Curt Doolittle

Theme: Incentives

  • People are paid according to the consequences of their failure. The error of the

    People are paid according to the consequences of their failure. The error of the labor theory of value is everywhere.

    Source date (UTC): 2014-08-03 06:05:00 UTC

  • THE MERE MORTAL’S JOURNEY TO ECONOMIC LITERACY 1) -The Single Idea- Economics in

    THE MERE MORTAL’S JOURNEY TO ECONOMIC LITERACY

    1) -The Single Idea-

    Economics in One Lesson, by Henry Hazlitt : Economic thought, unlike Moral thought, asks us to think about equilibrating consequences, and opportunity costs. If you understand the “one lesson” of the broken window fallacy, then that teaches you economic thinking in a nutshell.

    2) –The Application of The Single Idea To The Civic Society–

    Basic Economics, by Thomas Sowell : Basic Economics applies this single principle.

    3) –The Application of the Single Idea To Production Distribution and Trade–

    Principles of Micro Economics, by Greg Mankiw : Micro Economics textbooks deal with patterns of cooperation (business).

    4) –The Application of the Single Idea To Monetary, Fiscal, Industrial and Social Policy–

    Principles of Macro Economics, by Greg Mankiw : Macro economic textbooks deal with the impact of fiscal policy (government spending) and monetary policy (issuance of new money or credit) on the economy, in the government’s effort to keep us all busy. 🙂

    5) –The “Missing Link”: The Operations of the Financial System that connects political policy with production, distribution and trade.–

    Rothbard’s Mystery of Banking, and;

    Nial Ferguson’s History of Money

    The book that is missing between Micro and Macro, I do not think has yet been written, which is how the financial sector services the relationship between micro and macro. I think that book has not been written. In the meantime Rothbard’s Mystery of Banking, and Nial Ferguson’s History of Money, are the best and most accessible works. (Others might disagree). Rothbard was a terrible philosopher, but his works on money and banking are still the best I have found.

    6) –The Study Of Applications, Eddy’s And Flows-

    Most advanced (niche) applications of economics are useful for professionals, but not terribly meaningful for citizens.

    Personally, I don’t understand why we don’t get this stuff in high school.

    Source date (UTC): 2014-08-03 03:56:00 UTC

  • OPEN BORDERS = ANTI FREE MARKET

    OPEN BORDERS = ANTI FREE MARKET

    Source date (UTC): 2014-07-29 05:42:00 UTC

  • Sure. Math may be the key to the universe. But don’t let that fool you. Micro ec

    Sure. Math may be the key to the universe. But don’t let that fool you. Micro economics are the key to man. Hydrogen doesn’t try to outsmart anyone. We do.

    Source date (UTC): 2014-07-27 16:45:00 UTC

  • Does Our Economy All Come Down To Truth Telling?

    The Militia Creates Truth Telling? The epistemological constraint of warriors? Empirical Science (aristotelianism) has evolved into a universal language. The voluntary organization of production under property and rule of law have evolved into a universal language. Scientific research and production take place within a society. The society vastly impacts the quality of that research and production. The people conducting research carry with them the assumptions of their societies. Some societies excel at conducting scientific research. Some societies are all but incapable of conducting scientific research. Some societies excel at instituting property rights and rule of law. Some societies are all but incapable of instituting property rights and rule of law. Some societies excel at constructing trust Some societies are all but incapable of constructing trust. Some societies excel at institutionalizing telling the truth. Some societies are all but incapable of institutionalizing telling the truth. What makes a society tell the truth, construct trust, institute property rights, and conduct scientific research? Telling the truth. Why tell the truth? For voluntary warriors it’s a matter of life and death. If nearly every man is a warrior, and only warriors possess wealth, and for warriors truth is a matter of life and death. From that position came the west’s rise. —Small numbers + technology + truth + contract—

  • “The condition of prosperity is determined by the velocity of exchange which is

    —“The condition of prosperity is determined by the velocity of exchange which is determined by trust which is determined by truth.”—-

    Source date (UTC): 2014-07-25 10:30:00 UTC

  • DEAR MICROSOFT : SELLING TRUTH I have never been able to get you to take my advi

    DEAR MICROSOFT : SELLING TRUTH

    I have never been able to get you to take my advice. Nor have most of the major advertising agencies succeeded in getting you to take their advice. We all fail because you think you are smarter than we are. Thats why we all agreed a long time ago to give you what you want until you fail, and become desperate enough to listen to us.

    Good advertising is the truth, spoken succinctly and elegantly. There are many other kinds of advertising, on which to ride your brand, but while beer can sell with something as simple as sex, and snacks with farcical humor, the more complex, expensive and serious the product or service, the more important is selling the ‘truth’.

    The truth is that Microsoft products help you get your work done. And if you want to make a living, then you need to know how to use them. Everyone else is selling cheap entertainment. You can’t play in the entertainment space unless you sell hardware, and even if you sell hardware, to take advantage of your brand, you must market to serious people doing serious things.

    There is margin in business products that can NEVER exist in consumer products. So stop trying to be fashionable for consumers, and be excellent for people who want to have a job, get work done at their job, associate with people who have jobs and get work done. And enjoy life with people who have jobs and get work done.

    The way to succeed is to tell this truth and trivialize all other products on the market. The global recession continues and will continue since the world economy has rebalanced its labor pools and today we live in that ‘normal’ state which we will live in for a very long time to come.

    As such, Microsoft products are for people who REALLY want a better life, and everyone else’s products are for people who want to pretend they have a better life – for a few moments at least.

    You would fare much better with TV ads showing EMPLOYED young people and unemployed people using non-microsoft products. Because honestly, that’s the truth.

    So please stop making a fool of yourself. You succeeded. You’re now IBM. So sell to grownups on the one hand. Sell to gamers on the other. Because those two audiences you can speak the truth to.

    Truth works, always and everywhere.

    Curt Doolittle

    Source date (UTC): 2014-07-24 01:41:00 UTC

  • DECREASES HAPPINESS But people willingly trade happiness for consumption. Does t

    http://blogs.marketwatch.com/capitolreport/2014/07/18/new-york-city-is-the-most-unhappy-city-in-america/DENSITY DECREASES HAPPINESS

    But people willingly trade happiness for consumption. Does this sound like a drug addiction to you? 🙂 Stimulation over happiness?

    —“That’s according to data coming from a working paper by Harvard professor Edward Glaeser, Vancouver School of Economics professor Joshua Gottlieb and Harvard doctoral student Oren Ziv. They used data collected in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey called the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and then adjusted it for age, sex, race, income and other factors. (Such adjustments are important — women, for instance, are happier than men; the married are happier than single or divorced respondents; and so on.)”—

    Source date (UTC): 2014-07-24 01:18:00 UTC

  • The less people compete for status as consumers, the more they compete for statu

    The less people compete for status as consumers, the more they compete for status by other means. While competing for status increases consumption which decreases prices and increases employment, the only reason we need increase employment and decrease prices is because we are engaging in increases in consumer production but not increases in innovation. In other words, there are two kinds of productivity increases: the kind that comes from consumption (population increases) and the kind that comes from innovation (regardless of population increases). So what this means is that we are working very hard to get dumber and more numerous?

    Source date (UTC): 2014-07-23 08:45:00 UTC

  • WARRANTY : THE CHURCH, ACADEMY AND GOVERNMENT The church, the academy, and the g

    WARRANTY : THE CHURCH, ACADEMY AND GOVERNMENT

    The church, the academy, and the government, like commerce, all share in a similar bias: that of obtaining customers for their services, regardless of the merit or consequence of consuming those services. The church sold immortality, indulgences, and the forgiveness of sin. The academy sells equality, diversity, socialism and the promise of prosperity. The government sells laws, redistribution, the myth of unity, and the promise of risk abatement. Yet the church, nor the academy nor the government warranty those wares. No other industries have such privileges: selling false promises that profit the seller at the expense of the buyer. An the church, academy and government criticize the entrepreneur, who alone among them, must warranty his wares.

    There is a good reason we cannot trust the church, the academy, and the government: we desire benefits for our family and tribe and they seek to profit from the largest possible numbers of customers.

    How is it then that would could ensure that church, academy and government had the same incentives as private industry?

    Universal standing and requirement of warranty.

    The common law works – if the church, academy, and government let it. But then, they have every incentive not to let the common law serve us.

    Source date (UTC): 2014-07-20 12:16:00 UTC