“It’s So . . . Complex?” Not Really.
MEGAN MCARDLE at the Atlantic, posted an essay question by Pascal Emmanuel-Gobry. Complex societies collapse because, when some stress comes, those societies have become too inflexible to respond. In retrospect, this can seem mystifying. Why didn’t these societies just re-tool in less complex ways? The answer Tainter gives is the simplest one: When societies fail…
It’s Not A Privacy Issue: The Economics Of Tracking : Correcting The WSJ’s Sale Of Fear Uncertainty And Doubt:
From the WSJ: The Wall Street Journal conducted a comprehensive study that assesses and analyzes the broad array of cookies and other surveillance technology that companies are deploying on Internet users. It reveals that the tracking of consumers has grown both far more pervasive and far more intrusive than is realized by all but a…
Updating English Spelling? Not so fast, maybe.
For some reason, Joseph Fouche from The Committee On Public Safety found a proposal on revising English Spelling interesting enough to write about. He lifts this example: It woz in the ferst dae ov the nue yeer that the anounsment woz maed, aulmoest simultaeneusli from three obzervatoris, that the moeshen ov the planet Neptune, the…
The Dystopian Future Of Cities – Concrete And Rubble VS Star Trek
As I spend more of my time trying to understand the different ways by which the USA will degenerate from its position of trade-empire, I have been working on the future of cities, which will even more dominantly influence the future culturally, morally, economically and politically. There is a healthy literature on it. And it’s…
Losing The Habit: We Will Not Return To The Consumer Economy.
Loved this little paragraph today on “extend and pretend”. Although I can’t remember where I found it. The government has been playing “extend-and-pretend” based entirely on the idea that pent up demand in consumers would grow until it busted out and the recovery would be on – [a recovery] fueled by consumers. What has happened…
All Costs Are Opportunity Costs. Projections Do Not Include The Alternatives.
This article by a local democratic group led me to this CBPP article, which is a response to a paper by the Heritage foundation. Some critics continue to assert that President George W. Bush’s policies bear little responsibility for the deficits the nation faces over the coming decade — that, instead, the new policies of…
Krugman Watch: Barking Up The Wrong Tree
Paul Krugman writes, in Permanently High Unemployment I really don’t think people appreciate the huge dangers posed by a weak response to 9 1/2 percent unemployment, and the highest rate of long-term unemployment ever recorded Paul, You will not get consensus on general liquidity (unbridled credit). You will not get consensus on government spending (expansion…
“What do you think about China?” I Think You Are Confused About The Virtues Of Political Systems
Kenneth V. asks: I’m curious about your opinion on China’s future. As the democratic empire collapses in the west and power shifts its balance, do you think that the Chinese people will demand more political freedom, especially since libertarian books are bestsellers? Or do you think the oligarchy will be successful in suppressing dissent? What…
Review: War by Sebastian Junger
A work of personal experience by a reporter cohabitating with soldiers in Afghanistan. A work that states the patently obvious. At least, patently obvious to anyone with testosterone: That men fight for the men beside them. That the bond between soldiers is the greatest emotional bond that men can experience. That the platoon is approximately…
The Obama “Small Business” Speech Impediment?
I’m watching Obama talk about the new small business jobs bill on the news. And I”m struck by the observation that he has a really hard time saying ‘small business’. While any phrase with the world ‘government’ in it, simply rolls comfortably off his tongue. Freudian. Absolutely Freudian.
High Unemployment, or Normal Employment? It Depends On The Scope Of History You’re Considering.
Over on Questions and Observations, Bruce McQuain questions whether we’re having another “Great Depression” or just a very slow recovery. An unnamed visitor pointed to a graphic from The Atlantic and commented: “The median duration of unemployment is higher today than any time in the last 50 years. That’s an understatement. It is more than…
Straight Dope: Would Communal Ownership Result In Fewer Oil Spills?
No. But increased liability would. I found the Straight Dope forums and they’re full of fairly good libertarian thinking. So I’m going to add them to my crawler’s roundtable. This is the second or third posting I”ve made there. And in it I’m making a bold claim in response to this statement: And I think…
Question: “Can you be anti-capitalist and pro market?”
On Straight Dope, there is a thread on whether one can be anti-capitalist but pro-market. I’ve captured my response below. DEFINITIONS 1) Capitalism (distributed planning and control using the technologies of property and the pricing system). Or politically: a bias toward letting the market solve problems of production. 2) Socialism (centralized planning and control in…
Higher social classes have a significantly higher average IQ than lower social classes
Reposted here for reference. Social class IQ differences and university access By Bruce G Charlton A feature for the Times Higher Education – 23 May 2008 Since ‘the Laura Spence Affair’ in 2000, the UK government has spent a great deal of time and effort in asserting that universities, especially Oxford and Cambridge, are unfairly…
The Economics Of Spies: What Spies Really Do
via What Spies Really Do | Capital Gains and Games. Bruce Bartlett, in reference to the recent Russian spy case, uses an example from his past to pick on the behavioral economics of spying. But I think, like anything else, there is more to be understood here than meets the eye. He writes: I remembered all this some…
Reason Is Insufficient To Reform Immigration. Violence Is The Only Political Option.
A friend posted an article on immigration reform. It’s yet another appeal to perceived wisdom. [callout]We can be free, or we can be exploited, or we can be oppressed or we can be enslaved, or we can be murdered. Choose your position on that spectrum. [/callout] Once an argument is understood in that it possesses…
A Life In Denial: The Scripture Of Democratic Secular Humanism
Tenets Of Democratic Secular Humanism (DSH). 1) IQ Denial: The belief that people are, all things considered, equal. When instead they are unequal in ability, and demonstrate that inequality both in testing and by the demonstrated result of their actions in real life. 2) Class and Status Denial: Classes Do Not Exist or are irrelevant.…
From Modeled Behavior: On The Religions Of Positivism, Secular Humanism and Monotheism
Karl Smith, writing on Modeled Behavior, in response to Ron Rosenbaum falls into a rational argument between theism and atheism. And demonstrating that both he and Rosenbaum err. Even the early theologians did not make this mistake. Religious debate is allegorical, not scientific. Only fundamentalists argue for the sicentific basis of gods and religion. And…
The Wheel? It’s Part Of A System Of Innovation. Or It’s Pointless.
Peter Gordon notes in passing that the pre-columbians had wheeled toys, despite leaving no record of using the wheel for carts. He directs us to evidence, where the authors posit the reasons for not having adopted wheels. They give a number of reasons with the seventh being the closest: With a abundant human workforce throughout…
CONTROVERSIAL REALITY : A CONTRARIAN’S VIEW OF THE AGENCY, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY
AdAge and The Decline In Car Driving Among The Young The advertising industry’s most important publication, Ad Age, recently posted an article entitled “Is Digital Revolution Driving Decline in U.S. Car Culture?” wherein the author describes the decline in driving among the young, and the readership leaves comment after comment positing reasons for the change,…
Angry Old White Men? Hardly.
Claude Fischer is a sociologist at UC Berkeley who published a piece entitled “Angry Old White Men” in which he categorizes the Tea Party movement as a rural movement of old white men. Mark Thoma, a left-leaning economist picked up the article and posted it on his blog The Economist’s View, where he adds: “Rural…
We Won’t Stop Bloggers From Telling Us Otherwise. This Isn’t A Pursuit Of Truth.
In an essay that has attracted some interest from the blogging community, Kartik Athreya of the Richmond Fed, correctly states that there are political hacks misusing economic arguments. But she misses the point. Economics is Hard. Don’t Let Bloggers Tell You Otherwise “In the wake of the recent financial crisis, bloggers seem unable to resist…
The Humble Libertarian And Flat Taxes.
The humble libertarian makes an argument for flat taxes in order to quell the state’s tendency to foster class warfare. with a flat tax, they can’t just pick on the winners anymore. In order to get more revenue, their best tactic would be to incentivize overall growth. Lower trade barriers. Lower the costs of doing…
Do Not Assume Freedom Is A Desire Of The Majority. Security Is. But But Freedom.
People do not seek freedom. They seek the security that is provided by the prosperity of the creative class in a free society. But they do not seek freedom. They seek security. [callout]the classical liberal fantasy that rhetorical debate can convince a majority to favor freedom over security is simply a conservative utopian fantasy. It…
The Economist: Why Are Companies Hoarding Cash? My Answer: Uncertainty.
THERE is a new question posed to our panel in the Economics by Invitation section: Much of the recent increase in private-sector saving comes from businesses. What explains the rise in corporate thrift? How long will it last, and what policies might reduce it? As an article in this week’s edition explains, the build-up of…
