[Editor's Warning:  Please be advised this contains a news video from a major station and an actual protest sign that some may find offensive.]

ECONOMICALLY EFFICIENT SELF-DEFENSE

Only in Southern California can traffic speed by at 80mph while a car is engulfed in flames on the shoulder.  This post is for all those non-Californians who cannot help but rubberneck.

NPR reports on massive gang violence and extortion of the population.  Because the townspeople view the police as impotent in their role and because the situation has deteriorated so badly therefore citizen watch groups have formed and appear to have the desired effect of establishing peace.

 "We don't mess with the people in the provinces," says a 26-year-old former member of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang. "In San Juan, Xela, San Lucas, they're united. If they catch you, they'll pour on gasoline, light a match, and that's it."

The Second Amendment states, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."  Many consider self-defense an unalienable right granted by their Creator.  However, in this article I would prefer to address the self-defense issue from an economic perspective.

Self-defense and its means are goods and services to be purchased on the market just like a hamburger or the services of a barber.  Monopoly, or the violent attempt thereof, always leads to a less efficient allocation of capital than a purely voluntary system.

 Indeed, 'to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed' not only because that leads to happier individuals but also because 'whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government' and the dragging of the current elites to the guillotines is less likely because a voluntary system of government, if it is possible, is from an economic perspective a more efficient allocation of resources.

 By comparision, not only are services of UPS, Fedex and Earth Class Mail voluntary but they are also cheaper and higher quality than the compulsive Post Office which is funded by tax revenue.

The original governmental system as set up by the moral Founding Fathers, like Jefferson, Washington and Monroe, sought to disperse violence among different constituted governmental authorities in a system of checks and balances whereby no particular authority had a monopoly of violence over a given geographical area.

 The right to secede is not prohibited under Article 1 Section 10 and the 9th and 10th Amendments retain the rights to the States and in some cases like Texas it was even specifically retained in their Constitution.

 But when put to the test where individual States which had voluntarily created the Union decided to withdraw their consent Lincoln aggressively initiated the Great War to preserve his ability to steal the wealth of non-consenting innocents by violence (tax).

Lincoln attempted to suspend The Great Writ of Habeas Corpus and imprison Merryman and summarily execute Milligan via military tribunal.  In Ex parte Merryman and Ex parte Milligan Chief Justice Roger Taney 'raged' against Lincoln for this tyrannical behavior and struck down his suspension of The Great Writ.

 The first great American tyrant Lincoln, thinking himself above The Law like his progenitor Hitler who also got rid of Habeas Corpus in the 1933 Reichstag Fire Decree, did not take kindly to the Supreme Court ruling and and issued an arrest warrant for Chief Justice Roger Taney.

 Before Lincoln was done around 500,000 Americans lay mouldering in the dust having 'become the executioners of their friends and Brethern, or to fall themselves by their Hands.'  Eventually Lincoln met his just reward.

The Swiss distribute the costs of self-defense among their citizenry in an economically efficient manner.

 Most males enter the Militia at 20 and serve until 30.  Switzerland has one of the highest gun ownership rates in the world.  In the Militia they are issued a fully automatic assault rifle and 9mm and when they return home they can take the weapons with them along with plenty of ammo.

 In Switzerland violent crime is almost unknown and murder is usually between asylum seekers.  For example, in 2006 there were 34 gun related attempted killings and  in Switzerland with a population of about 7.5M.

 By contrast, Washington D.C. with its strict gun control laws and a population of about 5.3M had 169 murders in 2006.  Because of the liberal gun laws and high gun ownership rates in Switzerland the costs of self-defense services are more efficiently borne and the quality of service is much higher resulting in a much safer society.

When discussing gun control or ownership sometimes people may ask "Why do you need to defend yourself? The police and the military are there to defend you?" Usually when dealing with those who worship the State the reply involves the economic inefficiency.  However, as alluded to there is a much more potent answer: "I may have to defend myself against the police."

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNmcaew0qEU

We should all take a moment of silence for the innocent Oscar Grant who posed neither a threat of serious bodily injury nor of deadly force and was summarily executed New Years Day by a 'friendly neighborhood' BART transportation officer.  As reported by KTVU2 News the video shows the execution from two angles caught by separate cell phone cameras.

 Oscar Grant's life is part of the 'cost' all members of society pay for the inefficient self-defense services provided by a tyrannical militarized Police State that compels purchase of its goods and services through taxation and the threat of violence.

 When a good or service of fair value is provided the provider does not need to result, like the gangs in Guatemala or costumed BART officers, to violence to gain or retain customers.  If aggressive violence is initatied against innocents in violation of the Non-Aggression Axiom then morally justified retaliation may be expected.

STORIES FROM THE LOONEY BIN

The popular culture of Hollywood is delving into murky plot lines such as in the new Bond film Quantum Solace.  2009 movies include The International which is about a corrupt international bank engaged in arms trading and destabilization of governments and The Illuminati: Out of Chaos Comes Order which is about the alleged secret society.

 I have actually received several questions on this topic both in person, at conferences and via email.  Regarding this rabbit hole I really do wonder what difference does it make?  Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction and the headlines rarely tell the real story.

Benjamin Fulford, Asian Bureau chief for Forbes magazine from 1998-2005, had an comical one hour interview with David Rockefeller (part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4).

 In June 2007 Fulford issued an interesting warning:  "A Chinese secret society with 6 million members, including 1.8 million Asian gangsters and 100,000 professional assassins, have targeted Illuminati members if they proceed with world depopulation plans. ... after he warned that the Illuminati plan to reduce the Asian population to just 500 million by means of race-specific biological weapons. ... 'I have been promised that no a single person will die if they negotiate in good faith.'

The current financial crisis seems to taking a heavy human toll and will probably continue.  Of course, there is Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet who, after he lost his own fortune and about $1.5B of friends and family with Bernard Madoff, was found sitting at his desk with his wrists slashed.

 Christen Schnor, a HSBC [a large GLD ETF depository] banker and former head of insurance, decided to use a little more style with his 'suicide' and was found hanging naked in his five-star hotel suite.  There is Kristy Hunt a Joplin mortgage broker who 'committed suicide' with a small kitchen knife.  Steven Suepel a vice president of a bank who allegedly stole about $560,000 decided his own life was not enough and before he commited suicide he allegedly killed his wife and three children.  While some people send their condolences to the families of the fallen others have actually encouraged their voluntary removal from the gene pool.

But perhaps the most interesting suicide of late is the German billionaire Adolf Merckle who took his own life by jumping in front of a train.  This is a popular method for the Japanese and the last time I was in Tokyo the subway was delayed because someone did this exact thing.  The AP reports, "His business empire had run into trouble in the crisis, and its problems were compounded by heavy losses in trading of shares in automaker Volkswagen AG.

Merckle's business interests included generic drug maker Ratiopharm International GmbH and cement maker HeidelbergCement AG."

I wonder if Merckle's Ratiopharm was developing or producing any generic drugs that were 'race-specific biological weapons'?  We will probably never know but it would sure make an great movie!