Finding Beauty in Every Freakin’ Moment, No Matter What

How often are we anxious, frustrated, looking forward to something coming up, unhappy with ourselves, unhappy with others? How often are we not happy with what’s going on in this present moment? What if we could, instead, be completely in love with this moment? What if, no matter what happened, we could find the beauty, joy, and gratitude in the moment as it happens? Let’s make it so.

Stupid or Stubborn?

If someone is doing something the wrong way–and I don’t mean in a way you simply don’t like, but one which doesn’t work very well, when there is a better way which is not more difficult, complicated, or inconvenient–and you show them the better way, but they never stop doing it the wrong way, what explains their behavior? Inertia? Habit? Or something else?

Negative Balance of Trade? So What?

Although the topic may appear daunting, the essence of the matter is utterly simple. As a fair approximation, each international transaction, whether it be buying, selling, borrowing, or lending across a national border involves a willing party on each side—importers want to purchase goods from sellers abroad, lenders want to lend to borrowers abroad, and so forth. Each party to the transactions expects to benefit by entering into it. In a sane and just world, that would be the end of the matter.

Things to Keep in Mind During the Health Care Debate

Politicians, of course, can declare a right to medical care, but those are mere words. What counts is what happens after the declaration. Since a system in which everyone could have, on demand, all the medical care they wanted at no cost would be unsustainable, the so-called right to medical care necessarily translates into the power of politicians and bureaucrats to set the terms under which medical services and products may be provided and received.

POTUS

I have come upon a new usage for the term POTUS. Actually, it is an old usage. It refers to the position but not directly to the incumbent. This works in the same way as does the juxtaposing of tyrant and tyranny. Is there a difference between the Emperor of Rome, Caesar, Nero, or Caligula?

Liberty in the Balance

If we truly wish to live in a free country, we need to carefully think about what, if anything, the government ought to be allowed to do. I suggest that we think about this, as Rawls would, while imagining that we might not be in the driver’s seat. We might not be favored by the law. In such a case, would we not prefer an even-handed set of rules which, while not giving us any particular advantage, also do not give particular advantages to those who do not like us very much?