tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80573642011-12-14T21:58:49.347-05:00Commentary on politics, economics, and culture from a libertarian perspectiveAndrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.comBlogger331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-80378529455325019662009-01-29T13:21:00.005-05:002009-01-29T13:36:21.621-05:00

This past Tuesday, Bruce Springsteen released Working on a Dream, his 16th studio album, amidst an extensive promotional push that includes a performance at the half-time show of Super Bowl XLIII, a Wal-Mart exclusive greatest-hits compilation (does anyone else see the hypocrisy/irony in this one?), an appearance at a pre-inauguration concert, and the announcement of yet another juggernaut world

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-65025904840007674272008-12-28T16:52:00.020-05:002009-01-01T02:23:35.191-05:00

Normally I am wary of end-of-year lists because of the highly subjective nature of musical taste, and the fact that major publications often have to satisfy a particular readership. These lists never give any sort of criteria for ranking albums a certain way – and that’s understandable, given the fact that lists are entirely opinion-based and it is damn-near impossible to feign any sort of

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-14623703003683890142008-12-07T13:46:00.010-05:002008-12-28T17:54:32.107-05:00

Yesterday, President-Elect Barack Obama unveiled his plans for massive federal "investment" and "job creations" in infrastructure, education, energy, health care, and technology. This announcement comes in the wake of news that employers cut 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years. The plan will certainly cost several hundred billion dollars, yet the President-Elect never once uses the

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-33908093823126091112008-11-13T00:52:00.003-05:002008-11-13T01:37:36.471-05:00

What happens when the federal government begins to demonstrate its willingness to dish out massive amounts of relief money for failing businesses? You get the following headlines:Lobbyists Swarm the Treasury for Piece of Bailout PieWith bailout passed, lobbyists look to get in the gameCompanies start competing for bailout moneyWall St. bailout causes lobbying frenzyWant Government Money? Apply

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-53709943256140700422008-11-11T15:57:00.004-05:002008-11-11T17:01:32.905-05:00

I deliberately chose not to write out my immediate reaction to the election of Barack Obama, as much of my thoughts -- at this point -- are purely speculative. Not to mention, there are potentially thousands of different directions this new Obama administration and its accompanying Democratic Congressional majority could go with its newfound power. I suppose time will tell just how much "change

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-62750171106093108242008-11-03T17:07:00.029-05:002008-12-28T17:58:03.620-05:00

During most major elections, public figures from a wide variety of professions have spent an ample amount of time encouraging -- sometimes downright begging -- me to "get out and vote" because my voice matters and I must make my voice heard during this crucial presidential election. Some public figures have gone as far as to create hyperbolic -- and utterly obnoxious -- catchphrases like the

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-57118001725941898582008-10-17T22:46:00.012-04:002008-11-21T01:42:54.486-05:00

In his ABC hour-long 20/20 special entitled "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Politics," libertarian investigative journalist John Stossel reaffirmed his position as the only politically rational, economically literate reporter on a major news network.Skewering the big-government sacred cows of campaign finance laws, farm subsidies, the bailout bill, and licensing regulations (among others),

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-45411942406532200652008-10-16T01:25:00.004-04:002008-10-16T02:16:58.364-04:00

There can be no doubt that the Bush administration's recent actions during this financial crisis -- namely the bailout bill -- are the antithesis of the free-market principles the administration has purported to uphold for the past eight years. Despite Joe Stiglitz's refusal to recognize it as such, the bailout is one example of Bush's "market-socialism with a Republican face" economic

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-16017648532318379752008-10-15T20:57:00.003-04:002008-10-15T21:32:08.187-04:00

Left-wing economist Joseph Stiglitz made an appearance on The Colbert Report tonight to discuss recent Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman and the ongoing financial crisis. During the interview, comedian-host Stephen Colbert asked Mr. Stiglitz if our federal government's partial nationalization of financial institutions represents a move towards socialism, to which the economist replied [

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-35408396006539532682008-10-08T02:15:00.013-04:002008-12-08T15:23:42.962-05:00

Bob Dylan's The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs, Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006 came out this week and has presented itself as another strong entry in the Dylan Bootleg Series catalog of releases. The era of Dylan's career presented here, that between 1989 and 2006, happens to be the period in which Dylan made a substantial artistic recovery. After a span of critically panned releases -

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-8094238040308393392008-10-08T01:16:00.009-04:002008-10-08T02:13:11.954-04:00

Tonight's second presidential debate was rife with the usual platitudes and asinine statements one would expect from such a staged "discussion" between two politicians whose political careers are, at this point, solely dependent on their ability to appeal to the most basic emotions of the voting populace, at the expense of economic logic and political consistency. While I could run through

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-39198452241411912182008-10-03T11:36:00.006-04:002008-10-15T23:17:00.124-04:00

In case anyone needs a reminder of how democratic government works, I refer you to this.I'm sure the fine arrow-makers over at Rose City Archery, Inc. are thankful for our democratic system, while the rest of us should probably feel not quite as thankful for this current system that encourages such blatant rent-seeking behavior.

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-77589823544178078242008-09-29T20:28:00.005-04:002008-09-29T21:19:38.862-04:00

Anyone who has been following the actions on Capitol Hill regarding the $700 billion bailout knows the substantial role Congressman Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has played in trying to get a bailout package approved by the House. Over the years, Rep. Frank (D-MA) has been a key proponent of the government's continued protection of the state-created mortgage

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-68827481445240373272008-09-27T11:15:00.007-04:002008-09-27T13:16:01.980-04:00

Though I don't frequently comment on entertainment news, I feel compelled to do so after learning about the death of one of my favorite actors: Paul Newman. At 83-years old today, Newman -- a truly gifted actor, director, athlete, entrepreneur and philanthropist -- lost his ongoing battle with lung cancer and died peacefully in his home near Westport, Connecticut. His acting skills were often

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-23452424441456607062008-09-24T22:13:00.003-04:002008-09-24T22:33:13.836-04:00

In another instance of an elected official taking on the bailout proposal, Rep. Ron Paul -- whom I have long been a fan of -- proceeded, this afternoon, to embarrass Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke by basically giving him an Economics 101 lesson on prices and the consequences of government action in financial markets. It's truly a sad thought that the chief "economist" at the Federal

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-43169999897260877672008-09-24T02:04:00.005-04:002008-09-24T02:15:24.559-04:00

Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) gave one of the most damning public criticisms of Secretary Paulson's massive $700 bailout proposal this afternoon in his opening remarks for the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Hearing on Turmoil in the U.S. Credit Markets. Unlike our two major party presidential candidates (and most elected officials at the federal level), Sen. Bunning recognizes that

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-26271801439706613622008-09-16T17:05:00.011-04:002008-09-17T00:45:56.061-04:00

If you've followed the campaign at all this year, it's not hard to notice Senator Obama's increasingly populist rhetoric about the "poor getting poorer" and how "free market" economic policies of previous presidents has only benefited the wealthy at the expense of the poorest Americans. However, Arthur B. Laffer and Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal discuss the validity of these claims,

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-88453428949225124562008-09-16T16:27:00.008-04:002008-09-16T23:30:19.381-04:00

While I am not surprised that Washington's solution to this current financial crisis is to bail the firms out at taxpayers' expense, I am surprised at the overwhelming support for these actions coming from even some of the mainstream media's most fervent supporters of free markets.The problem with this entire financial crisis and the subsequent government bailouts is that the government refuses

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-86912344161644574642008-09-09T17:23:00.005-04:002008-09-09T17:41:57.198-04:00

It should be noted that politicians like Sens. McCain and Obama, in their pursuit to prove their supposed pureness and immunity to lobbying groups, often propose legislation that greatly restricts free speech in the name of "cleaning up Washington." McCain is well-known in this arena, having been one of the co-authors of the misguided and wildly unconstitutional McCain-Feingold Act of 2002 -- a

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-30410016106276356372008-09-09T15:19:00.013-04:002008-09-09T17:21:51.635-04:00

Sens. Obama and McCain have recently made it a focal point of their respective campaigns to emphasize their claim to the title of the true Washington "maverick" who will take special interests out of the Beltway and return democracy back to the American public's interests.Understandably, because of the general anti-special interests attitude of the American public, this sort of rhetoric has

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-24884390363627210072008-09-05T01:42:00.007-04:002008-09-07T18:55:50.059-04:00

I figure that since a good portion of my writing on this blog is focused on exposing the economic fallacies espoused by politicians, columnists, the voting public, and pro athletes, I might as well provide some way for the layperson to begin a journey into the great world of economics instead of remaining in a state of "rational ignorance."My first inclination would be to recommend enrolling in

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-75468175021426487562008-09-04T22:00:00.014-04:002008-09-07T18:56:24.214-04:00

In her recent ESPN Outside the Lines article on the increased involvement of professional sports figures in this year's election, Paula Lavigne discusses with Chicago Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee why he has lent his vocal and monetary support to Democratic nominee Barack Obama. Not that anyone would expect a professional ballplayer to have serious economic credentials -- especially Mr. Lee,

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-63961473804668472742008-07-03T14:18:00.011-04:002008-08-04T18:19:24.503-04:00

Tom WaitsOhio TheatreColumbus, OHJune 28, 2008This past weekend I traveled nearly 600 miles to the capital of Ohio to see the legendary Tom Waits perform one of his few dates on the Glitter and Doom Tour. It's not unreasonable to assume that Mr. Waits revels in the opportunity to create adventures for his notoriously passionate fan base, as my friends and I came across people who had come from

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-10635014363609785122008-06-17T19:14:00.006-04:002008-06-18T19:23:31.779-04:00

Nearly eight years after he was the focus of an international custody dispute at 6 years old, the Cuban press has announced that Elián González has joined the Young Communist Union. This comes several years after he told a CBS interviewer that he considers Mr. Castro "not only as a friend but as a father."In "socialist paradise" Cuba, Elián is widely considered a hero and his return to his Cuban

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-5641840266791375382008-06-11T01:38:00.003-04:002008-06-11T01:56:06.597-04:00

In keeping with the theme of my previous post, I'd like to direct your attention to an excellent letter George Mason University economics department chairman Don Boudreaux wrote to the New York Times a few weeks ago:I'm flabbergasted by the faith that people - left, right, and center - put in politics and in the candidates du jour. Millions of Americans today famously believe that a President

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-1591878773133009062008-06-10T20:06:00.004-04:002008-06-12T20:24:41.783-04:00

In an interview with NBC's Brian Williams which aired Monday evening, Sen. McCain, the presumptive Republican Party nominee, told Williams that "Sen. Obama says that I'm running for a Bush's third terms. It seems to me he's running for Jimmy Carter's second."Despite all the usual political bickering and shallow rhetoric we should expect from Sens. McCain and Obama in the coming months, this

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-12306200561644625232008-05-25T16:58:00.005-04:002008-06-12T20:27:14.358-04:00

As the 2008 election season heads into what will look like all-out war pretty soon, naturally the talks of economic downturn have become commonplace as politicians have come to understand that overstating our troubles is a key factor in arousing a hysterical public to elect them to solve these "problems" using their "solutions" they so often speak of. Ultimately the media and a rationally

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-28356706044127910002008-05-16T14:45:00.012-04:002008-05-24T00:11:25.322-04:00

The Black KeysTerminal 5New York, NYMay 15, 2008*Photo credit: Jason Bergman/RollingStone.comOn May 15th, blues-rock duo the Black Keys -- consisting of vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney -- took the stage at the gigantic, all-new rock club, Terminal 5, in Midtown Manhattan, and gave the sold-out crowd of 4,500 nearly 90 minutes worth of stripped-down, back-to-the-basics,

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-24980742864400619832008-05-08T17:25:00.008-04:002008-05-12T13:03:09.276-04:00

In 1945, U.S. serviceman Robert L. Capps discovered several rolls of undeveloped film in a cave located outside Hiroshima, Japan. The photographs on those rolls contained images of the immediate aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima. In 1998, Capps donated the photographs to the Hoover Archives under the condition that they would not published or reproduced for ten years. Now, in 2008, the entire

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-1377560865402727652008-05-07T00:09:00.000-04:002008-05-07T00:12:41.244-04:00

Yes, the title is a bit provocative, but it is the sad truth. Prostitution is illegal in most of the United States because politicians have refused to learn a lesson or two about the economics of prohibition. A great deal of urban violence stems from the heavily-interwoven illegal drug and prostitution trades. Additionally, entire lives, such as that of the "DC Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey, have

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-5565926047377144052008-05-06T23:36:00.003-04:002008-05-07T00:47:45.331-04:00

Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There is certainly the most refreshing and original biopic film in recent memory. As opposed to the big musician biopics of the past few years – namely Ray and Walk the Line – Haynes’ take on Bob Dylan’s life does not follow a convenient or typical plot arch. In fact, the film shifts back and forth between six different actors portraying the many personae of arguably the

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-56013322628805160942008-05-05T17:56:00.013-04:002008-05-07T15:24:37.527-04:00

According to an article in today's Wall Street Journal:Twenty-two Republican senators, including presidential candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona, sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency suggesting it waive, or restructure, rules that require a fivefold increase in ethanol production over the next 15 years.Congress passed a law last year mandating a ramp-up to 15 billion gallons of

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8057364.post-62773155754519196962008-05-04T17:58:00.003-04:002008-05-06T18:04:28.472-04:00

After a year or so of inactivity, I have decided to restart this blog under a new name and with a new layout. I hope to post daily on a wide variety of issues in politics, economics, and culture - i.e., music and film.My commentary, as the blog description suggests, will come from a libertarian or classical liberal perspective, oftentimes with an emphasis on economics. When I post about music

Andrew Kirellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04855353226694098040noreply@blogger.com0