Month: July 2020

I like the Americanism which says, “Good, fast, cheap: Pick at most two.” There is some overlap between any pair of the three but there’s no overlap between all three. Good and fast won’t be cheap; fast and cheap won’t be good; and good and cheap won’t be fast.

With regards to economic prosperity, I have something similiar to that “good, fast, cheap” rule. I call it “Orwell’s Rule for Economic Prosperity” which says “Rules, Leaders, People: Pick at least two.” If a country has good rules, good leadership and good people then its prosperity is guaranteed. That much is clear. But at the very least, you must have two of the three to have any hope of being prosperous. Continue reading “Orwell’s Rule for Economic Prosperity”

Here’s a simple illustration of how the government systematically robs the poor of their meagre possessions with total impunity. Consider a poor farmer who owns a small bit of land — say a couple of acres — which he farms. It provides him a subsistence existence because the land is not very productive. That land is not really suited for farming. 

Suppose that the land could be better utilized in some non-agricultural activity. Let’s say that by farming, the land provides an income of $1000, but in an alternate non-agricultural use such as in manufacturing the land would provide an income of $10,000. That means that the land value is much higher if it is employed in non-ag activity compared to farming. Continue reading “Stealing from the Poor”