Weekly picks (12–19 Sept. 2016)
Personal selection of interesting articles in various topics. Enjoy.
Politics (& libertarianism)
- The first book banned by the USSR (and I have read it!)
Written in 1921, but not allowed to be published in the newly founded Soviet Union, We is the first work to be banned by the State Committee for Publishing in the Soviet Union (the censorship bureau). For this reason, its author, Yevgeny Zamyatin, can be considered among the first dissidents in the USSR. This is characteristic of Zamyatin, who believed that it was a person’s right to criticize the government, and that creative writers had a special duty to be heretics.
It is translated on Macedonian as well! I love this quote:
[T]o be original means to stand out among others; consequently, to be original means to violate the law of equality.
2. Apple’s Tax Avoidance Strategy is Moral and should be Praised
The U.S. corporate tax rate is about 40%. Ireland’s is 12.5%. Following a tax minimization strategy and legal transfer pricing practices, Apple claims about two thirds of its profits and thus pays the same proportion of its corporate taxes in Ireland — as it morally should.
The contractual (and moral) obligation of Tim Cook and any other corporate CEO is to maximize the returns for their corporations’ shareholders; that is their fiduciary duty. When governments try to erode the corporations’ returns on their investment on production and trade of material values that benefit all of us, it is the CEOs’ moral obligation to protect the shareholders’ investment and do what Tim Cook and Apple do: legally minimize the taxes their corporations pay. Avoiding taxes legally is necessary to maximize human flourishing, as minimal taxes enhance productivity and creation of material values that benefit our lives.
We have tax rate of 10%, Tim! But, other things are little bit problematic…
3. Terrorism and Immigration: A Risk Analysis
I have read only the Executive Summary. Just to let you know. But maybe you will be interested in the whole analysis. Regardless, here is the main conclusion:):
The federal government has an important role to play in screening foreigners who enter the United States, and to exclude those who pose a threat to the national security, safety, or health of Americans. This terrorism risk analysis of individual visa categories can aid in the efficient allocation of scarce government security resources to those categories that are most exploitable by terrorists. The hazards posed by foreign-born terrorists are not large enough to warrant extreme actions like a moratorium on all immigration or tourism.
Economics
When the textbooks are revised in the next decade, they will still mention the key role of technology in finance — but with one difference. They likely will highlight how a new breed of hybrid financial technology firms — the so-called fintechs — transformed the financial sector when they went from supplying technology to financial firms to competing against them.
And some libertarians (and young people in general) may like the following potential by-product of regulation:
…just as deregulation cleared a path for technology-driven financial innovation in the 1970s, stronger regulation following the global financial crisis may have driven the new wave of fintechs. Regulators have set higher standards for banks to manage their risk, paving the way for nonbanks and fintechs, which are not regulated as banks are, to offer bank-like services. The most visible developments are in the way payments between parties are conducted, recorded, and settled. Banks — the linchpin of the payment system — still have a role in these transactions, albeit reduced. But new technologies (such as bitcoin’s underlying blockchain) could soon spawn applications that permit direct transfers between market participants rather than through a third-party central ledger, currently the role of banks and central banks.
2. The App Store renders government irrelevant
Where the government’s Do Not Call Registry has failed, a free phone app has come to the rescue. Mr. Number, made by Hiya, blocks potential scam calls based on user reports. Mr. Number blocks calls when enough of the app users flag it as a scam. It’s a very simple and effective process.
It’s a great example of the use of decentralized knowledge, and with over 10,000,000 downloads, there’s plenty of knowledge to be shared.
Also, a point in case:
It’s a common misperception that the state has a comparative advantage in rule enforcement because it holds a monopoly on the legitimate use of force. But when you think about it, a relatively small amount of the order we observe is due to the government’s use of force or threat to use force.
3. Probing the productivity paradox
Over the last decade or so, productivity growth has slowed considerably in most major developed economies, even as impressive advances have been made in areas like computing, mobile telephony, and robotics. All of these advances ostensibly should have boosted productivity; and yet, in the United States, a world leader in technological innovation, business-sector labor productivity growth in 2004–2014 averaged less than half the rate of the previous decade. What is going on?
Green issues (& something about health)
A new OECD report, The Economic Consequences of Outdoor Air Pollution, estimates that outdoor air pollution will cause 6–9 million premature deaths annually by 2060, compared to three million in 2010. That is equivalent to a person dying every 4–5 seconds. Cumulatively, more than 200 million people will die prematurely in the next 45 years as a result of air pollution.
First priority of the new Macedonian government should be to tackle the air pollution in the cities, indoor and outdoor! We have environmental crisis that could not be ignored anymore!!
2. The Science Behind Artificial Sweeteners and Natural Sugars
As libertarians, you know my opinion about all these issues: your body, your choice. But we still have the “obligation” to choose wisely.
As Dr. Mark Hyman explains, sugar addiction is a real physiological condition. Food isn’t just calories, says Hyman. Food is medicine. When you start to think of food as medicine, i.e. a way to maintain good health, a new perspective on nutrition will open to you. In fact, people use artificial sweeteners are 200% more likely to have a weight problem.
The main goal Nachman sets for his clients is simply to be mindful of their relationship with sweeteners. He draws attention to the World Health Organization’s more general prescription that recommends consuming approximately 25 grams of sugar per day. For those looking for a healthy way to wean addictive desserts from a diet, stevia may be a helpful substitute. Nachman endorses “whole foods” as sources of sweetness, like fruits and honey. And as for the elephant in the room — namely, ordinary table sugar — Nachman says he doesn’t even bring it into the home.
3. Why the Five-Seconds Rule is Completely Bogus?
In a recent study, Prof. Donald Schaffner — a food science specialist, attempted to find out. Schaffner found that bacteria can transfer to food in less than one second. But transfer depends on a number of factors, such as the surface it hits, how much moisture is found there, and how long the food makes contact for. Schaffner said that although the five-second rule is popular in our culture, actual, peer-reviewed research behind it was limited.
According to Schaffner, “Transfer of bacteria from surfaces to food appears to be affected most by moisture.” He went on, “Bacteria don’t have legs, they move with the moisture, and the wetter the food, the higher the risk of transfer. Also, longer food contact times usually result in the transfer of more bacteria from each surface to food.”
As for surfaces, stainless steel and tile had higher transfer rates than carpet.
Or, simply, if the food falls on the ground — forget it. It doesn’t worth it. Except if it is something really really tasty and more than 1 Euro.
Now, something more interesting (but still libertarianish?!)
When you start, you don’t know that you’re terrible. Anything is possible, and the work is easy. As you learn more about your field, you come to realize that it is far more complex than it seems. You realize that you’re an amateur and your work sucks. You become incredibly discouraged. This is when most people quit. Only after a long period of harsh self-criticism and continuous improvement do we become good at something.
2. What is lost in a nation that’s reading less literature?
Journalist Nicholas Carr noticed that he and his friends were no longer able to finish a book. So he did what one does in such situations: he wrote a book about it. (The irony was not lost on him.) While digital technologies offer an unlimited well of knowledge to draw from at any moment, the medium is rooted in distraction. He continues:
Calm, focused, undistracted, the linear mind is being pushed aside by a new kind of mind that wants and needs to take in and dole out information in short, disjointed, often overlapping bursts — the faster, the better.
Which is why I shake my head in disbelief when someone says, ‘I don’t read.’ I’m equally baffled by the idea that reading fiction is just ‘for pleasure.’ Enjoying reading is important, but a good story does much more than incite dopamine. It’s a bonding tool, one that reminds us of our place in a larger world, much of which we’ll never actually see with our eyes. By imagining through the eyes of others, we tap into the heart of their culture, circumstances, and surroundings. It makes our world a little more complete knowing that we share experiences, and celebrate differences, across a broad spectrum of possibility.
The destruction of imagination to constant busyness is tragic, and no fee can possibly recover what is lost when we find out it’s too late.
What is happening in Macedonia?
Клучен проблем во врска со ова прашање, велат адвокатите, е тоа што оваа обврска е предвидена со подзаконски акт (Правилник), а не со закон. Законот за енергетика, кој само треба да се доуреди со Правилникот, воопшто не предвидува ваква обврска. Ѓорчевски и Иваноски посочуваат дека оваа обврска навлегува во правото на сопственост и во правото на слободни пазар.
Директен резултат на таа противуставност и противзаконитост е на секој граѓанин сопственик на стан да му биде ограничено правото да избира дали ќе се грее и како ќе се грее. Тоа е спротивно на темелните вредности на слободниот пазар и претприемништвото“, вели адвокатот Орце Иваноски, кој исто така нагласува дека со обврската грубо се повредуваат Законот за сопственост и други стварни права и Законот за облигационите односи.
2.Економија потпрена на еден сектор — до кога?
Во услови на политичка неизвесност, економијата и во вториот квартал испорача позитивна стапка на раст — скромно зголемување од 2,2%. Клучен столб на која се потпира Бруто домашниот производ (БДП) и натаму е градежништвото, сектор во која има пораст од 31%. За разлика од градежниот сектор, речиси кај сите останати е регистриран пад…
3. Жесток тв дуел — министерот Миноски и дополнителниот заменик министер Наумов
После 10 години, висок претставник на власта седна на маса со висок претставник од опозицијата. Ова некако многу тивко ми помина.
А се зборуваше многу. Кире Наумов ги отвори (односно, имаше обид — неуспешен) сите важни дебати и прашања за економските политики на владата. Ќе почекаме за одговори во некоја друга прилика.
