As 25 mais lindas bibliotécas universitárias do mundo

The college library, whether ornate or modern, digital or dusty, is in many ways the epicenter of the college experience — at least for some students. It is at once a shining emblem of vast, acquirable knowledge, a place for deep discussions and meetings of the mind, and of course, a big building full of books, which, as far as we’re concerned, is exciting enough.

Os mais lindas bibliotécas universitárias: Veja

Declaração do PCdoB

PCdoB se solidariza com o povo coreano pela morte de Kim Jong Il

Em nota divulgada nesta segunda-feira (19) o Partido Comunista do Brasil (PCdoB) se solidariza com o povo coreano e com o Partido do Trabalho da Coreia pela morte do líder da República Popular Democrática de Corea (RPDC), Kim Jong Il.

A nota - assinada pelo presidente nacional do PCdoB, Renato Rabelo, e pelo secretário de Relações Internacionais do Partido, Ricardo Abreu Alemão - destaca a dedicação de Kim Jong Il pela independência da RPDC, pela luta anti-imperialista e pela construção de um Estado e de uma economia prósperos e socialistas - baseados nos interesses e necessidades das massas populares. Leia abaixo a íntegra da nota:
Leia mais

Dia do Rothbard 2012 - 2 de março



Como forma de homenagear o legado do grande economista e pai do movimento libertário moderno Murray N. Rothbard, foi celebrado no dia 2 de março, na Romênia, o 1º Dia do Rothbard, que em 2012 se torna um evento internacional.
Um concurso artístico foi realizado na celebração de 2011, e alguns dos trabalhos que concorreram podem ser visualizados abaixo. O concurso envolvia a adaptação de referências de Rothbard à marcas famosas. Para 2012 foi organizado um concurso ainda maior e mais abrangente.
Regras
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Um bilionário de verdade

... Nearly every profile makes note of how unimpressed Feeney is with what his wealth can buy him, noting that he flies coach, wears a $15 watch, and doesn't own a house or a car. When Miller asked him why he decided to give everything away, Feeney replied, "I simply decided I had enough money." ---
The New York Times has unmasked 80-year-old Cornell alum Charles F. Feeney as the anonymous donor who gave the school a $350 million donation ...
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IV Congresso Internacional "La Escuela Austríaca en el Siglo XXI"

IV Congreso Internacional “La Escuela Austríaca en el Siglo XXI”

Lugar de Realización: Campus Rosario – Universidad Católica Argentina (Av. Pellegrini 3314, Rosario, Argentina)

Fecha de Realización: 05, 06 y 07 de Agosto de 2012
Contacto: info@escuelaaustriaca.org // escuelaaustriaca@gmail.com
(Por favor dirigirse a ambas direcciones para evitar problemas de recepción)
Mais informações       

Guia de estudos da Economia Austríaca (Austrian economics)

Learn Austrian Economics

by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

The past several years have seen a revival of interest in the Austrian School of economics. (For some background on the Austrian School, read this essay and this essay.) I've assembled this resource list to help beginners embark on a program of self-education in the Austrian School. I have marked a few titles with ** to indicate their importance.
Many of the books and audiobooks, in addition to all of the articles, that appear on the list below are available to read or listen to online.
An Introduction to Economic Reasoning
These books, all relatively short and available online or for purchase, are an excellent starting point for an education in sound economics.
**Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt; online here and here (.pdf)
Essentials of Economics by Faustino Ballve; online here (.pdf)
An Introduction to Austrian Economics by Thomas C. Taylor; online here and here (.pdf)
Lessons for the Young Economist (for younger readers) by Robert P. Murphy; online here, here (.pdf) and here (ebook)
Another easy-to-understand introduction to economic reasoning is Peter Schiff's book How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes.
A useful companion to Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson is this series of videos, recorded in July-August 2008, in which various professors comment on each of the book's chapters – explaining the argument, elaborating on it, and applying it to present conditions. (Need Windows Media Player.)
Video 1: The Lesson
Video 2: The Broken Window
Video 3: Public Works Mean Taxes
Video 4: Credit Diverts Production
Video 5: The Curse of Machinery
Video 6: Disbanding Troops and Bureaucrats
Video 7: Who's Protected by Tariffs?
Video 8: "Parity" Prices
Video 9: How the Price System Works
Video 10: Minimum Wage Laws
Video 11: The Function of Profits
Video 12: The Assault on Saving
Here's an even easier way to watch these videos.
Additional Introductory Reading in Economics
The Concise Guide to Economics by Jim Cox; online here and here (.pdf)
Making Economic Sense by Murray N. Rothbard
Free Market Economics: A Reader by Bettina Bien Greaves
Free Market Economics: A Syllabus by Bettina Bien Greaves
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism by Robert P. Murphy
The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard J. Maybury (great for homeschoolers)
The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul, ch. 4
Money
**What Has Government Done to Our Money? and The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar by Murray N. Rothbard; mp3 audio
**The Ethics of Money Production by Jörg Guido Hülsmann (should be read after the title above); .pdf here
Gold, Peace, and Prosperity (.pdf) by Ron Paul; mp3 audio
"Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve" (documentary, via Google Video)
The Case for Gold by Ron Paul and Lewis Lehrman
Money: Sound and Unsound (advanced) by Joseph T. Salerno; online here (.pdf) and here (ebook)The Case Against the Fed by Murray N. Rothbard (.pdf here; audiobook)
End the Fed by Ron Paul
The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul, ch. 6 (audiobook)
The Gold Standard: Perspectives in the Austrian School, ed. Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.; .pdf here
A History of Money and Banking in the United States by Murray N. Rothbard; .pdf here
"The Myth of the 'Independent' Fed" by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
Did Greenspan Deserve Support for Another Term? (.pdf) by Joseph T. Salerno (mp3 audio)
"The Path to Sound Money" (mp3 audio) by George Reisman
"The Economics of Inflation" (mp3 audio) by George Reisman
The Business Cycle
**The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays (online here; audiobook here).
Meltdown by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
America's Great Depression, 5th ed. (html here, .pdf here) by Murray N. Rothbard
Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure by Roger W. Garrison
"Business Cycle Primer" by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
"My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business Cycle Theory" by Robert P. Murphy
"Sound Money and the Business Cycle" by John P. Cochran
"Who Predicted the Bubble? Who Predicted the Crash?" (.pdf) by Mark Thornton
"Mises vs. Fisher on Money, Method, and Prediction: The Case of the Great Depression" (.pdf) by Mark Thornton
"Predicting Booms and Busts" (mp3 audio) by Mark Thornton
"Banking and the Business Cycle" (mp3 audio) by Joseph T. Salerno
Deflation
Articles and Monograph:
"Deflation and Depression: Where's the Link?" by Joseph T. Salerno
"Apoplithorismosphobia" (.pdf) by Mark Thornton. (Thornton coined the term to refer to the fear of deflation.)
"An Austrian Taxonomy of Deflation – With Applications to the U.S. by Joseph T. Salerno
Deflation and Liberty by Jörg Guido Hülsmann; audiobook
Audio (in mp3 audio):
"On Deflation" by Joseph T. Salerno
"The Economics of Deflation" by Jörg Guido Hülsmann
"The Gold Standard in Theory and Myth" by Joseph T. Salerno
Advanced Texts in Austrian Economics
Man, Economy, and State: A Treatise on Economic Principles by Murray N. Rothbard
This version also contains the book Power and Market, which had originally been intended as the concluding section of Man, Economy, and State but was released in 1970 as a separate title. The entire text is also available online here. A study guide is available for purchase and online (.pdf).
Human Action: A Treatise on Economics (read online) by Ludwig von Mises
Mises' magnum opus. A study guide is available for purchase and online (.pdf). I recommend reading Man, Economy, and State first, though some disagree with me.
Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles (.pdf) by Jesús Huerta de Soto
A sweeping and historic contribution to the literature of the Austrian School, showing how monetary freedom avoids the disadvantages of fiat money, including inflation, business cycles, and financial bubbles.
Foreign Aid and Development Economics
Equality, the Third World, and Economic Delusion by Peter Bauer
From Subsistence to Exchange and Other Essays by Peter Bauer
"The Marshall Plan: Myths and Realities" (.pdf) by Tyler Cowen
The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics by William Easterly
"The History of Foreign Aid Programs" (mp3) by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
(These critiques of development aid are not specifically Austrian, but may be of use to those interested in Austrian economics.)
Additional Readings in Austrian Economics
The Economics and Ethics of Private Property by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism (read online) by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Economic Science and the Austrian Method (read online) by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Praxeology and Understanding: An Analysis of the Controversy in Austrian Economics (read online) by George Selgin
Introduction to Austrian Economic Analysis: A Ten-Lecture Course
This course with Professor Joseph Salerno of Pace University, courtesy of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, is available in both video and mp3 audio at the links below. Recommended supplemental reading follows each lecture.
Lecture 1: Scarcity, Choice, and Value – Audio and Video
Percy L. Greaves, Jr., Understanding the Dollar Crisis, pp. 1-20, 27-54
Milton M. Shapiro, Foundations of the Market-Price System, pp. 81-113
Thomas C. Taylor, An Introduction to Austrian Economics, pp. 40-51 (ch. 4)
Lecture 2: Exchange and Demand – Audio and Video
Shapiro, pp. 31-58, 115-78
Taylor, pp. 12-39 (chs. 2-3)
Leonard Read, "I, Pencil"
Lecture 3: The Determination of Prices – Audio and Video
Greaves, pp. 65-91
Shapiro, pp. 179-233
Taylor, pp. 52-62 (ch. 5)
Murray N. Rothbard, The Mystery of Banking, pp. 15-27 (online pp. 14-23)
Lecture 4: Price Controls: Case Studies – Audio and Video
Lecture 5: Profit, Loss, and the Entrepreneur – Audio and Video
Taylor, pp. 74-89 (ch. 7)
Ludwig von Mises, "Profit and Loss," in Mises, Planning for Freedom and Sixteen Other Essays and Addresses, pp. 108-30
Lecture 6: Pricing of the Factors of Production and the Labor Market – Audio
Henry N. Sanborn, What, How, For Whom: The Decisions of Economic Organization, pp. 112-85
Taylor, pp. 63-73 (ch. 6)
Greaves, pp. 105-32
Murray N. Rothbard, "Restrictionist Pricing of Labor," in Rothbard, The Logic of Action Two
Lecture 7: Capital, Interest and the Structure of Production – Audio
Shapiro, pp. 235-60
Mark Skousen, The Structure of Production, pp. 133-49
Richard Fink, "Economic Growth and Market Processes," in Fink, ed., Supply-Side Economics: A Critical Appraisal, pp. 372-94
Lecture 8: Competition and Monopoly – Audio
Shapiro, pp. 319-72
Sanborn, pp. 62-65
Hans Sennholz, "The Phantom Called 'Monopoly,'" in Bettina B. Greaves, ed., Free Market Economics: A Basic Reader, pp. 162-69
Sudha R. Shenoy, "The Sources of Monopoly," in New Individualist Review, pp. 793-96
Lecture 9: Money and Prices – Audio
Greaves, pp. 141-67
Rothbard, What Has Government Done to Our Money? pp. 1-96 (online, chs. I-III; online .pdf, pp. 7-48).
Rothbard, The Case Against the Fed, pp. 29-69 (or Rothbard, The Mystery of Banking, pp. 77-177; online, pp. 52-108)
Lecture 10: Banking and the Business Cycle – Audio
Ludwig von Mises, et al., The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays, Read: Garrison, Introduction and Summary; Mises's essay and Rothbard's essay.
Taylor, ch. 8 (pp. 90-95)
Additional Introductory Lectures in Austrian Economics
The Mises University, the Ludwig von Mises Institute's week-long summer instructional program in Austrian economics, amounts to a crash course on the subject. Consult the Mises University audio archive for many additional lectures.
Reprinted with permission from TomWoods.com.

December 20, 2011

Thomas E. Woods, Jr. [send him mail; visit his website], a senior fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, is the author of eleven books, most recently Rollback: Repealing Big Government Before the Coming Fiscal Collapse and Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century, as well as the New York Times bestsellers Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse and The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History. He is also the editor of five other books, including the just-released Back on the Road to Serfdom.

Fonte

A contingência e ignorância nos mercados financeiros

Derivatives Risk – A Brief Rant

by Michael S. Rozeff

Today I read a very technical article on credit derivatives as used by banks (and other institutions), and in the end I came away thinking "this is madness." There are so many hairy problems involved here in attempting to price these things and no one knows the answers. I think answers are unobtainable. The assumptions being made about measuring risks are untenable. In an "Austrian" world, no one can predict them and past distributions do not suffice. Banks doing large amounts of trading in derivatives do not know what their risks are. However, astoundingly, huge sums of money are recorded as gains and losses on accounting statements based on estimates of risk parameters that no one actually is sure of. I kept thinking that these banks are doing all this trading while having their deposits insured and the FED as a backup. This is a huge moral hazard problem...
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Como o estado mesmo produz criminalidade

Study Indicates Bleak Outlook on Arrest Rate

“Nearly one in three people will be arrested by the time they are 23, a study to be published today in Pediatrics found.” (USA Today)

“The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be.” –Lao Tse

FEE Timely Classic
“The Pernicious Nature of Victimless-Crime Laws” by Joseph S. Fulda

A universidade sem futuro - trinta anos de declínio

Consumo com dívidas

Brasileiro vai às compras cheio de dívidas

Em domingo 18/12/2011, às 10:10

Os brasileiros vão às compras neste Natal endividados como nunca, mas com renda suficiente para assumir novos compromissos. Projeções da MB Associados indicam que o grau de endividamento, medido pela relação entre o estoque de dívidas e a renda anual das famílias, atingiu 43,2% este mês, 4 pontos porcentuais acima dos 39,2% de dezembro do ano passado.
Mais:
http://br.finance.yahoo.com/noticias/Brasileiro-vai-às-compras-estado-820436385.html?x=0

Break through

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbiPDSxFgd8

Shlamo Sand: "A invenção do povo judeu"

Excerpt from Shlomo Sand: "The Invention of Jewish People"

National mythology determined that the Jews—banished, deported or fugitive emigrants—were driven into a long and dolorous exile, causing them to wander over lands and seas to the far corners of the earth until the advent of Zionism prompted them to turn around and return en masse to their orphaned homeland. This homeland had never belonged to the Arab conquerors, hence the claim of the people without a land to the land without a people.

This national statement, which was simplified into a useful and popular slogan for the Zionist movement, was entirely the product of an imaginary history grown around the idea of the exile. Although most of the professional historians knew there had never been a forcible uprooting of the Jewish people, they permitted the Christian myth that had been taken up by Jewish tradition to be paraded freely in the public and educational venues of the national memory, making no attempt to rebut it. They even encouraged it indirectly, knowing that only this myth would provide moral legitimacy to the settlement of the "exiled nation" in a country inhabited by others...

  And now the last, perhaps the hardest, question of them all: To what extent is Jewish Israeli society willing to discard the deeply embedded image of the "chosen people," and to cease isolating itself in the name of a fanciful history or dubious biology and excluding the "other" from its midst?

In the final account, if it was possible to have changed the historical imaginary so profoundly, why not put forth a similarly lavish effort of the imagination to create a different tomorrow? If the nation's history was mainly a dream, why not begin to dream its future afresh, before it becomes a nightmare?
Shlomo Sand

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Perspectiva econômicas para 2012

2012 - Perspectivas da Economia Mundial

Antony Mueller

O ano 2011 vai ser lembrado como o ano da crise soberana europeia. Esta crise ainda não está superada. Ao contrário. O risco para 2012 é que a crise europeia vai se espalhar por contágio e afetar também os países emergentes. A estagnação na Europa e nos Estados Unidas vai continuar. Junto com o Japão as grandes economias mundiais estarão na crise. Passo a passo esta crise está afetando também os países emergentes.

Crescimento

A crise econômica se manifesta atualmente na crise da dívida soberana. Mas vale lembrar que a origem da miséria econômica foi a crise no mercado de imóveis nos Estados Unidos. A dívida soberana atingiu a faixa crítica por causa do impacto da crise nos mercados financeiros que provocou gastos exorbitantes dos governos no mesmo tempo quando a receita com tributos baixou por causa da recessão.

Entretanto os efeitos da crise global estão mais desastrosos na periferia da zona de euro. Grécia esta experimentando uma forte recessão e se mostra incapaz de pagar sua dívida pública sem ajuda do Fundo Monetária Internacional e do Fundo de Estabilidade Financeira da União Europeia. As condições da entrega destes pacotes financeiros demandam um forte corte dos gastos públicos na Grécia. Assim a crise financeira se manifesta também numa crise econômica e atualmente cada vez numa crise social.

Durante 2011 a crise financeira piorou quando começou a afetar negativamente o refinanciamento da dívida pública de uma série de países da zona do euro. Uma crise que afetaria os grandes países europeus excederia a capacidade de ajuda financeira do FMI e da União Europeia e provocaria extremas turbulências na economia global com a consequência de uma recessão profunda da economia global.

Entretanto as expectativas negativas atrapalham a atividade econômica não somente nos países em crise. As perspectivas para uma rápida recuperação da economia global permanecem negativas.

No fim do ano 2011 surgiram indicações que talvez a economia dos Estados Unidos pode-se encontrar no caminho da recuperação.  Mas por enquanto ainda falta uma base sólida para um crescimento econômico sustentável nos Estados Unidos. A economia americana ainda sofre de distorções profundas e a carga da dívida pública e privada americana é pior que ela dos europeus.

Comércio internacional

A necessidade de terminar com os desequilíbrios no comércio exterior que se manifesta nas cifras da conta corrente do balanço de pagamento em muitos países afeta negativamente a perspectiva para o comércio internacional. Uma grande parte do crescimento econômico na China depende do setor externo e manter um superávit no comércio exterior requer déficits em outras regiões. No passado foram principalmente os Estados Unidos que absorveram o superávit chinês. Com a continuação da recessão nos Estados Unidos a China está confrontada com o desafio de encontrar outros destinos além dos países avançados dado que também Europa sofre da atividade econômica fraca e assim vai reduzir sua demanda de importações.

Por enquanto Alemanha podia ainda manter sua posição como o segundo maior exportador mundial devido a substituição das exportações para os países europeus e os Estados Unidos com exportações para os países emergentes.

Dado a urgência de reduzir a dívida pública não somente na Europa, mas também nos Estados Unidos e no Japão, a pressão aumenta para compensar a fraca conjuntura interna nestes países com exportações. Assim novos conflitos estão programados no comércio internacional. Entre as primeiras manifestações do ambiente mais conflituoso na arena do comércio internacional contam a crítica massiva dos Estados Unidos da política cambial da China e as lamentações sobre uma “guerra cambial” lançada pelo Brasil.

A preocupação que alguns países da zona de euro podiam abandonar a moeda comum contribui ainda mais para assombrar as expectativas com o comércio internacional.

Inflação

Desembargo políticas monetárias extremamente expansivas implantadas nos Estados Unidos, na Europa e no Japão em um imenso esforço em conter a crise financeira global, a inflação ainda se mantém relativamente moderada no cenário internacional.  O banco central americano continua a  uma política monetária que combina taxas de juros quase de zero por cento e aumentou recentemente a sua atividade de monetizar a dívida pública americana. Em face da crise da dívida soberana europeia que começou de afetar países de grandes economias como Espanha e Itália, o Banco Central Europeu também iniciou um programa de monetização da dívida comprando títulos de governos países que sofreram uma alta de taxa de juros no processo do refinanciamento da dívida. Assim a liquidez mundial continua em alta e aumenta o risco de consequências inflacionárias em uma dimensão que podia mostrar-se muito difícil de controlar no futuro.

Até agora as forças anti-inflacionárias das últimas décadas continuam a funcionar embargo com menos impacto.  Entre estas fatores que ajudaram a conter a inflação contam os ganhos da produtividade que chegaram com as novas tecnologias, a intensidade da concorrência global e a oferta de trabalho barato especialmente na China e no Leste de Europa. Em combinação com a política monetária de metas de inflação em muitos países pelo mundo experimentou uma prolongada fase de inflação controlada.

Com a reorientação das políticas monetárias em favor de combater a recessão conjunto com o enfraquecimento do progresso tecnológico e com o uso da oferta de mão de obra barata perto do seu limite, a inflação mundial esta entrando numa trajetória de ascensão. 

Mercados

Os leilões de debentures de Alemanha e Itália no Novembro 2011 mostraram que não apenas os pequenos países da periferia estão em perigo, mas também as grandes econômicas. É bem provável que esta tendência vai continuar durante 2012 e provocar um clima de angustia com taxas de juros mais altas para os Estados Unidos, Japão e os países na Europa. Este cenário pode-se tornar ainda mais problemático quando a contração de crédito está acompanhada do aumento da inflação.

Este tipo de ambiente não vai permitir um grande avanço de ativos financeiros. Seletividade vai ser cada vez mais importante. O mercado está no processo de se tornar altamente heterogênico produzindo uma convivência quase irracional de ativos extremamente sobrevalorizados ao lado de ativos extremamente subvalorizados.

A crise da atualidade manifesta-se como uma crise da dívida pública, mas a causa mais profunda reside no sistema monetário da atualidade. O sistema monetário de moeda fiduciária permite um endividamento da economia além da sua capacidade ao longo prazo. Um sistema monetário sem ancora, como hoje em dia é a regra, contém a inerente tendência de produzir uma bolha após a outra bolha.

Por décadas os mercados financeiros se distinguem da característica de que quando uma bolha está implodindo, a outra bolha já está no processo de inflacionar. Por enquanto aparece que estamos perto do fim desta montanha russa.  Quando no passado até recentemente ir com as massas e seguir o rebanho se mostrou como boa estratégia nos mercados financeiros, o mesmo hoje é uma receita para o desastre. Quando no passado era uma boa aposta de esperar como regra subsídios e “bailouts” governamentais quando um setor ou uma empresa ou banca que papel “sistêmico” se encontrou em risco de falhar, no futuro frequentemente se vai esperar em vão. Quando no passado títulos do governo forma os mais seguros, hoje podem se mostrar podres.

Conclusão

Quase todos os governos estão já tecnicamente bancarrota. Isto é a grande diferença que marca o novo período. A atuação do setor público está além do seu zênite e de agora em diante o “novo normal” será a sua diminuição. Isto significa uma mudança radical da política, da sociedade e consequentemente dos mercados financeiros. A próxima grande batalha nesta revolução está já começando. Esta batalha acontece no campo de dinheiro onde as novas forças lutam para estabelecer um sistema monetário que funciona sem intervencionismo estatal.

SOPA

Congress tries to pull a fast one: SOPA markup not delayed until 2012 after all

Madison Ruppert, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

I must admit, I was excited when I read that the House Judiciary Committee was postponing wrapping up the markup process of the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, which I have previously shown to be a wildly dangerous bill.

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O roubo da liberdade acontece passo a passo

"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression.... There is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such a twilight that we must be most aware of change in the air -- however slight -- lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness." -- William O. Douglas, US Supreme Court Justice from 1939--1975

O caminho do empreendedor (da empresa, da ciência, da cultura, da vida pessoal e mais))

Vídeo maravilhoso produzido pela Grasshopper com narração em português pelo fundador do Videolog -Edson Mackeenzy (www.videolog.tv) - primeira empresa do mundo de compartilhamento de vídeos (08 meses mais velha que o Youtube)! Enjoy.
Link

O mito da democracia

A chamada para liberdade do mundo islâmico

Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty, by Mustafa Akyol, Norton, RRP£16.99, 224 pages 

The call to freedom

Review by David Gardner

Mustafa Akyol, a devout but liberal Muslim, finds lessons in the precepts of Koranic Islam

Why did reason and freedom eventually flourish in Christendom while it declined in the lands of Islam, where in the early Muslim centuries there had been a brilliant civilisation, scientifically advanced, commercially dynamic, literate, urban and cosmopolitan in a way a Europe trapped in the dark ages could scarcely comprehend?

Leia mais 
Veja o livro

O gênio alemão

The German Genius: Europe's Third Renaissance, the Second Scientific Revolution, and the Twentieth Century [Paperback]

Peter Watson (Author)

From the end of the Baroque era and the death of Bach to the rise of Hitler, Germany was transformed from a poor relation among Western nations into a dominant intellectual and cultural force. By 1933, Germans had won more Nobel Prizes than the British and Americans combined. Yet this remarkable genius was cut down in its prime by Adolf Hitler and his disastrous Third Reich—a brutal legacy that has overshadowed the nation’s achievements ever since.

In this absorbing cultural and intellectual history, Peter Watson goes back through time to explore the origins of the German genius, explaining how and why it flourished, how it shaped our lives, and, most important, how it continues to influence our world. Watson’s virtuoso sweep through modern German thought and culture will challenge and confound both the stereotypes the world has of Germany and those that Germany has of itself.

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Alemanha sem preconceito

"Germany is the most grown-up country in the world today"

Craig Morris 11.12.2011
A conversation with Peter Watson, the author of "The German Genius"

In these days of specialization, Peter Watson is a rare generalist; in 2008, he published Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud, and his more recent book is The German Genius: Europe's Third Renaissance, the Second Scientific Revolution and the Twentieth Century. Craig Morris, an American, spoke with Watson, an Englishman, about how impressed they are with Germany.

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Ron Paul na frente

Convite

INTERNACIONAL DEL CONOCIMIENTO

Pronto se realizará el III Congreso Ciencias, Tecnologías y Culturas en la Universidad de Santiago de Chile.

Queremos invitarles a informarse, a participar y a presentar propuestas. 

Toda la información va en archivo adjunto.

Congreso en portugués, inglés, espanol

Ver: www.internacionaldelconocimiento.org

Informaciones y propuestas: eduardo.deves@usach.cl

Comité Organizador

A oração de guerra

The War Prayer

by Mark Twain

It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and sputtering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spreads of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country and invoked the God of Battles, beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpouring of fervid eloquence which moved every listener....

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Como criar um time de inovação

Demitir:
1. Victims
Victims are people who see problems as occasions for persecution rather than challenges to overcome.
2. Non-believers
“Why should we work so hard on this? Even if we come up with a good idea, the boss will probably kill it. If she doesn’t, the market will. I’ve seen this a hundred times before.”
3. The Know-It-Alls
“You people obviously don’t understand the business we are in. The regulations will not allow an idea like this, and our stakeholders won’t embrace it. Don’t even get me started on our IT infrastructure’s inability to support it. And then there is the problem of ….”
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Contratar
1. The Challenging Coach
“This is not your best work, and I believe you know it. I know you are better than this and I am going to help you get there.”
2. The Entrepreneur
“You know, with all these people occupying Wall Street, I bet you could sell a heck of a lot of hats, umbrellas, and hot dogs out here! Hey, who owns the language ‘Occupy Wall Street’? or ‘We are the 99%’? I am going to trademark it and sell T-shirts!”
3. Your Opposite
“There is harmony in the tension of opposites, as in the case of the bow and lyre.” —Heraclitus
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A ciência das novidades

Science of Novelty

Through the ages, scientists have proposed many theories to explain our varying reactions to the new and different. In the fifth century B.C., Hippocrates identified three categories: Optimistic, energetic neophiles who crave novelty he called“sanguine.” Fretful, moody neophobes were “melancholic.”Irritable, impulsive neophiliacs were “choleric.”
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Part II
Part III

Seminário "Sociologia do dinheiro"

Seminário 2012/1

Sociologia do dinheiro

NPPCS -UFS

Prof. Dr. Antony Peter Mueller

antonymueller@gmail.com

Terça 08h00min-12h00min

A análise de dinheiro e finanças confere chaves indispensáveis para o entendimento do mundo moderno. A economia capitalista de hoje representa uma economia monetária onde o setor financeiro toma uma posição saliente provocando cada vez mais uma monetização das relações sociais. Comercialização implica monetização e monetização implica cálculo. Esta racionalidade é a racionalidade do cálculo econômico que é fundamentalmente um calculo monetário. O principal conflito do capitalismo moderno não existe entre capital e trabalho, mas sim entre a racionalidade do cálculo econômico e a permanência de valores tradicionais, sociais e comunitários. Esta mesma tensão caracteriza profundamente o processo da modernização na sua trajetória histórica. A erupção deste conflito na forma de colisões brutais manifesta-se especialmente em tempos de crises econômicas. Analiticamente este conflito esconde-se na conexão entre o interesse próprio e as relações sociais enquanto a sua manifestação perversa aparece no comportamento irracional de massas igualmente na política como massacres e nos mercados financeiros como pânicos ecrises.

No seminário “Sociologia do dinheiro” o objetivo da primeira parte será de ganhar um entendimento da sociologia de dinheiro e finanças com a ajuda de pensadores clássicos começando com a escola de Salamanca além de estudar especialmente a obra “Filosofia do Dinheiro” de Georg Simmel.

A segunda parte do seminário será dedicada ao estudo analítico-empírico do moderno sistema monetário-financeiro e as suas crises. Analisamos o papel essencial da dívida no capitalismo moderno e a sua função na poupança e nos investimentos. Pesquisamos o impacto do empréstimo pessoal sobre o comportamento do consumidor e como bancos centrais, governos e o setor financeiro interagem na criação da massa monetária. Mostramos que a chamada “liquidez” nos mercados financeiros representa fundamentalmente um processo social constituído de cooperação e confiança, enquanto o colapso de liquidez está tipicamente causado pela dissolução destes fatores. 

A parte final do seminário dedica-se ao estúdio de novas abordagens com o foco de pesquisar teorias e modelos que prometem frutíferos para captar os fenômenos e problemas da atualidade. Além da moderna teoria das finanças, estudamos nesta parte entre outros as abordagens da escola Austríaca, dos pós-keynesianos e da sociologia econômica moderna.

Para obter mais informações e recursos (ementa, bibliografia, documentos, notícias, papers, podcasts, etc.) sobre o projeto começa consultar o blog www.socec.blogspot.com

O holocausto indiano – "gendercide" - a eliminação das moças

http://news.yahoo.com/video/tech-15749651/india-s-deadly-secret-27566497.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Ftech-15749651%252Findia-s-deadly-secret-27566497.html
India's Deadly Secret

Mon, Dec 12, 2011 - ABC News 6:47 | 663,418 views

Part 1: Why an estimated 40 million girls have gone "missing" in India.
Leia também:
http://www.economist.com/node/15606229

Chamada para matar

Death on wheels: Dutch to send mobile clinics to euthanise people in their own homes

By Simon Caldwell 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2070662/Mobile-euthanasia-teams-planned-Holland.html#ixzz1gNCbUAiu

The Dutch government is considering plans to use mobile medical teams which would administer euthanasia to people in their homes.
The units, dubbed 'grim reapers on wheels' by critics, will be called in to kill patients when their own GPs refuse to administer lethal drugs.
The mobile teams of doctors and nurses would be sent out from a clinic following a referral from the patient’s doctor.
The proposals were revealed by Dutch Health Minister Edith Schippers during a debate on euthanasia in the Dutch parliament.
In answer to questions from Christian Union MPs she said that mobile units 'for patients who meet the criteria for euthanasia but whose doctors are unwilling to carry it out' was worthy of consideration.
'If the patient thinks it desirable, the doctor can refer him or her to a mobile team or clinic,' the minister wrote.

Dica para entender dinheiro e a taxa de juros

“The function of money is to facilitate the business of the market by acting as a common medium of exchange”
 
"Originary interest is not ‘the price paid for the services of capital.’ . . . It is, on the contrary, the phenomenon of originary interest that explains why less time-consuming methods of production are resorted to in spite of the fact that more time-consuming methods would render a higher output per unit of input”
Ludwig von Mises

Os melhores livros 2011 cultura e sociedade escolhidos pelo The Economist

The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. By Steven Pinker. Viking; 802 pages; $40. Published in Britain as “The Better Angels of our Nature: The Decline of Violence in History and its Causes” by Allen Lane; £30Steven Pinker’s exploration, within psychology, neuroscience, politics and economics, of why all forms of violence have seen huge long-term declines is a subtle piece of natural philosophy to rival that of the great thinkers of the Enlighten8ment. He writes like an angel too.
Adventures in the Orgasmatron: How the Sexual Revolution Came to America. By Christopher Turner. Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 544 pages; $35. Fourth Estate; £25A smart and engaging work of social history that considers sex, psychoanalysis, consumerism and some of the darkest moments of the 20th century.
Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier and Happier. By Edward Glaeser. Penguin; 336 pages; $29.95. Macmillan; £25This enthusiastic guide to the blessings of human proximity explains why half of humanity now lives in cities and why 5m more are moving there from the countryside every month.
Beautiful Thing: Inside the Secret World of Bombay’s Dance Bars. By Sonia Faleiro. Canongate; 240 pages; £12.99. To be published in America in March by Grove Press; $15A pitch-perfect conga through the dance bars of Mumbai. The author also explores middle-class marriage in India and its hypocrisies, and the challenges of trying to make it on your own in India’s biggest commercial city.
The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them. By Elif Batuman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 298 pages; $15. Granta; £16.99A bracing travelogue of literary adventures by a six-foot-tall American-born Turkish academic. Her erudite enthusiasm for Russia’s big, gloomy and occasionally illogical fiction is as vivid as her humour and sense of romance.
People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman. By Richard Lloyd Parry. Jonathan Cape; 404 pages; £17.99. To be published in America by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in May; $16A page-turning, if horrifying, read about the murder of a young Englishwoman in Japan and the dubious workings of the Japanese criminal-justice system. Thorough, fair-minded and full of insight.
Iphigenia in Forest Hills: Anatomy of a Murder Trial. By Janet Malcolm. Yale University Press; 168 pages; $25 and £18An unputdownable story that takes in child abuse, sexual taboo and a ringside trial seat in front of the famous Supreme Court “hanging judge”, Robert Hanophy.
Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything. By David Bellos. Faber & Faber; 400 pages; $27. Particular Books; £20A wonderful, witty book about words, language and cultural anthropology by a scholar whose fascination with his subject is itself endlessly fascinating.
The Art of Camping: The History and Practice of Sleeping Under the Stars. By Matthew De Abaitua. Hamish Hamilton; 294 pages; £14.99A memoir of how camping means exploring an unfamiliar place while recreating the safe comforts of home, by an editor-at-large of the Idler and an inveterate fan of guys and poles.
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