culture

The Cathedral and social decay

In 1984, I said the Soviet Union was falling.  In November 2005, I said the mortgage market was collapsing.  I was very far from being the first to say those things, but I was in a minority when I said them. And here is another prophecy:   The decline of our currency, and the our inability to rebuild the two towers, are symptoms of an illness that will bring about American …

war

Care Bear war in Afghanistan

McChrystal’s plan is to win the war by being nice, playing nice, and reminding our enemies of their inherent niceness, to win the war by means of rainbows and pink unicorns, care bear style. The trouble with this plan is that you cannot impose a more peaceable variety of Islam while the less peaceable variety answers words with bullets.

global warming

Latest global warming scandal in short

For the last ten years or so, every year or so a study has been issued which supposedly confirms the infamous Hockey Stick graph, which supposedly shows the world’s temperature has been pretty constant over the last thousand years or so and then has suddenly started rising in recent decades.  Global Warming!  Time to Panic! And each of the these charts supposedly replicates each of the other charts. For a …

economics

Inflation comes roaring back

People who argue for “stimulus”, or more “stimulus”, often correctly point out that no one doubts that government can increase nominal GDP.   Zimbabwe and Weimar Germany are excellent examples of government rapidly increasing nominal GDP.  The question is, can government spending, particularly government spending on favored individuals and groups cozy with the government, increase useful employment, create real jobs that produce real value, create jobs where people work to produce …

party politics

Obama hates Americans

Brutally honest points to an interesting statement by President Barack Hussein Obama: We are putting the full force of the White House and the State Department to make sure that not only is this is a successful games but that visitors from all around the world feel welcome, and I think that, you know,  over the last several years sometimes sometimes, uh, that … that fundamental truth about the United …

politics

A scientific approach to politics.

On the basis that Obama transnational progressivism – that he aims at the creation of a one world government exercising highly centralized power over everyone and everything they make a long list of predictions for his future policies – that he aims, not to be elected president for life in 2016, which is what I was thinking because of his Honduras policy, but to be appointed UN grand poobah for life in 2016.

economics

Delong’s solution

Brad DeLong concludes the benevolent government should put those people to work – without, however, worrying as to what they will be doing, forgetting that people should work to produce the particular goods and services that other people want, or perhaps confidently believing that the wise folk of the government have lots of useful work for idle people to do, forgetting that a large part of the unemployed are unemployed because they were producing things, such as financial services or housing for non Asian minorities, that the recipients are demonstrably unwilling to pay for.

war

I consult the ghost of Raffles on Afghanistan

Blog:  “Previously I talked to Xenophon on our troubles in Afghanistan.  His advice was perhaps a little bit anachronistic.  Today we are a bit too civilized for such drastic measures.” Raffles: “Troubles?” “A war, we are losing.  In the Hindu Kush.” “Ah, yes, the Hindu Kush was a problem in my day.  You should leave it alone.  Dreadful climate, barren land, no gold or valuable materials, full of men with …