Remember that credit is money.
—Benjamin Franklin
The June 2023 Supreme Court decision to reject the Biden administration’s plan that pandered to those claiming impoverishment by the costs of higher education is a second-act curtain on the student debt drama. A third act in the drama was outlined by President Biden on June 30 using piecemeal administrative decisions.
Status inequality is inevitable due to the uneven distribution of talent. Even in poor societies, talented people eclipse their peers by joining the ranks of the elite. Inequality is an indication that ability is recognized by society. The absence of inequality suggests that talent is uncultivated.
As Ukrainian forces continue their much-hyped counteroffensive to take back contested territories in the country’s eastern and southern regions, we’re faced with conflicting coverage of the campaign. Many reports say Ukraine’s forces are struggling to break through the minefields fortifying Russia’s lines.
F.A. Hayek is one of the most influential figures in the field of social science. His works ranged from philosophy to economics to jurisprudence to psychology. He won the Nobel Prize in economics in 1974 and was probably the last major Austrian economist from Austria. He was not only important in Austrian economics but also in mainstream economics. One of his most popular works was the book The Road to Serfdom. Even though it was written in 1944, it is still read by many and was a bestseller in 2010 on Amazon.
You’re driving on a two-lane road and see cars headed your way. Do you drive off the road to protect yourself or your family? Probably not. You stay on your side, while they stay on theirs. In most cases you’re in a situation of mutually assured destruction if either one crosses the center line. It is not from the benevolence of the other drivers that we expect them to stay in their lane but from their regard to their own self-interest.
Pennsylvania has no state minimum wage. Currently, the law of the land is the federal minimum wage that sits at $7.25 per hour. Not having a state minimum wage can be immensely beneficial assuming that the general business climate is amenable to growth. Pennsylvania definitely can’t boast of that yet, but they have taken steps to get there. However, recent actions by the Democrat-controlled State House of Representatives threatens this potential growth.
In recent years, blockchain surveillance (BS) companies have become increasingly important players in the cryptocurrency industry. Their business model consists in developing proprietary software that collects and interprets public data available on public blockchains and in selling their services to governments, banks, exchanges, and others that need access to this data. Usually, governments are interested in collecting information about financial crimes, while other institutional players use BS companies for compliance, especially with regard to customer due diligence.
Caitlin Long tweeted over the July 4 weekend, “BIG NEWS for #fintech! A sixth US state—Idaho—is willing to charter uninsured, non-lending, 100% reserve banks that are eligible for Fed master accounts (the other states are CT, ME, NE, VT & WY). This trend could turn the ‘bank-as-a-service’ (#BaaS) model on its head!!!!!”
My article “The Education of the Modern Socialist” deserves a follow-up. The first part showed that a change has occurred in the definition of “socialism”—a necessary change in view of the failures of this ideology during the last century. Socialism today is based on the ideology of “statism”—the conviction that the state must play a fundamental role in society.
