Libertarian Leanings

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 By Peter Burrows 4/30/25 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

On August 8, 2006, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Bernard Lewis, a British American historian who was regarded as one of the foremost experts on the Middle East. In that article, published almost 19 years ago, Lewis pointed out the dangers inherit in Iran having nuclear weapons.

Namely, while other nations are deterred from using nuclear weapons because of the threat of nuclear retaliation, known as the MAD doctrine, mutually assured destruction, this is NOT a deterrence for Iran. In fact, given Iran's Islamic dogma, "MAD is not a constraint; it is an inducement." (Emphasis in original.) (1)

This is as true today as it was then, and the fact that so many Western leaders still think it is possible to negotiate a lasting peace with Iran shows how little we've learned. The results could be catastrophic.

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By Peter Burrows 4/23/25 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

One of the worst ideas the Trump Administration has come up with is to eliminate income taxes for those making $150,000 a year or less. This might make short-term political sense, but in the long run it will make controlling the size of the government even harder than it is now.

It would mean only 7 percent of US citizens would pay 100 percent of the income tax. The other 93 percent would pay zero percent and have no incentive to reduce government spending or oppose future tax increases. It's bad enough now, with the bottom 93 percent paying only 24 percent of all the income tax revenue while the top one percent pays about 40 percent. That's worth repeating: the top one percent pays 40 percent of the total.

Trump's Tariff Tango: Shrewd or Stupid? By Peter Burrows -- This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 4/14/25

I think President Trump makes a compelling case that the United States has been harmed by unilateral tariffs placed on American goods by, apparently, damn near every country in the world. I had no idea such tariffs were so ubiquitous and had been in effect for so long, and in some cases, had been so damned high.

His retaliatory tariff policy, while causing great consternation around the world, appears to be having the desired effect as many countries are now offering to lower or eliminate their tariffs if we'll do the same. Trump's "shock and awe" tactics may be well thought out or spur-of-the-moment. Probably both.

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By  Peter Burrows 9/26/24 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Public service of New Mexico, PNM, last July sent out a 36-page notice outlining their recent request for a rate increase. I only glanced briefly at it and noticed on page 2 that the requested increase would raise overall rates 23% in two stages, July 1, 2025, and January 1, 2026.

I recently had a chance to look at the notice in more detail and found on page 29 that residential customers who use between 500 kilowatt hours (kWh) and 1,000 kWh per month can expect their monthly bills to go up between 36.6 and 39.0 percent. Seems to me those are the more relevant numbers that PNM should have used.

Libertarian Leaning's Islam essays now available on Amazon By  Peter Burrows - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

I've been studying and writing about the religion of Islam for over 10 years. Some of my essays have gotten very favorable critical reviews.

After some turmoil with a self-publishing company, there is now a compilation of these essays available on Amazon.com. Just search "Peter V. Burrows" under "Books." It's titled "How to Read the Koran (and understand Islam) and other essays about 'The Religion of Peace.' "

I just received a copy and I'm pleased with how it came out. A couple of very minor things to correct, but all in all, I'm good with it. (The initial ebook that Publishing Mojo, my publisher, put on Amazon had some critical errors, since corrected, and the one-star rating I gave it is now deleted.)

The paperback is $15 and I doubt very much if I'll ever cover my costs. It was never my hope to make any money and I care not a whit if I'm plagiarized. The back cover states: "Readers are free to use anything in this publication without attribution."

The purpose is to educate about Islam. Even if I win a Nobel Prize, either Nonfiction or Peace, maybe both, I plan on giving the proceeds to the home for unwed mothers. Right.

TIA to those of you who buy a copy.