Potpourri
* Bob Wenzel has some concerns about gold confiscation, if the feds get serious. In short: It’s hard to hide a bunch of metal, since there are detectors built specifically for that purpose.
* Russ Roberts interviews Nassim Taleb. I will always like Taleb, because he answered my emails back in the day and even cited one of my papers in one of his books. (I don’t mean I like him because he recognizes my contribution, I mean I like him since I was nobody and he must get a million emails.)
* Robert Higgs explains why he persists, even though he doesn’t see any hope in sight.
* Little kids put down some funny answers.
* David Beckworth agrees with Ron Paul that we are all Austrians now, sort of.
* An Irish blog from a guy who makes Mises Institute apps…
* Bill Maher has a pretty good critique of bloodthirsty Christians (that Daniel Kuehn sent me). Warning, some naughty words.
* John Carney continues to debate MMTers. I suspect next month he’ll start a land war in Asia.
* Rob Bradley reminisces about Joseph Schumpeter and energy.
* The Economist blog actually linked to my “The Economist Zone” opus. I keep staring at the phone, waiting for Harvard to call. I hope I paid my bill this month.
* Somebody was so bored that he made a YouTube playlist, featuring me. (I promise I’m not the guy.)
* Sheldon Richman responds to Matt Yglesias’ description of Austrian economics.
* And last but not least, another plug to Friend me on Facebook. This guy writes:
[Bob Murphy’s] status updates are hilarious:
“Robert Murphy was talking to a guy the other day who said a government policy was like a ‘suppository.’ I’m pretty sure he meant ‘placebo,’ but actually now I’m not so sure.”
“Robert Murphy got a link to my blog from the Economist magazine. I hate to disillusion the young kids out there, but I must be honest: I didn’t get any notice from the Economist until I took my top off.”
“Robert Murphy wore my Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk t-shirt to the gym. A guy asked, ‘Is that Karl Marx?’ Let’s just say, the pacifists can no longer call me one of their own.”
“Robert Murphy has written a One Act Play involving government deficit finance. I basically picked up where Tennessee Williams left off.”
“Robert Murphy resolves in 2012 to not get frustrated when people conflate ‘complimentary’ with ‘complementary.'”
Yes, Taleb is a great guy. “The Black Swan” is my favorite book after P.I.G. to Capitalism, P.I.G. to the Great Depression, and Lessons for the Young Economist. 😉
heh
Gold will be confiscated only if the dollar is tied to it again. In a big inflation, I would not be surprised to find various windfall cap gains taxes applied to gold and a host of other hard assets, but is that a confiscation? There would be a hue and cry about how unfair it is that some people just got “lucky” that they actually owned such assets when the big inflation set in. Of course, there is nothing that says life is fair or easy.
The key parameter is knowing when to sell.
I’m not pretending to be a genius in this regard but with something like gold either the crisis fades away and gold is no longer so important, or the crisis gets really bad and confiscation sets in (one way or another), so there’s always going to be a “best” time to sell. A lot of people think that holding is everything.
That depends on what your goals are. For instance, my commodities are primarily for retirement.
Bob, I am curious what your thoughts are on bitcoin as an alternative to gold.
John Carney is debating the Job Guarantee, not (the rest of) MMT.
OK, he’s only sending Predator drones into Asia then. Still not a wise move.
But Bob, was there really a time when you were a nobody?
Not in my head, but on paper, yes.
Hey Bob, does scumbag Maher ever call out the Evangelicals for their fanatical pro-Zionism?
Yeah, I didn’t think so. You need to get a fucking clue, Bob, and fast.
Wow, somebody that has even less tact than me….
Beefcake, what if I don’t get a clue, and fast? Will you stop visiting my site?
You may have noticed by now that RP came in FOURTH FUCKING PLACE in SC, after getting booed last week for his foreign policy views.
Sherman, redeemed?