The following discussion is cross-posted from my other blog, Outrun Change. Why do I copy it here? Because at a foundational level, the radical increases in health, safety, and prosperity that started about 200 years ago are at the core a moral issue. I firmly believe it is a fundamentally Read more…
Why we are so much better off than 200 years ago? Explained in 3 minutes. Check out the video by Prof. Dierdre McCloskey:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0nsKBx77EQ&feature=player_embedded]
(Cross-posted from my other blog, Outrun Change.)
Here’s my 200 word summary of the video:
Until 1800, the average person made the inflation-adjusted equivalent to $3 a day. It’s been that way for thousands of years. Starting in 1800, a graph of average income looks like a hockey stick, going almost straight up after being flat for thousands of years.
Why?
Here’s the formula: compare life for the typical person today to 30, 100, 300 years ago. The things we take for granted to today would have been an unimaginable blessing back then. I get a kick out of that story line every time I see it.
The latest in a long line of examples is from Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek: Capitalism: The Greatest Engine of Equality. He ponders what a man from 1700 would think of a visit to Bill Gates. Just about every one of the astounding things observed by the visitor from 1700 is also available to almost every person living in the U.S.
(Cross-post from my other blog, Outrun Change.)
The driving force behind all of this?
Capitalism.
And property rights.
And a functional legal system.
And a functional democracy.
Read the full article. A few things that would have been beyond the wildest dream 300 years ago:
(more…)
From the promo:
Heads they win. Tails you lose.
Forget the rule book, they make the rules
Wannn’a compete. No! You’ll be rejected.
Get the Kronies! They’re Konnected!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZDXuPQ9ML9E]
Is it targeted federal subsidies? Breakthrough law from the Congress? Socialist industrial policy? Keynesian monetary policy? Blockbuster documentary from Hollywood that changed minds across the country? More support for college loans? A landmark special on network TV? Quantitative Easing?
No. It’s none of those things.
Barron’s is pondering the question as well: The Secret of U.S. Energy Success.
Federal subsidies have produced a substantial increase in some things. The editorial provides a partial list. Subsidies have given us…
..our national surpluses of grain, milk, unemployment, nonprofit companies, disabilities, and mortgage debt.
Those subsidies didn’t produce the massive increase in oil production in Bakken and Eagle Ford.
The best paragraph from the editorial: (more…)
That is the core point made by Dr. Mo Ibrahim on how to develop the economies of all 57 African countries. He explains his ideas at: Mo Ibrahim On How (And Why) Africa Should Solve Its Own Problems.
(Why am I cross-posting this article from my other blog, Nonprofit Update? Because the core of the comments from Dr. Ibrahim are related to the idea that economic freedom and political freedom are more moral than any alternatives and provide the best results for the people living in a country. Back to his comments.)
He wonders why African people are so poor. He thinks of where Ghana, Egypt, China, India, and Singapore were 50 years ago. Then, Ghana and Egypt were the richest countries of those five. Look how far the other three have advanced.
The problem is bad governance in both the public and private sectors.
(Cross-post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)
Recent news reports indicate federal intelligence agencies are gathering up a lot more information than we knew. That data is available to undisclosed lists of unknown people and will be retained for a very long time.
So what?
Here’s just a few circumstances in which you might not want access to your data by a long list of unidentified persons from various federal, state, or local agencies who were granted access to various unidentified parts of the various databases: (more…)
(Cross-post from my other blog, Outrun Change.) Seems like every morning there is a big story with details of the vast array of surveillance conducted by the federal government. Here is a broad overview of news in the last 2 weeks. First report was metadata of every phone call at Read more…