Just a few simple things to do: 1. Fix the health system 2. Improve public education 3. Tax private university endowments 4. Invest in infrastructure 5. Reduce carbon emissions 6. Increase taxes on the top one-third of tax payers 7. Increase inheritance tax
8. Equalize tax on K and L 9. New anti-monopoly legislation & break-ups 10. Reinforce pro trade union legislation 11. Eliminate ad hoc tariffs on Chinese goods 12. Reverse Citizens United 13. Severely limit the power of lobbyists/donors
2021 is the centennial of practically all Communist parties. Here are the reviews of two books on the parties (Yugoslav & Chinese) that came to power in similar circumstances.
Both books are excellent, and thanks to Amazon (a very capitalist enterprise) can be readily bought.
Avakumovic is a standard history book that deals with many less well-known aspects of inter-war activities of KPJ incl. its relationship w/ the Comintern and Ustasa (Croat Fascist) movement.
From a Chinese independent video covering the Ant (Ali Baba) case (excerpts from 快看資訊). A very strong text.
If the unhealthy development of business enters a stage of monopoly, it will unconsciously devour all societal resources and cannot help make a quick buck from usury.
For example, in the United States, high-quality education and medical care are only provided to the elite, the bottom has sank further, and social strata solidify...The 40 years since China's “Reform and Opening Up” have completed 200-300 years of capitalist countries development
[But] 1,200 families in China now control 4,000 listed companies. This reflects a problem; China's wealth [inequality] is going to extremes. However, China is a socialist market economy and pursues common prosperity.
For entertaining and enlightenment, here are some of my debates in 2020.
Is middle class stagnation a myth (with Donald Boudreaux) pairagraph.com/dialogue/320a8…
Chateaubriand's Memoires d'Outre-tombe are extraordinary both because of the spread of events (from before 1789 to 1840s) and places (Europe, Middle East, USA) they cover and the quality of observations.
I loved this sentence that does not apply to France only.
"En France, l’oubli ne se fait pas attendre."
Or, a very early formulation of the question that Orban is asking today:
Recevrons nous le chatiment merité d’avoir appris l’art moderne des armes à des peuples dont l’état social est fondé sur l’esclavage et la polygamie? Avons-nous porté la civilisation au dehors, ou avons-nous amené la barbarie dans l’interieur de la chretienté?
Reflections & predictions.
After spending a year in North America in 1790-91, and after traveling a lot and meeting people (incl. George Washington), Chateaubriand wrote, probably in 1820s, this assessment of the USA.
The North & the South have different interests. Western states are far from the rest. Can unity of the country be safeguarded? Will it be done by war?
Can the US maintain its hegemony in the Western hemisphere as new independent republics are created in Mexico and further South?
Will long peace that helped US develop sap the ability of the population to face emergencies?
Mercantile spirit is everywhere: "l'interet [commercial] devient le vice national."
A chrysogene (neologism from Greek for wealth) aristocracy is being born.