What do you think about sanctions on Cuba, Russia, Iran, North Korea? Take them as a group or each separately if they warrant it.
With Cuba, I think it makes to too easy to blame their troubles on an external force (the US). But people will always blame the US for everything, I guess.
The world's worst dictatorships - most notably Hoxha's Albania and North Korea - have been almost totally autarchic. I think the dictators are correct to believe that foreign trade is dangerous for their regimes' long-run survival, because it allows "dangerous" foreign ideas to spread, and creates alternative power bases. So if you want to undermine a foreign tyranny, your default should be to allow as much trade as the tyranny allows.
On the strategic use of sanctions, I think early Hanania had it right. They very rarely work, especially if you (a) want big changes, and (b) don't even talk to the enemy to tell them what they have to do to end the sanctions. Late Hanania is right that there is a deterrent effect on other regimes. But sanctions are mostly about our leaders' domestic pride and action bias: they have to "do something" even if it's harmful to tyrannies' actual victims.
I haven't read it because he refuses to publish his books now and I don't want to read a PDF on my computer or phone (nor talking to ChatGPT about it for hours on end).
62 percent of Americans have money in the stock market and it’s reasonable to guess another 10 percent have an interest in wanting the market to go up. Maybe they’re expecting an inheritance someday or they’re in a business that deals in high-end goods or whatever. Have we gotten to the point where both major political parties would be scared to take action that crashes the market? Does that give you reason for optimism?
Neither party wants to blatantly crash the stock market. They probably never have. But there are minimal consequences of just being persistently crummy, leading to stock market stagnation. If it's not vivid, it won't change electoral outcomes.
Also, there's tons of evidence that voters hate inflation, but that didn't stop Biden...
How would fibre optic cable, plumbing, electricity, etc. get built/maintained under anarcho capitalism? I want a more practical answer than "privately" so that I can imagine it in the real world because I'm very sympathetic to anarcho-capitalism.
I don't believe in eternal souls; I believe in minds that (if we're lucky) stay alive as long as our bodies. This has been my view since I was about 15, so no self-scorn.
What do you think about sanctions on Cuba, Russia, Iran, North Korea? Take them as a group or each separately if they warrant it.
With Cuba, I think it makes to too easy to blame their troubles on an external force (the US). But people will always blame the US for everything, I guess.
The world's worst dictatorships - most notably Hoxha's Albania and North Korea - have been almost totally autarchic. I think the dictators are correct to believe that foreign trade is dangerous for their regimes' long-run survival, because it allows "dangerous" foreign ideas to spread, and creates alternative power bases. So if you want to undermine a foreign tyranny, your default should be to allow as much trade as the tyranny allows.
On the strategic use of sanctions, I think early Hanania had it right. They very rarely work, especially if you (a) want big changes, and (b) don't even talk to the enemy to tell them what they have to do to end the sanctions. Late Hanania is right that there is a deterrent effect on other regimes. But sanctions are mostly about our leaders' domestic pride and action bias: they have to "do something" even if it's harmful to tyrannies' actual victims.
What do you think of Tyler Cowen's new book?
I haven't read it because he refuses to publish his books now and I don't want to read a PDF on my computer or phone (nor talking to ChatGPT about it for hours on end).
I'm afraid I haven't read it either.
62 percent of Americans have money in the stock market and it’s reasonable to guess another 10 percent have an interest in wanting the market to go up. Maybe they’re expecting an inheritance someday or they’re in a business that deals in high-end goods or whatever. Have we gotten to the point where both major political parties would be scared to take action that crashes the market? Does that give you reason for optimism?
Neither party wants to blatantly crash the stock market. They probably never have. But there are minimal consequences of just being persistently crummy, leading to stock market stagnation. If it's not vivid, it won't change electoral outcomes.
Also, there's tons of evidence that voters hate inflation, but that didn't stop Biden...
How would fibre optic cable, plumbing, electricity, etc. get built/maintained under anarcho capitalism? I want a more practical answer than "privately" so that I can imagine it in the real world because I'm very sympathetic to anarcho-capitalism.
"Big HOAs" is the easiest answer. Roads are a harder issue that any of these, no?
Would your younger self be scornful of your older self now that he believes in the magic of souls?
I don't believe in eternal souls; I believe in minds that (if we're lucky) stay alive as long as our bodies. This has been my view since I was about 15, so no self-scorn.