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It is January 15th, 1919. You’re in Boston, Massachusetts shortly before lunchtime. Sitting at 529 Commercial Street is a three-year old tanker owned by the Purity Distilling Company, a subsidiary of United States Industrial Alcohol. At 50 feet high, housed within the steel body of this five-story behemoth is 26,000,000 pounds of sticky, sweet molasses; one of the most popular sweeteners…
The Night Black Wall Street Burned to the Ground When I became obsessed with investing as a child, convinced it offered me the greatest probability of escaping what I saw as an economic dead end due to the community in which I lived, I spent years reading everything I could about any and every event…
On July 17th, 1981, one of the premier hotels in Kansas City suffered a catastrophic structural collapse that killed dozens of people and became a textbook case study for universities throughout the world. I still pass the building and am struck by how many people were wiped out, instantly, with only a few seconds’ notice…
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the military brass quickly came to the realization that if the islands were to be captured, the invading army would have access to a large amount of United States banknotes, held by individual citizens, businesses, banks, and institutions, which they could then use throughout the world as there was…
I happened to check the contact form this morning (we’re up to 1,000+ messages, some of which are really great questions or comments, that I do try to get to but my problem is time) and happened to see one from a few hours ago from a reader named Mark E. This absolutely made my…
I believe in wild, autonomous levels of individual freedom. Provided you aren’t harming anyone, neither your neighbors nor the government have the moral authority to prevent you from seeking your own happiness. It is immoral for parents to force their children into marriages, as still goes on in parts of the world. It is immoral…
I’m reading a book called Spice: The History of a Temptation by Jack Turner. As the review said, “There was a time, for a handful of peppercorns, you could have someone killed. Throw in a nutmeg or two, you could probably watch. There was a time when grown men sat around and thought of nothing but black…
When the United States was founded, life was not paradise as everyone seems to think in some sort of collective delusion. In fact, for all of its faults, America is far superior today to what it was in the past, even with our current fiscal problems. Consider that when the nation was founded: Women could…
I love population statistics and studying them. I would have been content (provided I was financially independent) being a sociologist. Back in September, I shared with you a few surprising facts about the population of the United States. Today, though, I was thinking about population and its implications for our understanding of history and economics.…
An Example of Why a Free Press Is Vital to the Lifeblood of a Free Nation Imagine you go to the doctor. He discovers that you have a deadly disease that will cause you great physical harm if left untreated and, ultimately, an early death. Your brain will begin to degenerate and, eventually, your heart…
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