A little while ago, I wrote an article for Phlexible Philosophy about money. The gist of the article was that money is a tool and if it doesn’t do its jobs as well as it could, maybe we should find a new tool. I briefly mentioned cryptocurrency in the article but didn’t really explore it….
For a long time, I’ve held two contradictory opinions simultaneously. One is that credit card companies are about the most evil things on the planet and everyone should stop using credit cards. The other is that no store should be cash only. They should all accept credit cards. My opinions are changing (at least one…
My partner, Jamil, wrote this piece about the problems with housing being an investment rather than shelter. He said he wanted to start a conversation, so here’s my contribution. *** I was recently having a conversation with my parents and brother about the fact that the financial services industry is not set up to serve…
I was sick this week. A non-serious, but icky, kind of sick. I won’t go into the details here. But, I stayed home from work for a couple of days. I believe very strongly in not infecting others when I’m sick. I don’t send my kid to school when she’s sick either, even if it…
There’s this weird feature in life where if people say things often enough, they become common knowledge and people stop questioning them. The world of economics has raised the art of creating truths like this to its pinnacle. We all know that governments are no good at picking winners. We all know that regulation hurts business. …
Some time between my childhood and now, the kid economy disappeared. When I was young, I had a paper route and I shoveled driveways. When I was in high school, I scooped ice cream and when I was in college, I washed dishes and cooked. I had friends that were lifeguards, camp counselors, mowed lawns, etc. Now, most…
If you follow baseball, you will inevitably hear someone say, “It’s a business.” Most people never stop to think about what a strange statement that is. On the one hand, it means different things depending on who uses it. On the other, it doesn’t really mean anything at all. Whichever hand you choose, it’s clearly…
