Trevor Loudon's Enemy Within

I heard Trevor Loudon speak in Albany earlier this week, and I'm watching his excellent video, The Enemies Within, about the internal workings of the Democratic Party.  I recommend it.

Freedom House Measure of US Academic Freedom Is Flawed

During the Cold War, activists associated with Wendell Willkie founded Freedom House to advocate for global intervention  in support of freedom.  One of its early chairmen was Harry Gideonse, the conservative president of Brooklyn College.  Freedom House ranks political and social freedom in countries around the world. The US is not at the the top of the list, but it is among the free countries, with a score of 86 out of 100.

Unsurprisingly, Freedom House is critical of Donald Trump.  Freedom House advocates a globalist or interventionist philosophy, while Trump represents a nationalist philosophy.

Globalism is fine up to the point at which it causes expansion of the state apparatus.  That is, the optimal balance between globalism and internationalism can be found in one of two ways, which are the same:

(1) the point at which the balance between globalism and nationalism minimizes the scope, tyranny, and intervention of the state and
(2) the point at which the balance between globalism and nationalism maximizes economic and political performance.

The question of whether there is a difference if the maximand is total freedom internationally or total freedom domestically is complex. It is possible that some international interventions  reduce freedom at home but increase it internationally. Hence, Trump's presidency is likely to expand freedom at home, yet it may not reduce it overseas, contrary to Freedom House's claims.

For instance, US globalist involvement in World War I led to the imprisonment of Eugene V. Debs and other war protesters.  World War I led directly to totalitarianism around the world. Globalism and freedom are not always--and maybe not often--equivalent.

Despite its name, Freedom House supports globalist institutions that reduce freedom.  One example is American universities, which are hostile to political freedom for conservatives but claim to have academic freedom. Academic freedom is a myth, a code for a socialist-, globalist-only faculty and suppression of freedom for all who disagree with socialism and globalism.  American universities are a globalist force that  reduces freedom.

In its country rankings, Freedom House claims that the US has an optimal degree of academic freedom.*  This is nonsensical.  American universities are one-party institutions, as Dan Klein and I show in a paper on social science departments, and as I show with respect to liberal arts colleges. Organizations that refuse to employ one-half of the population because of political intolerance are not free.

Moreover, intolerant, Democratic Party-only practices riddle the US government-subsidized technology and media industries.  Calling one-party, government-subsidized organizations that increasingly dominate the US economy and culture characteristic of a free country may be globalist but does not support freedom.  Freedom House sees no problem in social media's exclusion of conservatives because government-supported organizations like Facebook and Quora are globalist.

For half of the US population, there is no academic freedom, there is no freedom of employment,  and there is no press freedom.  Academics who run afoul of the prejudices of the Democratic Party are likely to be attacked and their removal demanded by Democratic Party bigots. 

Freedom House's globalist prejudices trump its belief in freedom.

*This is what the report says about academic freedom in the US:

Is there academic freedom, and is the educational system free from extensive political indoctrination? 4 / 4

The academic sphere has long featured a high level of intellectual freedom. While it remains quite robust by global standards, this liberty has come under some pressure in recent years. University students at a number of campuses have obstructed guest speakers whose views they find objectionable by shouting them down or holding strident protests. In the most highly publicized cases, students and nonstudent activists have physically prevented presentations by controversial speakers, especially those known for their views on race, gender, immigration, and other sensitive issues. University faculty have also reported instances of harassment—including on social media—related to curriculum content, textbooks, or statements that some students strongly disagreed with. As a consequence, some professors have allegedly engaged in self-censorship.

When Will the Currency Collapse Come?

As of the first quarter of this year, federal indebtedness was $21.1 trillion, while GDP was roughly $19.8 trillion, so the ratio of GDP to debt is 107%.   Nobody knows how the constellation of relationships in the current world economy will play out.  For instance, the dollar is the global reserve currency.  Other countries absorb and make use of the dollar.  However, as with all psychological delusions--whether faith in a tribal rain dance or faith in the integrity of the Federal Reserve Bank-- sooner or later reality intervenes.  The economy of Greece collapsed at a debt-GDP ratio of 170% or so.   The US has additional cushions, so there is not likely an impending crisis, but it is unlikely that indebtedness will do anything but grow.

There are three ticking debt clocks:  First the Social Security unfunded liability of $13.2 trillion over 75 years may require a benefit cut of 17%. Second, the unfunded liabilities of Medicare, which are unknown, may be as great. John D. Shatto and M Kent Clemens, actuaries for the Department of Health and Human Services, write that there is “substantial uncertainty regarding the adequacy of future Medicare payment rates under current law.” Third, student loan indebtedness is currently about $1.5 trillion.

If you add the hard indebtedness of $21.1 trillion to the unfunded liabilities and the student loan debt, the sum is in excess of twice GDP.

In part because the unfunded liabilities are not salient, international investors continue to accept the dollar as the global reserve curreny. As with any bubble, this will continue until it doesn't. The amount of US currency in circulation overseas is at least equal to the amount at home. 

There will be political pressure to devalue the dollar, both from Millennials who spent $100,000 each on college and never found a job and from senior citizens who do not want their Social Security benefits cut because the government claimed for 85 years that Social Security is an insurance plan rather than an at-Congressional-will welfare plan.  As well, depending on the course of technology and health care costs, Medicare can easily become the biggest problem of all.

There will thus be significant pressure to devalue the dollar in order to dupe Social Security recipients and to devalue the Millennial's unproductive student loans.  In response, there may be a global run on the dollar; alternatively, an internationalist authority like the IMF might step in and offer to substitute a global currency like special drawing rights as a substitute for the dollar.  As a result, bank dollar holdings and cash may be reduced in value.

Knowing this, I hypothesize that a portfolio allocation of 10 to 20 percent to gold and silver is wise. At the same time, gold could go back down to 2001 levels before it rebounds. As Keynes put it and my financial adviser reminds me,  "The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent."  As well, trusting in the wisdom of the federal government and the American people is foolhardy.

The Self-Evident Logic in Support of Universal College Education

Here is the logic:

(1) It was once difficult to get into college, so only smart, elite youngsters could attend.

(2) Attending college makes a youngster smart and elite.
(3) Therefore, all should attend college so that all can be smart and elite.

According to Student Loan Hero, the average student loan debt for 2017 graduates was $39,400. Moreover, Americans owe $1.48 trillion in student loan debt, almost double total credit card debt.

An eight-year-old study by Arum and Roksa found that half of graduates earn less than the national median wage.  According to LendedU.com, the average college dropout owes $13,000 in student loan debt.

Students with the worst prospects for finding jobs are in the fields that are most politicized: the "studies" fields like women's studies, the social sciences, and the humanities.