Money and Investing
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Sunday, March 3, 2024
Thursday, February 29, 2024
Ayn Rand: The Real Motive for the Socialist Mindset
The term "Capitalism" gets thrown around and has become a pejorative on the political left. So maybe we should define what we mean by "Capitalism".
A free market is one in which you get to make free choices. The opposite of this is tyranny, but no society is either completely free or completely tyrannical. Being free to make choices includes the freedom to make voluntary exchanges, to own property, and to do business for your own benefit.
The definition of Socialism is that the means of production is socially or collectively owned. By definition, the means of production can't be privately owned, which requires an authoritarian state to take away people's right to engage in commerce. This makes Socialism not only evil, but impractical because it prevents people from acting in their own benefit, and it prevents the innovation that would come from large numbers of people doing business. It also takes away incentive structures of success and failure that result in a more efficient free market.
One thing that the political right believes that maybe the political left doesn't is that people respond to incentives. Give people an incentive to not work and they won't work. Give people an incentive to be productive and innovative and they will be productive and innovative.
These claims are easily demonstrated by looking at how various economic systems have faired. Far-left economic systems have faired very poorly and have been a disaster for the people living under them. All you need for a prosperous society is to embrace a free market to at least some degree.
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Why Democracies Always Fail
Two centuries ago, a somewhat obscure Scotsman named Tytler made this profound observation: "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury.
Sunday, February 18, 2024
Facts About Money That Will Blow Your Mind
The last point is a stunner...
Friday, February 16, 2024
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Richard Wolff on Capitalism
This is a fundamental misunderstanding of economics. I have worked many different jobs with many different salaries. Not one of these I could have earned the same amount of money working on my own. I didn't have the resources. It was my employer that provided the facilities, the equipment, the customer base, and the know-how that allowed the business to make money. I voluntarily traded my labor for the resources that the employer provided. On my own, I wouldn't have been nearly as productive. I would have starved.
Voluntary exchange works.
Richard Wolff has never run a business. If he had, he would see the world differently.
Saturday, February 3, 2024
6 BIG Purchases Retirees (Almost) Always Regret!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LonVdylaa48
People almost always regret RV purchases. It is cheaper to just get a hotel once a year.
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
Saturday, January 6, 2024
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
Wednesday, December 20, 2023
Friday, December 1, 2023
Can Trump win in 2024? Biden is doing his best to make it happen
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2023/11/26/biden-trump-2024-election-battleground-polls/71667419007/
I question whether Biden will make it to a second term.
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Why Socialism Always Fails
A pyramid scheme is ultimately unsustainable because it is based on faulty principles. Likewise, collectivism is unsustainable in the long run because it is a flawed theory. Socialism does not work because it is not consistent with fundamental principles of human behavior. The failure of socialism in countries around the world can be traced to one critical defect: it is a system that ignores incentives.
Meanwhile, you have food lines under socialism.
Socialists point to a false sense of victimhood.
Yet, nobody starves to death under a free market. There are many programs, public and private, to help the poor and there is an abundance of food.
Meanwhile, you have food lines under socialism.
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Saturday, November 4, 2023
Thursday, November 2, 2023
Civilization in Decline
I think that we are a civilization in decline. Do I need to explain why? You could think of a dozen reasons.
The biggest problem is our National Debt, exceeding our capacity to repay. This has led to a debasement of our currency, making everyone poorer.
Culturally we have been destroying ourselves from within over petty squabbles.
The political class appears to be very corrupt.
We are involved in conflicts that could, although unlikely, lead to World War III. Multiple countries oppose us.
Wednesday, November 1, 2023
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Thursday, October 26, 2023
EV subsidies
The cost of producing electric vehicles (EVs) is far higher than the prices they are being sold for. Nearly $22 billion in federal and state subsidies and regulatory credits suppressed the retail price of EVs in 2021 by an average of almost $50,000.- Thanks to an unlawful multiplier, EVs receive nearly seven times more credits under federal fuel efficiency programs than they provide in actual fuel economy benefits.
- Regulatory credits with bonus EV multipliers from federal fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions standards and state EV sales mandates provide an average of $27,881 in benefits per vehicle for producers of EVs.
- Home and public charging stations used by EVs put a significant strain on the electric grid, resulting in an average of $11,833 in socialized costs per EV over 10 years, which are shouldered by utility ratepayers and taxpayers.
- Direct state and federal subsidies for EVs average $8,984 per vehicle over 10 years.
- TPPF Releases Study Exposing the True Cost of Electric Vehicles (texaspolicy.com)
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Sunday, October 22, 2023
Jordan Peterson: Why Communism Doesn't Work
Jordan Peterson doesn't actually answer the question except to say that it doesn't work.
Some of the inequality that often gets quoted by the Marxists doesn't take into account people building up wealth for their retirement. Most of us start with nothing and work for decades to live comfortably in our old age, which is what happened to me. The Marxists will include this in their statistics about inequality.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)