Teaching Perception

Back in the days of my (relative) youth, aka my mid-20s, my extended circle of friends included someone (John, I believe was his name) who sang in a band. In a group conversation one day over beers, I found out that he never learned to play an instrument, despite...

Fad Economics

Some of you have heard Economics described as “the dismal science,” and may find truth in the phrase. The origin, though, speaks to a less obvious intent. Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle came up with the phrase in the mid 1800s, but his reason for it was...

Environmental Obstinacy

Despite an increasing number of past climate doomsday predictions falling flat, proving exaggerated, or simply not materializing at all, the drumbeat for action to remediate the global warming caused by human carbon emissions continues. And, in the fashion of Chicken...

Angels and Money

The great thinker Milton Friedman, in a seminal interview with Phil Donahue, exposed one of the great, under-addressed flaws in the premise of socialism and its other central-planning variants: the fact that the people in charge are no different than the people they...