Well folks, the 2010 Values Voters summit just concluded and I've got to be honest: It makes me sad. Mostly, I think it arises from the knowledge that, in a vast percentage of cases, people are not binary in terms of being "good" or "bad". The same mindset that pervaded the Values Voters Summit seems to me as if it would have resulted, several generations ago, in opposing the Civil Rights Act, before that equal rights and suffrage for women, and before that, the emancipation of slaves. … [Read more...]
What a Superpower China Means for the United States
September 12, 2010 By 3 Comments
When I was 16 years old, I was sitting in the hallways of the local high school, waiting for class to begin, discussing the state of the world with Molly. She stopped me and asked a simple, direct question: "Do you believe that the life of an American is more valuable than the life of any other human? Because the answer to that question is going to determine your economic, political, social and moral worldview." As we established in the first essay on the rise of the Chinese … [Read more...]
Free Trade Isn’t Always Fair Trade
September 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A few days ago, I wrote a five-part essay called How to Solve the Trade Deficit in response to a reader question about trade policy in the United States. The reader, Adam, responded on his blog. Here is my followup to his commentary. I Would Love to Run Trade Surpluses But It Isn't Going to Happen If the United States were to run trade surpluses, as opposed to going trade neutral, we would be accused of mercantilism (rightly). This would immediately cause our trade partners around … [Read more...]
Professor Richard Wolff Says Capitalism Is To Blame … for Everything
August 21, 2010 By 1 Comment
Amherst professor Richard Wolff, is arguing that capitalism is a failure because events like the housing crisis keep occurring with some regularity. Evil banks are "forcing debt" on more Americans who are downing under their bills. He proposes that we should create low cost "community owned" housing for everyone. Yes, Richard, because American Express and Discover showed up at your house, put a gun to your head and made you pick up a pen, place the tip of the pen on the cardholder … [Read more...]
How to Make Money in Fable 2 – Or, How I Made My Fable 2 Character a Millionaire in a Few Days Without Cheating
August 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment
It's remarkable that the same concepts that allowed me to be effectively retired by my mid-twenties allows me to frequently become rich in video games. That's the nature of compounding. It is a law, exactly like gravity. This weekend, Ashly and Ian drove in from Columbus to visit - they are thinking about relocating to this area next March so that she can work with us on the businesses and he can work as a nuclear engineer at a nearby facility. Right now, she's a risk mitigation analyst … [Read more...]
I'm a private investor who loves architecture, furniture, clothes, history, philosophy, books, cooking, and music as much as I do finance. 
