Doomy's article is a subject that makes my heart thump.
I agree with every sentence. When people think of liberties they often think exclusively of political liberties like speech, association, religion, and so forth. These are very important. However, what are these worth without economic liberty? Wickard v Filburn made certain that the federal government could regulate- in others words ban- all economic activity. In addition to being a major suppression of liberty it's also an end run around the Takings Clause. Think back to Obama's pledge to destroy the coal industry and then following through on that threat. Billions of dollars of property were ruined when he shuttered power plants and coal mines. Tens of thousands of jobs were lost. Much of the big mining equipment lost the bulk of its value and was sold for parts or exported for pennies on the dollar. Such is the fruit of Wickard v Filburn and its allied cases.
But it's not just SCOTUS that got it wrong. After all, it was Congress who passed the law and the President who signed it. No future Congress repealed it. Our nation has been teaching its youth that this is a legitimate power of the federal government, that economic liberties are, like the 2nd amendment, second class liberties. Even if SCOTUS overturns Wickard we still have to contend with what's in the hearts of Americans with regard to economic liberty. Will they elect legislators who support passing such a law again?
So much work needs to be done to instruct the nation on our full heritage of liberty, including the right to work in any trade you wish without government destroying your career. You don't have to be in the coal industry to fear that possibility. During Covid the Constitution became an artifact for a time and many were told they were "non-essential" workers. Here's to hope that SCOTUS can strike a blow and that friends of economic liberty to persuade their fellow Americans that those liberties are as important as the ones in the Bill of Rights.
Studying Singapore, an authoritarian society with a happier population than ours, has made me realize that economic liberty affects one's lifestyle metrics and daily mental outlook more than civil liberties, if human flourishing can be quantified pragmatically.
Been there many times in 80s and 90s. Lovely city State where you could walk through the streets at night wearing a gold watch prominently on your wrist and still feel safe.
Got home from Singapore yesterday after there for a week on a business started 30 years ago. Country is very small with near zero natural resources and group harmony due to density of population , regional threats etc make for the gov being involved in many areas.
But, if you compare it to the rest of Asia it’s like a mini Switzerland with its citizens enjoying a standard of living much higher than the rest of Asia and certainly higher than Canada. Main downside is cars ( new) are about $200K usd due registration costs
From a wealth management perspective, Singapore is the Switzerland of Asia. I've had accounts in both Singapore and Switzerland. Switzerland ditched their American clients in 2010 after FATCA was enacted, but I still have my Singapore accounts. Today, I trust Singapore more so than Switzerland. YMMV.
The only time that might not work is in Vietnam, where over the past couple of weeks, 86 million Vietnamese were locked out of the bank accounts because they would not accept their digital IDs. That is when authoritarianism hit home hard. Once that kind of thing comes home to roost, I would imagine people might just not accept the restraint of government. Only time will tell.
So you're saying that when people have less economic liberty, they're less happy? Wow, that turns my whole theory upside down. I'm gonna have to go back to the drawing board and rethink my entire thesis.
I think we’ve had at least four generations and I guess if you really want to count it almost 6 generations of people have not been economically free enough to know how good it is without regulation. I was going to mention a video I saw on. Epoch Times About disappearing family farms, which showed up yesterday. I didn’t want to pollute the Substack with external links. You can go to my X feed and find it. I think you will understand a little more about the evolution of federal regulation that prevents local farmers from going direct to local consumers. Even if you disagree with it, it’s worth a watch.
Different cultural context, different resource endowment, different global role to play. Bless them for their remarkable achievements, may they contribute to inspire others, including growingly disfuncional western countries with too much compliance.
He wants to grow food not bomb the land. I understand what u r saying. In Switzerland homes are in families for 100s of year passed down to the eldest or. Farms historically too. I’d be like to see someone who believes this nonsense have their Tesla taken away, just cause the gov can. It’s like having people cancelled. Mr Petersen. Drs. Etc for words yet those who danced and praised Charlie’s death can’t be fired. Always a two way street as America is learning. And Canada is not, yet.
At the core of this reflection lies the notion of property rights. In fact, the first paragraph ends with this sentence: “...Filburn saw no reason to seek permission from the U.S. federal government to do with his property as he saw fit.”
Property rights are a human social construct. Do land (or other natural entities) really belong to humans? The land Filburn thinks he owns will still exist after his death and will remain there for other human beings and living things. Therefore, I would argue that this land does not truly belong to Filburn. Perhaps, then, he cannot do whatever he wants with it.
Honestly, I have no idea whether the law is good or bad. But treating property rights as an absolute principle (“if I own it, I can do whatever I want”) shows a lack of humility and temperance toward the natural world.
Increasingly I’m coming to the conclusion that the perversion of the US constitution resembles a jumbled ball of fish line. At what point do we cut it, throw it out and start with a new set of principles. The idea of limited government and liberty has been vanquished. It’s now just a power grab between corrupt political parties. All the technological advances in the world won’t help us if our government is hopelessly corrupt.
You lost me at Sen Mike Lee’s “outstanding book”. Anyone calling for a return to a balanced budget is divorced from the reality of our debt burden. He is not to be taken seriously.
According to data from Wood Mackenzie, by 2030 SMRs should generate power at $182 per megawatt hour compared with $133 per megawatt hour for conventional nuclear.
Natural gas is expected to sit at $126 per megawatt hour, while onshore wind and solar, backed up by battery, are projected to be around one-third less expensive.
The commerce clause rulings in and of themselves is a miscarriage of the constitution. the backstory is quite fascinating. it occurred about the same time the supreme court ruled that tomatoes are vegetables and not fruits. not kidding. earlier rulings on the EPA doing dumb (as it presently relates to CO2) is the infamous Snail Darter case. Since I have been joined at the hip with the EPA since its founding (for only political reasons due to Nixon) the EPA has since outlived its usefulness so its groping for existence justification. time to call it a day for the EPA
It’s the debt! Far more inflation will come as the ultimate sole alternative is that only the Fed will buy US debt. They “have to do so”, until a total collapse occurs. $8K/oz gold might be way too optimistic.
Few can afford housing OR cars, thus frozen. Trump inherited a monumental problem to which, in context of literally decades of governmental malfeasance, he contributed only a little. At least he and his Administration is trying to forestall, and maybe thread a needle to stave off the looming collapse. The U.S. is ALREADY in Fiscal Dominance. You are not seeing “the Forrest for the trees”. Kudos to Luke Gromen.
“In the Aggregate” is not just a great title for this important essay, it is also a reference to a method of argument used by tyrants to manipulate others.
Once you’ve gotten your opponent to agree to your use of “the aggregate”, you can play with any and all the data to win your case.
This “aggregation” should never have been allowed in the first place. And the enormous amount of damage it has caused to our country cannot be calculated.
Doomy's article is a subject that makes my heart thump.
I agree with every sentence. When people think of liberties they often think exclusively of political liberties like speech, association, religion, and so forth. These are very important. However, what are these worth without economic liberty? Wickard v Filburn made certain that the federal government could regulate- in others words ban- all economic activity. In addition to being a major suppression of liberty it's also an end run around the Takings Clause. Think back to Obama's pledge to destroy the coal industry and then following through on that threat. Billions of dollars of property were ruined when he shuttered power plants and coal mines. Tens of thousands of jobs were lost. Much of the big mining equipment lost the bulk of its value and was sold for parts or exported for pennies on the dollar. Such is the fruit of Wickard v Filburn and its allied cases.
But it's not just SCOTUS that got it wrong. After all, it was Congress who passed the law and the President who signed it. No future Congress repealed it. Our nation has been teaching its youth that this is a legitimate power of the federal government, that economic liberties are, like the 2nd amendment, second class liberties. Even if SCOTUS overturns Wickard we still have to contend with what's in the hearts of Americans with regard to economic liberty. Will they elect legislators who support passing such a law again?
So much work needs to be done to instruct the nation on our full heritage of liberty, including the right to work in any trade you wish without government destroying your career. You don't have to be in the coal industry to fear that possibility. During Covid the Constitution became an artifact for a time and many were told they were "non-essential" workers. Here's to hope that SCOTUS can strike a blow and that friends of economic liberty to persuade their fellow Americans that those liberties are as important as the ones in the Bill of Rights.
Amen
Studying Singapore, an authoritarian society with a happier population than ours, has made me realize that economic liberty affects one's lifestyle metrics and daily mental outlook more than civil liberties, if human flourishing can be quantified pragmatically.
Been there many times in 80s and 90s. Lovely city State where you could walk through the streets at night wearing a gold watch prominently on your wrist and still feel safe.
Got home from Singapore yesterday after there for a week on a business started 30 years ago. Country is very small with near zero natural resources and group harmony due to density of population , regional threats etc make for the gov being involved in many areas.
But, if you compare it to the rest of Asia it’s like a mini Switzerland with its citizens enjoying a standard of living much higher than the rest of Asia and certainly higher than Canada. Main downside is cars ( new) are about $200K usd due registration costs
From a wealth management perspective, Singapore is the Switzerland of Asia. I've had accounts in both Singapore and Switzerland. Switzerland ditched their American clients in 2010 after FATCA was enacted, but I still have my Singapore accounts. Today, I trust Singapore more so than Switzerland. YMMV.
Reflects my experience
Singapore and Israel have many valuable lessons to teach the world, if only they would listen.
My only concern for their future is from what this guy describes as Chinese influence, if it goes unchecked:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DrikDgtGBE
The only time that might not work is in Vietnam, where over the past couple of weeks, 86 million Vietnamese were locked out of the bank accounts because they would not accept their digital IDs. That is when authoritarianism hit home hard. Once that kind of thing comes home to roost, I would imagine people might just not accept the restraint of government. Only time will tell.
So you're saying that when people have less economic liberty, they're less happy? Wow, that turns my whole theory upside down. I'm gonna have to go back to the drawing board and rethink my entire thesis.
I think we’ve had at least four generations and I guess if you really want to count it almost 6 generations of people have not been economically free enough to know how good it is without regulation. I was going to mention a video I saw on. Epoch Times About disappearing family farms, which showed up yesterday. I didn’t want to pollute the Substack with external links. You can go to my X feed and find it. I think you will understand a little more about the evolution of federal regulation that prevents local farmers from going direct to local consumers. Even if you disagree with it, it’s worth a watch.
David, I was born 76 years ago, but I can still see a significant difference in personal freedom from regulation during my years growing up to today.
Thanks, I just googled that and found the video.
Here's an ag podcast I like that also addressed that subject recently:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w-oPsm5Wtg
Different cultural context, different resource endowment, different global role to play. Bless them for their remarkable achievements, may they contribute to inspire others, including growingly disfuncional western countries with too much compliance.
He wants to grow food not bomb the land. I understand what u r saying. In Switzerland homes are in families for 100s of year passed down to the eldest or. Farms historically too. I’d be like to see someone who believes this nonsense have their Tesla taken away, just cause the gov can. It’s like having people cancelled. Mr Petersen. Drs. Etc for words yet those who danced and praised Charlie’s death can’t be fired. Always a two way street as America is learning. And Canada is not, yet.
At the core of this reflection lies the notion of property rights. In fact, the first paragraph ends with this sentence: “...Filburn saw no reason to seek permission from the U.S. federal government to do with his property as he saw fit.”
Property rights are a human social construct. Do land (or other natural entities) really belong to humans? The land Filburn thinks he owns will still exist after his death and will remain there for other human beings and living things. Therefore, I would argue that this land does not truly belong to Filburn. Perhaps, then, he cannot do whatever he wants with it.
Honestly, I have no idea whether the law is good or bad. But treating property rights as an absolute principle (“if I own it, I can do whatever I want”) shows a lack of humility and temperance toward the natural world.
Let’s make sure prohibition doesn’t come back.
Increasingly I’m coming to the conclusion that the perversion of the US constitution resembles a jumbled ball of fish line. At what point do we cut it, throw it out and start with a new set of principles. The idea of limited government and liberty has been vanquished. It’s now just a power grab between corrupt political parties. All the technological advances in the world won’t help us if our government is hopelessly corrupt.
Don’t think I could choose a half fox people worthy to design a new constitution. This one is best.
You lost me at Sen Mike Lee’s “outstanding book”. Anyone calling for a return to a balanced budget is divorced from the reality of our debt burden. He is not to be taken seriously.
Yes to overturning that monstrously wrong ruling!
According to financial times is it true no idea
Quote
According to data from Wood Mackenzie, by 2030 SMRs should generate power at $182 per megawatt hour compared with $133 per megawatt hour for conventional nuclear.
Natural gas is expected to sit at $126 per megawatt hour, while onshore wind and solar, backed up by battery, are projected to be around one-third less expensive.
Unquote
The commerce clause rulings in and of themselves is a miscarriage of the constitution. the backstory is quite fascinating. it occurred about the same time the supreme court ruled that tomatoes are vegetables and not fruits. not kidding. earlier rulings on the EPA doing dumb (as it presently relates to CO2) is the infamous Snail Darter case. Since I have been joined at the hip with the EPA since its founding (for only political reasons due to Nixon) the EPA has since outlived its usefulness so its groping for existence justification. time to call it a day for the EPA
Given the picture of the Reams at the bottom, it’s hard to believe they intend only personal and family consumption.
Although I generally love the Doomberg posts I feel the Trump admin is a disaster
1 housing market frozen
2 car market frozen
3 job market frozen
4 massive Federal government deficits
5 and this hurts coffee bean prices up 50 percent
6 pair of pants prices up 50 percent
7 this is good silver from 17 to 37
8 gold to hit 8000 an ounce based on some analysts predictions
So I view Trump and team as a disaster
And we’ve only just begun as the song says
Sorry forgot frozen government
And has declared war on American cities
It’s the debt! Far more inflation will come as the ultimate sole alternative is that only the Fed will buy US debt. They “have to do so”, until a total collapse occurs. $8K/oz gold might be way too optimistic.
Few can afford housing OR cars, thus frozen. Trump inherited a monumental problem to which, in context of literally decades of governmental malfeasance, he contributed only a little. At least he and his Administration is trying to forestall, and maybe thread a needle to stave off the looming collapse. The U.S. is ALREADY in Fiscal Dominance. You are not seeing “the Forrest for the trees”. Kudos to Luke Gromen.
That photo of Ream doesnt look anything like a home consumption setup. Total scam. But a question worth asking.
Don’t stop w Wickard v Filburn; let’s revive Lochner!
Excellent commentary on a critical issue. For me the other critical issue is STOPPING California driving so much of our world in the USA.
“In the Aggregate” is not just a great title for this important essay, it is also a reference to a method of argument used by tyrants to manipulate others.
Once you’ve gotten your opponent to agree to your use of “the aggregate”, you can play with any and all the data to win your case.
This “aggregation” should never have been allowed in the first place. And the enormous amount of damage it has caused to our country cannot be calculated.
Here’s to overturning Wickard, with prejudice.
Brilliant! From your thumbs to god’s ears!