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Integrity is derived from the concept of integrated. The concept of integrated means connected and consistent. A person of integrity is consistent. A person lacking integrity is inconsistent, and especially regarding their moral values.
I ran across an interesting term recently, 'Nobel cause distortion'. It refers to cases where experts mislead the public out of good intentions.
While we cannot acquire wisdom from others, we can acquire their knowledge. The best way to acquire the highest quality knowledge is to read and converse with the greatest minds.
It has been claimed that almost all men can withstand adversity, but that if you wish to test a person's character, give them power.
This would seem to align with British historian Lord Acton's observation that "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
We learn almost nothing from easy times, those with little trouble. We are however, given the opportunity to learn much when life offers us up a bowl full of trouble. Resistance is that which increases our strength. Remember, a kite rises against the wind.
It seems to me that we have lost the ability to blush. I wonder what that says of our current socio-psychological state?
Gratitude is one of the most important characteristics a person can have. It make so many others possible.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it revolves around gratitude for family, friends and all the blessing we have received, deserved or otherwise.
Warren Buffett's investment partner before he died was Charles Munger. Munger famously said: "Show me the incentives and I'll show you the outcome."
That is a very insightful observation and one you and I should take to heart;
Whenever we are trying to understand an outcome, we show focus our investigation on the incentives which exist for the players involved.
The Communists and Socialists always and everywhere seek to undermine the three most important elements of healthy western societies.
The family, religious belief and free markets.
As an atheist I think religion can be more than adequately replaced by other forms of community and belief.
The family and free markets however are irreplaceable.
The most important element in any endeavor we embark upon or challenge with which we are faced is the confidence we have in our ability to overcome the obstacles.
Nothing is more important than this.
I came across the term 'telescopic philanthropy' recently.
It can best be understood by recalling Mrs. Jellyby of Charles Dickens' 'Bleak House'.
This woman was much concerned with the well-being of the natives in Africa, and totally unconcerned with the well-being of her own children.
As James Carville pointed out: "It's the economy stupid!"
Well, the economy is once again in the limelight under the rubric 'Affordability'.
Everyone but the rich is concerned with the high costs of living.
Housing, energy, healthcare and food top the list.
Unfortunately, most of the proposals for addressing the problem will either prove useless or exacerbate it.
The cause of the high prices of these necessities is our own government.
Let's take housing for example. The reason housing is so...
It has been said that sometimes we must choose the lesser of two evils. I believe that this is a false dichotomy and since the lesser of two evils is still evil, evil is inevitably the winner.
In such cases there is almost always a third option.
Let's say there is an election and both of the candidates are terrible, but one is slightly more terrible than the other. What is one to do?
To my mind the right thing to do is to stand on principle and refuse to vote for either.
When utility is the...
Hanlon's razor advises us to ‘Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by neglect, incompetence, or stupidity.’
However, there are most certainly occasions where those explanations prove inadequate and malice is indeed responsible.
I think this is the case today regarding much that is taking place in the political left.
In the physical world in is not necessary to do something perfectly, which is of course impossible for an imperfect species.
It is only necessary that we get close enough to perfect to accomplish our aim.
Every conceivable aim of ours has its own tolerance for error which allows for a certain amount of distance from the perfect or perfectly correct.
We don't need to hit the center of the bullseye, we just need to get close enough.
The study of human action (praxeology) is probably the most important area of study in the social sciences.
It is based upon one all important premise. Man acts only when he experiences unease and believes that his actions will remove said unease and either improve his circumstances or prevent them from worsening.
There are two types of monopolies, organic and inorganic.
Probably no better example of an organic monopoly exists than that of Alcoa aluminum which was charged under the ridiculous Sherman Act in 1945.
The government's investigation turned up not one shred of evidence that Alcoa had engaged in an predatory practices.
Instead the cause of their monopoly was attributed to constant innovation and reduction of prices. By serving their customers thus others were discouraged from entering the...
It has been said that everyone is entitled to an opinion, but they are not entitled to have their opinion taken seriously.
Since not all opinions are equally informed, they are not all equal.