politics – Page 9 – One Thousand And One Parsecs

To escape or to engage

A couple of weeks ago, I finally sat down and wrote a (semi-) formal business plan. It was an enlightening experience. I’ve kept it all organized in many different ways, but writing it all down in one place allows me to step back and take a wider look at what I do. No business plan… Continue reading To escape or to engage

Thoughts on the violence in Charlottesville

No one is right in any of this. I tend to lean to the “right,” but it’s a completely different “right” than any of the protesters at this event. Constitutional conservatives and classical liberals are both increasingly endangered species in this country, and that’s a problem. Nothing in our Constitution supports Nazism and white nationalism.… Continue reading Thoughts on the violence in Charlottesville

An open letter to Google

To whom it may concern, My name is Joseph Vasicek, and I have been a regular user of your company’s products since 2006 when I set up my first Gmail account. Until the events of the past week, I was also a satisfied user. The recent firing of James Damore over the controversial internal memo… Continue reading An open letter to Google

This guy hits the nail on the head

Financialization is what happens when the people-in-charge “create” colossal sums of “money” out of nothing — by issuing loans, a.k.a. debt — and then cream off stupendous profits from the asset bubbles, interest rate arbitrages, and other opportunities for swindling that the artificial wealth presents. It was a kind of magic trick that produced monuments… Continue reading This guy hits the nail on the head

The end of politics in America, part 2

How did Trump become the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth? A lot of people are asking that question, while a lot of other people already know (hint: it wasn’t the Russians). But I want to get beyond the circus that is Washington DC, and answer that question by asking another: Can politics solve our nation’s greatest… Continue reading The end of politics in America, part 2

Thoughts on the #Alexandria shooting

This attack was a warning. It could have been much worse. There could be more than a dozen dead congressmen right now. We could be in a national crisis as severe as 9/11, or more. This was a premeditated and carefully planned act of domestic terrorism. It is clear that the attacker was politically motivated.… Continue reading Thoughts on the #Alexandria shooting

The end of politics in America, part 1

I am convinced that the grand key to understanding United States history in the 20th century—and by extension, current events in the 21st—is a deep knowledge of monetary policy and the financial system. In 1913, two things happened: Congress established the Federal Reserve, and the Constitution was amended to allow for an income tax. This… Continue reading The end of politics in America, part 1

The Gulf Between the Generations (Blast from the Past: February 2012)

Here’s a post I originally wrote in 2012. Given how most political commentary tends to lose relevance over time, it’s remarkable when something from the past is even more relevant now than when it was written. Not that this post is overly political: more just a series of observations, including some red flags that, at the time,… Continue reading The Gulf Between the Generations (Blast from the Past: February 2012)

Is it ever okay to punch a Nazi?

Is the current year between 1939 and 1945? Are you currently on active duty in the armed forces of one of the Allied nations, or a member of a partisan resistance movement within Nazi occupied territory? Is the Nazi whom you want to punch currently engaged in combat operations against you? If you answered “no” to any… Continue reading Is it ever okay to punch a Nazi?

This is more disgusting than anything I saw in 2016.

Anything election related, anyway. Four residents of Chicago kidnapped and tortured a special-needs man, broadcasting it live on Facebook while ranting against President Trump. This is worse than the gang that pulled the Trump supporter out of his car and beat him in the middle of the street. It’s worse than the abusive mother who pretended… Continue reading This is more disgusting than anything I saw in 2016.