One Ring to Rule Them All

The bionic mosquito takes a very hard-assed approach to banking; Why Not a Free Market in Money?  He argues that all commerce, including banking can be self-regulating based on voluntary agreements "with the requisite condition that members within the society by-and-large respect the non-aggression principle." No regulation necessary. I'm in complete agreement, except I should throw in that it will only happen in the very unlikely event that the present masters of the universe allow it to be taken from their cold, dead hands. Hope in one hand...

I've been puzzled for quite a while about two features of modern banking that don't fit together in any theoretical framework;

first - savings rates have been declining, and until recently (households have been de-leveraging in response to the credit crises) and interest on deposits have been so low there is really no incentive to financial intermediation. Even with extremely low reserve requirements, I don't see how there can be so many small banks, since home loans, after the death of traditional S&L's are usually originated by specialized mortgage bankers and small and medium consumer loans are (I'm guessing here) mostly done on charge cards. So I gather that  retail banks are making their money on large consumer loans such as autos, and lines of credit to small businesses. This is understandable, but where I live in suburban Washington D.C. there seems to be a bank on every corner, most of which no one ever heard of five years ago. It seems to me that this model could only work without real competition, meaning that these banks are essentially franchises of the Fed, a cartel where risk and reward are controlled and averaged out. Anything like a free market would eliminate 90% or more. Scary to the bankers. Almost nobody likes risk if a guaranteed small return is sufficient.

Secondly, credit cards are essentially zero-reserve loans, each purchase is made with "thin air" money up to the individual's credit limit and backed by nothing more than the merchant's trust that VISA will pay. I suppose it's not considered inflationary because much of it is extinguished month to month, but the total amount has got to be huge. I imagine it's close to FRB levels before Permanent QE. [I really should do some research before I post this. I really should floss more often, too]. This does seem very "free market" to me, because there is a circle of anonymous trust between the customer, the vendor and the bank that simply didn't exist with traditional banknotes - checks. It is higher velocity even than cash because of added protection from vendor fraud. I think this is close to free banking except that I strongly suspect it is also cartelized at the top. There was Visa, MC, and American Express which wasn't really credit (payable on receipt) and I think on the way out. A thinly disguised "natural monopoly" due to very high barrier to entry; it would be almost impossible for a new competitor to bootstrap that level of trust, except by an enormous player. I guess will see when "they" decide to let Morgan or Citi do a Lehman in the next crisis and we all get our GS cards, probably RFI implants.   That is a little scary.

MSM - More Tasty, Less Filling, part one

 I was alerted by Mick Perry's reference on Antiwar's column by Nebojsa Malic to his Turkish Cypriot friend's comment on the Cypriot banking scandal.

"Last week my Turkish Cypriot newsagent was scratching his head in bewilderment asking “Don't they realise that they have undermined people's confidence in banks everywhere?”, and this seems to be a universal sentiment."

I've been on track of the dog-that-doesn't-bark in the continuing story, that is, how does the divided nature of the island weigh in one's understanding of the issue, particularly whether the muslim proscription of usury has acted as a firewall on the Turkish Cypriot banking sector?

I haven't been able to find anything substantial beyond two BBC videos on youtube that confirm that Turkish Cypriot banks are doing okay. No in-depth analysis of the history of, or current effects of the war, the on-going division of the island, the British bases, the fact that northern Cyprus is only recognized by Turkey, the puzzling recent rapprochement of Turkey/Israel, the discovery of huge undersea gas fields in the eastern Med, the actions of Russians (who would not mind inheriting the bases, I'm sure), and how these things might affect the civil war in Syria. A whole pack of non-barking dogs seemingly ignored by the media, that make his news dealer as much an expert as anyone.

Ambrose Bierce (I think - too lazy to check) said "War is God's way of teaching Americans geography." although I think we forget faster than we learn.

The External Monkeyshines of the Mindless Scrot

Remember when Jim Carrey was funny? One movie - now he's Barbara Streisand without her winning personality, non-irritating voice and good looks. The liberal jugernaught speeds toward the end of the line.
CDH/MF!

Bill O'Reilley is a Hypocrite

 I really think I'm on to something with my earlier lawyer remark. ["The whole gay marriage thing is just a scam by divorce lawyers to drum up business."] Divorce lawyers have got to be hating the modern life; young people are disinclined to wed and mostly too poor to be worth divorcing and the wealthy are smart enough to get good pre-nups but gay (dudes, I have zero problems with lezzies) divorce is going to be a gold mine - high income and fabulous property combined with plenty of emotionalism (generalize much?) and ego plus some jealousy and rage. Just add alcohol - ka-ching!
I told my wife about this theory, plus why drugs are still illegal, and she asked me if I really thought lawyers had that much power, so I asked her who she thinks writes the laws. To be clear, I'm not against gays or gay marriage, I'm against the government being involved in any way. It's just another example of "fixing" a problem caused by the same people that are now going to solve it.

@JustinRaimondo "it used to be that the fun of being gay was we didn't have to get married, go in the army or have kids." -Dir John Waters

Ah am Not a Libuhtarian

It's an awkward and imprecise label (I wish whoever started it had come up with something less dorky, oh well) that has come to be defined by it's enemies, right and left as an insult meaning someone who lacks compassion, intelligence and/or experience. We're heartless, naive retards, racist anti-semitic male chauvinists that want to starve the poor, kill the environment and let mexicans and rag-heads overrun the country and kill us all, after making everyone download porn and stolen "I.P." and turn their kids into gay junkies that hate Jesus and Israel. Also we're anti-American and against World Peace and support giving crazy people machine guns (domestically) but oppose giving crazy people unlimited money and weapons overseas.

Fake libertarians like Beck and Andrew Sullivan are generally easy to spot because they were neo-cons when it counted and will certainly revert as soon as they start passing water through their bloomers after the next fake scare. I'm inclined to label them Incontinent Conservatives and Opportunistic Barebackers except that juvenile name calling is practically the signature and only anti-libertarian argument. "Did you see the schmuck on that camel?"

 Curiously, this works well for me because if someone says or implies they aren't Libertarian I can, and usually do, (since I'm not a masochist), stop paying attention right there. I also identify as a Constitutional Conservative, but since both the Constitution and "conservatism" are virtually dead, that isn't very useful. I remain a Rothbardian, a Rockwellian and a Paultard. "Randian"? No way, although I wish him and (some) of his allies well. So far...

Once a Big Molicepan

"As RNC reboots, Prince Riebus reaches out to the Ron Paul liberty movement

 This is a pretty amazing headline. After stomping all over the RP movement and doing everything up to and including the destruction of the GOP, now this fucking alien weirdo with the most obviously made up pseudonym in history would like to gain our support to defeat the evil democrat who is just like him in every way (except slightly better tanned). AS IF! How about;

Lucy Van Pelt Promises to let Charlie Brown Kick Ball, "Next Time, For Sure!"

Republicans suck so bad that if Obama doesn't follow through with the gun nonsense and the stupid aggression against Iran, the openly communist of our two communist parties will probably rule for a generation, or at least two months until the wheels come off the economy. The Stupid Party morphs into the Ridiculous Party.

So now, undercover hazbarim Samuel Goldman rises In Defense of Rinsed Prepuce and the "Autopsy" Report, to which I replied;

"Pretty hilarious – these clowns just spent the last year or twenty driving the constitutionalists and their millions of donated dollars out of the party, but they don’t want to alienate their “base”. Can anyone explain why we need two open-border, welfare/warfare, authoritarian busybody parties serving the MIC? Wouldn’t it be easier (and more honest) to quit, go home and get real jobs? Hey, Priepuse, they’re hiring in Williston".

Ron Paul supporters to Prince Riebus - "Suck It Dry!"

When God was Younger

Than now, and more impulsive, he created man. Quickly realizing his mistake, but for whatever reason unwilling to just cancel the project, he tried several times to re-boot, with the same crappy results every time; Intellect was unable to compensate for Animal in the human. He had (possibly unintentionally) created more misery than if he had just left them monkeys, because he had assumed that rationality would lead from dignity to nobility, and hadn't yet thought it would be necessary to allow the bastards to actually kill him in order to get the obvious point. (Which they so didn't.)

So, at that point, he took one of his few successful creatures, the wolf, and tweaked it a bit to produce just about every conceivable size and variation of four legs, a tail and mouth that would appeal to the widest possible range of humans, and in the form of puppies, attach themselves to all but the hardest of hearts. The wolf, being of the pack, didn't mind a short life, as it's spirit flowed through the pack like water and wind, so the dog basks in the few days that his beating heart allows him to show foolish humans how to love.