“What is the Fed doing?” Lately, I get asked that question rather frequently. My response is invariably, “I have no idea. I don’t think even the Fed knows what it is doing.” And, therein lies an interesting problem, both economic and philosophical. The economic background. In 2008, faced with that Financial Crisis you probably heard something about, the Fed did the right thing in flooding the markets with liquidity. What we now know was happening was an … [Read more...] about Can the Fed Make a Decision?
Modern Society
Media Madness
If you want to understand the Presidential Election of 2020, you really ought to read a book published in 2008. James Bowman, Media Madness The Corruption of Our Political Culture. (Bowman writes a monthly column on the media for the New Criterion, which is also always well worth reading.) The thesis is in the title: The Media are Mad, not angry mad, but the type of madness that produces “the real arrogance of assuming that no other belief is possible without the assumption of the … [Read more...] about Media Madness
How to Teach About the Greeks
The non-controversial claim: The Greeks (ancient, not modern) are extremely interesting. (The modern Greek economy is just a mess; it’s hard to believe that country was once a mighty empire.) The Greeks are not just interesting in some specific narrow way—across the board, there are endlessly fascinating things going on between 1000 BC and 30 BC in Greece. The Puzzle: Why did nothing in my education ever teach me that fact? When I think back to high school, I had … [Read more...] about How to Teach About the Greeks
Reading Native Son in the 21st Century
Some books get better with age. Native Son is a book like that. The story, originally published in 1940: Bigger, a young black delinquent, gets a job as a chauffeur to wealthy white family, murders the daughter on his first night on the job, does a terrible job trying to cover up the crime, is discovered, flees, murders another girl, is caught, and is put on trial. The book highlights two great divides in American society. First, the Black-White divide. As a historical … [Read more...] about Reading Native Son in the 21st Century
Leadership in a Democracy
Why is is so hard to get a Great leader in a Democracy?The answer may lie in the First History of Leadership, the origin not only of something recognizable as a history book, but the first historical textbook on leadership: Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War. A note on editions: if you want to read this book, there is no contest about which version to read. The Landmark Thucydides, edited by Robert Strassler, is really the only choice. An amazingly edited volume. … [Read more...] about Leadership in a Democracy
The Beauty of Appalachia
Barbara Kingsolver, Prodigal Summer The book is set in Appalachia. That is the most important fact about the book. This is a book about Appalachia. Sure, there are people and animals and plants, but the book is really about the place. It is a place which is rooted, deeply rooted, in the soil, in history, in tradition, in everything which creates Culture. An outsider to Appalachia has no hope of understanding Appalachia. An outsider to Appalachia reading this book will … [Read more...] about The Beauty of Appalachia