My Daily Business Noose – well, what IDEAS are these fuckers PUSHING? – as in the Steppenwolf song, “The Pusher” – for these MONSTERS simply don’t seem to care whether you live or die – and would much rather prefer all the sheeple to be “walkin’ around with two stones in their eyes.”
The First Stone: Their lead editorial on the IDEA of an “independent central bank”! Like the BUNDESBANK has worked, huh? You even got any INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY ANYWHERE – here, there, or anywhere?
The Second Stone: Their lead “opinion” on some EUSSR-USSA “free trade deal”! What’s that? More-and-more “trading blocs”? Trade is either GOOD – in which case FREE TRADE – or trade is BAD – in which case BAN IT.
What’s this “politicisation of international trade” – thereby enabling non-traders – such as politicians, bureaucRATS, and these “professional political diplomats” of today - to INTERVENE in the PRIVATE EXCHANGES between two PRIVATE PARTIES – which is a clear VIOLATION OF PROPERTY – that too, of BOTH?
CORRUPTION + INJUSTICE!
“The Pusher” by Steppenwolf – that’s these “opinion peddlers.”
Anyway, MY MIND was happily contemplating the endless rise, decline, and then – the fall of civilisations – applying all the “correct praxeological theories” to the evidence of History – and ONE FACT STRUCK!
We are failing to identify the real causes of the spectacular rise of the West – as also the real causes of their gradual – almost imperceptible – decline: and you have to only look at BRITAIN today to know what DECLINE means!
GERMANY – the “economic powerhouse” of Europe – was “rebuilt” after WW2.
SOUTH KOREA – has “caught up” with the West in a very short time.
But I – I want to begin, and end, with AFRICA!
Because AFRICA can do it, too!
ANTHROPOLOGY – the Science of Man – well, I began there just the other day in order to prove-beyond-doubt that Capitalism originated in AFRICA simply because Modern Man – homo economicus – originated there.
Theirs is the Oldest River Valley Civilisation – at the Delta of the Nile – where not only did the first settled agriculturists make their appearance – but also where all the “nomadic tribes” of the entire region came in order to buy-and-sell – propelled by the “sense of gain” within their own, INDIVIDUAL “trading human minds.” These included all the “Jewish tribes” - who, alone, did not "intermingle" - and thereby hangs a tale!
This Accumulation of Private Capital that occurred as a consequence sure as hell did power the growth and progress of this Civilisation on the Delta of the Nile – yet, when we LOOK at the RUINS which remain today, we fail to ask what is The Most Important Question:
What was the Root Cause of the Decline and Fall of the Egypt of the Pharaohs?
The Answer:
PARASITISM – by a PARASITIC ORGANISATION claiming to be acting in GOD’s NAME!
Now, my PURPOSE is only to identify the root causes of the spectacular rise of the Modern West first – and then trace out the causes of their current decline – particularly for the benefit of AFRICANS – so, let me begin by asserting that while the trading nomadic tribes of Africa still exist, and continue with their traditions and customs – from the Tuareg to the Bedouin to all the others – the tribes of the West have only seemingly given up tribalism for INDIVIDUALISM – and remain fatally stuck in the Lunatic Sociology of ORGANISATION – and they have ever-so-many such ORGANISATIONS today which they WORSHIP – from the NATION-STATE to the POLITICAL PARTY to everything else – not excluding BUREAUCRACY – not excluding ORGANISED RELIGION – and ORGANSED LABOUR – and even ORGANISED CRIME!
Now, a good many of the tribes of the West were “predatory” till fairly recently – the best example of these being the Viking Norsemen – who plundered-and-pillaged any “civilisation” they found to their south – until finally deciding to simply “settle-down-and-wear-a crown” – as one of their descendants, Mancur Olson, put it – because their VICTIMS had nothing more to surrender – thereby replacing plunder with TAXATION – the “roving bandit” morphing into the “stationary bandit” – and William of Normandy who CONQUERED England in 1066AD was precisely one such.
But there were others like the Vikings even before in the annals of the Anglo-Saxons – such as the plundering-and-raiding Danes – to whom they had to perforce pay Danegeld - or else!
The Angles and the Saxons – were both from Germany – and, as in the area around the Mediterranean – within time tribes and races intermingled and thus, the very idea that RACE has anything to do with SUPERIORITY is so bloody false that it just ain’t funny.
For example – HITLER! – the best example of one such “political philosopher” – he himself was short, with black hair, and beady, black eyes!
“Nations STUMBLE upon ESTABLISHMENTS” – and the Anglo-Saxons stumbled upon the idea of LAW – based on the Inviolability of Property and Contracts – and as for TORTS, this was their “oldest law,” anyway.
Now, if you were to look at the spectacular rise of the Modern West CHRONOLOGICALLY – for Toynbee was in extremely serious error when he coined the expression “Industrial Revolution” – then, the slow-and-steady Accumulation of Private Capital that followed in the wake of the success of the Common Law – in competition with Manorial as well as Church courts – then, we could safely assert that the Rise of the West began – let us be “approximate” to the truth – around 1000AD – and it lasted more-or-less till about the year 1900. After that, there came about the gradual decline – to whatever CLIFF they are falling over today – when their only way is DOWN!
The Scottish Enlightenment – the ideas of “Moral Philosophy” and “The Great and Open, Civil Society” – the idea that “nations stumble upon establishments” – the DEMOLITION of the “legislator myth” – the very fictitious notion that “legislators are founders of nations” – the birth of “political economy” – which, of course, was nipped-in-the-bud! – but that’s another story, for another post – well, this Scottish Enlightenment had a great deal to do with “natural religion” and even “faith dictated by one’s conscience” – in direct opposition to what was widely perceived to be the “excesses of the Church” – meaning thereby the Church of England – and, while Smith did not go to the extremes of his good friend Hume – he was a very secret admirer of Dean Swift – which brings me to that Good Man Thomas Paine – whose Age of Reason earned him the posthumous wrath of Christian Zealots in America – so-much-so that his very grave was desecrated and his bones scattered!
The Age of Reason!
Let us now apply REASON – Theory & History – and NO METAPHYSICS!
PARASITISM – by the “unproductive” on the “productive” – which must necessarily bring down the Private Accumulation of Capital – has caused the decline and fall of each and every civilization of the past – which is OBVIOUS when we look at whatever RUINS we find today – for these are but WEALTH that was PLUNDERED from the productive.
If we ask:
Whose Wealth Produced Angkor Vat?
Or, Whose Wealth Produced the Pyramids?
Or even, Whose Wealth Produced all the Great Cathedrals of Europe?
Yes, the Church also TAXED – what the English called “Peter’s Pence” – and then paid, lamenting “there is no escape from death and taxation”!
Or, for that matter: Whose Wealth Produced all the TEMPLES of both Ancient as well as Modern INDIA?
Funny, ain’t it: That AFRICA today has no such temples!
Clive Bell’s Civilisation speaks about a work of “cultural anthropology” by Westermarck that reveals a “belief in the divine” is to be found in even the “most primitive tribes” – and is NOT A SIGN of “civilisation.”
The Anglo-Saxons had their DRUIDS!
But then, these PRIMITIVE TRIBES were not-so-primitive to go about ORGANISING RELIGION!
The Logical Category of Arithmetic in each and every “trading human mind”!
MONEY! – as a means of “indirect exchange” in MARKETS – EVOLVING naturally – “gaining currency” – because to the very same “trading human mind”!
These COWRIES of Africa PROVE that their TRIBES had a "commercial culture" - as opposed to one of PLUNDER and BARBARIANISM - which is how all the Good Things ended up happening at the Delta of the Nile - and then, all along the shores of the little Mediterranean Sea - the only sea "navigable" in those early times, on primitive craft - and all the METALS - iron, copper, silver and gold - which marked the "Ascent of Civilisation" - and of MONEY as well - they all came from AFRICA!
It’s these “logical categories of the trading human mind” – the correct praxeological theory that we MUST now apply to History – and even the Daily Noose is History – the history of yesterday, and if these very same correct praxeological theories are not applied in the interpretation of the DATA of yesterday's history, the Daily Noose is but BUNK!
Now, it is neither my intention nor my desire to condemn the West – but only to sift Good from Evil.
As I have often remarked, Mr. Marley was “mulatto” – and he sang in English.
But he did make many “political errors” – from looking for an EMPEROR – to championing ZIMBABWE!
NO!
For even COWRIES are better by far than Mugabe’s INFLATIONISM!
For even COWRIES are better by far than Mugabe’s INFLATIONISM!
Not NATION-STATES – not these “collectives” – not “democracy” – what Africa needs is INDIVIDUALISM – based on the “individual trading human mind” – and JUSTICE under The Eternal Law – as also LIBERTY and CIVILISATION – upon all of which Individual Private Capital Accumulation depend.
What does “AFRICA UNITE!” mean – but “political organisation”?
BAD IDEA – same as “Workers of the World Unite!”
Recommended reading: My column, "The Morality of Free Markets" - in which I contrast the "economic means" of seeking survival with the "political means." To which we can now add the "theocratic means" - as with the Pyramids and "Peter's Pence."
CIVILISATION – and NOT “politics” – the Root Cause of the Decline of the Modern West – most evident around their “mother of all parliaments.”
OPEN & GREAT SOCIETIES!
Anyway, after the decline and fall of Rome, the West slipped into a very long period now called their “Dark Ages” – from which they finally recovered because of some Good Philosophers – and then, as further progress transpired – with the Greek classics being studied – classics that reached Christendom only because of the Muslims of Spain who translated them first – there followed more-and-more INTELLECTUAL as well as MORAL PROGRESS – accompanied quite naturally by a REFORM of Institutions – not excluding the Church itself.
The Enlightenment!
If we cut-to-the-quick – from Locke to the Whigs and then Smith – we finally find the Greatest Discovery ever of mankind – in the Science of Economics – the “correct praxeological theories” entirely based on the “logical categories of the trading human mind” – the Science that lies at the very “pith of civilisation.”
But the WEST – they are themselves utterly IGNORANT of this Science – which was born in the Austria of the Hapsburgs – and not too long ago at that: first, 1871; and then, 1883, the year Marx DIED – in LONDONTOWN!
There is absolutely nothing now to seriously “debate” between Capitalism and Socialism – save to point to the FACT that the decline of the modern West began with the idea of DEMOCRACY – to which was added SOCIALISM as an UGLY VOTE MOTIVE based upon each and every one of The Seven Deadly Sins – especially AVARICE and ENVY!
Yet, there is MUCH to be OPTIMISTIC about – because there are most definitely plenty Good People in the West today who Hate & Despise Socialism and Socialists – and who have also carefully preserved the knowledge of the Science of Economics first discovered in Vienna – and who continue to keep that Flame Alive & Spreading, illuminating minds all across the planet today, thanks to the Internet.
If YOU wish to study this Science for yourself – go to the Ludwig von Mises Institute – and nowhere else!
Nowhere else!
Having not only studied Mises, but also read his memoirs, those of his widow, and his biography as well – and then pondered over these – I find many disturbing questions that still remain unanswered – such as, while Mises did love his professorship in Geneva, his colleagues as well as his students, his handsome salary and all that it afforded not only him, but also his new wife, and the added fact that he was far more comfortable in French than in English then – it remains a mystery as to why he never tried to return there after WW2.
He had received his appointment before the commencement of the war – and he and his wife FLED to America because the SWISS AUTHORITIES were planning to hand him over to the Nazis – but could it be possible that he was an intellectual persona non grata in BOTH Europe as well as America after WW2 was over-and-done-with – and the very Keynesian IMF-World Bank international monetary (dis)order installed?
I don’t think either of them visited Geneva ever again – nor, indeed, Vienna – though he did travel to see his beloved Alps.
The West – it seems clear – is now PAYING THE PRICE for having NEGLECTED this Science of Economics – leave aside neglecting this Great Man.
Instead, the West has just gone on-and-on worshipping all the False Deities of Nation-State – and its Political & Religious Organisations.
Africa! – revert to STATELESSNESS!
Tribes have persisted precisely because they are NOT tyrannies.
It’s nothing but The Law they “stumbled upon” that enabled the rise of the modern West – from BARBARIANISM just about 1000 years ago.
I have absolutely NOTHING to say to INDIA – and Indian “opinion makers.”
PUSHERS of mind-destroying stuff!
This post is for AFRICA!
Now, the one other question that arises is:
Why did the Age of Reason never happen?
The answer Mises himself offered is that the "masses" were simply "too dull" to understand and appreciate all the arguments of the classical liberals - and were too easily swayed by the demagogues, all of whom were collectivists: Communists and Socialists - and then, WELFARISTS!
The CHALLENGE of TODAY is to make these arguments penetrate each and every UNLETTERED MIND - beginning with all the so-called "primitive tribes" of AFRICA!
CAPITALISM?
It's INSIDE each and every trading human mind.
