The Binary Circumstance

Bryan Caplan on Marginal Revolution (he must be a guest writer–shows you how far behind I am in my reading) tells me things about Paul Krugman that I never knew before.

Here’s a tid-bit:

3. [Krugman] Identifies anti-globalization activists as the enemies of the world’s poor. (The Accidental Theorist, Part 3)

Read the entire post for more shockers. Can he really be called a lefty?

Well, I’m not an enemy of the world’s poor. I think each of you should buy a T-shirt at The Binary Circumstance Store and give them to the world’s poor.

Either you’re going to buy one of my shirts for the poor or you’re not. That’s a binary circumstance.

I was just walking down Winslow Way today after hitting the hardware store for a connector and a guy coming at me screams, “Hey, Chip!”

I didn’t recognize him right away but it was Pops from The Two Hour Lunch, with Moms and Mr. Man. What an odd coincidence it was to run into them on this side of the sound. We’ve only met once before at the Blogger Anon-O-Con in June in Seattle.

It was a beautiful day and I hope they enjoyed their day on the island.

Unfortunately, from they way they were dressed that they haven’t yet learned that island dress code requires a T-shirt from the Binary Circumstance Store. It is even more unfortunate that nobody else has learned it either.

Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution discusses a period in Scotland’s history from 1707-1770 when Scottish cities became “among the most developed and intellectually advanced parts of Europe.”

He quotes from Arthur Herman’s book How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe’s Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It:

…the fact that Scotland was very much the junior partner in this union also turned out to be an advantage. The new Parliament largely ignored Scotland; outbursts such as the malt riots and the threat of Jacobitism apart, the government in London paid little attention to what was happening north of the border. Scots ended up with the best of both worlds: peace and order from a strong administrative state, but freedom to develop and innovate without undue interference from those who controlled it. Over the next century, Scots would learn to rely on their own resources and ingenuity far more than their southern neighbors would…

The world that Herman is describing in this short passage reflects Ayn Rand’s view of a society operating under a “legitimate” government, where individiuals are free to manage their own lives as the government protects from both domestic and foreign aggression.

Herman’s book can be purchased from Amazon.com.

Do you read in the nude? If not, clothing for you to wear while you read it can be purchased from The Binary Circumstance Online Store.

Chris Allbritton is back in Baghdad after a relaxing vacation in Beirut. He has some interesting comments in who makes up the Iraqi insurgency.

[Note: I can’t cut and paste from his site for some reason. Whatever text I select, it always highlights from that point to the end of the page.]