What I'm reading: Intellectual synonyms, and warrior seppuku

Branko Milanovic: 'Do You Want To Be A Synonym?'

I read a part of a book (I definitely could not stomach the whole book) of another famous economist that could have been written in 2000: the same clichés, the same authors, the same discussions interspersed with, for good measure, a mention of Trump here and there. Nonsense on stilts in today’s world.

It makes you realize that intellectual influences are so crucially dependent on time.

Kiran Pfitzner: 'A Modest Proposal For Restoring the Warrior Ethos'

Pete Hegeseth has pledged to restore the warrior ethos to America’s military. The warrior ethos traditionally demands self-destruction as compensation for failure. The Japanese example is the most well-known, but it was also expected for honorable Romans to fall upon their own swords rather than suffer disgrace. If Hegseth wants to preserve his own honor and adhere to the warrior ethos, then there is a clear course of action open to him.