It’s 3 AM and what am I thinking about? Partially, I’m horribly jealous of Stephen for being able to sleep so soundly. I’m also noticing the hair leaving me to be with the comforter on top of my head and remembering my family’s tragic history of baldness. But mostly I’m regretting steering so far away from my original expert study topic. Now this may sound like a change of topic yet again, but it’s really not. It just now dawned on me that the topic I was originally interested in and the topic I settled on are very compatible. I at first wanted to discuss the death of nationalism, specifically economic nationalism, but decided against that as it would be too hard to gather any actual facts for and is much more about philosophy than economics. I settled on discussing the international free market and how it benefits both us and China. But here, deep in the night, it hit me: these two topics are more or less the same thing, just taking the completely philosophical and completely economic perspectives. So really, my original idea can be a very researchable and concrete one when combined with my final idea. The Death of Economic Nationlism: The Development of an International Free Market and How It Benefits All Economics Involved. Not very catchy, I know.

As far as economic history and theories go, I’ve got a big ol’ stack of books on my desk filled with Post-It notes, and my own copy of David Ricardo’s Principles of Political Economy and Taxation is being sent to me right now. Yes, I know the library and Professor Greenlaw both probably have it, but I just like having my own books. Besides, it matches my Wealth of Nations. The Economic Report of the President, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and various other Googled resources have proven very helpful for solid facts and figures. As for the more human, philosophical side (because the philosophy of the people is very important in determining the economic system), I’m planning on hopefully talking to my anthropology professor, Professor Gable, tomorrow (or today, rather). I’d like to interview him briefly about his thoughts on nationalism, egalitarianism, and other social ideas. I think that in order to really grasp the full importance of either of these, you need them both together.

On a sidenote, I recently went through a long customer service experience in regards to my credit card, and was switched between two different Visa departments, in New Delhi and Maine. It only reinforced what I’ve noticed every time I’ve known to where I’ve been speaking: customer service is, in general, much better in India. Most Americans I’ve talked to are discourteous, pretentious, and generally unhelpful, while Indians tend to be quite the opposite. Maybe it’s really not just the money we outsource for.