The Arpanet on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: The first-ever computer-to-computer link was established on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet on this day in 1969. There is a persistent myth out there that government invented the internet, ergo, government is helpful and we need it. The government was interested in a network of computers talking to each other and it used funding to support that research. The the private sector was also interested in the same thing. In other words, we would have had an internet with or without the government, and perhaps sooner, as the government locked access to the internet until the 90's. Now think of all the components needed for the internet to work. Where did that come from?: 

"IBM and ATT had major labs and were vitally interested in computers talking to one another as early as the late 1950s and early 1960s. Bell Labs invented UNIX in 1969; it made the internet possible. IBM invented FORTRAN and hard drives in 1956. Bell transmitted packet data over lines in 1958. Texas Instruments invented integrated circuits in 1958. In 1961 Leonard Kleinrock published a paper on packet switching networks. Bell Labs made the first modem in 1961. The mouse was invented in 1963. Digital Equipment Corporation produced the first minicomputer in 1964. In 1965 time sharing at MIT and mail command started. Intel began in 1968. The year 1966 saw the first use of fiber optics to carry telephone signals."~Michael S. Rozeff

https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/the-myth-that-government-created-the-internet/

"If the government didn’t invent the Internet, who did? Vinton Cerf developed the TCP/IP protocol, the Internet’s backbone, and Tim Berners-Lee gets credit for hyperlinks. But full credit goes to the company where Mr. Taylor worked after leaving ARPA: Xerox. It was at the Xerox PARC labs in Silicon Valley in the 1970s that the Ethernet was developed to link different computer networks. Researchers there also developed the first personal computer (the Xerox Alto) and the graphical user interface that still drives computer usage today."

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/147177/ima

Would There Be an Internet Without the State?

Max Stirner on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: German philosopher and author Max Stirner was born on this day in 1806. As with other German philosophers of the time, I'm not sure I really liked any of them. He is covered in Charles T. Sprading's book "Liberty and the Great Libertarians" although his "might makes right" philosophy and his repudiation of all moral principles including individual rights scarcely qualifies him as a libertarian in any sense of the word. He did say some great things however, such as “The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual crime.”

He also said something that people should think about during these lockdowns: "When one is anxious only to live, he easily, in this solicitude, forgets the enjoyment of life. If his only concern is for life, and he thinks 'if I only have my dear life,' he does not apply his full strength to using, i. e. enjoying, life. But how does one use life? In using it up, like the candle, which one uses in burning it up. One uses life, and consequently himself the living one, in consuming it and himself. Enjoyment of life is using life up." In other words, life is more than just mere biological existence, living means enjoying all the things that life has to offer.

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The Encyclopedia Of Libertarianism Now Online

The Encyclopedia Of Libertarianism is available online by clicking here

The entries in this valuable resource include:

Abolitionism
Abortion
Acton, Lord
Adams, John
Affirmative Action
American Revolution
Anarchism
Anarcho-Capitalism
Anti-Corn Law League
Antitrust
Aquinas, Thomas
Aristotle
Arts and Public Support
Assurance and Trust
Banking, Austrian Theory of
Bastiat, Frédéric
Bauer, Peter
Becker, Gary S.
Bentham, Jeremy
Bill of Rights, U.S.
Bioethics
Black Markets
Böhm-Bawerk, Eugen von
Branden, Nathaniel
Bright, John
Brown, John
Buchanan, James M.
Buckle, Henry Thomas
Bureaucracy
Burke, Edmund
Burlamaqui, Jean-Jacques
Campaign Finance
Cantillon, Richard
Capitalism
Capital Punishment
Cato’s Letters
Censorship
Charity/Friendly Societies
Children
Childs, Roy A.
Chodorov, Frank
Cicero
Cities
Civil Society
Civil War, U.S.
Clark, Ed
Classical Economics
Coase, Ronald H.
Cobden, Richard
Coercion
Coke, Edward
Collectivism
Common Law
Communism
Competition
Comte, Charles
Condorcet, Marquis de
Conscience
Conscription
Consequentialism
Conservatism
Conservative Critique of Libertarianism
Constant, Benjamin
Constitution, U.S.
Constitutionalism
Contractarianism/Social Contract
Corruption
Cosmopolitanism
Crime. See Restitution for Crime;
Retribution for Crime
Culture
Decentralism
Declaration of Independence
Declaration of the Rights of Man
and of the Citizen
Delegation
Democracy
Development, Economic
Dicey, Albert Venn
Diderot, Denis
Division of Labor
Douglass, Frederick
Drug Prohibition
Dunoyer, Charles
Dutch Republic
Economics, Austrian School of
Economics, Chicago School of
Economics, Experimental
Economics, Keynesian
Education
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
Eminent Domain/Takings
English Civil Wars
Enlightenment
Entrepreneurship
Environment
Epicureanism
Epstein, Richard A.
Equality
Euthanasia
Evolutionary Psychology
Existentialism
Externalities
Family
Fascism
Federalism
Federalists Versus Anti-Federalists
Feminism and Women’s Rights
Ferguson, Adam
Fisher, Antony
Foreign Policy
Foucault, Michel
Freedom
Freedom of Speech
Freedom of Thought
Free-Market Economy
Free Trade
French Revolution
Friedman, David
Friedman, Milton
Fusionism
Gambling
Garrison, William Lloyd
Genetics
Gladstone, William Ewart
Globalization
Glorious Revolution
Godwin, William
Goldwater, Barry
Government
Great Depression
Harper, Floyd Arthur “Baldy”
Hayek, Friedrich A.
Hazlitt, Henry
Health Care
Heinlein, Robert
Herbert, Auberon
Hess, Karl
Hobbes, Thomas
Hodgskin, Thomas
Hospers, John
Humanism
Humboldt, Wilhelm von
Hume, David
Hutcheson, Francis
Illicit Drugs
Immigration
Imperialism
Individualism, Methodological
Individualism, Political
and Ethical
Individualist Anarchism
Individual Rights
Industrial Revolution
Intellectual Property
Internet
Interventionism
Islam
Italian Fiscal Theorists
Jacobs, Jane
Jefferson, Thomas
Jouvenel, Bertrand de
Judiciary
Kant, Immanuel
Kirzner, Israel M.
Kleptocracy
Knight, Frank H.
La Boétie, Étienne de
Labor Unions
Laissez-Faire Policy
Lane, Rose Wilder
Lao Tzu
Las Casas, Bartolomé de
Law and Economics
Law Merchant
LeFevre, Robert
Left Libertarianism
Leggett, William
Levellers
Liability
Liberal Critique of Libertarianism
Liberalism, Classical
Liberalism, German
Liberty, Presumption of
Liberty in the Ancient World
Limited Government
Locke, John
Macaulay, Thomas Babington
MacBride, Roger Lea
Madison, James
Magna Carta
Maine, Henry Sumner
Mandeville, Bernard
Market Failure
Marriage
Marxism
Mason, George
Material Progress
Mencken, H. L.
Menger, Carl
Mercantilism
Methodological Individualism.
See Individualism, Methodological
Meyer, Frank S.
Military-Industrial Complex
Mill, John Stuart
Milton, John
Minimal State
Mises, Ludwig von
Molinari, Gustave de
Money and Banking
Montaigne, Michel de
Montesquieu, Charles
de Secondat de
Mont Pelerin Society
Murray, Charles
Nathan, Tonie
Nationalism
Natural Harmony of Interests
Natural Law
New Deal
Nietzsche, Friedrich
Nock, Albert Jay
Nonaggression Axiom
Nozick, Robert
Objectivism
Oppenheimer, Franz
Ortega y Gasset, José
Orwell, George
Ostrom, Vincent and Elinor
Paine, Thomas
Paternalism
Paterson, Isabel
Paul, Ron
Peace and Pacifism
Philosophic Radicals
Physiocracy
Political Parties
Popper, Karl
Pornography
Positive Liberty
Posner, Richard A.
Pound, Roscoe
Praxeology
Price, Richard
Price Controls
Privacy
Private Property
Privatization
Progress
Progressive Era
Prohibition of Alcohol
Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph
Psychiatry
Public Choice Economics
Puritanism
Pursuit of Happiness
Racism
Rand, Ayn
Rawls, John
Read, Leonard E.
Regulation
Religion and Liberty
Rent Seeking
Republicanism, Classical
Responsibility
Restitution for Crime
Retribution for Crime
Revolution, Right of
Ricardo, David
Rights, Individual. See Individual Rights
Rights, Natural
Rights, Theories of
Right to Bear Arms
Röpke, Wilhelm
Rothbard, Murray
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
Rule of Law
Say, Jean-Baptiste
Scholastics/School of Salamanca
Schumpeter, Joseph
Secessionism
Self-Interest
Senior, Nassau William
Separation of Church and State
Sexuality
Shaftesbury, Third Earl of
Sidney, Algernon
Simon, Julian
Slavery, World
Slavery in America
Smith, Adam
Social Contract. See Contractarianism/Social Contract
Social Darwinism
Socialism
Socialist Calculation Debate
Social Security
Sociology and Libertarianism
Sowell, Thomas
Spencer, Herbert
Spontaneous Order
Spooner, Lysander
State
Stigler, George J.
Stirner, Max
Stoicism
Subsidiarity
Sumner, William Graham
Szasz, Thomas
Taft, Robert A.
Taxation
Tax Competition
Term Limits
Thoreau, Henry David
Tocqueville, Alexis de
Tracy, Destutt de
Transportation
Tucker, Benjamin R.
Tullock, Gordon
Turgot, Anne-Robert-Jacques
Urban Planning
Utilitarianism
Virtue
Voltaire
Voluntarism
Voluntary Contract Enforcement
War
War on Terror
War Powers
Washington, George
Wealth and Poverty
Welfare State
Whiggism
Wicksell, Knut
Wilberforce, William
Wollstonecraft, Mary

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The Stock Market (and the Dow) on This Day in History

This Day in History: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 733.08 points, or 7.87% on this day in 2008, making it one of the worst percentage drops in the Dow's history. The worst was on October 19 1987 (-22.61%) and October 1929 had worse drops as well. October has a special place in finance, known as the October effect, and is one of the most feared months in the financial calendar. The 2nd, and 5th worst market drops actually happened earlier this year in March. There was also a -8.72% drop in late 1899. 

Interestingly, two days prior, October 13 2008, had one of the biggest percentage gains in stock market history (+11.08%). 

There is another problem with stock market numbers, like the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500. The new record levels are counted in "nominal" terms. The numbers don't account for inflation. I know that back in 2013 financial experts noticed the high numbers in the stock market, but in reality, when adjusted for inflation, they stated that the market was actually higher in 1999. For instance, in 2013, the Dow could buy 15.35 tons of bananas, but in 1999, the Dow could have bought 38.51 tons of bananas. 

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The Knights Templars on This Day in History

 

This Day in History: Hundreds of Knights Templars in France are arrested at dawn on Friday the 13th by King Phillip the Fair on this day in 1307. It’s sometimes said the Templars were the world’s first bankers, though they were more accurately the world’s first financial-services company. People who made pilgrimages to Jerusalem would deposit cash at the Temple Church in London, and withdraw it in Jerusalem. Instead of carrying money, he would carry a letter of credit. The Knights Templar were the Western Union of the crusades. This then made them wealthy, which then made them a target of King Phillip the Fair, a man desperate for money. 

"The High Middle Ages in France were brought to a dismal close by King Philip IV. 'Philip the Fair' centralized power by seizing control of the papacy, dramatically increased taxes, debased the French currency, expelled France’s Jewish population, massacred the international bankers known as the Knights Templar, destroyed the country’s independent trade fairs, and plunged France into a crisis with England that shortly after evolved into the disastrous Hundred Years War. The poverty engendered by this royal rampage contributed to the unsanitary urban conditions that were so hospitable to the Black Death that killed over a third of Europe. The towns that had been oases of prosperity had become death traps."~Dan Sanchez

It is believed that the Friday the 13 superstition started on that October dawn in 1307 when the Knights Templars were arrested, tortured and then put to death.

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The Franklin National Bank on This Day in History

 

The Case of Banking Crises

This Day in History: The Franklin National Bank collapsed due to fraud and mismanagement on this day in 1974, which was, at the time, the largest bank failure in US history. Now, 46 years later, it does not even rank in the top 30 of bank failures. Some of the bigger bank failures since then have been Washington Mutual (where I had an account), Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust, IndyMac and American Savings and Loan. On the flipside, Canadian banks have been relatively more stable and insulated from economic turmoil in comparison. For one thing, Canada has about 2 dozen banks, while the US may have thousands. Canadian banks have greater freedoms when it comes to investment banking, and the big 5 Canadian banks are exceptionally well managed banks and are far more conservative than their much larger US peers. In fact, it is not uncommon to find Canadian banks break into the US market in one form or another (TD Ameritrade, CIBC, RBC).

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Longer Lifespans on This Day in History

 
Julian Simon on Progress

This Day in History: Edgar Allan Poe died on this day in 1849 at age 40. Novelist Anne Brontë also died in 1849 at age 29, and Frédéric Chopin also died in 1849 at age 39. These early deaths were not uncommon for the time. The average lifespan for most of history was between 25-30, much of that attributed to high infant mortality. Half of all children died by the age of 8. After that age you had to contend with diseases (parasites, typhoid, rheumatic fever, scarlet fever etc) constant wars and poor healthcare (doctors only began regularly washing their hands before surgery in the mid-1800s). By 1900 the average life expectancy rose to 48. By 1950 it climbed to 67. Today it is about 78. Over the last 200 years people became more wealthy, and wealth promotes health, and extra wealth funds health research. The poorest countries in the world, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, have the lowest lifespans.