Tag: behavior

Why Markets Produce “a Race to the Top”

Editor's Pick

Many Americans trust the market to some extent but worry that capitalism will create a race to the bottom without government intervention. In their mind, companies will cut corners and outsource labor in the pursuit of profit, creating shoddier and shoddier products. The true free market, however, creates exactly the opposite: a race to the top. And the SEO industry, one of the few completely non-regulated industries in the US, proves it. As a professional SEO, I’ve seen first-hand how it continues to evolve in prosocial ways without government intervention.

Trump Sends Property Rights Up in Flames

Editor's Pick

Alongside of Catholicism and Protestantism, the primary religion in the United States is not Islam or Judaism but the American civic religion. The Pledge of Allegiance is the creed of this religion and the American flag is its chief symbol. In the American civic religion, the worst sin that an American can commit is to refuse to pledge allegiance to the flag or to desecrate it. Federal law contains numerous provisions regarding the use, handling, display, and disposal of the flag. After some college students recently burned American flags on their campuses, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted, “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag — if they do, there must be consequences — perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”

Taxation Isn’t Only Theft, It’s Destruction

Editor's Pick

Where the state is, there also is the growth of the state. Why does a state’s scope enlarge? One theory is that interest groups seek to use the state’s taxing power for their own benefit. I would like to suggest a complementary theory. When the power to tax is conferred upon rulers, many harmful incentives necessarily are conveyed with it. These encourage the rulers to expand their destructive acts.

What Poker Can Teach You About Life

Rob Nielsen

I know a lot of people shun gambling and card playing, but there are some valuable lessons that can be learned from poker. I find that playing a few rounds can be rather educational. Of course, I’m not suggesting that people take their mortgage payments to Vegas in hopes of coming back rich. This is just a list of a few life lessons that poker (specifically No Limit Texas Hold’em) can teach to those who are paying attention.

What is Boredom, Why Do We Want It, How Can We Cure It, and Why Do We Quit Things?

Skyler J. Collins (Editor)

My son comes to me about once a month complaining of boredom. I remember feeling this way when I was his age, and of course I’ve felt this way as an adult. After this last instance, I become a bit more thoughtful and began wondering where boredom comes from, why it exists. The world is full of amazing things, and as unschoolers my son has complete control over his time and what he does with it. Talking through this with my wife I made a few interesting realizations, which I’ll get to. But first, why the boredom? Here’s my theory: boredom is the absence of felt uneasiness.

Is Suicide Criminal?

Skyler J. Collins (Editor)

I know this can be seen as insensitive, but this is solely an intellectual exercise. I’m totally just spit-balling here. I saw something while browsing Facebook on suicide and the thought came to me that sometimes, for the libertarian / voluntaryist, suicide is criminal behavior. Now I may be completely wrong on this, but here’s my logic.