Quotes of the day

Liquidity is not a virtue in and of itself unless it produces a benefit to the real economy.--Yves Smith

Of course, I agree with Yves, but then I would replace "Liquidity" with "Government" and agree even more. Besides protecting individual rights and property, I think government should be tiny to non-existent. The sin of pouring liquidity into the economy in the short-term is miniscule compared with the distortionary subsidization and the unconstitutional regulation of markets over the past century.

Life sends the message, "I'd better not be poor. I'd better get rich. I'd better make more money than other people." Meanwhile, politics sends us the message, "Some people make more money than others. Some are rich while others are poor. We'd better close that 'income disparity gap.' It's not fair!"

Well, I am here to advocate for unfairness. I've got a 10-year-old at home. She's always saying, "That's not fair." When she says this, I say, "Honey, you're cute. That's not fair. Your family is pretty well off. That's not fair. You were born in America. That's not fair. Darling, you had better pray to God that things don't start getting fair for you." What we need is more income, even if it means a bigger income disparity gap.

Using politics to create fairness is a sin. Observe the Tenth Commandment. The first nine commandments concern theological principles and social law: Thou shalt not make graven images, steal, kill, et cetera. Fair enough. But then there's the tenth: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's."--P.J. O'Rourke (via Don Boudreaux)

And finally:

That's the spirit of America, as John Adams never quite said: may I advocate classical-liberal limited government, so that my son may advocate anarcho-capitalism, and that my grandson may plan to build new artificial countries in the ocean.--Brian Doherty, via Bryan Caplan