“The greatest danger to the State is independent intellectual criticism; there is no better way to stifle that criticism than to attack any isolated voice, any raiser of new doubts, as a profane violator of the wisdom of his ancestors. Another …
How Did Higher Education Become a Cargo Cult?
The “cargo cult” represents an important concept and seems especially so of late. Early observations of such behavior emerged in island cultures exposed to European explorers. Ships unlike anything previously dreamed of arrived full of strange people with wondrous trade …
Bureaucracy’s Unstoppable Parasitic Growth
My Dearest American Friends and Colleagues:
Just in case you didn’t notice, since the 1980s we have developed a very big problem which is growing exponentially. The US national debt has become unsustainable.
To a significant extent this debt is …
The Munk Debate on the Crisis of Liberalism
On Friday, George Will squared off against Sohrab Ahmari in the Munk debate on “the crisis of liberalism.” But the crisis didn’t come up.
Will is a prominent conservative commentator who writes for the Washington Post. Ahmari is an author, …
Britain is facing a second 2008
In selecting the date of the next election, Conservative Party strategists have a choice between catastrophe and oblivion. Following the Labour Party’s micro-landslides in Tamworth and Mid-Bedfordshire, and with Rishi Sunak’s conference reset leaving opinion polls unmoved, it seems increasingly …
Inflation and the Elephant in the Room
I recently came across this excellent article that explains in simple terms the reason for the current spiking inflation. The author focuses on the Icelandic economy, but the situation he describes and the arguments he puts forward apply to more …
CBDCs: Ultimate Tool of Oppression
‘If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – for ever,’ said O’Brien, the grand inquisitor of the totalitarian regime in Orwell’s futuristic novel 1984.
Alternatively, you could imagine a sandal.
Last …
Can AI Plan the Economy?
Many tasks that were once considered difficult for computers to do are now routine. Whether transcribing a credit card number or brewing an espresso, we are served by artificial intelligence every day. While a driverless car giving us a ride …
Capitalism is dead: long live Technofeudalism
I once heard an elderly Friedrich von Hayek begin a tirade against socialist planning with a charming personal tale. “The other day,” he said playfully, “I went into a shop. I left with an item that, previously, I had no …
Episode 449 – How BlackRock Conquered the World
What is BlackRock? Where did this financial behemoth come from? How did it gain such incredible power over the world’s wealth? And how is it seeking to leverage that power in shaping the course of human civilization? Find out in …
Peter Thiel has launched a class war
“We’re building a city,” Dryden Brown declared last June, with the air of a man unfazed by the enormity of his words. “We’re building a city from scratch. Somewhere in the Mediterranean.” Brown, who has spent years explaining to investors …
Peter Navarro: the tragic prophet of Trumpism
When Peter Navarro stood in front of a Washington DC courthouse to speak to the press after a trial convicted him of contempt of Congress last week, he was repeatedly heckled by a woman with a sign yelling “Traitor!” He …
China isn’t as strong as you think
You wouldn’t have guessed from Narendra Modi’s beaming smile after the G20 last weekend that the global economy was running out of steam. The latest IMF forecast projects it to expand by 3% this year, down from the 3.5% anticipated …
The Dignity of Labor Requires Freedom and Truth
As I celebrated Mass for our parish on the morning of Labor Day, I was struck by the Gospel which coincidentally was given to be read for Monday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary time: Luke 4:16-30. Here we see …
Has Xi Jinping bankrupted China?
It is hard to tell when a crisis in a dictatorial regime, such as the sudden breakdown of China’s economic model, is not about this or that, but about the regime itself. My own experience in this regard is very …