Tag: the state

What the 4th of July Should Be

I need to preface this with a confession, taken from my latest Facebook status. “I’m afraid I’m a hopeless introvert.” It is true. Probably part of my aversion to 4th of July parades, county fairs, and all those fun American things is that I just don’t like people much. I mean, there are particular people I like, and some I like very much, but I find the general population to be so insipid, close-minded, self-centered, and utterly boring that I don’t really care much for being around people. Under certain circumstances, I enjoy watching people, but I find it hard…

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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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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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For Mises U Students

The Mises Institute strongly encourages all students attending Mises U to be familiar with the Required Readings found here. Whether I go to Mises U or not (still hoping it will work out!) I will try do the readings. Last year I wrote out a schedule for getting through all the books, and I thought I would post my updated version for the students I know who wondering how to tackle it. Anyone else is welcome to read through all this too. 🙂 Theoretically I would start the reading in March. However…that didn’t happen this year. But my schedule starts…

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The Free Market

I’m posting the resources from  a recent webinar as a blog post to give readers better access to the info. Slides are available here. Video from the webinar can be viewed here. Here’s a list of the resources and links mentioned in the webinar – Chaos Theory by Bob Murphy – Privatization of Roads and Highways by Walter Block – The Enterprise of Law by Bruce Benson – Walter Block Interview on Road Privatization, http://mises.org/daily/3431 –  A Future of Private Roads and Highways by Walter Block, http://mises.org/daily/3416 – This video is a study on a formerly-controlled intersection in England that now has…

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Path of Grass Excerpt

After a futile attempt at sleep, I went back downstairs, where my aunt was sitting and drinking warm water as a poor substitute for tea. “Couldn’t sleep?” “No.” “In the convent, did you hear any news of the world?” “Some of the nuns had acquaintances outside who would give them news, but I didn’t really hear anything. The nunnery really was its own little world.” “Do you know anything about our history? Do you know who Hitler is?” I shook my head. “Here’s a cup of water. It might calm you down. Pretend it is hot cocoa or something nice.”…

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Path of Grass Excerpt

So two days later I was ushered out of the nunnery, out of the big hollow room through which I had first come. Through roundabout ways my aunt’s address was found. I had only to find the street. I stepped out into the street with too-large shoes on, and a very bland baggy dress. I pulled the door closed behind me and then regretted it. The streets were full of people shouting and crowding all over. I didn’t want to walk out into it, but it was too late to go back now. I took a deep breath and pushed…

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Path of Grass Needs Your Help

From the Path of Grass blog: I got an estimate today for typesetting Path of Grass. I would greatly appreciate any help in covering these costs. I am prepared for some of the expense, so my goal is to have $100 donated because I will be taking care of the rest. If more than $100 is donated,  I’ll be using the extra funds to compensate the volunteers who have so kindly offered to help with various aspects of publishing Path of Grass. Please consider making a donation to help publish Path of Grass. Why? Path of Grass is part of a bigger…

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