Mises.org amazes me by their offering of great economics texts on-line.  I read Satan’s Bushel over the course of two evenings, and I’m currently enjoying The New Deal in Old Rome.  I laughed out loud at the following quote from page 82 of The New Deal in Old Rome: “The coinage of money was a comparatively new invention for Rome. A
half-century before the final unification of Italy the capital had
reached a stage in its economic development when it no longer could do
business with the primitive coinage of which the unit was a chunk of
bronze weighing a pound.  As someone has said, with this money a
housewife’s journey to market must have been as fatiguing as her return.”

In Human Action, Mises says (page 410 of the third edition): “The regression theorem complies with this requirement.  It traces the specific exchange value of a medium of exchange back to its function as such a medium and to the theorems concerning the process of valuing and pricing as developed by the general catallactic theory. … no good can be employed for the function of a medium of exchange which at the very beginning of its use for this purpose did not have exchange value on account of other employments.  And all these statements implied in the regression theorem are enounced apodictically as implied in the apriorism of praxeology.  It must happen this way.” 

I suppose the first post of any blog should introduce the author a bit, and list some of the topics expected to be covered.

The author: Hi, my name is Scott Yokim; I am a software engineer in silicon valley.  I work for a company that specializes in visual simulations for both commercial and defense applications, so my software concentration is computer graphics programming.  I have an MS in pure mathematics from Virginia Tech, and am a combat veteran of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.  I personally used two tons of plastic explosive on the Kuwaiti border to breach minefields for the Second Marine Division.

The topics: During the past six months, my mind has expanded by coming into contact with the Liberty Dollar, Ron Paul’s campaign, mises.org, and Mises’s book Human Action.  Needless to say, these concepts are a lot to digest in one (or even several) sitting(s), so the purpose of this blog is to improve my digestion of these topics via the methods of reading and writing.

As I continue to read, I plan to post excerpts of texts, questions the texts (and life in general) raise in my own mind, and ways to apply the answers to society.