Beautiful Anarchy

The Economics of Life Itself : Beautiful Anarchy is the writing platform of Jeffrey Tucker, in which he covers economics, art, popular culture, and politics from a pro-liberty, anti-state point of view.
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  • Jeffrey Tucker

This Bloodsport Needs to End Oct 18, 2018

Now that the special election is over, the mainstream press can stop reporting on Alabama as if it were Mars. Have some sympathy with the voters in this state, please. Not for the first time, a populist demagogue snagged the Republican nomination. His opponent had all the predictable views of the Democrats, which is to say similarly attached to an old-world model of political control. Those who held their nose and voted for the Republican didn't like his antics or views; they simply observed that once these people take office, they aren't even real people with much decision-making power. They...

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It’s Not Just Socialists We Need to Worry About Oct 18, 2018

Jeffrey A. Tucker, who is the Director of Content for the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), has published the book Right-Wing Collectivism: The Other Threat to Liberty in September. Last week, Kai Weiss talked with him via Skype about the book and the threat of right-collectivism. ___________________________________________________________________ Kai Weiss: Let’s start off with an easy question. What was the purpose of writing this book? Why was it important right now to take a closer look at the right-collectivist movement? It’s another way to control people, it’s another cultural model for managing society from the top-down. Jeffrey Tucker: Right collectivism is on the rise around the world, both...

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Why Are Scented Candles So Darn Expensive? Oct 18, 2018

A century ago, having electric indoor lighting was a luxury of the rich. It was a dangerous technology at the time – one thing goes wrong and the whole house is up in flames – but people took the risk. 150,000 years of lighting rooms with wax and oil was just too much. The future would be about glass bulbs and electric filaments. If you were rich and believed in the future, you had your home wired. If we did not learn to dominate nature, our existence on earth would be short-lived or constantly threatened by beasts, pests, and weather. What happened to...

By Jeffrey Tucker Vote0 0

Of Course the Alt-Right Is Against Capitalism Oct 18, 2018

Some people on the left are starting to worry about getting trolled by the alt-right. This is because the alt-right has become aggressively anti-capitalist, pro-welfare state, and in favor of a government that specifically promotes white interests, not a free market that offers no privilege to anyone. “The alt-right is looking to expand its ranks,” declares Salon, “and prominent leaders of the notorious white supremacist movement apparently believe that leftists are an ideal target for their recruiting efforts.” This follows a huge investigative piece that appeared in The Nation, in which a reporter from the publication attended a number of...

By Jeffrey Tucker Vote0 1

Bitcoin Mining Is Costly, Just Like Gold Mining Oct 18, 2018

The classic criticism against the gold standard is that it was too costly. Why are these guys wasting resources to suit up, dig into mountains, desperately seeking a finite resource, and slogging the results all the way to Treasury Department? There is a reason that Bitcoin is being called Digital Gold. This is all just silly. We know how to make money: you print it. It’s far cheaper to print than mine. A paper standard will save a tremendous amount of resources that can go to other purposes. There is a plausibility to the claim. We do know how to...

By Jeffrey Tucker Vote1 0

American Culture Has Become Unbearably Toxic Feb 20, 2018

This rant has been a long time coming. I promise that we'll be back to regular programming soon. For now, please consider: It took two weeks in Mexico, away from the daily grind in the US, to gain full consciousness about how insufferable and hateful American culture has become. Here I was in beautiful Mexico, experiencing daily life in both resorts and cities, eating glorious and healthy food, enjoying the lovely hospitality of the people, participating in a vibrant commercial life, seeing how people delight in the daily task of living, growing, making life better each day. I saw smiles...

By Jeffrey Tucker Vote77 7

How and Why Trumpism Rebooted Itself Dec 29, 2017

There’s so much talk about the terrible features of our new political times. I’ve written plenty. I wrote an entire book about the rise of right-wing collectivism and how it poses special dangers for human liberty. Trump rode this very wave into office. That is his orientation. Or maybe it was his marketing plan for electoral victory. After one year, we are not seeing much in the way of real protectionism (beyond the normal), no real crackdown on weed, no greater centralization of executive power beyond what was there. He faced such a huge backlash on his immigration ban that...

By Jeffrey Tucker Vote5 0

Bitcoin Mining Is Costly, Just Like Gold Mining Dec 20, 2017

The classic criticism against the gold standard is that it was too costly. Why are these guys wasting resources to suit up, dig into mountains, desperately seeking a finite resource, and slogging the results all the way to Treasury Department? There is a reason that Bitcoin is being called Digital Gold. This is all just silly. We know how to make money: you print it. It’s far cheaper to print than mine. A paper standard will save a tremendous amount of resources that can go to other purposes. There is a plausibility to the claim. We do know how to...

By Jeffrey Tucker Vote3 0

Of Course the Alt-Right Is Against Capitalism Dec 19, 2017

Some people on the left are starting to worry about getting trolled by the alt-right. This is because the alt-right has become aggressively anti-capitalist, pro-welfare state, and in favor of a government that specifically promotes white interests, not a free market that offers no privilege to anyone. “The alt-right is looking to expand its ranks,” declares Salon, “and prominent leaders of the notorious white supremacist movement apparently believe that leftists are an ideal target for their recruiting efforts.” This follows a huge investigative piece that appeared in The Nation, in which a reporter from the publication attended a number of...

By Jeffrey Tucker Vote5 1

Why Are Scented Candles So Darn Expensive? Dec 17, 2017

A century ago, having electric indoor lighting was a luxury of the rich. It was a dangerous technology at the time – one thing goes wrong and the whole house is up in flames – but people took the risk. 150,000 years of lighting rooms with wax and oil was just too much. The future would be about glass bulbs and electric filaments. If you were rich and believed in the future, you had your home wired. If we did not learn to dominate nature, our existence on earth would be short-lived or constantly threatened by beasts, pests, and weather. What happened to...

By Jeffrey Tucker Vote2 0

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