…but realism is hard. Isn’t everyone familiar with the investment flacksters’ line that “past performance is no guarantee of future returns?” Aren’t we all aware that trends become more dubious the longer they continue? Haven’t we seen enough trends implode “unexpectedly,” and all too often ruinously? The quotes at the opening of …
Category: economics
Mar 22 2024
Inversions
The C.S.O. does most of our grocery shopping, which insulates me against certain data that would otherwise arrive regularly in my awareness. However, now and then we go together to a “warehouse” style discount store for items we know to be available there in bulk, usually less expensively than at a commonplace supermarket. On …
Feb 15 2024
Bad Buys
[This piece first appeared at Liberty’s Torch V1.0 on April 6, 2017. I was missing and mourning my late friend Joe – if you haven’t yet, you’ll “meet” him in this piece – and decided that, considering Americans’ rising fears of an economic collapse, a second look at the division of labor is warranted. …
Feb 03 2024
Simple Contexts, Simple Logic
It doesn’t take long for the observant student of economics to realize that the whole field is about incentives, disincentives, and human decision-making within their grip. There’s the Law of Supply and Demand, the Law of Diminishing Marginal Value, and Coase’s Theorem. All else is about particular cases and exceptions that, largely, prove not …
Aug 18 2023
What Is Seen And What Is Not Seen
If memory serves, Frederic Bastiat was first to use that phrase. He employed it in a discussion of what’s usually called the “broken window fallacy,” an important example of how choosing not to look at some of the consequences of an event or a decision can fatally warp one’s perception of economic reality. Henry …
Jul 28 2023
Ask Not…
…why there is poverty, saith John Wilder: I find it sort of hilarious that economists spend a lot of time fretting about what causes poverty. I love economics, but often think that they create pocket universes to study that have no real connection to the here and now. I think that’s called sniffing …
Jun 11 2023
Headline Writer Lacks All Critical Sense
Film at eleven? All right, I suppose that’s too tongue-in-cheek even for me. Still, this headline (and the article that follows) got me shaking my head: NASA to voyage to ‘golden asteroid’ worth $10,000 quadrillion this fall $10,000 quadrillion? $1019? Even in 2023 dollars, that’s a whole lotta bread. But what, precisely, …
Dec 27 2022
Hot Flash: Newton’s Third Law Still In Effect!
Congress hasn’t managed to repeal it: Leftist activist Nina Turner recently posted a simple tweet calling for a $25/hr minimum wage, variations of which she frequently posts. $25/hr minimum wage. — Nina Turner (@ninaturner) December 22, 2022 Which is hilarious considering she only paid her canvassers $15/hr. That’s the “action.” Now …
Jul 12 2022
The Lowest Steps
Mike Miles has provided another thought-provoking graphic: The “message” could hardly be more obvious. But what about its wider applications – that is, its applications to various aspects of social and economic mobility? Give it a moment’s thought while I finish my breakfast. *** We often hear of “social climbers,” usually …
Mar 28 2022
Unrealized Income?
I won’t speak for anyone else, but when I call a development “unrealized,” I know what I mean by it: it hasn’t happened yet. And of course, something that hasn’t happened might never happen. So what shall we say, Gentle Readers, about this resurrected notion of unrealized income? Many billionaires can pay far …
Mar 20 2022
I Try Not To Use Certain Words
Indeed, I try really hard. But sometimes, I can’t resist. Today’s word is inevitable: Analysis of the Russian attack on Ukraine has rightly focused on the strategic, military and humanitarian considerations of the conflict itself. Soon, however, domestic implications will begin to impinge on the geo-political. Maintaining public support will be critical …
Mar 02 2022
Were He Not a Ruthless Killer, This Might Garner Some Sympathy
Some background first. On FB, Wretchard introduced an Elon Musk tweet to the video below with the comment: Some ideologies see ‘no people’ as the most humanitarian outcome. Naturally such a line caught my attention. Then this was how Musk introduced the video: Pretty good summary, although national pride is underweighted relative to economics. Latter …
Feb 20 2022
Capitalism: The Order Of Execution
Forgive me, Gentle Reader. Because of the graphic above, which I found over at 90 Miles From Tyranny, my memory has assaulted me again, and so I find that I must do a terrible thing. How terrible it is, I shall leave for you to decide. About thirty-five years ago, Long Island’s regional …
Feb 18 2022
Luxuries And Necessities
Do you work in a “service” trade? That is: rather than making or enhancing physical goods, do you merely provide a convenient service to others, sparing those others the chore of doing whatever it is for themselves? No need to be shy about it. Many Americans are in that category. The “service economy” …
Dec 17 2021
Preparing For Armageddon
A funny way to open a column in the second half of Advent, eh? But it’s what’s on my mind. The eighteen entries in my “Future Columns” folder can wait another day. Here is the stimulus for today’s exercise in futility: Please take the twelve minutes and watch it. It’s one of …
Dec 09 2021
Monopolies And What They Want
I’ve got news for you, Gentle Reader: You are a monopoly. Surprised? It’s true, though: You are the one and only source for goods and services made by you. Because of the 13th Amendment, you have absolute control over the source of those goods and services. Assuming you’re not incarcerated for a felony …
Sep 20 2021
No Man Is So Blind As Is He Who Refuses To See
I’m in a kind of “comedown” mood this morning. No, I didn’t get wasted yesterday; it’s a purely psychological phenomenon. You see, yesterday was “Talk Like A Pirate Day,” one of my favorite days of the year. Drives the C.S.O. nuts, but she knows it’s only one day a year. Happily, the many telemarketers …
Aug 30 2021
What We Can And What We Can’t
At this morning’s Mass, our pastor, Monsignor Christopher Heller, reminded us in his homily of the reception that Mother Teresa of Calcutta received when she castigated the First World – the United States most emphatically included – for “sleeping soundly at night when there are people with nothing to eat.” It was unfriendly, to …
Apr 06 2021
At The Margins
“A corporation has neither a soul to be damned nor a body to be kicked.” – maxim cited by Isabel Paterson Via John Hinderaker comes this James Kunstler piece on “wokeism.” He opens with a blast against “corporate wokeists:” What were the execs of these mighty companies thinking — these knights of …
Feb 11 2021
We Really Can’t Help It…
…we humans have a hard time separating people’s personalities and characters from our opinions of the ideas they espouse. We tend to assess the validity of a Cause according to the strengths and weaknesses of those who promote it: their public conduct, their cumulative reputations, and whatever we can learn about their pasts. The …
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