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Politics

Taxation without Representation: Stealing from our Children

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I assert that long duration government borrowing is “taxation without representation” which is forbidden by the English Bill of Rights of 1689. Governments have three choices to fund their programmes: taxation, borrowing, and money printing (such as QE). Taxation requires the current generation of taxpayers to pay for the current generation of expenditures. Whereas long duration borrowing requires that some future generation of taxpayers, will pay for the expenditures of today’s generation. That future generation,… Read More »Taxation without Representation: Stealing from our Children

Pointless Violence?

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A 16 year old girl is murdered in Warrington, UK, by two 15 year olds, who had been watching violent content online. My heart goes out to the family of the dead girl: it’s a tragedy to lose your daughter, and wonder whether there was something, anything, you could have done to have prevented it. The girl’s mother is reported by the BBC to have questioned whether the UK Online Safety Bill/Act is strong enough… Read More »Pointless Violence?

The Origin of Money in Sumer

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As with so many other aspects of economics, the origin of money gets caught up in politics. Many theorists want their preferred model of political economy to become self-evident from their analysis of what money is. Libertarians want to exclude the state from control of money and therefore assert that gold most exquisitely captures the required properties of money, and therefore it was inevitable that gold would become money, and requires no state imprimatur to… Read More »The Origin of Money in Sumer

Shed a (crocodile) tear for democracy

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Western pundits are fond of calling President Putin an autocrat and denigrating Russia as not a democracy. However their crocodile tears would be better shed at home, where lack of democratic legitimacy is at least as bad, if not worse. In the 2024 election in the UK, Labour secured a huge majority of seats and 100% control of government, with only 33.7% of the vote (and less actual votes than in 2019). More votes were… Read More »Shed a (crocodile) tear for democracy

Why organisations are inherently conservative

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Social organisations are inherently small-c conservative, in that over time, they tend to become more cautious, more inclined to stick with what has gone before, and less open to radical change. This applies all the way from small community organisations to the governments of countries and leadership of huge businesses. But why? The leaders of those organisations perceive that their own role as leaders will be less threatened by “more of the same” than by… Read More »Why organisations are inherently conservative

Why Communism must be Coercive

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It would be nice if guaranteeing equality of outcomes could lead to a happier society, but it’s never going to happen. Communism is generally considered to be a political and economic system which is characterised by common ownership of the means of production and free access to the articles of consumption. It purports to be classless, stateless, and without money. Common ownership implies a planned economy, for it must exclude private trading and market determination… Read More »Why Communism must be Coercive

On Property : 2 : Justice

In part 1, we looked at Violence, Trade and Law, with regard to Property. The Origin of Property In 1797, Sade wrote “Tracing the right of property back to its source, one infallibly arrives at usurpation. However, theft is only punished because it violates the right of property; but this right is itself nothing in origin but theft“ From this text comes the better known aphorism “All property is theft”. We interpret this with Sade, as… Read More »On Property : 2 : Justice

On Property : 1 : Violence, Trade and Law

When two strangers meet, and one desires something which the other has, the two have two options before them, whether they be individuals, ethnic groups, corporations, or nations. The first option is force: violence or the threat of violence. This option is chosen unilaterally by one party, believing themselves stronger, to take what they desire.The second option is trade. This option is chosen mutually by both parties, deeming themselves equal, to negotiate and agree a… Read More »On Property : 1 : Violence, Trade and Law

Whose side are the police on?

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I’m fascinated by the narrative conflict around whether the police should be construed as the agents of the state enemy, or else as the also-human guys doing a necessary job. The calls from some sections of the US left, to defund or disband the police indicates the idea of having a police force is itself the problem, rather than the behaviour of the current officers. In the UK, the supporters of Extinction Rebellion debate whether… Read More »Whose side are the police on?