Ninth Stage

Economics in One Lesson available online.

Looks like our masters at the capitol have dictated that Tennessee gets a new cigarette tax. It will be a small boon to neighboring states.
Of the states that border Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri, only Arkansas’ tax rate ($0.59/pack) comes close to Tennessee’s new rate of $0.62 per [...]

Some years ago, about 1900, an old trapper from North Dakota hitched up some horses to his Studebaker wagon, packed a few possessions, especially his traps–and drove south.Several weeks later he stopped in a small town just north of the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. It was a Saturday morning–a lazy day–when he walked into [...]

The Milton Friedman video series Free To Choose is available for online viewing again. Idea Channel.TV is the place to see the entire series and buy DVDs.
The series on Google Video disappeared so I’m glad to see another outlet appear.
Via Coal to Newcastle.

Not only does he want to eviscerate the 1st amendment he also wants to hobble the U.S. economy with the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act.
Via snail mail:
Dear Fellow Citizen.
I’ll give it to you straight.
We have a growing crisis on our hands … one that seldom gets the attention it deserves.
I’m speaking about global warming.
And [...]

…(Khilyuk and Chilingar (2003, 2004) - the two researchers from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (USA) conclude that “the theory of currently observed global atmospheric warming as a result of increasing anthropogenic carbon dioxide emission is a myth,” and that it has “proved to [...]

Milton Friedman passed away November 16 at the age of 94 years. I was deeply saddened by the news of his death and struggled with what to say about it. I’ve decided to leave it at this quote.
There are four ways in which you can spend money. You can spend your own [...]

The special interest deal known as the Wright Amendment has been repealed, mostly.
The brainchild of U.S. Congressman James Claude Wright, Jr., the Wright amendment is a classic example of government sticking it’s filthy nose where it doesn’t belong. In this case the .gov was controlling where an airline can fly to from one particular [...]

You can see a list of programs here at BillHobbs.com.
Amazingly these programs were once aired by PBS. They should be required for public schools today.
UPDATE: I’m posting the list here for my personal benefit. You really should visit Bill Hobbs’ site and thank Ben Cunningham for posting this public service.
1: Power [...]

Can you say Amero amigo? I knew you could.
Brought to us by those shining beacons of Liberty and Freedom, Paul Martin, George Bush and Vincente (Zorro) Fox.
This is not a theoretical exercise being prepared so it can be submitted for review. Instead, SPP is producing an action agreement to be implemented directly by [...]

“When I become chairman [of a House appropriations subcommittee], I’m going to earmark the s**t out of it,” Moran buoyantly told a crowd of 450 attending the event.

Finally, investment advice with a bang!
PDB gives us his thoughts on hedgeing your financial bets with non-precious metal.

I just got my Workman’s Comp Insurance bill for my company in CA. Last year it was $3400, this year it’s $9800. We have NEVER had a workman’s comp claim against us in the 4 years we’ve been in business, no other changes in personnel, type of work done, hours worked or anything [...]