Every person & company is a consumer. Competitive prices are good for everyone except the seller who is charging an above-market price — By David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website) This column is about preventing a society from degenerating into an elite-dominated plutocracy. At its core, every society consists of a bunch of people living together. In every society, to a greater or lesser degree, people’s actions affect the lives of…

When unpunished bad conduct reaches a tipping point, FOLS will drive otherwise law-abiding people to also break the rules — By David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website) YOLO Most of us are familiar with the acronym YOLO — You Only Live Once. YOLO is shorthand for a lifestyle philosophy of engaging in foolish, risky, or short-term pleasurable behavior based on the notion that your life is short and…

The poorer those on the bottom become, the more those in the middle elect politicians who keep them poor. — By David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website) Feedback effects will always eventually destroy any system that does not have effective counter-feedback-effect tools in place. Unless campaign-contributions are restricted, when the rich get richer they gain ever greater influence in the government. They use that influence to block legislation…

Ask First. Listen Second. Criticize Last — By David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website) Don’t Learn This Lesson The Hard Way I wish I could learn life’s important lessons by figuring them out in advance instead of getting things wrong and then having to learn what I should have known from my mistakes. Many, maybe…

In Jan. 2023 the Democrats could have elected a reasonable person as Speaker, but instead they chose a futile, partisan, suicide-pact vote — By David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website) In January, 2023 the only reason the ultra-right-wing Republicans had any power in choosing the Speaker of the House is because the Democrats chose, CHOSE, to give that power to them. In January 2023, the Democrats had 213 votes in the…

Conservatives believe that they have a God-given right to charge a monopoly price and pay the lowest wages that they can get away with — By David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website) Conservatives/Libertarians believe that its morally wrong for the government to limit monopoly pricing. The Fundamental Economic Conflicts In Every Society Sellers versus buyers Lenders versus borrowers Lessors versus renters

Politicians count on people voting against their economic self interest to stop “bad” people from doing “bad” things. — By David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website) People Who Are Fooled Into Acting Against Their Own Self Interest Are Suckers I’ve sometimes fantasized about what I would like to say to a room full of working-class and middle-class MAGA people. The word that I would want to scream…

The social-media feedback effect multiplies hate, fear and lies to the point of poisoning responsible, democratic gov’t. — By David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website) Everything Is A System A system is a series of procedures that are designed to accept certain inputs and generate a desired output. Everything is a system. Machinery, businesses, the human body, institutions, organizations, and governments are all systems that are…

The price of a thing is based on the seller’s bargaining power. Its value is related to its market price in a robust, highly competitive market — By David Grace (Amazon Page — David Grace Website) The Price Vs. The Value Of Goods Most people think that the price of a thing and the value of that thing are the same, but that’s not true. Price is the amount that the seller’s bargaining power versus that of…