Goose the Blog 2.0

Soros may be an evil, foreign-born billionaire who is using the money he made manipulating currency markets to influence elections in the United States*, but he also says a lot of pretty thoughtful things, e.g.:

America can play a more constructive role in the world than it is doing under the Bush administration. The Bush doctrine is grounded in the belief that international relations are relations of power; legality and legitimacy are decorations. This belief is not entirely false but it exaggerates one aspect of reality—military power—to the exclusion of others. I see a parallel between the Bush administration's pursuit of American supremacy and a boom-bust process or bubble in the stock market. Bubbles do not grow out of thin air. They have a solid basis in reality, but reality is distorted by misconception. In this case, the dominant position of the United States is the reality, the pursuit of supremacy the misconception. Reality can reinforce the misconception but the gap between reality and its false interpretation is unsustainable. During the self-reinforcing phase, the misconception may be tested. If it passes, the misconception is reinforced, widening the gap and increasing the size of the inevitable correction. The later it comes the more devastating the consequences.

Tuesday, Soros delivered a speech at the National Press Club called, appropriately enough, "Why We Must Not Re-elect George Bush"

The destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center was such a horrendous event that it required a strong response. But the President committed a fundamental error in thinking: the fact that the terrorists are manifestly evil does not make whatever counter-actions we take automatically good. What we do to combat terrorism may also be wrong. Recognizing that we may be wrong is the foundation of an open society. President Bush admits no doubt and does not base his decisions on a careful weighing of reality. For 18 months after 9/11 he managed to suppress all dissent. That is how he could lead the nation so far in the wrong direction.

You can also read "The Iraqi Quagmire", Chapter 4 of his book The Bubble of American Supremacy. There is what might be a teaser for this book from The Atlantic Monthly, copied onto someone's website (illegally, I imagine, so don't read it if you are a copyright purist).

Finally, Soros wrote an article back in 1997 called "The Capitalist Threat" which has also been copied from the The Atlantic Monthly and re-published.

I'm in the process of reading both Atlantic Monthly articles now, so I can't say whether they are all that good or not - I just thought I'd share. Your mileage, as they say, may vary.