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Politics is a lagging indicator of social-cultural trends. Politics doesn’t lead change; it chases it, incompetently and long after the underlying reality is impossible to deny. This is why it makes no sense to put faith in politics. By the time politics catches up, the rest of the world has moved on. That said, I’ve …
Corn prices are officially through the roof, spiking to record highs. It’s been headed this way through six years of crazy volatility. Now the spike is undeniable. At the same time, crop yields are lower they have been since 1995. Everyone blames the drought, as if the market can’t normally handle a supply change. The …
In 1946, oil baron William F. Buckley Sr. sent his extremely bright son Bill to Yale University. The father wanted to pass on one book to prepare him to think independently. His household had thousands of books on hand. The book he chose was Memoirs of a Superfluous Man, by a family friend named Albert …
Not too long ago, it was conventional wisdom: Personal wealth comes not from wages, but from return on investments. Stocks are for the long run. Houses always go up in value. That works so long as the economy works. But then the financial roof fell in, and the Fed came along and decided to abolish …
In the final segment of my appearance on Capital Account last week, the hosts mentioned that plenty of Americans don’t know the names of the president or vice president. Is that awful? Most people think so. But I said in response that this is not a terribly bad thing. It might be evidence that people …
Why do people love competition so much in the field and in the pool, but fear and hate it in the business world? The analogies between Olympic fare and life in a free market are very close, closer than people realize. yet we celebrate competition in one sector and try to ban the other. Consider …
Before the third of the Batman trilogy hit theaters, I had heard that The Dark Knight Rises was a film without hope, with a long and dreary narrative that never loosens its grip. It leaves the viewer without a sense of answers. I saw it and left confused. It saw it again, and left confused …
In my town this week, two tribes shouted each other down, each claiming that the other is destroying the country. At issue: whether to eat or not eat a chicken sandwich from Chick-Fil-A. Yes, this is what democracy has been reduced to. People have so little effective control over their own lives and their political …
Is a blowout bust coming for high-flying Internet stocks? There was the disappointing Facebook IPO, but many people wrote that off as due to managerial errors at the Nasdaq. But those errors must have persisted, because the stock has been down nearly 40%, reaching a low point. Every talking head is muttering about the problem …
After Sept. 11, the American system of government became crazy obsessed with security. The implementation has not only been brutal and contrary to human liberty; it has completely lacked creativity. Instead of real security, we get what’s called “security theater,” and at the expense of the customer, who feels the brunt of all the new …