I used to dream about becoming “self-sufficient” – growing and making most everything myself. And I put in a good amount of daydreaming time and real work toward that, raising all kinds of poultry, growing a garden, reading books on farm skills. Then I learned economics.
Tag: wealth
On Charity
I have never felt any particular pull toward giving money to charity. I don’t give money to beggars and panhandlers, and I don’t give money to relief funds. Why not? I’m not entirely sure.
On Sweatshops
A very simple thought experiment should demonstrate the absurdity in the belief that so-called “sweatshops” are evil. Imagine for a moment the likely outcome of any given sweatshop, anywhere in the world, being closed down.
Life Is a Trading Game
Once upon a time, there was a man who traded a red paperclip for a car. Now granted, he went through a lot of intermediary trades to get there – from paperclip to pen, pen to something else, and so on. He traded up. Not all of us are as savvy at bartering. But in a sense we all are playing a trading game in life itself.
The Insidious Wiles of Foreign Influence: Trump, Bin Salman, and Netanyahu
Even if the Saudi monarchy or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in particular did not murder journalist Jamal Khashoggi, that regime is an especially evil one in both its domestic and international conduct. To see that, one need only consider the horrendous Saudi war against the people of Yemen, with the backing of the U.S. government starting with Barack Obama.
The IMF Fears Cryptocurrency; It Should
The International Monetary Fund refers to cryptocurrency only once in its 215-page World Economic Outlook for October 2018, but that reference is telling: “Continued rapid growth of crypto assets could create new vulnerabilities in the international financial system.”
On Power III
Clamoring for violent third-parties to use their power disparity on behalf of workers against fat capitalist pigs is a triple-edged sword, two edges against workers.
The Problem Definition Fallacy
Any problem solution algorithm must go through a problem definition stage, but all problem definitions do not lead to an appropriate solution. You cannot solve, but by random luck, a problem that you do not understand. And that blind-hog solution will probably not survive downstream consequences for long.
On Power II
When people call for government to regulate business, they are prioritizing their preference for others to have and to wield political power over economic power.
What Do Judges Maximize?
Public choice analysts did not develop a standard way of analyzing the actions of judges. For the most part, judges were simply ignored. Of course, if the judges were elected, they could be analyzed in the same way as any other elected officials, but in regard to appointed judges, especially those appointed for life terms, as the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court are, public choice had little to say.