Though I don't have time to write my own analysis, this article is really good. Sound economics, good explanation of demand/supply for oil. You should read it.
Here's a second article that I found interesting. It certainly has some flaws - particularly in assuming that we could grow enough corn and other agricultural products to produce ethanol in sufficient quantities to replace oil, and it was written by a pol, but it's interesting.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Scary - sort of.
Take a look at this. So now Iran has openly said that the United States could not win a war against them. Interesting. It was also proclaimed that the US is a "decaying power". Now, it could be that this is another example of the rhetoric that has historically been used again the West ("we will bury you", "the great satan", etc.), or it could be that Iran is looking at the way a vocal portion of this country is doing its very best to demolish our ability to wage war and taking comfort.
No, no economic thoughts right now. Sorry. Not really. Maybe later.
No, no economic thoughts right now. Sorry. Not really. Maybe later.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Biblical warfare.
During WWI a British Army officer was fighting in Israel around Michmash, the location of Jonathan's victory in 1Samuel with his weapons bearer. The officer recognized the name, looked up the battle in his Bible, copied Johnathan's tactics of going through the hidden pass, and won a victory.
Yet another example of Biblical wisdom or actions continuing to prove applicable in this age.
Yet another example of Biblical wisdom or actions continuing to prove applicable in this age.
More thoughts on Japanese Warfare
Allow my to indulge myself once again with the conclusion to my Japanese thoughts. Again, there are two parts.
First - during the roughly one hundred years of civil war, is was most common for warriors and samurai to be paid when they could present the head of an enemy after a battle. This led to some warriors trying to enter the battle late - after the majority of the fighting was completed - to collect a head. To counter this, significant effort was put into methods of determining if a head was removed pre or post-mortem. To me, this is a pretty good example of poorly designed incentives that lead to additional expenditure to remedy the situation.
Second - opportunistically switching sides was considered dishonorable. Extremely so. Samurai were expected to be willing to fight to the death for their employer, but in defeat, once they were threatened with death and had not flinched - thereby proving their worth and honor - they were offered a chance to switch sides. Dealing with incentives again, this of course decreased the expected cost of being "willing to die", and therefore decreased the meaningfulness and value of such an oath.
First - during the roughly one hundred years of civil war, is was most common for warriors and samurai to be paid when they could present the head of an enemy after a battle. This led to some warriors trying to enter the battle late - after the majority of the fighting was completed - to collect a head. To counter this, significant effort was put into methods of determining if a head was removed pre or post-mortem. To me, this is a pretty good example of poorly designed incentives that lead to additional expenditure to remedy the situation.
Second - opportunistically switching sides was considered dishonorable. Extremely so. Samurai were expected to be willing to fight to the death for their employer, but in defeat, once they were threatened with death and had not flinched - thereby proving their worth and honor - they were offered a chance to switch sides. Dealing with incentives again, this of course decreased the expected cost of being "willing to die", and therefore decreased the meaningfulness and value of such an oath.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Great Article!
Just going about my business and found this superb article by Thomas Sowell. He writes on the disturbing irrelevance of the facts - a situation I have noticed for several years now and that really pesters me.
Good Morning!
Believe it or not, I have been up since about 5:30am. It feels great. Got the new laptop, and it has been a pleasure to write on for the last 18 hours.
Just have some random military-economic thoughts about Japan this morning. Did you know that in 1500s Japan, commoners were allowed to own land but not allowed to possess weapons and samurai were allows to own weapons but not land? Very interesting. Puts the power to protect property in the hands of those who do not have the property themselves. Removes all power to rebel/defend from taxes on land or crops - property taxes - from those who would pay such taxes. Not quite a state monopoly on deadly force, but the samurai worked for the state most of time around that time period.
At the beginning of the above, and to end the one-hundred year civil war, all commoners were required to surrender their swords. To reduce the friction this would cause, the blades were melted into a giant religious statue. The idea was that this statue would pick up the responsibility of protection and peace-enforcement. Hmmm. Wonder what you could make with seized guns that would fill the same role? Watch out for this idea in the future - or at least the basic concept or giving up weapons but not losing the protection of property and person.
I have several interesting economic ideas about Japanese warfare, but I'll wait a while before writing those.
Just have some random military-economic thoughts about Japan this morning. Did you know that in 1500s Japan, commoners were allowed to own land but not allowed to possess weapons and samurai were allows to own weapons but not land? Very interesting. Puts the power to protect property in the hands of those who do not have the property themselves. Removes all power to rebel/defend from taxes on land or crops - property taxes - from those who would pay such taxes. Not quite a state monopoly on deadly force, but the samurai worked for the state most of time around that time period.
At the beginning of the above, and to end the one-hundred year civil war, all commoners were required to surrender their swords. To reduce the friction this would cause, the blades were melted into a giant religious statue. The idea was that this statue would pick up the responsibility of protection and peace-enforcement. Hmmm. Wonder what you could make with seized guns that would fill the same role? Watch out for this idea in the future - or at least the basic concept or giving up weapons but not losing the protection of property and person.
I have several interesting economic ideas about Japanese warfare, but I'll wait a while before writing those.
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