Politics

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Protesting Government Digitally

Jan 18th, 2012 | By | Category: Politics, Technology
There's been a long debate over digital technology. Does it help or harm the cause of liberty, individualism and human rights? People who say it has hurt point out that government has been able to use the products of private innovation for its own purposes. The government can watch us ...read more

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Posted in Politics, Technology | 3 comments


Blackout Wednesday: The Time Has Come

Jan 17th, 2012 | By | Category: Featured, Politics
Wikipedia, that ever-evolving monument to human collaboration in the cause of global enlightenment, goes completely black tomorrow, Wednesday, Jan. 18. The blackout is a choice, and a brilliant one, made by founder Jimmy Wales in consultation with the whole Wikipedia community. It is a protest, a statement, a symbolic warning ...read more

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Posted in Featured, Politics | 5 comments


SOPA Dead On Arrival

Jan 16th, 2012 | By | Category: Featured, Politics
Amid significant pressure from tens of thousands of Internet users and major Web behemoths like Google, Facebook and Reddit, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is, in its current form, dead on arrival: "Misguided efforts to combat online privacy have been threatening to stifle innovation, suppress free speech and even, in ...read more

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Posted in Featured, Politics | 3 comments


Iran: Oh, No, Not Again

Jan 13th, 2012 | By | Category: Featured, Oil, Politics
In each of the years 2008, 2009 and 2010, significant worries emerged that Western nations might attack Iran. Here in 2012, similar concerns are once again at the surface. Why revisit this topic again? Simply because if actions against Iran trigger a shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40% ...read more

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Posted in Featured, Oil, Politics | 4 comments


Implausibly, Freedom Gets a Boost

Jan 12th, 2012 | By | Category: Featured, Politics
Every once in a while, the Supreme Court takes notice of the Constitution and actually comes to the defense of that thing called freedom. True, it doesn't happen often, and hasn't happened much at all for, oh, 100 years or so. But it can and does happen. This time, the ...read more

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Posted in Featured, Politics | No Comments »


Why Federal Deficits May Not Be the Ones That Matter Most to You

Jan 10th, 2012 | By | Category: Economics, Featured, Politics
Yesterday we pointed out that lending money to national governments may not be the best use of one's money. Concerning national government debt, Detlev Schlechter said, "Wouldn't touch it with a bargepole." And who could blame him? Just a couple of days ago, the debt of the U.S. government reached a symbolic ...read more

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Posted in Economics, Featured, Politics | 1 Comment »


The Monetary Metal That Won’t Die

Jan 6th, 2012 | By | Category: Currencies, Economics, Featured, Gold, Politics
For more than one hundred years, governments have been trying to kill gold's role in the monetary system. They've dreamed of a day when the cursed metal would vanish completely except as jewelry and luxurious adornment. And yet its monetary properties won't go away. Central banks still hold it, and ...read more

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Posted in Currencies, Economics, Featured, Gold, Politics | No Comments »


Elections and the Illusions of Choice

Jan 5th, 2012 | By | Category: Featured, Politics
The political season has unleashed its predictable frenzy, much to delight of people who make a living off it. But to what end? There are only two types of politicians who end up holding office, wrote H.L. Mencken: "first, glorified mob-men who genuinely believe what the mob believes, and secondly, ...read more

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Posted in Featured, Politics | 4 comments


There’s No Such Thing as a Stable State

Jan 2nd, 2012 | By | Category: Emerging Markets, Featured, Macro Economics, Politics
Twenty years ago, and much to the shock of just about everyone, the mighty Soviet Union, the very embodiment of Hegel’s view of the state as the divine on Earth, dissolved and disappeared. The malicious foe of the U.S., the deadly grizzly that was said to wander the world seeking ...read more

Posted in Emerging Markets, Featured, Macro Economics, Politics | 9 comments


Two Views of the Internet

Dec 23rd, 2011 | By | Category: Featured, Politics
The barely-defeated legislation called SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) hit out of the blue and caused a global scramble among the smart set to make sure it was defeated. It was a close call, and the legislation isn't going away. It will come back and back again, and it will ...read more

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Posted in Featured, Politics | 5 comments


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