I know, I know: the title “gives the game away.” And it does. But perhaps not in its entirety, Gentle Reader. I restrained myself from applying the title I really wanted to use. Breck Dumas of Fox News tells us: It takes more to be viewed as rich in the U.S. this …
Category: economics
Aug 20 2024
Commie-la’s price controls
After I enlisted and left the area, Dad finally told his old job, with it’s toxic boss who slept her way to the top, to take a flying fuck at a rolling donut and went out to find a new job. Dad was a computer and math whiz. He put his resume out there, and …
Jul 11 2024
An Inevitable Schism
Doctrines, regardless of the subject matter, are usually inflexible. Sometimes that’s not a virtue. Today in the Wall Street Journal, there’s an article about the divergence on economic policy between two wings of the Republican Party: There are, of course, widely aired disagreements over abortion and the war in Ukraine. But a …
Jul 10 2024
Insanity Or Deliberate Political Malfeasance?
You really have to wonder: After securing the majority of seats in Sunday’s election, the newly formed left-wing government in France has revealed plans to impose a ninety percent tax on its “wealthier” citizens. The left-wing coalition known as the New Popular Front (NPF) shocked French politics this past weekend when it …
Mar 26 2024
Extrapolation Is Easy…
…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 …
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 …
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