Brian Martinez

Full-time software developer, part-time poker player, occasional blogger. I live in Denver, Colorado.

Brian Martinez has written 44 radical posts for the Libertarian Standard.

The market giveth and the market taketh away

by Brian Martinez November 23, 2011

The media are in a kerfuffle about a short-term egg shortage caused by Target and other supermarket chains dropping a major supplier, Sparboe Farms, following reports that workers at its production facilities abused chickens and failed to follow the company’s animal welfare policy.  The revelations were punctuated by a graphic undercover video released by animal [...]

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Five reasons not to support Newt Gingrich for President

by Brian Martinez November 19, 2011

He’s for invading foreign countries to fight “radical Islamists,” except when he’s not. He suggested instituting the death penalty for drug trafficking in the 1990s. He supports ethanol subsidies as part of a “low-cost energy program”, which may include a cap-and-trade system, or maybe not. He’s strongly opposed gay marriage as a threat to traditional [...]

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Real tax dollars, imaginary threat

by Brian Martinez November 18, 2011

That Barack Obama has handsomely rewarded supporters who bankrolled his presidential campaign is no secret; he’s just the most recent in a very long line of Leaders of the Free World who indulge in political patronage.  It’s a tradition in Washington, like spring cherry blossoms and Congressional sex scandals. But perhaps having run out of [...]

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“The mountains are high and the emperor is far away”

by Brian Martinez November 17, 2011

Reason.com has posted an excellent article on Wenzhou, China, a city built almost entirely upon private enterprise: For the last 30 years, private citizens in this southeastern China metropolis have largely taken over one of the least questioned prerogatives of governments the world over: infrastructure. Driving down the cluttered and half-constructed streets of this 3-million-strong [...]

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On the sexual (and political) exploitation of children

by Brian Martinez November 16, 2011

Of all the child sex abuse allegations levied against retired Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky, none perhaps is more disturbing than the report that he used his non-profit foundation Second Mile to gain access to young boys — not only for himself, but for donors to his organization.  Sexually assaulting children is by itself [...]

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Two Lessons Learned From the Banking Crisis

by Brian Martinez November 11, 2011

There is no such thing as a risk-free return There is no such thing as a perfect hedge Courtesy of Coyote Blog.

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Is Paul Krugman stupid, or just dishonest?

by Brian Martinez September 26, 2011

It seems that Nobel Prize-winning economist and reliable regime apologist Paul Krugman thinks he can wave away the Solyndra scandal with a reference to an iconic business failure from the dot-com era: But it is indeed a terrible scandal, because the private sector never ever puts money into ventures that end up failing: He then [...]

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