People talk a lot about government failures, but the private sector is no stranger to failure either, although, overall, in spite of such failures capitalism is superior to communism (again, assuming one much choose between either or, which is never the case anyway), but I will give some examples of capitalism failures anyway. For example,… Continue reading The capitalism vs. communism debate, part 2

Interesting video by Ramz Gates Paul, “Communism Sucks” The problem is, Ramz defaults to a false dichotomy that one must choose between capitalism or communism, when in reality most governments are a mix of social welfare and private enterprise, with varying amounts of regulation and public spending (the so-called mixed economy). Being critical of capitalism… Continue reading Capitalism and its dissident discontents

Cold War Now or Hot War Later I don’t believe China is a threat to the US, and I would be willing to put money on the line that China-US relations will not deteriorate over the next decade. For decades pundits have been predicting such a conflict–a clash of civilizations of the ‘east vs. west’–to… Continue reading China not a threat to US

Most of the arguments, on either side of the Covid debate, are petty bad, which is why I have criticized both sides, whether it’s criticizing RamzPaul, who is vehemently anti-quarantine, or Nassism Taleb on the other extreme. People get basic facts wrong, make reasoning errors, or make comments that contradict empirical reality. On the anti-quarantine… Continue reading Countering some wrong Covid arguments

The pandemic and ensuing market crash and joblessness has called into doubt the viability of the FIRE (financial independence, retire early) movement: Self-made millionaire says the concept of retiring early ‘will disappear’ due to the coronavirus pandemic However, such fears are unfounded, and adherents of the FIRE, as whole, have little to worry about, provided… Continue reading Pandemic not a threat to ‘FIRE’ movement

I agree with everything in the video except the false dichotomy Musk presents between spending vs. innovation. As the above Elon Musk clip shows, libertarian-leaning pundits create this false dichotomy that one much choose between social spending or the private sector–and or–that former comes at the cost of the later. But, in reality and practice,… Continue reading Innovation and economic stimulus can coexist

This article is going viral The Age of the Homebody Has Only Begun We now have available to us more home entertainment options, and of a higher quality, than ever before. With so many top cultural institutions making their performances available to all online, aficionados are growing accustomed to watching the best live performances—from pop… Continue reading The Age of the Homebody Has Only Begun

Coronavirus: Pandemic sends US jobless rate to 14.7% But wasn’t it supposed to be 20-30%, or even worse than Great Depression? What ever happened to that? Goes to show how the media is wrong. 15% is not even that high given how many businesses have been affected. These economic numbers don’t really mean that much… Continue reading Coronavirus: Pandemic sends US jobless rate to 14.7%

The problem is, everyone want to be perceived smart and nuanced, as those are attributes that confer social status, so the result is this fight for the sensible/reasonable middle even among individuals who would otherwise be considered on the fringe ideologically. There is the need to position oneself as being the ‘sensible middle’ between two… Continue reading The battle for the middle

On dissent-right forums and blogs, it’s not uncommon to see people who subscribe to HBD bemoan the purported emasculation of men or the dumbing-down of society and younger generations, compared to older generations. Such arguments and generalizations are along the lines of: “…Kids today are so much weaker than when I was growing up…” “…people… Continue reading An era of extremes