Sport of Kings

“Any investment with any positive rate of return is an investment worth making. Infrastructure clearly fits that bill. Not only is the likely return high, but if we don’t do it now, we’ll need to do it later, when our borrowing costs will be higher. But the conventional wisdom — the wisdom that says the only responsible thing to do is cut — stands in our way.”

“But neither party has been willing to admit what is really wrong, or advance an agenda that would address the underlying ills. Platitudes and placebos – vapid calls for more job creation, fiscal restraint, reining in entitlement programmes, and so forth – will characterise America’s election year. Neither side will step forward with a programme for restructuring the economy and reducing the inequality that is sapping the country’s strength.”

“Barr, of Austin, Texas, recently retired from the Texas Department of Banking and said he discovered last Fridaythat a total of $700 had been spent from his account. Barr, who has spent more than a decade dealing with cybercrime at banks, said five transactions were made in total.
‘It was all charities, the Red Cross, CARE, Save the Children. So when the credit card company called my wife she wasn’t sure whether I was just donating,’ said Barr, who wasn’t aware until a reporter with the AP called that his information had been compromised when Stratfor’s computers were hacked.
‘It made me feel terrible. It made my wife feel terrible. We had to close the account.’”

It made me feel terrible to think about giving money to charity.

Fewer people believed in God in wealthy and well-educated countries where life is not so hard or uncertain. I also found that atheism increases in countries with a well-developed welfare state (as indexed by high taxation rates). Countries with a more equal distribution of income — and hence less social problems, such as violent crime — had more atheists.