Category Archives: The James Commentary

Short thoughts on something that caught my attention or triggered a thought.

Me, the Universe and McDonald’s

L.E. Modesitt’s The Mage-Fire War [Book 21 of the Saga of Recluce] was just published and I am waiting to get my hands on and read the last book of the trilogy that covers the story of these characters in the history of the World on which the Isle of Recluce exists.

Tuesday night [August 27, 2019] I found myself with a burning desire to read Modesitt’s ‘The Magic of Recluce’ which I have not reread in a decade or more. The book was the first Recluce novel written although, at this point in time, it is the second last book chronologically in the history of Recluce.

As happens to those of us the Universe amuses itself tormenting, I could not find any of the copies of The Magic of Recluce I own and so suffered the pain of the unrequited desire of a Reader for a book.

Continue reading Me, the Universe and McDonald’s

Capitalism creates widespread prosperity – or does it?

Friedman stated that the only cases in recorded history in which the masses have escaped from gruelling poverty “are where they have had capitalism and largely free trade.”

It is a truism often stated by economists and politicians and widely accepted as true by the public. The question is: did the masses escape from gruelling poverty because of capitalism or in spite of it?

Continue reading Capitalism creates widespread prosperity – or does it?