Dec 14, 2017 | Politics
Founder Stories has a great interview with Blake Scholl,founder and CEO of Boom Technology, where he talks about: Deciding to Start a Supersonic Airplane Company; Innovation in Aviation; Blake’s Career Before Boom; Deciding Whether or Not to Do YC; Being a Hard Tech Company in YC; Meeting with Richard Branson; Demo Day; advice for Other Hard Tech Companies, and his favorite book:
I mean, far and away my favorite book is Atlas Shrugged, and it’s probably not an accident that all the heroes in Atlas Shrugged are also pilots. Not an accident for me, personally, anyway.
The entire interview is an inspiring read.Link: Founder Stories: Blake Scholl of Boom Technology
Nov 30, 2017 | Business, Politics
Another example of why anti-capitalism and racism go hand-in-hand is evidenced in a Newsweek article, Black Lives Matter Wants to Bring Down White Capitalism With 'Black Christmas':
Activist group Black Lives Matter of Los Angeles (BLM) is calling for holiday shoppers to spend their money at black-owned businesses in a push for a “black Christmas” that aims to resist white supremacy through capitalism.Group leaders say it’s time for people to “resist white capitalism” and divest from businesses that contribute to racial inequality. Melina Abdullah, a BLM leader who is a professor at California State University, Los Angeles (CSU-LA), is encouraging shoppers to use their money to support economic empowerment for minorities. “We say ‘white capitalism’ because it’s important that we understand that the economic system and the racial structures are connected,” said Abdullah during her weekly radio show, Beautiful Struggle.[...]"Anthony Ratcliff, another BLM leader and CSU-LA professor, was also on the radio show to explain the purpose of “black Christmas.” “Black Lives Matter and other organizations build a strong critique and understanding of racism and white supremacy and sexism and homophobia, transphobia, but we have to have as much hatred or vitriol against capitalism,” said Ratcliff. “Until we start to see capitalism [is] just as nefarious as white supremacy, we will always be struggling.” The advocacy group organized “black Christmas” last year too and called on consumers to shop at black-owned businesses...."[...]Previous black Christmas demonstrations have drawn attention, such as when protesters temporarily blocked roads to airports in San Francisco and Minneapolis in 2015. In Los Angeles that year, nine were arrested for blocking traffic on a major highway.
This, of course, is racism.To refuse to buy a good from someone because their skin is white is racist. Racism is the species of collectivism that advocates judging individuals by their ancestry and skin-color as opposed to the content of their character. Contrast this to the capitalist policy of purchasing the best product at the best price, i.e., the one you find most profitable.The solution to the plight of alienated black Americans is to be productive and color-blind. The only social (political-economic) system that leaves them free to do both is laissez-faire capitalism. Sadly, Black Lives Matter (BLM) leaders advocate the opposite policies of racism and political activism, with their advocacy of "Black Christmas" and physically blocking Airport roads.
Nov 20, 2017 | Politics
https://youtu.be/S-nsU_DaIZE“[H]alf of that greening comes from carbon dioxide itself. In other words, the fact that we're putting more carbon dioxide into the air means there's more fuel to grow plants and when a plant has more carbon dioxide in yet doesn't have to open its pores so much so it doesn't lose so much water in absorbing the carbon dioxide that it needs to grow and so there's tons of experiments now showing that plants grow faster if there's more carbon dioxide in the air; roughly speaking on average for a 200 parts per million increase in carbon dioxide in the air you get a 30% improvement in plant growth. That's experiments both in the field and in the laboratory. So it's really quite a remarkable phenomenon here because of the burning of fossil fuels we're making the planet greener. It's an astonishing discovery I think. I think it's rather amazing and of course it's an incredibly unwelcome discovery for the environmental movement. They don't want to hear this at all and how is it possible…” – Matt Ridley
Nov 20, 2017 | Politics
Writes Peter Schwartz at TheHill on 'America First:' Rethinking the meaning of self-interest:
On his latest foreign trip to Asia, President Trump again invoked the idea of “America first.” As someone who is repelled by Trump and his presidency, I am a little reluctant to justify something he nominally upholds. But, actually, his support for it is all the more reason it needs to be clarified and defended — defended not only against those who criticize it, but against those, like Trump, who embrace it for the wrong reasons.
Schwartz succinctly identifies that "America First" means a policy of "taking action to defend the individual rights of Americans" and that to sacrifice those inalienable rights for "the nation" is a contradiction in terms.
A nation’s self-interest consists of the interests of its citizens. And there is one fundamental social value that is in everyone’s interest: individual freedom. The ultimate goal of American foreign policy — the end to which all alliances and confrontations are the means — is the preservation of Americans’ freedom against attacks from abroad. “America first” is a policy of taking action to defend the individual rights of Americans — the rights to their property, to their liberty, to their lives — when they are physically threatened.Concomitantly, it is a policy of refusing to sacrifice those rights by elevating the needs of other nations above our own.
Schwartz then shows that "Trump’s interpretation of 'America first' is shaped by the collectivist notion of economic nationalism":
A foreign policy based on self-interest, therefore, embraces free trade, with everyone (leaving aside dealings with countries that pose military dangers to us) allowed to seek out the best products at the lowest prices — which is, incidentally, how the entire society prospers. This is radically different from Trump’s outlook. Trump cannot conceive of trade as being mutually beneficial. Instead, he argues that one party’s gain comes only at another’s loss. His ideal is the conniving wheeler-dealer, master of the “art of the deal,” who manages to put one over on his partner. His view of human interaction is that one must be either victimizer or victim, predator or prey. So he calls on the government to intervene and decide who is to be favored and who is to be sacrificed.
Read the rest: 'America First:' Rethinking the meaning of self-interest
Nov 14, 2017 | Business, Politics
From: Richest 1% own over half the world's wealth - Business Insider
The world's richest 1% of families and individuals hold over half of global wealth, according to a new report from Credit Suisse. The report suggests inequality is still worsening some eight years after the worst global recession in decades.[...]"The bottom half of adults collectively own less than 1% of total wealth, the richest decile (top 10% of adults) owns 88% of global assets, and the top percentile alone accounts for half of total household wealth," the Credit Suisse report said.[...]In most countries, including the US, a large wealth gap translates into those at the top accruing political power, which in turn can lead to policies that reinforce benefits for the wealthy.
The real question is: how many used political power to acquire wealth as opposed to honestly producing it economically? If someone created the wealth -- like a Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Jeff Bezos -- then they rightfully own the assets they created.Billionaire politicians and dictators (Castro, Putin, etc.) who earned their money through political means -- theft and cronyism -- do not.Sadly Business Insider, like much of the anti-capitalist press, does not make that distinction.
Founder Stories has a great interview with Blake Scholl,founder and CEO of Boom Technology, where he talks about: Deciding to Start a Supersonic Airplane Company; Innovation in Aviation; Blake’s Career Before Boom; Deciding Whether or Not to Do YC; Being a Hard Tech Company in YC; Meeting with Richard Branson; Demo Day; advice for Other Hard Tech Companies, and his favorite book: