Thursday December 30th 2010
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- Banyan: Great disorder under heaven
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Our entire political process is fundamentally corrupt so long as we fund elections through a process of open bribery. The revolving door is more of the same. I do not mean to say that everything and everyone is corrupted all of the time, but certainly, as we do things now, the pressure of self-interest always tends that way
Looking at those legal bills would make anyone risk-shy; let the publisher worry about it.
I'm sure his recent fame goes far beyond the ebook community.
Piracy will always win over DRM. If price and convenience are reasonable, DRM is not needed.
L'hypocrisie est un hommage que rend le vice à la vertu.
- LA ROCHEFOUCAULD
There is nothing magical about specie. Any money can be abused by the government that controls it. The gold standard worked because England, as the biggest creditor nation, had both a great interest in maintaining sound money, and the financial strength to do it.
No mystery in America - debtors always want inflation, especially when times are hard. Gold was always slightly deflationary, and was extremely so in a downturn. Greenbacks were even better than Free Silver for countering that. It is worth noting that the US was not on the gold standard from 1862 to 1879, when Greenbacks were made redeemable in gold.
Maybe silver is headed for a classic 16-to-1 again, to pop this precious metals bubble as it did the last.
What is said of Hopper is true of the greatest art. The edge of cliche, where the artist in crossing that boundary reveals the ordinary to be unfamiliar and most extraordinary, is the place were creativity works most powerfully. If you move too far beyond, your art will be about art, and thus merely criticism. I have always thought "Art for art's sake" an abomination. Art is for your sake or my sake or the artist's sake - someone's, anyone's sake at all, or it is not art.
My bad - "paria", not "pares".
The Ghost of Latin Teachers Past will haunt my dreams tonight.
My only, unhappy, way to lose weight is to eat less and exercise more.
Say it loud !
I'm fat and proud !
MC&HNY
Yet another reason to hold economists in exactly the esteem they deserve. Caeteris paribus, lower taxes certainly would encourage people to come. Problem is, in the real world, the caetera never are pares. So skip that, and ideologize.
Telling people with money exactly what they want to hear, especially in pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo, has always been a good way to share in their grateful largesse.
How can digging a few holes here and there uncover the complete past ? Archaeology and palaeontology require vivid - and readily adjustable - imaginations.
Did anyone care about 9 September 1999 ? Or 8 August 1988 ? Or . . .
And now I know where and how the bergamot flavoring for Earl Grey tea is made.
Considering that this is The Economist, I am surprized at how often the Marginal Revolution is forgotten, even by its esteemed staff members. You can't assess an illegal immigrant with the average cost of a service he consumes. Communities already have schools and police and fire departments and hospitals. Only the marginal cost of the additional use by illegal immigrants is relevant.
French poetry doesn't translate into English very well.
Opposing increased government spending on roads, bridges and the like can only come from pig-headed ideological ignorance or a desire to keep the economy down. There isn't the slightest need for make-work jobs when so much needs to be done, and borrowing money for investments is entirely sound policy.
My guess is that it's been risk-aversion, and the sign that confidence is recovering will be sharp drops in longer-term treasury and gilt prices.
LexHumana, Kaiser Permanente for all is fine with me.
Light is one of modern civilization's greatest gifts.
There are many far less wonderful and far more damaging things to worry about.
I think he ought to lead Mississippi, the biggest parasite on the Federal fisc, right out of the Union.
Credible commitment to longer-term fiscal rectitude would have been better.
What basis did the Irish have for expecting such helpful behavior from the Eurozone, and Germany in particular ? If you're a small member whose monetary policy needs differ from those of the big guys, tough luck.