Economics Impact Your Life - Every Day
Everyone should have a basic understanding of Economics
I was at our local computer store this morning, picking up a repaired hard drive, when Doug and I got into a conversation regarding our kids, wages, technology, investing, what we can learn from the Amish, and so on and so forth. Wide ranging discussion; welcome to Small Town, U.S.A.
I have opinions of course, and shared those with Doug, but in particular I’d like to address Economics as it pertains to us, in the U.S.A. I’ve written quite bit on the subject, but first I will point you to my two favorite economists; Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams, Walter died two or three years ago now, and it is a great loss for those of us he left behind. Both have a big footprint on YouTube, simply do a search for either name.
Thomas Sowell is in his mid-90’s now, and has written at least 8 books since he turned 80; he’s so prolific I can’t even keep up with the titles. But, put two books by Sowell on your required reading list:
Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy, and
Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One.
Courtesy of Elisha’s Force, here is a link to the 5th Edition of Basic Economics, free from Internet Archive.
No charts, no graphs, just easily understood text, so an audio version will suffice. Basic Economics is just that; Applied Economics, in my words, is how governments screw-up Basic Economics. Good reads both.
Walter Williams was also a prolific writer, but I want to point you to an interview with Walter.
Walter Williams Suffers No Fools. Pay particular attention at about the 34 minute point, and remember, Williams is no tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracy theorist.
Okay…on to what I’ve written.
Free Trade: What Could Go Wrong?
In Newsletter 160 of 2022 Mar 05 I wrote: There are some things about "free market" economics that I don't like: 1) it leads to massive scale and centralization as enablers of efficiency, 2) ever more urbanization comes as night follows day; 3) it leads to long supply chains which are in my experience brittle and anything but economical were it not for fossil fuels; 4) it leads to specialization, from the individual level to the nation-state level; and 5) externalized costs, in other words costs that aren't reflected in price, like environmental degradation in all its forms, water pollution, air pollution, soil erosion, etc. Be that as it may, that's how the world works, which is why I/we have to at least some extent opted out of "the world," that is a trend in our lives that I don't see ending.
Free Trade: What Could Go Wrong? Part 2
In the first post on this subject I listed “some things about "free market" economics that I don't like: 1) it leads to massive scale and centralization as enablers of efficiency, 2) ever more urbanization comes as night follows day; 3) it leads to long supply chains which are in my experience brittle and anything but economical were it not for fossil fuels; 4) it leads to specialization, from the individual level to the nation-state level; and 5) externalized costs, in other words costs that aren't reflected in price, like environmental degradation in all its forms, water pollution, air pollution, soil erosion, etc.” And I addressed numbers 1 through 3. Today I write on items 4 and 5.
Whom Shall Ye Serve?
The title of this post is from Joshua 24:15. This is Part 1 in a 3-part series: Part 2: You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits Part 3: The Simple Pass On For years now, at least 7, maybe 10, I’ve been trying to get pretty much anyone I talk to, to understand just how dire is the fiscal state of the United States. Without success so far as I know. But, never gi…
You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits
The title is from Matthew 7:15-20. This is Part 2 in a 3-part series: Part 1: Whom Shall Ye Serve Part 3: The Simple Pass On In my post, Whom Shall Ye Serve, I wrote about the extent to which we have become servants of government. After being able to see the full extent, and put into perspective the required time, energy, and of course money, one of the questions I asked was, “what the hell are we spending all that money on?!” The full answer to that would consume entire bookshelves I’m sure, but I just want to share an example that might shed some light on the question I ask in the subtitle, “are we doing good, or merely giving the appearance of doing good?”
The Simple Pass On
The title is from Proverbs 22:3 This is Part 3 in a 3-part series: Part 1: Whom Shall Ye Serve Part 2: You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits I thought for a long time that many of our “leaders” must be stupid, ignorant perhaps, or simple? They’ve made so many obvious “mistakes.” But it can’t be so. They aren’t “mistakes.” Some have warned of the dangers; Eisenhower comes immediately to mind. He predicted both the military-industrial complex, and the technocracy, two generations back, circa 1961. And, with eyes closed, we walked into both traps. Ike wasn’t the first. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in
Inflation; Anything but Benign
Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the average price increase of a basket of selected goods and services over some period of time. The rise in prices, which is often expressed as a percentage, means that
The Amish, and What We "English" Can Learn
We’ve seen an increased influx, it seems, of Amish to the area in recent years. And we have employed Amish in the Pure Maple Syrup business; these factors have given me the opportunity to observe more closely how the Amish live and work, and led me to doing some additional research on the Amish. I have started with two books,
The deck is definitely stack against us, We the People. What can be done about it? Well…I’m no expert, so I can only point you to what we are doing, because we wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t think it would help resist and defend against governments. And I’m learning a lot from how the Amish do things.
Let me say in closing that it certainly feels like I’ve made most of the mistakes that could have been made. Having said that, I like to think that I’ve learned from my mistakes. Only time, and trial, will tell.
Always remember that economists have accurately forecasted 29 out of the last 11 recessions!