Although, you know how in the 21th century you don’t really have to read Greek History when you can just watch the movie 300 or Troy? My question is: Have you found any you tube videos that cover the high points of any of these books?? This way, we could save some time if necessary, and also we could have a better base to build upon before starting each of the readings.

Also, in addition to reading, won’t you recommend to do some writing as well?? I mean how did you retain all these information if you were just reading nonstop??

Finally, could you give an example of the kind of questions in the written test? I mean, are the questions like: “What is capitalism”

Anyways, I hope you can make it to the Mises U.

Israel

So… are you cruising around town with your newly acquired permit? I hate having to go in to the whatever-you-call-it office. I did it once for the permit, and once for the license, and hopefully I won’t have to go back for another 3 years (I think I’ll have to renew then?). The people are almost always so rude at government run facilities! You’d think they would be a little bit nice to the people who pay them so much money.

Wait, are we talking about God, or some deranged lunatic?

I am particularly interested in the role of fiat money in man’s exploitation by man. I should also like to attend webinars on the ancient Chinese economic philosophy and what agreeable people can do to ressurect the subject of economics from its quagmire. In other words, how can efforts of teachers like yourself be duplicated as many times as possible for the benefit of a gullible world?

First, I think that in a healthy community, Ellie would be encouraged to run away from her father. There are three types of relationships: the pleasurable and mutually beneficial type (healthy relationship among lovers), the mutually beneficial but not joyous or meaningful type (a worker employer relationship) , and the involuntary yet seemingly moral type (child-parent relationship). In the third type of relationship, one is born into a family, culture, religion, or country and automatically given obligations and responsibilities with the rest of those individuals in the the same group. But how can the act of being born create an obligation? Because one does not choose to be born into a specific family, Ellie is not obligued to comply with any kind of duty. However, her father has the moral responsibility to feed and sustain her daughter because he actually chose to have her. Perhaps part of the reason why Ellie doesn’t leave her father is because of 1) she was lead into thinking that leaving her father was immoral because children have “an obligation” with their parents or 2) she felt that she would be shunned by society if she decided to go against the norm. Although these are not examples of coercion (there is no such thing as psychological coercion), societal expectations and child upbrining do have a strong impact in the decisions we make. In a free a society that values individualism over submission and tradition, societal expectations might have a positive impact on us. Society and our community might remind us that in fact all our relationships, regardless of whether we were born into them or not, are voluntary and should be terminated if they become harmful and constrictive of our identity.

Second, in a free society without minimum wages, the farmer would have probably hired some workers that can offer their specialized labor, instead of forcing her daughter who is likely to have her own individual talents and skills in other areas. If allowed to act freely and explore her individualism, Ellie might actually bring home more income by doing something that she is really good at than the contribution she provides through her virtually free manual labor.

Finally, in a free society parents would pay a premium to insurance companies to cover the medical costs of any health problem their children might have. Now, since these insurance companies would want to reduce the possibilities of these kids actually getting sick, they would research what types of upbringing, education, and nutrition increase or decrease the probabilities that a child will get sick. In the end, insurance companies would very likely tell parents to allow their children act freely and to explore their individuality because this type of parenting reduces the probabilities that children would have psychological problems like depression, and in exchange, insurance companies would charge parents lower premiums. Parents would then have an economical incentive to follow certain guidelines of what is actually good parenting according to scientific research not just tradition. This would not be coercion because parents may choose to treat their children harshly but then they would have to pay higher premiums.

These are my humble yet radical views on parenting hehe. More philosophical dilemmas please!!