Unforeseen Contingencies

There is nothing wrong with the free market.  But the term, "free market?"  That's a different matter.

I've been trying to convince advocates to refrain from using the term "the free market."  The term is a useful shorthand if one understands what it really means, but it lends itself to misrepresentation.  It does not say what is really free.

What "free market" really means is each individual is free to decide how to employ his or her labor, and free to make exchanges as he or she sees fit.  That is, each individual is free to propose exchanges, and to accept or reject proposed changes.  It is not "the market" that is free, it is individuals, who are free to order and direct their own lives.

Socialists and other enemies of freedom find it convenient to pretend to care about people while condemning the free market.  By explicitly stating what is entailed in the free market, we force the enemy onto the defensive.  It's much harder for them to individuals explain why it's desirable to get rid of free individuals than it is to get rid of an abstract free market.  "Free market" is a useful metaphor or shorthand, but we must emphasize that it really means free individuals.

// posted by Charles N. Steele @ 20:42 0 comments

We are one week into the new year and already the Predictions and Prognostications Desk at the Unforeseen Contingencies corporate headquarters has made two successful predictions and is well on the way to a third.  The Montana State University Bobcats won the FCS National Championship game over the Illinois State Red Birds, 35-34, in overtime.  It was a rough, messy game, with numerous mistakes, many flashes of brilliance, and MSU just barely eking out the victory.  Robert Service's line "deaths that just hang by a hair" comes to mind.  

If our reader (or readers! dare we hope?) care, the video highlights are here.  MSU's victory was made possible by two remarkable, nearly miraculous blocked kicks -- a Red Bird field goal at the end of the fourth quarter and an extra point kick in overtime.  Story here.

This might be the first (American) football post ever on Unforeseen Contingencies.  

Predictions 5 and 9 are in the bag!  Two hits!

But wait, there's more!

We are halfway to success Prediction 4.  The increasingly insurrection-y Democrat politicians of Minnesota, Governor Walz, Mayor Frey, and AG Ellis, are pushing the limits.  So too the new mayor of Seattle.  The moment one of them takes action against federal officers, they'll be arrested and charged.  Walz will be, anyway, as he is so deeply involved in all the Somali fraud scandals.

And already Putin's dark fleet is being hounded, and not just by the U.S., either.  This doesn't bode well for him.

This is shaping up to be a very good year!

// posted by Charles N. Steele @ 18:42 0 comments

 Off and running!  The Unforeseen Contingencies prognostication desk has just scored its first hit.  The communist Maduro is out.

"We" approve.  The Chavez-Maduro regime was communist.  The Venezuelan regime made war, fifth-generation war, on the United States.  China, Russia, and Iran all invested heavily in the Venezuelan regime, aimed at America.  The Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua operated in the United States with the support of the Maduro government (and still operates, but hopefully not for long).

As a libertarian, our Chief Blogger and CEO Charles Steele highly approves.  He points out that this makes the world freer, and that is what counts.

// posted by Charles N. Steele @ 10:32 0 comments