The-Asterisk

Let's say that you are a HUUUUUGE ABBA fan. You have been waiting for years for them to get back together and have one more concert. You would give just about anything to see that show. One day you find out that indeed there will be an ABBA reunion concert and that, like buying a new Tesla, the wait is years long, and it will cost you a lot of money with no guarantee that you will even get a ticket. You are depressed. People just don't understand how you feel. You are marginalized. Then you find out that there is a little hack that can get you into the concert quickly and at little cost except for time. Here's the deal: gather up a canned good and make up a great story about how everyone of your friends gave you a hard time about being a hardcore ABBA fan. That's it. Show up at the ticket window, present your can of tuna, tell them your story of woe and you are in. Would you do it? If you really, really wanted to see ABBA, you would. This is a simplification of ...

It has been said that Americans perfected, if not invented, the concept of guerrilla warfare. During the War for American Independence in the 1770s and 1780s, Americans who wanted to be free of British rule were outgunned, outmanned and had no professional standing army, so they did what they could. They attacked the British any way possible. While the British played by the rules of war and civilized conduct, the American patriots used hidden snipers to pick off unsuspecting Redcoats and they blew up British outposts with homemade bombs. Today we call that asymmetrical warfare but it is the same thing. A big, strong entity being harassed and worn down by a small, nimble and dedicated force to the point where the big, strong entity either attacks with all they have or they just give up and go home. What does this have to do with trade? We hear politicians and commentators from both sides of the aisle saying that trade should not be used as a weapon. Really? Should our judicial sys...