Gold Is A Girl’s Best Friend (& bona fide)

Debt, Economy, Ilana Mercer, IlanaMercer.com, Inflation, Liberty, Media, Political Economy, Republicans

Are there any economic Austrians out there who treat gold as a topic for pontification, rather than as a real-life refuge from the irreparable debasement of the dollar?

Surely, if you’re Austrian in economics—namely, you follow the natural laws of economics—your personal financial portfolio, however meager, ought to have included gold well before the spot price settled at $1,869.00? (Which is now unaffordable to us ordinary Americans.)

If devotees of Austrian economics had a support group in every state, here is how I’d introduce myself: “ILANA MERCER, author of ‘Into the Cannibal’s Pot,’ and WND.COM’s longest-standing (possibly most predictive), exclusive, libertarian column. Gold-bug since $800.”

So many patriotic Americans continue to waste time and precious money on books and columns offered up by top-dog Republican writers. Invariably, the boosterism and jingoism of these well-to-do gasbags (girls and boys) leads them to talk up US Treasuries (in addition to other foreign policy fatuities) on FoxNews.

If your Republican heroes have jumped on the gold bandwagon, ask them: “When did you become a gold-bug?” Demand proof, because they tend to fib.

Gold is a girl’s best friend and bona fide (although credential are not worth much in the age of the idiot).

HERE’S Peter Schiff on the meaning of the flight to gold.

Flying Sorties For Peace (The Latest From Libya)

Democracy, Foreign Policy, Islam, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Middle East, Neoconservatism, War

Make no mistake, and Obama’s denials notwithstanding, “Rebels fighting their way towards the Libyan capital” are “backed by Nato aircraft [ostensibly enforcing a UN resolution to protect civilians from Col Gaddafi’s forces.”]

NATO=The US. And the US being the US (a warrior nation); it is not pressing for peace talks, even though Libyan officials have “urged the rebels to open talks. ‘If you want peace, we are ready,’ Information Minister Moussa Ibrahim has said.

Rather than encourage a peaceful solution to the Libyan conflict from which democracy (as bad as that is) is unlikely to spring, our English allies—A UK Foreign Office spokesman, in particular, who appears to have responded on behalf of the oh-so independent Libyan Rebels—promised that “Nato action will continue … Our overriding priority has always been to protect Libyan civilians and to enable them to choose their own future.”

By flying sorties over their homes?

In July, Mrs Clinton, a member of the President’s Womb Warrior team, announced that, “Until an interim authority is in place, the United States will recognise the TNC [Transitional National Council] as the legitimate governing authority for Libya, and we will deal with it on that basis. … The United States views the Gaddafi regime as no longer having any legitimate authority in Libya,” Mrs Clinton had said.

As the BBC observed, by recognizing the Libyan opposition as the country’s “legitimate governing authority,” the US ensured that “billions of dollars of Libyan assets frozen in US banks could be released to the rebels.”

Have you ever wondered to whom this US confiscated (oops, “frozen”) property belonged in the first place? One loses track of all the “good” things America does in the name of freedom.

UPDATED: Media Top-Dogs Kick Underdog Ron Paul (Look Inside the ‘Cannibal’)

Ethics, Free Markets, Journalism, libertarianism, Liberty, Media, Propaganda, Republicans, Ron Paul

The following is from “Media Top-Dogs Kick Underdog Ron Paul,” now on WND.COM:

“Republican and Democratic media whores briefly came clean about ignoring presidential hopeful Ron Paul. Then they promptly returned to ignoring him.

No sooner had Fox News’ Megyn Kelly and CNN’s Piers Morgan interviewed Dr. Paul about his untouchable status among their colleagues, than John King of the eponymous CNN show could be heard recounting the winners of the Republican 2011 Iowa Straw Poll, to the exclusion of the man who secured second place: Congressman Ron Paul.

Michele Bachmann won 4,823 votes; Texas Rep. Ron Paul 4,671. With 152 votes separating the two frontrunners, one might even say that, in Ames, Iowa, Paul jostled with Mrs. Bachmann for first place.

A slick Drew Griffin, also at CNN, cracked up as he instructed a cub reporter on the ground: ‘If you get a sound bite from Palin bring that back to us. You can hold the Ron Paul stuff.”

Following the Republican Poll, Politico.com ran an article about Paul, the caption to which read: ‘Ron Paul remains media poison.’ The article featured an image of Ron Paul flanked by signs touting the stuff the press finds so poisonous: ‘Liberty and Freedom.’

As is often the case, satirist Jon Stewart stepped in to correct—and to make fun of—the farrago of misinformation spread by mainstream media. …”

The complete column is “Media Top-Dogs Kick Underdog Ron Paul,” now on WND.COM.

My new book, “Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons for America from Post-Apartheid South Africa,” is available from Amazon.

A newly formatted, splendid Kindle copy is now available. The errors of the previous copy have been corrected.

If you’re interested in syndicating my weekly, WND column, kindly email me for details at ilana@ilanamercer.com. “Return to Reason“ is WorldNetDaily’s longest standing, exclusive libertarian column.

UPDATE (Aug. 19): At last, after a lot of aggravation, Amazon has activated the “Look Inside” feature to “Into the Cannibal’s Pot: Lessons for America from Post-Apartheid South Africa.” This will enable you to read ten percent of the book online.

Amazon is simply amazing. To appreciate how magnificently Amazon operates, consider this and this lone: how would the government operate this highly complex, super-efficient online business? Still, when certain features are still in their infancy and are in the process of being streamlined—the individual (like myself) can lose perspective. Understandably so.

However, not a day goes by—when I interact with Amazon, Costco, or any other vendor—that I don’t stop to apprecaite the genius of spontaneous order. In the process of making a living, people cooperate voluntarily to bring about magnificent, munificent, mutually beneficial outcomes.