Posted in Classical Liberalism on Jul 12th, 2011
A student of mine refers me to this conference video from Cornell University. Here is the relevant piece (it’s about at the 3:45 mark): Consistent with his view that the world will soon run out of oil and natural gas, Berman has put himself on record, as recently as this spring, in support of a […]
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Posted in You Can't Have it Both Ways on Jul 7th, 2011
I’d have a lot more respect for people if they stopped it with their forked tongue rhetoric. When I read the hard-core “E”nvironmental movements attempts to be “reasonable” and compassionate, I feel just like I used to when a girl was trying to politely dump me. That analogy is not apt, but it’s the best […]
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Posted in Economic Illiteracy on Jun 29th, 2011
From this piece on the “evil” of 99 cent e-Book pricing: But to pull back from the misanthropy, the point is this: self-published authors game the system. You set your e-book price at $0.99, get a hundred friends to buy it in a short window of time, and shoot into the best-seller list where sales […]
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Posted in Economic Illiteracy on Nov 3rd, 2009
How many times have you heard criticisms of how we in modern society are crass consumers, and that we simply seek to consume more and more and more in an unending quest for status, relative positioning, salvation, or some other reason. Now, I have personal reasons to worry about my own materialism – in retrospect, […]
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Posted in Environment on Oct 13th, 2009
Though I have met some sincerely concerned environmentalists who wish to preserve the best of our natural heritage along with our modern way of life, more folks I encounter are simply using Environmentalist rhetoric as cover for their anti-capitalist sentiments. At least this guy is honest: CLIMATE AND CAPITALISM is an online journal focusing on […]
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Posted in Methodology on Oct 11th, 2009
I used to be “warmer” to the idea that climate change is a serious problem. That was, until the folks started intentionally exagerrating claims in order to “get our attention” and to want to spend 5o times more funds to prevent change than even the worst case damage scenarios portray. But when these sorts of […]
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Posted in You Can't Have it Both Ways on Oct 7th, 2009
I am not surprised when we see financial turmoil, recessions, business failings, etc. that we increased calls for more regulation. In other words, when times are bad, we often blame a lack of regulation or point toward a need for more regulation. But I am surprised by the general lack of introsepction on the matter. […]
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Posted in trade on Aug 27th, 2009
Ben Hogan set up a golf club company in 1954. Before it had barely produced and sold a single set of clubs a union organizer came to the Ben Hogan Company plant. When the workers called an organization meeting, Hogan spoke first: I understand that all of you fellows want to organize my business here […]
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Posted in Politics on Aug 9th, 2009
Where has racial discrimination diminished earlier, faster and more quietly – in the marketplace or in political life?
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Analagous to the foundation for Schumpeter’s belief in the imminent decline of capitalism (it was too successful) – one of the achievements in economics has been the “field’s”ability to criticize itself. These criticisms were advanced in the spirit of scientific inquiry – to better understand the causes and consequences of human actions, but have been picked […]
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