warnings and disclaimers

I'm conflicted about something, here, and I need to talk about it before I go on.  On the one hand, I don't want to start off every blog post with warnings and disclaimers (warning: I don't so much care what other people think about me; mandatory disclaimer: no one blog post is a complete thought, because I tend to write about issues that are highly complex, and blog posts are short), but on the other hand, this blog was created with a purpose.  I really want to be able to articulate points on this blog that will help liberals and conservatives see my political perspective.

Right now, with a Democrat as president, I'll appear to most people around me as a conservative (I know, I know, it doesn't help that I live in NYC, either), even though when Bush was president, most people thought I was a liberal.  I'm neither.  I would consider myself to be a voluntaryist.  That means I hate both parties equally, because I don't really see a difference.

Obviously, we can't blame all of societies problems on Bush, Obama, the Democrats, or the Republicans-- even though they have all had something to do with them.

We can only solve the problems by understanding one key thing, then taking action on it.  The world doesn't run on gumdrops and unicorn farts.  Policy doesn't create outcomes by wishing it.  Bad policy is bad policy, no matter what your intentions are.  Want to decrease abortion?  Me too!  We could ban it, because that really worked with heroine, crack, and prostitution, right?  Want to get rid of poverty?  Me too!  Current policy (give money away) is not working.  Let's find something that does.

What Is Your Single Greatest Fear?

But just out of these options:
1- Robots killing all the humans
2- Small pox/ebola or some kind of virus killing us
3- Gray Goo
4- Israel bombs Iran and starts WWIII
5- Computers are used in the future to control everyone
6- Runaway global warming killing us
7- The singularity taking too long to happen

They've made movies about 4 out of the 7 (that I know of).

I'm a #7 guy, like Peter Thiel, because I know that if I can imagine amazing technology that would eradicate hunger, extend lives, and help us colonize space, then the stuff I can't even imagine yet must be so much more awesome.  When I describe the time in the future when our current problems don't exist, my sentence tends to start with "If we don't kill ourselves first."  The Singularity has to happen before we blow ourselves up. 

The one I'm least worried about?  #6.

"So, why do you think some people are poor?"

The girlfriend and I were hanging out with some of her friends the other day.  And there were some friends of those friends.  One of them started rattling something off about economics, and talked about how he was an econ major at Berkley.  Okay, if you're an econ major at Berkley, I know what kind of economics you learned.  Not that they teach it MUCH different at most major public schools (one class I took notwithstanding).

But here was an obviously intelligent guy who seemed to think that income stratification CAUSE poverty.  I disagreed.  We tiffed back and forth, seemly friendly, then he threw this one out at me:

"So, why do YOU think some people are poor?"

I made a dumb answer, not thinking first, "Because of learned helplessness."

"Oh my god," he said.  "I can't-I-you really said that.  I can't even have a conversation with you."  And then the car sat in awkward silence for a while.

Those of you who've taken a glance at the Mises Institute or looked at non-Keynesian economics know that my answer wasn't necessarily WRONG in the context of "not related," but it was more INCOMPLETE, and not the best way to handle that confrontation.  So I want to respond to that question with  my thoughts, and at least know that I got the right answer out into the void.

Why are some people poor?  Way to give me a question that can be answered in one sentence!  I can tell you that poor people don't exist  because rich people exist.  There aren't 2.5 billion people living on a dollar a day because Bill Gates owns all the money.

Maybe we're asking the wrong question.  Poverty is natural, like gravity.  Show me another animal that has cell phones, climate controlled homes, and has built rockets that take them to the moon and back, and I'll admit I might be wrong.  Every other animal on this planet lives, naturally, in what we humans consider "poverty."  Why are we different?

Our difference has to do with the source of wealth.  Some people would say that wealth comes from natural resources.  The continent of Africa has more natural resources than any other, yet almost the entire land mass is soaked in abject poverty.  South America is rich in oil, forests, gold.  So many are so poor.  Hong Kong is a barren rock, yet is ahead of Greece, New Zealand, and Portugal for GDP per capita.  Natural resources cannot be the answer.  It is the mind that creates value.  Someone had to figure out how to turn a toxic, gooey substance into something that can power vehicles, and also into something that can preserve food in our refrigerators.  Someone-actually, many someones-had to figure out how to take a pile of rocks, remove certain particles, then reassemble them into something we can drive around.  These, and a billion other things, are not natural.  They are a product of mind.

This is the simple part.  It's easy to understand, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it.  What this person really meant when he asked the question is: why are specific people poor, while other specific people are much richer in comparison?

And this deserves a very long, in depth answer.  But I'm going to defer to the experts.  The Index of Economic Freedom spells out what countries do or have that lead to riches:

1) Rule of Law
2) Low Government Spending
3) Secure property rights
4) Freedom from corruption

Notice what is not on this list:

1)  "Social safety net"
2)  democracy
3)  public schools

Creating wealth is about opportunity.  If you want to see wealth created, either create it, or get out of the way so others can.

Delicious steak

We joined Costco yesterday and bought the thickest steaks I've ever had.  I salted and peppered each side, then sprinkled some cajun.  Grilled for about 20 minutes on medium, then threw them in the oven at 300 degrees for about 10 minutes.  These were the greatest steaks I've ever made (not that I've been cooking as much as I'd like to).

The girlfriend and I are about to head to the Zoo in Prospect Park.  I'm sure I'll come back and rant about how "statists have been stealing our money for this??"