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Archives for September 2007

Fascism

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I’ve often wondered about the eye rolls I must get from readers who come along and land on one of my posts asserting that America is a fascist country and has been for a very long time.

Well.

Roosevelt himself called Mussolini “admirable” and professed that he
was “deeply impressed by what he has accomplished.” The admiration was
mutual. In a laudatory review of Roosevelt’s 1933 book Looking Forward,
Mussolini wrote, “Reminiscent of Fascism is the principle that the
state no longer leaves the economy to its own devices.…Without
question, the mood accompanying this sea change resembles that of
Fascism.” The chief Nazi newspaper, Volkischer Beobachter,
repeatedly praised “Roosevelt’s adoption of National Socialist strains
of thought in his economic and social policies” and “the development
toward an authoritarian state” based on the “demand that collective
good be put before individual self-interest.”

Keep rolling them eyes.

(Warren Meyer)

Utopian Fantasyland

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I’ve been having a bit of discussion here, that turned into a bit of discussion on "utopia" and "fantasyland" vis-a-vis anarchy. The standard set of arguments — my interlocutors being unaware of how poor they are — for the "necessity" of the state issue forth.

Amongst other non-arguments, it is apparently "utopian" and "fantasyland" to imagine and argue for an eventual end to the monopoly of the state. But as I point out, it is the advocates of the state that are the utopians and those promoting a fantasy. They all use the same argument: the state is necessary because [blank], and they always, always insert some social or political phenomenon that the state doesn’t actually prevent, like predatory behavior by a few, or produce, like safety and security. It promises plenty, and when it fails — as it always does — the call is for more money and more power, and the cycle repeats. "If there is no law, what is to stop them?" (predators), one asks. The answer, of course, is that nothing necessarily stops them, including laws and the state. Bad people — predators — are largely unpersuaded by so-called "deterrents," whether they take the form of a state police force or an armed individual or private group.

You might argue that to what extend deterrents work, they work best in environments of high uncertainty — such as individuals being armed. I think that’s probably true, but it’s not true all the time and in all places and circumstance, so it’s not my preferred argument.

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What’s Going On?

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It’s going to be hard for the 2008 election industry to ignore what happened in Ron Paul’s campaign this last week. Some are going to to report it, so others won’t want to be seen as missing a real story. Maybe you recall the press he got at the end of last quarter, when it was learned he had more cash on hand than McCain. Once that got out, news outlets were compelled to deal with it. It’s a matter of getting the snowball rolling, and this might do it, again.

A little less than a week ago, Paul’s campaign set out to finish the quarter with a bang, by raising a half-million in the final five days of the quarter. When that goal was hit at about the halfway point, they increased the goal to $1 million. At this writing, they stand at having raised  $1,057,000 and there’s still nearly a day left.

I don’t vote, but I did kick in $200 for my part, and I’ll continue to do so over time. I still think actually winning is a very long shot, but it’s worth getting his message out. Just seeing the cheers he gets in the various debates, as well as winning most of them in the Internet and call in polls (until those get swept under the rug by powers who find such results embarrassing) is worth it. All of this ignoring of Paul has been predicated on the notion that his campaign can’t possibly contend seriously, so he’ll eventually go away. It’s about the only thing they can do. If they’re right, no one will care they did their best to ignore and marginalize him; and if they’re wrong, it will be irrelevant. And money talks. The news media is going to promote anyone’s campaign that has significant dollars to spend in political advertising over the next year on their networks. Paul is closing in on such levels.

Closing Bell YouTubing

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Not a bad week. The market went essentially nowhere, but because of some of the trades I made at the lows for the week I’m up pretty good overall in spite of today’s down day. My guess: pretty big up across the board next week, and if so, I’m positioned for a serious killing. We’ll see.

You know that Crocs (CROX) trade I told you about? I’m still riding that one, now at a gain of nearly $11,000. I’m closing in on 100%, there. I also entered about the same $16,000 in calls on SAP (SAP) at the same time as Crocs and had to feel the heat for a while as yesterday, at the low, it was showing a loss of about $4,000. Today I’m almost back up to break even on it. We’ll see how that goes, but if it doesn’t get it in gear early next week, I’ll bail. I have sights on both Echelon (ELON) and Nvidia (NVDA) and that SAP trade would be the one to close in order to cut opportunity costs. Other than that, I’ve got some ProShares leveraged ETFs on the S&P and Qs, as well as some call options on both for even more leverage. All were entered near the lows of the week, so we’re looking good.

Today’s selection is The Traveling Wilburys. Quite and eclectic bunch, and even though neither Tom Petty or Bob Dylan shine in this particular one, both George Harrison and Roy Orbison make up for it in spades. And tun it up, wouldja?

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