M. Hurwitz’s Holiday
Word count: 2238
A 1953, French comedy, “M. Hulot’s Holiday,” depicts an amiable vacationer who, with a natural genius for doing the wrong thing at the wrong time, barely survives a series of minor disasters. On holiday myself in 2007, I inadvertently did my best to follow in his faltering footsteps.
Stelzer’s Travels, Installment 5
Word count: 2860
Stelzer makes himself at home.
A Sherlock Holmes Mystery One-Act Play
Sherlock Holmes knows no more than you do, my dear Reader, but he may (or may not) be more adept at putting the clues together.
(Full disclosure: I had the basic elements of this play in mind long ago. I can’t say what triggered putting these elements in a Sherlock Holmes context except that I’ve always harbored a kinship with his character. In any case, when I started this project in early October, I was entirely unaware that a new Sherlock Holmes movie was forthcoming.)
The Church of St. Ayn Deconsecrated
word count: 2,116
The two faces of Ayn Rand critiqued. One found attractive. The other less so.
Thank you, Dr. Root-Sistemci
word count: 142
A note of appreciation to a conscientious hacker who dove deep enough into the bowels of the Internet to grace my humble, obscure site.
Excerpt Four of Stelzer’s Travels
word count: 2,499
Much to his surprise, David Stelzer finds himself on the way to Planet Luxenben.
Money Redefined, Part I
Word count: 1968
The reasons fissures keep occurring in the economy is the same reason cracks keep appearing in the walls of some houses. The problem in both cases is that they’re sitting on a shaky foundation. Plastering over the cracks doesn’t help for long; the next tremors from below dislocate things all over again.
The question “what’s wrong with our economic system?” thus ineluctably leads to the question, “what’s wrong with money?”
Money Redefined, Part II
Word count: 1404
A citizen’s financial life is centered on his account at the National Bank–the privately-held institution that has been granted the authority to handle consumer transactions for the entire population. Everyone is issued an account at birth and keeps it for life. All his transactions–deposits and deductions–flow through this one account for there can be no other account or other means of exchange: no paper currency, no coinage.
Money Redefined, Part III
Word count: 2885
Whereas commercial banks take in deposits and from these make loans, they are prohibited from any dealings with individuals. On the positive side, the commercial world is entirely tax free. Since they view the free market as the primary means of achieving progress, they do nothing to dampen its dynamism. If a company is particularly profitable, they contend that, for the sake of economic development, it should be free to take full advantage of its success without the state dulling its competitive edge.
Money Redefined, Part IV
Word count: 2244
In the belief that everyone is entitled to at least minimal levels of nutrition…the government acts affirmatively. Each month, the National Bank deposits in every citizen’s account an allowance of vouchers…The vouchers cannot by themselves be exchanged for food but are a necessary component in all retail purchases of food items…The system is virtually cost free to the government…It is, in reality, a form of income redistribution in which the rich, on a sliding scale, subsidize the poor.