Thoughts

From FP Magazine: “How Did Obama Lose Karzai?” … “Karzai now appears mistrusting of the West’s long-term commitment to his country. He considers the Americans to be hopelessly fickle, represented

(Note: I posted this as a comment on http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/ and am copying it here, as a I always do.) Guns are for more than hunting and self defense. They’re also

http://www.capitalismv3.com/index.php/response-to-posner-on-guns/Charged Topic Warning, in advance. But it is one of the better pieces I’ve written this year. And represents the work I have been doing on social classes and technologies

A Perfect Quote: “Thirty years ago, the public saw teachers as underpaid and overworked professionals trying to prepare the next generation for leadership. These days, the teachers unions are doing

Whence comes Property? The answer is a strong army and navy, a strong diplomatic corps, a strong currency free of debasement Trade rests on trade routes. Trade routes rest on

All human beings seek to game the market. The market system depends upon it. Without the desire to game the market and prices, we would have no innovation, no production

Over on Climate Etc, Judith Curry writes Blame on Heartland, Cato, Marshall, etc. The fossil fuel industries have been funding dedicated minions at the Heartland, Cato, and George C. Marshal

There are three means of coercing groups of people with institutions 1) Force, or the threat of force A person has a VIOLENCE INCENTIVE to behave in a particular way

I. Curt, what does “Exchange under trade is different from exchange under market.” mean? As such, a market is administered, managed and “governed”. Trade is not, since portable several property

The left is wrong on it’s face, because of the problems of incentives and economic calculation. The left is wrong on it’s perceptions: the pie isn’t fixed and people are

In a nation with no institutions other than tribal alliances, only members of the existing hierarchy can replace a leader, because the only institution that the society relies upon is

Regarding the debate as to whether Jefferson or Paine wrote the original draft of the Declaration of Independence. I don’t care whether Paine or Jefferson authored the constitution one way

Radical Islam is just Marxism for even ‘dumber’ people. The IQ in the West? It’s 100. In it’s proletariat? Looks like in the UK it’s 84-85. Among eastern Europeans? It’s

When we invented farming, money and cities, we had to convert the barbarians into peasants. As a consequence, we had to endure their disastrous magical religions. When we invented credit,

[P]areto, in his study of society, and Haight in his study of emotions, and perhaps Axelrod as well in his study of human cooperation, do not attribute to Status Signaling

Leading an organization of human beings of any size, is a complex and difficult task. Human events are kaleidic. The common people have complex and conflicting motivations and incentives. Leaders

I am not really sure that I should talk about theses biases as a hierarchy, because I think that the different cognitive biases we rely upon to make our multitudinous

Time Preferences form a spectrum, from the very short (high), to the very long (low) — just as do frequencies of light. As one’s [glossary:time preference] increases in length (lowers),

Obama was warned by Bush, along with the other democratic candidates, that once he gained office he would not be able to exit either country. The one who paid attention

There have been a large number of police deaths lately. “It’s not a fluke,” Richard Roberts, a spokesman for the International Union of Police Associations, told MSNBC.com. “There’s a perception