Holiday Redo: Hoppe’s Philosophy for You, Gratis

Reading Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s stuff will change your life. [The Rude Awakening] June 19, 2023 [WEBSITE]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE]( Holiday Redo: Hoppe’s Philosophy for You, Gratis - Hans-Hermann Hoppe is the current Dean of the Austrian School of Economics. - He’s also an eminent libertarian philosopher. - If you want to win debates against your leftist opponents, read on! [Biden Admin Furious Over This New “Alternative” Currency]( Take a close look at this photo: [Click here to learn more]( [What you see here is a new “alternative” currency that’s taking America by storm…]( One which could ruin Biden’s CBDC plans. It’s already popping across the nation… including Utah, New Hampshire and Nevada. [If you’re worried about Biden Bucks then you must watch this short 2-minute video where Jim Rickards breaks down how this “alternative” currency works…]( [Click Here To Learn More]( [Sean Ring] SEAN RING Dear Reader, Happy Juneteenth, a holiday born after I already left America. Since we’re off today, I’m running a piece that got great feedback the first time I wrote it. Have a great day! Good morning to you. I trust you’re well rested with coffee in hand. Today, I will make you the most straightforward offer to take up ever. No email address. No affiliates. No upsell. In fact, no selling at all. My friend, Thomas Jacobs, helps organize the Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s Bodrum conference every year. Hoppe’s economic and philosophical writings are rich and well worth reading. But they can be complicated for a newcomer. So, Thomas took it upon himself to distill Hoppe’s writings into [one easy-to-read 60-page pdf]( called Hoppe Unplugged. This is a labor of love for Thomas. And he knows I won’t sell your email addresses for all the tea in China. So, Thomas set up a special landing page for Rude readers like you to [download a copy of the pdf]( without inputting even an email address. You just download it, and that’s it. All I’m getting out of this is the honor of passing on to you an excellent little pamphlet that distills down the works of one of the greatest philosophers of our time. Below are some of my favorite Hoppe quotes. If you’re up for more of them, [head to the Rude’s special landing page and download the pdf](. Enjoy! Some of Hoppe’s Choicest Quotes On the Social Contract No, the state is precisely not the result of a contract! Nobody in his right mind would agree to such an arrangement. There are many documents in my files, but you won’t find any of that kind anywhere. The state is the result of aggressive violence and subjugation. It came into being without any contractual basis, just like a gang of protection racketeers. On Democracy and Communism Yes, of course, democracy, whether direct or indirect, is a form of communism. A majority decides what belongs to me and what belongs to you, and what you or I may or may not do. That has nothing to do with private property and very much with restricting private control, in other words, with common property, which in turn means communism. There is no contract with the state, and there is no legal guarantee of what belongs to us and what is our own untouchable property. There are, for example, income taxes and property taxes, so in the end, what belongs to you as your property? As much as the state decides to leave you untaxed. What can you do with your own land? Whatever the state permits you to do. And we are also not told what price we have to pay to the state for its services. But Then, How Does a Democracy Like Switzerland Work? As far as the particular case of Switzerland is concerned: well, democracy can, at best, function "halfway” in very small, culturally homogeneous communities, i.e., without quickly ending in economic ruin. Where everybody knows everyone else and is aware of their social position, and where there is, therefore, pronounced social control, it is difficult to want to acquire the property of others by "democratic means." Even if this is theoretically possible, social pressure prevents such a thing from happening. Democracy in Switzerland is (still) largely local democracy. Local matters are decided locally, without intervention from "outside" or "above" (from Bern, Brussels, Washington, or New York). Switzerland's relative economic success, in comparison with its large neighboring countries, therefore has little or nothing to do with its direct democracy, but rather with the fact that Swiss democracy is a "small" democracy. This is the secret of Switzerland. [Over 62 And Collect Social Security? Take Action Immediately!]( [If you’re over the age of 62 and currently collect Social Security, you need to prepare now](. Because Biden has given our country the worst inflation in decades – and many warn things will only get worse from here. Worse yet, the Social Security check you receive now may not keep pace with inflation… [Which is why, if you don’t act now, you could fall behind in the months ahead](. Is your retirement at immediate risk? [Click here now to get the simple, step-by-step actions to survive inflation](. [Click Here To Learn More]( Is a Bigger State Better? Let me start with the obvious. All small states, like Monaco, Liechtenstein, Andorra, (formerly) Hong Kong, Singapore, and even the relatively large Switzerland, are doing economically better than the larger regions surrounding them. Germany's rise to become a leading cultural and scientific nation in the course of the 19th century - before unification in 1871 - is attributed to its political fragmentation in 39 competing principalities - in contrast to the heavily centralized France, where culture took place in Paris alone, and the rest of the country was characterized by cultural darkness. The small German territories were in intense competition with each other. Everyone wanted to have the best libraries, theaters, and universities. Small states have to implement a low-tax and low-regulation policy, otherwise, their most productive citizens will simply leave. Are Taxes Ever Just? If taxes are theft, then it follows from the point of view of justice that there should be no taxes and therefore no tax policy at all. Government employees and all state dependents, in fact, pay no taxes at all. Rather, all their net income (after taxes) comes from tax revenues, and they are, therefore, not taxpayers but tax consumers who derive their income from resources stolen from other people - the tax producers. The "best" (because it is the lowest) tax is a head (flat) tax, where each person has to pay the same fixed amount in taxes. Since even the poorest person must be able to pay this amount, such a tax must be very low. Still, even a flat tax is and remains theft, and nothing about theft is fair. One important step would be if employers stopped collecting wage taxes on behalf of the state. Companies should say: "We are not doing this work for you. If you want the taxes, go get them yourself." If everyone had to personally pay their taxes at the end of the year, the resistance would be much higher than it is now. Do Free Trade and Freedom of Movement Go Together? The phenomena of trade and immigration differ in fundamental ways. Goods and services cannot be transported from place to place unless the sender and receiver agree, while someone can move from one place to another even if nobody else wishes him or her to do so. Free immigration can thus become forced integration for the existing population. In a society where land is fully privatized, the problem of unwanted immigration does not arise. While this is not yet the case, the solution is to decentralize immigration policy from the federal government to states, counties, villages, cities, and city blocks. If the government is going to allow immigration, it should at least ensure that immigrants receive an invitation from a host ("guarantor principle"). This host must then assume full liability during his or her visit. Finally, the more free trade exists, the less incentive there is to emigrate. Wrap Up I hope you enjoyed that little preview of why I like Hoppe’s philosophy so much. It’s based on private property, peaceful trade, and self-ownership. And though it runs against the grain of what passes for “conventional wisdom” these days, it answers intuitive questions like, “Why are we doing this, and how can we do it differently?” Again, you can [download the pdf version of Hoppe Unplugged for free here](. It’s free, and you don’t hand over any information. So, you may as well take advantage! Have a wonderful day ahead. All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening Twitter: [@seaniechaos]( P.S. Thomas also offers a physical copy of the pamphlet on our landing page for $5. Obviously, you’d have to give him your information to pay and have it delivered to your home. Neither Paradigm Press nor I make any money from this. If you want a physical copy, that’s up to you. I’d try the pdf first. In Case You Missed It… Mr. Market Calls Bullshit [Sean Ring] SEAN RING Good morning from the sensational Piedmont. And, of course, Happy Friday! As Monday is Juneteenth, we have a long weekend. As a result, I will run one of my older columns on Monday that gives away a free PDF of the condensed works of Hans-Hermann Hoppe. Hopefully, you love them, and I will see you with another live column on Tuesday. In the meantime, I must eat some crow. Good friend and Daily Reckoning editor Brian Maher wrote that Jay Powell didn’t do enough to convince the markets that he would continue hiking. Honestly, I thought Powell did enough. But I’m clearly wrong. If you look at Thursday stock markets, Mr. Market no longer believes JPow. Mr. Market now thinks he is going to pause and then pivot. This is an enormous problem and the principal reason I didn’t want him to skip at all. The Recap In Wednesday’s Rude, I warned the chairman to ensure his traders knew that a “skip” was not a pause. Because if they didn’t believe him, this market would rally to the moon. Why is that bad? Because if the market rallies to all-time highs, which looks increasingly likely, then the subsequent hikes could be particularly - and needlessly - painful. Here’s [what I wrote on Wednesday]( I’m sure he’s going for choice B, the skip. But he must execute this step delicately but firmly. Powell must say something like, “We’re giving the market a month to catch its breath, then we’re coming back in full force. So be careful. You’ve got six weeks to sort yourselves out. Until then, I’ll be quiet. But we’re going to hike in July, so price it in.” Then the belief he’ll hike again will be credible. We’re not out of the woods with inflation, either on the consumer or asset sides. He knows that. That’s why I find it puzzling that he’s skipping. But then again, the politics in the Eccles Building must be palpable. In fact, this is why I didn’t want Powell to skip in the first place. To be fair to the good chairman, he kind of did this. But in Thursday’s [Daily Reckoning]( my friend Brian Maher wrote he wasn’t strong enough: Did the chairman take aboard Mr. Ring’s counsel? Did he “execute this step delicately but firmly”? He did not. His mummeries were delicate — yet his mummeries were not firm. They were constituted not of granite but of goo: “The skip — I shouldn’t call it a skip — the decision… I would almost say that the conditions that we need to see in place to get inflation down are coming into place… The things are in place that we need to see. But the process of that actually working on inflation is going to take some time.” Ugh. Mr. Chairman, you should’ve called it a skip, dagnabbit! After all, the market tanked on the initial move, then suddenly recovered. What would happen on Thursday? Thursday’s Reaction Well, Mr. Maher was right. Powell wasn’t firm enough. How do I know this? Let me count the ways. Stocks were up. In fact, all eleven sector ETFs of the S&P 500 were up. [chart] Credit: [StockCharts.com]( Bonds were up. Gold was up, though silver was a sliver down. Bitcoin and Ethereum were up. Oil and natural gas were up. Copper and corn were up. [chart] Credit: [StockCharts.com]( You may recall the Everything Rally. We had a mini-one yesterday. Wanna know why it happened? It’s not that Powell didn’t tell them he had two more rate hikes in mind. It’s that Mr. Market doesn’t believe the Chairman. Despite what Chairman Pow says - which, incidentally, I think is the truth - Mr. Market is wilfully ignoring the chairman. It’s outrageous. And it’s the reason why he shouldn’t have “skipped.” [Do NOT Ignore This Message Hidden In You $1 Bill…]( [Click here to learn more]( On the face of this $1 dollar bill is a set of instructions for EVERYONE in America, which is legally binding… And is the main thing that gives your cash its value. But here’s the thing… This message represents a direct threat to Joe Biden’s plans for your money… Which could put the value of every dollar you own in SERIOUS jeopardy. Can you spot it? [>>Click Here to Learn the Truth About the U.S. Dollar]( [Click Here To Learn More]( What’s Next? For the next few months, I’d say, “Back up the truck.” Again, I don’t think this rally will last forever. But there’s no reason for the SPX not to hit 4,650. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it challenge the all-time high of January 2022, which was 4,796.56. [chart] In the above chart, there’s not much overhead supply above 4,500. I can see a lot of shorts getting shaken out here and everyone getting on the bandwagon. And then, Powell’s problem is obvious. By the time the next meeting comes around at the end of July, neither consumer nor asset price inflation will be under control. He’ll hike, as he intimated he would. Then, instead of the market falling from 4,200 or 4,300, it’ll start its descent from 4,600 or even 4,800. He will cause more pain because he “skipped” this time. He’s got both eyes on consumer price inflation. But, really, he needs to keep one eye on the stock market. Because the wealth effect dictates he must. What’s the Wealth Effect? The "wealth effect" occurs when individuals tend to increase their spending when perceiving themselves as wealthier. Various factors influence this perception of wealth, such as an increase in the value of their assets, including stocks, real estate, or other investments. Generally, when people experience increased wealth, they often feel more financially secure and optimistic about their future. This positive sentiment leads them to spend more money on goods and services. This stimulates economic growth. The wealth effect is a crucial consumer spending component and a significant economic activity driver. It’s important to note that consumption is 70% of GDP, far higher than in other countries, where it averages 60% of GDP. The wealth effect can be observed when the stock market experiences a prolonged growth period or a significant value increase. As stock prices rise, investors see the value of their investment portfolios increase. This increase in wealth can lead to a boost in consumer confidence and overall economic activity. When people feel wealthier due to rising stock prices, they may be more inclined to spend money on discretionary items, such as luxury goods, vacations, or home improvements. This increased spending can positively impact businesses and the broader economy. Additionally, as stock prices rise, it results in higher capital gains for investors, further contributing to the wealth effect and consumer spending. However, it's important to note that the wealth effect can also work in the opposite direction. If the stock market experiences a significant decline, individuals may feel poorer, leading to a decrease in consumer spending. This can harm businesses and economic growth. Here’s what I think will happen: we will be a happy bunch for the next six weeks. We’ll experience a positive mini-wealth effect-driven cycle. Inflation will increase, not decrease. The market will pop toward its all-time highs. Then, Uncle Jay will take the punch bowl away. Investors will hate him for doing it. And this will be his final undoing as Chairman. Wrap Up It’s clear that Jay Powell made a mistake. And this time, it will cost him. What will that cost be? Most likely, his credibility as Chairman. By skipping, he inadvertently signaled to the market he was pausing and then pivoting. Mr. Market will take this new bull by the horns until the next hike, likely at the end of July. Then, the reckoning will come. In the meantime, enjoy your long weekend. I’ll raise a glass to you! All the best, [Sean Ring] Sean Ring Editor, Rude Awakening Twitter: [@seaniechaos]( [Paradigm]( ☰ ⊗ [ARCHIVE]( [ABOUT]( [Contact Us]( © 2023 Paradigm Press, LLC. 808 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202. By submitting your email address, you consent to Paradigm Press, LLC. delivering daily email issues and advertisements. To end your Rude Awakening e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from Rude Awakening, feel free to [click here.]( Please note: the mailbox associated with this email address is not monitored, so do not reply to this message. We welcome comments or suggestions at feedback@rudeawakening.info. This address is for feedback only. For questions about your account or to speak with customer service, [contact us here]( or call (844)-731-0984. Although our employees may answer your general customer service questions, they are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular investment situation. 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