“Cash is about freedom,” writes the Cato Institute’s Dr. Dan Mitchell.
I wrote yesterday that governments want to eliminate cash in order to make it easier to squeeze more money from taxpayers.
But that’s not the only reason why politicians are interested in banning paper money and coins.
They also are worried that paper money inhibits the government’s ability to “stimulate” the economy with artificially low interest rates.
And Mitchell quotes Matthew Lynn from The Telegraph: “a banknote is an incredibly efficient way to handle small transactions. It is costless, immediate, flexible, no one ever needs a password, it can’t be hacked, and the system doesn’t ever crash. More importantly, cash is about freedom.”
Read The Government Wants Your Cash, All of it! Part I, here.
VIDEO: A cashless society is already near in Sweden:
The Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. The case centers around 10 teachers (Friedrichs et. al) challenging a state requirement that they pay dues to a union (California Teachers Association) that takes political positions teachers may disagree with. This case “would be a huge victory for workers’ rights, the First
Amendment, and educational freedom – and probably the most important ruling this term,” says Cato Institute scholar Ilya Shapiro, co-author of Cato’s amicus brief. Shapiro concludes:
CONCLUSION
“First Amendment values are at serious risk if the government can compel a particular citizen, or a discrete group of citizens, to pay special subsidies for speech on the side it favors.” United States v. United Foods, 533 U.S. 405, 411 (2001). That is why state-compelled subsidies are subject to First Amendment scrutiny and must be carefully tailored to minimize impingement on First
Amendment rights. Allowing the government to compel citizens to subsidize a private party’s political speech, subject only to a circumscribed opt-out procedure administered by the party being subsidized, crosses the limited of what the First Amendment can tolerate because a better- tailored procedure—affirmative consent to pay subsidies—is readily available. For that reason, the decision of the court below should be reversed.
Since New Year’s Eve, 516 criminal sexual assault complaints have been filed in Germany. The complaints are against men of mostly North African or Arab origin who, on New Year’s Eve, went on a sexual-assault rampage in the city of Cologne as well as in Hamburg, Stuttgart and Berlin. Should this come as a warning to the West and especially to women? As the WSJ’s Bret Stephens reports,
anyone with even minimal acquaintance with Mideast mores, is not surprised. “The World Economic Forum publishes a Global Gender Gap Report, which ranks the status of women in 142 countries. Bottom of the list: Yemen, Pakistan, Chad, Syria, Mali and Iran, all Muslim-majority countries.”
Liberals often claim, continues Mr. Stephens, that “Western cultures are no better than non-Western cultures in respecting human rights, or by demanding radical liberalism inside the West while supinely accepting violent anti-liberalism outside it.”
But the events in Cologne make a nonsense of this. What was outside the West is now inside. In the spirit of Christian charity, Angela Merkel and other European leaders have imported a culture of Muslim misogyny. In the name of humanity, the benefactors are asked to close their eyes to the brutishness of so many of their
beneficiaries.
Put bluntly, there is a pronounced tendency among Middle Eastern men to view women either as chattel or as whores. This is not a pleasant reality to acknowledge, but it’s an even more dangerous thing to ignore. So why is it ignored?
Multiculturalism is a liberal fetish that is also the antithesis of liberalism, classical or modern—a simultaneous belief in individual autonomy and cultural equality, irrespective of whether different cultures believe in individual rights or not.
Read more here from Mr. Stephens, who has what he calls a “modest proposal” on immigration that Mr. Obama and Mrs. Merkel might want to consider.
I was talking with a client yesterday who lives north of Jackson, Mississippi. He said he’s glad his commute to the hospital doesn’t go through Jackson. He said it’s like a war zone there especially when guys like Councilman Kenneth Stokes tell residents to throw rocks and bricks at
the police. It’s reminiscent of the No-Go Zones all around France where police have little or no control.
Yes, Dr. Mercola is controversial. But his top 10 strategies for a healthier life seem heavily rooted in common sense.
One reason for Dr. Joseph Marcela’s strong appeal—whether you view him as a visionary or a quack—is that much of what he advocates is based on common sense and good science. On his site, for example, you can get his primer on proper hand washing to avoid spreading or catching the flu. Dr. Mercola also encourages you to spend time in the sun, but also warns not to get a sunburn. He even
suggests a way to cover up that allows enough sun to get through without damaging your skin. How about sunscreens? According to Mercola, “loaded with toxic chemicals.” And yes, he does sell a “natural” sunscreen (with green tea) on his website.
When asked why the FDA has been on his case, he laughs, “It’s a very simple answer. There are enormous sums of money involved. There’s this huge collusion between government and industry. They leverage the federal regulatory agencies against us to make us look like we’re breaking the law.”
So, whether you view Dr. Mercola as a visionary or a quack, his Top 10 Tips for a roadmap to healthier living seem pretty sensible, straightforward and non-controversial.
The Cato Institute’s Dan Mitchell explains, with laser like clarity, that Barack Obama, with his SOTU, proved clearly to Americans that his grasp of domestic policy is even more shallow and devoid of background, if that’s possible, than his grasp of foreign policy.
I normally enjoy working for the Cato Institute since it’s a principled and effective organization.
But every so often, my job requires an unpleasant task, and watching the State-of-the-Union Address as part of Cato’s live-tweeting program counts as one my least enjoyable experiences since joining the team.
But let’s make lemonade out of lemons by looking at lessons that can be learned from Obama’s speech. The most jarring part of the evening was when Obama bragged about the American economy.
Since we’re suffering through the weakest recovery since the Great Depression, that was rather bizarre.
Moreover, being proud that we’re doing better than Europe is akin to getting a participation ribbon in a soccer league for kids.
More from Cato Institute on the State of the Union here:
Newly Uncovered Benghazi Email Could Make a Difference
A newly uncovered email from Jeremy Bash, former Defense Dept. Chief of Staff, is calling into question claims that no help was available to the victims of the Benghazi 9/11/12 terrorist attack. Special Forces in Croatia were apparently available and, according to reporting by Sharyl Attkisson, may have even been called back once underway to Libya.
Well, Madame Clinton, perhaps you can explain to the voters in New Hampshire and Iowa, as well as to Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, why these forces were pulled back. And while you are at it, explain the truth to all of us Americans. Finally. Yet what’s the rush, Madame? You have had no interest in coming clean up to this point.
Sharyl Attkisson’s videos on Benghazi are clear and forthright. America should be outraged at the loss of lives and property in Benghazi. To compound this dereliction, key email evidence has been kept from the American people for three years, while candidate Clinton scoffed, “What difference does it make?”
What difference does it make? The American people deserve an explanation, and maybe, Madame, you can commence your explanation tour with former CIA Station Chief Gary Berntsen. No one knows the turf better than Gary.
Gary Berntsen (author of Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA’s Key Field Commander) was the CIA’s key commander coordinating the fight against the Taliban forces around Kabul. Former CIA bin Laden unit chief Michael Scheuer calls Berntsen courageous. Cofer Black, former chief of the CIA’s Counter Terrorism Center, writes that “Berntsen was the
CIA’s ‘go to guy’ when it came to leading in Afghanistan, owing to his exceptional operational and leadership skills in situations involving the threat of immediate danger. Berntsen is brave and bold and a true American hero.”
Berntsen will know before you have finished your first sorry sentence that the tune you are singing is in the wrong key. In Berntsen’s mind, you could instantly be exposed as a deceitful fraud. Your explanation of events in Benghazi hasn’t been believable from the start. As Berntsen said of the Predator hovering above during the Benghazi attacks, “They stood and they watched and our
people died.” Telling the families of dead Americans that they were murdered because of a video, and then brazenly asking Congress “what difference does it make,” has proven your inability or your unwillingness to accept your own mistakes. (And your desire to get into the White House at all costs.) Voters in New Hampshire and Iowa would be stunned to see you questioned by a national hero and terrorism expert like Gary. Not to mention what great campaign fodder Donald Trump and
Bernie Sanders could generate from your deceitful responses.
Your presidential-aspirations-goose might just be cooked right then and there. Your campaign has been taking on so much water you must already know that the tide is running out on elite/establishment politicians like you, your husband, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush. Al Kooper, legendary Hammond B3 player and founder of Blood Sweat and Tears, penned a catchy song—“.” It’s time, only not your time! It’s time for Americans to know the truth. As Hugh Hewitt, trying to make sense of it all, said on CNN: “Hillary just makes stuff up, Hillary is a liar
… We just can’t take eight more years of lies.”
The Winner—Donald Trump. Mr. Trump
punched in with “I want Security,” followed with “The police are the most mistreated people.” (Trump pro the police.) Trump, countering Nikki Haley, proclaimed, “Yes, I am angry.” Asked if he wished to withdraw his comments on banning Muslims, Donald shot back, “No!” Trump followed up with The New York Times, “They are always wrong.” And on China, he announced that we should consider taxing goods coming in from China.
Net/net Donald Trump hit many of the hot buttons Americans of all stripes want hit. This election is not about the Republican and Democratic parties’ establishment/elites (I am an independent). For the first time in my memory it is, as it should be, about the people, all the people.
Ted Cruz once again failed to get up to “Cruzing speed” and disagreed with Mr. Trump on banning Muslims.
Marco Rubio played a safe hand, but had some tough words for ISIS. Beyond that there was not much of a glow coming off the Rubio fire.
Mr. Carson brought an early ice breaker laugh from the crowd announcing “wake me up” when the moderator finally got around to him. Beyond that one liner, Dr. Ben basically wants to get a group together to think things out. It is hard to see how this nice man helped himself on the path to the presidency.
John Kasich was again JK, spirits high and arms a waving. I didn’t like his thoughts on a coalition with the Arabs and most often John’s tendencies on foreign policy have a pretty strong neocon pull.
Chris Christy wants a no-fly zone in Syria, though Chris, thankfully, steered clear of telling the crowd he would shoot down Putin’s fighter jets. Christy also remains on the “remove Assad” game plan. Such a play of course would pit America against Russia in a part of the world where America’s national interests are not at stake. On the bright side, Chris wants no part of taking
in Syrian Refugees. Chris or Rubio are probably the pick of the Republican elites, but neither gained any ground on Trump last night.
Jeb Bush was… well awful. My first notes on Jeb last night were “the poor guy.” All he could muster up was a silly “we have to get back in the game.” Bush has to have pulled the plug on his already fast-sinking ship.
