When a mugger or a home invader accosts you, he points a gun at you or waves a knife in your face and demands your wallet or some other property. In most cases, if you surrender your property to him as he demands, he takes it and flees, and you will most likely never see him again. He is, in the classic phrase, the roving bandit. In contrast, the state is, in Mancur Olson’s classic term, the stationary bandit.
Tag: business
Unusually Willing to Bear Risk and Take Initiative
Among the many mistakes one encounters frequently in the views of anti-immigrationists is the assumption, sometimes the explicit allegation, that immigrants are representatives of or even the dregs of the countries from which they come.
“Shoot for the Moon…” Fuck That!
We live in a culture that thinks building people up and giving them self-esteem is what leads them to greatness and happiness. I am much more inclined to think that it sets them up for failure, delusions, and cynicism. I think joy in life comes from acceptance of who we are while pushing for something just a little better than what we have … and this isn’t a lesson that is taught in school.
Problematic Inarticulation
Human language, as well as symbolic rationality, leaves much to be desired in terms of communication. If it is trial and error, then it is 100% trial and 99.999 … % error. Because we humans are stuck with language, we are effectively walled off from fact, we are effectively walled in by perception.
The Price to Sate Your Bigotry
As Kant taught, he who wills the ends wills the means, inescapably. To satisfy your hatred of disagreeable aliens, you are asking for the government to turn the USA into a police state on steroids.
The Voice of American Workers Is a Charlatan
Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed voice of American working people, has decreed that the prices of washing machines and solar panels shall rise. So it is written. So it is done.
Reading (No, Everything) Is Better Outside
My outdoor reading expedition reminded me of the stark difference between today’s experience and a day spent reading inside on my couch. I almost always feel better when I’m reading outside.
This is Why Young People Go to College
Most people don’t realize just how much pressure young people feel to be mediocre, monotonous, dull, dependent, unproductive, and unhappy.
Ambition, the Presidency, Types of Laws, & Indoctrination (25m) – Editor’s Break 049
Editor’s Break 049 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: the necessity of ambition in the economic realm by entry level employees, the missing silver lining from the Trump presidency, the voluntaryist perspective on politics and law, how to know what really matters to you, indoctrination in occupational training, and more.
Nope, I Am Not a Doctor… And That’s Kind of the Point.
There is nothing that brings me more fulfillment and joy than the idea of coming back to our truest, cellular, DNA-imprinted nature in a world where so many of the odds are stacked up against that very reality.