Ed Bugus on the legitimacy of nation-state claims to territory and the two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict

The two state solution, which has been rejected and derailed many times, is a statist solution to a statist problem.  The cause of the current conflict was always the product of a nationalism encouraged in both the Jews and Arabs by the British in their maneuvering against Germany during WW1.  And the establishment of a state always expropriates coercively the land it takes, it never acquires it legitimately by homesteading it or by purchasing it.  Thus, “states have no legitimate claim to territory” writes Michael Rectenwald in agreeing with Israel’s critics that the state of israel is illegitimate and the British had no legitimate claim on it previously.

Even though a “two-state solution” is likely impossible after the unprecedented attack on Israel and the vicious and extremely disproportionate response, it was never the means to any lasting peace in the first place. Statism is the cause of the conflict, and not solution.

However, to base claims of legitimacy this way or based on original title would undermine every state’s claim and maybe every person’s claim to their property today.  Should the American government surrender its claims to the Indians it stole it from in North America?  Should the Turks give Constantinople back to the Greeks, the Greeks to the Christians?  And to whom belongs the region of Sicily?  The Italians, or the Spanish, or French, or the Greeks?  There is either constant war waged by peoples with legitimate title to past claims or there is a point at which we realize that they are there now and we can adopt the non aggression principle at any time. 

So that would be my defence of the Israeli state.  It is there now.  And to get rid of the state, like everywhere else, that has to happen from the inside, or else you turn the state into an idea for which people will die.

It is not conceivable at this point for any other state to deconstruct the israeli state because the only way that is legitimate for another state to do is by conceding its own illegitimate claims on its own lands.

~ Ed Bugus, "The Road to Peace: Israel and Palestine," November 7, 2023

Ed Bugos on Ludwig von Mises

Why is Ludwig von Mises my favorite author of philosophy and economic theory? Here are some of my reasons. 

He refined and formalized the subjective theory of value, which exploded the classical economic school when applied to the "paradox of thrift" alongside Menger's marginal theory that stumped Keynesians and the classical economists. 

He completed the theory of money, and integrated it into macroeconomics and business cycle theory, which essentially revived the Austrian School again after Keynes and WWI. 

He conceived of an epistemological foundation for the sciences of human action called "praxeology" to replace "sociology" - economic theory would only be one branch of this science. 

By challenging the socialists with the economic calculation problem under a socialist commonwealth in his book Socialism he destroyed the theory of socialism absolutely.  Only the most devout socialists will reject the problem, and never coherently. 

He labored for freedom, justice and sound money; fought totalitarianism in Europe when it was under the thumbs of Stalin and Hitler.  Eventually they chased him out of Europe and into the hands of the American socialists in academia who marginalized him by never letting him have a real position as a professor. 

He never compromised on his ideas and principles and always believed and promoted that we should never give in to evil.  As a result, he was a consistent advocate of the sound money principle and powerful critic of big government, central banking, regulatory bodies, and bureaucracy.

~ Edmund Bugos, Facebook post, April 18, 2021

Ed Bugos and the end days for American empire

Locally we have the Cultural Marxists pushing to erase the conservative cultures of the West and institute progressive programs similar to what Mao did in China for his 5 year plan, and internationally we have the globalists pushing for a new world order.  Both are effectively exploiting the end days for empire and the demise of the current financial/monetary system.

~ Ed Bugos, private note, December 10, 2020

Ed Bugos on freedom, authority and trust

If you want to live in a free country it is your obligation to check authority, and it is plain naive to trust it.

~ Ed Bugos, tweet, September 3, 2020

Ed Bugos on the difference between the interventionist and laissez faire positions

One big difference between our perspective and the one you hear from mainstream is that they presume the central bank and government exist to save you from unbridled capitalism and the negative effects of freedom while we see them as bad actors/tools used to exploit and control you, and which produce all the negative effects that you blame on freedom.

~ Ed Bugos, LinkedIn post, March 27, 2020

Ed Bugos on manias

Does any other animal on this planet suffer from the phenomenon humans know as mania? Do other species lather themselves up into a frenzy about tulips, beards, and what they often perceive as injustices, whether true or false? Obviously animals participate in feeding frenzies. But it seems to me that manias are uniquely a human trait, and one that is often our undoing.

~ Edmund Bugos, Facebook post, January 28, 2020

Ed Bugos on the delusion of democracy

So many good people believe that good can be achieved through the political means, using the blunt end of collective force.  This is the great delusion and the myth of democracy that we live under today.  All through history the State has been a bad actor.  The exploiter.  The conqueror.  Nothing much good has been written about any state, at least not before the USSA was invented.  By restricting government, if only for a few years, the market system was able to create a theretofore unprecedented amount of wealth.  Indeed, so much wealth that it will still take decades of socialism to destroy - this is despite the fact that progressivism and interventionism have marched on for a century weaving the fabric of democracy, i.e., that ideological cloak where we are supposed to think we control government because we get a vote.  This is delusion folks, total delusion.  The apparatus itself was designed for exploitation (see Oppenheimer).  And so democracy truly is the god that failed, from the outset.  You just don't know it yet.

~ Ed Bugos, August 19, 2019

Ed Bugos: investors are "playing poker" and "calling the Fed's hand"

The difference between this new high in the stock market and the others (2016, 2013, 2011) that have occurred over the course of the latest unsoundly inflated global economic boom - besides how narrow and generally hollow it is - is that the other new highs were caused by an unexpected boost in the money supply that happened first while this one has been caused by expectations for a boost in the money supply (that's how they lower the rate of interest) that has yet to happen.

What that means my dear friends is that the bulls are playing poker. They have driven the stock averages to new heights and in doing so are calling the Fed's hand. If the Fed fails to cut rates and earnings don't come in particularly well, the market is likely to take a very big hit.

~ Edmond Bugos, July 24, 2019

Ed Bugos on the root of all evil

Power, not money, is the root of all evil.

~ Ed Bugos

Ed Bugos on regulation

The best way to regulate the bad guys is to allow the good guys to compete.

~ Ed Bugos