On Tariiffs, Free Trade and Ronald Reagan

Four things can be true at the same time 1. Free trade has optimal utility in the long term. 2. Tariffs have a working purpose in the short run to punish those who don't play by the rules necessary for free trade. However it is not a long term solution. Tariffs lead to counter tariffs and trade wars. 3. Ronald Reagan was not a fan of tariffs..hell he set up the FTA which evolved into NAFTA under George H W Bush. 4. NAFTA needed to be renegotiated to fit in with the changing economic environment. This did occur under Trump's First term.

Reflections XXX - Some Wisdom

The curse of the Irish on a generalized level is that they cannot shake their affiliation with the underdog, even if the so-called underdog acts in a morally reprehensible manner. It is for this reason that they have often embraced Palestinian nationalism in its most toxic form.

The Jesuit Pope Francis probably did more to advance progressivism than any other papal figure. Like other popes before him he deluded himself into believing that he was on the right side of history, giving more space than he ought to have to Hegelian idealism.

The French are one of the few nations that take more of a sense of power from their growing irrelevancy.

Communism, National Socialism and Islamism have in addition for their embrace of collectivism a particular hatred for the Jew. One explanation is that Judaism embraces the sanctity of the Individual and is encouraged to debate with G-d thereby questioning any power structure.

Progressivisms biggest weakness is its very nature scorns self control thereby opening itself to extremes by its radical elements.

Reflections - XXIX - October Thoughts

 A person whose sole motivation is pleasure in the afterlife will likely do great harm to themselves in present life as they as they chase a reward for goodness instead of acting with moral intent for the righteous act in and of itself.

Its difficult to not take seriously the notion that the success of the American Revolution wasn’t so much a patriotic victory but a move by the British to minimize their losses.

One can always rely on mathematics to find a safe way of hiding a model from criticism if the evidence in its support is lacking.

The devil is always in the quality and validity of the assumptions.

The success of the British Empire lay with its ability to delegate. It therefore made great use of local networks of administration, designated ‘poopahs’, foreign mercenaries and regional businessmen. The failure of the Mongol empire outside China itself  (with the Yuan dynasty) is that it never came to terms with this idea.

No system, no matter how robust it is on paper can stand up to the folly of the ego of those who run it.

Reflection - XXVIII - Grasping at Sanity

Marvel comics blurred the line between Science in the Spiderman origin and Magic as exemplified by the Norse hero Thor. The distinction became indecipherable until the world was given no choice but to rescue itself with alternative universes. By that time it was too late. Credibility had collapsed.

The fertile ground for Islamism in the west is the post modernist platform that has elevated indifference as the mainstay of the liberal democracies today.

The agenda of the elites has always been about the control of information. Artificial Intelligence is merely the latest phase in the application of this philosophy.

Christianity would never have enjoyed the success it has had without its skillful manipulation of pagan iconography.

If the Jew didn’t exist it would be necessary to invent him as failed ideas and evil need a scapegoat to redirect attention away from their lack of success. The Jew is the convenient other for all types of charlatans, of which there is no short supply.

The great Hegelian lie is that history has direction. This is no more true than the intended directionality of history. Cause and effect eschews such simplification.

A deep concern is not that we may never learn the truth but that so many people have no desire or need to ever want to find it.