Chuck Grimmett

Archives

Tag: FEE

  • Day 198 – Last Day of YSC

    ,

    Today was the last day of FEE’s YSC in Midland. I had a wonderful time this week! I met so many wonderful scholars and defenders of liberty here. Tomorrow, Brad and I are driving down to Hillsdale for a little while, then we are driving home.

    To all of you who are sick of photos of speakers (especially Hank D), I am sorry. After this post, there will not be more for at least a month.

    Larry White, economist and scholar on free banking:

    Larry White

    Larry Reed, FEE’s President

    Larry Reed

    Walter Block, economist and anarcho-capitalist scholar

    Walter Block

  • Day 197 – Privatizing Roads

    ,

    Today was another great day at FEE’s YSC. Among other things, Walter Block talked about privatizing roads, which he recently authored a book about. I also got to participate in a discussion over lunch with Block, Ben Powell, and some other students about the legitimacy of fractional reserve banking. I also went out to dinner with a group of pretty cool people from around the world and discussed various liberty-oriented topics. In addition to all of this, the weather was beautiful, so it was a wonderful day. Two photos:

    Walter Block:

    Walter Block

    Larry Reed, President of FEE (in the middle, asking a question):

    Larry Reed, President of FEE

  • Day 196 – Third Day of YSC

    ,

    There were some wonderful lectures today, including an immigration talk from Ben Powell, in which he destroyed every argument brought up against open borders. Another highlight of my day today was that I spent some time having a discussion with Walter Block. Also, Brad and I went to an asian restaurant for dinner, and I ate my first Korean meal: Bibimbap. It was very good, even with the fried egg on top!

    A few photos from the third day:

    YSC, Day 3
    YSC, Day 3
    YSC, Day 3

  • Day 195 – Young Scholars Colloquium

    ,

    I am having a wonderful time at the FEE Young Scholars Colloquium seminar at Northwood University. Here are some shots from today:

    Dr. Nikolai Wenzel, Hillsdale College Economics Professor:

    Dr. Nikolai Wenzel

    Ben Stafford, FEE’s Director of Programs:

    Ben Stafford

    Princewill Njie, a guy I met from Cameroon:

    Princewill Njie, a guy I met from Cameroon

    Dr. Sanford Ikeda, Purchase College Economics Professor:

    Dr. Sanford Ikeda

    The Sloan Building at Northwood:

    Northwood University

  • Day 162 – A Contest

    Yesterday during one of the question and answer sessions at FEE, one of the professors, Gene Callahan, brought up this hypothetical situation for the students to think about and attempt to answer, then he revealed the actual answer to us. So, since I occasionally ask questions on here for people to answer, I am going to post this one. Also, I will make it a contest. The first person to post the correct answer and valid explanation will receive a copy of Gene Callahan’s Economics for Real People.

    Post your answers in the comments on this post. I will leave the contest open until 12:00 a.m. EST June 20, unless someone gets the answer correct before then. If someone gets the answer correct, I will post it in my update for that day, as well as notify the winner and post a comment stating that the contest is closed. One entry per person.

    Please note: Attendees of the FEE seminar this week are excluded from winning, since you heard this from Callahan during the session. I will notify the winner and mail him or her a copy of the book.

    So, here is the question:

    Let’s say that Pink Floyd’s 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon sold 5 times as many copies than their 1971 album Meddle. Does this mean that consumers valued Dark Side of the Moon 5 times greater than Meddle?

    (Note: These might not be actual sales numbers; this is a hypothetical question.)

    Again, post your answer as a comment on this post. Answers must provide a valid explanation to go along with the “yes” or “no”.

  • Day 160 – FEE, Second Day

    ,

    Today was my second day at FEE (but the first full day). The seminars have been great so far! A few of my friends from Hillsdale are here, so I have enjoyed catching up with them in between seminars. Here is a shot from the room that the seminars are in:

    ALT

  • Day 70 – Anticipation and Excitement

    Fripp Island, South Carolina

    I have been looking forward to the end of this week for a while now. I only have a few days left to get through, then I will have a much-awaited break! Above is a photo that I took the last time I was in South Carolina a few years ago. I hope to have many nice pictures from this trip. Check my blog daily for updates! Also, click on the photo to view it large.

    Another future reason for excitement is that I finalized three things for the summer in the last two days. I lined up a photography job for a wedding in August and I signed up for two week-long FEE seminars. The first seminar is on Austrian Economics and runs June 10-14 at FEE’s headquarters in NY. The second seminar is the Young Scholars Colloquium and runs July 13-17 at Northwood University in Midland, MI. If you are interested in attending any FEE seminars, visit their website to see what they are offering.

  • Personal Beliefs vs. Political Beliefs

    ,

    I have been thinking about this for a while.

     

    I think it is important when talking about legislative policy and our beliefs to ask ourselves this question:

    Do I actually believe in this strongly enough to force it upon others through legislative action, or is it just a personal belief?

     

    I am okay with someone believing anything he or she wants to. When that person (or group of people, for that matter) starts to force it upon others through legislative action, however, that is when I start having a problem with it. 

     

    To quote Leonard Read, “Let anyone do anything, so long as his actions are peaceful; limit government to keeping the peace.” Let’s do away with all of this nonsense legislation that does not have to do with peacekeeping. (Though, admittedly, I am willing to take it farther than that, but I will leave that for another time.)

  • Lessons from FEE

    I am learning a lot from the seminars at FEE that I have been attending. I plan to overview some of the lessons from the seminars on here this week. They will be in no particular order.

     

    Aggregates

    We should all do our best not to speak in aggregate terms when we actually mean some individuals that make up that group. That is, saying the name of the group (such as “the government”) when we mean a few select senators or other elected individuals. Using aggregate terms when talking about where a decision came from or who enacted a regulation only muddles the picture and makes it difficult to get a clear answer to a problem that deals with that. Why? Because only individuals purposefully act. Groups cannot act. There are hundreds of situations where this can come into play. Think about it for a while. 

    Of course, the broader lesson of this is that we should be as precise as possible with our terms when speaking and writing. Without clear terms, it becomes very difficult to solve problems and nearly impossible to build a stable foundation for any system (in FEE’s case, economics).

    Use clear terms. I am going to try my best to do this, too. If I start getting sloppy, call me out on it.