I love watching the market work. I don’t call it “the free market” because if it’s not free it’s not a market. Under government rules and regulations what survives is a pale shadow of a market; the more rules, the dimmer the shadow. Fortunately even this shadow of a market is enough to make life better for everyone; much better than the more regulated alternative. I appreciate this.
Tag: change
£s for Brexit
Since I think that Brexit is a bad idea, why am I telling its advocates how to proceed? Because I know Brexiteers won’t listen – and even if they did, the EU wouldn’t budge. While I can understand the failures of politics, I have near-zero ability to solve them. Not coincidentally, this is precisely what my view predicts.
One Cheer for Trump on Iran
In violating the agreement and returning to a belligerent footing, he confirmed something the Iranians, like the Sioux, have long had good reason to believe: That the US government can’t be trusted to keep its word.
Facebook’s Libra Isn’t a “Cryptocurrency”
Libra will not be a true cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ether. Neither its creation nor its transactions will be decentralized and distributed, let alone easily made anonymous. A “blockchain” is just a particular kind of ledger for keeping track of transactions. It does not, in and of itself, a cryptocurrency make.
Let People Find Their Own Solutions
The best approach is to let people find their own solutions. Most of their ideas will fail; some will be spectacular failures, but as long as no one’s solution is forced on everyone else, people can keep trying different things. The more ideas that get tried, the more problems will be solved.
Martial Negligence in Game of Thrones and Beyond
Why do even well-intentioned leaders so carefully plan for war, and so negligently plan for peace? Simple: Despite their self-righteousness, they’re drunk with power. Well-intentioned? Don’t make me laugh. Yes, with great power comes great responsibility… which politicians routinely fail to exercise in reality and Westeros alike.
Find Community, Give, Receive, Repeat
What if we engaged ourselves meaningfully as members of as many communities as possible? Or as meaningfully as possible in single communities?
Life on the Tax Farm
We produce so that others may consume. We are given the illusion of influence and of choice. We are told that we matter. We are told we can change things. It’s all a lie, a fallacy, a grand delusion designed to keep the slaves quiet and contented, believing their servitude to be a choice.
Erich Fromm on “The Authoritarian Character”
He was a supporter of toxic authoritarianism when he obviously– from his own observations– should have known better. Why? Maybe he was just genetically inclined that way. Maybe he wasn’t able to rise above his early brainwashing. But who knows?
Trump’s Trade Policy—A Reductio ad Absurdum
Let’s consider the president’s trade policy in, as it were, its very best light. Suppose, then, that the government succeeded in eliminating the trade deficit entirely. Residents of the USA would continue to sell huge quantities of goods to foreigners but buy nothing at all from foreign sellers. The trade deficit would be not only diminished but wiped out and replaced by a huge trade surplus. Trumpian triumph!