January 31, 2010 by cburfield
It snowed here in Greensboro yesterday and with the sun coming out today I thought it was the perfect time to get some pictures. I walked across the street to the Guilford Courthouse Battlefield and took some snow covered pictures. Here are just a few of them. This first one is actually from my patio balcony, I thought the icicles were cool…
This one is right after you cross the street to get onto the battlefield, I couldn’t pass up a chance to get this shot of the snow on the split rail fence…
This next one is of the main monument on the battlefield. It is of Nathaniel Greene, the American general who commanded at the battle of Guilford Courthouse. While Greene and his men had to quit the battlefield they bled Cornwallis’ army so much that Cornwallis had to retreat to Wilmington and eventually to Yorktown.
This last one is of the same monument but from a different perspective…
I hope you enjoy them. It is a rare opportunity to get to photograph something like this in the snow and I enjoyed doing so.
Posted in Miscalleanous | Tagged Guilford Courthouse Battlefield, Nathaniel Green, Snow | Leave a Comment »
January 30, 2010 by cburfield
The following is a statement that I had to write for an internship that I am applying for. The requirement is to summarize my choice of ideology in 150-250 words. This is the hardest writing I have ever done in my entire life. To explain something so broad in 250 words felt at times to be impossible. It has gone through three drafts each progressively better. I am indebted to a professor of mine who helped me bring clarity to my thoughts as they were put to paper. The following is exactly 250 words…
The cornerstone of my ideological view of the world is my faith in Jesus Christ and my faith informs my view of everything else. History, politics, and economics take on new meanings when viewed through this perspective.
History becomes a story of how God has moved to draw people to Himself instead of just about the actions of men and women. The Bible reveals the evil that resides in men’s hearts but it also reveals the amazing grace God shows us.
Politics becomes more than just the struggle for power and instead about service, justice, and mercy. Christ laid out the perfect example about how to be a servant leader.
Economics, my chosen field of study, gives me the tools to understand the world. It helps me to understand markets, how prices signal information, and how the macroeconomy works.
My passion for public policy allows these three threads of thought to come together into one coherent ideology. Together they allow me to make normative judgements about policy, about how things should be done.
The key normative statement that I live by and argue for is to live life with freedom and responsibility. Jesus Christ set me free from sin not so I can continue on my way but so that I can freely pursue my Creator in a loving relationship. In terms of policy this means advocating for freedom of thought and economic freedom so in turn we may treat each other with dignity given to us by our Creator.
Posted in Personal Beliefs | Leave a Comment »
November 21, 2009 by cburfield
In my last post I addressed why I thought we need to return to assuming that poverty is the natural state of man. From that assumption we could explore wealth, its sources, and its distribution. This is not to dismiss poverty or to say that nothing can be done about it. Wealth and poverty are two extremes on the same scale. You often cannot talk of one without the other.
There is a lot of research done into the causes for both and after my last post I saw more articles in my RSS feeds related to the subject. One such article was posted by Greg Mankiw on his blog. It is by Daron Acemoglu who is an MIT economist and he seeks to explain the development gap between the first world and the third world countries.
He gives credit to where its due in the explanations given by Jeffery Sachs who argues for geographical and weather differences and to Jared Diamond who argues for technology. However, Acemoglu argues for the power of institutions. His prime example is the city of Nogales on the border between Arizona and Mexico. This city has the same geography and weather and the same access to technology yet the American side of the city sees 3 times the income per citizen as the Mexican side. The difference is the institutions found on each side of the border.
I interpret this as meaning that some institutions are better than others. This can be troubling for those who choose to weigh themselves down with political correctness. Institutions are born out of the surrounding culture so this must mean that some cultures are better at producing economic success than others.
History has shown this to be true. The countries that were former British colonies are on average better off than those who were formerly run by other countries such as Spain or France. Why? The British often instilled an appreciation for private property and trade as well as a legal system that supported such rights. Of course the prime example of this is the good ol’ United States.
So institutions matter and I wholeheartedly agree with Acemoglu. I also agree with him when he says that forcibly transplanting institutions may not always be the right thing to do. If the argument is true that institutions come from culture then you cannot change culture at the point of a gun like we are trying to do in Afghanistan or Iraq. As the saying goes you can lead a horse to water but you cannot force him to drink.
Posted in Economics | Tagged Daron Acemoglu, Economics, Greg Mankiw, Jared Diamond, Jeffrey Sachs | Leave a Comment »
