Phat's Bookshelf

You do realize my comments are factual not accusations.

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“is an unstable component on which to base an individual identity and a hideously unstable way to try and base any form of group identity.”

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Douglas Murray Has Some Queer Ideas About Sex - Crisis Magazine
His own writings embrace racism and hate. So again you accuse me of something that is not true. If they were dishonest or promoting racism and hate I would. Do you understand the words critical and agree?

How about you develop an argument? I answered. Now you want me to read a racist to get a rebuttal. Are you incapable of supporting your own arguments?

Where did you get this drivel from? It does not show up on a Google search. Is this from that racist book? When pseudo-scholars make a pronouncement like this without any footnotes you can be pretty sure they are full of shit.

You brought up reviews, so let's look at them. Or did you mean Amazon reviews from fellow travelers?Murray speaks in absolutes and paints with a broad brush.

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Something of this persists in Murray’s critique, which implies that everyone who is drawn to left-wing identity politics is actuated by a lust for retribution, as opposed to a genuine desire to create a fairer society.

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While this is undoubtedly true in some, even many, cases, it does not hold universally. It is not just embittered black people who call for reparations, as plenty of white liberals do this, too. Lots of men are sympathetic to feminism, heterosexuals to gay activism, non-trans people to the trans movement, and so on. Not all of this can be put down to “virtue signalling.” Many people, presumably, accept the social justice nostrums propagated by activists out of a misguided but ultimately good-faith aversion to perceived structural inequities. Such people are not likely to be convinced by Murray’s paean to gratitude. Their sense of the injustices of Western society, many of which are real enough, will not be diminished by having someone tell them not to be resentful, and if anti-Westernism is the only game in town that provides an outlet for altruistic sentiment, it is likely to gain many adherents.

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All this implies that the solution, if there is one, must come from the Left. What is needed is a rival movement that caters to people’s aspirations for social fairness and the remission of suffering without recommending that we tear down statues, throw out the Western canon, obsess about superficial aspects of our identities, and so on. It would not be fair, of course, to expect this from Murray, who, as a conservative, is naturally more suspicious of social reform than those of a left-wing temperament, a perspective that is perfectly valid in its own terms. On the other hand, while the defiant stance of his book necessitates a certain combativeness of tone, Murray seems at times to flirt with the notion that any criticism of Western society or foreign policy is an expression of a sinister, vengeful, anti-Western worldview. This inflexibility is not likely to convert any wayward radicals. One can only hope, as Murray probably does himself, that the Left will prove him wrong by showing that there really is another way, that you can be critical without expressing undiluted contempt, and that you can struggle and hope for change without burning everything to the ground.

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Douglas Murray's War on the West—A ReviewExcerpts from The Spectator review. Not kind. If you can read, the full Spectator review. Behind a paywall.
THE WAR ON THE WEST | Kirkus Reviews
So those glowing reviews?

Admittedly this review provides a good counterpoint to Murray's claims.

I suppose it depends on which chart you look at. Yahoo Finance reports that over the last 6 months, gold has increased by roughly $200.00 an ounce.

On January 22, 2021 the price of gold was 1856.20. Friday it was 1928.20. That is less than a 4% increase in two years. 2% a yearDow Jones Industrial
1/22/21 30996.98. Friday 33375.49. 7.7% increase. 3.85% per yearBut that is only a piece of the puzzle.

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No. There is one fatal flaw in this investment thesis. Let’s revisit gold’s 5,333% return against the S&P Composite’s 3,737% return from 1970 to 2020. Sure, if you just bought the S&P Composite and let it ride for 50 years, the return would underperform against gold.

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But that comparison is wrong. The comparison leaves out the eighth wonder of the world—compounding. Add in compounding and now make the comparison. That same investor buying the S&P Composite in 1970 and reinvesting the dividends quarterly would have seen a gain of 68,430% through September 2020.
And that is the problem with gold. Gold pays no dividends. It cannot compound. It does not have economic growth. It does not innovate. It does not generate cash flow. It’s just a piece of inert metal.

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Stocks Versus Gold: Which Is A Better Investment? The Answer May Surprise You
What should we expect from that liberal bastion Forbes.

Noted. You do have an argument, but the consensus is that we are entering a recession and that the past 30 years of compounded gains will take quite a hit. At this point in time, I would invest at least 10% into hard assets. They are not to be thought of as an investment but as an insurance policy.

Diversification and hedges are always a good idea. I mentioned I bonds before:I bonds — TreasuryDirectThe return on I bonds shifts with inflation so you are always protected. You can buy a max of 10k per year.