About Me

I am a 76-year-old retired physicist who is increasingly interested in economics and its nexus with politics. Since this is a blog about conflicting ideas, especially economic and political ideas, I should put all my prejudices in plain view. My views would probably be characterized by most as “conservative”, particularly my beliefs on economics.

However, the term “conservative” is not a very accurate description for most so-described in the United States. Both major sides of the ideological divide in the United States have some aspects of society they would like to conserve, and some they would like to change. The difference between the sides is just that they have different lists. A much better label for so-called “conservatives” is “neoliberal”, which is what I claim to be. In addition, those who are often called “liberals” in the U.S. long ago lost their right to be called liberals. A much more accurate moniker for them is “progressive.” See my post Ideological Labels: Nationalism, Conservatism, Liberalism, Progressivism, Neoliberalism for my attitudes about the importance of correct language in discussing ideological differences.

I would describe myself as holding neoclassical economic views. For those who have not been exposed much to economics, neoclassical economics is the set of ideas produced by the classical economists (with the notable exception of Thomas Malthus) as modified by the beliefs of the founders of the law of marginal utility: Carl Menger, Leon Walras, and William Stanley Jevons. This includes the law of supply and demand, Say’s law of markets, Ricardo’s law of comparative advantage, and the law of marginal utility. It most definitely excludes the labor theory of value and Malthus’ iron law of wages.

In foreign policy and defense policy, my views have been greatly shaped by my service in the Vietnam War. I was a very junior field artillery officer in a heavy battery (8-inch howitzers and 175 mm guns), located for the entire year I was there (Dec. 1968 — Dec. 1969) at firebase St. Barbara (aka “the Old French Fort”), located in the middle of Tay Ninh province. For most of the time I was there, I was my battery’s Fire Direction Officer. However, for part of the time, I was attached to several South Vietnamese airborne battalions as a forward observer patrolling the border with Cambodia. I saw first hand the folly of allowing an enemy to have safe haven by merely crossing a border. If a country goes to war, it should pursue (if possible) enemy units wherever they go until their soldiers are either killed or captured.

On social policy I am generally neoliberal with one major exception: I have a great indifference about what happens in people’s bedrooms. I see no reason to discriminate against homosexuals or lesbians. It is reputed that some grande dame in the late nineteenth century said that it was all okay for her “as long as they don’t do it in the streets and scare the horses.” That pretty much sums up my attitude. Also, unlike a small subset of conservatives, I think that contraceptives are a good thing, but one that should be reserved for adults.  Like most of my fellow “conservatives,” I believe that abortion in the third trimester is too close to infanticide to be tolerated. Having disposed of my views on sexual and reproductive mores, I am pretty much a neoliberal on everything else.