Still thinking....

• 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.