Why Large Government Projects Fail - Part 1 of 3
- Category: Bureaucracy
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We know that the proclivity of large government projects to fail is legendary. The most salient characteristic of government projects is that the best that can be expected is a mediocre performance if not an outright failure. Government projects that are actually delivered on a reasonable amount of time, on budget and with good quality are rare indeed! Strangely enough there aren't that many statistics "out there" measuring the actual…
The Speech - Ideas Are Bulletproof
- Category: Libertarianism
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ACT 1
Good evening. Allow us first to apologize. We do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of the everyday routine, the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. We enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration whereby important events of the past usually associated with someone’s death or the end of some awful, bloody struggle are celebrated with a nice holiday,…
LIBEX Index Released
- Category: Special Projects
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Today we are releasing our newest Index. Its name is the Liberation Index (LIBEX). This index estimates the proximity of the world population to a Libertarian system.
It is linked in our new Political Evolution Indices page at the site, under the Main Menu.
We hope you enjoy this new and exciting point of view, brought to you by the usual (political) suspects.
The gals and guys from F&P
The Power Of Entrepreneurship II
- Category: Entrepreneurship
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When most people hear the word entrepreneurshipthey typically exhibit one of two reactions; they either remain indifferent or they immediately think "greedy bastards" and move on. There aren't too many people "out there" that fully grasp the absolutely key role that entrepreneurs play in an economy. Mainstream economic theories don’t even acknowledge their existence. Furthermore, there is always a busy body somewhere hell bent on demonstrating that entrepreneurship does nothing…
Economic Calculation - Communism, Socialism and Capitalism - Part 2 of 2
- Category: Austrian Economics
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CAPITALISM
If we understand capitalism as truly free markets (not as managed socialist markets) the information that this system provides in terms of prices allows planners (e.g. companies) to maximize the efficiency of resource allocation hence generating the maximum amount of goods and services possible at a minimum price within the native error that prices carry. And this is the best that it can possibly be expected.
THE MORALITY OF…
Economic Calculation - Communism, Socialism and Capitalism - Part 1 of 2
- Category: Austrian Economics
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Yesterday we published the Austrian Economic view about economic calculations (see Austrian Economics For Dummies - Economic Calculation). The summary of it is simple. Money allows us to compare different items which would otherwise not be comparable (e.g. apples and oranges). Money does so through the market assigning prices to those items. Those prices represent something along the line of the "average" value that people assign to those items. We…
Lesson #237 - Austrian Economics For Dummies - Economic Calculation
- Category: Austrian Economics
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Means of exchange and prices
Money has been defined as the means of exchange. Basically, money is simply the intermediary facilitating the exchange of goods or services A for goods or services B. But there is another way to look at money from a quantitative point of view. Ugambo exchanged one goat for two baskets of apples. This means that in that specific economic transaction the transaction ratio of goats…
Battlestar Freedom
- Category: Politics
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Battlestar Freedom Episode 21 Season 2
Chief Tyrol is sitting behind a desk. In the previous episode he beat his wife Cally when she attempted to wake him up from a nightmare. Camera shoots from the ceiling and slowly rotates down as John Cavail enters the room and takes a seat in front of chief Tyrol. Dialogue begins.
Fade in.
- I am John. I understand you asked for political counselling……
We Can All Agree To…
- Category: Politics
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Our readers write and one of them pointed out to a fantastic Argentine cartoonist that goes by the pseudonym of Quino (you can see his biography in Wikipediasearching for "Quino"). After some digging we spent quite a large number of hours (more that we actually had to spend on this topic) rejoicing in his humour. His highly on-target but child-like criticism of society and the powers that control us is…
