tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70673752024-03-08T07:39:44.890-08:00Dark Side of the Mobius StripThose on the Left who go sufficiently far Left, and those on the Right who go sufficiently far Right, often find themselves in uneasy agreement on many matters. The political world truly is round, but inverted. This blog is my message to my fellow travlers, sent from... The Dark Side of the Mobius Strip.DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.comBlogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-17027856270338151432020-11-11T13:59:00.003-08:002020-11-11T13:59:51.685-08:00Working On A Full Length Description I used to post my stuff here. Haven't in years. If you're an old friend or fan (did I even have those?) just checking this out on a lark, head over to http://www.reddit.com/r/dasaw. My ideas are finally standing still long enough for me to give it a good solid written word treatment, and that is will you find my drafts.DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-62044809229224503962016-03-26T13:34:00.000-07:002016-03-26T13:40:12.053-07:00Traffic EnforcementI had a really bad near miss the other day. I was trying to merge onto the freeway, but there was a guy overlapping my rear bumper by a foot or so. I had already hit my signal, and accelerated to the gap in front of him. He accelerated too. I accelerated a little more; so did he, maintaining almost the exact level of overlap. I slowed down, intending to merge behind him... and even that DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-47469498425386778992015-05-31T13:57:00.001-07:002015-05-31T13:57:43.380-07:00On Negative Interest RatesReading Tuure Parkkinen's Fixing the Root Bug exposed me to a new idea: the notion that lowering interest rates actually can improve the economy, and that the only thing holding it back is the zero percent lower bound, that it is possible that a negative interest rate on risk free credit is necessary to bring the supply of and demand for labor into balance (that is, to bring the economy into a DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-70757629040475380852015-03-26T19:58:00.000-07:002016-03-26T13:59:05.826-07:00A change of heart: Government and MonopolyAnyone who has perused this blog at any length will note my rather extensive libertarian background. Heck I was once a Libertarian, a member of the party. I attended meetings and everything. That was years ago, but I still carry the basic impulse to shun the centralization of power and value freedom over all else.
But over the years, I've explored many other areas. The work of Henry George was DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-59419618519877511152013-10-05T16:43:00.000-07:002013-10-06T23:14:28.774-07:00How to fix the debt:Step One: Balanced Budget Amendment
The wording I propose is very simple. With the addition in red:
The Congress shall have Power... To borrow Money on the credit of the United States in a time of War as declared by Congress.
I personally don't see any reason why Congress needs the "flexibility" provided by the opportunity to borrow outside the circumstances of a life-and-death struggle..DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-90430289245626066672013-09-28T14:50:00.002-07:002013-09-29T09:41:52.901-07:00The Anarchist Underpinnings of The StateFor most people, it seems, The State "just is". While a lot of thought seems to have gone into the question of what the purpose of the state is, whether or not it is a desirable institution, I've not read a whole lot about the question of why The State exists in the first place, outside old assertions that it was originally brought about by a deity. In the following paragraphs, I hope to describeDASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-87511603764169165702013-09-22T10:54:00.001-07:002013-09-22T10:56:24.746-07:00On Negative CampaigningSomething I've figured out during my 35 years on this earth and only just now found the words for is this: people seem to identify most strongly in a negative fashion. Go among a group of like minded people and try to say something good about what they all ostensibly like, and usually you'll get a lukewarm reception. Go in their midst and insult their common interest and, of course, they'll rallyDASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-36452853061751432582013-03-22T22:47:00.002-07:002017-01-31T11:11:46.931-08:00Capital and Capital
Two Distinct Concepts under One Word
Thinking about the Civil War, I was working a concept over in my head. I believe that, though there is some question as to whether or not Slavery was the principle issue motivating those fighting the Civil War, it is most certainly the reason the South lost. The reason for this, is "Slavery ties up capital in the purchasing of labor, which would be availableDASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-78628965142655941662012-11-01T21:54:00.001-07:002012-11-01T21:54:08.866-07:00The King's TableI was thinking about the distinction between the traditional King's Table and the ideal of the Round Table at the Court of Camelot. At the traditional medieval table, the sovereign (whether King in the royal court, or local lord in a local court) sat at the head, and people were seated closer to or further away depending on their level of power and influence. The Round Table exemplified the idealDASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-52200549803383922292012-10-21T09:12:00.002-07:002012-10-21T09:14:31.706-07:00Abortion: One The Inconsistent Nature of Both Sides of the DebateRecently, a picture came across my Facebook feed, which inspired the following. I find it difficult to place myself in this debate, between the so-called "pro-life" and "pro-choice" crowds, because I consider the substance of both arguments to be generally lacking.
On the one hand, there's the pro life crowd. I can respect a consistent pro-lifer, who is simultaneously opposed to abortion asDASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-46881961282612134212012-05-16T20:02:00.001-07:002012-05-16T20:26:46.955-07:00Re: You're crazy.A fellow calling myself Dr. Chief recently posted the following on an earlier post on the Broken Window Fallacy:
You're crazy, even if he does spend the money for land, or ownership that benefits what you see as only himself, others will benefit in the future. You're argument takes for granted that at least half of people who have money are dishonest and will take advantage of the system to DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-51661954578759108942012-03-17T09:43:00.006-07:002012-03-17T12:50:16.987-07:00Redrawing Democracy: A Vision
I've been thinking today about my personal vision for the kind of society I would like to live in, a sort of "ideal picture" of an ideal country. It's actually pretty specific, and I think I am finding words to describe this picture. The first part is unabashed utopianism. The second part is serious "political science-fiction" as I like to call it.
Physically, visually, it looks somewhat like aDASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-13267414290473290692012-02-12T05:09:00.000-08:002012-02-12T05:21:43.863-08:00Redrawing Democracy AgainThe earliest posts on this blog are a series I had written on an even earlier blog (my old xoom.com site which no longer exists) on a blueprint for an entirely new kind of government. Nearly a decade has passed since I originally wrote these essays, and I've continued to put a lot of thought into the subject over that decade.That original plan suffered from severe complexity issues. I've also DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-37213574105112023442011-10-10T19:12:00.001-07:002011-10-10T19:23:22.992-07:00Can the President order assassinations?While I am displeased by the spinelessness of the Judicial branch when faced with a matter of "national security" these days, ironically enough I do believe it is possible for the President to indirectly authorize the assassination of any person he pleases... without any violation of the Constitution. I'm not saying he SHOULD do this... merely that he can. The political fallout would be what it DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-5308423871118964422011-02-23T14:30:00.000-08:002011-02-23T14:47:53.721-08:00Silver and GoldI keep reading "silver is the sleeping commodity!". "Silver has the potential to rise x percent!" "Buy silver, you won't regret it!" Always this is predicated on the fact that the ratio of prices of silver to gold are at a historic low. And this is true. But does it necessarily matter?I'm thinking "no." The problem is that gold and silver are used differently than they were historically. Prior toDASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-54125747370354606702010-12-23T11:39:00.000-08:002010-12-23T12:19:47.360-08:00Animal Spirits Pt. 4: ConclusionHaving finished this book, I can say I do like what I've read. Certainly I don't agree with every conclusion they've reached, nor do I agree with every analysis. But their approach is certainly more valid than the approach made by even the standard economics stories I'm familiar with. In a way, by acknowledging the fact that individual and cultural variations make most dry quantitative approachesDASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-10916510300927523222010-12-19T12:28:00.001-08:002010-12-19T14:20:31.337-08:00Animal Spirits Pt. 3: Natural Wage Theory, Money Illusion, and WagesI just finished reading Chapter 9 of Animal Spirits. Now I see the point of criticizing Natural Rate Theory. I mentioned in an earlier installment that I suspect that, over the long time, wages will tend to track inflation, but lag behind. Akerlof and Shiller appear to be saying that this is precisely the point. Steady inflation holds wages at a lower level, one which allows a lower level of DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-83624486683003865062010-12-18T20:04:00.000-08:002010-12-18T20:41:59.710-08:00Worst Case ScenarioIt occurs to me the world could actually end (or rather, begin to unravel) in 2012. This has little to do with Mayan calendars and what not, and more to do with the potential consequences of the unraveling of the final bubble, the bond market. In the late nineties bubble money fled from the stock market on the wake of the tech boom, into the real estate market. Real estate collapsed, and bubble DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-66406680129384405932010-11-28T09:44:00.000-08:002010-11-28T11:13:34.281-08:00Animal Spirits Pt. 2: Money IllusionI am unfamiliar with the term "money illusion", but from what I'm gathering from this chapter as I read it, this refers to the failure by many people to account for changes in the purchasing power of money in their financial planning. In short, the term "money illusion" is kind of like the inverse of another term I am familiar with, "Neutrality of money". Most economists operation under the DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-68491035501983353392010-11-16T09:29:00.001-08:002010-11-28T11:14:34.223-08:00Animal SpiritsA friend of mine and I occasionally discuss questions of politics and economics. He recently read George A. Akerlof's and Robert J. Shiller's Animal Spirits. At his recommendation, I am also reading it. Of course, I can't help but read it from the Misesian perspective I've been absorbing as I read through Von Mises's Human Action. I'll be using this space to comment as I read through.I just DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-69415018952600793612010-10-10T05:07:00.000-07:002010-10-10T05:45:34.981-07:00Chinese Monetary ManipulationOr "the pot calls the kettle black".Unless you've just not been following the news at all lately, you might have noticed that there is some controversy between the governments of the United States and China over Chinese policy with regard to the value of their Renminbi against the US Dollar. It is said that, by devaluing their currency, the Chinese government is impairing the ability of US DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-61396012194035887312010-05-23T06:26:00.000-07:002010-05-23T06:57:10.672-07:00Letter to Rand PaulDuring the primary season, I had a decision with regard to which libertarian Senate candidate to put my limited financial support towards, Rand Paul or Peter Schiff. I decided on Schiff. Schiff is a successful investor, a well educated Austrian economist with a track record of successfully predicting market movements. All I knew about Paul was that he his his father's son... though I had no idea DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-28001485710208498542010-05-16T08:31:00.000-07:002010-05-16T13:28:18.991-07:00Island TalesImagine an island. Imagine there are a hundred people living on it. Imagine ten of these people are free men, and the other ninety are slaves. Does this sound like a free society?Now imagine a different island. On this island, all 100 are free men, but ten of them own all the land on the island. The other ninety have to somehow satisfy one of the ten to earn the privilege of existing on this DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-32746893252290768882010-05-11T03:35:00.001-07:002010-05-14T18:16:09.413-07:00British PetroleumJust some thoughts I had as I listened to the various radio stories on the big British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.There are a number of questions being asked in the media about this spill. Was it preventable? If so, whose fault was it? Does BP generally have a corporate culture that doesn't do preventative maintenance, a "fix it as it breaks" culture as one investigator in an DASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7067375.post-69163231354222270112010-03-15T18:00:00.000-07:002010-03-15T18:56:14.361-07:00The Constitution?I was thinking tonight about Ron Paul's candidacy for the Republican Nomination this last presidential election cycle. One thing that has stuck in my mind is the support afforded him by certain prominent racists, and the controversy that generated in the pro-freedom community. It's a strange phenomenon, one most people don't even question: that movement, and those individuals most single-mindedlyDASawyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09301937436588661141noreply@blogger.com3