The concept of a city, of a large group of people living in close proximity to exchange value, has played an essential role in human development from the earliest recorded history to the present era. How desirable a city is to live in is one of the most fundamental factors…

All political goals require public support to be achieved. This is a basic fact of the political life of any system. And at its root, support requires trust. It is trust that empowers cooperation in society, and it forms the essential mortar to hold any project together from start to…

The present moment is dire for the international dollar-denominated economy. Since 2008, real debt levels have grown 400% and have outstripped real productivity and wealth (with incomes rising only 30% in the same period). The pandemic has devastated the real economy and accentuated the difference between debt and value creation…

Life in all its manifestations, from the sciences to the personal level is made through variation, time, and entropy, complex and variable, with change being the only seeming constant. Change is the engine that powers the growth of difference, and it is difference that fuels Darwinian evolution, the diversification of…

Studies suggest that people can endure more pain when they have money in their hands than when they don’t. What about holding paper or metal money makes us care so much about it? When we take a closer look at what money is, the question becomes how does it relate…

The United States today exhibits a republican government structure. It’s foundational document, the Constitution, enumerates the rights enjoyed by every citizen. These are not subject to abridgement by the vote of a majority. This limitation on the type of decisions that can be made helps define the liberal republican government…

In my last post, I argued that development in mainland China will increase the ability of Chinese to act more freely. This could interfere with their leadership’s plans because rising wealth in a market setting also correlates with rising economic liberties. This type of choice, once exercised in the market…

As we in the West struggle to find our footing in the middle of one of the most severe public health crises in recent memory, coping also with political unrest, people may feel tempted to reevaluate the apparent sleek bureaucratic management style of the Chinese state. The mantra-like praise of…