Bob Hoye (The Volcker Myth Is Unsupportable
Paul Volcker, a great man in central banking, has passed away. The New York Times headlined: “Fed Chairman Who Waged War on Inflation, Is Dead At 92”. This is a legend that, sadly, is not supported by history. Firstly, Volcker in 1971 was instrumental in setting up today’s aggressive central banking. Furthermore, Volcker happened to head the Fed when a great global boom in commodities blew out—naturally—and collapsed. They all do, but soaring prices and not-so-soaring wages have always been accompanied by rising social anxieties. Very stressful times and typically followed by a great bull market in financial assets. Which has been part of the post-inflation relief.
- Thursday, December 12, 2019
That England should submit to essentially an unelected bureaucracy in Europe was endlessly promoted by The Economist. And the concept became so disquieting that I cancelled my subscription. That was in the 1990s and the loss of sovereignty has been appalling. On the plus side, who would miss the pretentious mag? In honouring her traditions of independence, Britain should Brexit.
There have been two great experiments in authoritarian government and each burdened society with bad science and confiscatory taxation. In the early 1600s the establishment insisted that the universe rotated around the Earth. More recently, the establishment insists that violent weather and global warming are due to society’s incorrect behavior. Climate alarmists from Maurice Strong, in the 1990s, to today’s Christiana Figueres, have advised using the UN to basically change the Western World to a political system dominated by bureaucrats. This article reviews that the political reformation that began in the early 1600s was accompanied by a renaissance in physics. And observes that today’s popular uprisings could be the early stages of another great reformation accompanied by another renaissance in the physics of the solar system.
No matter which direction “they” force us to change our clocks it is an intrusion upon private life. Made all the worse because it is needless. All it is, is bureaucratic ritual that never should have seen the light of day.
Over the last few years, it is being reported that each change is accompanied by increases in traffic accidents and heart attacks. Hitherto, the event was rarely criticized. Also, family members and friends no longer ignore rants about the twice-a-year disruptions. Are they becoming libertarian? No just more practical. Common sense can’t be suppressed forever.
Yes, Canada has a general election on October 21st and the electorate who understand and appreciate today’s political reform movement should get out there and kick some @$$. Which came to mind when casting my vote in the advanced polls. This Liberal government has been remarkably corrupt. And amazingly the party has been unable to bury two significant scandals.
There were a number of geniuses in the early evolution of jazz, which is a uniquely American form of music. It originated in the bars, bordellos and marching bands of the polyglot New Orleans culture. In 1917, a federal law shut down the bordellos. With that loss of prosperity, jazz moved onto riverboats and up the Mississippi, on the way to Chicago and Davenport, Iowa. The latter produced Bix Beiderbecke, a true genius in composing and playing the new and evolving music. Coming out of Chicago, Eddie Condon played banjo and then guitar, but his genius was in getting musicians together; always insisting upon improvisation.
Just as there are long trends in financial and commodity markets there have been long trends in political markets. And both markets can change. In the latter, even terminology can change. At one time, a liberal was for limited government and individual liberty and responsibility. Conservatives opposed this. And over a hundred years this has changed such that “conservatives” stand for limited government and “liberals” are for maximum government. How was the corruption of the latter accomplished? Sadly, one can’t explain why, but it was part of a rare global experiment in authoritarian government. With this, the Liberals were flexible and got on the bandwagon.
One of our essays Special Counsel Robert Mueller: Grand Inquisitor was published by 
Weird is when you offer comfort and anger comes back. Weird is also when the state becomes a predator.
In situations where there should be no political conflict, today’s weird involves belligerence. And then there are bullying governments. But history records that the default position of ordinary people has been as little intrusion as possible. Departure into intense intrusion by power-mad governing classes has been rare. And eventually, when pushed too far – self-correcting.
In the financial and commodity markets a frenzy of speculation runs until exhaustion. And frenzy is the right word as soaring prices become irresistible, whether the action is in stocks, bonds, or commodities. The crowd finds its own compulsions and the action is essentially the same no matter the object of desire. And it always runs until it collapses.
One would have hoped that financial rip-offs committed by medieval princes would have been permanently shelved when liberal enlightenment ended the divine right of kings.
The issue of virtue fronting malevolence could use a full page. However, today’s crisis is a policy failure that goes back to May of 2016 when the National Energy Board recommended that the Trudeau government approve the Trans Mountain expansion. New to office, Trudeau wanted to dither with regulatory requirements.
The description of Mueller as the “Grand Inquisitor” is being used, but that job description included the privilege of state murder. Minus that but with his dedication to persecution Mueller is right up there with the most unreasonable prosecutors in history. This article attempts to review similar figures, political conditions and how today’s political hysteria may end.