At its root, the conflict over Pebble Mine is one of human nature. It’s a battle of now versus later; instant wealth versus delayed gratification; greed versus prudence. At issue is man’s respect for the natural world by which he is sustained; man’s power to harness the pearls of the planet for his own needs and his own desires; and the treatment of the gift bestowed upon man and his transformation of it, for better or poorer, for the re-wrapping, and re-bestowment, of that gift upon the generations of men who will follow.
Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
The Color of Sacrifice: Pebble Mine and Red Gold
Posted in Business and Markets, Culture, Law and Economics, Politics, tagged Alaska, Anglo American, ANWR, John Shively, Mining, Northern Dynasty, Pebble Mine on August 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Lessons from the Financial Crisis Circa 2006
Posted in Business and Markets, Law and Economics, Politics on March 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A few days ago, I was flipping through an old favorite investment book, Hedge Hogging by Barton Biggs. Though it was published in 2006, in market years decades have since passed. A few passages, for their pertinence to the current financial crisis, induce more interest today than they did when written. Biggs, a hedge fund manager, relates lessons learned [...]
The End of History Thesis Circa 1990
Posted in Business and Markets, Internet and Technology, Law and Economics, Politics on March 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Several years ago, when I was a boarding student in my final year of prep school at Blair Academy, I got sick and had to go to the infirmary, a quaint, early 20th-century cottage atop the steep, sweeping slope of the school’s front hill. There I suffered a few days of torment–not from illness so [...]
John Key and Slavoj Zizek on Capitalism
Posted in Business and Markets, Law and Economics, Politics on March 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Today I had the luxury of time, so I spent most of the afternoon mining through a stack of newspapers and magazines. Worthy of contrast are two ‘interview’ pieces on New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Slovenian Marxist philosopher Slavoj Zizek, published in the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, respectively.
Prime Minister Key heads [...]
Classic P.J. O’Rourke
Posted in Law and Economics, Politics on February 11, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The latest Newsweek Magazine just arrived. The cover reads in ominously dark, capital letters: WE ARE ALL SOCIALISTS NOW. I wish I had something intelligent to say in response, some incisive commentary to submit, but wit and wisdom elude me. I do wonder if Rothbard, Mises, Friedman, et al are privy to our predicament, and if [...]
The Crisis of Modern Capitalism (II)
Posted in Business and Markets, Law and Economics, Politics on September 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Over the past two decades, the economy has changed incalculably: Multinational corporations, banking institutions, and financial markets have become increasingly interconnected – linked in so many unexplainable and inconceivable ways – through opaque new instruments of which barely anyone understands the magnitude. Banks now lend to and borrow from each other in greater quantities than [...]
The McCain Tax Plan
Posted in Business and Markets, Law and Economics, Politics on September 29, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Dear President-Elect McCain:
Americans are reeling from the blows of a national economic crisis: slower growth, weaker investment, tighter credit, and higher unemployment. The length and depth of the downturn will depend on the effectiveness of the fiscal policies enacted under your administration. We can engineer an economic revival by proposing, implementing, and enforcing bold new [...]
Post-Debate Thoughts
Posted in Business and Markets, Law and Economics, Politics on September 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I will refrain from declaring a positive winner of last night’s debate. Even attempting to put my biases aside, I still find my views swayed significantly by my partiality. What I will say is that I feel more comfortable than ever with John McCain. Here’s why:
1) He’s against earmarks. And against them. And against them. [...]
The Big Bad Bailout
Posted in Business and Markets, Law and Economics, Politics on September 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Within the span of a few short days at the beginning of last week, we witnessed the crumbling of some of biggest, most renowned financial institutions in the world. And the crisis is far from over. We find ourselves in the throes of another great calamity: extreme and severe government intervention into the economy. Both private and [...]
Massively Unready
Posted in Miscellaneous Commentary, Politics on October 3, 2008 | 1 Comment »
“I want to go back to the energy plan,” she replied to a question on federal budget constraints. “I would like to respond about the tax increases,” she said to a question on health care. “I’m still on the tax thing,” she offered in response to an inquiry on deregulation. Accused of not answering the [...]
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