Jeffrey Tucker

4 days ago | theepochtimes.com | Jeffrey Tucker

CommentaryIn high school in West Texas in the late 1970s, psych meds were Veblen goods; that is, products desired as markers of status. They were conspicuously consumed by the children of the well-to-do with profound awareness that their schoolmates could afford neither the treatment nor the supposed cure. So the kids—I knew many of them and they would tolerate me in their circles from time to time—would brag about their diagnosis, their prescriptions, the mix, and how it made them feel.

6 days ago | theepochtimes.com | Jeffrey Tucker

CommentaryIt was a remarkable coming together of a large social movement that brought Donald Trump to power in a second term. It defied all predictions, and every effort of the establishment to keep him out. It is impossible to describe the astounding grassroots power and energy that made it happen. The man is the central figure, the public face, the centralizing force of hopes and dreams, but the real power emanates from below.

1 week ago | theepochtimes.com | Jeffrey Tucker

CommentaryIn the course of my lifetime, a theory has floated around that society is secretly ruled by an intellectual elite ensconced in academia. They might seem to be set apart in some ways, attending their own conferences and publishing in their own journals. They obey a hierarchy in their own institutions, by which they get promotions and tenure. They seem set apart. In reality, the theory goes, what happens in academia trickles down to the rest of society, always, for good and ill.

1 week ago | theepochtimes.com | Jeffrey Tucker

CommentaryThere is a social contract of sorts among all governments of the world to share economic data on prevailing conditions. Behind that practice is a collegial contest to see which nation has the healthiest system, which in turn serves the capital markets by helping to direct resources where they are needed. Sometimes the data is inaccurate. Sometimes there are lies. But in general, there is at least an attempt to play along with the expectation.

1 week ago | theepochtimes.com | Jeffrey Tucker

CommentaryIt was not that long ago, even within the memory of grandparents, that many doctors’ visits were house calls. You can see it in movies. Someone says call the doctor. He shows up with a black satchel and gets to work and renders a verdict to the family as the sick person sleeps. This was the common way medicine worked for the first half of the 20th century, even up to the mid-1960s. Today it is rather unthinkable. Which is to say that no one expects it. Can you provide an explanation why?