A loose definition might start with “an aggregation of people sharing some or all of the same culture: language, religion, values, arts, music, sports, political organization, history, etc.” In other words, a country consists of people with a shared culture. Not everyone shares everything identically or completely, but there is a general commonality of beliefs […]
Friends ask me if I am making sense out of all the strange events in the world. The short answer is: No, I am not. Let’s start with Afghanistan, the current hot topic. We should have gotten out 20+ years ago. Anyone with a passing knowledge of history and culture knows that Afghanistan is not […]
One of the irritations of the last year has been the endless repetition of the words: Covid, virus, vaccine, mask, social-distancing, etc. Even more tedious is the over-use of the three “ITY” words: sustainability, diversity, and inclusivity, not to mention the favorite of the “woke folks”: social justice. Now I hesitate to write this essay, […]
At this time, there is a rare concurrence of opinion among students of financial markets that a serious disconnect exists between prices and reality. What is meant by that is that prices suggest a cloudless sky ahead, while economic realities are waving warning flags. To understand this, let’s look at the concept of “intrinsic value”. […]
Suppose soaring inflation caused our money to be of so little value that it was no longer acceptable for business purposes. It should be obvious that a modern economy cannot function purely on barter trade. What would we do? This has happened in many countries. Usually, they turn to doing business in dollars. But suppose […]
One of the few things where there is widespread agreement is about the fact that Social Security and Medicare are going broke unless something is done to stem the financial drain as the retirement rolls swell. Choices are raising taxes or cutting benefits. Neither alternative is palatable politically, so the problem is put off for […]
Consider the expression “social justice”. What does it actually mean? Presumably, everyone is in favor of justice, as opposed to unfairness. But let’s consider what the people bloviating most strongly actually mean by the expression. What do they really want? In the broadest sense the expression suggests that someone (or some group) is getting more […]
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