Chris > Recent Status Updates

Chapter VIII: (Condorcet vs Malthus) It appears that the idea for pension funds originated from a suggestion by Marquis Condorcet. " ... a fund should be established which should assure to the old an assistance, produced, in part by their former savings, and, in part by the savings of individuals who in making the same sacrifice die before they reap the benefit of it"

Chapter VII: "Other factors being the same, it may be affirmed that countries are populous according to the quantity of human food they produce, and happy according to the liberty with which that food is divided. Corn countries are more populous than pasture countries and rice countries are more populous than corn countries"

"Supposing the quantity of food in any country remains the same for many years, this food must be divided according to the value of each man's pocket"

"A man of liberal education, but with an income only just sufficient to enable him associate in the rank of gentlemen, must feel absolutely certain that if he marries and has a family he shall be obliged, if he mixes at all in society, to rank himself with moderate farmers and the lower class of tradesmen."

A population cannot increase without the means of subsistence. The population does invariably increase where there is a means of subsistence, the history of every people that has ever existed will abundantly prove. The superior power of the population cannot be checked without producing misery or vice.

The Bible and War

I have learned more about the role of government in society from this book, even though it is a religious text. It illustrates how Calvinism has influenced societal thinking.

The best guarantee of the workability of a government lies not in it's form (monarchy, aristocracy, or democracy) but in the moral fibre of the people. With good people almost any kind of government will work.

Providence

Fides precedit intellectum - faith precedes intelligence

"... in what proportion to the number of adults was the number of marriages, to what extent vicious customs prevailed in consequence of the restraints against matrimony."

Continuing the investigation into the connection between Calvinism and Capitalism, I came here from Max Weber's "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism."

Chairman Mao bans Opium but secretly use the drug to raise revenue for the young People's Republic.

The building of the new China inspired by Karl Marx and supported by Russia.

Karl Max weighs in on the Opium issue in China

Dr. Fu Manchu enters the scene as a Super Villain representing the Chinese race.

Opium is legalised (by force) in China by the British.

The second Opium War breaks out in 1856

The Treaty of Nanjing was signed in 1842, opening China to European trade and ceding Hong Kong to England.

A military man has replaced Charles Elliot, the man sent to bring the Chinese to heel.

A new general enters the arena to save China from the onslaught of the British.

An invasion of China is imminent, Parliament approves military action on Canton.