State of the Union: Ten Economic Graphs That Should Scare The Hell Out Of You

Crisis takes a much longer time coming than you think, and then it happens much faster than you would have thought. ~ MIT economist Rudiger Dornbusch

At President Obama’s State of the Union Address this year, which was heavy on recycled platitudes and light on substance, the president did more to prepare for the upcoming general election than actually give a genuine assessment of the state of the union, but that’s pretty par for the course. A sincere state of the union by the President of the United States may be more than most Americans are ready for yet – the horror of listening to the president describe the true economic realities we face might be more than many people could handle. I hope I’m wrong and most Americans would welcome an honest word from a major politician as a breath of fresh air.

What would a sincere state of the union address look like? The president could just show us graphs of economic data and leave it at that. It would be the most radical truth-telling we have heard from the White House in a long time. If you really want to know the state of union and you have the stomach for it, here are ten economic graphs that show just how precarious the state of the union really is and just how long our current economic troubles are likely to last:

1. Graph of the world’s reserve currencies and the duration of their reserve currency status since 1400 C.E.

Are you seeing this? When I saw this on ZeroHedge earlier this month, I decided instantly that this graph should be everywhere. Nothing lasts forever and this graph eloquently and poignantly demonstrates that world reserve currency status is no exception.  

TSA Illegally Detains Senator

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was detained for four hours at a Nashville airport on Monday, January 23rd, after declining a TSA request for a pat down. Believing that his first attempt at the scanner had triggered a false alarm, he asked if he could walk through the scanner once more. He was then denied a second attempt and briskly escorted by local police into a detention cubicle where he remained for four hours, missing his flight as well as his commitment that day to speak in front of a crowd of 200,000 at the March for Life rally in D.C.

 
After his release, he was allowed to board another flight after he went through the scanner again without setting off the alarm a second time.

Though the TSA argues that it acted properly and objects to the use of the word "detainment" to describe Paul's treatment, according to Article 1, Section 6 of the Constitution it is illegal to hold in custody Congressmen who are traveling to and from Congress: 

They [the Senators and Representatives] shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same.

This is not to say that members of Congress are above the law and are not subject to the same security measures as non-office holding citizens while traveling under regular conditions.

The 7 Best Libertarian Songs You've Never Heard of

Sick of hearing Green Day bash capitalism and U2 calling for more and more government intervention?  Need some music that doesn't unthinkingly accept the default leftist, collectivist worldview?

Look no further!

Below are the top 7 best pro-liberty, pro-economic freedom songs that you've (probably) never heard of  (no Lee Greenwood or Rush here!) in no particular order.  Feast your ear holes:

1. “Sons of Liberty” by Frank Turner

Remember when I said this list was in “no particular order?” (Yes I did, right up there, like, three lines ago).  Well, I lied.  This first one is easily my favorite song of the bunch.  That's why it's first.

Frank Turner, a former anarchist who now describes himself as a “classical liberal/libertarian,” combines an excellent folk/punk guitar sound with defiant lyrics informed by a very British sense of liberty.

To wit:

But a sorry cloud of tyranny has fallen across the land/
Brought on by hollow men, who did not understand/
That for centuries our forefathers have fought and often died/
To keep themselves unto themselves, to fight the rising tide/
That if in the smallest battles we surrender to the State/
We enter in a darkness whence we never shall escape./

Where did you get your shoes?

It's a common question I used to ask Occupy activists while being present at some of their rallies during the peak of the movement in autumn 2011.

Caught off guard by a perfectly normal question, the anti-corporate activist would inevitably drop his head down towards the ground in guilty contemplation of whatever shoes he was wearing during the protest, with his "corporations are evil" sign suddenly beginning to waver uncertainly in his hand. As if contemplating the issue for the first time, his mind races for a quick response to a disarmingly simple question. He flounders around awkwardly for a few minutes, thinking out loud with an "um, well... ah" mumble, fidgeting nervously with the wounded and confused look setting deeper and deeper into his well-meaning yet misguided face. 

If there's any one question I've found that silences an Occupier who decries the evils of corporate greed which puts profit before people, it's  "So where did you get your (fill in the blank) from?"