21st century Chinatown?
Those who remember the 1974 classic film Chinatown will find this story eerily familiar. (ReasonTV) The Antelope Valley is a vast patch of desert on the outskirts of Los Angeles…
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,…
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…
The virtues of self-sufficiency
One of the central concepts of Juggernaut rests in the virtues of self-sufficiency. A summary can be found in the first part of the book: It can be assumed that…
New charter city in the works
(TED) Back in 2009, Paul Romer unveiled the idea for a “charter city” — a new kind of city with rules that favor democracy and trade. This year, at TED2011,…
Does regulation have to come from the state?
In recent years, the great debate has focused on the role of regulation, how much of it there should be, and whether it does what it should in the economic…
New rules, new system?
In Bill Maher’s New Rules segment, the comedian/political maven shuffles through several new rules he has come up with that he suggests would solve some of our problems. Examples range…
Economist soundtracks–Smith
In our economist soundtracks series, we now turn to the man who might well be described as the father of modern economics, Adam Smith. Adam Smith (baptized 16 June 1723 –…
Radically rethinking the way we fight poverty
The authors of Poor Economics have a point: Ideology drives a lot of policies, and even the most well-intentioned ideas can get bogged down by ignorance of ground-level realities and…
Is BitCoin the currency of the future?
In this podcast from EconTalk and the Library of Economics and Liberty, Gavin Andresen, Principal of the BitCoin Virtual Currency Project, talks with host Russ Roberts about BitCoin, an innovative…
Is self-rule so far-fetched?
Here is a concise explanation of the difference between state government and self governance. As described by the creator: It is a brief video “Looking at the concept of governmental…
Would you opt out?
February 17, 2011 – Congressman Ron Paul joins the discussion on “Stossel” to address a point made during his CPAC 2011 speech regarding taxation. Additional topics include the media’s criticism…
Do-It-Yourself Democracy
The DIY Democracy iPhone app is the most powerful tool available for citizens in the 21st century. The only app that connects you at the federal, state, and local level,…