Christian Baaki

The heart of Tolkien’s literary theory is this: literature, the act of writing, of working with language, is a deeply human and salvific task. To work with language and to be willing to be changed by language is to enter into a profound mystery. Language is not a machine for us to control but a gift for us to steward; used properly, it can be a

Lottery revenues rarely increased overall education funding. Instead, they replaced general fund dollars, freeing up politicians to spend on other priorities without having to raise taxes.

A new paper from economists at the Joint Committee on Taxation finds the Laffer curve peaks at about a 40% top federal income tax rate, considering the effects on all federal taxes, behavior and the economy. Federal revenue would go up only 0.5% if the top rate was raised from 37% to 40% (about $25 billion) and shrink if the top rate were increased

Given the extraordinary imbalances we see in favor of the old, especially for scarce resources like houses, it is logical that pronatal policies should favor the young. Here are a few obvious things:

• Control deficits and limit debt-financed elderly entitlements. Future generations are doubly burdened, first by the debt itself and the interest that

Covey wrote a formula: Credibility (proof) = character + competence.

Every pound the government uses is first taken from someone. The unseen opportunity cost is that that pound could have been used to buy something, it could have been saved, or it could have been invested to improve productivity.

Every pound the government takes costs the private sector in administrative fees. Bureaucrats collect taxes, do

More money does not increase wealth, it increases prices and transfers wealth to early recipients and spenders of the new money and credit. Whenever there are more monetary units within an economy, prices will increase unevenly, distort the structure of production, transfer wealth, and reduce the value of the monetary unit.

Silver now trades at ~65:1 to gold despite being only 8x rarer above ground.

If 1,000 people are willing to pay $30–$100 a year for clarity, the business works.

Over time, many founder stop making single bets and start building portfolios. Multiple small tools in adjacent niches. Some resonate. Some don’t. The learning compounds. Judgment sharpens. Distribution strengthens.

Large organizations still excel at scale and