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Traditional Urbanism Today

A person contacted me who is working on a development project that would build basically a small neighborhood in a rural/exurban part of a Southern State. There is demand for such places, from people who don’t have to commute to offices every day anymore. He enjoyed reading the Traditional City/Post-Heroic Materialism archives, here: Traditional City/Post-Heroic Materialism archives Much of the core material dates from about 2008 to 2011, quite a long time ago now. I have been thinking of polishing it up and making a book of it, with lots of pretty pictures. But, that would take a lot of time. Today, most of the action (from me anyway) has been happening on X (Twitter). My Urbanism account on X is: @NathanNWE. Early on, I was joined in my enthusiasm for Traditional Urbanism by two key people, Andrew Price and Charles Gardner. Andrew Price’s website is here. Charles Gardner is not so well known today, since he retreated some time ago to raise his children. But, his prior writings are very worthwhile. They are here: Oldurbanist.blogspot.com His earliest posts are from 2010, very early in the process. We discovered that we lived near each other. We would get together in a diner in Norwalk, CT, and call it “the World Conference on Traditional Urbanism.” It was pretty lonely then. It is hard to describe what things were like then. There were the New Urbanists, chronicled rather nicely by James Kunstler. We called them the “New Suburbanists,” since they basically hewed to a Suburban model of wide streets and single-family-detached houses on big lots. Nicer streets and houses, yes, but basically a model of automobile suburbia — which, I argued, is actually a form of 19th Century Hypertrophism that far predates automobiles in the United States, going back to about 1800.

The Magic Formula Now Available in Free pdf

My 2019 book The Magic Formula is now available in free .pdf form. Read The Magic Formula I wrote this as a one-volume introduction to the “supply side” school of economic thought, since 1970. I think that not even some core “supply siders” (such as Steve Moore or Dan Mitchell) have a full appreciation of how powerful these tools are, as I show in my many historical examples. Since US policy has been rather stagnant since the Reagan tax cut era ended in 1991, mostly this has been happening outside the US. Real life keeps coming up more amazing than the wildest fantasies. Most of this goes unnoticed by the economics intelligentsia. They are still wasting their time on nonsense. In The Magic Formula, I have a six-page description of how a turn from “austerity” policy toward a lower tax/lower spending strategy (combined with a stable euro, basically the Magic Formula) produced a dramatic turnaround in a number of European governments in 2014-18. I have not seen a good description anywhere else (and I was looking in 2019, when I was writing this). That alone would be a good book or PhD dissertation; or, better yet, a PhD dissertation that becomes a book. Plus, there are countless examples from farther back in history, that should be investigated. I turned up some very interesting whiffs of a successful Magic Formula policy during the reign of Anastasius I, emperor of Byzantium from 491 to 518. Plus, there is an interesting Free Enterprise history of the Muslim Empire, also known as the Saracens, which was explored in books such as The Discovery of Freedom, by Rose Wilder Lane (Laura Ingalls Wilder’s daughter), and also in The Mainspring of Human Progress, by Henry Grady Weaver. It gets three pages in my book. This also

Audio 2024

Normally, I begin these annual messages with some line about my “mostly-dormant” audio hobby, but I was a lot less dormant recently. I actually built something! Audio Archives Specifically, I built a push-pull amplifier using the PL509 tube, in “screenmode”, where the screen grid is used as the plate. Apparently, this sounds better than just using the pentode in the usual triode-wired configuration. It is in line with “meshplate” experiments in triodes in past years. The PL509 is a pentode designed for televisions, from the very last days of vacuum tube electronics. The datasheet is dated 1969. In “screenmode,” it approximates the characteristics of the 2A3. I used a 1000 ohm cathode resistor, as recommended, and got 240V/57mA at -57V. This is about 14 watts dissipation, a little high although below the 16W suggested as a limit. If I was doing it again I think I would try about 1200 ohms and aim for about 250V/50mA. I used a 6SN7 for gain and 6BL7 as a driver, both differential/balanced stages with XLR inputs, both RC-coupled using 0.22uF Soviet-era K40Y paper/oil caps for the 6SN7, and 2.0uF Soviet poly/oil caps (the green ones) for the 6BL7. I had a lot of these lying around. I hypothesize that this gives the 6BL7 more “drive” as there is a lot less impedance from the larger cap. The impedance of a 0.22uF capacitor at 20hz is … 36172 ohms! The load of a tube grid is mostly capacitive, but nevertheless, that is a very light hand on the grid at low frequencies. Even at 100hz, it is 7234 ohms. With a 2.0uF capacitor, the impedance at 20hz is 3978 ohms, which seems pretty reasonable. The toroidal transformers are from Antek, with an IXYS “HiPerFRED” rectifier into an RCRCLC filter. Lotta current here, so no

BRICS Making Good Progress On Their Golden Path

(This item originally appeared at Forbes.com on January 24, 2024.) After tossing around a few bad ideas, the BRICS countries have settled on using gold as the basis for international exchange, a role previously taken by dollars and euros. This does not mean today’s floating fiat ruble, real, or rand is going anywhere soon. Rather, just as the US dollar was used alongside those domestic currencies in the past, today and in the future gold will be more commonly used. How Russia Can Go To A Gold Ruble series There would not be very much trade in actual gold coins — just as there is not much trade in actual dollar bills. Indeed, gold doesn’t work very well for this hand-to-hand exchange at all, since even small coins tend to be of very high denomination, worth $200 or more. Rather, it means that people around the world will increasingly use various vehicles — such as bank accounts, bonds, loans and cryptocurrencies — denominated in gold, just as they use the very same set of tools today, but denominated in dollars. Already, some BRICS members — including Russia and newcomer Iran — have been basically banned from the dollar system. They literally cannot hold a “dollar.” They have no dollar “wallet.” For example, they cannot have a bank account, with a bank in the Federal Reserve clearing system. Other countries, including China, are eager to set up alternative systems, because they suspect that what happened to Russia and Iran could be done to them too. More countries, seeing where this is going, are making sure they have a seat at the table, for business opportunities alone. This could include former US allies such as Saudi Arabia, which joined the BRICS in January. The most fundamental international role that the USD (or

2023 Reading List

After about eight years of focused reading, mostly the Harvard Classics but a lot more than that too, I am a little tired of reading all the time. This year’s list is short. I got started on the Story of Civilization, by Will and Ariel Durant, which definitely deserves its reputation as a classic. These are big books, but they intend to describe periods of civilization from different aspects, not just a political history of battles and kings. The Life of Greece, for example, contains explications of arts and literature, architecture, science and philosophy, economic activity, daily life, customs, social organization, and religion, in addition to the dramas of wars, changing governments, and high-profile characters like Pericles or Alcibiades. That is a lot, so writing just a little about each topic turns into a big book. It was very well written and worthwhile, and the first stop for anyone interested in these wonderful periods of history. It helped me understand also why the Greeks and Romans have always been considered (at least since the Renaissance) the source of Western Civilization. I feel that connection now, back to those days — in part because I recognize that many of our institutions, democratic government among the most obvious, but also the 26-letter alphabet, arise from those roots. Most of the other books were economics texts that I had been planning to get to. For 2024, I expect to continue in much the same fashion, with Thucydides, SOC#3, and Gibbon. That should be enough “big books” for one year. The Landmark series is really great, and highly recommended if you plan to read Herodotus or Thucydides, or one of the other classic texts in that series. The Story of Civilization #1: Our Oriental Heritage, by Will Durant Gift from the Sea, by Anne Morrow

$2067 Day

(This item originally appeared at Forbes.com on December 31, 2023.) In recent weeks, it has taken about $2067 to buy an ounce of gold — an important landmark, although few today remember why. Basically, it is this: The dollar today is worth about a penny in 1930. From 1834 to the devaluation of 1933, the dollar’s official value was 23.2 troy grains of gold. Since there are 480 troy grains in a troy ounce, this means the dollar was worth 1/20.67th of an ounce, or $20.67 per oz. These ancient measures are a little confusing. The “grain” was the weight of a common grain of barley. 23.2 troy grains is equivalent to 1503 milligrams. Prior to 1834, according to the Coinage Act of 1792, the gold value of the dollar was 24.75 grains; or 371.25 grains of silver. This was based on the average weight of Spanish silver dollars used in the American Colonies. In 1834, the gold value was adjusted to make the ratios closer to market values. The dollar’s value in silver was unchanged. The effect was to make gold the premier basis of the dollar, instead of silver. This was formalized in the Gold Standard Act of 1900, which officially replaced the previous bimetallic system. The United States did not always stick to its official gold standard policy. There was an era of floating paper money in the Civil War, and smaller but still significant deviations in both World Wars. But, these were corrected after the wars’ end. As we noted in our recent book Inflation: What It Is, Why It’s Bad, and How to Fix It, as long as the United States stuck to its Stable Value policy, in practice a gold standard system, there was never an “inflation” problem. Prices still went up and down,

Another Quick Look at Argentina

Now that Javier Milei won an important election in Argentina, let’s see what his options are on fiscal policy. We looked at monetary policy earlier. I agree with Nicolas Cachanosky and Steve Hanke that full dollarization would be the best option for Argentina at this time. This would have a few complications, but it looks doable to me. November 12, 2023: A Quick Look at Argentina I don’t really know much about Argentina, but let’s take a look at some basic indicators. Government debt/GDP is pretty high. It has come down recently, mostly due to rising commodity prices (and thus GDP), and maybe, due to the devaluation of domestic currency debt. I assume the remaining debt is basically USD debt. The government’s budget situation is not too bad. The problem is, they have been funding it with the printing press, since nobody wants to buy bonds from Argentina. The corporate tax rate has come down, which I am sure has helped. The personal income tax top rate is 35%, which is not too high by itself. The problem with countries with a lot of “inflation” is that middle class and lower middle class people get pushed into top brackets intended for the wealthy. But, Argentina has had so much currency depreciation over the years that I would imagine (I am obviously doing a lot of guessing here) that the income tax system is pretty well indexed to at least the CPI, ameliorating some of these issues. The “Sales Tax” or VAT is high at 21%. Payroll taxes are also very high, in the European socialist model. But, this has come down too. This payroll tax is split into a Corporate share of 20.4%, and an Individual share of 17%. There are also some other goofy taxes, such as a 0.6%

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

This poem by Rudyard Kipling was first published in 1919. It has its own page at Wikipedia. Britain, before WWI and certainly afterward, had taken a huge lurch toward Marx-inspired Socialism. This began with the introduction of the “graduated” income tax — one of Marx’s Ten Pillars of Communism — in 1910, following 70 years of “uniform” tax rates (one rate for everyone). The top tax rate rose from 5% to 60%, and, unlike in the US where income tax rates fell in the 1920s, in Britain they stayed at high levels. (See Chapter 5 of The Magic Formula.) Plus, socialistic programs expanded everywhere. Kipling saw where this was going and … he was right. A “copybook” was a notebook to practice penmanship. Students would practice by copying the “heading,” typically a short moralistic phrase. *** As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market-Place.Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all. We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turnThat Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind. We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would comeThat a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome. With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch.They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she

“Reckless” Money Creation

Here at Heritage, we have an article: “Inflation: Who’s Really At Fault?“ Since Heritage basically consists of followers of Milton Friedman, of course we get that “reckless money printing causes inflation.” This is true. Reckless money creation (we don’t really “print” it anymore but it is still a nice metaphor) does cause “inflation.” But, how can you tell if money creation is “reckless”? Because it causes inflation, duh. Money has to come from somewhere. It has to be created. Also, the need for money (technically the “demand for money”) tends to grow as the economy grows. The US base money supply (notes and coins) grew about 160x between 1775 and 1900. One hundred and sixty times more money was in existence. Was this “reckless”? There was no inflation during that time. The value of the dollar was almost the same in 1900 as in 1775. Let’s look at the pace of monetary base expansion (“money printing”) in recent years: As we all know, there has been a lot of monetary base expansion not only recently, but since the financial crisis in 2008. In 2008, the monetary base more than doubled. Was this “reckless”? Some people thought it was. Seems obvious, don’t you think? But, the outcome of that was the CPI “inflation” was among the lowest of recent decades. The Federal Reserve, not very long ago, was actually complaining that “inflation” was falling short of its 2% target! We talked a lot about how a major change in banking practice, in Basel III, resulted in a need for banks to hold much higher levels of bank reserves at central banks. Basel III series In essence, the big increase in supply was mostly absorbed by banks, which had increased demand. The match was not perfect, but that’s the broad story. Compared

This Is Why We Wrote a Book About Inflation

“This is why we wrote a book about inflation” has become a bit of a cut phrase for me on Twitter. One of the points in the book, which probably seemed pretty simple and innocuous at first, is that we can divide influences on “inflation” (in practice, official CPI statistics) into “monetary” and “non-monetary” categories. The first has to do with the (mis-)management of the currency by the central bank, leading to a change (decline) in currency value. The other category is everything else — which also, I might point out, includes all the actions of the financial system. In other words, the supply and demand of currency, leading to changes in currency value; or the supply and demand of goods and services, leading to changes in the prices for goods and services, independent of changes in currency value. To illustrate today the usefulness of this device, I will introduce two descriptions of “inflation” from reputable parties, coming after two solid years of intense discussion about the topic. Let’s see what they say. The first is from Harvard Business Review, December 2022. This is the basic Keynesian stance, where broad changes in the supply and demand (mostly the demand) for goods and services, in other words Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand, lead to changes in broad price measures like the CPI. A currency of unchanging value is assumed. Alternately, we have the Monetarists’ description, where changes in the Supply of Money (Demand is ignored, or assumed to be equivalent to NGDP) lead to inflation, now ignoring all Non-Monetary factors. Here’s the Heritage Foundation: Note that we have the usual “too much money chasing too few goods,” and no mention of changes in currency value. “We all know the driver of the quantity of money is government spending priorities …” Oh