Burton Blumert

2011-04-23T06:18:50Z

81.167.16.108: /* Political and social commentary */

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[[File:Burtblumert.jpg|right|thumb]]
'''Burton S. Blumert''' (born February 11, 1929 in [[New York City]], died March 30, 2009) was the president of the [[Center for Libertarian Studies]] in [[Burlingame, California]], chairman of the [[Mises Institute]], and the publisher of [[LewRockwell.com]]. Before his retirement in 2008, he bought and sold precious metals as the proprietor of Camino Coin Company.

==Background==
Educated at [[New York University]], Blumert enlisted in the [[United States Air Force]] during the [[Korean War]] era.<ref>Blumert, Burt. "Under Pressure, Blumert Produces Military Records by Burton S. Blumert." ''LewRockwell.com''. 3 May 2004. [http://www.lewrockwell.com/blumert/blumert93.html]</ref> After a series of draft deferments, he chose to enlist in the Air Force—which offered a shorter enlistment term than did the Army—in order to avoid being [[Conscription_in_the_United_States#Cold_War.2FKorean_War|drafted]] during the [[Harry S Truman|Truman]] administration.<ref name="Rockwell">Rockwell, Llewellyn H., Jr. "Foreword to ''Bagels, Barry Bonds, and Rotten Politicians''." ''LewRockwell.com''. 2008.[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/blumert-forward.html]</ref>

From 1959 until 2008, Blumert operated the Camino Coin Company, dealing in [[bullion]] and [[coins]]. Upon retirement he gave the company to a long-time employee.<ref name="sfgate">Baedeker, Rob. "The gold standard: A precious metal that's not just an investment but a worldview too." ''SFGate.com'' 25 February 2008. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/02/25/moneytales.DTL]</ref> After retiring, Blumert remained an active discussant of commodities topics in the media.<ref>McCullagh, Declan. "Gold sales shine in dark economic times." ''[[cnet]]''. 20 October 2008. [http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10069856-38.html]</ref>

==Political and social commentary==
[[Image:Blumert Rockwell Gordon Rothbard.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Blumert, with [[Lew Rockwell]], economist and philosopher [[David Gordon]], and [[Murray Rothbard]].]]
In a 2008 interview he credited his experience in the coin industry as spurring him to adopt a [[libertarian]] political philosophy and to support fellow gold advocate [[Ron Paul]].<ref name="sfgate" /> In 1988, Blumert was chair of Ron Paul's first presidential campaign.<ref>Blumert, Burton. "Ron Paul Is a Big Problem." ''LewRockwell.com''. 6 August 2007. [http://www.lewrockwell.com/blumert/blumert122.html]</ref> Blumert was a close friend and supporter of the late [[Murray Rothbard]],<ref>Gordon, David. "Biography of Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995)." ''mises.org''. [http://www.mises.org/content/mnr.as]</ref> with whom he founded the Center for Libertarian Studies in 1975. As president of the Center for Libertarian Studies, Blumert published the ''[[Journal of Libertarian Studies]]'', the ''Austrian Economics Newsletter'', and the ''Rothbard-Rockwell Report''. Blumert served as chairman of the [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]] and was publisher of [[LewRockwell.com]].<ref name="Rockwell" />

In his often humorous contributions to LRC, he positioned himself as anti-[[Rudy Giuliani]],<ref>Blumert, Burton. "I Hate Rudy Giuliani." ''LewRockwell.com''. 5 November 2001. [http://www.lewrockwell.com/blumert/blumert39.html]</ref> pro-[[Barry Bonds]],<ref>Blumert, Burton. "All Baseball Players Are Mortal – Even Barry Bonds." ''LewRockwell.com''. 29 April 2004. [http://www.lewrockwell.com/blumert/blumert92.html]</ref> and skeptical of the medical establishment.<ref>Blumert, Burton. "Keep That Knife Away From My Chest." ''LewRockwell.com''. 20 February 2002. [http://www.lewrockwell.com/blumert/blumert47.html]</ref> A selection of Blumert's essays were collected into the 2008 book, ''Bagels, Barry Bonds, and Rotten Politicians'' (available [http://mises.org/books/bagels.pdf online]), for which [[Lew Rockwell]] provided a foreword.<ref name="Rockwell" />

==Notes==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.lewrockwell.com/blumert/blumert-arch.html Burton Blumert archive] at ''LewRockwell.com''
*[http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/burt_blumert/ Burton Blumert obituary] at ''Taki's Magazine''
*[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/libertys-benefactor.html Burton Blumert obituary] at ''LewRockwell.com''

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Burton Blumert