'Hostile Takeover'; Bailout again; Christmas; Russ Roberts

I missed last week's post as I temporarily became obsessed with a four book series, and I read 2,700 pages in about seven days. I literally could not put down the books if I wasn't sleeping, working or going to class. So this week my post will be a little longer than usual.

A Hostile takeover is not a logical or intelligent name

First, Investopedia calls a Hostile Takeover:

A takeover attempt that is strongly resisted by the target firm.

Alright, I'm going to assume they mean management by the 'target firm.'

Also, it is so far impossible to force people to sell their shares of a company, so a takeover is, by definition, never hostile to the owners. If it was they would not choose to sell their shares.

So, combining those two points, if owners choose to sell their shares when the management of the company is resisting the buyout, the management is either crappy, or the bid is high enough to make it worth the shareholders while, regardless of which applies it is better for the owner's of the company, that is, those who really matter.

Free Speech Board

This week's question was, "When is Civil Disobedience OK," I do not really have an opinion on this so I didn't read any of the answers.

Stop the Bailouts, Part 1

In a free market the only gauge entrepreneurs have as to whether consumers like a product and want scarce resources to be devoted to its production is Profit/Loss.

When a company has a profit it means consumers are willing to pay for the allocation of that resource, when it has a loss it means they don't.

Without this ability there is no way to see where people really want and need resources, when the government overrides prices and props up a losing company resources get allocated incorrectly (the USSR famously had too much machinery and not enough working factories in one part of its country, and too many factories with no machinery in another part).

Quote of the Week

"Democracy is a form of worship. It is the worship of jackals by jackasses."

-H.L. Mencken

Christmas Presents

With two weeks left before Christmas I've decided to add a little recommendation section for some last minute Christmas presents that can be bought from Amazon. Also, we get a 5% commission on everything purchased that will go towards the hosting costs.

History

The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History - The first book I read by a libertarian author, Thomas E. Woods massacres any and all of the myths about big government in American History.

Hamilton's Curse - I haven't read this book, but I did read DiLorenzo's How Capitalism Saved America, which was very good, and haven't read a negative review on it yet.

Economics

Economics in One Lesson - Hazlitt takes on all of the economic stupidity of his day (the fifties) and shows how using one basic rule (look past step one) all of them can be derailed, most of them still apply today and I believe this is one of if not the best introductory Economics books.

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism - This was the book that started me down the slope into libertarianism. As Woods did in his 'PIG' Robert Murphy destroys all the big government myths about Economics, and on the way recommends countless worthy books and uses only concrete logic.

Fiction

The Invisible Heart: An Economic Romance - See Russ Roberts books below.


Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) - This books series was one that killed my free time last week. There is little to no politics in the book, but for those who like good stories combined with romance I haven't read anything that can beat it. Also, it's only $6 on Amazon so if you buy it and don't like it's not a big deal.

Stop the Bailouts, Part 2

Many people say GM needs to be bailed out because it employs so many people, but as Briggs Armstrong pointed out 12 companies have more employees than GM and Wal-Mart has seven times as many.

Do we have to bail all of these companies out as well?

Can you name one liberal who would want to bail out non-union Wal-Mart instead of GM?

Russ Roberts Books

I read these books a while ago, but had to do a report on one for one of my classes so I've waited until now to post on them.

The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity

This is Roberts' most recent book, it tells the story of a college student who plans a protest against a big Corporation who doubled its prices in the aftermath of an airplane and the professor who talked him out of protesting in his graduation speech.

The Invisible Heart

My favorite of his books, it's about two teachers, one Economics and one English. The English is decidedly leftist and the Economics courts her with political debates.

The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protection (3rd Edition)

The Choice is not as good as the other two, it centers around 18th century British Economist David Ricardo visiting a business owner who is lobbying for protectionist legislation and showing how protectionism does not work.

Stop the Bailout, Part 3

The bailout is socialism, this has no legitimate argument against it.

One need only look at Russia, China, Cuba, North Korea, Chicago, etc. to see how badly socialism has failed, and the lives it has taken.

THERE HAS BEEN PURE SOCIALISM

Many unintelligent defenders of socialism (which is very redundant, I know) claim there is no way to know if pure socialism would actually work because it has never existed totally without a leader screwing it up.

This is untrue, from 1917 to 1921 it existed in this form in the USSR, after just this little time the death rate from starvation (in a country where its previous problem had been how to dispose of its food surplus) that Lenin was forced to introduce prices until 1927, when he took back control with socialism.

Thomas Aquinas is the aka for a college student living in Salt Lake City, Utah. He deals with the economic incompetence of his fellows by reading constantly, and recommends that to others who have to deal with idiocy.