Swans

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For Peter Byrne No. Two

Peter Byrne -- of Swans, that is -- responds to the "below-Boonville Peter Byrne":

Relax, Peter Byrne #0. To clear your head, think of me as P. Tecumseh Byrne. I too as a sprout (typewriter era) traveled the world, the wind of megalomania in my sails. Then I landed in Dublin. The Byrne name there thrives like moss on old Guinness barrels. I found Peter Byrne had been immortalized in "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" (James Joyce era). They sat me down to watch an ancient comic on TV. This national treasure was named Gay Byrne (pre-gay-pride era, maybe). And so I fled, pursuing, as every penman must, the (pre-Google era) illusion of being unique. Now I feel you're panting for advice from a senior member of the clan (geriatric era). I'll oblige. If ever you're asked, "Aren't you the Byrne who won the Ploughing Championship of Tullamore, County Offaly?" then smile sagely and don't deny it. But if you're accused of being a Chicago Byrne, say, "I ain't talkin' without my mouthpiece bein' in on it." And so farewell. Swans Commentary will always be happy to hear from you, unless you claim to be a by-blow and want a handout (foreclosure era). In which case, sharpen up your archaisms on Marlowe's "The Jew of Malta," Act IV, Sc. 1: "Fornication? But that was in another country; And besides, the wench is dead."

Peter Byrne of the Great White Wings
Lecce, Italy - January 29, 2008

Libertarians and Brownshirts: Gilles d'Aymery's Blips #64 and The Zoology Of Pwogs And Pwogrevs

TO THE LIBERTARIANS OUT THERE, I know you don't want to stifle innovation. You want people to be all they can be -- no regulations, no limits. But, err, can you explain the innovation here? Looks to me that fleecing the masses to suck the wealth up the ladder is an age-old, non-innovative story. Ask the millions of families thrown into the streets through home foreclosures. Because, that's the real story: A multitude is getting impoverished so that a tiny few get very rich. Is this what libertarianism is all about? Do you guys care a wit about your neighbors, or is social Darwinism your MO? And have you noticed that former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan, who, willingly or not, masterminded the housing bubble and the subprime fiasco, an Ayn Rand admirer and follower, is a well-paid advisor to Paulson & Company? Can't you good people put two and two together? Oh, and you surely are aware that Andrea Mitchell of NBC, MSNBC, CNBC journalist fame is the wife of who else but Alan Greenspan? If you cannot put two and two together, can you compute three and three (Wall Street, government, corporate media)?

[Ed. Big Gav is the editor of the excellent Peak Energy Web site where he discusses energy and political issues thoroughly and thoughtfully.]

Non-Fleecers Make the Market Operate Smoothly: Gilles d'Aymery's Blips #64

Gilles d'Aymery responds:

My steps # 1 and #2 have little to do with theft or encouraging borrowing. Actually, they are the opposite. Step #1 reverses the theft by the few, and encourages savings. Step #2 would put cash in the hands of the people who are the most at risk and who would spend that cash on consuming goods. (I'll readily admit that step #2 contradicts my regular advocacy in favor of powering down the economy -- to consume less -- but I also realize that one cannot easily change a paradigm in the mix of recessionary pressures. If one wishes to inject borrowed liquidity in the economy, the very least should be that the money reaches those who are the most susceptible to spend it. It would definitely help the economy in the short term. On a longer term we still need to find out a way to lower consumption and power down the economy. It just happens that I am not a partisan of apocalyptic scenarios and I am not out to "punish" people who are at the bottom of the ladder.)

As to my step #3, I fully realize it would hurt investors, speculators, and a few lending institutions. They are the least of my concerns. I'm much more attuned to helping the vast majority that has been fleeced out of either "stupidity" (Mr. Hinkley's characterization), ignorance, or a great ad scheme concocted by the investors, speculators, and lending institutions -- and a culture that has promoted limitless borrowing and consumption for the past six decades. We are all entitled to a personal social outlook.

However, Mr. Hinkley is absolutely correct on one point. I, indeed, have no understanding of what Libertarianism is, at least in the USA, with all its many ideological shades of states' rights, nativism, neo-confederacism, constitutionalism, and conspiracism. What is it, the Mises or the Cato school? Is paleo-conservative Paul Craig Roberts a member in good standing? Should I add Justin Raimondo (who in April 2002 vouched for Jean Marie Le Pen in the French presidential election, hailing that most reactionary demagogue as a libertarian), Alexander Cockburn (pro Ron Paul, pro Huckabee), Llewellyn Rockwell (a neo-confederate by excellence), and the "America Firsters" to the rostrum of bon fide libertarians? What about Alan Greenspan (one of the prime architects of the deregularization of financial markets)? Etc., etc., etc.

Incidentally, I tend to recall that once upon a time, an "evil" government provided me with health care, education, and a social net. It was a different time and a different country; but government, after all, is a reflection of the values its people hold dear.

Balfour and US involvement in WWI: Confirming another writer's assessment.

Playboy, Libertarianism, and Ron Paul: Gilles d'Aymery's Blips #64

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