Highlights included:

• Paul Krugman being completely unable to understand that while he tries to play off Ron Paul for trying to pretend we are living 150 years in the past, Krugman is advocating the exact policies that brought down the Roman Empire. (Ron Paul totally took that one straight out of Ludwig von Mises’s Human Action. Doesn’t he know that book is, like, 70 years old?!)
  

  RP: “Professor Krugman indicates we just want to go back 100 years or so. That’s not exactly true. We want to improve on what life was like back then. But he wants to go back 1,000 years or 2,000 years just as the Romans and the Greeks and all other countries debased their currency. They didn’t have a computer. This idea that we need a Federal Reserve to run things or a central bank — that is just a modern times.

  What did the Romans do to their currency? The Byzantine Empire had a gold standard for a thousand years and they did quite well and they didn’t fight wars. But the Roman empire eventually destroyed their currency. They put in wage and price controls before they diluted the metals. They inflated. They thought wealth could come by fooling the people. Who would want today – if they had 10 years to send their kid to college, would they put their money in gold coins or a Treasury bill making 1% or 2%? They can’t keep up with the inflation or the devaluation of the currency.”
  PK: “I’m not a defender of the economic policies of the Emperor Diocletion, let’s make that clear.” (YES YOU ARE!)

  Also, this wasn’t mentioned, but the thirteenth century policies of Gaikhatu Khan were hardly different from what Krugman calls for either.

• Paul Krugman being completely unable to comprehend competing currencies.
  

  PK: “You can do barter with all kinds of stuff.”

• Paul Krugman being completely unable to comprehend how the Federal Reserve is a counterfeiting organization.
  

  RP: “If a private company commits fraud, they go to jail. If the Federal Reserve commits fraud, they get nothing…. If you had a private issue of money and you committed a fraud, you would go to jail. But, no, governments can debase the currency and injure a lot of people and cause the business cycle and cause inflation and cause unemployment and get off scot-free.”
  PK: “I have been pretty harsh on Ben Bernanke, but fraud is not one of the things I would charge him with.”
  RP: “You want him to print more money faster.”
  PK: “Well, of course I do.”

In the end, it was like watching Muhammad Ali box an infant. Economic reality is much to difficult to see from way up in that Ivory Tower. As always, Ron Paul patiently picks apart the economic fallacies of his foes and calmly advocates more sound economic policy (or rather, lack of policy), while his opponent scurries around him flailing his hands without making a real argument. One day maybe we’ll get to see Robert Murphy finally knock some business cycle sense into Krugman. This particular scuffle with Ron Paul was plenty entertaining, though. Someone out there watching is bound to pick up on Dr. Paul’s message.

Oh, and after the debate, Bloomberg TV did not fail to ask the obligatory “When are you going to drop out?” that every media outlet has been throwing at him since forever.

The debate in a nutshell:

Ron Paul taunts Paul Krugman

Ron Paul brings his message to the University of Texas

With the 2012 election around the corner, Ron Paul and his supporters won’t go down without a fight no matter how much the mainstream media attempts to black them out from the news. If you had been at the LBJ Lawn at 7PM you would have witnessed that his campaign has a youthful following. The founder of the Tea Party drew over 6,000 supporters, liberty-inclined students, and area residents to hear his message of smaller government, peace, free-market economics, and the protection of civil liberties. Ron Paul’s visit to the University of Texas at Austin couldn’t be described as anything but EPIC. Prior to Ron Paul’s arrival, local Austin activists and founders of the Ron Paul Marches chanted, “What do we want? PEACE! When do we want it?” The audience would follow immediately with, “NOW!!!”

As supporters gazed on with bated breath, Ron Paul walked up the stairs to the podium the crowd’s energy was tangible, his supporters emphatically cheered “PRESIDENT PAUL”! For activists in the movement, it is truly a beautiful thing to see so many people inspired by the message of liberty and freedom. We are winning the fight of ideas and we have Ron Paul to thank for being the gateway drug to freedom.

If you have ever been to a venue where Ron Paul is speaking you can expect nothing but a lively, enthusiastic crowd of supporters chanting in unison “END THE FED!!!” As someone who has seen Ron Paul speak on numerous occasions, I still get goosebumps when he educates the audience on the moral and ethical issues of America’s flawed foreign policy. He speaks the truth, and, given the failed two-party system we have in place, for those who are apathetic or disillusioned with the left/right paradigm, Paul’s message is refreshing.

Ron Paul draws thousands to LBJ Lawn

Under the program launched last week, passengers on busses run by the Houston METRO system will be subjected to random questioning and searches from “counter-terrorism experts” hired by the Transportation Security Administration. Yes, the very same TSA that has become notorious for invasive pat-downs at airports across the country are opening up a new front in their war on privacy, and it’s on Houston’s public busses.

Riders of the Houston METRO won’t be waiting in line for security checkpoints like they do before boarding flights, though. According to the press release, authorities will “ride buses, perform random bag checks and conduct K-9 sweeps, as well as place uniformed and plainclothes officers at Transit Centers and rail platforms to detect, prevent and address latent criminal activity or behavior.” Both local police and undercover TSA agents will be carrying out the city-wide searches.

Now, I don’t live in Houston, but I do ride the CapMetro here in Austin quite a bit. But, there’s no need to fear; safety shall be granted to the Austin metropolitan area soon enough by these public benefactors.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County say the searches starting in Houston are part of a national pilot program. BusSafe, it says, may be introduced in cities from coast-to-coast.

Usually the biggest danger I face on the bus is olfactory. The TSA is poised to completely change that. I’ll have no time to worry about an unsavory odor when a plain-clothed officer is demanding that I open my backpack in fear that my laptop and Mises books are actually bombs and drugs, or worst of all, declarations of my rights as a human being.

Safety first!

This all reminds me of a quote by the great sage of Austin, Philoso-Norm.

Philoso-Norm Ponders the TSA

Godfather Mises Offers the Action Axiom

The Most Interesting Economist in the World

The Notorious H.O.P.

I also made some featuring Libertarian Longhorns members.

Daniel, the Extreme Libertarian, on Democracy

Norman, a.k.a. Philoso-Norm, Ponders Social Contract Theory

Enjoy these? Feel free to share these with your friends!

More memes will be shared in upcoming posts.

Speak out for peace on April 14th!

There is a great misconception in our society concerning what the current government, like the past administration, is doing in the Middle East. The majority of Americans have been deceived into believing that our military campaigns overseas involve combating terrorism, but once the conduct of the operations and the details of the fighting are examined, it becomes clear that the war that we are prosecuting is the real terrorism. Indeed, U.S. foreign policy actually tends to perpetuate so-called terrorism in the countries that we audaciously invade and subsequently occupy.

The very phrase “War on Terror” is a euphemism used to conceal the fact that it is instead a war against the Muslim world. Escalating employment of “drones,” man-less aerial craft remotely controlled from hundreds or even thousands of miles away, has resulted in a substantial increase in “collateral damage” (another euphemism) as targeted air strikes against so-called “insurgents” (yet another) cause unacceptably numerous, innocent civilian deaths. With all of this in mind, current U.S. foreign policy seems more likely predicated on scaring the American people into submissive compliance to the state rather than on genuine “security” or “defense” in what can only be nakedly described as a blatant government power grab domestically and a further imperialist push for American hegemonic ambitions abroad. The effects of racial and cultural tensions fomented by the Federal propaganda machine are increasingly being felt here at home. Last week, Shaima Alwadi was murdered in what was undoubtedly a racially motivated hate crime, a victim of collective guilt unfairly attached to an innocent woman.

While the government’s imperialistic endeavors grow, the government manipulates the people at home under the guise of protecting our freedoms by encroaching on our civil liberties. More and more we are seeing the effects of these never-ending wars here at home. The Transportation Security Agency (TSA) is feeling us up and taking nude pictures of us, our local police forces are investing in tanks, helicopters, heavy armor, and other war-like materials while at the same time it seems that more and more people are being arrested and/or brutality attacked by the police for such peaceful, nonviolent activities as filming them in public areas. The fact that those who are supposed to be serving and protecting us seem to be increasingly arresting and attacking us is an extremely unsettling one that we are now forced to live with.

Despite all of this, there is hope. A new organization called the Austin Alliance For Peace (AA4P) has been founded. We are a trans-partisan organization that seeks to promote peaceful solutions in an era where violence and threats are too often employed. By educating the public on the violations of peace, mobilizing them to bring peace wherever it is absent, pursuing the redress of grievances in alignment with the tradition of nonviolent resistance, and building a constituency whose main priority is to practice diplomacy and to strive to solve problems without the use of violence, AA4P hopes to create a more peaceful, loving world now and for future generations.

The first event that AA4P is putting on will be Saturday, April 14 at noon at the south steps of the Texas Capitol and is the first annual AA4P Peace Rally. There will be speakers discussing the various forms of violence in our society, including the multiple wars that our nation is engaged in and the growing militarization of our local police forces. Keynote talks will be delivered by Iraqi-American medical doctor turned full-time peace activist Dahlia Wasfi, and host of Antiwar Radio Scott Horton. Other speakers scheduled to appear include local Austin activists such as Iraq War veteran and victim of police abuse Antonio Buehler, and Texans for Accountable Government Executive Director Heather Fazio.

The rally is rapidly growing as more and more people are getting excited about attending and standing up for peace. Students from over ten universities from across the state have committed to attend, from such diverse groups as Libertarian Longhorns, the Israeli-Palestinian Alliance, and Amnesty International. In addition to the large amounts of students that are going to be in attendance, many people from throughout the state and from all different walks of life will also be there. Organizations from Code Pink to Texans for Accountable Government to Texans for Peace will also be in attendance, making this event as large as it is diverse.

Peace is a popular message that everyone can get behind. The Austin Alliance For Peace is the first truly trans-partisan peace organization in the state that is determined to build bridges and form a diverse alliance of people dedicated to bringing peace to a violent world and it begins in Austin on April 14! Please, stand in solidarity as we spread the message of peace and compassion for those who have suffered from violence.

With a clever Orwellian sleight of hand, the use of the phrase “private sector” effectively evokes the idea that markets are a totally secretive process with a bunch of corporate fat cats calling all the shots without any form of accountability. This could not be further from the truth. In reality, markets are very complex institutions that involve not just the producers and managers at the top, but the consumers that ultimately vote with their dollars on which products and what businesses stay afloat. The subjective value judgments of countless consumers also play a significant role in the formation of prices. This whole process stands in sharp contrast to the inner workings of the so-called “public sector” which is notorious for operating under a veil of secrecy— especially when it comes to crafting unpopular legislation behind closed doors and then ramming it down the general public’s throats!

Ultimately, the private versus public sector arguments in today’s political arena highlight a false dichotomy. The way these debates should be framed is whether an institution is voluntary or coercive. The voluntary nature of the market allows for a dynamic process of competition amongst producers. Thanks to the process of creative destruction, free markets are truly progressive forces that allow for consumers to enjoy a wide variety of goods services that they could have never possibly imagined. The paradigm-shifting nature of the marketcompels producers to pay heed to the demands of consumers or get put out of business. As Ludwig von Mises aptly pointed out in Bureaucracy, “The real bosses, in the capitalist system of market economy, are the consumers.”

The state, on the other hand, is the absolute antithesis of the marketplace; it is an institution of coercion and regression. By it’s definition, the state is a monopolistic institution. So, when it gets its hands on the economy, stagnating competition and economic malaise logically follow. The state also operates in a very surreptitious manner in which consumers have little to no say in judging the efficacy of its services. Without the profit and loss motive and with an endless trough of taxpayer funds, it’s nearly impossible to put a government agency out of business through normal market means, except by outright abolition.  It’s also commonplace for the state to work in absolute secrecy as it doles out favors to special interest groups through subsidies, tariffs, regulations, etc. All of these types of policies work against the free market in nature. Not only do they hurt producers, but they also limit consumer sovereignty by restricting the overall supply of goods and services. So much for upholding the public interest!

Debates over whether the private sector or public sector is more accountable to the general populace tend to miss the point. Markets in reality provide tremendous amounts of positive externalities to the general public at large and actually uphold its interest more so than the purported  “public sector”. The real distinction here is between the process of a handshake that promotes competition and the process of the hidden gun in the room that stifles competition. Consumers are kings in a true free market, as they are the ultimate deciders of what goods and services are produced. Just ask the former heads of General Motors, IBM, Kodak, Xerox, and other fallen corporate powerhouses if they wielded more power than the customers who stopped consuming their products. Any form of top-down economic regulation suppresses the will of consumers by effectively limiting the stock of goods and services that they can choose from. Many of these horrible economic policies were crafted in a very unaccountable fashion by political and corporate elites in the more obscure halls of Congress.

The only thing public about these political actions is the level of suffering that the American populace must face due to the unintended consequences of these misguided economic policies.

Created by: OnlineCriminalJusticeDegree.com

Remember to mark your calendars for 1/26 for the first Libertarian Longhorns meeting of the semester, featuring a presentation by our own Andy called “Libertarianism is Beautiful.” For more information, check out the Facebook event page.

Also, we have been able to reserve a room for the UT Mises Circle. Meetings will be held on Monday nights from 7-8:30 PM in Waggener Hall (WAG) 308 (WAG is the building just south of Welch on Speedway behind Garrison where the LL meetings are). Our first meeting will be on 1/30. Be there or be Keynesian/monetarist/historical school….

Wikipedia, along with thousands of other sites, are protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) because these two bills pose some of the most egregious violations of property rights one could imagine. In essence, the federal government would gain the power to censor almost anything at a whim. People were offended when the Feds talked about an internet “kill switch” – Egypt-style – but this is like putting an individual kill switch on every web site hosted on a server in the United States. It is bone-chillingly draconian and utterly barbaric.

If you are unaware of this legislation, please take a few moments to learn more. Wikipedia has a special page dedicated to the protest.

Here is a useful video by one of my favorite YouTube channels that deals with online culture, KnowYourMeme.com.

The weekly meetings for Libertarian Longhorns will be held on Thursday evenings from 7 – 8:30 PM in Garrison Hall (GAR) 2.112. They will start on January 26th. But, if you want more liberty, I encourage you to come at 6 PM in the same place for Youth for Ron Paul meetings and stay late for after meeting socials (most likely at Austin’s Pizza).

Upcoming topics for lecture and discussion at Libertarian Longhorns:
1/26 – “Libertarianism is Beautiful”
2/2 – Social Cooperation
2/9 – Corporatism vs. Capitalism
2/16 – For-Profit Charity

If economics is your game and praxeology is your method of choice because you know we can know a priori, come join the UT Mises Circle! We will focus on more in-depth economics topics and analysis with that Austrian perspective. I will update you as soon as possible when more information about meetings for the UT Mises Circle has been determined.

Get ready to Paul out, everyone!