Hello, world!

Welcome to my new blog here on Mises.org. It's been a few years since I've had the inspiration to speak to the world on a regular basis. When I last blogged regularly, the future looked brighter than ever as capitalism was spreading across the planet in a seemingly-unstoppable avalanche. China, India, Eastern Europe, South America... areas of the globe that had long been kept in poverty by tyrannical, repressive regimes were opening their markets and freeing their people. Sure, a lot of it wasn't perfect (China especially), but it was a hell of an improvement.

In short, it was the most successful and far-reaching anti-poverty program in the history of the world. Hundreds of millions of people were allowed to pull themselves up through hard work and inspired ideas, and entire nations reaped the rewards immediately. And even more amazingly, capitalism and freedom were given their due credit. As much as certain political parties (that is, both of them) were constantly attacking these concepts at home, it seemed that the war had been won. Capitalism was here to stay, and there was no limit to what we could achieve in my lifetime.

Then a funny thing happened. The Bush Administration, seeing their massive monetary manipulation from the post-dotcom era coming back to bite them in the ass, took capitalism out in an alley and shot it in the head. The tide of public opinion turned against capitalism almost overnight, despite the fact that it was government mismanagement that broke it, and swept a smooth-talking socialist into office.

Many of us saw this storm brewing years ago. Those that subscribe to the Austrian theory of economics warned of the monetary bubble, identified it as it was happening, and pointed out when it burst. The scale of the bubble was off the charts, and a terrible depression was sure to follow. That was unavoidable at this point.

What was avoidable, however, was the destruction of the very things that would otherwise bring us back out the other side - capitalism, and by extension, freedom. In order to preserve a thoroughly corrupt, immoral, and unsustainable system, the citizenry were blamed, their rights and property stripped away, and the size and scope of Government took a terrifying leap. Nearly two years in, the economic problems are worse than ever, nothing has been clarified (much less solved), and our precious few remaining economic resources are being redirected to such wealth-destroying areas as housing, financial bailouts, and alternative (read: unprofitable) energy. And as if to kick us when we're down, a previously unthinkable amount of new debt has been dumped on our heads in a few short weeks of the new Administration.

We are forgetting the lessons of the 20th century, and learning all the wrong ones in the 21st.

So the time has come where I can no longer keep quiet about what is happening to my country and my world. This road we're on leads to Hell, and I'm not going without a fight. Tyranny is back with a vengeance - and make no mistake, tyranny is what socialism represents - and freedom and capitalism are the only way to fight it.

Freedom is always one generation away from extinction, and I do not intend to let mine give it away that easily. If you feel likewise, please do your part and spread the word.