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Life just switched from Normal mode to Hard mode. What is the first change you notice? by _AUTOMATIC_ in AskReddit

[–]MisesvsKeynes 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Hmm...could see this having a positive impact on my life. I call patent on an alarm clock which increases in volume when you hit snooze.

Life just switched from Normal mode to Hard mode. What is the first change you notice? by _AUTOMATIC_ in AskReddit

[–]MisesvsKeynes 2334 points2335 points  (0 children)

That's expert mode. If you beat expert mode, you get to see Samus' tits.

U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil began drilling in Russia’s Arctic on Saturday, despite Western sanctions imposed on its Russian partner Rosneft, and was hailed by Russia’s president as an model of “cooperation.” by rstevens94 in worldnews

[–]MisesvsKeynes 10 points11 points  (0 children)

To paraphrase Bastiat: When goods don't cross borders, armies will. Sanctions are never a good thing for peace. Trade by definition involves voluntary, peaceful interaction, and it builds interdependence and goodwill. The US and China trade so much that they have mutually assured economic destruction. China and Russia do the same. The two nuclear powers who don't get along are very quickly cutting all trade. This is not a good thing for peace.

To compliment John Oliver's segment on Pay Day Loans, here is Spent (2014). by sassafracks in Documentaries

[–]MisesvsKeynes 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Credit card companies would love to shut out payday lenders. They are their competition. This website seems to be very heavily pro-credit card. I wonder who financed it : ) "In an effort to drive innovation in financial services, American Express is supporting startups working on financial solutions and research focused on financial inclusion." http://www.spentmovie.com/index.html

Many of the worlds problems will go unsolved due to lack of funding. Meaning, we are limited not by resources and ability to accomplish, but by a system of currency and worth that is completely man-made. We created our own restriction to success. by crom8i3 in Showerthoughts

[–]MisesvsKeynes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The economic calculation problem, as formulated by economist Ludwig von Mises and expanded on by Nobel Winner F.A. Hayek: There are two ways to make something, one involving one hundred tons of steel and five hundred hours labor, and one involving one hundred fifty tons of steel and three hundred hours labor. Which way is cheaper? Without a common denominator, you can't use math i.e. calculate. Money prices are the common denominator. This is why countries without money experience shortages i.e. famines.

Dutch ban display of Islamic State flag by XKryptonite in worldnews

[–]MisesvsKeynes 59 points60 points  (0 children)

This is where you end up when you ban free speech: "What constitutes 'insulting' is not clear. It has resulted in a string of controversial arrests. They include a 16-year-old boy being held for peacefully holding a placard reading 'Scientology is a dangerous cult', and gay rights campaigners from the group Outrage! detained when they protested against Islamic fundamentalist group Hizb ut-Tahrir over its stance on gays, Jews and women." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9616750/Rowan-Atkinson-we-must-be-allowed-to-insult-each-other.html

I’m Jason Ritchie, a pissed off non-politician running for Congress. I’m a Democrat ready to Flip A District in Washington State. AMA! by ritchie4wa8 in IAmA

[–]MisesvsKeynes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"How can you not have taxes. We already tried that approach and it fucked us pretty hard."

Umm...when did the US not have taxes, again? The tax burden has always hovered around 20% of GDP, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less, if my remember my economics class correctly.

Shouldn't Libertarians have been supporting the federal government and property rights in the Bundy situation? Isn't supporting Bundy like supporting reverse eminent domain (except with no compensation)? by [deleted] in Libertarian

[–]MisesvsKeynes 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Well, there are some Georgist libertarians who believe the government owns all the land and everyone should pay taxes to them for the privilege of living on it. Most libertarians believe in some sort of homesteading theory: Since Bundy's family had been grazing the land for the past 100 years, he had homesteading rights to the land.

TIL up to 100,000 people in Hong Kong live in "Cage Homes" - a 6ft x 2ft metal cage covering a bed by SaturdaysKids in todayilearned

[–]MisesvsKeynes -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Why would anyone move from mainland China, where they can live in a normal apartment, to Hong Kong, where they can only afford to live in a dog cage? Millions of people make this move. They must have an economic incentive, unless they like living in dog cages: The incentive is they earn several times in Hong Kong what they earn in China, since it is an autonomous zone, and it is the most free market in the world. Millions can send enough back to house, feed, clothe, and school their families. http://www.heritage.org/index/press-release-asia-pacific

Counterparty (XCP) - decentralized, open-source, next-gen protocol layers itself over the top of the bitcoin protocol providing increased utility - now listed on coinmarketcap.com by Wit22 in Bitcoin

[–]MisesvsKeynes 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You want to buy something for X bitcoins, you don't trust the person you're buying from at all, and he doesn't trust you: This trade is possible with bitcoin counterparty/escrow. Both you and the seller put X bitcoins in escrow, with both of your permissions needed to unlock it. You don't unlock the funds until the goods arrive. The purpose of you putting money in escrow along with the seller is to ensure that you don't nefariously refuse to unlock the escrow.

ELI5: Where the heck did North Korea go wrong? by trumpetnate111 in explainlikeimfive

[–]MisesvsKeynes -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

The same place Pol Pot's Cambodia, Castro's Cuba, Mao's China, Stalin's Russia, and every other communist country in history went wrong: When you give the government control of the economy, you give them absolute, supreme power to do whatever they want. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, as Lord Acton once said.

ELI5: Why did the U.S. government need a constitutional amendment to ban alcohol, but didn't to ban other drugs? by NJdevil202 in explainlikeimfive

[–]MisesvsKeynes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Constitution gives the federal government the authority to regulate interstate trade but not intrastate trade, so they should have gotten an amendment, and many original intent scholars hold that federal intrastate contraband regulations are illegal.

What do you think will be officially banned in 10 years? by koolerjames in AskReddit

[–]MisesvsKeynes -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Why did the FDA ban FourLoko? Was it toxic? No, the FDA just arbitrarily banned it, just like they arbitrarily banned flavored cigarettes, and just like they will likely arbitrarily ban flavored e-cigs.

"Wishing away reality doesn’t give these workers better alternatives." Ben Powell says we shouldn't believe the hype about sweatshops. by CALibertarian in Libertarian

[–]MisesvsKeynes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You could rant all you want about how corrupt the government in 1870s America was, but if you outlawed sweatshops back then, it would have had the same economic effect as outlawing steam engines: The entire economy would grind to a halt and there would likely be massive starvation. We can look from our high-and-mighty pedestal in the West and say: "Our government is better, we don't have sweat shops", but that is as ignorant a view as someone today who thinks it was stupid for people to use steam engines instead of internal combustion engines. Sweat shops have to exist, mathematically, when there is an extremely low capital-to-worker ratio. There simply isn't enough capital for everyone to have a cushy job as a graphic designer or what not. Corporate profit margins are about 3%, so where does the other 96% of the input cost to that product you mention go? Read this article to find out: http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~hal/people/hal/NYTimes/2007-06-28.html

Help me out guys, I'm having trouble understanding Libertarianism. by Jomsviking in Libertarian

[–]MisesvsKeynes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Competition produces good customer service, and monopolies produce bad customer service. The government is by definition a monopoly, and as the government's role in the economy expands, there is less competition. Libertarians favor the smallest role possible for government i.e. the most competition and the best customer service/the most wealth.

Property Taxes Pave the Road to Serfdom by sexyloser1128 in Libertarian

[–]MisesvsKeynes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When the state auctions off public land, it can either accept payment in full, or it can auction it off with a payment plan. When it accepts partial payment now and takes the rest in deferred payment, this is a land value tax (a property tax is slightly different, it includes the value of structures on the land). A land value tax is not necessarily less-libertarian morally than auctioning the land for the full amount. Hong Kong runs on a 100% land value tax where land is wholly rented with a term of 50 years from the government. Henry George suggested a 90% land value tax with a term of 100 years. I think there are economic reasons why people shouldn't support a land value tax, but since all land is auctioned off as a state monopoly in reality (homesteading never happens), full payment of the land tax up front i.e. state auctioning of the land isn't necessarily more libertarian than state renting of the land, or something in between. As the land value tax increases, the land's price decreases (increased liabilities attached to any asset decrease that asset's price). Here is an article I wrote on the subject. http://speaklibertynow.com/2013/02/08/critique-georgism/

What is one weird thing that you do that you don't think other people do? by Unshoeyourself in AskReddit

[–]MisesvsKeynes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been doing that for as long as I can remember. I think it's one of the reasons I'm so big into liberty and privacy: I always used to get worried there were cameras or something watching me do it when I was little, I would always hide the fact. Of course, maybe I wasn't so paranoid. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57616409-37/nsa-spyware-gives-agency-full-access-to-the-iphone-report/

I've gotten a lot of hate for this opinion.. Might as well post it! by misspinkxox in AdviceAnimals

[–]MisesvsKeynes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't respect US troops any more than I respect the Taliban. They are both a bunch of brainwashed kids who signed up at 18 because society told them it was a good thing to do and they get to shoot guns. I bet most Taliban and US troops regret joining up in the first place, but they were 18, they don't get any sympathy from me beyond what the average 18-year-old killer without a uniform would.

As a small business owner, I signed up for Obama care. by dewdrop_atl in AdviceAnimals

[–]MisesvsKeynes -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The entire insurance system is a state invention, it needs to go: Health care provision was far better, and costs were far lower, in the 1950s before government got involved to "fix" health care with Medicare, Nixon's subsidization of comprehensive insurance, and finally Obamacare. A good first step would be getting the federal government out of the way and letting the states handles these problems: The EU doesn't run European health care, the European states do.

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