Rubrics » Bridging News
21st Century Ethics and the New Jus Vitae Necisque?
In the United States, an important conversation is taking place, the results of which might set a worldwide precedent for the framework of future ethical debates. While European countries have laws which generally ban abortion after the first trimester, when the baby becomes better formed and (as far as science knows at this point) is able to feel pain, in the US, late term abortions, that is, those which take place after the first trimester, are being celebrated by some as a sign of freedom. In fact, recently, a law was passed in New York which permits abortion after 24 weeks, that is a little after 5 months. Other such laws are being prepared in the country. This has reopened disputes on both sides of the political spectrum. Some call for no restrictions on any type of abortion and gratuity of services related to it. Others call for a complete ban on the practice. More
The War of the Worlds: Macro-societies in Battle Against Micro-organisms
As the lockdown has been relaxed (in Romania, the homeland of TMFI), yet social distancing is still a sacrosanct recommendation, we release the second episode from our collection of editorial products, this time from our in-house harvest. We hope that the variety and the quality of these “corona-readings” to function as a cure equally for unjustified anxieties and for mind hibernation. More
Communicative Action, Subjective Perception and the Hermeneutics of Capital Structure
This article highlights the implications of the subjective communication and interaction between economic agents in the process of expanding individual and implicitly social knowledge. Each economic actor goes through a set of unique experiences, which facilitates the emergence of unique expectations and perceptions. As such, these perceptions will lead to a distinct allocation of resources. Therefore, I try to emphasize the importance of expanding knowledge in socio-economic evolution, as a mechanism of exchanging unique experiences. More
NASA & SpaceX Launch – A New Milestone in Space Exploration
Over the years, space has proven to be one of the few topics that captivated people from all around the world to follow the same TV programming or online event at the same time. Individuals with different backgrounds, ethnicities, races, and religions were united by the same curiosity of the unknown. Even in our most difficult moments, space has succeeded in bringing us a hope light for a better future. Earlier this year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and private American space company, SpaceX, provided the world a glimmer of hope at a time where people around the planet are suffering through the COVID-19 pandemic and are protesting systemic racism. Saturday, May 30, 2020, will forever be significant in history as a giant leap forward in cosmic exploration because it marked the first time a commercial company launched humans to space, and it was the first crewed launch from America in the last nine years. NASA and SpaceX have written history, and the 10.3 million online viewers are part of it, as it was the most-watched NASA event online ever.[1] More
The Bear Stearns of Romania
Despite a lot of public rhetoric and noisy politics, the Romanian episode of the recent Great Financial Crisis has not been adequately chronicled to date.True, in Romania, a country with a low – but increasing – financialization rate by Western standards, there has not been any Lehman Brothers-style bankruptcy in the local banking industry. However, despite repeated public statements made, since the beginning of the Crisis, by Mugur Isărescu and other officials at the National Bank of Romania (BNR), that the Romanian financial system is crisis-proofed, there has actually been a Bear Stearns-type of failure not long after the global panic spread into the country as well. More
“Search Neutrality” Is Not Possible
Search neutrality – the idea that any search engine should reveal all and each of the Internet’s entries without favor, i.e. unbiasedly – is on its rise. But then again, what is an unbiased search engine? Is it the one that gives most results or the one that gives best results? Google’s secret in the early 2000s was to rank the results. Is that the best approach? More
Is Small still Beautiful? A Swiss Perspective
Small polities have different advantages. Because of their smallness, they can be more efficient; this allows them to be alert to opportunities. Because of their social tissue, small polities have the advantage of self-regulating through bonding and bridging, i.e. through social capital, rather than through bureaucracy. Social capital increases with its usage and is a resource for implementing novelties based on alertness. The third factor that contributes for small polities being at an advantage is competition – in its economic and political sense. There is a cautious note, however: not all small polities can mobilize these factors. More
Modern Monetary Theory and Its Poisonous Implications
The Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is often mentioned in the latest economic debates, especially in the USA, where it is supported by some (left-wing) candidates of the Democratic Party to the Presidential elections of 2020 and their economic advisers. Recently, a first edition of a macroeconomics manual with over 600 pages, where this theory is presented, was rapidly sold out. The explanation for this bookstore success resides in the fact that the new theory seems to provide governments with economic policy tools susceptible to be used when the interest rates are very low or even zero and will, probably, remain so in the near future. More
Was the Islamic State a Real State?
The self-proclaimed Islamic State, known to the international press under the ISIS moniker, became a true center of power in the Middle East in the period 2014-2017. Its success came with a background of instability generated by the Arab Spring, but is also due to the support from actors such as Turkey or a part of the Gulf states, as well as an unnatural alliance between Sunni jihadists in Iraq and the secular army of the Baath regime, marginalized after the downfall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. More
COVID-19’s Distributions and Balances of Power
Who would have thought that precisely the most powerful countries on the planet, which invested the most in their health systems, registered the most cases of contamination with the new coronavirus? Well, an analysis by Professor Cezar Mereuță, Ph.D., reveals this apparently counterintuitive correlation. And it comes with a novel perspective: the pandemic plays the part of a parallel world, which seems to push the countries of the globe into an “odd” competition as if they would contest in “getting” as many contaminations as possible. More
The Fight for the US Supreme Court and Its Political Ramifications
Impartiality is crucial to any judicial system, even more so when constitutional and supreme courts have to adjudicate conflicts between different state authorities, political actors, or certify election results in democratic polities. This impartiality has long been under siege in the United States Supreme Court, which has evolved to reflect the increasing polarization of American politics. Senate confirmation hearings of would-be Associate or Chief Justices are now the highest battleground of the culture wars between liberals and conservatives. The 9 Justices have become familiar faces to many average Americans, some reaching an almost hero-status among their respective supporters (the late Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg easily come to mind). The recent passing of Bader Ginsburg and the subsequent vacancy on the Supreme Court, coupled with what is shaping out to be an unusual Presidential election that may well end up in the courts, has led many to draw uncomfortable parallels to the Bush v Gore debacle. Will the Court weather the storm and come out of it unscathed, avoiding a loss of credibility and legitimacy? And if the Court is forced to take a decision regarding the election, what will the best course of action for the future of judicial integrity be? The answers to these questions depend, like many others, on the results of the November 3rd election. More
China’s Belated Spring Cleaning
Historically, Chinese reform has been a byproduct of constraint. As James Kynge wrote in his book “China Shakes the World”, the country’s initial openness towards capitalism did not stem from a well-orchestrated strategy, but as a means to combat high unemployment and a payments crisis brought about by excessive spending in an attempt to jumpstart China’s manufacturing industry. Funding for the $12 billion investment was expected to be generated through an ambitious project – drilling in search of oil deposits – yet results were meager at best. As a result, part of the expenditure was postponed, yet the money already spent left behind a significant deficit. More
