Obligatory First Post

So I have decided to start blogging. I probably won't be able to update it too often but we'll see. It is likely that no one will read this but many people have told me it's worthwhile to write down your thoughts so I'm gonna go ahead and do it anyway.

For starters, the title is a reference to one of the great movie titles of all time. Apparently linking is all the rage in blogging so I'm going to follow suit and do that a lot. At least as often I can without annoying myself and losing focus. Also, I think one of the major benefits of blogs is that they create these networks of links that help the general reading public decide what websites are worth going to. There is a mass of information available on the web and blogs help to provide trustworthy guides along the way.

On writing style, I really like to write in a form of stream of consciousness and then edit out things that would make me look really stupid if lots of people saw them (as I said most likely no one will read this but you can't be too cautious).

The subtitle gives two super broad areas that I will try to write about. Basically what it means is that I will primarily be writing about my thoughts on economics (my broad definition of economics is "the study of markets") but occasionally other things that I find interesting or profound.

Finally, if the stuff I write here gets political (as it most likely will), I should clarify from the outset what my political views (as they stand today) are. I consider myself a pragmatic libertarian or classical liberal. Although I have some socially conservative views, I try to keep them to myself as much as possible. In eight grade I supported George W. Bush for president. I went to a public school in a fairly conservative area and had a few conservative friends. I didn't know what I was talking about to put it mildly. After that I moved to the left and more or less hated Bush and all Republicans because they are evil and stupid people (I currently believe in a significantly tempered version of this; I dislike many Republicans even if I mostly agree with them). When I first heard about Barack Obama around the beginning of my senior year, I vigorously supported him. As time went on I moved towards the right on economic issues and towards my current position. Today I support whoever I think is most likely to deliver the end that I believe is most beneficial (usually by mistake; most often noone fits this criterion) and do not vote because it is irrational.

I use parentheses too much. Sorry.