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Two speeches on sound money, the morality of taxation and the cruel fiction of state power


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I spoke yesterday to the European Young Conservatives on the origins of the crisis in excess state power, deficit spending, debt and debasement. Here are the slides: And this morning, I spoke on the morality of taxation alongside Syed Kamall MEP, Cllr J P Floru and Matthew Elliott of the TaxPayers’ Alliance. My remarks are here: PDF. My central message was the same on both occasions: if we really care about human welfare, especially the welfare of the poor, we need to [...]

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Whole Foods CEO John Mackey on the Moral Case for Capitalism


Via, The 15 Best Videos on Commerce and Entrepreneurship, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey on the Moral Case for Capitalism: You have empathy and care and sympathy for others and you have the foundation for a great economic system. But intellectuals and economists ignored that ethical foundation for capitalism and tried to ground it on strict self-interest and that led to ethical attacks…

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The moral case for lower, simpler taxes and a request for a debate


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This week, the 2020 Tax Commission published its final report (PDF). Yesterday, Eamonn Butler wrote Don’t ignore the powerful moral arguments against high taxation. I recommend the whole article, but this section is particularly compelling: Tax reduces people’s ability to act morally. They might prefer to spend their money on helping their children become good citizens, caring for their elderly relatives, or supporting good causes. Instead they see it taken and going on bank bailouts or expensive prestige projects. Though we wish [...]

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William Hague: “There’s only one growth strategy: work hard,” but hard work needs honest money.


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In today’s Telegraph, William Hague tells the Government’s business critics to stop complaining and work hard to deliver jobs. However, Mr Hague forgets that a day’s hard work is rewarded with a day’s pay: if that pay is in a money which someone else is producing at near zero cost, the value of hard work is undermined. People who are slogging their guts out to make ends meet in an environment of rising living costs are bound to take the Telegraph’s reporting of [...]

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The foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves


After dashing through C S Lewis’ brilliant if somewhat esoteric 1930s sci-fi/fantasy known as The Cosmic Trilogy, I picked up Jung’s even more esoteric Answer to Job. After all that, it seemed time to return to Mere Christianity, which is so titled because it explains those doctrines which are generally uncontroversial amongst all Christian denominations. The book comprises a number of talks which Lewis gave during the madness of the Second World War, covering right and wrong as a clue [...]

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“Sex and drug lessons from age 5″


Via Sex and drug lessons from age 5 – Telegraph, another forcible attempt to reengineer society, irrespective of the wishes of responsible parents: Under the new curriculum, pupils as young as seven will learn about puberty and the facts of life and five-year-olds will be taught about parts of the body, relationships and the effects of drugs on the body. Once they reach secondary school, pupils will learn about contraception, HIV and Aids, pregnancy and different kinds of relationships – [...]

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How should we live?


After debating today with my pastor whether what the world needs is more or less government intervention in the cooperative actions of individuals (ie, the economy), I rediscovered the following from De Tocqueville (1835/1840). The passage paints his vision of a future democratic society, indicating how he foresaw people might live: I seek to trace the novel features under which despotism may appear in the world. The first thing that strikes the observation is an innumerable multitude of men, all [...]

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Moral Markets and Honest Money


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Revised and updated: reconciling our conflicting views of the market through consistent principle and morality. A Christian friend is an avowed socialist and another associate is determinedly left wing. I asked them recently what socialism meant to them. The answer was essentially “people being good to one another”: kindness, compassion, fairness and justice, even liberty. Who would oppose that? But can force make it so? Though I write with great affection for my friends, when I hear or read “socialism”, [...]

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Inflation’s Moral Hazard by Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal Summer 2009


But asset inflation—ultimately, the debasement of the currency—as the principal source of wealth corrodes the character of people. It not only undermines the traditional bourgeois virtues but makes them ridiculous and even reverses them. Prudence becomes imprudence, thrift becomes improvidence, sobriety becomes mean-spiritedness, modesty becomes lack of ambition, self-control becomes betrayal of the inner self, patience becomes lack of foresight, steadiness becomes inflexibility: all that was wisdom becomes foolishness. And circumstances force almost everyone to join in the dance. Read [...]

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Child stabbings almost double in five years – Telegraph


Via Child stabbings almost double in five years – Telegraph: Youngsters aged under 18 needing hospital treatment for wounds from a knife or sharp object have leapt up by 83 per cent since 2003, NHS figures show. There has also been a sharp rise in the number of children needing hospital treatment for any form of assault, signalling a growing trend in violence against youngsters. But via The Centre for Social Justice: We are thrashing around looking for a strategy [...]

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