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Quotebag #51
“This frugal economy will be wishful thinking unless a way of encouraging it is created. The underlying issue is how gradual, smooth, and thus bearable, the transition will be. Will it encourage the cooperation that has always sustained cultural evolution, or will it foster the Darwinian hell of a survival of the most aggressive?”—Franco Iacomella…
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Blogging for Michigan
A big “thank you” goes out to Eric B. and the folkx at Blogging for Michigan for putting the present blog on their blogroll. Aside from my lifelong and continuing residence in Michigan, I’m not sure what they see in me or my blog (they’re in the non-radical part of the leftie-liberal sector), but I…
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The elusive sweet spot
For many of us, it is important to be solvent, but considerably less important to have income well above and beyond that level. Getting money and being without money both involve a considerable amount of ass-kissing, so it’s sort of a “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” proposition. Of course, according to…
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Quotebag #50
“[Mitt] Romney, as an executive, was to downsizing what Typhoid Mary was to typhoid.”—Kevin Carson “The part that doesn’t make sense about Libertairan Oil Platform Nations is that if they have enough wealth to be self-sustaining, then they have enough wealth to buy a government. The oil platform is unnecessary.”—rewinn “They claim to support having…
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What form of exercise do you enjoy the most?
I still haven’t found it. I’m one of those inveterate nerds who can’t do bodily stuff without the feeling that I’d rather be doing something else. Maybe I should try audio books.
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The only real welfare reform is “a job is a right.”
The only other real welfare reform is true post-scarcity economics. But I see no third possibility. The essay Real Welfare Reform by David S. D’Amato pretty much sums up my reasons for thinking of the left libertarian movement as 1% left and 99% libertarian. While it is true that “the two narratives are naturally aligned,”…
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Who pulls the strings?
I’ve generally sided with those who claim business is more powerful than government; that the present-day nation-state functions basically as a rubber stamp for business, which is where the real Power resides. Admittedly the largest government, that of the United States, has a much larger financial footprint than the largest corporation, whether by financial footprint…
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The caveat emptor economy
Internal consistency is an important BS filter; a useful method for ferreting out things that just don’t add up. There can be too much of any good thing. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. Perhaps the same can be said of narrow definitions; another useful BS filter…
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Quotebag #49
“Maybe it has to do with the fact that my eyes glaze over when I see mention of IQ taken seriously.”—Neverfox “[T]he benefits of greater efficiency are accruing to the already-rich and not society at large, greatly increasing income inequality. I’ve seen no economist explore that, because it does not fit the narrative.”—Chill “There is…
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What’s the perfect age to retire? How will you know you’re ready?
Age is irrelevant. Whether you retire at all is irrelevant. The question is, is your retirement or non-retirement (as the case may be) something you get on your own terms? For that matter, is the life you live well before retirement age lived on your terms? If not, there’s always the future. By retirement, it’s…