CIAO DATE: 04/2013
Volume: 8, Issue: 1
Spring 2013
The End of Central Banking, Part I
Richard M. Salsman
Argues, via a mountain of evidence, that the ultimate purpose of central banking is not to "correct market failures" or "prevent financial crises" or the like, but to finance fiscally profligate governments and welfare states.
Why "Big Government" is Not the Problem
Eric Daniels
Surveys various problems inherent in focusing on the non-essential characteristic of government's size rather than on the truly essential characteristic of whether and to what extent government protects or violates individual rights.
Debate: Christianity: Good or Bad for Mankind?
Andrew Bernstein, Dinesh D’Souza
Debates the question, "Christianity: Good or Bad for Mankind?" D'Souza defends Christianity while Bernstein defends Objectivism, the philosophy that holds the requirements of human life as the standard of moral value.
Robert G. Natelson on State-Driven Amendments to Restrain Federal Spending
Ari Armstrong
Mr. Natelson discusses state-driven amendments to restrain federal spending, the processes of proposing and passing or rejecting such amendments, the safeguards in place for preventing a "runaway convention" that might fundamentally alter the U.S. Constitution, and more.
Zero Dark Thirty
Andrew Bernstein
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow.
Starring Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, and James Gandolfini.
Released by Columbia Pictures.
Rated R for strong violence including brutal disturbing images, and for language.
Running time: 157 minutes.
FrackNation
Earl Parson
Written and Directed by Phelim McAleer, Ann McElhinney, and Magdalena Segieda.
Narrated by Phelim McAleer.
Distributed by Hard Boiled Films.
Unrated.
Running time: 76 minutes.
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Daniel Wahl
Directed by David Gelb.
Starring Jiro Ono and Yoshikazu Ono.
Released by Magnolia Pictures.
Rated PG for mild thematic elements and brief smoking.
Running time: 81 minutes.
Beyond Politics: The Roots of Government Failure by Randy Simmons
Ari Armstrong
If you want to learn the theories and history of economists who champion government controls of the economy-and of economists who criticize such intervention-Randy T. Simmons's Beyond Politics: The Roots of Government Failure is a fantastic resource.
The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills by Daniel Coyle
Daniel Wahl
A few years ago, on an assignment for a magazine, Daniel Coyle started visiting what he calls talent hotbeds, or "tiny places that produce large numbers of world-class performers in sports, art, music, business, math, and other disciplines".
The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto
Joseph Kellard
“[E]ach person shall remain free, especially in his religion, and . . . no one shall be persecuted or investigated because of their religion” (p. 96). Those words evoke America’s revolutionary era, but they were penned two centuries earlier. They are part of the Dutch de facto constitution, the Union of Utrecht, drafted in 1579 after thousands of Dutchmen had suffered religious persecution by the Spanish in the form of torture and death. To Russell Shorto, a writer for The New York Times Magazine, these words speak directly to the “tolerance” embodied by the 17th-century Dutch Republic and its colonies, particularly the island colony of Manhattan, or New Amsterdam, after English explorer Henry Hudson claimed the land for the Netherlands in 1609.
Craig Biddle
Welcome to the Spring 2013 issue of The Objective Standard.