Wealth
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Note: This was originally published in the Hypocrite Reader in September 2014. Every morning Wentworth stakes out a corner of the Square because that’s where the out-of-towners congregate. He knows their patterns. With his pressed suit and slicked-back hair, clean shave and faint perfume, he gives these people exactly what they expect to see on…
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I am a little late to the party, but I read Adam Gopnik’s piece on Obama’s “you didn’t build that” comment, and I am a little disappointed that he fails to understand Adam Smith’s message, or if he does, he has failed to represent his position correctly. Gopnik should know this, having reviewed Nicholas Phillipson’s…
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Recently I was having a spirited debate with a friend whom I suspect to be a libertarian sympathizer. His big criticism of libertarianism–a very fair one–was that libertarians tend to value Freedom as an end in itself, not more tangible and perhaps more measurable goals such as social mobility, humanitarianism, or even wealth creation. What…
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A friend of mine asked me why the 53% seem to be proud of working “shitty jobs” with hard hours while “not pursuing their dreams.” I thought the question was unfair. Certainly, I have philosophical disagreements with any group that claims or believes it is different from any other group (to quote Ferris Bueller, “isms,…
brian mayer 