Tag: the free market

Get your economics questions answered!

During the holiday season it is hard to think about school and studying and all of that. But now Christmas is behind us and we need to start making plans. And what better addition to your 2011 learning than personalized tutoring in Austrian economics? And if you’re not sure if you’d really enjoy it, or if you’re not sure it will work for you, try it free for 2 weeks! This offer is good until January 1st, 2011. Simply email me at econtutor(at)savannahliston(dot)com to reserve your place. You can redeem the 2 weeks of tutoring right now or schedule it…

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Most Exciting News

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In a couple weeks I’ll be taking David Gordon’s “How to Think: An Introduction to Logic.” Words can’t describe how excited I am. This is like telling a kid, “hey, you get to go to Disneyland for 7 weeks!” or, well, I’m not sure what can compare to the uber amazing thought of taking this course. David Gordon wrote a great article about his course for Mises Daily, you can read it here. That’s what got me really going about how fantastic this course will be. I took a formal logic class a couple years ago and really loved it….

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An Ordinary Tuesday Morning

After contemplating the title of this post, I realized that it isn’t really true. Every Tuesday is different, in some sense, from the last Tuesday, so how can I say it is “ordinary”? But at least it means that nothing extraordinary has happened today. My mother is waiting for me to clean up my room. You see, my room is where people iron their clothes, so the ironing board is always set up. It is right next to my closet (if you can call it that…more like a cubby hole) so the ironing board becomes very handy for throwing my…

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Holiday Special on Economics Tutoring!

I’m feeling pretty generous right now, so I decided to offer a special deal on the tutoring rates. If you aren’t really sure how it would go and don’t want to commit to anything, I will give you two weeks of tutoring absolutely free. You email me at econtutor(at)savannahliston(dot)com and tell me what you’re interested in. Maybe something like, “you know, I don’t really understand all of this about QE2 and the Fed…what is it all about?” Or “I had to read part of The Wealth of Nations for school and I don’t know what to think of Adam Smith…

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The Price of the Housing Boom

Yesterday we were driving through what we call the “West Side” of Rockford. This is the place you really wouldn’t like to drive through late at night. This the place where you wouldn’t want to  stray from the main road but just get through as fast as possible. We’ll be driving through there quite often now (it is our new route to church) and so I wanted to make some sort of lesson out of it for the girls. I pointed to the crummy run-down apartments and said that was probably a result of rent control. I explained how making…

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To Gouge or Not to Gouge?

You are probably familiar with the term “price gouging.”  I’m talking today about price gouging in a specific market where demand for a good has suddenly skyrocketed. For instance, after a natural distaster demand for water, food, flashlights, etc…becomes very high. Wikipedia says, “Price gouging is a pejorative term referring to a situation in which a seller prices goods or commodities much higher than is considered reasonable or fair.” Now the obvious problem is, who decides what price is reasonable and fair? But there’s a more fundamental problem than that even. Let’s take an example like New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina….

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What’s New?

So you’ve probably noticed some slight changes on the site. I’ve decided to switch my focus from teaching an online class to online tutoring. Why? This is the way of the free market. I’ve concluded that perhaps teaching a full semester of economics may be too daunting for some and the time commitment too great. If you sign up for it before December 13th, I may still teach it, but with such a small group as I have right now, it really isn’t worth the work I’ll have to put into it. So what’s this online tutoring all about? Instead of expecting…

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Our Nice Local Library

I use this title in two senses. Firstly, I used to really like our local library. It was close. The people were friendly. There were good books. The second sense is a sarcastic sense because you are about to find out it isn’t so nice anymore. What isn’t nice about it? 1) They have so many people working there that it isn’t like coming in to a friendly and familiar face. Often it is someone I don’t know at all. Sometimes they are friendly, and other times they aren’t. Maybe it is just because they are busy. Or the guilt…

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A Crime Without a Victim: Is It Possible?

I had an interesting discussion with my family  this morning. It started out as a tirade against the speed limits. This is how it started: Point One: The government says that when you drive over the prescribed limit, there’s a greater likelihood that you will harm yourself, your passengers and also others on the road. My point: Why stop there? Point Two: Carrying on many conversations with people of various ages while trying to drive is distracting. It is harder to concentrate when your two-year old is saying something quite incomprehensible but she really wants you to understand what it…

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What I’m Thankful For

Since this is, after all, a sort of political/economic blog, I’m going to put a free market twist on what I’m thankful for. This is not in any particular order, I just write as things come to me. I’m thankful for… – Apple and their amazing and beautiful computers that make life so much fun and so much easier than Microsoft could ever do. – The Mises Institute and their relentless dedication to doing interesting things, sharing knowledge, and of course, being nice to me. – My friends who agree with me because it makes me feel like I’m not…

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