jinu

Count me in for the Scots book, although I'd perfer reading on Locke, perhaps that could be one for the future as well. I'm also in for the economics book, second quarter of '09 I suppose it would be.

This may be a stretch: I completely agree with DR. Brook regarding the 'Morality of War' thread. Is rejecting a trade-restriction with China an instance of not having an altruistic foreign policy? Why should we care what kind of brutalities are going on inside China. The prosperity of America (and national defence?) may depend on continuing relations with them, they're going towards a free market, and a partnership will not only strengthen our economy in the future decade, but may be the deciding factor to eventually push them towards (at least somewhat) a rational revolution. In other words, sending troops to a war zone America is not concerned with is altruistic. Is that equivalent to not allowing American businessman to trade with evil empires..?

GC, interesting post & blog, I think I agree. One concern: wasn't Ayn Rand's position that America should not trade with communist Russia at all..? (They're evil and trading with them is sanctioning that evil, America should just let them implode..) China is a government that punishes its citizens for having more than one child (four children is out of the question). A populace that accepts that can potentially accept anything. And I'm sure there's plenty of other 'sacrificing the individual for the good of the state' going on there too. They're communist. You're suggesting that America should just ignore that for now and trade away, right?

It’s been reported that Brascan Corp sold it's 42% of Noranda inc. to China Minmetals Corp yesterday. Noranda, based here in Toronto, is Canada's largest mining company, and they’ve stated in the past that Minmetals is interested in owning 100% of them. Minmetals is owned by the Chinese Government. Brascan has wanted to unload their 42% stake in Noranda for a while, and Minmetals' did give the best offer. Any problem here? China's economy is growing and will continue to grow. They could, if they choose to, go on a massive spending spree and buy various international companies. They've been trying to secure resources like those that Noranda (employing 15000 worldwide) mines (copper, zinc, lead, nickel etc) for a while now, to fuel the countries growth. No doubt the company is going to grow alongside China’s economy. I haven’t come across too much about China from an Objectivist perspective. They’re communists, but a different type than the old USSR. Anyone know of any references? Or what the fundamental difference is between the two empire’s ideologies..?

Objectivism as a philosophy is a guide to living your life, and if one was raised under normal conditions it's the best philosophy to live by. But in those cases where someone starts off in life on the wrong foot, is it not conceivable to only partly follow the philosophy? In a sense create your own version of Objectivism that best appliest to you. It would be the most selfish thing to do because it's what's best for your life, so really it follows the basic tenent of Objectivism that says your life is the only important thing, and that you should take those actions that better your life. For eg. In "Objectivism the philosophy of Ayn Rand" Peikoff makes it clear that stealing something for yourself isn't really selfish, cause ultimately your damaging yourself...it's unearned and you're not furthering your life for the better... It's fine for someone to adopt this principal if he's trying to raise the life he's living, and ultimately he would be a "better" person than the next guy who does steal, but what if adopting this principal is counter-productive...like for someone who is living a lower-standard life, a poor person, but who's in a position where he has access to "hot" computers or "hot" automobile parts that he could not afford normally. How is it better for him to sacrifice these things that would clearly improve his life for some greater principal that supposedly betters his life?