I refuse to celebrate Canada Day (July 1st)–as a matter of principle. While I recognize Canada as one of the better countries to live in, this relative evaluation doesn’t justify the gross injustices caused by the policies of our three levels of...
POLITICS
The basic and crucial political issue of our age is: capitalism versus socialism, or freedom versus statism. For decades, this issue has been silenced, suppressed, evaded, and hidden under the foggy, undefined rubber-terms of “conservatism” and “liberalism” which had lost their original meaning and could be stretched to mean all things to all men. – AYN RAND
Focus Investing: The Warren Buffett Way
An excerpt from The Warren Buffett Way, Second Edition by Robert G. Hagstrom. Status Quo: A Choice of Two The current state of portfolio management, as practiced by everyone else, appears to be locked into a tug-of-war between two competing strategies — active...
Multiculturalism Breeds Terrorism
On June 2, 2006, seventeen Muslims, including five juveniles, were arrested in Canada for planning major terrorist attacks on Canadian soil against innocent people. Because these were “homegrown” Islamic terrorists, blame was rightly directed towards...
Diplomacy Only Encourages North Korea’s Belligerence
After decades of chasing nuclear weapons, North Korea is on the brink of success. Worse yet, it may already have the means of mounting an attack against us. According to news reports, North Korea is about to test-fire a powerful long-range missile capable of...
Economics and Statistics
An interesting question in economics is the proper role of statistics. Ludwig von Mises is my favourite economist, yet he held that statistics have no valid role in formulating or validating economic theory. It’s interesting to explore his reasons. First, Mises...
“Market Failure” Doesn’t Exist
In a recent column in Canada’s National Post (June 10, 2006), “economist” and author Mark Jaccard of Simon Fraser University argued that (alleged) manmade global warming represents a “market failure” that must be corrected by government...
An Energy Lesson from Cuba and China
An unlikely political figure is willing to fight for lower gas prices. His name: Fidel Castro. He’s working with foreign investors, including China, to find oil off the Cuban coast, close to American waters. In contrast, American companies aren’t looking...
Health Care and Political Hypocrisy About Privacy
In response to the National Security Agency’s acquisition of private telephone call databases, a lot of politicians — even those who were given frequent briefings about the program for more than four years — claim to be deeply shocked about this...
Club For Dictators: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)
Some see it as a NATO counterweight. Others call it a Club for Dictators – or at least near-dictators. Some consider it an anti-American stalking horse for Chinese and or Russian hegemony, with the potential to become “OPEC with nukes.” Whatever: The...
High Gas Prices Courtesy of Environmental Rhetoric
As the price of gasoline and the myriad products that utilize petroleum in their manufacture rises, Americans are going to ask why the Congress has resisted accessing the billions of barrels’ worth of oil and natural gas in our offshore continental shelf. As the...
Reflections on The Death of Terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
I am, of course, delighted by the death of terrorist ringleader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq. I’m glad that he apparently had a chance to suffer before actually dying. I have no illusions that al-Zarqawi’s death will have any major impact on terrorism in...
Letters to The Editor: June 2006
European Governments Have No Right To Take Over Apple’s Itunes Dear Editor: European governments have no right to force Apple to make downloads from iTunes compatible with the products of its rivals. If music listeners don’t like the limitations of...
Reflections on Free Speech and the Danish Cartoons: A Panel Discussion
On April 11, 2006, the University of Southern California Objectivist Club sponsored an event titled “Free Speech and the Danish Cartoons: A Panel Discussion” which was attended by more than 300 people. Many critics on the Left grudgingly uphold the right...
Random Thoughts: June 2006
Random thoughts on the passing scene: When you have 90 percent of what you want, think twice before insisting on the other 10 percent. I have never understood stuttering. Once I heard a well-known economist who stuttered spend 45 minutes singing humorous,...
Iran Diplomacy Works!
Fantastic news recently! It was widely reported Thursday that a diplomatic solution was finally found regarding the Iran nuke situation! Yes, the three years of apparently useless jibber-jabbering by Europeans has finally paid off big-time! (Shame on me for having...
The Death of Zarqawi: A Victory in the War on Terrorism
The killing by U.S. forces of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, is a major turning point in the war on terrorism. The course of history is shaped by major events, and this is one of them. The elimination of one of the world’s most...
Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity
John Stossel, ABC’s “20/20” anchorman, has a recently released book about the various untruths we accept, many from the media and academic elite. The book is appropriately titled “Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity.” Being a longtime...
Eminent Domain is Never the Solution
Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard wants the government to use its power of eminent domain to take property from one set of owners in SE Portland and transfer it to some others, in the hope that they will build an upscale supermarket. Commissioner Leonard...
“Fairness” in Search Results?
In case anyone needed reminding that conservatives are not interested in a free economy: An attorney with a prominent conservative Christian group says he is troubled by the recent announcement that the popular Internet search engine Google has dumped news sites...
Washington’s Failed War in Afghanistan
Unlike the seemingly endless war in Iraq, America’s campaign in Afghanistan is widely considered a success in the “war on terror.” We have nothing more to fear from Afghanistan, our policy makers tell us, because the war accomplished its two main...
The Flagellation of the Pursuit of Happiness
Krugman and his ilk actually care nothing whatever for the welfare of the poor. For them the suffering of the poor is merely a weapon with which to beat down the aspirations and success of the rich, which alone can elevate the poor.
Notes on the Near Eastern Legacy of Islam
I just finished teaching an undergraduate university class on the Ancient Near East: 15 weeks on Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. I read as many original documents and modern histories–and looked at as much art–as I had time to do. I became intrigued by the...
Preserving a Vision–at the Expense of the Facts
Despite the warm glow of self-satisfaction that the liberal vision confers on liberals, ugly facts keep intruding to undermine that vision. Some liberals eventually jump ship and defect to conservatism when the facts keep piling up too high to ignore.* This takes...
The “Trickle Down” Left: Preserving a Vision
The New York Times of May 21 featured estimates of how much revenue the federal government is losing as a result of tax cuts, more than $50 billion over a five-year period. Meanwhile, a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal reported the government as receiving...
The “Progressive Era”: Preserving a Vision
In Shelby Steele’s new book, “White Guilt,” he mentions an encounter with a white liberal who fiercely defended the welfare state programs and policies of the 1960s. “Damn it, we saved this country!” he all but shouted. “This...
“Price-Gouging,” Opportunity Costs, and the Economics of Prices
Here’s what one reader wrote: “Williams, I can understand how the destruction of Hurricane Katrina and Middle East political uncertainty can jack up gasoline prices. But it’s price-gouging for the oil companies to raise the price of all the gasoline...
“Gloom and Doom” Media Hype: Preserving a Vision
Conservatives who point out the declining audience for the big television network newscasts, and declining public trust of the media in general, often under-estimate how much clout the liberal media still have. For example, while the economy has had near-record highs...
Bush and Congress Should Lift Environmental Restrictions on Energy Production
With American consumers currently paying the highest gasoline prices in recent history, and after another winter of high heating costs, many Americans are properly concerned about America’s energy future. Predictably, many politicians and commentators blame the...
The Sorry State of Our Union
There is simply no way for a Congressman to read and understand the torrent of legislation that is proposed in every session of Congress. It is simply too vast.
A Latticework of Mental Models
Excerpt from Chapter I of “Investing: The Last Liberal Art” by Robert G. Hagstrom In April 1994, at the Marshall School of Business of the University of Southern California, students in Dr. Guilford Babcock’s Student Investment Seminar got a rare...
The Society for Military History: A Report from the Front
I just returned from the national conference of the Society for Military History (SMH), held at Kansas State University. I presented a paper on the military campaigns of the Roman Emperor Aurelian, arguing that his use of overwhelming force had resulted in a bloodless...
Memorial Day: What We Owe Our Soldiers
Every Memorial Day, we pay tribute to the American men and women who have died in combat. With speeches and solemn ceremonies, we recognize their courage and valor. But one fact goes unacknowledged in our Memorial Day tributes: all too many of our soldiers have died...
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