The most concise answer to the question, "What explains China's rise?" is one word: luck. (On the left, the Chinese character for luck.) Actually luck has been a major factor in the rise of all nations that escaped the grip of poverty. Economists, starting with the classical economists like David Ricardo and Adam Smith around … Continue reading What Explains China’s Rise? — Part 2

Today, Feb 12th, marks the birth anniversary of one of humanity's greatest innovators. Charles Darwin was born on this date in 1809. And so was another great man -- Abraham Lincoln -- born on the same day and and the same year as Darwin. Darwin was one of two people who came up with the … Continue reading Happy Birthday, dear Mr Charles Darwin

My blog post of Jan 26th (Whoever Fights Monsters ...) was republished by The Quint and subsequently ended up on Yahoo also. At the Yahoo site, a few hundred comments (and replies to comments) were posted. Most of the comments were critical of my opinion, and many simply declared that I was a paid Congress … Continue reading Whoever Fights Monsters — Revisited

It would be wonderful if our schools exposed students to those great ideas that are the foundation upon which our modern civilization is built. These ideas are primarily from the social sciences. Social sciences, such as economics, explore and explain how society functions, and the pathology of failed societies. Among great ideas, I think the … Continue reading What Social Classes Owe to Each Other

Is my flight from IAD to LHR (scheduled departure 7 PM) going to take off or not? JUST IN: Heathrow airport has suspended departures due to "drone sighting". https://t.co/Rve1LoJ3Pb pic.twitter.com/BuMnJCPvGg — euronews (@euronews) January 8, 2019 https://twitter.com/euronews/status/1082709878320316417

It makes good sense for the slave master to persuade his slaves that idleness is a sin and he's doing god's work when he flogs the slaves to work harder. The harder the slaves work, the more the master can take for himself. But of course the real motive has to be concealed and clothed … Continue reading In Praise of Idleness

Even though I know precious little about the formation of mass psychology, I am certain that how the citizens of a nation collectively view the world must have a causal relationship with the fortunes of a nation. As individuals we are singularly powerless to alter the environment we grow up in. We have to take … Continue reading Government as the Overlord