The social contract question
Granted we are social animals and engaged in a social contract, why does Warren assume that the factory owner isn’t putting forth his part of the bargain? Is it assumed…
Farms cropping up in the Bronx
(WSJ) The slice of land in the Bronx at first appears no different than many of the borough’s derelict empty lots, where any glimpse of green often resolves into a…
Local currencies could reshape Brazilian economy
The Wall Street Journal recently featured a story on a currency called the capivari, a local currency emblazoned with the face of a giant rodent. The capivari is one of…
Do the poor get poorer?
People often say that “the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer.” Economics professor Steve Horwitz explains why in the United States, this characterization is largely a…
Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme?
In the last couple of Republican presidential debates, a comment made by candidate Rick Perry on whether Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme has been the center of much discussion….
A call for more civil discourse
In his article on FEE, Steven Horowitz argues that a key to civil discourse is attempting to view the debate from the other side. It is all too easy to…
A theory about the poor’s aversion to welfare
(The Economist) Instead of opposing redistribution because people expect to make it to the top of the economic ladder, the authors of the new paper argue that people don’t like…
Are sovereign islands the new frontier?
(Details) [Peter] Thiel spends a lot of time thinking about frontiers. “Way more than is healthy,” he admits. Not just financial frontiers, though that’s his day job: He cofounded PayPal,…
Police and thieves in the street
by Junior Murvin Police and thieves in the street (oh yeah) Fighting the nation with their guns and ammunition Police and thieves in the street (oh yeah) Scaring the nation…
The plight of the middle class
Robert Reich connects the dots on the economy, in less than 2 minutes and 15 seconds. A number of questions arise, not the least important of which has to do…
Solving the problem by adding to it and making it worse
(The New York Times) There is something you should know about the deal to cut federal spending that President Obama signed into law on Tuesday: It does not actually reduce federal…
The math behind economies of scale
(TED) Physicist Geoffrey West has found that simple, mathematical laws govern the properties of cities — that wealth, crime rate, walking speed and many other aspects of a city can…
It’s every person in the world, connected to every other person in the world, and no one fully understands how to make best use of this new reality because no one has seen anything like it before.
Designer and entrepreneur Ben Pieratt on the Internet.
The debt debate goes back long before Nov. 2010
(Reuters) – White House and congressional negotiators are racing against the clock to forge a deficit reduction deal that would clear the way for Congress to raise the $14.3 trillion…
The debt ceiling as a perpetual soufflé
As Veronique de Rugy explains, the debt ceiling was initiated in the U.S. in 1917 as a way to ensure responsibility in congress. Since then, government has raised it nearly…
Why stop at the 51st state?
An interesting, albeit daunting, prospect has recently received some momentum in Southern California–one that would make several of its counties its own state. (Christian Science Monitor) Thirteen mostly conservative California…
In our age there is no such thing as “keeping out of politics.” All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.
George Orwell, ‘Politics and the English Language’.
An ethical case for ‘Loser Pays’
In a recent article, Gozmodo reports of an independent artist that was charged with copyright infringement, and was forced to settle for tens of thousands of dollars, even though he…
Let’s diversify the states!
In a recent study, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University examined the laws and regulations that each of the 50 American states impose on their citizens and produced a…
What ever happened to free choice?
(TheIndyChannel.com) WASHINGTON –The Health and Human Services Department said Wednesday afternoon that Indiana’s Medicaid plan, which bans funding to Planned Parenthood, is illegal and must be changed. In a letter sent to Indiana’s Medicaid director,…