Randolph Bourne, an anti-war progressive from the early 1900s, warned that "war is the health of the state." But Megan McArdle of The Atlantic argues that a better statement is "crisis is the health of the state."  Like the former statement, this is definitionally true. 

The state thrives on crisis and war.  After the crisis of the Depression we had the second world war.  Many Americans believe "War is good because it stimulates the economy."   As Bastiat's Broken Window Fallacy neatly shows, it's an inconvenient reality that all war stimulates is growth of government and those aspects of the economiy the government favors at the expense of everyone else. 

One is left to wonder if our current wars and crises will ever correct themselves or if they are leading to something much bigger.  And, if we are headed toward something much bigger, we know what it will do and what it will be:  1) It will improve the health of the state and liberty will suffer; and 2) It will either be war, another crisis, or both.

Paul Krugman is scared. He's scared that the federal government will stop spending trillions of dollars that it doesn't have and cause a depression. Leaders from around the world have been tightening their belts and have been wondering why Obama isn't doing the same.  Now, Obama says he's serious about the debt.

President Obama on controlling the debt:

Somehow people say, why are you doing that, I'm not sure that's good politics. I'm doing it because I said I was going to do it and I think it's the right thing to do. People should learn that lesson about me because next year when I start presenting some very difficult choices to the country, I hope some of these folks who are hollering about deficits and debt step-up because I'm calling their bluff. We'll see how much of that, how much of the political arguments that they're making right now are real and how much of it was just politics. [emphasis added]

BigGovernment.com is running a series of installments sharing a 7-page article written by an anonymous author and published by Playboy.  It's a highly enjoyable read. 

Everything I know about being a good consultant comes from Fight Club. Discretion is everything. Rule number one is you don’t talk about consulting for the Tea Party. Rule number two is you don’t talk about consulting for the Tea Party. The story about the wild characters who are shaping this campaign cycle is worth telling, but please excuse my anonymity.

I hold as many meetings as possible over Tanqueray and tonics at the St. Regis hotel on K Street in Washington, D.C. The bar is dark and private, with comfortable couches. Even the gin tastes better there. On weekday afternoons the only people in the bar are foreigners and political consultants long past caring about who actually wins.

Read the whole thing at Playboy here.

Alabama has a lot going for it in the way of political ads.  Candidate for Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Dale Peterson set the interwebs ablaze with his no-holds-barred style video a few weeks ago.

Now comes this ad by Rick Barber, candidate for Congress. At least it's entertaining: