In Ancient Greece sophists were teachers who taught virtue, which in those days generally meant the art of statesmanship, to young men rich enough to afford their services. Sophistry, as their art was called, is a trade much criticized in the dialogues of Plato, where Socrates attacks not only the practice of teaching for a […]
Economics
Items that fall within the realm of economic discussion but may not have explicit philosophical or policy statements.
The fall of the United States?
From the Guardian: Decline and fall of the American Empire Key passage: “Let me put an alternative hypothesis. America in 2011 is Rome in 200AD or Britain on the eve of the first world war: an empire at the zenith of its power but with cracks beginning to show. The experience of both Rome and […]
Classic problem with left-wing economists
This article from Slate does a very decent job at explaining how bad the economic situation is and will most likely remain so for the foreseeable future. Then near the end, the classic Keynesian slip, “That is not to say that there is nothing to be done, of course, or that the current state of […]
The Future of Money?
‘Bitcoin’ is an interesting example of the future of money. Bitcoin is a non-asset backed and non-state controlled money. With the Fed destroying the value of our money it comes as no surprise that we should start to see such experiments as these. I tend to be skeptical of such non-asset backed currencies, but it […]
FDR’s Depression Policies Debate
A great debate between Bernard Malamud and Lawrence E. Reed over FDR’s economic policies during the Great Depression. It is a bit long, but well worth the time.