The Freeway to Serfdom

Hour of Power

2009-03-28T12:06:00.003-07:00

Yeah, it's been dark here - but not tonight!

Just a friendly reminder that the Hour of Power is upon us. Get those furnaces fired up, haul out the xmas lights and take a longer road trip than absolutely necessary today. We can all make a difference.

More coverage from Tim Blair, who really gets into the spirit, silent protests from Samizdata, sing along with Hippy Sympathizer, and the real meaning of Earth Hour as spotted by Drizzten.

30 days without political blogging - and I feel great!

2009-02-17T09:22:00.004-08:00

Seriously, if you have a friend or family member suffering from Political Debilitation Disorder* try my proven withdrawal program. Stop blogging or engaging in political analysis for 30 days and I guarantee you'll feel better. Want to know what I think about the stimulus package details, Ron Paul's latest youtube clip, the most recent gotcha moments in internet combat punditry or the proposal by the City of Moose Balls, SK to institute a 1 cent plastic grocery bag tax? That's fantastic, because neither do I!

Why allow events far outside your sphere of control to impact your physical and mental health for any longer? Get started today and experience results almost immediately.

*symptoms include nausea, elevated blood pressure, fatigue and loss of appetite.

Yikes

2009-01-23T12:27:00.002-08:00

I usually comment around this time of year on the latest offerings at the Detroit Auto Show, but it sounds like the latest installment was a real zombie fest.

Jalopnik runs down the 11 Most Depressing Moments Of The 2009 Detroit Auto Show.

Leave of Absence

2009-01-17T11:16:00.002-08:00

As y'all might have noticed, TFTS is taking a break in 2009. I've just become tired with the blog and its content, and I find myself more interested in reading others than adding my own contributions (see my starred items list to the right for a sampling). I'll still be kicking around the net here and there, either over at my Hockey or Racing blogs, the Book of Face or the Freedomain Radio Boards. I'm more interested in career and personal growth than politics per se, as I have much more control over outcomes in those matters.

Take it easy, and if you're ever in the Vancouver area drop me a line.

All the Best,
-Jay

Frosted

2008-12-14T21:10:00.004-08:00

Some pics from out my cubicle of the first good blanket to hit the Lower Mainland. Almost time to snap on the snowshoes / XC-skis and head across to Cypress.

[more here]

My favourite Blago observation so far

2008-12-11T23:47:00.006-08:00

Even the "revolving door" ethics legislation he championed (and sold to a sufficient number of gullible fools) has a Public Choice whiff to it. Clearly, the intent wasn't to prevent senior staff from taking jobs with well connected contractors (that door, surprisingly, continued its revolution) - the "waiver" availability simply served to enhance the governor's control over any potential rogue senior staff members. In a rat's nest like that, a career path veto is a sure tool for instilling discipline and loyalty prior to crossing the very vague boundary defining the "private" sector.

Peter Samuel's Toll Roads News has some background dirt on the infamous Tollway. As a libertarian, it's my duty to appreciate the contrast between the soccer mom focus-grouped press release (Environmentally Conscious! - Tomorrow's Transportation Today! - A Progressive Improvement Plan!) and the audacious shakedown behind it that would make Tony Soprano blush. The old iron fist beneath the velvet glove, or something like that.

The Devil got to me first, convinced me to buy a Mazda

2008-12-07T16:45:00.006-08:00

As always, the 21st century's stubborn mysticism, economic illiteracy and hostility to rationality is best captured for the benefit of future generations with a picture and a brief caption:

"Bishop Charles Ellis (C) prays for the future of the American auto industry during a special service called "A Hybrid Hope" at the Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, Michigan, December 7, 2008."

Tim Blair FTW

2008-12-06T10:39:00.003-08:00

"Japanese car giant Honda – whose Formula One team was dedicated to saving the planet – has now reduced its F1 carbon footprint to zero."

Be sure to hit all the links. I have to think this is the first of many.

[c/p BFR]

Infrastructure: the next or the last bubble?

2008-12-06T08:40:00.005-08:00

Look out.

Crisis? yawn

2008-12-04T09:56:00.012-08:00

I'm about as far removed from Ottawa as you can get without a passport, and was mildly amused at how the two local dailies bit down hard on the latest sales job originating out of Parliament Hill. A NATION DIVIDED, CHOOSE YOUR SIDE thundered the Sun and Province, respectively. A little too liberal with the bold face type methinks. On my morning walk, I certainly didn't witness neighbours hoisting battle flags or speaking in hushed tones. Deliveries were being made, traffic kept on rolling, construction sites were active, steam kept rising from the mills (the sun was actually out for the first time in weeks it seems).

I think the only people (out here) falling for this attention getting (and relevance asserting) stunt are those who have made the mistake of conflating a crisis that is limited to the internal business units of the country's largest mafia organization with a crisis affecting the population under its control.

Don't get drawn into the shit-flinging spectacle. It's beneath you and there are more productive tasks on which to expend your energy.

Just wish I had the energy

2008-12-02T09:34:00.021-08:00

It's the most fatiguing time of the year. On the work side, the clients understandably want a 2008 on their report rather than a 2009, so the bulk of our current work has to be wrapped up and out the door in two weeks. Climate wise, you can't get a much more definite example of GLOOM than Vancouver in December. Looking out my window, I have been unable to obtain ground confirmation for the past several days. There could well be thirty stories of cotton balls stacked up against the building for all I can see. Oh, and the MUZAK - I'm in an active retail district which means unavoidable exposure to the toxic levels of tackiness - both audio and visual - that apparently must come with the season (have the savages starting shooting each other over Tickle Me Elmo's yet? - close enough). Well at least my hockey team is putting an entertaining product on the ice, right!? No, no, actually they are not.

The good news is I won't be enduring any traveling this year, leaving that chore to "Team Jardine" and my adorable new niece. Of infant transportation, I know next to nothing except that they share my hatred of the flying cattle car. My last trip to Washington, DC featured a pint-sized howler on each of the four trip legs, taking their little lungs through a different shriek octave with every breath. I'm all like, testify brotha! You mean I have to sit through this federally mandated aircraft safety mime show all over again?

Well then, while I work myself out of this funk, I will turn you over to the more active and interesting members of my blogroll. Billy Beck is always the go-to guy on Endarkenment chronicling, Cosh and Coyne will get you up to speed on recent Canadian political distractions (try Mike for some "fire them all" stuff from the left), Freedomain is still the most comprehensive and challenging philosophy site on the internet, and of course if you need more on the financial wreck, switch off the mainstream yammerheads and go read Howe Street, Mish or Lew.

Now's your chance

2008-11-21T12:38:00.012-08:00

I know it's hard to keep on top of things with the bailout now ringing in at almost 8 Trillion and Citi added to the heap, but if you missed the opportunity to point and laugh at Peter Schiff through 06-07, here he is again on Lew's show [Episode 1, 2] warning of wage, price and emigration controls followed by general civil unrest and decay. Hahahahaaaah!

Stuff too good to excerpt

2008-11-18T12:44:00.007-08:00

"America the Illiterate" from Chris Hedges. As always, if the article rises too far above your vocabulary level, there is a ten minute Youtube condensation of the general idea that's making the rounds.

[links via Karen De Coster and Distributed Republic]

Hope? Change?

2008-11-11T10:01:00.012-08:00

The sobering opening lines of a Financial Post report on international interventionism:

We are living in unusual times indeed when Canada emerges as the last bastion of free-market capitalism.

But with Barack Obama advocating a barrage of new U. S. financial regulation in the wake of the credit crunch and the Europeans pushing for a remake of the entire financial world order, the home of the milk marketing board, the wheat board and the liquor-monopoloy [sic]-conspiracy board has become the chief defender of the invisible hand.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, was keen to press the "don't go overboard" message at the G20 finance ministers meeting in Brazil this weekend.

Using a wholly Canadian metaphor in Sao Paulo, Mr. Flaherty said now is not the time to engage in a round of "constitutional" talks regarding the global financial system.

"Now is the time to putting out the fire and not to be planning grand new schemes," he told reporters.

Not to give Flaherty any undue praise here. Like any government financial administrator, he's angling to expand his own regulatory powers at home and keep the French and the rest of the euros away from his tax-producing livestock.

However, let me reiterate that although things are bad here (I think it was TJIC who said living in Canada must be like living on one gigantic college campus), looking at that suffocating nanny / police state across the pond and Barack Obama inheriting George W. Bush's executive powers south of the border makes me content to stick around in this relatively unexciting, if left-leaning, neighbourhood while the noisier parts of the world continue to wig out. Pretty bad though, when the best hope for your regional political bosses is that they fail to adopt the thundering statist rhetoric of their counterparts.

Yes We Can! [conscript your ass]

2008-11-07T13:27:00.004-08:00

"an unfortunate direction for the new administration" is slight understatement coming from the Examiner Civil Liberties blog, which details the new Chief of Staff's views on compulsory community service. Shit, dude are the Obama youth going to have to move en masse to BC if they want to stay out of inner-city war zones?

More analysis on Barack's god-like supply-curve inversion prowess and ersatz revenue extractions over at Coyote Blog.

[link via Lew]

War on Drugs Fail

2008-11-07T13:17:00.004-08:00

From a rather torqued-up report from CFRA's Gord McDougall:

Ottawa's youth drug problem is out of control.

That's the jarring statement from Ottawa's police chief. Vern White says it's time the people of Ottawa wake up and stop being complacent.

"There's not a grade 7 to 12 student in this city that couldn't buy drugs in about half an hour. Not one!", according to Chief Vern White.

[...]

"My goal is that people stop being shocked by that number, and instead, say that they're going to do something about it"

Like just legalizing the drug trade and getting rid of the violent, wasteful and corrupt black market that goes along with it?

The report leaves us hanging there, unfortunately, but we can safely assume he means more of the futile crackdowns undertaken barely a month before this tacit admission of abject failure.

Garth tells Halloween Scare Stories

2008-10-31T09:51:00.004-07:00

In an interview with HoweStreet.com, Garth Turner offers some doom for smug Canadians thinking real estate bubbles and unsustainable personal savings levels can only happen in Amurrica. Yeah, he's a politician, but even a politician that admits politicians can't do much but make this situation worse is a refreshing insight.

I think it's time to place your bets on which BC municipality will claim the title of Canada's Vallejo and start choking on pension obligations once the air comes out of the property tax rolls.

"It is worth recalling what credit actually is, since so many people seem to have forgotten"

2008-10-24T10:20:00.008-07:00

Another beaut from Martin Masse in the Financial Post.

If you ask me, the Austrians are coming out of this crisis looking and sounding smart (as are the Left Libertarians, whose contention that the interests of government and financial elites are practically indistinguishable can hardly be denied). On the other hand, those I would term the "mainstream" are either caught up in the latest medicinal marijuana and gay marriage initiatives or obsessing over whether to support the least rotten of Obama or McCain. Sure they can point at Fannie and Freddie or the Community Reinvestment Act, but they seem to be lacking the intellectual horsepower to keep up with the Krugmans and Greenspans.

Peak Green?

2008-10-17T15:56:00.001-07:00

Lawrence Solomon in the Financial Post:

The next commodity to tumble from unsustainable peak levels: environmentalism.
In part, I am making this prediction because, in my 30 years as an environmentalist, I have never seen so many governments and so many corporations so profusely espousing so many environmental causes. Where promoting environmentalism was once seen as daring and counter-cultural, today it has become banal, no longer the exclusive preserve of a Body Shop chain, but of every retailer down to Wal-Mart. For the same reason that clothes go out of fashion after the masses embrace them, mass-marketed environmentalism will come to be disdained. That won’t sell for long.
I am predicting a collapse of today’s Wal-Mart environmentalism for another reason, too: Much of it is misguided, based on misunderstanding and vacuity.

I think he's on to something, I mean, anyone remember this guy from a few new cycles back?:

Of the current fight against global warming, Gore said: “This is a rout. We are losing badly.” He cited tropical diseases entering countries for the first time, and devastating hurricane activity as some of the recent consequences of climate change.

The latest headline scrape tends to back up their assertion, as once fashionable eco-posturing politicians continue to take it on the chin:

In a surprise announcement at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention this afternoon, Campbell unveiled a "Climate Action Revenue Incentive" program which will reimburse municipalities for the carbon tax they pay.

The only catch, Campbell said, is that the municipalities must first sign onto the Climate Action Charter which pledges carbon neutrality by 2012.

Following up in the Tyee:

Qualicum Beach councillor Mike Wansink said he would like to cut local government emissions but the investment costs too much. To become carbon neutral, he said, his town would have to purchase electric cars and power official buildings and streetlights with expensive green energy.

"Municipalities probably don't have enough resources to be able to buy those sorts of things," he said. "Zero net emissions in three years is virtually impossible."

[...]

Quesnel Mayor Nate Bello told The Tyee that his city staff is already stretched to the limit trying to deal with such issues as mountain pine beetles and economic development.

"The [provincial climate change toolkit] website is great but cash would be better," he said.

And I hope you're all sitting down, but a study has determined that "Green idealists are most likely to take long-haul flights". From the Guardian's 'Ethical Living' files:

According to the researchers, people who regularly recycle rubbish and save energy at home are also the most likely to take frequent long-haul flights abroad. The carbon emissions from such flights can swamp the green savings made at home, the researchers claim.

Stewart Barr, of Exeter University, who led the research, said: "Green living is largely something of a myth. There is this middle class environmentalism where being green is part of the desired image. But another part of the desired image is to fly off skiing twice a year. And the carbon savings they make by not driving their kids to school will be obliterated by the pollution from their flights."

Some people even said they deserved such flights as a reward for their green efforts, he added.

You've all heard of Mr. Dion's Green Shift sales flop. This speculative bubble has peaked, folks. Time to sell now and cut your losses.

Fighting for the long established right to fast uploads and downloads

2008-10-17T15:54:00.002-07:00

From Fredericton's Telegraph Journal (not a spoof website):

The Conservative candidate in the province's New Maryland-Sunbury West byelection filed a complaint with the province's Human Rights Commission Thursday, calling for equal access to high-speed Internet in New Brunswick.

Jack Carr, twin brother of Oromocto MLA Jody Carr, contends uneven access to high-speed Internet service in the province violates basic human rights.

Business New Brunswick Minister Greg Byrne, however, was quick to criticize the manoeuvre.

"It's just a crass political move by Mr. Carr to get some traction in the riding," concluded the Fredericton-Lincoln MLA.

Still, Carr maintains that every household has a right to high-speed Internet. "I believe it's discrimination based on where people live," he told reporters.

[...]

Carr said Internet access is a significant issue in the riding, where many struggle[!] with the slow download speeds of dial-up service.

"I want people to know that I'll do what's necessary to raise this issue," he said. "I've heard loud and clear that this is an issue with many people in the riding."

So if I follow, when everyone has a human right to TEH INTERNETS that implies an unending and irrevocable positive obligation on the part of some other people to...[ah forget it, my head just exploded]

It's Getting Dark In Here...

2008-10-17T09:39:00.005-07:00

When some future Edward Gibbon sits down to document the Decline and Fall of the American Empire, he can save himself 600-odd pages and just go straight to the Youtube archives of the era:

For what details the media files lack, the insightful comments can elucidate.

We Did It!

2008-10-15T10:39:00.009-07:00

CBC.ca: Voter turnout drops to record low

An estimated 59.1 per cent of Canadians cast votes in Tuesday's general election — a figure that appears to be a record low in the history of Confederation.

So, to recap...

None of the Above - 40.9%
Conservatives - 22.2% (37.6% x 0.591)
Liberals - 15.5% (26.2% x 0.591)
NDP - 10.8% (18.2% x 0.591)
Bloc Quebecois - 5.9% (10% x 0.591)
Others - 4.7% (8% x 0.591)

The largest proportion of Canadians preferred watching TV, playing with their kids, finishing work tasks, reading, shopping, relaxing or any number of other activities to heading out and voting for one of five practically indistinguishable shades of socialism.

Now that's what I call progress.

Non-voting agitprop #5: Election Day edition

2008-10-14T12:20:00.004-07:00

The problem with voting is that you inevitably have to play the game, and by playing the game, you clearly must know the rules of it (why else enter?). And by any reasonable standard of thinking, voluntarily entering a game and knowing its rules must also mean accepting those rules. The obvious rule of the voting game is that whoever gets the most votes wins, and winning means power over everybody without exception. This means the losers have to accept whoever is victorious in the elections; that’s democracy.

Does that give voters a right to complain? Not necessarily. They can undoubtedly be dissatisfied with the outcome of the elections, but they have voluntarily entered the game and lost. They knew what they were doing and accepted the terms; when defeated, they should take the consequences.

What about the people not entering this stupid game of “who rules whom”? They too have to take the consequences, but not because they accepted the terms. On the contrary, to non-voters the system is very clearly oppressive – you never accepted the terms of the system and never even took part in it, and yet whatever the victors decide is forced down your throat.

Voters have no real reason to complain, they accepted the game’s rules and played it all the way – but lost. A poker player cannot enter a game and then reclaim his bets after losing; he plays to win and runs the risk of losing his bets. That’s how the game is played. The same goes for voters: it is only fair that they stick to their decision to enter this lunatics’ game and face the consequences.

The problem with this game is the winner claims the right to rule everybody, including those who did not take part in the elections. Non-voters are forced just like anybody else to obey whatever rules the political class comes up with. Do these poor people not accepting the game of government have a right to complain about this? It should be pretty obvious they do. Voters do not.

-from Per Bylund, "Statist Reasoning: Non-Freedom for Non-Voters"

Non-voting agitprop #4

2008-10-02T10:07:00.004-07:00

From Regina's Robert S. Porter (jesus, there are libertarians in Saskatchewan now?):

With this in mind, who should a libertarian vote for? Should it be based on the economy? Social tolerance? War? I think looking at all three major parties (and discounting small parties and independents due to their obvious uselessness) there is no choice that is perfect or even good.

Another way to look at this issue comes from a blog post about the UK general election in 2005:
This is a howling fallacy. If you were to ask Gordon Ramsey whether he preferred McDonalds or Burger King, and he replied “they’re both shit”, would you infer that he was apathetic about food? Why, then, infer that I’m apathetic about politics.
It’s not apathy I feel. It’s contempt.

I agree. Implying that I must vote for the sake of the institution is a lazy canard. I’d argue that I’m much more knowledgeable about Canadian politics than the typical voter who votes based on guttural instinct. Indeed it’s the fact that I do pay attention which leads me to refrain from voting.

Martin Masse is reminded of Marx's Fifth Proposal

2008-09-29T20:23:00.005-07:00

Good eye, Martin. He also puts a proper boot to the Friedmanites, Kudlows and other monetary socialists:

If he were to rise from the dead today, Marx might be delighted to discover that most economists and financial commentators, including many who claim to favour the free market, agree with him.
Indeed, analysts at the Heritage and Cato Institute, and commentators in The Wall Street Journal and on this very page [Financial Post], have made declarations in favour of the massive “injection of liquidities” engineered by central banks in recent months, the government takeover of giant financial institutions, as well as the still stalled US$700-billion bailout package.Some of the same voices were calling for similar interventions following the burst of the dot-com bubble in 2001.

For shame. Read it all. [via Jeffrey Tucker]