free market

Cheating to Learn: How a UCLA professor gamed a game theory midterm

"Morally, of course, games can be tricky. Theory predicts that outcomes are often not to the betterment of the group or society. Nevertheless, this case had an interesting result. When the students got carte blanche to set the rules, altruism and cooperation won the day. How unlike a 'normal' test where all students are solitary competitors and teachers guard against any cheating! What my class showed was a very 'human' trait: the ability to align what is 'good for me' with what is 'good for all' within the evolutionary games of our choosing." Continue reading →

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A Push for a Bitcoin Buttonwood

"Amid the incense, cheap art and herbal remedies for sale in Union Square in Manhattan on Monday, a very different kind of product was changing hands: bitcoins. Just feet from the park’s statue of George Washington, a crowd of young men gathered on Monday afternoon to buy and sell the digital, crypto-currency. The men – and there were only men – were brought together by an online posting from Josh Rossi, 31, a bitcoin aficionado who works in technology at the World Trade Financial Group. He had proposed what he called Project Buttonwood, a reference to the where the New York Stock Exchange had its beginning in 1792." Continue reading →

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The American Hiring Paradigm Is Broken

"Before the economy crashed, I was able to grow a local Spanish-language newspaper into a regional Spanish-language entertainment magazine published throughout 2 states. My company enjoyed such robust growth primarily because I staffed it with great people who contributed to specific company goals. I found these great employees not by seeking applicants with X years of experience in Y roles, but rather by seeking applicants who made the best case that they could contribute to the objectives I outlined. With this approach to talent acquisition, sifting through resumes was easy: I just looked for accomplishments." Continue reading →

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Dave Gold dies at 80; entrepreneur behind 99 Cents Only chain

"Dave Gold launched his 99 Cents Only Stores empire in Los Angeles at age 50 after mulling over the idea for over a decade. The thrifty entrepreneur took the dollar store concept and introduced it to middle-class and upscale neighborhoods. In the process, he created a chain that has become a mainstay for families squeezed during hard times or those who simply love a good bargain. Long before dollar stores dotted many street corners, Gold opened the first 99 Cents Only store in Los Angeles in 1982. It was the beginning of a chain that would exceed 300 stores in California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada." Continue reading →

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World on the verge of a new industrial revolution: Mass 3D printing

"As potentially game-changing as the steam engine or telegraph, 3D printing could herald a new industrial revolution. The prospect of printers turning out any object you want at the click of a button may seem like the stuff of science fiction. But 3D printing is already here, is developing fast, and looks set to leap from the labs and niche industries onto the wider market. 'There are still limits imposed by the technology available today,' said Olivier Olmo, operational director of Switzerland’s EPFL research institution. 'But I’m certain that within 10 or 20 years, we’ll have a kind of revolution in terms of the technology being available to everyone.'" Continue reading →

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The Market Shall Set North Korea Free

"Today, when North Koreans are ordered by their state employer to take part in political activities, they know their time is being wasted. Fewer North Koreans show up for their state jobs. This growing economic and psychological independence among regular people is becoming the greatest thorn in the regime’s side. It is also the key to change. Instead of focusing on the regime and its agents as possible instigators of reform, we must recognize the power of the flourishing marketplace to slowly but definitively transform North Korea from the bottom up." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin vs. Ben Bernanke

"Thousands of mostly small online merchants are already accepting payment in Bitcoin, The virtual money that debuted in 2009 with a value of zero and traded for the first time in 2010 at a price of three-tenths of a cent recently changed hands at $97. For Mr. Andresen, a Princeton graduate who once wrote technical standards for 3-D graphics on the Internet, Bitcoin has already begun to replace the U.S. dollar. In November, the Bitcoin Foundation, where he serves as chief scientist, began paying him in the virtual currency. So far he has persuaded his barber to accept this new money, but only from Mr. Andresen. A haircut costs half a Bitcoin." Continue reading →

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Shock: Federal Reserve Official Calls for End of Fed, Competing Currencies

"This is a fairly shocking video in the sense that the gentleman being interviewed is a former Fed official. He calls for a free-market gold and silver standard along with competing currencies – just what we've been suggesting. What is just as interesting is the focus on the Fed as a central bank. Stossel points out that central planning has been discredited the world over, so why does the world have central planning for money? This is a big issue and one that will not go away. After a century of central banking the world is in a bad state and getting worse not better." Continue reading →

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Companies That Protect Your Data From the Prying Eyes of Government

"The winners, that is those who require a warrant before giving up information and who also inform you of government requests, are: Dropbox; Foursquare; LinkedIn; Sonic.net; SpiderOak; Twitter; WordPress. The companies that roll over and immediately give up information and also don't notify you that you are the subject of a government request: Amazon; Apple; AT&T; Comcast; MySpace; Verizon; Yahoo. Google and Microsoft require a warrant before they provide information about you, but don't notify you that you are the subject of a government request." Continue reading →

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Living On Bitcoin For A Week: The Journey Begins

"On Tuesday morning, I emptied my wallet of all of the cash and credit cards before I left my house. Many journalists have been writing about the mechanics of buying Bitcoin and the resulting heart palpitations as they watched the dramatic rises and falls in the digital currency’s worth over the last few weeks. But that’s just a story about gambling. My editor issued a different challenge to test the currency’s legitimacy: 'Don’t just buy Bitcoin. Live on it for a week.'" Continue reading →

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