Linguist, Psychologist, and author Claude Piron authored an interesting essay, which I just came across, on Psychological Aspects of the World Language Problem and of Esperanto (English Translation), which has some interesting parallels to the cause of classical liberalism.
Especially when you’re talking about running other people’s lives. The food-stamps-for-candy controversy provides a pretty good example of the unintended consequences of public policy.So we want people to eat more? Give them food stamps. But they’re spending the food stamps on candy and soft drinks. So we tell them that they can’t spend the stamps on candy and soft drinks. Some of them sell the stamps at a discount outside the store. So we make that illegal.
Neither [political] party addressed the unexpected contribution of military spending to economic growth.
The article goes on to describe how a bit of a housing bubble has developed in the UK, fed by low interest rates. Does all of this sound familiar?
The American Institute for Economic Research, a private foundation, will be hosting a conference in May to examine AN EXPLORATION OF THE PROCESS OF THE RESUMPTION OF THE GOLD STANDARD[link].
In explaining his position on the Iraq War, John Derbyshire has this to say about the nature of trade: “The imperialist principle is ‘trade follows the flag.’ The case I am stating is more like: ‘The flag will get pulled along in trade’s wake, whether you like it or not.’” He then asserts that whether Americans are interested in the rest of the world, “The world, unfortunately, is very interested in America, as events occasionally remind us.
From the official GDP press release: “Real federal government consumption expenditures and gross investment increased 10.1 percent in the first quarter, compared with an increase of 0.7 percent in the fourth. National defense increased 15.1 percent, compared with an increase of 3.0 percent. Nondefense increased 0.7 percent, in contrast to a decrease of 3.7 percent. Real state and local government consumption expenditures and gross investment decreased 2.6 percent, compared with a decrease of 0.5 percent.”
A New York Times news analysis of “microcredit” in Bangladesh subtly debunks the main myths of the movement: 1) that micro-lenders have discovered entrepreneurial opportunities that regular banks and financial institutions have overlooked because of a bias against the poor, 2) that microlending is a market-sustained sector as versus one massively subsidized by governments and non-profits, and 3) that microlending has proven to be an unmitigated success.
