1+ day, 17+ hour ago   (313+ words) Let me try to tell a condensed version of that story. As the country’s unifying institutions withered, one new institution attempted to step into the void: the American university. Universities were not new in the late 20th century, of course, but…...

5+ day, 19+ hour ago   (1174+ words) “Be assured, my young friend, that there is a great deal of ruin in a nation.” — Adam Smith But the Yanks must not shut up. Whether or not the Brits need our advice, we need to have our own internal…...

1+ week, 16+ hour ago   (627+ words) A month ago I wrote a post reflecting on whether my blog output is as relevant as it used to be: My basic concern is that the U.S. has entered a political era in which reasoned assessment of the evidence, concern…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago   (1721+ words) My elderly rabbit Giggles has unfortunately been quite sick the past two days (he’s recovering now), so I haven’t had as much time to write. Instead I thought I would repost a book review I did two years ago. I’ll…...

1+ week, 6+ day ago   (1443+ words) When I was young, I mowed lawns for money. As a high school kid, I signed up to pick cotton by hand (!!) for an agricultural research project at Texas A&M University, for minimum wage1. I have also worked as a…...

2+ week, 1+ day ago   (353+ words) In my post on America’s 250-year anniversary, I argued that respect for the individual was the “secret sauce” in the U.S.’ long-lasting preeminence among nations. But it was certainly not the only factor. There were plenty of institutional innovations…...

2+ week, 3+ day ago   (1051+ words) “Her belly may be full, but her spirit will be empty.” — Captain Picard Usually, these “GDP is actually good” posts start with a big disclaimer — an acknowledgement of all the things GDP doesn’t measure, all the reasons that measuring GDP…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago   (843+ words) Back in the 2010s, a lot of people marveled at China’s seemingly recession-proof economy. Throughout the global financial crisis of 2008 and the Chinese stock market crash and capital flight of 2015, the country never recorded a single quarter of negative economic growth....

3+ week, 17+ hour ago   (249+ words) “What other country would have done this?” — Daniel Inouye “We don’t repeat this every day, but there are 33 words that are very sacred to all of us. We do the repetition a little differently but ‘We hold these truths to…...

3+ week, 2+ day ago   (888+ words) Birthright citizenship is the law of the land. The Supreme Court has once again ruled that the 14th Amendment gives automatic citizenship to anyone born in the U.S.1 This includes the children of illegal immigrants and temporary visa holders, both of which…...