Treasury Inflation Calculater, Why Libertarians Should Take Government Money, and a Great QEII Chart

No post yesterday, things were kind of hectic.  In his latest column, Krugman sums up kind of how I feel:

Like anyone who writes regularly about what passes for economic and fiscal debate in American politics, I’ve developed a strong tolerance for nonsense. After all, if I got upset every time powerful people were illogical and/or dishonest, I’d spend every waking hour in a state of raging despair.

Unfortunately, Krugman is one who exacerbates this feeling.  Perhaps he should check out the Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation calculator.  According to it, a dollar today was worth $22.24 in 1913.

Seeing as how the Federal Reserve has quite literally robbed the value of the dollar from the rest of us, Walter Block lays it out perfectly why those of us who abide by the non-aggression principle are still justified in taking money from the government:

My take on this is that it is a positive virtue to relieve the government of its ill-gotten gains. Suppose Z steals an apple from Y and then X comes along and takes this fruit away from Z. Did X do anything wrong? Did he act incompatibly with the NAP? Is X no longer a libertarian? Of course not. Very much to the contrary, X did something entirely compatible with our philosophy. Certainly, all libertarian theories of private property rights, of punishment, would agree that of all people in the world, Z is the absolutely least deserving of this foodstuff. Now, it might be nice, it might be virtuous, for X to return the apple to Y.

Here’s a suggestion for you. If you still feel guilty about becoming enmeshed in statist finance (which feelings I strongly urge you to squelch), and have no way to promote liberty (as I do in economics), then how about the following. Take a hefty part of your salary (net not gross), say 5% or even 10%, and donate it to an organization that promotes freedom in a spectacular manner. Hint, hint: I can think of no better group than the Mises Institute, and/or, at least in the short term, a contribution to Ron Paul.

I say in similar vein, other things equal, the more money you take from the coffers of the state the better libertarian you are.

While we are on the subject of stealing, check out this cheat-sheet from Zerohedge on QEII:

Inflation may be getting bad now, it's not as bad as China.  New York Times reports:

Inflation remained elevated in February at 4.9 percent, exceeding analysts' forecasts and above the government's 4 percent target for the year. Food price inflation unexpectedly accelerated to 11 percent from January's 10.3 percent rate.

It's only a matter of time before the ABCT rears its ugly (yet beautiful) head in China.  The property bubble burst will be the first domino.  While China's troubles lie ahead, Japan's are quite literally unfolding in front of our eyes:

And as predicted by Zero Hedge first yesterday, the power plant has just announced that there is indeed a meltdown at the plant.

The core at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant's No. 1 reactor may be partially melting, the nuclear safety agency said Saturday.

Radioactive substance cesium was detected around the reactor, it said.

Unbelievable.  At least some good news for the U.S. might be coming Monday:

A member of the hacker collective Anonymous, which singlehandedly destroyed "hacker defense" firm HB Gary, who goes under the handle OperationLeakS "is claiming to be have emails and documents which prove "fraud" was committed by Bank of America employees, and the group says it'll release them on Monday" reports Gawker. As to the contents of the possible disclosure: ""He Just told me he have GMAC emails showing BoA order to mix loan numbers to not match it's Documents. to foreclose on Americans.. Shame."

 Now this will be interesting.

I will end with a passage from Caroline Baum's terrific article Oil at $100 Kills Brain Cells, Impairs Logic
that destroys many fallacies, including one my personal favorites (by favorites, I mean the most aggravating) on why "America needs to increase its exports:"

Fallacy:  Higher oil prices are always viewed as a negative because they crimp consumer purchasing power.

Truth: It’s not a one way street. Wealth is transferred from consumers to producers and recycled.

Higher prices act as an incentive for oil exploration. Exxon Mobil Corp. buys new drilling equipment and hires more workers. Those dollars go back into the economy, they don’t suck life out of it.

Because the U.S. imports about half of its crude oil, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, some of those profits end up in the pockets of the Saudi royal family and other Middle East potentates.

What do they do with them? They spend them on U.S. goods and services. They buy U.S. stocks, bonds, trophy real estate and F-16 fighter jets.

This doesn’t happen simultaneously, of course. But to portray every dollar of oil profit as a net drain on the economy is inaccurate.

 Have fun trying to explain this to Paul Krugman sympathizers.  It's never as easy as it sounds.