A common view of the capitalist is the leftist caricature of robber baron, environmental rapist, and vicious exploiter. Of course there are people like that. Many times, they are powerful and influential, and have disastrous effects for the people of America and the world. They steal or destroy the property of others through coercion, fraud and pollution. Their evil has a spillover effect on all businesses and markets. But is that really capitalism?

I recently had a conversation with a friend and, for some odd reason, the topic happened to turn to politics and economics. Yes, capitalism was the best system, and yes, people are better off with freedom and markets. But, as the popular understanding goes, the problem with capitalism is that it is based on greed. The discussion brought to mind a classic interview, preserved for posterity and easy access on youtube.com.

There has been an annoying spate of product advertisements recently pushing the idea of how “green” and environmentally conscious the products and the companies are. I assume it is because of the recent passing of Earth Day, a holy day for the religion of environmentalism. The ads are annoying, not because taking heed of the environment is bad, but because they embody hypocritical, insincere pandering to a powerful, vocal, and dangerous international political movement funded with taxpayer money.

After recently rereading the inaugural address delivered on January 20, 2009, the following phrase jumped out at me: “And all of us who manage the public dollars will be held to account—to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day—because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.”

I recently overheard some young neighborhood children interacting. I was surprised at and reminded of their significant intellectual abilities. They are, nonetheless, ignorant of the facts of life in the greater world. That is the reason for schooling. It should challenge their abilities, make them curious, and teach them to think for themselves about the issues they face in life. We take pride in our modern education system and how far we’ve come, but the youngsters of long ago were also little thinkers and learners.

April 1st has come and gone, with its practical jokes and silly pranks. So has the date to be counted for the census. For several months, politicians have been chiding residents to send in their forms, “so we can get our fair share.” The fair share to which they refer is a portion of the money that has been taken from us, the taxpayers. Hundreds of billions of dollars of plunder per year await the grasp of salivating politicians who can pull the right strings.

Congress just passed one of the most reprehensible assaults on the freedom and dignity of Americans that we have witnessed in our time, and that’s saying a lot, given the modern proclivity of Congress and presidents to legislate our rights away. The 2,300 pages of the euphemistically named “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act,” will multiply the cost of health care and reduce choices. The bill is the next major installment in the steady socialization of America.

Democracy has been the rallying cry for a growing chorus of American politicians and opinion molders. Democracy—it has a certain ring to it, it sounds so good, so just, so darned American. It is almost as if we can hear that word ringing from the lips of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and company. That is the case, however, only because the term, in modern times, has been erroneously and tragically equated with that truly American standard, freedom.

There is a school of thought which asserts that an increase in the money supply will cause inflation as the higher number of monetary units, dollars in the case of the U.S.A., chase after the goods and services in the economy. It is a very rational belief that general price levels are linked to the amount of money available. Detractors of that idea are quick to point out that, in spite of all the money pumped into the economy by the central bank lately, price inflation has not ignited, and in fact, there is still some worry about deflation.

A paradox is a statement with an internal contradiction that resists intuition. The “liar paradox” might be a useful example: “This sentence is false.” If it is true then it is false, if it is false, then it is true. It seems unsolvable, but it is just a meaningless verbal construct. Neither true nor false have any objective, understandable meaning in relation to it. Philosophers throughout history have tried to describe unsolvable paradoxes. It is paradoxical, however, that there is no such thing as a paradox in reality.