Dr Madsen Pirie

There's a new way to by-pass fiat currencies that governments can debase.  From Euro Pacific Bank come two new cards, one gold and one silver.  Instead of drawing from your cash reserves held in sterling or dollars or whatever, or of spending on credit and paying the bills in such currencies, these cards draw on bullion.  You own gold and silver in a vault, and what you spend is converted into bullion and drawn from your stock:

In Paris on Thursday I addressed a meeting of IREF, the Institute for Research into Economic and Fiscal Issues, which is a French free market and broadly libertarian outfit whose scholarly research and press briefings try to nudge France in the general direction of soundness.  Given Francois Hollande, they face a tough task.

Matt Ridley, author of "Genome" and more recently "The Rational Optimist," gave Tuesday's annual Adam Smith Lecture before a packed audience at St Stephen's Club.  His title, "Adam Darwin," explored similarities between the insights and observations of Charles Darwin with those of Adam Smith who had written a century earlier.

Those who think that responsibility for the financial crisis lies mainly at the door of governments and central banks might like to consider the following.  The policy of easy money and cheap credit, designed at the behest of politicians to smooth the down side of the business cycle, had one unexpected result.  by depressing interest rates it was made difficult for fund managers to gain decent returns on relatively low-risk investments such as bonds.

My colleague, Dr Eamonn Butler, was quite right to castigate Alex Salmond, Scottish First Minister, for his disparaging remarks about Adam Smith and the Institute that proudly bears his name.  Every few years some left-winger, usually a politician, tries the claim that Smith was really a sort of proto-socialist.  It is never convincing because he was nothing like that.

There is a damaging focus on taxation instead of growth.  Media and politicians, egged on by ideological enemies of business and markets, are talking about ways of making corporations and 'rich' individuals pay more in taxation.  Tax avoidance and use of the legitimate means people use to reduce their tax liability are being denounced as wicked, and ways are being sought to curb this activity.

Despite all the scare stories, I'm optimistic that the next generation will live on a planet that is cleaner and greener, and probably nicer to look at.

10.  Environment

It is claimed in some circles that educational standards are falling, that it is being dumbed down, and that our successors will be less educated than ourselves.  I disagree: I think education will be better.

9.  Education

Some people suggest that people will be less healthy in the future because they lead unhealthy lifestyles and eat the wrong foods.  I rather think people will be healthier in future, and I think so because of developments taking place that should bring it about.

8.  Health

Some people, including Tyler Cowen in The Great Stagnation, think we are running out of big ideas that can improve things.  I disagree.

7.  Ideas