WHY THIS RATHER THAN THAT? As any mother of a small child can tell you, any answer to a why question invites a why to that, and then another to that one, and so on, until the child either declares… Read More ›
Everything You Wanted to Know About What’s Going On in the World But Were Afraid to Ask
THERE SHOULD BE A LAW
It’s a well-known fact that Lee Harvey Oswald killed John Kennedy in Dallas on November 22nd, 1963. But it’s a little-known fact that he did so not because Kennedy was the President of the United States but because he had… Read More ›
POLITICAL ECONOMY MADE SIMPLE
Paying $3.99 for diapers instead of $4.19 gives Mom 20 cents more she can spend on lean ground beef instead of mostly filler. And that’s a good thing for kids. But governments need to fund themselves, and the ‘fairest’ way… Read More ›
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
By some accounts the war between Palestinians and Zionists has been going on since 1947, by others since ’67. But by all accounts it’s the war that’s never going to end. There’ve been battles: ’48, ’56, ’67, ’73. Coupled with… Read More ›
GIVING NEW MEANING TO SHIT OR GET OFF THE POT
The Bible isn’t a book. It’s a collection of several books. Wokeism isn’t one view. It’s a collection of several views. What unites them is what unites the collection of people who hold them. Something like a religion. First you… Read More ›
FROM THE THINGS NOT TO THINK ABOUT FILE
When we say “It’s a little known fact that …”, we usually mean precisely that. But since I’m a philosopher rather than a polymath, I like to use the phrase to refer to something that if you think about it,… Read More ›
EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT TARIFFS THEY’RE AFRAID YOU’D ASK
If you find a stranger in your house, there are two questions you might ask. One is “How did you get here?” And the other is “What are you doing here?” However the intruder answers the first question – suppose… Read More ›
TRADE, TAXES, AND TARIFFS
Here’s another from the Words-No-Longer-Mean-What-They-Did file. In talking about free trade, what’s the contrast class? It can’t be compelled trade, since that would just be a synonym for expropriation. And yet by free trade we don’t just mean trade that… Read More ›
LEDICE
There’s a civil war, though not a very civil one, that’s been going on in the southern Levant at least since 1948. Let’s see if we can identify the combatants. But first a disclaimer. Any attempt to define the parties… Read More ›
A COMPLETE INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMICS IN ELEVEN MINUTES – TIME ME
Nothing about money or trading or buying or selling or competition or interest or inflation or taxes or … the list goes on and on. None of it makes any sense unless people own stuff. And people own stuff if… Read More ›