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In Need of Cyber-Education
Before the Industrial Revolution, education was a luxury few could afford. Currently, you can benefit from education free of charge (if you ignore the “stealth” taxation, as there is no free lunch, and neither does free schooling exist either), but its value is much lower if we understand value as the satisfaction derived from the consumption of the product. Human intelligence accommodates the ability for academic exigency, but this does not mean that academic exigency defines intelligence as a whole. Education should be adapted to cope with the changes to come at the grassroots of daily progress. More
Romania: A New Energy Power
While contemporary interest in energy questions focus on the Middle East, Romania has an impressive record in petroleum production which can be traced to 1517. Romania has a history of more than 150 years in oil extraction and in 1838 became the first country in the world with the production of 275 barrels of oil. It was followed by the United States in 1859 and Italy in 1862. By the 19th century, Romania had become one of the largest petroleum producers in Europe and Ploiești was among the best-known centers and was the site of the first Romanian refinery. Bucharest was the first city in the world illuminated with 1000 kerosene lamps, using kerosene which was produced in Ploiești. More
Why Columbus Was Not Chinese
Christopher Columbus, the world’s most famous explorer, represents a unique case study in world history and innovation. He is regarded as being a (very) controversial figure, his story being filled with mass murders and enslavement. However, he may have left us a unique perspective about where innovation come from and how we can encourage it. More
What Kind of Innovation Do We Need?
The morality of capitalism is, without a doubt, based on the value called to have (money, goods, power, social position, and so on) – and to have-to be is intensely debated in social philosophy and in ethics. I will not examine this from an ethical standpoint, since it is generally accepted both by the supporters of capitalism and by its opponents. I will narrow my considerations to the issue of innovation, as a paradigmatic model of improving human life. More
From Energetics to Economics
The fine connoisseurs say that statistics are perfectly comparable with the beach attire of an attractive young woman: reveals what everyone is allowed to see, but hides from the public eye the most appealing details. Because statistics is a science preferred by the economists, and in the economy some of the most intensively used benchmarks are turnover and gross domestic product (GDP), here are some very relevant examples: More
The US Supreme Court – Kritarchy and Compartmentalizing Manias
A recent leak from the Supreme Court of the United States (a very serious breach of trust, probably with political aims) is whipping up a severe political disturbance, right before the mid-term elections, which the Party in the White House traditionally loses when all does not become milk and honey after the Presidential elections. The leak hit a particular sore point for American politics, since it is on the issue of abortion, a problem that arouses massive emotional reactions in inverse proportion to the actual ability of politicians to address the issue. Apparently, the current Supreme Court, following a tactical case brought to its attention from Texas (Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization), is leaning towards repealing the 50 year-old constitutional ruling on Roe v. Wade (1973), which set hard limits on the restriction of abortion rights. Chief Justice Roberts confirmed that the draft by Samuel Alito was real, but mentioned that it is an old version and it is not indicative of the current version of the Court’s opinion. Following this possible repeal, individual states would be able to set a wider variety of abortion policies which are much more restrictive than the current norm and likely more in keeping with the view of the median American voter, who is more conservative than American elites. This has naturally resulted in much wailing and gnashing of the teeth and much posturing by politicians of all stripes. It is impossible to even discern right now the motivation behind the leak – whether it was a Republican sympathizer trying to drum up support from conservatives now that they are tantalizingly close to an important dream, or maybe it was a Democrat sympathizer trying to galvanize a disappointed electorate to show up to vote for an Administration which, in most practical ways, has been quite moderate and an overall failure on the big issues. More
With Concern, Concerning Pensions
In a well-ordered society (in Rawlsian terminology), every person gains his social place and, consequently, his income (wealth) based on his objective merits – usually based on his work. Unfortunately, beyond a certain age, the physiology of humans does not allow people to engage in work activities anymore. In such a situation, some resources (usually in monetary expression) are needed to maintain the standard of living or, in more general terms, the wellbeing (no matter if all persons agree with a little smaller level of it, since, in fact, the general needs are, after the mentioned age, smaller). These resources form the concept of pension – that is retirement benefit. But who must provide the pension to retired persons? All logical judgements would tell us that the pension should be composed of savings on the part of the beneficiaries themselves, from their personal (or disposable) income gained during the active period of their life. Such savings should be the result of prudential behaviour in the long term. Since, in the real world, the prudential behaviour is not granted to all persons, the state took over the burden to fuel that “savings account”. Such saving has some features as follows (NB: I discuss here only the type of public pensions of the 1st pillar in the Romanian system, the pay-as-you-go public system): More
Russia’s Trump Card Against China and Reshaping Power Dynamics
On 18 December 2019, Donald Trump, the current President of the United States of America, was impeached by the House Judiciary Committee following allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, the third US President to be impeached after Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton (while Richard Nixon stepped down before a vote could be cast on his impeachment). The charges brought against Trump were attempting to coerce Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky into helping him win the upcoming 2020 elections by launching an investigation against Trump’s political rival, Joe Biden, and his son Hunter regarding pressure by Biden, as Obama’s VP, to fire a Ukrainian prosecutor investigating the energy firm employing his son. Trump apparently sought to ensure Ukraine’s help by withholding American military and diplomatic support for Ukraine. More
Complicity and Complacency: American Liberalism’s Radical Turn
What will it take to bring politics back down to earth? We must stop lifting it to heaven! In this age of political religions, all ideologies are best seen as Christian heresies. Since man is made in the image of God, all imitate, covet, even worship this image. Idolatry in its countless forms is at the root of their power and popular appeal. More
Who Wins Trade Wars? A Brief Incursion into History
Intended to restore the greatness of America (how can we forget Make America great again?), the trade war triggered by the United States against uncomfortable partners such as China on the basis of secular trade deficits and other grievances is causing a wave of global concern. It has resulted, at the very least, in a slowdown in the increase of the international trade volumes, 2.6% in 2019 compared to 3% in 2018, according to a World Trade Organization Press Release. More
The Efficient Wage and Its Challenges
The standard Economics states that the gross nominal wage which is consistent (that is, non-contradictory) with the criterion of economic behaviour of the employer – the gross profit maximization – must be at most at the level of monetary expression of the marginal labour productivity (such a level could be called the optimal-based wage – OBW). Let us presume, for the sake of discussion, that the employer does not wish to exploit the employee, so he does not pay less than the OBW. But what happens if he pays more than the OBW? Here emerges the concept of the efficient wage (EW), that is that gross level of the wage which is higher than the OBW. In the present intervention, I will discuss some issues related to the concept of EW, in the very context of Romanian economy where, quite recently, such a philosophy of remuneration was implemented. More
Romania, Second Lowest Hourly Labour Cost in EU
Romania had the second lowest hourly labour cost in the EU in 2021, according to data published by Eurostat. The recorded value (€8.5) was higher than in Bulgaria (€7.0), but under the levels for Latvia (€ 11.1), Croatia (€ 11.2), Lithuania (€ 11.3) and Poland (€ 11.5). The highest labour costs were recorded in Denmark (€46.9), Luxembourg (€43.0) and Belgium (€41.6) (see infograph). More
