Category Archives: Charles Mackay’s Delusions & Mania’s

Leszek Balcerowicz: Adam Smith Meets Karol Wojtyla

Posted on December 23, 2012 by William Holland

Matthew Kaminski interviewed a Polish intellectual recently, a man who has few peers.  His name is Leszek Balcerowicz (pronounced Lay-zek Bal-zero-witz).  What he has to say is significant for it points the way toward recognizing how Keynesian thought is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Alex Tocqueville, Charles Mackay's Delusions & Mania's, Conservatism, Economics, Money, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Libor Lies

Posted on December 20, 2012 by William Holland

LIBOR is the London Interbank Offered Rate.  It’s a series of interest rate benchmarks used in trillions of dollars of bank transactions, commercial contracts and numerous other banking instruments.  The rates are set by a panel of banks excluding both … Continue reading →

Posted in Charles Mackay's Delusions & Mania's, Money | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Explorers Of The Nile: Victorian Triumph & Tragedy

Posted on November 28, 2011 by William Holland

Africa was always dubbed ‘The Dark Continent’.  This sobriquet never referred to pigment  of skin, instead it referred to the impenetrable geography that immediately arises from the sands of both East and West Africa.  Prior to the invention of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Arnold Toynbee, Charles Mackay's Delusions & Mania's, Frontier, Measure the Earth | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Explorers Of The Nile: Victorian Triumph & Tragedy

What Links The Atavism Of Anarchist’s & Militant Muslims?

Posted on August 12, 2011 by William Holland

I have written on Barbara Tuchman’s great book “The Proud Tower”, by far a much better book than the “Gun’s Of August”.  Tuchman’s analysis of 18th through 19th century anarchists is a must read for anyone seriously engaged in understanding … Continue reading →

Posted in Charles Mackay's Delusions & Mania's, Ethics, Identity Development, International Relations, Islam, Morality, Satan/Evil, Terrorism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on What Links The Atavism Of Anarchist’s & Militant Muslims?

The Treason Of Passionate Intellectuals

Posted on June 2, 2011 by William Holland

Kim Philby and the Cambridge Spies, Alger Hiss, Stephen Decatur, Benedict Arnold, Thomas Paine are well know names, what remains unknown are the motivations that propel people to actively support, work for,  even embrace their nations enemies. ‘Treasons Of The … Continue reading →

Posted in Charles Mackay's Delusions & Mania's, Identity Development, International Relations, Morality, Politics, Raymond Aron | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Treason Of Passionate Intellectuals

The Anarchist: Revolutionary Politics

Posted on May 20, 2011 by William Holland

Very few people outside of academia have ever read ‘The Proud Tower’ by Barbara Tuchman which is depressing given the fine account she renders of Europe twenty-five years before the cataclysm that was the Great War (WWI).  Here we find … Continue reading →

Posted in Central Asia, Charles Mackay's Delusions & Mania's, Frontier, Hitler, Identity Development, International Relations, Morality, Satan/Evil, Terrorism | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Anarchist: Revolutionary Politics

Manias & The Madness Of Crowds

Posted on June 17, 2010 by William Holland

It was Charles Mackay’s “Memoirs Of Extraordinary Popular Delusions & The Madness Of Crowds” published in 1841 which provided an intellectual earnest to meaningfully reflect on local and international manias, their lethal destructive capacity in destroying both individual lives and … Continue reading →

Posted in Charles Mackay's Delusions & Mania's, Elias Canetti | Tagged , | 4 Comments