to have is crucial for two reasons.”

https://brianruddock.wordpress.com/2015/07/18/what-uber-can-teach-us-about-american-government/

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Uber vs. the State, 1851 Edition

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“But, they insisted, they weren’t arguing in favor of a monopoly in the ferry business — no, they pointed out that their permit actually required them to run more frequent ferries if demand so warranted.  Therefore there was no danger of a monopoly, because they could be trusted to operate more ferries if need be. This proved that there was no necessity for a new ferry company to compete against them, and that the government should not have granted the second company a permit.  This is precisely the same argument made today by existing taxi monopolists who oppose the introduction of Uber and other ride-sharing companies.”

http://fee.org/anythingpeaceful/detail/uber-vs-the-state-1851-edition

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Central Banks and Our Dysfunctional Gold Markets

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“First, it remains unclear whether or not much of the gold that is being sold as shares and in certificates actually exists. Second, paper gold can theoretically be printed into infinity just like regular currency — although private-sector paper-gold sellers have considerably less leeway in this regard than central banks. Third, new electronic gold pricing — replacing, as of this past February, the traditional five-bank phone-call of the London Gold Fix in place since 1919 — has not necessarily proved a more trustworthy model. Fourth, there looms the specter of the central bank, particularly in the form of volume trading discounts that commodity exchanges offer them.”

https://mises.org/library/central-banks-and-our-dysfunctional-gold-markets

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Uberocracy: How the Sharing Economy Changes Politics

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“Uber’s request that drivers keep working in areas where the service is illegal is a sign that they know people want the service. The fact that people keep using the service while it is illegal shows that entrepreneurship outpaces politics. While they are technically engaged in civil disobedience, users likely neither care nor know the legal status of the services.  Airbnb hosts rent out their apartments against the terms of their leases. They probably violate some hospitality regulations in their cities. They don’t really care. The experience is so positive that both hosts and users win.  What makes this entrepreneurship new is that the barrier to entry is so low for somebody to engage in the exchange.”

https://medium.com/life-learning/uberocracy-how-the-new-entrepreneurship-changes-politics-99bc515e31b0

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The Man Who Almost Stopped Julius Caesar

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“Cato was just five years of age when Rome went to war with its former allies in the Italian peninsula — the so-called ‘Social War.’ Though the conflict lasted just two years, its deleterious effects were huge. The decades to follow would be marked by the rise of factions and conflict and local armies loyal to their commanders instead of the larger society. A ‘welfare-warfare’ state was putting down deep roots as Cato grew up. The limited government, personal responsibility and extensive civil society so critical to the republic’s previous success were in an agonizing, century-long process of collapse. Even many of those who recognized the decay around them nonetheless drank the Kool-Aid.”

http://fee.org/freeman/detail/the-man-who-almost-stopped-julius-caesar

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Realism versus Nonintervention

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“In both British and U.S. experience we can see much institutional feedback from overseas empire: transfer of policing models and bureaucratic management techniques, and their cumulative effects on domestic civil liberties. Meanwhile, for domestic reasons, Americans long since encumbered themselves with standing armies of police, which are rapidly adopting military and imperial mentalities and practices directly from U.S. overseas adventures.  Realists and neo-Realists would have us believe that it is actually impossible for a great power to renounce empire. There are indeed few precedents. Most imperial powers learn the hard way.”

http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/realism-versus-nonintervention/

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Jacob Hornberger: Dealing with the Cops

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“The mindset that cops have toward citizens — that they are the masters and we are the servants — clearly poses grave risks to the citizenry. If a person attempts to clarify that it’s the cops who are the servants and the citizens who are the masters, he might well find himself in jail or even dead. Like I say, everyone — but especially African-Americans — has to do some serious soul-searching on how to deal with the cops: Will I assert my rights and demand to be treated with deference and respect or will I keep my mouth shut and submit to abuse, insults, and mistreatment?”

http://fff.org/2015/07/29/dealing-cops/

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Drivers, Beware Traffic Stops in the American Police State

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“Trying to predict the outcome of any encounter with the police is a bit like playing Russian roulette: most of the time you will emerge relatively unscathed, although decidedly poorer and less secure about your rights, but there’s always the chance that an encounter will turn deadly.  Unfortunately for drivers, not only have traffic stops become potentially deadly encounters, they have also turned into a profitable form of highway robbery for the police departments involved.  Never before have ‘we the people’ been so seemingly defenseless in the face of police misconduct, lacking advocates in the courts and in the legislatures. So how do you survive a police encounter with your life and wallet intact?”

https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/drivers_beware_the_costly_deadly_dangers_of_traffic_stops_in_the_ameri

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Gold: It’s Time to Buy

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“The US dollar is on a tear. Digital currencies like Bitcoin are eating away at gold’s popularity. Chinese consumers are selling. Unprecedented appetite for high-risk investments.  Who needs gold when you can get rich buying a startup company?  Under the circumstances, it’s easy to see why the talking heads see only disaster ahead for gold. But I think they’re missing the point.  As the anti-dollar, when the dollar finally corrects – and it will – gold prices will recover, and the dollar will resume its 100-year plunge in value.  And that’s far from the only reason to buy gold. Unlike bank accounts, governments can’t ‘bail in’ gold.”

http://www.nestmann.com/gold-its-time-to-buy

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Ruling Allows Officials to Seize Your House Because It’s ‘Ugly and Dumb’

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“What many people do not know is that the plan could have been finished without destroying many of the homes that were ultimately seized through eminent domain. Pfizer executives, however, said that they didn’t want their beautiful headquarters ‘surrounded by tenements.’  Think about that. A large corporation was going to receive a gigantic gift, but still felt empowered to demand that people whose homes could have been preserved must nevertheless be forced out because, as the president of NLDC put it, their houses looked ‘ugly and dumb.’ Thus we see one of the hidden consequences of eminent domain – it engenders a domineering, elitist attitude.”

http://affluentinvestor.com/2015/07/this-ruling-allows-officials-to-seize-your-house-because-its-ugly-and-dumb/

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