Economics & Empire 369

But that is not so with computers, for no matter how many doctorates one holds in computer science, at some point the system disappears into a world of magic.

Those who believe themselves above primitive nativist loyalty should take care, lest they be discovered worse than infidels for falling short of it.

This week I have been lecturing at the Ignatianum Academy in Krakow, Poland. It has been a marvelous experience thus far, including time spent in the classroom with bright students,…

Am I, someone hostile to large-scale corporate enterprises, really permitted to complain about a localist glitch in Comcast’s global footprint?

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Wichita, KS Dahlia Lithwick and Ezra Klein are a couple of my favorite pundits in the whole blogosphere. Lithwick is snarky, and Klein is wonky,…

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] I'd like to call upon the collective wisdom of the Front Porch Republic, to help me with a new class I'll be teaching in the…

Jeremy Grantham is paid to make people money. Among his clients is Dick Cheney, who, based on Grantham's advice, was well-positioned before the economic collapse (as I noted at the…

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Wichita, KS That's a terribly unChristian thing to say, I know. To speak in moral terms--to speak of "desert"--in matters of war is to invariably…

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of addressing the ISI Conference at Taylor University, “Whose Capitalism? Which Free Market? Exploring the Moral Dimensions of the Market.” My message to the…

What the political mainstream ignores, unsurprisingly, is that any change in how we raise revenue cannot be only about balancing the numbers. It also involves judgements about the texture of…

The regime changes in Egypt and Tunisia have been hailed as victories for democracy, as proof of the liberalizing power of social networking media, as testimony to the power of…

In the wake of a series of catastrophes in the course of recent years - the financial crisis and the Great Recession; the Gulf oil "spill" as well as a…

“Competitiveness” is the new “proactive” – the word, to paraphrase The Simpsons, that dumb people are using to sound important. Or, more precisely, it’s the word that ostensibly smart people…

[Cross-posted to In Medias Res] Wichita, KS Let me make two things clear: first, all things considered, I still think Barack Obama has been, and remains, a pretty decent president--certainly…

It was the best of times; It was the worst of times. Charles Dickens begins A Tale of Two Cities with a paradox, but one that is easily resolved because…

Those who benefit most from collective bargaining limits in Wisconsin can’t speak as loudly as those who oppose such legislation.

The demonstrations in support of union power in Wisconsin ought to speak powerfully to all localists, despite the complicated baggage they bring with them.

Here are two scenarios: one leads through democratic enlightenment to peace and prosperity, and the other through intractable economic problems to war and disintegration.

A revised foreign policy true to the principles of the Porch should turn the present one upside down.

Remembering Ike's "Farewell Address," fifty years later.

TAC reconsiders Eisenhower's Farewell Address, delivered fifty years ago next month. Kauffman and yours truly participate in a fine symposium reflecting on the dangers of the "military-industrial complex."

While there is much work to be done and there are no guarantees of success, we don’t have to look far for the foundations upon which to build. They are…

I value a writer who makes me read with a dictionary. Godspeed the man with a memory.

What if every day was given to rest, eating, and relaxation?