The deadline for the magazine is approaching (March 9th), and we need your help with providing info about the environmental movements hits and misses. What has the movement done that's been good and what has it done that has been not so good. It would be great if you could give us specific examples. This piece is going to consist of the short notes that you provide us with in the comments section. Thanks!
We are about to re-launch the Bureaucrash Magazine and we need your help. We are currently looking for writers that can contribute articles for this magazine which will hit the streets on March 15.
This issue will reveal the truth about the environment, and as you know, that free markets improve the environment, statism make it worse. So start writing. With your help we're going to create an awesome magazine! And if you need any help or have any questions, feel free to email me.
We will also need layout people, artists, researchers and other crashers who want to shape the vision for this project. Please post your ideas in the comments section. read more »
Sweden’s government will not succumb to economic protectionism in its forthcoming disposal of multi-billion dollar state holdings in industry, the country’s new centre-right prime minister has said. Fredrik Reinfeldt said foreign investors were welcome to take part in the asset sales that are set to clear the way for one of the most significant periods of corporate restructuring in recent Swedish history. “I am not ruling anyone out,” Mr Reinfeldt told the FT.
Sweden’s government will not succumb to economic protectionism in its forthcoming disposal of multi-billion dollar state holdings in industry, the country’s new centre-right prime minister has said.
Fredrik Reinfeldt said foreign investors were welcome to take part in the asset sales that are set to clear the way for one of the most significant periods of corporate restructuring in recent Swedish history. “I am not ruling anyone out,” Mr Reinfeldt told the FT.
Mr Reinfeldt sought to distance himself from some of his counterparts in Europe and the US who have moved to protect national companies targeted for takeover by foreign companies. “We are stronger on free trade than some other countries that sound as if they are building up national protection again,” he said.
ft.com
Thank you, Mr Reinfeldt. In the recent attacks on free trade, it is very nice to know that at least one government stands up for it. This is clearly a step forward, but it would be even better if you could apply classical liberal views on domestic issues as well. Hopefully, that's the next step in Sweden's reconstruction. read more »
The pervasive nature of corruption in Russia means that it affects every aspect of everyday life from renewing a passport to dealing with traffic police, according to the report. As one Russian observer put it: “In the past you had to pay the bureaucrats to bend the rules. Now you have to pay them to do their job”.
The pervasive nature of corruption in Russia means that it affects every aspect of everyday life from renewing a passport to dealing with traffic police, according to the report.
As one Russian observer put it: “In the past you had to pay the bureaucrats to bend the rules. Now you have to pay them to do their job”.
“The biggest single weakness of government’s efforts is the lack of attention devoted to citizens’ ability to defend their rights when in conflict with the bureaucracy,” the OECD says.
The expansion of state ownership – one of the main trends in Russian economy – will contribute to corruption, rent-seeking and opacity, it says.
As we all know, the solution to Russia's problem cannot be strong leaders. The only solution is to make the leaders weaker i.e. make individuals more responsible for their own lives. When bureaucracies grow, corruption grows. read more »
Most Americans are repelled by the idea that the state might take your house and give it to Donald Trump. (This is not rhetoric: New Jersey once tried, unsuccessfully, to seize someone's home because The Donald needed somewhere to park limousines outside one of his casinos.) Since the Kelo ruling, no fewer than 34 states have passed laws or constitutional amendments aimed at curbing the abuse of eminent domain. At the mid-term elections, voters in ten states approved measures curbing politicians' power to seize private property, all by wide margins.
Public revulsion against such seizures is visceral and nearly uniform: polls find between 85% and 95% of Americans are opposed to them. Political affiliation makes no difference. Republicans hate to see property rights violated and individuals bullied by the state. Democrats hate to see the state's coercive power hired out to big corporations, and worry, correctly, that the chief victims of eminent domain abuse will be the working class and ethnic minorities.
economist.com
The Economist reports that the US Supreme Court's decision in last year's case "Kelo vs New London" has backlashed. The court's ruled that government can expropriate private property and give it to their favorite corporations. Thankfully, the American people are still strongly opposed to these kind of things. Hopefully, we will never have to see decisions such the one in "Kelo vs New London" ever again. The state can never expropriate private property. It doesn't matter to whom they give it. read more »
A team of "supernannies" is to be sent to some of Britain's most deprived areas to help parents control antisocial children, Tony Blair revealed today. The parenting experts will be sent to 77 areas with high levels of unruly behaviour, teenage pregnancies and truancy from school. The £4m scheme will also force the parents of disruptive children to attend parenting courses.
guardian.co.uk
Should we laugh or cry? Not only is the British governement going to make the British public pay for these supernannies, but it will also force parents to attend parenting courses. This is not for the government to take care of. What's next? Will the British government send out super pet-nannies in order to "help" people with their noisy, and oh so problematic pets?
SVT (Swedish public service tv-channel) has shown one episode of "Planeten" (The Planet), a series that is supposed to show the impact on the environment. SVT is the public service that we Swedes have to pay with the disgusting TV-licence. The channel is supposed to be impartial in political matters. Is this to be impartial? read more »
In addition to Milton Friedman who died yesterday, it's also important to remember another great man who died recently, a man that actually promoted Friedman and gave him possibility to publish his work. His name was Lord Ralph Harris.
For everyone who doesn't know who he was, here is a little review.
Lord Harris founded the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in the 50's, when governmet planning, keynsianism, and regulations were fashionable. The market economy didn't have much support in the aftermath of the Great Depression. Lord Harris went against these notions. He stood up for classical liberal values and was very worried about how the political climate had been moved more and more towards socialism. Harris worked in the Tory party, a party that had been influenced by the ideas of regulations and government interventions.
Together with Anthony Fisher he founded the IEA, which quickly became sanctuary for the intellectuals who hadn't been swept away by the ideological climate during the 50's. F A Hayek was one of them. Milton Friedman was another.
Non of these liberals fitted in the spirit of the times. They were accused of being excentrics and unrealistic idealists. The turning-point began in the 70's. Britain's economy was a mess and the Tories had just lost the elections. It was now old Maggie Thatcher came about.
Thatcher criticised the mixed-economy and this started a revolution of liberalizations in Britain that soon spread all around the world. The IEA and Lord Harris were always behind the scenes. It was IEA's litterature that formed Thatcher's politics. As Milton Friedman said: "Without the IEA I don't think there would have been a Thatcherian revolution".
The work of Lord Harris and his fight for classical liberalism is a reminder of the idea's importance for the devolopment of our societites. We can make a change.
Source: dn.se (Peter Wolodarski)
Al Gore is traveling around the world, preaching how the environment should be saved and that consumers must change their habits in order to lower the carbon-dioxide pollution. But does Al really follow his own principles? USA Today reports:
Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.) For someone rallying the planet to pursue a path of extreme personal sacrifice, Gore requires little from himself.
In addition, while many companies in DC have signed up to pay a few extra pennies per kilowatt hour to support wind power, Mr Gore has not. Neither has the Democratic National Committee (even tough the Democratic Party applaud Gore's attempt to save the world from pollution).
So what can we learn from this? When Gore claims that everyone must change their lifestyles in order to save the environment, he acutally means everyone. Of course, everyone except dear old Al himself. Hypocrisy, anyone?
The Washington Post reports that Democrat Jon Tester won in Montana Senate race. This means that the only obstacle for the Democrats to take control over the Senate is if the Republican candidate George Allen defeats Jim Webb in Virginia. This is very unlikely to happen since Allen is 6697 votes behind at the moment. Thus, the most likely scenario is that the whole House of Congress is going to be controlled by the Democrats. Let the political "fun" begin!
Abdel Karim Suliman Amer, also known as "Kareem Amer," a student blogger, was detained Monday by state authorities and is being held in custody for four days awaiting prosecution for his secular online writings in which he criticizes Islam, his lawyer told the Daily Star Egypt.
dailystaregypt.com
Kareem was expelled in March this year and he is now arrested by the Egypt police. All just because he promotes women's rights and freedom of religion on his blog. Show your support for Kareem and sign this petition!
The European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) is an independent and non-profit policy research think tank dedicated to trade policy and other international economic policy issues of importance to Europe. It was founded in 2006 by Fredrik Erixon and Razeen Sally.
ecipe.com (via johannorberg.net)
About time. Brussels has now a free trade think tank. Let's hope it can influence the EU significantly. It's needed... read more »
A New York high school student was removed from class after he showed up at school on Halloween dressed as Adolf Hitler. Walter Petryk, 16, whose stepfather is a prominent Jewish author, said he was removed from his second-period class at Leon M. Goldstein High School, the New York Post reported Wednesday. Petryk refused to remove the costume, which he said was an act of parody protected under his right to free expression. His mother was called to take him home.
A New York high school student was removed from class after he showed up at school on Halloween dressed as Adolf Hitler.
Walter Petryk, 16, whose stepfather is a prominent Jewish author, said he was removed from his second-period class at Leon M. Goldstein High School, the New York Post reported Wednesday.
Petryk refused to remove the costume, which he said was an act of parody protected under his right to free expression. His mother was called to take him home.
upi.com
On Halloween you are supposed to dress scary, and who could be more scary than Hitler? Schools should not punish people for their Halloween costumes or their political beliefs. I think the student's mother nailed it:
"This is a matter of artistic free expression and a school not being stupid," said Diane Petryk-Bloom, the teen's mother. "(The dean is) offended by a parody of Hitler -- and he's acting like Hitler."
Hear, hear.
David Boaz and David Kirby has published an interesting report, pointing out that libertarians might be the most important neglected electoral group in the US - people who think that the government should be thrown out of both the boardroom and the bedroom. According to their analysis libertarians in a broad sense make up something like 13 percent of the electorate.
David Boaz and David Kirby has published an interesting report, pointing out that libertarians might be the most important neglected electoral group in the US - people who think that the government should be thrown out of both the boardroom and the bedroom.
According to their analysis libertarians in a broad sense make up something like 13 percent of the electorate.
And yet, the parties neglect them. If the democrats win a majority of the libertarians this year despite an agenda that seems focused on attacking cheap goods for the poor, how much could they get if they at least tried to speak the language of freedom once in a while (perhaps in this way)? The Economist thinks that the parties fail to do that because they don´t know where the libertarians are. They know where to meet the trade unions and the Christian Right, but where are the individualists who don´t belong to a group?
And yet, the parties neglect them. If the democrats win a majority of the libertarians this year despite an agenda that seems focused on attacking cheap goods for the poor, how much could they get if they at least tried to speak the language of freedom once in a while (perhaps in this way)?
The Economist thinks that the parties fail to do that because they don´t know where the libertarians are. They know where to meet the trade unions and the Christian Right, but where are the individualists who don´t belong to a group?
via johannorberg.net
Very interesting report from the Economist. But what can be done? The analysis that libertarians are not affiliated with groups in the same way as other voters is essentially true. How can we make politicians aware of these important individualists that don't belong to a group? Ordinary think-tanks are useful for intellectual purposes, but do they really gather voters' libertarian views?
It is definitely hard to organize individualists, but it has to be done in order to make politicians aware of the importance of the libertarian vote. Bureaucrash can easily be such an organization. It is a perfect tool to use in order to organize people and make politicians aware of their votes' importance. Bureaucrash can gather the voices of the libertarians (and anarcho-capitalists) and can thus be a group that put libertarian voters on the map. Politics cannot be changed until culture changes, but politics can definitely not be changed if the politicians don't know that it already exists a large group of libertarians and that their votes are important . read more »
In Flamman (Swedish socialist newspaper), an editorial attacks the new "Timbro-rightwings" and call them "Anarcho-Fascists". With this concept, the journalist tries to point out that the new right (libertarians) actually is "an anti-democratic thug-ism that wants to sell all that it’s owned by society and make the democratic institutions into empty shells without any power at all".
By the very definition "Anarcho-Fascism" is an impossible concept. The funny (and disgusting) thing is that the journalist tries to place libertarianism together with fascism. Someone should inform him that nothing in the libertarian view of society even resembles fascism, unlike his own socialist ideology.
Yes, we don't want institutions to have power to force people to do things they don't want to do and we don't want the state to be big. Who wants to force people? Fascists and socialists. Who wants the "society" (=state and its leaders) to own everything? Fascists and socialists.
Looks like you are on the wrong side of the road, dear journalist. Instead of all this mumbo jumbo, it would be nice if you could try and learn more about the ideologies you're referring to.
Promotion of democracy is more part of the agenda on the other side of the Atlantic... There is no single banner of democracy. And of course, any attempt to make a mechanical shift of democratic patterns from one country to another is detrimental to the notion of democracy,´ he added. Comparing life in Sweden and in Turkmenistan, for example, the ambassador said ´They [Swedish people] might seem to be more free to an outsider. But if you ask them how they feel, the people in Turkmenistan might say that they are more happy.
Promotion of democracy is more part of the agenda on the other side of the Atlantic... There is no single banner of democracy. And of course, any attempt to make a mechanical shift of democratic patterns from one country to another is detrimental to the notion of democracy,´ he added.
Comparing life in Sweden and in Turkmenistan, for example, the ambassador said ´They [Swedish people] might seem to be more free to an outsider. But if you ask them how they feel, the people in Turkmenistan might say that they are more happy.
euobserver.com (via johannorberg.net)
Hmm, okay... So if the people in Turkmenistan are more happy, then dictatorship is justified? As for the imagined survey mentioned, "you can´t make a reliable survey in a tyranny like Turkmenistan, where you are imprisoned and tortured if you answer in the wrong way" (Johan Norberg). I thought that these comments on democracy belonged to Russian ambassadors in the 20th century during the days of the Soviet Union. Well, at least we know that not much has changed Mr Ambassador! Russia is still very reliable when it comes to not promoting democracy.
Xinhua news agency said Jiang's [former president of China] Saturday visit to the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution acknowledged the significance of the Long March to the victory of the revolution. "We should never forget the meritorious service of the revolutionaries of the older generation and vigorously carry on the spirit of the Long March," Jiang said.
Xinhua news agency said Jiang's [former president of China] Saturday visit to the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution acknowledged the significance of the Long March to the victory of the revolution.
"We should never forget the meritorious service of the revolutionaries of the older generation and vigorously carry on the spirit of the Long March," Jiang said.
via upi.com
Hmm.. Didn't China start to develop after it gave up the ideals of Mao and the Long March? Wasn't it increased capitalism that started to cure the sick communist economy? Don't give credits to the Long March, Jiang. Remember the day when China started to develop a market economy instead. That is truly something to celebrate. read more »
Finland has proposed a ban throughout the European Union on working more than 60 hours a week. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is considering trying to negotiate the limit upward to closer to 70 hours a week. Business groups in Britain argue that the country's economy has been more successful than others in the union because employers have more flexibility on working hours and conditions. Britain has an opt-out from a directive that sets a 48-hour limit on the workweek. Finland's proposal would extend the opt-out while cutting the cap from 78 hours a week to 60.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair is considering trying to negotiate the limit upward to closer to 70 hours a week. Business groups in Britain argue that the country's economy has been more successful than others in the union because employers have more flexibility on working hours and conditions.
Britain has an opt-out from a directive that sets a 48-hour limit on the workweek. Finland's proposal would extend the opt-out while cutting the cap from 78 hours a week to 60.
Via upi.com
Gee, thanks Tony! No, you should not try to negotiate the ban, you should argue against it altogether. If I want to work more than 60 hours a week, I want to be able to do that. That's it, end of discussion. read more »
America did not win the Cold War by mistreating or killing communists. The key to victory in the long struggle against the power and totalitarian ideology of the Soviet Union was the power of America's ideas and ideals of justice and individual liberty. The West prevailed in the long war of the 20th century by convincing the vast majority of people around the world that freedom and democracy could give them better lives than communism and dictatorship. To win the 21st century war on terrorism, America should learn from its Cold War victory and work harder to earn the support of the people among whom terrorists seek to operate.
America did not win the Cold War by mistreating or killing communists. The key to victory in the long struggle against the power and totalitarian ideology of the Soviet Union was the power of America's ideas and ideals of justice and individual liberty.
The West prevailed in the long war of the 20th century by convincing the vast majority of people around the world that freedom and democracy could give them better lives than communism and dictatorship. To win the 21st century war on terrorism, America should learn from its Cold War victory and work harder to earn the support of the people among whom terrorists seek to operate.
Hear, hear. America must promote and protect the ideas of liberty in order to have a chance on winning the War on Terror. It can't be fought by leaving the ideals, as in the cases of the Patriot Act or Guantanamo Bay. Lesson learned.
Sweden's new culture minister (president of the neo-liberal think tank Timbro) has not paid her "TV-licence" and many people now want her to resign. The TV-licence is money you pay to have the right to own a TV (!) and that goes to "public service". Johan Norberg gives the perfect explanation why all Swedes should refuse to pay this horrible tax.
It´s strange to see so many politicians who suddenly realise that they "forgot" to pay their TV license - including more than a third of all MP´s 124 of them. It´s tempting to conclude that at least some of them did it for ideological reasons. Ideological reasons that I share. But why? Why is this tax worse than other taxes? The reason is this: In a democratic society with transparency and division of powers, you have private and voluntary organisations and institutions on the one hand, who have to rely on voluntary cooperation and payments - on the other hand you have the state and governmental organisations, with the right to enforce decisions and taxes. What you don´t have are privileged independent institutions with a legal sanction to use force and extract money from those who have never been asked if they want their services or not. That´s a distant memory from the middle ages, with incorporated organisations, guilds and companies who got a specific royal sanction to use force. To a large extent, the liberal struggle in the 19th century was about fighting these guilds. Swedish public service television, with its legal sanction to take our money of we own a television, and its East German attempts to encourage neighbors, relatives and friends to be informers, is such an organisation. To collaborate with that system, for example by paying the license, is worse than not to. (Even though I do understand if people don´t want to follow their ethical believes when it´s against the law.) So do I pay? The thought would never cross my mind. My wife does, but I am trying to hide the invoice every time they send us one.
It´s strange to see so many politicians who suddenly realise that they "forgot" to pay their TV license - including more than a third of all MP´s 124 of them. It´s tempting to conclude that at least some of them did it for ideological reasons. Ideological reasons that I share. But why? Why is this tax worse than other taxes?
The reason is this: In a democratic society with transparency and division of powers, you have private and voluntary organisations and institutions on the one hand, who have to rely on voluntary cooperation and payments - on the other hand you have the state and governmental organisations, with the right to enforce decisions and taxes. What you don´t have are privileged independent institutions with a legal sanction to use force and extract money from those who have never been asked if they want their services or not.
That´s a distant memory from the middle ages, with incorporated organisations, guilds and companies who got a specific royal sanction to use force. To a large extent, the liberal struggle in the 19th century was about fighting these guilds. Swedish public service television, with its legal sanction to take our money of we own a television, and its East German attempts to encourage neighbors, relatives and friends to be informers, is such an organisation. To collaborate with that system, for example by paying the license, is worse than not to. (Even though I do understand if people don´t want to follow their ethical believes when it´s against the law.)
So do I pay? The thought would never cross my mind. My wife does, but I am trying to hide the invoice every time they send us one.
johannorberg.net
The Nobel Comittee has today awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank. This must be seen as a really good choice. Finally, the prize goes to somebody who believes in true human progress and more importantly, in people's capabilities of handling their own lives.
By pioneering microcredits, Yunus has shown that the poor are not poor in talent or will, but in credit and opportunities. Grameen´s loans for the poor have created investments and entrepreneurship where no one expected them, and it has reduced poverty and encouraged trust and voluntary cooperation between the borrowers. As Yunus puts it in one of his writings: "In Grameen, we see the poor people as human ´bonsai´. If a healthy seed of a giant tree is planted in a flower-pot, the tree that will grow will be a miniature version of the giant tree. It is not because of any fault in the seed. It is only because the seed has been denied of the real base to grow on. People are poor because society has denied them the real social and economic base to grow on." Grameen Bank has 4 million borrowers, 96 percent of them are women, zero percent has any collateral, and the recovery rate is 99 percent. It´s a triumph for human creativity and entrepreneurship. And it certainly deserves a prize. Read more at Grameen and Grameen Foundation.
By pioneering microcredits, Yunus has shown that the poor are not poor in talent or will, but in credit and opportunities. Grameen´s loans for the poor have created investments and entrepreneurship where no one expected them, and it has reduced poverty and encouraged trust and voluntary cooperation between the borrowers. As Yunus puts it in one of his writings:
Grameen Bank has 4 million borrowers, 96 percent of them are women, zero percent has any collateral, and the recovery rate is 99 percent. It´s a triumph for human creativity and entrepreneurship. And it certainly deserves a prize.
Read more at Grameen and Grameen Foundation.
In statist Europe a couple of countries (Sweden, France and Austria) still actually have state owned gambling monopolies. The EU commision now demands that the countries in question explain why they prohibit foreign gambling companies to enter the market. This is not a hard question to answer. These European governments want the money gambling generates to go right into the state budget. The Swedish monopoly gives back about 50 % of its profit to winners. If you compare that with Ladbrokes, who gives back 93 % to winners, it isn't hard to understand where the other money go.
Luckily, the technological revolution has already abolished the monopolies in practice. The governments can't stop the private companies on the internet. Let's hope that the EU commission now take the chance and abolish it in theory as well. Once and for all.
Source: dn.se read more »
The OECD have just published a list over the countries with the highest tax burden. Not surprisingly my dear old Sweden was in the top with 51,1 % of its GDP (how about some real liberalism Mr Reinfeldt?). What's more disturbing is that 17 of the 24 countries on the list actually increased their tax burden. How can this happen? Because people are fine with it. People are actually voting for these tax-loving politicians who just love to take more and more money from us. If anyone didn't know why Bureaucrash is so important, this is the reason.
Source: n24.se read more »
The British leftist newspaper "News Statesman" notice how contra productive the war against drugs is. The failed politics against opium in Afghanistan forces the opium farmers and thus the profits into the hands of Al-Qaida. Shortly, by having a war against drugs, the US is financing its enemies in the war on terrorism.
A perfect way of throwing away tax money. Why don't just give Al-Qaida a fixed share of the income tax?
An editorial on the Swedish elections from Investors Business Daily
Swedish voters rejected socialism 48.1% to 46.2% and rejected the much-praised "Swedish Model" of economic development. Sweden's voters have sent a powerful message about socialism, suggesting that too much security is smothering and they'd like to see a horizon again.
Swedish voters rejected socialism 48.1% to 46.2% and rejected the much-praised "Swedish Model" of economic development.
Sweden's voters have sent a powerful message about socialism, suggesting that too much security is smothering and they'd like to see a horizon again.
The man who wrote this editorial doesn't know much about Swedish politics at all. The Swedish people did definitely not say no to the Swedish Model and they have not sent a message against security and socialism. The only message the Swedish people have sent, is a message to the Social Democrats that they don't like their way of running socialism. The Swedish so-called "right-wing"-alliance took over power on a program that is in the middle on the political scale. The alliance was able to take over power, just because they became more similar to the Social Democrats in the eyes of the voters.
Fredrik Reinfeldt (leader of the "liberal-conservatives") has done the same thing as Tony Blair did in Britain and Clinton in the US. He gave the public what it wanted. What the public wants in Sweden is clear: Welfare statism. Reinfeldt moved the right-wing party in to the middle and was there able to take over voters from the SD's.
Sweden has not rejected the Swedish model. It has just approved new leaders to administrate it. If a vote for the right-wing party in Sweden is considered a vote for a non-socialist party, then we are in big trouble. After Labour's transition into New Labour in Britain, analysts claim that Margaret Thatcher have won every single British election since the 70's. Her policies are now being implanted also by New Labour. The same thing has now happened to Sweden, but in the opposite direction. The right-wing alliance may have won the battle, but it did lose the war. read more »
The European Commission has released new figures showing that Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) spending jumped to a record €48.5 billion in 2005, up 11.2% over the previous year. By contrast, non-agricultural expenditure fell very slightly in 2005 to €56.3 billion.
From farmsubsidy.org (also see www.johannorberg.net).
Those of you who thought that the EU couldn't do more things wrong, think again. More tax money to French and German farmers who want the European people to pay for their living. The people still get higher prices and African farmers are still held in poverty due to CAP's disgusting effects. Europe needs to abolish subsidies not increase them. read more »
When a friend invited me to join a group of young people traveling to Quebec City to demonstrate at the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) summit, I readily accepted. If thousands of protectionists were going to be protesting against trade, someone should be there to make the case in favor of it. We would be protesting that the FTAA may be a good start, but it doesn't go nearly far enough: the entire world should be a free-trade area. And anyway, it sounded like fun! More at isil.org
AUTHOR: a crasher
