The Reality of the Market

I really enjoy my job, for several reasons. One reason is that my company is the perfect real-life example of many concepts I learned in economics. I have to get my boss credit, he is sometimes a very quotable person and says things just like I’ve heard in my econ books…except he really is an entrepreneur who is dealing with very real customers (believe me…I have to talk to them every day…). First example illustrates consumer sovereignty. He said, “A lot of people think that business-owners run their company. That’s not true. The customer runs the business. The customers decide…

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The Unpredictability of God

This is something I’ve been mulling over for some time, and felt like posting it tonight. There are have been a few incidences recently that have reminded me of this idea. God is so much bigger than we can imagine. He doesn’t fit into our neat compartments. He is like Aslan, we can’t keep God in our wallet or beckon like a genie at our whim. The story that comes to mind first is the water from a rock in the Old Testament. The Hebrews were wandering in the desert, complaining and rising up against Moses because they were so…

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Lines of Phreedom

Thanks to a friend, I stumbled upon this website, Lines of Phreedom, last week and it was very encouraging. Encouraging because it means I’m not the only young person who sees the importance of literature in introducing people to liberty. From the About page, Guns will put you in a position of power for a limited time, and rhetoric will get you fame for a while, but what is written will last forever. I’m probably a bit biased because Lines of Phreedom is helping to promote Path of Grass, but even before the webmaster, K.J. Herr, kindly did so, I…

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Path of Grass: Coming Soon to a Bookshelf Near You

I think the first day of summer is June 21st. I wanted to have Path of Grass published in the spring. So if I get it published on June 20th, that still counts as the spring. 🙂 And it might end up being June 20th, I’m not sure. I’m so ready to get this book out there…it is becoming very exciting! Much of the delay in publishing has been the time it takes to get the book from one person or one step to the next. My copy to the typesetter. The typesetter mails it to me. I give it…

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What the Market Requires

I’m actually getting to the point where I enjoy my job. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never not liked it, and from Day One I’ve appreciated the challenge it has been. But there were several weeks where I’d come home every day exhausted and wondering when the chaos and madness would end. And I’m happy to say it is improving. There’s still a very long way to go, but I feel better about what I do. I worked full time for a couple weeks in order to straighten things out. I’ve actually gotten to the point where I can do…

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Yes, I’m Alive

Sorry folks, I’ve been rather non-existent the last few days/weeks. I was asked to work overtime, so I was working all day almost every day. Obviously that didn’t leave much time to do fun things like blogging. 🙂 But now I’m back to normal hour, starting Monday, so I’m looking forward to having time for blogging, studying, teaching, and stuff like that. I got my sisters hooked on Khan Academy, and they are having so much fun with Khan math that I decided to switch from chemistry to geometry so I could do exercises and earn badges and things like…

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Our Mutual Friend

No, I’m not talking about mutual friends on Facebook. I’m talking about a book by Dickens that was recently made into a movie by the BBC. It is in 4 episodes and each episode is about an hour and a half…typical Dickens length. I was a little skeptical because there are some really bad movies out there based on Dickens. I’ve always maintained that Dickens is just not meant for movies. You simply can’t make a good movie out of Great Expectations. His characters are meant for the page, not for the screen. But Our Mutual Friend proved me wrong…

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Path of Grass Excerpt

One of the other nuns came to relieve me. I laid down for a few minutes and fell asleep. Sometime in the afternoon I woke up and went to check on the men. Most were sleeping. Franz wasn’t. He beckoned me to come near. “Yes?” I said. “I am lonely.  I haven’t talked to anyone in ages.” So I sat down to listen to him. “Do you know how long this war has lasted? It isn’t over yet, either, I can tell you that. Have you ever hated anyone? In this army, we live on it. My father was murdered…

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For Mises Students, Part 2

Israel brought up some good questions related to my first post, so I thought I’d address those here. The first thing, “aren’t there Youtube videos that summarize these required readings and can’t we get Greek history from movies like Troy?” I’m sure there are Youtube videos that explain some of what these works cover, but probably not systematically. The youtube might be on “Socialism vs. Capitalism” and might cover some of the points that Mises makes in his books, but I doubt that there are Youtube videos made as summaries of these works. I have an idea on this, however,…

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Path of Grass Excerpt

But I had a dream. I was sitting on my cot, and a soldier came in. He stomped his way over to me and stood over me, smelling of beer, cigars, blood, and sauerkraut. I cringed and tried to turn away. He grabbed my neck and mumbled something in garbled German. He took out a sharp, shiny knife. “This is for those who lie. Those who are self-centered. Those who pretend they are righteous but are not. Those who take food from the mouths of the innocent. I shall either use this,” he ran his finger across the blade, “or…

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