Don’t let political rhetoric dissuade you from reading on the issues: read this article

Look, I know that amidst all the rhetoric that is happening in U.S. politics it is easiest to have a knee-jerk reaction of rejecting anything anyone on the opposing side says, but I implore you to consider the implications of certain political decisions.

A recent Newsweek article calls for the election of Romney primarily due to fiscal policy through his running mate Paul Ryan. Again, I know, if you see “Romney” or “Paul Ryan” you may think “evil bad guy” and stop reading, but please read on the issues. This article is from Harvard Professor, Niall Ferguson, who specializes (in part) in economic history. Here’s just one choice quote:

“[O]ne thing is clear. Ryan psychs Obama out. This has been apparent ever since the White House went on the offensive against Ryan in the spring of last year. And the reason he psychs him out is that, unlike Obama, Ryan has a plan—as opposed to a narrative—for this country.”

What is this plan? Read the article and find out. Yes it’s 5 pages. No, it isn’t filled with attacking individuals. Yes it focuses instead upon actual fiscal policy and defense decisions. Read it. Let’s have political debate on a higher level than mud-slinging.http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/08/19/niall-ferguson-on-why-barack-obama-needs-to-go.html

Should We Change Gun Control Laws in the United States?

I just started reading John Lott, Jr.’s The Bias Against Guns and I was thinking it would be interesting to discuss the topic here once I’m done.  For now, I leave you with a quick quote from the book to chew on. Vote on the poll!

Guns not only make it easier for people to harm others, guns also make it easier for people to protect themselves and prevent criminal acts from happening… [T]here are many tradeoffs [with gun control]… On one side, rules governing gun use can hinder people’s ability to deter or stop criminal attacks. But on the other, these same rules have the potential to prevent the harm that guns cause. Every gun law faces this trade-off (3).

Money: It’s weird.

Does anyone else stop and think about how extraordinarily strange money is? I go to a store, I hand them some random hunks of metal with some dude’s face on it along with some random pieces of cloth/paper and then I get food/a book/etc. It’s just weird!

And really, why does money have any value? It’s not backed by gold anymore. It’s just fictitious. It has value because we keep giving people are stuff/work in exchange for these rather useless objects. I mean do you ever think that maybe one day you’ll wake up and everyone will have realized that all this stuff is really just worthless and that they don’t feel like giving you their shirt or produce or the like in exchange for it?

I don’t know. I guess it just weirds me out a little bit. Hopefully not too many people decide money is weird. I’m not sure I have many talents to barter.