Anarchast Ep. 51 with Stephan Kinsella

Jeff Berwick in Acapulco, Mexico, talks with Stephan Kinsella in Houston, Texas.

Topics include:

• Stephan explains how he became an anarchist and some of the books that pointed him in the right direction including
• The Fountainhead 
• Stephan is a practicing attorney that applies his legal knowledge with his libertarian philosophy
• He believes a free law society will only come about if a majority of people agree in libertarian principles
• Law is defined as a concrete body of rules that permits a group of people that want to be able to cooperate to be able to do so
• Jeff asks if it is necessary for everyone to agree with libertarian philosophy in order to have a free society 
• Stephan thinks that a majority of people already have libertarian principles but have not been educated correctly in constancy
• He is more optimistic that most because he sees more people not accepting central planning than in the past
• Jeff thinks that there could be a backlash against free market ideas during a financial collapse where the people believe capitalism is to blame
• Stephan hopes that people will slowly find the state to be irrelevant and this will bring about a free society
• Jeff thinks that there will be a financial collapse that will make this transition unpredictable
• Stephan is an expert in libertarian Intellectual Property theory
• He explains the principles of property law
• What most people think is law today is not what law would be based on in a libertarian society
• Stephan explains the problem with legal and economic positivism 
• The proper libertarian view is to be opposed to making law through legislation
• The problem with intellectual property is that you are able to use the force of the government against someone who has not aggressed against you
• Stephan explains the problems with the utilitarian Intellectual property justification
• The intellectual property system forces everyone to participate even if they don’t agree with it

Stephan is doing astounding work in libertarian legal theory you can find more in formation on his sites:

• http://www.stephankinsella.com/
• http://c4sif.org/

PFS 2012 Videos: Andy Duncan, “Liberty & Literature”

I’m NEVER going to watch this, but you might want to:

Andy Duncan, “Liberty & Literature”, PFS 2012 from Property & Freedom Society on Vimeo.

Depardieu defects to Russia

In this topsy-turvy world, in which the west becomes ever more communist and the east becomes ever more capitalist, Gerard Depardieu has just defected to Russia.

You’ll notice that not a single western MSM news agency (that I know of) used the word ‘defection’, when reporting this story, instead telling us about what mafia-gang politicians in France think of Depardieu’s ‘treachery’ in refusing to fund their criminal protection racket that pays them all such handsome salaries, expenses, and pensions.

Perhaps this is how Pravda and Izvestia used to report defections the other way around, in the 1970s, back in the USSR.

And if you thought I wrote that last sentence just so I could squeeze in a Beatles lyric, then that would be a hard day’s night.

Read Jeff Berwick’s take on this hilarious Depardieuian event.

PFS 2012 Videos: Rahim Taghizadegan, “Understanding Iran & the Iranians”

For those who are interested, this also contains a little Persian mythology, which is superb! 🙂

Rahim Taghizadegan, “Understanding Iran & the Iranians”, PFS 2012 from Property & Freedom Society on Vimeo.

Tales of Titans and Hobbits – The Tolkien beat goes on

As well as this person recognising that there’s more to Tolkien than goblins and elves, another article, by Juliusz Jablecki, comes to the attention of this website which has spotted the link between the great English writer and freedom, this time also bringing in the literary force of Ayn Rand, for good measure.

Being someone who much prefers the near-anarchist Tolkien to the minarchist-statist Rand, I wonder myself whether she would actually have approved of Saruman and his inventive spirit at Orthanc, if not perhaps his ultimate goal. One wonders the same about what her feelings towards Sauron might have been, of course, with all of his inventions at Barad-dûr, both of these malevolent spirits once having been earth-spirit angels subservient to Aulë, the god of all earthly things, before Sauron decided to switch allegiance to Melkor. But I digress.

If I don’t stop now, I’ll start talking about how both Gandalf-Mithrandir-Olorin and the Balrog of Moria were both fire spirit angels, so may have actually been brothers long before the events of the Lord of the Rings. And that really would be too much. As would a textual analysis of what Gandalf said to the Balrog just before his fall into Moria. But for those who do want to know such things, you can find the details here.

HT to PH

PFS 2012 Videos: Joseph Salerno, “Money, Sound & Unsound”

The great man speaketh:

Joseph Salerno, “Money, Sound & Unsound”, PFS 2012 from Property & Freedom Society on Vimeo.

Was Tolkien a Hoppeian before Hoppe?

J.R.R.Tolkien, in 1916

Many believers in a totally voluntary society (to use Ralph Raico’s great phrase) are also committed followers of the works of J.R.R.Tolkien.

You’ll see these people in the cinema after three hours of ‘The Hobbit’ waiting for more, whilst all the MSM movie critics are heading exhausted to the door, looking for the ‘free’ wine provided by the movie distributor.

So what explains this evident link between Tolkien and many Hoppeians? Is it this 1943 quote from the lips of Tolkien himself:

“My political opinions lean more and more to Anarchy or to ‘unconstitutional’ Monarchy.”

Does this statement make Tolkien the original Hoppeian, five decades before Professor Hoppe became one himself?

Find out more about Tolkien’s apolitical beliefs in a voluntary society, here.

HT to DF

GoldMoney podcast: Thorsten Polleit discusses ‘collective corruption’

Episode 84: Andy Duncan talks to “Austrian” economist, Professor Thorsten Polleit, about a recent speech he gave entitled “What Do Bankers Know About Money and Banking?” Dr Polleit is Chief Economist for Degussa Goldhandel in Germany, and for 12 years until April of 2012 was the Chief German Economist for Barclays Capital. He lectures in Economics at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, and the universities of Bayreuth and Duisburg-Essen.

Andy and Thorsten discuss the latter’s monetary theory of how fiat currency tends to result in “collective corruption” in societies, and how this then leads to hyperinflation, despite the dangers to society that hyperinflation always brings. They also debate the development of global fiat currency over the last 40 years, and how increasing levels of debt may mark its terminal decline. Governments may plan for this decline by re-introducing gold-backing to Western currencies.

You can watch Dr Polleit’s speech “What Do Bankers Know About Money and Banking?” at this link. For more information about Dr Polleit and his work visit http://www.thorsten-polleit.com.

This podcast was recorded on 2 January 2013.

Happy Christmas!: Anarchast Ep. 48 with Andrew Duncan of Goldmoney.com Podcasts

A Christmas Day treat! 🙂

Anarchast (http://anarchast.com) — Your Home for Anarchy on the Internet.

 

Jeff Berwick talks with Andrew Duncan, host of the Goldmoney.com Audio podcast.

 

Topics include:

 

• How Andrew became an anarchist starting in public school and being put in remedial classes and then finding socialism and Marxism in the school library
• His progression then included becoming a “New Labour” follower and proponent of Tony Blair
• His beliefs and his business were then destroyed by that party and Tony Blair
• He then discovered the “word” Mises through Ayn Rand’s book, Atlas Shrugged  and then stated “Human Action” by Mises then saved his life
• How public schools are just day prisons for kids
• His epiphany moment when he read “Democracy: The God That Failed” by Hans Herman Hoppe
• One of his favorite novels, “Snow Crash” by Neil Stevenson and how that turned him on to “phyles”
• His belief that anarchists have to remain totally peaceful
• The importance of teaching your children foreign languages, including Spanish and Chinese
• The financial state of affairs in the UK
• The massive similarities between the Roman Empire and the US Empire
• The importance of gold to liberty
• How to get over anger, bitterness and envy by reading Mises, “Socialism“
• How most major religions are based on anarchist principles
• The belief in war comes from state indoctrination and TV “programming”
• Buy Jack England’s, “Sword of Marathon” here

 

For more information on The Dollar Vigilante, go to http://dollarvigilante.com.  For more information on Jeff Berwick’s anarchist enclave, Galt’s Gulch Chile, go to http://galtsgulchchile.com.

GoldMoney podcast: Andy Duncan on the Sword of Marathon

Episode 82: GoldMoney’s Dominic Frisby interviews Andy Duncan (alias Jack England), the author of Sword of Marathon. They talk about Andy’s motivation to write the book, the story plot and his decision to self-publish.

Sword of Marathon is a libertarian action adventure novel set in Ancient Greece. Andy’s idea was to communicate libertarian and Austrian thought through the means of a novel as well as illustrating the historical scenery and early problems with Greek democracy.

The book also talks about the banking system at the time of the Persian invention of what would now be considered a cheque. It also touches on gold and silver’s role as money, and the real story behind the marathon walk.

They also discuss Andy’s usage of the alias Jack England, and his decision to self-publish the book. The Kindle edition is already available for less than one pound/dollar/euro and Andy promises that this money will be wisely spent.

This podcast was recorded on 6 December 2012.