Fri, 10 Oct 2003 17:22:31 +0000 Fri, 10 Oct 2003 17:22:31 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Essays on politics, economics, and military affairs http://quikonnex.com/channel/page/thepopulist/227 http://p.xanga.com/ThePopulist/profile.gif http://quikonnex.com/channel/page/thepopulist/227 Essays on politics, economics, and military affairs en Quikonnex Publisher 60 http://quikonnex.com/QMTP/feedcontact/thepopulist ]]> Fri, 10 Oct 2003 17:22:31 +0000 http://quikonnex.com/QMTP/feedcontact/thepopulist http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=858

Microsoft owes their monopoly to a crucial mistake made by IBM Corporation.

When IBM debuted the personal computer in 1984, it had a central processor made by Intel, and operating software from Microsoft. IBM did not seek patents for the entire computer, and soon other companies were copying, (or cloning), the PC. As more companies cloned the PC, Intel and Microsoft became the two key suppliers to the computer industry.
[READ MORE] [COMMENT]]]> Fri, 10 Oct 2003 17:22:31 +0000 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=858 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=833
This is how Rome fell. First a vibrant empire comprised of wealthy citizens was reduced to an aristocracy. Then that decadent, impoverished empire was overcome by external enemies.

[READ MORE] [COMMENT]]]> Tue, 07 Oct 2003 17:02:30 +0000 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=833 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=779
The President’s pretense for launching this invasion was his assurance that Iraq had, or would soon develop, Weapons of Mass Destruction. Now those accusations have been proven false, and it is impossible to believe that President Bush actually thought those weapons ever existed. The Bush administration does have overwhelming evidence of a rogue state developing nuclear weapons, but in North Korea, not Iraq.
[READ MORE] [COMMENT]]]> Thu, 02 Oct 2003 07:56:11 +0000 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=779 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=725 A. Scott Piraino

This is not the first time the United States has lied to start a war.

[READ MORE] [COMMENT]]]> Tue, 30 Sep 2003 11:23:33 +0000 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=725 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=709 A. Scott Piraino


In 1981 the United States entered the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. With the country mired in recession, President Reagan argued for massive tax reductions so Americans could spend and invest more money. The recession of 1981 ended the following year, not because of Reagan’s tax cuts of course, but because the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates.
[READ MORE] [COMMENT]]]> Sun, 28 Sep 2003 07:22:08 +0000 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=709 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=676
A. Scott Piraino

In 1981, when Ronald Reagan was sworn in, the country faced the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. President Reagan proposed a novel solution, lowering tax rates on the wealthiest Americans so they could spend and invest more money. His administration argued that only this increased economic activity could lift the country out of recession.

[READ MORE] [COMMENT]]]> Fri, 26 Sep 2003 17:01:29 +0000 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=676 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=657 A. Scott Piraino

Last year the United States posted a trade deficit of 435 billion dollars, a new record high. Our cumulative trade deficits since 1980 add up to over three trillion dollars. That's the second largest transfer of wealth in history, second only to our national debt.
[READ MORE] [COMMENT]]]> Thu, 25 Sep 2003 16:25:05 +0000 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=657 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=656
A. Scott Piraino

China has grown from an agrarian backwater into the world’s third largest economy in the last twenty years. While our yearly trade deficits with China have risen from zero to over 100 billion dollars a year, their country has been the world’s fastest growing economy. China has become a colossus precisely because of these trade deficits.

[READ MORE] [COMMENT]]]> Thu, 25 Sep 2003 13:45:55 +0000 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=656 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=652
A. Scott Piraino

As California goes, so goes the nation. First an “energy crisis” caused rolling blackouts throughout the state, and bankrupted California’s government . Now the biggest blackout in US history has crippled the Northeastern United States, leaving Americans in the dark as to the cause.

[READ MORE] [COMMENT]]]> Wed, 24 Sep 2003 18:33:05 +0000 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=652 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=651
A. Scott Piraino

Conventional warfare is dead. More precisely, wars with national armies fighting across opposing lines will be the exception in the future, not the rule. Instead the twentieth century has seen the rise of guerrilla warfare and its vicious stepchild, terrorism.[READ MORE] [COMMENT]]]> Wed, 24 Sep 2003 16:56:11 +0000 http://quikonnex.com/channel/link.php?id=651