Month: February 2025

Today, Feb 26th, is Maha Shivratri or “Great Night of Shiva”, the night when Shiva married Parvati. It has profound significance for Hindus.

Shiva is identified with Brahman, the supreme consciousness. The event marks the cosmic union of Shiva (consciousness) with Parvati who is Shakti (energy), representing harmony and balance in creation. We meditate on this ultimate reality to achieve self-realization and therefore liberation (Moksha) by overcoming ignorance. Continue reading “Shivo’ham Soham”

It’s weekend cartoon time.

Yosemite Sam was created in 1945. He was named after Yosemite National Park.  Here’s Sam facing off against his old adversary Bugs Bunny in Knighty Knight Bugs (1958). This is the only Bugs Bunny cartoon to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Short. Continue reading “Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam”

“Arguments in support of protectionism enchant only two sorts of people. One is individuals who have something to gain from it at the larger public expense; the second is individuals who have yet to think seriously about the matter.” That’s what economist Donald Boudreaux wrote in one of his many brilliant pieces meant for the general public.

Since we don’t belong to the first set — people who seek to gain at the public’s expense — we should avoid being in the second set — people who have not thought seriously about trade. Let’s start with a brief note on protectionism. Continue reading “On Trade and Trump’s Tariffs – Part 2”

Trade

Trade has been a defining feature of human life since time immemorial. With the possible exception of hermits, we all need to trade to survive. We consume an immense variety of goods and services. As individuals, none of us is capable of producing all that we consume. We are necessarily forced to produce only a very limited (often only one) kind of goods and services. We exchange what we produce for the wide variety of things we consume.

This exchange of one person’s production for a variety of consumer goods from other persons could be effected through barter but barter is prohibitively expensive in terms of time and effort because it necessitates many “double coincidence of wants.” Therefore we use money as an intermediate good. I get money by selling whatever I produce and use the money to buy what I consume.

This buying and selling is critical to our survival as individuals and, by extension, as a society. Continue reading “On Trade and Trump’s Tariffs — Part 1”