David Lay Williams

First new review in a while (in HAL: Open Science). Review by Dan-Andrei Năfureanu from the University of Bucharest.

hal.science/hal-05511717...

Cover of the book “The Greatest of All Plagues: how economic inequality shaped political thought from Plato to Marx” by David Lay Williams

Everyone needs to read this book. It explains how we have long known about the corrosive and disastrous effects of letting rich people get filthy rich. Since the beginning of civilization, our greatest philosophers have been shouting it from the rooftops. This is not new, yet we’ve not learned…

Billionaires’ Low Taxes Are Becoming a Problem for the Economy Tax avoidance by the superwealthy is an economic issue as well as a political one.

Even the @wsj.com op-ed page is coming to face facts about inequality.

It’s easy to think writing is mainly the transcription of ideas you already have—that is, until you try to write something worthwhile, and you find what you thought were saying transform into something far more interesting in the process. This skips that last step, and that is *not* an improvement.

Effective altruists: we should encourage people to get as rich as possible to give more money away.

Billionaires: . . .

Hard Z -- not the "ts" sound.

These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power. In vain they seek to hide behind the Flag and the Constitution. In their blindness they forget what the Flag and the Constitution stand for. Now, as always, they stand for democracy, not tyranny; for freedom, not subjection; and against a dictatorship by mob rule and the over-privileged alike.

Governments can err, Presidents do make mistakes, but the immortal Dante tells us that divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted in different scales.

It's Presidents' Day. Here's a favorite bit from FDR's 1936 nomination acceptance speech. Let us hope we can elect someone on this platform once again. (Would also be nice to elect someone who actually reads great books.)

www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/ac...

Priorities! -- So much money to be made on selling cheating technology to lazy and desperate rich kids!

This is all very funny to me because the English and the Scots literally fought a war over cultural (religious) differences. Yet now when it's convenient, people like this are happy to say they are one culture united against some other perceived opponent.

A New World of Revolutions The hemispheric politics that shaped popular revolutions against European colonial rule

Also, you should pre-order @arturochang.bsky.social's forthcoming important @princetonupress.bsky.social on related themes, that should be available early this summer.

I'm sure you're sad to be on the list.

Opinion | How A.I. Companies Are Preying on College Students

“Young people are quickly becoming so dependent on A.I. that they are losing the ability to think for themselves. And rather than rallying resistance, academic administrators are aiding and abetting a hostile takeover of higher education.”

If my students are any indication, they are completely over the hype and fully sick of this constant assault from the tech companies. They are hungry for real conversations about important matters with -- get this! -- real people. No one wants to discuss the meaning of life with a bot. Sorry, bros!

I think the greatest gift college professors in the humanities can give to students right now is a seminar room where, for 80 minutes twice a week, nothing that happens to them is a sales pitch for an AI product.

"[T]he rich man holds the Law in his purse." -- Rousseau, Letters Written from the Mountain (#9).

Big congratulations to @ladyprofessor.bsky.social and @fthames.bsky.social on their new book!

A pedagogical tax Why the rich should be Uber-taxed

@brankomilan.bsky.social has been writing excellent stuff lately. He is now pushing for a “tax on greed.” Worth reading!

open.substack.com/pub/branko2f...

Why We All Care About Inequality (But Are Loath to Admit It) Is it envy or justice?

Nice piece in @brankomilan.bsky.social's Substack about inequality and envy. Highly recommended!

I neglected to mention how much she enjoys eating shoes.

Truer words never spoken.

Given that my dog occasionally enjoys eating paper and rocks, saying "even a dog would love" this recipe is not really much of an endorsement. (Am I wrong, @unlawfulentries.bsky.social?)

Of all the classes I took as an undergraduate, the three semesters I took of Music History were among those that have contributed as much to my everyday happiness as any. Hardly a single day passes without me benefitting from them.

First time since Super Bowl III!

He's getting really close...

2026 may well be the year the world sees its first trillionaire. A trillionaire is someone who owes 1.000.000.000.000 dollar. Or, the equivalent of one million very nice flats/houses, each worth one million dollars.

Is It All Just Envy? The sides of the inequality debate continue to talk past one another, as Don Boudreaux's recent criticisms demonstrate.

Then @laywilliams.bsky.social put to rest the idea that intellectual and moral arguments against wealth inequality are rooted in envy, a common conservative talking point www.liberalcurrents.com/is-it-all-ju...

Here's a prayer straight from Scripture: "woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry” (Luke 6: 24-25).

Is It All Just Envy? The sides of the inequality debate continue to talk past one another, as Don Boudreaux's recent criticisms demonstrate.

This is a really nice piece, in the middle of i hope a productive discussion about inequality: https://www.liberalcurrents.com/is-it-all-just-envy/

I like liberal currents!

Definitely not just envy! It's been an absurd rhetorical strategy employed by defenders of the oligarchy, as they continue to dismantle this democracy.

Great to see this piece getting into circulation!

Adam Smith was no right-winger