Posts on blog.nath.page

A Minimal Emacs Config

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

All I wanted was to use magit today, but Spacemacs, which I have used for years, wouldn’t allow me. I could not figure out what the problem was—it likely had something to with dependencies that were out of sync. Failing to resolve the issue, I decided to reinstall emacs and configure it from scratch (with some great LLM help). The fruits of this tinkering is in the init.el file below. It is only about 160 lines long, but covers the vast majority of my requirements surprisingly well. This is a brief log of how this config file came about.

The Carnivore Diet by Shawn Baker

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Perhaps I should begin building a list of all the lies we are taught in school. That a plant-based diet is healthy for you is presented to you so adamantly and incessantly, you begin treating the claim as self-evident to the point that questioning it becomes a nonstarter. Despite being proclaimed from the highest pulpits by doctors, nutritionists, and public health experts, it lacks both empirical and logical backing. The truth is pretty much the opposite.

Using Obsidian

Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Background

I have been using the note-taking software, Obsidian, for a little more than a year, and it has been a major quality of life upgrade for me. Prior to this, I used Evernote for several years, thanks to the recommendation of Tim Ferriss. Initially, I was a happy customer, but over the years, the subscription costs mounted and the quality of the app degraded. I tested Joplin and Notion but they proved inadequate for my needs. Finally, I landed on Obsidian, finding it through the videos of No Boilerplate. My usage pattern has settled down enough over the past year for me to be able to discuss it.

Tasks vs Calendar

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Calendar

A calendar is to be used for the following.

Time blocking,
Marking events that will occur regardless of your presence,
Marking due dates.

I am using the Full Calendar plugin. Every event is a separate note under a specific folder. The events appear in a calendar timeline.

Task Manager

A task manager is used for tracking all tasks associated with projects. Be as specific as you need to be. Tasks do not necessarily have due dates. Set scheduled dates and priority for tasks as required.

Alloying Gold

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Gold lends itself to being easily alloyed with a number of different metals. Yellow gold is gold alloyed with silver and copper. In rose gold, the concentration of copper is higher, whereas, in green gold, it is silver that has the higher concentration. Red and pink gold are formed by varying the silver and copper amounts. White gold is an alloy with palladium or nickel. Blue gold is formed with indium or gallium; purple gold is made using aluminum.

Witch Hat Atelier Is a Shounen With a Female Protagonist

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ninety-seven chapters in and I yet do not understand why Witch Hat Atelier (WHA) is marked seinen. Despite its tragic themes, it does not have the grittiness of Vinland Saga or Berserk. Demon Slayer and Attack on Titan have arguably more darkness than WHA, yet they are labeled as shounen. Also with the number of teenagers in central positions, the manga deliberately circumvents adult themes and emphasizes simplicity, cuteness, and all that you would expect in shounen or shoujo.

Qifrey

Sat, 04 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Witch Hat Atelier’s Qifrey is one of the most intriguing characters I have come across. Gentle and cheerful on the surface, Qifrey masks a fair amount of darkness which occasionally manifests in a scary way. In the beginning, while we are unaware of his past, his interest in the brim caps along with the use of intimidation and memory wiping magic to protect his secret plant doubts about his alignment. Is Coco someone Qifrey protecting merely to serve his goals of tracking down the brim caps? Why is Qifrey not more forthcoming about his knowledge with his peers and students, if not the magical authorities?

Hutt's Rebuttal of Keynes

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

John Maynard Keynes published The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money in 1936. In it, he advocated for dirigistic inflationary policies to stimulate the economy and aid economic recovery. Idle resources—money, labor, capital—had to be employed; otherwise, they were being wasted.

William H Hutt provided one of the earliest rebuttals of the general theory. His book, The Theory of Idle Resources (1939), lists several valid reasons for resource unemployment:

Time Preference

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, in his criticism of usury laws, described the concept of time-preference and its role in lending at interest. Time-preference refers to the discounting of the future, and the concomitant placing of a premium upon the present. If this rate of discounting is high, the time-preference is high. If the discounting rate is low, the time-preference is low.

Since we prefer a present good to an equivalent amount of the good at some point in the future, lenders will demand, and borrowers will accept, an interest on a loan. Interest is the price of time-preference.

Inflation Promotes Speculation

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In my previous discussion about the effects of inflation, I missed an important point. This might be the most pernicious of its cultural effects: inflation discourages productivity and encourages speculation.

The distortions generated by inflation are not immediately apparent. While an inflationary episode is underway, labor is tricked into accepting the same nominal wage (that is, accepting a lower real wage), since price levels have not risen yet. Soon, prices rise and the decline in purchasing power becomes apparent. Long after the prices have risen are the labor able to negotiate a (nominal) wage increase. This increase is also likely to be lower than the rate of inflation, thus the real wage continues to be lower than what it was prior to the inflationary episode. A decline in real wages discourages productivity.

Lord of Mysteries Anime S1 + Specials

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The first season of Lord of Mysteries gripped my imagination late last year, compelling me to read the entire series of light novels. This month, three special episodes came out covering parts of volume 1 that did not make it into season 1 for good reason. Again, the production was absolutely captivating.

IMDb Blurb

“Zhou Mingrui awakens in the body of Klein Moretti in a Victorian world of steam and hidden magic. As a new Beyonder, he confronts secret societies and dark rituals while seeking the truth behind his mysterious transmigration.”

Price-Specie-Flow Mechanism and Automatic Trade Balancing Under the Gold Standard

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Price-Specie-Flow Mechanism

The price-specie-flow (PSF) mechanism is the extension of the quantity theory of money (QTM) to a multi-country scenario. Proponents of the end-neutrality of QTM often implicitly assume a closed economy. But when nations trade amongst each other, the injection of monetary units in a nation can, instead of putting upward pressure on local prices, promote imports, and thus cause an outflow of money, in the short term. The price-specie-flow mechanism accounts for these dynamics.

Quantity Theory of Money

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Statement

The level of prices depend on the quantity of money.

Early discussions on this matter can be found in the essays of John Locke, David Hume and Irving Fisher (see Reference).

Discussion

Provided that the item used as money can be divided and combined as necessary, any amount of money is sufficient for running an economy. Ideas about bringing lasting changes to an economy by expanding the money supply are invalid. Should the money supply increase, all else equal, the prices of goods and services would increase proportionately. Thus, the outcome would ultimately be neutral.

A Reasonable Tax System

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Setting aside the question of morality as it relates to coercing citizens to part with their property, let us consider a tax regime based solely on the stock market. (Also, assume a Bitcoin standard.)

Equity-Based Tax System

In this system only top publicly traded companies are taxed. Taxation takes place in-kind, through shares. Only, say, the top 500 companies (by market capitalization) in the country are in consideration for taxation. And the taxation occurs thus:

Witch Hat Atelier Season 1

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Verdict

Witch Hat Atelier S1 was truly beautiful.

The only annoying thing was Coco’s overly cartoonish reactions. I know it’s supposed to make her look cute, but it was overused.

Everything else about the anime was great. The artwork and animation were beautiful. The characters were engaging. The conflicts were set up very well. The magic system was well designed.

I don’t anticipate being able to wait a couple of years for the next season. I will probably pick up the manga at some point, especially given the sort of cliffhanger we have been left with.

Sanderson's Laws of Magic

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Brandon Sanderson, the author of Mistborn, The Stormlight Archive, etc. presents three points of consideration for fantasy authors.

First Law

Solving a problem through magic depends on how well the readers understand the magic.

You cannot simply have vague magical powers and then use a wizard to enchant problems away. That would amount to deus ex machina, an unsatisfactory read at best, a betrayal of the readers at worst.

Second Law

Limitations are more important than powers.

Disciplines of Magic

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Consider an academy of magic with the following seven disciplines. Disciplines are equivalent to general majors. I have taken help from existing D&D concepts; this video about the different schools of magic in D&D was instrumental to me bringing structure to ideas I have played with for a long time.

Magical Disciplines

Wardcraft

shielding
negating a spell
reflecting a spell
pocket building (with metamancy and others)

Kinesomatics

advanced physical capabilities
heightened senses
perfect weapon control
agility
endurance
bodily enhancements, such as growing wings, claws, etc (in combination with metamancy for inorganic materials, or lifecraft for organic additions)

Klesiurgy

summoning objects
summoning living beings
teleportation
telekinesis
weather control (in combination with energetics)
flying
spying (in combination with mindcraft)

Metamancy

transmutation of objects
alchemy
potions
controlling marionettes (in combination with lifecraft)
earth-based elementalism

Energetics

weather control (in combination with klesiurgy)
fire and water elementalism and related forms like smoke and ice
thunderstrike
explosions
darkness
heat and cold
gravity manipulation (in combination with wardcraft)

Mindcraft

illusions, visual and auditory
persuasion
calming and agitating
confusion
memory loss
memory manipulation
telepathy

Lifecraft

healing
taming birds, beasts, fish
tending plants
imbuing lifelike properties to mechanical objects, controlling marionettes (in combination with metamancy)
instant death curse
contracts

Academic Structure

Candidacy requires high mental and physical abilities along with proficiency in languages and mathematics. Candidates would typically rank in the top 0.1 percentile in mundanes’ college entrance examinations.
Time at the academy is divided into three non-equal phases.
All seven disciplines are taught in the first phase.
There are additional lessons in mathematics and languages beyond those taught in these disciplines.
Candidates study four disciplines in the second phase.
Candidates study one or two disciplines in the third phase.
There are exams at the end of the first and second phases, and a capstone project at the end of the third.
The candidates’ third phase disciplines are their majors. The other second phase disciplines are their minors. Typically, it’s one major three minors, or two major two minors.

How Money Broke

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Free market interactions led to the emergence of gold as money. Gold was divisible, durable, recognizable, and most importantly, difficult to inflate. Thus, it maintained its purchasing power better than other commodities that were easier to produce.

However, gold suffered from certain drawbacks. While it was divisible, dividing it physically was practical only to a certain point. Also, carrying it in large quantities was costly and cumbersome. Furthermore, verifying the authenticity of gold coins and bars was time-consuming.

Gresham's Law and Fiat Currencies

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Gresham’s Law stipulates thus. “Artificially overvalued money will drive out of circulation artificially undervalued money.”

As terrible as the US Dollar has been at inflation in a century, other currencies have proven to be worse. Governments throughout the world have been egregiously inflationary. They have expanded their money supply and devalued their currencies. Entities in these countries have thus resorted to hoarding (a term without a negative connotation to me) US Dollars. The upward pressure on the demand for US Dollars is such that despite the massive expansion in US Dollar supply, we do not see the corresponding amount of price level rises in the US. The abysmal fiscal policies of the rest of the world allows the US to export its price inflation.

Hosting Passwords

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Three Phases of Password Hosting

For the longest time, I hesitated to use a password manager. Trusting a cloud service for such an important matter did not sit well with me. For years, I kept all my passwords in a notebook. This was the pen and paper phase. It worked, but over time, the content grew too large. Changing passwords got messy. And if I lost my notebook (which, fortunately, did not happen), I would be in trouble. Maintaining a backup ultimately meant taking photos and trusting internet-touching devices and internet-based services.

Components of the Fiat Banking System (India-Centric)

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The following table depicts the major components of the fiat financial system from the Indian point-of-view. For the most part, it is similar to the table for the US case. The key differences are noted at the bottom.

Components of the Indian Banking System

ENTITIES	LIABILITIES	ASSETS	EXAMPLES
Individuals	Mortgages, Loans, Taxes	Deposits, Banknotes, Government Securities (G-Secs), Stocks, Bonds, Fund Units, SDLs, Benefit Payments	High Net-Worth Individuals, Retail Investors, Family Offices, Other Individuals
Businesses and Non-Profits	Loans, Bonds, Equity, Commercial Paper, Taxes	Deposits, Banknotes, Subsidies	Tata Group, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Indian Red Cross Society, Small and Medium Enterprises
Financial Institutions	Deposits, Fund Units, Securities Issued, Taxes	Loans, Mortgages, G-Secs, SDLs, Stocks, Bonds, Commercial Paper, Bank Reserves, Deposits, Banknotes, Bailouts	State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI Mutual Fund, Life Insurance Corporation of India
Foreign Sector	Deposits, Stocks, Bonds, Loans, Taxes	G-Secs, Stocks, Bonds, Loans, Fund Units, Deposits, Banknotes	Reserve Bank of Japan, Norges Bank Investment Management, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs), Global Corporations
Public Authorities, Government Trust Funds, State Governments	Bonds, SDLs, Benefit Payments	Government Securities, (State) Taxes	Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), National Pension System (NPS Trust), State PSUs like NTPC, Indian Railways, Government of Maharashtra
Reserve Bank of India (RBI)	Banknotes, Bank Reserves	Government Securities, Foreign Exchange Reserves, SDLs	Reserve Bank of India (Mumbai, Regional Offices)
Government of India	Government Securities, Subsidies, Bailouts	Taxes	—

Notes

The components here are very similar to the Components of the US Banking System. Standard notes regarding the US system applies. There are some differences.

Components of the Fiat Banking System (US-Centric)

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This is a simplified depiction of the fiat banking system. Here, we will focus on the US system. Note how each liability of an entity corresponds to an asset of another entity and vice versa.

Components of the US Banking System

ENTITIES	LIABILITIES	ASSETS	EXAMPLES
Individuals	Mortgages, Loans, Taxes	Deposits, Banknotes, Treasuries, Stocks, Bonds, MBS, Fund Shares, Benefit Payments	High Net-Worth Individuals, Retail Investors, Family Offices, Other Individuals
Businesses and Non-Profits	Loans, Bonds, Stocks, Commercial Paper, Taxes	Deposits, Banknotes, Subsidies	Walmart, Caterpillar, American Red Cross, Powell’s Sweet Shoppe
Financial Institutions	Deposits, Fund Shares, MBS, Taxes	Mortgages, Loans, Treasuries, Stocks, Bonds, MBS, Commercial Paper, Reserves, Deposits, Banknotes, Bailouts	Bank of America, Vanguard, Fidelity Investments, Fannie Mae MBS Trusts, CalPERS
Foreign Sector	Deposits, Stocks, Bonds, Loans, Taxes	Treasuries, Stocks, Bonds, Loans, MBS, Fund Shares, Deposits, Banknotes	Bank of Japan, Norway Government Pension Fund Global, Foreign Corporations and Individuals
Public Authorities and Government Trust Funds	Bonds, Benefit Payments	Treasuries	Social Security Trust Fund, Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, Tennessee Valley Authority, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Federal Reserve	Banknotes, Reserves	Treasuries, MBS	Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
US Federal Government	Treasuries, Subsidies, Bailouts	Taxes	—

Notes

Flow Items
- Interests are implied: loans include interest, deposits include interest, and so on.
- Similarly, obligations like pension obligations and insurance obligations are implied alongside fund shares.
- Taxes include seizures, tariffs, etc.
- Bailouts, subsidies, taxes are flows, not balance sheet items (as are interests and other obligations mentioned above). Regardless, I’ve chosen to include them to maintain a sense of who is liable to pay these to whom. These flow items have been italicized.
- Perhaps the more appropriate terms would be tax liability, taxing authority, benefits entitlement, benefits obligations, etc. Although, strictly speaking, these are not balance sheet items.
Financial Institutions include Commercial Banks, Credit Unions, Money Market Funds, Mutual Funds, Pension Funds, Exchange Traded Funds, Insurance Companies.
Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) are formed by pooling and securitizing Mortgages through MBS Trusts. Agency MBS Trusts are formed by government-backed institutions like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Private Trusts or Special-Purpose Vehicles are MBS Trusts formed by large private financial institutions like Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. Private Label MBS are much less common than Agency MBS. Treasuries and Agency MBS account for over 95% of the Federal Reserve’s assets.
Foreign Sector
- This includes Foreign Central Banks, Commercial Banks, Sovereign Wealth Funds, Governments, Corporations, Households.
- The liabilities are • Foreign Stocks, Bonds, Loans held by US entities, • US entities’ deposits in Foreign Banks, and • Taxes owed by Foreign entities to the US Government.
- The assets are • US Treasuries, Stocks, Bonds, MBS held by foreigners, • foreign entities’ deposits in US Banks, • (not included in this table) taxes/obligations owed by US entities to foreign governments/entities.
Financial assets are featured above. These are items that are someone else’s liabilities. Thus, items like gold, equipment, real estate, infrastructure (in the case of Public Authorities) which do not have corresponding liabilities are not listed here.
Arguably, inflation should be included as well. An asset for the government, liability for anyone holding the currency.
See also Components of the Indian Banking System.

Inflation is Legalized Counterfeiting

Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In earlier posts, I have regarded inflation as counterfeiting conducted by the government. This is not hyperbole. It is merely calling an activity its proper name.

The Illegal Case

To understand this label, let us go over what happens when an ordinary criminal counterfeits money. Suppose these fake tokens are virtually indistinguishable from already circulating monetary units. The criminal and his associates are able to go to the market and buy goods and services at prevailing rates. These people benefit the most: they did not even have to part with anything of value to obtain these tokens.

Effects of Inflation

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Inflation (that is, the counterfeiting of money by the government) has several destructive effects on the economy. It transfers wealth from late recipients of newly issued monetary units to those who receive them relatively earlier. It hurts the ability of economic actors to perform economic calculation. It degrades the quality of goods and services produced in the economy. Furthermore, it causes boom and bust cycles in the economy.

Wealth Redistribution

The overall effect of the introduction of new monetary tokens is a general increase in price levels. But this effect is neither smooth nor instantaneous. Not everyone acquires an equal amount of these tokens, or at the same time. Also, not all prices rise proportionately, or at the same time.

How Governments Generate Revenue

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Private individuals and businesses must either sell something of value to acquire money or expend time and resources to mine it directly (think of gold mining in the case of a gold standard). Governments, in contrast, do not obtain payment for goods or services they produce; they generate revenues through the seizure of assets. In the past, they might have sent their agents to seize grains, cattle, coins, etc. from people. But in a monetary economy, they simply seize monetary assets, which is a lot easier to do.

Natural Limits on Free Banking Reserve Requirements

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In a free banking system, various banks issue their own banknotes which are redeemable for the gold that they hold. The banks set their policies independently and compete with other banks in the free market. This is distinct from the central banking system we experience today, where a central bank dictates key requirements the chartered banks must obey, and these banks issue a single fiat currency.

One important decision a bank needs to make in a free banking system is how much reserves it shall hold on to at any moment to meet the withdrawal demands of the depositors. If the reserves are less than 100% of the deposits, the bank engages in fractional reserve banking. (Setting aside the question of morality of such a system, free banks with fractional reserves have emerged in the free market and operated for a long time in the past.)

The Immorality of Fractional Reserve Banking

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Before discussing fractional reserve banking, let’s go over the concept of full reserve banking. Suppose a bank takes in total deposits worth $100 million from its depositors. The bank promises the depositors that they may withdraw their deposits anytime. The bank, in this case, simply acts as a warehouse for the money deposited, collecting fees from the depositors in return. At any time, all deposited money remains within the bank; and at any time, any or all depositors may come to collect the money they have deposited. This is full reserve banking: all the deposits remain in reserve.

Some of My Favorite Anime

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In no particular order, the following are some of my favorite anime shows. These are all completed series I have fully watched, sometimes multiple times.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

This is the series that really got me into watching anime. A fun story about the last airbender traveling through different lands and ultimately defeating the evil king in the fire nation. Simple, children’s cartoon with excellent characters and relatively predictable plotlines, but very well executed.

When Money is Abundant, Everything Else is Scarce

Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Any amount of money in an economy is ‘abundant’ provided it can be divided and combined according to the needs of the economic actors. That’s not the kind of abundance I’m referring to in the title. I’m instead referring to monetary inflation. More than the absolute stock of money, what’s relevant is the rate at which it is increasing.

The Medium of Exchange Problem

As discussed in Price and Money, a price is simply the exchange rate between two goods/services. Money is a good that acts as a medium of exchange, negating the need for double coincidence of wants. Due to the prevalence of money, Adam can sell his service to ‘buy’ money, and then ‘sell’ the money to buy goods he wants. This renders unnecessary for the sellers of those goods to desire Adam’s service before Adam may have his wants met.

Thinking Correctly About Inflation

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Central bankers and economic textbooks will have you believe that economic inflation is “an increase in the general price levels.” Due to inflation, your money is worth less than before—its purchasing power lower than it used to be. Capitalism, fall in supply, rise in demand, etc. are blamed. Everything but the main culprit is discussed. This is an instance of exclusionary detailing. Learn to see through the smoke and mirrors.

ImageMagick

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Just found out about this neat tool called imagemagick. I’m using it to compress jpg images small webp images for use on this blog.

Install it (in arch-based linux) using this command.

sudo pacman -S imagemagick

Then run

magick image.jpg -resize 1600x -quality 75 image.webp

to create a compressed version of the image. Here the max pixel width is set at 1600 px, and the quality is at 75 (moderate compression).

Is Hayek Socialist? A Note on The Road to Serfdom

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In Saifedean Ammous’ podcast with Thomas Massey, Hayek is accused of being a little too socialist and his book The Road to Serfdom overrated. He is praised, however, for being diplomatic enough with the mainstream to remain relevant until winning the Swedish Central Bank Prize (the so-called Nobel Prize), and then speaking the anarchist language.

The Road to Serfdom is the only book by Friedrich Hayek that I have read, and based on just that, I have to disagree with the socialist-lite characterization. The ideas he promotes are libertarian. He does not go up against the Keynesians, but then, the book was meant to target socialists, which it did.

Witch Hat Atelier 1x8

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Did Qifrey just wipe Nolnoa’s memories? How much of them did he wipe? This cannot be good.

Witch Hat Atelier was much anticipated, and I have been watching each episode as it’s getting released. Little pre-teen girl casts a spell that kills/traps her mother, gets adopted into an atelier, and begins her journey into the precarious world of witchcraft. The artwork and animation are great. The over the top expressions often are too annoying. The character-work is excellent.

Gresham's Law and Price Ceilings

Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Note that the law applies not just to a particular type of coins, but to the exchange rates between different money commodities as well. Suppose in a bimetallic standard, metal A is pegged to metal B at a ratio of 1:10, but the market value of a unit of metal A is 12x that of metal B. In this case, we have a price ceiling whereby metal A is artificially undervalued, and per Gresham’s Law, will be driven out of circulation.

Gresham's Law Clarified

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Gresham’s Law is frequently oversimplified as “bad money drives good money out of circulation.” This phenomenon has been observed in history whenever debasement of coins has occurred. In such cases, people choose to collect coins with the greater precious metal content and spend the debased coins. Over time, the ‘good’ money, the coins with more precious metal in them, get driven out of circulation by ‘bad’ money, the debased coins.

Price and Money

Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A price is simply a ratio of something in terms of something else. It need not necessarily be in terms of a fiat currency. The price of a certain watch may be ten pairs of a certain brand of shoes, or equivalently, an hour of consulting service of a certain expert, and so on. The ratios in terms of some goods become more prevalent due to their characteristics: durability, recognizability, divisibility, scarcity; these goods begin to acquire monetary recognition as individuals start accumulating them for the express purpose of exchanging them (as opposed to consuming them). These goods are traded more frequently than other goods due to their utility as media of exchange. The most traded good, thus, emerges as money, and market participants find it convenient to denominate prices in terms of this money, which, historically, has been gold.

Why the Worst Get on Top

Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I recently revisited the chapter titled “Why the Worst Get on Top” from FA Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom. The essay discusses the sociopolitical dynamics within a totalitarian system that inevitably encourage and enable bad actors to gain power while sidelining decent people.

The worst features of totalitarian governments are not accidental or avoidable; they are features totalitarianism produces given enough time to operate. Just as a socialist planner must choose between either assuming dictatorial powers or abandoning his plans, a totalitarian dictator must renounce morality or fail. Socialism produces a totalitarian society, which places at its helm a dictator not bound by common morals, and from this system we get social and economic repression, destruction of life and property, elimination of political alternatives, conscription, etc.