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Never take two chronometers to sea.
Always take one or three.
We never actually see the causal cement that supposedly glues them together. We do not learn about cause and effect by observation: our minds are designed to interpret sequences of events as cause and effects. Our picture of the world is filtered through the lens of a concept of causation, a concept that is built into the very structure of our minds.
- The Most Dangerous Animal
- David Livingstone Smith
Beyond that, we need to think about long-run structural reform. Most financial crises have at their root very, very high leverage. To hit the nail on the head, I think we have to do something about the prevalence of non-indexed debt instruments. I would start with changing our corporate-tax law and any overt incentives that favor debt. Obviously, the US home mortgage tax deduction makes no sense, given the risk that debt entails. I understand the political imperative, but let’s not subsidize debt in an overt way. I think public-finance experts need to methodically go through the system and strip subsidies out.
It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield if and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.
- Aung San Suu Kyi
The conventional wisdom tells us most people tend to fight harder for the bottom lines of their pocket books.
- GS Global Economics Paper No. 133
The truth seems to be, that the most outstanding characteristic of perpetrators of extraordinary evil lies in their normaility, not their abnormality.
- James Waller
He let his mind drift as he stared at the city, half slum, half paradise. How could a place be so ugly and violent, yet beautiful at the same time.
- Chris Abani, Graceland