New Political Review

20/07/2025

Many supposed pundits talk about poverty or financial hardship out of a suspicious mindset of 'superior. morality' These pundits might do better to fight those social ills by leveraging other mindsets, ones where we learn to acknowledge that being wealthier isn't always about injustice or "zero sum games". Wealth naturally creates further wealth if people learn how to wisely share and distribute it.

From Farnam Street Sunday newsletter:

" Charlie Munger once asked me: ‘How can someone give away fifty percent of profits and make billions more than if he’d kept it all?’ Before I could answer, he told me about Les Schwab, a tire shop owner who understood incentives better than almost anyone.

What Schwab discovered will change how you think about business and life.

Here are a few of his lessons:

1. Win Win, The Math of Generosity: Les discovered that splitting profits 50/50 with store managers didn’t cut his wealth in half, it multiplied it. His reasoning was pure math: “If I share half the profits, I still have half. And if Frank makes more money, he’ll work harder to make the store successful. If the store is more successful, my half is worth more than my whole used to be.” You get rich by making others rich. (...) "

19/07/2025

A good if somewhat disturbing political video for your weekend...

You see, I also read Plato's 's Republic from start to finish and I also heard many modern critiques of its supposed elitist authoritarianism It might criticize and reject popular democracy, a form of political organization that has become mainstream on western civilization countries of our times, and many of us may disagree strongly with Plato's views. But some of these critique points are incredibly prescient and modern, 2500 years later... Something this resilient must be strong and close to genuine truth...

This video might change many minds about our current modern Popular Democratic systems. We may not change to the point of rupture, but we must acknowledge that Democracies that are not constantly willing to improve themselves, and be bold enough to know when wisdom knows better, will inevitably be identical with Polite Dictatorships. This may be a new contribution to a serious debate about how we go about reforming and designing increasingly better public governance institutions... If that ever becomes feasible reality!

Why Modern Democracy Is Just a Polite Dictatorship – Plato Knew This

Is modern democracy truly freedom, or just a more polite form of control?In this eye-opening analysis, we explore Plato's philosophy, uncovering how democrac...

06/07/2025

You might be surprised to learn why Scandinavian countries have such high levels of happiness. Even if we consider happiness to be a subjective mindset with important cultural underpinnings, it is pretty much a general thing that societies need to find balance between work, productivity and wealth creation with personal life issues. That is the real secret for countries such as Denmark. Most people there have high productivity jobs and have a behavioural habit friendly with de-stressing daily life with Hobbies. They all search for meaningful Hobbies. Interesting!

I tried Denmark’s No. 1 secret to happiness for a year. It truly changed my life—and even made me more confident.

While teaching in Denmark, one of the world's happiest countries, Professor Marina Cooley discovered that hobbies are integral to joy and balance in life.

05/07/2025

Nationality and Citizenship might become interesting Political issues in the coming decades and Centuries. Why on Earth should we put restrictions on nationality in a more and deeper interconnected World...? I see less and less restrictions as a natural positive outcome in the far future.

And why not,, and why think of it as a 'fantasy' ?! There are 'fantasies' that are deeper realities lurking in the dark... Still, it might not happen, but it will certainly gain many supporters.

Nobel Prize-Winning Physicist Is Stripped of Dutch Citizenship

Thirteen years ago, Andre Geim took British citizenship to accept a knighthood. He has just learned he can no longer be a citizen of the Netherlands as a result.

28/06/2025

I just listened to something amazing. In life there are no ordinary things. Everything is extraordinary. Everything, every person, landscape or animal. And if you think about it, it's true. We 'make' things 'ordinary' out of convenience, or because time is a non-linear phenomena. When time comes everything gets to its normal: being extraordinary.

Of the most extraordinary things I've listened to the person say was this: to love someone. To love someone is within the most courageous things you can do. Isn't it amazing ? Something so many people take for granted or with vulgar complacency, and yet it is indeed within the most extraordinary things you can do with your Life.... Think about it! 🙂

21/06/2025

Diplomacy is about surviving until the next century | Yes Prime Minister

Sir Humphrey explains to Bernard about Diplomacy, and Foreign Office Practices.

15/06/2025

The excellent American TV network PBS has a series of Documentaries about American Military History which I recommend a watch. Remarkable real life reconstruction of The Battle of Chosin, North Korea during the 1950 Korean Peninsula crisis, in the Video here where we can watch some detailed images of events (not sure how it was really edited, but incredible....), testimony from American Marines Corps involved in the highly risky and not successful operation. Good narration with impeccable good standard, almost Literary, English. From 2016.

The Battle of Chosin (2016) | Full Documentary | American Experience

On Thanksgiving Day, 1950, US Army troops pushed north through the Korean peninsula to drive North Korea's Communist army out of democratically-held South Ko...

15/06/2025

Political Reflection. If you ask me whether I am a Republican or a Monarchist, I confess that I have some difficulty in answering. Perhaps the answer is neither one nor the other. I am in favor of strong Civil Societies. I am suspicious of Institutional Proclamations.

I am for strong and fair Ethics. For social and institutional structures that form and promote the best of the Human Condition. May they know how to strengthen trust in the best of Human Beings. May they know how and when Societies do not need the constant presence of political power so much.

Is it utopian, unrealistic or naive....?! Let it be, because it is true and genuine.

15/06/2025

Reflexão Política. Se me perguntares se sou Republicano ou Monárquico confesso que tenho alguma dificuldade em responder. Talvez responda que nem uma nem outra. Sou a favor de Sociedades Civis fortes. Desconfio de Proclamações Institucionais.

Sou por Éticas fortes e justas. Por estruturas sociais' e Institucionais que formem e promovam o melhor da Condição Humana. Que saibam fortalecer a confiança no melhor dos Seres Humanos. Que saibam ver como e quando as Sociedades não necessitam tanto assim da presença constante do poder político.

É utópico, irrealista ou ingénuo....?! Que o seja, porque é verdadeiro e genuíno.

10/06/2025

It can be tricky a classification of Employee or Indepedent Contractor in the US. There are some advantages and disadvantages with each status, depending on particular circumstances, but some worker protections and/or fiscal reliefs are possible for each perspective: Employer or Employee.

These Labor Laws issues might become quite complicated with the emergence of AI Agents with almost human-like abilities, but we can also see here that modern advanced economies look past the days of stretched power assymmetries relationships between Workers and Employers. We all want balanced approaches here: ones giving just compensation to all parts and in the end Macroeconomic gains for all.

Employees Or Independent Contractors? How To Classify Workers

Forbes

A business’ tax and benefit obligations are limited when a worker is a contractor. But misclassification can be costly.

01/06/2025

Good Sunday quotes. 🙂

Beauty may often not be only about visual pleasure. It can be an abstract concept, as plenty of writers and intellectuals thought. Here is another example:

" Mathematician Jim Simons on being guided by beauty:

“You might think 'building a company that's trading bonds, what's so aesthetic about that?' What's aesthetic about it is doing it right. Getting the right kind of people, approaching the problem, and doing it right it's a beautiful thing to do something right.”

Doing things right has not only this type of quality. It also has a rewarding function beyond material or financial ones. The reward of getting to an accomplished undertaking is intrinsically meaningful.