Footnote to article

The article can be found here.

Notes:

[1] This is a common argument from conservatives and libertarians—to the latter, Stossel claims allegiance. I agree with it in principle, but I am not a zealot. I don’ condemn regulations, taxation, or federal agencies, so I'm not going to spend time addressing Stossel's fundamental beliefs, apart from alerting him to the dangers of latching onto political ideology: count your beliefs as tentative, John. Bullish adherence to ideology leads to totalitarianism and similarly vile -isms.

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Does the Pope Shit in the Woods?

Yes. Yes he does.

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Excerpt from An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish by Betrand Rusell

"There is a theory, for which there is much to be said, that gold and gems were valued originally on account of their supposed magical properties. The mistakes of governments in modem times seem to show that this belief still exists among the sort of men who are called "practical." At the end of the last war, it was agreed that Germany should pay vast sums to England and France, and they in turn should pay vast sums to the United States. Every one wanted to be paid in money rather than goods; the "practical" men failed to notice that there is not that amount of money in the world. They also failed to notice that money is no use unless it is used to buy goods. As they would not use it in this way, it did no good to anyone. There was supposed to be some mystic virtue about gold that made it worth while to dig it up in the Transvaal and put it underground again in bank vaults in America."

The essay can be found here.

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