Forget about socialism and capitalism. Those terms are simply oversimplifications concocted by academics and activists too lazy or dull to think deeply about economic policies. 

Forget, too, about Republican and Democrat politicians. Most stand for nothing but themselves, seeking power for its own sake, or to enrich themselves or their friends and families. Their party platforms are bundles of logical contradictions aimed at electoral victories rather than reforms.

The key to human flourishing is maximizing competition on price and quality on the one hand and on the other minimizing competition for political favor, a.k.a. parasitism.

To be fair, though, buying unusually large amounts of toilet paper may have more to do with Americans’ fear of government’s response to the virus rather than fear of the virus itself.

                                  --------Robert E. Wright , AIER.org, March 16, 2020

Whenever something goes awry, it is tempting to believe that government should roll up one sleeve and plunge its arm in up to the elbow. That is not inevitably a bad idea, but one must always reflect on whether the effort will do more to harm than to help. 

The week when US stocks hit another high may seem like a strange time to intensify thinking about how to insulate portfolios against a downturn. But as consultants are fond of saying, by failing to prepare one prepares to fail. 

         ---------Robin Wigglesworth, FT, Wednesday, 30 October 2019, "Column: Tail Risk"

The broadsides highlight how the gathering of top politicians, military officers and spies in Munich set up more than 50 years ago to consolidate the Cold War era transatlantic alliance has become a place to vent its modern-day tension. 

        ---------Michael Peel, 等3人, FT, Monday, 17 Februry 2020，"US cautions Europe against using China's 5G technologh"

PS: “Even if a new [US] president were to remain tough on China,” you wrote last summer, “a coherent and well-articulated US strategy would be far more effective in framing the debate and offering hope for constructive resolution of grievances.” What are the most critical elements of such a strategy?

SR: Playing by the rules, rather than ruling by tweet, would be an important first step. Yes, the rules-based trading system, underpinned by the World Trade Organization, needs reform. But championing such reform is very different from enfeebling the WTO’s dispute settlement system, as the United States has done by blocking new appointments to the Appellate Body of judges that arbitrates disagreements.

An interconnected world needs a robust multilateral policy architecture. Given America’s chronic domestic saving shortfall – which is going from bad to worse, owing to ever-expanding federal budget deficits – and its trade deficits with 102 countries, the bilateral approach favored by President Donald Trump’s administration is a recipe for failure. Addressing our saving problem through more disciplined fiscal policy and endorsing WTO reform would be a far more effective strategy.

                     ----------Stephen Roach, interviewed by Project Syndicate, March 3, 2020

20200312每天一句真美語

Younger readers, dismayed by today’s various nationalisms, may be comforted to learn that isolationist and internationalist impulses—like so much else—are cyclical phenomena.