- Does anyone else think that sovereign countries (e.g. Japan) buying equities (i.e. shares of stock in publicly traded companies) is a good idea? It occurs to me that the logical endpoint to this is government ownership of the nation's businesses. Or by it's other name: communism.
- The US Federal Reserve buying up all the debt is just as bad an idea; and for similar reasons.
- What is the moral distinction between torture and targeted killing? There are people who think torture is a problem (because it is associated with one party), yet targeting citizens and combatants by drone is okay (because it is associated with that other party). Shouldn't we have a problem with that, too?
- Civilizations are made up of people. Economies are made up of people who stand to benefit from a division of labor. A builder trading some of his stored wealth with a baker, for example. The government is created solely to protect an economy and by extension, its civilization. When the government starts favoring the Baker or the Builder, distortions are introduced that do more harm than good. But that's how you buy votes. Great system, huh?
- The smallest unit of any civilization is a family. A collection of people acting as one unit for the collective benefit of the family. A collection of families is a community. However, not all aspects of the community can benefit all families, and each family must be free to connect and disconnect at will with the community. Therefore, not only is the family the smallest unit that can call itself a civilization, it is also the largest.
Friday, December 26, 2014
Still thinking....
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Random thoughts
Happy Christmas Eve. Some topics that I need to get out there, but reserve the right to blog about again someday:
1. A comedy about the assassination of the leader of a sovereign country doesn't strike me as good entertainment. How did we get to the point of making 100 million dollar movies making fun of a government contriving an act of war?
2. People who complain about the US Constitution, calling it an outdated document created by dead people seldom have the same opinion of The Federal Reserve Act of 1913, The Harrison Narcotics Tax Act or the Sherman Antitrust Act.
3. A government that repeatedly makes a distinction of any kind with regard to the color of one's skin is perpetuating that distinction, and in the process, institutionalizing racism.
4. The government that announces a 5% rise in GDP, consisting almost entirely of the increase in health care spending as a result of the Affordable Care Act has no credibility, and apparently no need for it.
1. A comedy about the assassination of the leader of a sovereign country doesn't strike me as good entertainment. How did we get to the point of making 100 million dollar movies making fun of a government contriving an act of war?
2. People who complain about the US Constitution, calling it an outdated document created by dead people seldom have the same opinion of The Federal Reserve Act of 1913, The Harrison Narcotics Tax Act or the Sherman Antitrust Act.
3. A government that repeatedly makes a distinction of any kind with regard to the color of one's skin is perpetuating that distinction, and in the process, institutionalizing racism.
4. The government that announces a 5% rise in GDP, consisting almost entirely of the increase in health care spending as a result of the Affordable Care Act has no credibility, and apparently no need for it.
Monday, December 15, 2014
Finish the thought
A conclusion is the place where you got tired thinking. - Martin H. Fischer (1945)
Sometimes we run out of gas when it comes to thinking things further. Picking a restaurant for dinner, deciding whether to buy a new Christmas tree. Just make a decision, you tell yourself. It matters little. Other times, drawing conclusions without gathering all the facts and thinking it through can be disastrous. Buying the red car because the saleslady is pretty; or even taking a new job, because it's next to the Starbucks. Well, okay, there are plenty of folks who often don't think things all the way through.
If you have recently concluded that government is good, but that the cops are bad, then you missed the truth that the cops are only there to implement the government's laws. If you are one of those who stopped at "government is good", yet still think cops are the problem, well, frankly, you didn't think it through.
When 21 ounce sodas are banned, the only way to guarantee compliance is to send an armed representative. How about when a citizen attempts free enterprise (e.g. selling "loosies") outside of the state tax system. Yep, guys with guns are dispatched to deal with it. If you or your elected representatives weren't all just too tired to think when that law was drafted, perhaps Eric Garner would still be around.
Every law on the books today is there, probably because some busybody moron convinced you and your neighbors that it was "best for the community". At that point, everybody stopped thinking. But consider this: every law on the books requires force, sometimes violent, sometimes deadly as part of the enforcement action. That's right, people dying for someone's idea of a law. If you are not willing to see someone die for a law. It's a bad law.
And if you have elected representatives who make laws that restrict people from earning a living, or from buying the sodas of their choice, or for heaven's sake what part of the bus you can sit in; then keep thinking; because laws by definition bring duly appointed and armed police officers to the scene. It's a forced conflict with government and legal violence at the logical end.
When you get in practice, you find you can start finishing other peoples' thoughts. If you like government, you have to love the cops. It also works the other way: If you dislike the cops, perhaps it is the government that is the problem.
People who are paid to think about things, call it a root cause analysis. Figure out what is causing the problem and fix it. Ferguson is a symptom. Occupy Wall Street is a symptom. Even the Tea Party is a symptom. The core problem remains. Once we get everybody thinking past their biases and fears, the solution will become much clearer.
The core problem as I see it is that the two parties have every reason to maintain a status quo; and a permanent solution to the problem is not in their plan. Perhaps having more people actively thinking is the way out of the mess.
Sometimes we run out of gas when it comes to thinking things further. Picking a restaurant for dinner, deciding whether to buy a new Christmas tree. Just make a decision, you tell yourself. It matters little. Other times, drawing conclusions without gathering all the facts and thinking it through can be disastrous. Buying the red car because the saleslady is pretty; or even taking a new job, because it's next to the Starbucks. Well, okay, there are plenty of folks who often don't think things all the way through.
If you have recently concluded that government is good, but that the cops are bad, then you missed the truth that the cops are only there to implement the government's laws. If you are one of those who stopped at "government is good", yet still think cops are the problem, well, frankly, you didn't think it through.
When 21 ounce sodas are banned, the only way to guarantee compliance is to send an armed representative. How about when a citizen attempts free enterprise (e.g. selling "loosies") outside of the state tax system. Yep, guys with guns are dispatched to deal with it. If you or your elected representatives weren't all just too tired to think when that law was drafted, perhaps Eric Garner would still be around.
Every law on the books today is there, probably because some busybody moron convinced you and your neighbors that it was "best for the community". At that point, everybody stopped thinking. But consider this: every law on the books requires force, sometimes violent, sometimes deadly as part of the enforcement action. That's right, people dying for someone's idea of a law. If you are not willing to see someone die for a law. It's a bad law.
And if you have elected representatives who make laws that restrict people from earning a living, or from buying the sodas of their choice, or for heaven's sake what part of the bus you can sit in; then keep thinking; because laws by definition bring duly appointed and armed police officers to the scene. It's a forced conflict with government and legal violence at the logical end.
When you get in practice, you find you can start finishing other peoples' thoughts. If you like government, you have to love the cops. It also works the other way: If you dislike the cops, perhaps it is the government that is the problem.
People who are paid to think about things, call it a root cause analysis. Figure out what is causing the problem and fix it. Ferguson is a symptom. Occupy Wall Street is a symptom. Even the Tea Party is a symptom. The core problem remains. Once we get everybody thinking past their biases and fears, the solution will become much clearer.
The core problem as I see it is that the two parties have every reason to maintain a status quo; and a permanent solution to the problem is not in their plan. Perhaps having more people actively thinking is the way out of the mess.
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