The End (of the Petrodollar) is Nigh…

One of the underappreciated consequences of the war in Ukraine is the economic boost given to China. Specifically, China is well positioned to offer its currency as an international medium of exchange, displacing the U.S. dollar.

The effects will be horrible within the U.S., as our currency will lose purchasing power. Worse, there is almost nothing we can do to prevent the replacement of the petrodollar, as all the key decisions are in the hands of other countries who no longer need nor (because of Ukraine) have reason to trust us.

Vox Day makes an interesting observation concerning the application of Constitutional provisions to private companies:

The self-appointed defenders of capitalism very much want you to ignore the fact that every single corporation is a government creation. And as such, not only should they not enjoy the Constitutional protections of the rights possessed by individuals who are posterity of the Founders, they should be subject to the same limits that are imposed on the government.

Put another way, corporations exist because government charters them. Accordingly, corporations cannot behave in ways that government is not permitted to behave.

I rather like Day’s point, although I have only just begun to think about it. Perhaps there is an error I haven’t yet recognized.

Source: Quest with Kirk Durston.

The blogger explores the work of Cambridge anthropologist J.D. Unwin, specifically Sex and Culture (1934). Unwin studied 80 primitive tribes and six known civilizations through 5,000 years of history. He claimed there is a positive correlation between the cultural achievement of a people and the sexual restraint they observe (Wikipedia).

A causal relationship between chastity and the success of cultures remains (I think) to be established, yet Unwin’s correlations are compelling. The blogger lists a few:

Continue reading “Why Sexual Morality May be Far More Important than You Ever Thought” →

Source: The American Conservative.

The writer warns that conditions in Ukraine (and Washington, D.C.) are “frighteningly reminiscent of events more than 50 years ago, when Washington’s proxy war in Vietnam was failing.”

Source: ZeroHedge.

This latest release suggests that the Federal government actively and willfully colluded with Twitter to influence the 2020 election.

For years, now, stalwart Democrats have insisted that it was wrong for Russia’s Kremlin to use Twitter to influence the 2016 election. We have since learned that the Kremlin’s Twitter efforts were ineffectual and unprovable at best, but forget about that for the moment. Now stalwart Democrats should be insisting that it was wrong for the FBI to use Twitter to influence the 2020 election, but only if they wish to be consistent in their moral philosophy.

For the rest of us, it remains to learn the extent of government control over public opinion. Edward Snowden gave us a starting point, but it is just a starting point.

Source: Marginal Revolution.

Tyler Cowen asks and answers, No.

The question is more seminal than it may seem, given that many Americans today believe that some information causes harm and therefore deserves to be restricted. According to this decidedly un-American mindset, TikTok should be banned from the U.S. because it is used by a foreign adversary (China) to conduct social surveillance of our people (damaging national security) and because it exposes our children to various perversions.

I’m all for protecting national security and preserving the innocence of children, but I’m with Cowen on the question at hand. The antidote for damaging ideas is healing ideas.

The social sciences don’t tell us much about social media, but some of the insights are encouraging.

For example, it does not appear to be the case that social media are threatening in any unusual way. Those who fear that social media spread dangerous misinformation can cool their jets. Society itself tends to spread misinformation such that social media don’t deserve special attention in the matter.

Source: The American Spectator.

The story explains how the death of J. Edgar Hoover and the shock of 9/11 helped transform the FBI.

Is domestic intelligence a legitimate function of government? I don’t think so. Once you start down that slippery slope, falling down to the bottom becomes all but inevitable.

Source: Bacon’s Rebellion.

This story would be funny if it weren’t sad.

Virginia’s offshore wind facilities stand to cut the profits of commercial fishermen. No problem, we’ll just give the fishermen some money to restore their income!

Someone should notice that fish eaters will then be paying for fish they don’t get to eat.

More profoundly, we seem to have entered a dysfunctional era in which the socio-political response to profit loss is to create non-profit organizations to redistribute captured monies, replacing third-party profits with donations.

This is worse than paying fishermen not to fish. This is paying fishermen to stay in business when there are no fish to catch.