The P-791 is an experimental aerostatic/aerodynamic hybrid airship developed by Lockheed-Martin corporation. The first flight of the P-791 was on 31 January 2006 at the company's flight test facility on the Palmdale Air Force Plant 42. It has a unique tri-hull shape, with disk-shaped cushions on the bottom for landing. A very similar design can be seen in the Long-Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle (LEMV).I. James Madison by Jack N. Rakove
II. The Law by Frederic Bastiat
III. Present at the Creation by Dean Acheson
IV. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
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The Primary Lesson in This Book
This is a text that I have always wanted to own, but hesitated because of the many others I have concerning free market economics. Finally, I decided it is time; and, as touted through the years, it has been my mistake. Free market economics can be taught in one lesson, if taught by Hazlitt; and, everyone to their everlasting benefit can understand it. If ever a book was written that foresaw how national policies predicated upon economic fallacies could financially destroy a country this is it, and we are now living it.
First published in 1946, at a time of rampant statism in the U.S., Hazlitt outlined precisely the bad consequences of putting the government in charge of our economic life. All that he forewarned against has come true with our one hundred year embracement of Progressive economic sophisms culminating in our Faustian bargain of debt, dependency, and default. The IMF is now estimating our unfunded liabilities as two hundred trillion dollars ($200 T) and as an unsustainable financial burden. Professor Kotlikoff in the article further notes, “... that we should get real…as the U.S. is bankrupt!”
Hazlitt is considered one of the most brilliant public intellectuals of the twentieth century. His bibliography totaled more than 10,000 entries with a major interest in economics but he was not particularly political. Hazlitt was also the most important public intellectual within the Austrian tradition of economics. The Austrian economists were continuously warning against the false promises of ‘free ice cream’ that leads a nation down the road to serfdom. Early on, Hazlitt objected to the regimentation of the regime of the ‘The New Deal’; and that inspired him to promote free markets as the path to individual personal and economic freedom as they are inseparable. Personal liberty was his goal, and exposing and destroying the economic fallacies impeding it was his life.
There are three broad parts of the book: The Lesson, The Lesson Applied, and the Lesson Restated. He begins by stating the whole of economics can be reduced to a single lesson, and that lesson reduced to a single sentence. “The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act of policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.”
He concludes that about 90% of the economic fallacies that are working such dreadful harm in the world are the result of ignoring that one single lesson. And, given our political history of interest groups manipulating government to benefit themselves at the expense of others, who can repudiate his statement? Hazlitt, in one hundred and eighty three pages, destroys every economic fallacy that not a major government in the world is devoid of, if not having an economy almost wholly determined by these very fallacies.
After reading Economics in One Lesson one will better understand the vision of the Founding Fathers in their determination to create a constrained and limited government to better promote economic liberty. This was to be a nation with a government, not a government with a nation: that freedom works! This book will be popular for as long as democracy survives, as it is a lesson for the American ages.
Do not let your children and grandchildren age before learning the lessons of free market economics, as it is in their best interest to soon do so. Free markets are simply the best of all economic alternatives to enhance the general welfare of its citizens, to promote democracy, to ensure liberty; and, especially, to promote cooperative worldwide peace. Our historic success can be largely attributed to an emphasis for respect of other people’s views along with Western thought and its collaboration with free market economics.
Copies are now on the way to my children with my hearty admonition to make certain their children read it early in life, and often throughout their life. Enjoy!
Richard Spencer
39th ATS, DAFB, 1962-1965
Book Reviews to Come:
V. The Math Book by Clifford A. Pickover
VI. Before the Dawn by Shimazaki Toson and translated by W.E. Naff
VII. Leviathan by Hobbes
VIII. The Berlin Airlift
IX. Sacred Fire
I. James Madison by Jack N. Rakove
II. The Law by Frederic Bastiat
III. Present at the Creation by Dean Acheson
I was attracted to this particular text for my winter reading list after noting in a newspaper article that Present at the Creation is the best written autobiography by a high ranking U.S. Government servant since the publication of President Grant’s.
Every C-133 crewmember remembers the name Dean Acheson from his years in the State Department during the Truman administration, which was the time of young adulthood for most of us. Acheson was involved for the better part of twelve years with the U.S. Government at the highest levels beginning before WWII and was present at “ ….the creation of the U.S. as a superpower and leader of the free world”.
Acheson had foresworn ever writing his memoirs but changed his mind as he wanted to “… tell a tale of large conceptions, great achievements, and some failures….’ He quickly gives credit to the heroism of the American people as they confronted the post global remains of the conflagration of WWII, led by two men of rare quality, President Truman and General Marshall.
His theme throughout is how the U.S. created a world out of chaos; but as he wrote he was also quick to note they only knew the beginning, not the end. We now know much of the end and that is what makes this a fascinating read. Those larger than life individual American citizens stepped forth upon the international stage and made preparations for an unknown world that we have now lived, served, and raised our families. It, once again, is the story of our citizens and our country; it is American Exceptionalism.
Present at the Creation is a look into the machinations of government that has had a major and controlling influence upon the characteristics of our existence to this very day. The personal lives of C-133 crewmembers were constantly affected by those early decisions and they will be familiar with almost all of the events and places; and, many will have participated from the beginning.
Acheson writes with great clarity, wit, and self-deprecation. I have almost finished my reading and have found it to be, as suggested, an autobiography of honesty, without character assassination or nastiness of tone. Acheson is forthright with his telling of this important and historic story about the national policies that the United States had taken, while facing the defeated as the victors, during the global and chaotic post-WWII conditions that prevailed among the differing and far-flung world societies. All, and especially the U.S., were largely unprepared to enter into a problematic set of circumstances heretofore unknown.
Suddenly, we were saddled, willing but not ungrateful, to have become the world’s superpower without attempting to be so; and, that was unknown territory for a country that had had generally chosen a policy of isolation throughout its entire history. I would also surmise that the world now knows it was fortunate to have us assume this great burden of ‘world leadership’ without nationalistic visions of dominance.
It is a story without past events or prior knowledge to draw upon; and, we will continue to be burdened for generations with the decisions, wise or unwise, made in those early days of the aftermath of the world’s most destructive phase ever.
While reading you will find that Maynard Keynes, British statesman and founder of Keynesian economics, had a prominent role in many world-wide decisions that ultimately turned almost all of free Europe toward democratic Socialism. Much of the chaos surrounding the financial and social ills of today that both Europe and America suffer is a result of the unintended consequences of his economic theories. They were largely predicated upon ‘the myth of permanent plenty’ and embraced by the Roosevelt and Truman administrations; but are now being repudiated by a significant number of the electorate.
At this point in our lives, C-133 crewmembers and their families have sometimes suffered, gladly served, and actually lived most of it. Enjoy!
Richard Spencer
39th ATS, DAFB, 1962-1965
Book Reviews to Come:
IV. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
V. The Math Book by Clifford A. Pickover
VI. Before the Dawn by Shimazaki Toson and translated by W.E. Naff
VII. Leviathan by Hobbes
VIII. The Berlin Airlift
IX. Sacred Fire
Through the years, I have read this seventy-six-page gem several times and never tire of it. I am suggesting it because much of the same situation exists in America today as in France in 1848, when they were faced with the seductive fallacies that rapidly turned them into a Socialist country. Presently, our American politicians constantly bombard their constituents with the same sophistic promises of Socialism, as were the French, screaming that by following their reckless reasoning they can provide a land of utopia.
Sadly, America’s unfunded liabilities of $200T are a result of these Socialist/Progressive fallacies of a ‘free lunch’ whereby the political elite who have made the laws have now legally turned to the forceful taking of its citizen’s privately earned property to finance their own personal devices. Bastiat calls this ‘lawful plunder’, but today we call it ‘wealth redistribution’ or ‘national fairness’. The Law examines how our body of basic law is thus diverted from its true purpose of preventing injustice to that of legally aiding and abetting the national plunder of an individual’s wealth and liberty.
The Law further suggests that by diverting these basic rules from their original purpose, such that they may now violate property rather than protecting it, everyone will ultimately want to participate either to prevent him or herself from being plundered or engage in it. The individual citizen is now faced with law and morality at odds, and what is legal is legitimate. This perversion of the law becomes the weapon for every kind of greed; and, the law itself becomes guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish. Sound familiar?
The Law was Bastiat’s last book, written while in ill health, and has become a classic moral defense of liberty and limited government; it is a message of immutable principal that is both timely and brilliant. To read The Law in light of today’s constant mantra, “…that more government is better government”, strikes a frightening chord of reality about today’s political rhetoric. It could happen here!
Richard Spencer
39th ATS, DAFB, 1962-1962
Book Reviews to Come:
III. Present at the Creation by Dean Acheson
IV. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
V. The Math Book by Clifford A. Pickover
VI. Before the Dawn by Shimazaki Toson and translated by W.E. Naff
VII. Leviathan by Hobbes
VIII. The Berlin Airlift
IX. Sacred Fire
As you can tell from my past reviews, I like to write about the wisdom of history as it traces our nation’s rich intellectual legacy largely garnered through the invaluable lessons of Western thought that, in turn, lead us to insights about the three hundred years of Capitalism that has shaped our country and provided us with a very rich personal and national life. I would say, a life beyond our wildest dreams; one desired by all others; one to be protected for our progeny from future financial or villainous calamity.
But, mostly, I like to read about the every day American who stepped forth upon the world stage to represent us in times of great national or international peril with their unsuspected innate abilities to seize the moment and rescue the day regardless of its great personal danger. That singular aspect, some call it the essence of American Exceptionalism, has been the history of America and fosters ordinary citizen desire to protect our freedom and our Republic. Those moments of national danger also teach us much about the risks and rewards of being a superpower. C-133 crewmembers were an important part of such history during the latter part of the 20th century and we celebrated many of the events that involved us during our recent reunion.
So, I follow now with my winter 2010-2011 reading list that I shall take into my den, shut out the cold and darkness, and feast upon America’s past as it has been molded into greatness through the profundity of its leaders imbued with western thought. Enjoy!
I. James Madison by Jack N. Rakove:
Some months ago I read that James Madison, our fourth President, was the most profound of our Founders and that piqued my interest, as Hamilton has always been my favorite. So, I immediately called upon one of my college professor friends, who is a historian of merit, and asked him who has published the most readable biography of Madison that would suit C-133 crew members. He immediately suggested Rakove's as meeting my request.
Rakove notes that even though Madison’s contemporaries of the time excelled him in many ways, Madison’s reputation was as “…the most original, creative, and penetrating political thinker of his generation in creating the extended national republic of the United States”. He had many partners but few equals and played a key role in every significant development of our Nation during his career that spanned four decades. The author cites him as the author of the Constitution, and of the Bill of Rights, and Author of The Federalist.
To his last days, Madison was fascinated with the rights of majorities to rule and the dangers in allowing them to do so. That led him to constantly study the proper balance between the Union and its member states. Madison thusly anticipated the expanded protection of individual and minority rights by the federal Government that took place during the 20th century; and, Rakove considers that a potent legacy for a statesman born 260 years ago. The tyranny of the majority is a question we still debate and was significant in our just completed national elections.
I finished this very enjoyable biography a few weeks ago and do agree that Madison was a most profound thinker during the creation of the American Republic, and maybe the most profound. I believe you will as well.
Click on the following link to order the book online for $1.00 + Shipping:
James Madison and the Creation of The American Republic by Jack Rakove
Here's the intro:
