It is troubling that after a decade of an economic expansion, the US government is still spending money as it does during and immediately following a recession. It is as if the economy is now in a state of permanent "stimulus."
The United States is not a nation. From the very beginning it was more of a collection of various nations united by ideas of political unity and by fairly high levels of tolerance for other groups within that union. The US certainly contains nations, but it was never a single nation.
Justin Raimondo said things that were painful to hear. He said things that needed saying. He encouraged me. He encouraged friends of mine. He encouraged colleagues of mine.
The theory goes like this: capitalism combines with consumerism and advertising to make us sad, lonely, and forever chasing after material goods. So we consume endlessly and the Machiavellian capitalists reap the rewards. It's not a great theory.
The modern norm is that economic growth causes measured income inequality to increase. But to have greater income equality and greater economic growth. It simply requires more free market policies and less government interventionism.
Most income inequality stats provide a cloudy and confusing picture of the real situation. Even worse, these stats are used to justify a wide variety of tax hikes and government interventions.
One of the most instructive of all examples from maritime history is that of privateering, that is, the employment of profit-seeking, private armed ships during wartime.
