Perhaps it’s just for convenience that most macroeconomics textbooks still teach and discuss monetary and banking policy as if the 2008 and 2020 changes never happened. But when I recently supplemented a classroom discussion with the actual framework, I fell down a rabbit hole so disturbing that Bob Lee Swagger’s horrified line from Shooter, “What kind of sick mind would think of something like this?” (this is the TV version of the original), has been looping in my head ever since.

Let me begin with an apology for my relatively late entry into this debate. I would have interjected earlier, but for three months, I have been dealing with cancer and starting a new job as Assistant Professor of Economics at the Panamerican Institute of Senior Management. This prevented me from following content like the exchange between Professors Philipp Bagus and Jörg Guido Hülsmann on mises.org. Professor Bagus recently brought it to my attention, and soon after, I came across Dr. Bob Murphy’s podcast episode on the topic.

George P. Fletcher is widely regarded as an authority in criminal law, and he has taught at Columbia University Law School for many years. He is also an authority on Kant’s moral philosophy and, contrary to the secular views of most of his contemporaries, is interested in the religious origins of our belief in moral rights.

While there exists the beautiful and productive possibility of cooperation between individuals and groups, there is also the opportunity for and reality of conflict.

In high school, I was exposed to the conventional wisdom concerning our nation’s founding—Battles of Lexington and Concord, Declaration of Independence, British defeat at Saratoga and Yorktown, and the Peace of Paris 1783. Finally, the Articles of Confederation were given short shrift, as the failed initial attempt at self-government that necessitated a stronger federation under the Constitution.

Two lightbulb moments changed my history book view of the Articles:

Accusations of genocide in Gaza are present everywhere except where most people get their news—mainstream media—but is it fair to call the military action in Gaza a genocide?