Category Archives: Classics

The Diary of a Madman by Guy Maupassant

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The Diary of a Madman“He was dead—the head of a high tribunal, the upright magistrate whose irreproachable life was a proverb in all the courts of France.”

In The Diary of a Madman, a renowned and respected judge of the highest order dies at the age of eighty-two.  All his life he had dedicated to pursuing the most vicious criminals and to defending the weak and helpless. Defendants trembled because It was as if he could read the minds of those who were to be tried in his court.  At his funeral, soldiers carried his coffin and there were many tears as this respected and venerable magistrate was finally laid to rest.

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Reginald’s Christmas Revel by Saki

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Christmas Stories And now we arrive at the ninth story included in the 20 Christmas Stories volume of Everyman’s Pocket Classics, Reginald’s Christmas Revel.

I’ve always been intrigued with Saki but hadn’t read any of his stories.  In fact, I lacked even the cursory knowledge that his real name was Hector Hugh Munro and he was British, not Asian as I had thought.  So with a lively curiosity, I began this story with relish.

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The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek

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The Road to Serfdom“When the course of civilization takes an unexpected turn — when, instead of the continuous progress which we have come to expect, we find ourselves threatened by evils associated by us with past ages of barbarism — we naturally blame anything but ourselves.”

 

I suspect that you would call The Road to Serfdom F.A. Hayek’s magnum opus.  It was written in 1944 towards the end of the Second World War, when countries had been exposed to various socialist political experiments and the effect they had on the countries that adopted them were very, very evident.  But Hayek did not take for granted that people’s common sense would see the dangers.  He was well aware of the hazards socialism still posed with its pernicious ideology and promises of a better future where everyone would be equal, the rich would pay their fair share, and all would be secure within the society.

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Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Tanstaafl, the Romans and Us

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Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard J. Maybury

2.  Tanstaafl, the Romans and Us

 

The question, whether one generation of men has the right to bind another, seems never to have been started …. [I believe] no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence …. The conclusion then, is, that neither the representatives of a nation, nor the whole nation itself assembled, can validly engage debts beyond what they may pay in their own time. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Rome Pantheon

During the 1970s and early 1980s, many western countries experienced double-digit inflation.  Even Japan had double-digit inflation.  Double-digit inflation means that each year prices are rising at 10% or more.  So, for example, if a coffee cost $1.00, it would cost $1.10 the following year. Inflation this serious and far-reaching had not happened in the U.S. since the country had become a nation.  However, we have an example from Roman times of where this type of inflation occurred and we can see the trouble it caused.

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Whatever Happened to Penny Candy: Money: Coins and Paper

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Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard J. Maybury

Money: Coins and Paper

Coin Banknotes Money

There is so much talk about money and inflation and recession in the world lately.  These important topics affect our daily lives yet it seems that few people actually know how they work, including myself.  So with a vague idea that inflation isn’t directly driven by what we’re being told in the news, I decided to learn more.  What Ever Happened To Penny Candy by Richard J. Maybury is a simple yet highly educational book on economics that will assist you in your career, business, investments and money strategy.  It will also give you tools so you don’t have to blindly rely on what others tell you.  Forewarned is forearmed.   I’ll be posting chapter by chapter and the first is: Money: Coins and Paper.

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Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

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Great ExpectationsGreat Expectations: “My fathers’ family name being Pirrup, and my christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.”

In the mid-19th century, in a marshy area of Kent, Philip Pirrup, or Pip as he was called, lived with his crotchety, abusive sister and her husband, a loveable, yet rather simple blacksmith named Joe.  While Pip attempts to avoid his sister’s wrath, a wrath that she appears to happily cultivate, he also forms a deep attachment and friendship with Joe, who equally enjoys Pip’s company.

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