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Argumentation

 

Coercion, Sacrifice, Trades, Opportunity Costs, Harms, Benefits, and Persuasion: An Intellectual Exchange:

Dave Scotese and G. Stolyarov II

June 17, 2006:

Dave Scotese has written a letter to Mr. Stolyarov addressing Mr. Stolyarov's distinction among coercion, sacrifice, and trade as well the methods of rational argumentation in general. What follows is a transcript of this letter and Mr. Stolyarov's response -- in which these issues are comprehensively discussed.

 

Business

 

Chinese Customers are Treasured:

Dr. Bill Belew

June 9, 2006:

Dr. Bill Belew of ZhongHuaRising reports on the desire of many small American businesses to do business with Chinese and the desire of many Chinese entrepreneurs to do business in America. Chinese customers are known for their exceptional honesty, and honest, industrious, productive people are a boost to any economy; the Chinese customers who never defraud their business associates are excellent examples of individuals who offer great incentives for production and prosperity. People want to produce for such men of integrity, because they know that they will be rewarded for their productivity.

 

"Universal Pen" Creator: Wang Jiang:

Dr. Bill Belew

June 9, 2006:

Dr. Bill Belew of ZhongHuaRising discusses a brilliant inventor at Microsoft's research facility-- Wang Jiang-- who designed computer software that can interpret any handwriting and transfer it into computerized format. Another wonderful technological advance has been produced by an ingenious, innovative individual working for Microsoft. Perhaps this invention might soon be available for mass consumption -- resulting in the ability to efficiently transfer any handwritten text onto a computer.

 

Zhang Ya-Qin: China's Multimedia Whiz Child Prodigy:

Dr. Bill Belew

June 9, 2006:

Microsoft's research director in Beijing is a child prodigy who can cut red tape with one call to the Chinese government, writes Dr. Bill Belew of ZhongHuaRising. This child prodigy's ability to get things done is impressive, and he champions the interests of productive, creative private entrepreneurs and corporations to the Chinese government. Free markets have a powerful ally in China. 

 

Design Barcode: Tokyo-Based:

Dr. Bill Belew

June 9, 2006:

Dr. Bill Belew of RisingSunofNihon describes an original, innovative idea of a Japanese firm: turning product barcodes into creative images. This article shows that one of the advantages of a global economy is a back-and-forth exchange of progress-inducing ideas.

 

Toyota is Top in Quality -- Again!:

Dr. Bill Belew

June 9, 2006:

Toyota is an automobile company that exercises an unusual degree of care and responsibility with regard to its product. In a recent JD Power and Associates' 2006 Initial Quality Study, Toyota and its upscale Lexus division took 11 of 19 vehicle-category top spots. Dr. Bill Belew of RisingSunofNihon discusses the results and their implications.

 

Economics

 

The Anti-Tobacco Campaign and Its Contradictions:

Xavier Méra

June 9, 2006:

The World Health Organization is pursuing coercive bans on the use of tobacco in public, but these are far from the best ways to reduce smoking, writes Xavier Méra. The best way to reduce smoking is to stop subsidizing smokers via public health care systems funded at non-smoking taxpayers' expense.

 

Hidden Defects in the Authorization Procedure for Placing Drugs on the Market:

Molinari Economic Institute

June 17, 2006:

The French government's extensive standards for allowing new drugs to be placed on the market are highly flawed, claims this press release from the Molinari Economic Institute. Government regulations of this sort establish a monopoly on product certification, which could far more efficiently be handled by the free market using fairer criteria than fear of a media scandal as a result of the approval of a potentially harmful drug.

 

Fiction

 

Marsupials Come to Harvard:

Fred Reed

June 19, 2006:

In this delightfully humorous short story, Fred Reed satirizes multiculturalism and political correctness on the campuses of America's elite Ivy League universities -- a trend that devalues genuine learning and self-improvement.

 

Filosofy

 

The Absurd Superstition of the Paranormal:

G. Stolyarov II

June 19, 2006:

Belief in the paranormal is a confusion that any competent reader of fiction should be able to avoid, writes G. Stolyarov II. Mr. Stolyarov contends that there is either a perfectly rational explanation for any event labeled "paranormal," or reports of the event itself are fraudulent. 

 

Politics

 

Drilling for the Future:

Alan Caruba

June 12, 2006:

The United States has numerous offshore and Alaskan oil reserves accessible-- tapping into which would dramatically increase the supply of available oil and reduce currently high prices, writes Alan Caruba. However, the U. S. Congress stubbornly refuses to allow development and extraction of this oil; by doing so, it legislates today's high prices into being.

 

CSR for Thee, But Not for Me?:

Paul Driessen

June 16, 2006:

Doe Run Peru is the epitome of corporate social responsibility, having tremendously improved the lives of the citizens of La Oroya, Peru, in the past seven years. Yet, writes Paul Driessen, this company is under attack by environmental groups like Oxfam, who do not hold themselves to nearly the same high standards that Doe Run practices daily. Where is the social responsibility of groups like Oxfam, who actively damage the standards of living of thousands in the Third World?

 

World Bank Incompetence and Malpractice:

Fiona Kobusingye-Boynes

June 16, 2006:

The World Bank is horribly mismanaging its malaria control efforts, writes Fiona Kobusingye-Boynes. By fabricating data and discouraging the use of essential pesticides like DDT, the World Bank does active harm to efforts to eradicate this mass killer.

 

Why Won't Congress Abolish the Estate Tax?:

Rep. Ron Paul, M.D.

June 17, 2006:

Representative Ron Paul urges Congress to abolish the estate tax; this tax discourages savings, undermines job creation and wage growth, stifles investment, and contradicts a central premise of American life, namely, building wealth and “getting ahead.”

 

Past and Future Holocausts:

Alan Caruba

June 18, 2006:

Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, denies that the Holocaust existed and considers claims verifying its existence to be Zionist propaganda. Ahmadinehad threatens not only the survival of Israel but of all of Europe because of irrational and delusional prejudices that he holds, writes Alan Caruba.

 

"The alternative to the rule of law is the rule of despots." 

~ Ludwig von Mises, Bureaucracy