From the Captain: A couple quibbles: As of 2015, the US dollar is at record highs versus other currencies, hardly a failure. So I guess you could say many currencies have failed except the reserve currencies. The gold standard in encumbering, making it harder for the country to recover from recession & panics. Since the… Continue reading Debunking the Gold Standard
Month: June 2015
The Stability and Necessity of Large Systems
Someone writes: Almost everyone makes the same basic mistake when it comes to economics. It is assumed that the markets and an economy tend to be naturally balancing mechanisms. Wrong! Horribly wrong! This is the reality of economies: Economies are naturally in-stable. INSTABILITY is the natural state to which all economies will tend towards, if… Continue reading The Stability and Necessity of Large Systems
The Daily View: Dumbing-Down the SAT, Matt Levine, China Bubble
The left picks and chooses the science they want to believe in. Science of man-made global warming? Yes. Science of natural global warming? Umm..maybe not. Science of individual cognitive differences? Hell no. That’s why the welfare left, in contrast to the neo/pragmatic left, for the past few decades has been waging war on IQ and… Continue reading The Daily View: Dumbing-Down the SAT, Matt Levine, China Bubble
How High-IQ People Make Money In The Stock Market
Interesting article, obviously written by someone of above average IQ who has had success day-trading. The market is 99% efficient, but that 1% allows smart people to make money consistently even as the left insists the market is rigged, a zero-sum game, or a bubble. The ‘blank-slate’ left believes that people can only succeed with… Continue reading How High-IQ People Make Money In The Stock Market
Do Tax Cuts Pay For Themselves? It May Not Matter
There an ongoing debate if lower taxes pay for themselves, but even if the left is correct that tax cuts don’t 100% pay for themselves, it may not matter, especially given America’s reserve currency status. Even though I tend to lean to the right on economic issues, admittedly the Laffer Curve may have been oversold… Continue reading Do Tax Cuts Pay For Themselves? It May Not Matter
The Post-2008 Wealth Creation Boom
I have repeatedly referred to the post-2008 era as a ‘wealth creation boom’, and sure enough it’s true: The rise in the stock markets and the increased value of housing have pushed the market value of assets owned by all U.S. households to a record $99 trillion at the end of March, according to a… Continue reading The Post-2008 Wealth Creation Boom
Why Moldbug Called It Quits
I suppose the movement Moldbug helped create consumed his life, interfering with his other work, and now he has been blacklisted from a conference, as Slate reports. So I guess that at least partially answers the mystery as to why he inexplicably stopped blogging a little over a year ago. I wrote earlier in my… Continue reading Why Moldbug Called It Quits
Is Greece the first libertarian state?
EU-Greece Talks on Bailout Break Down, Setting Up Showdown When debating libertarianism, critics and skeptics sometimes ask: Why isn’t there a libertarian state? Greece could be the closest thing to a libertarian state. You look at how the leadership as well as the citizens, emboldened by recent events, have defiantly given Germany (and the rest… Continue reading Is Greece the first libertarian state?
The Great Debate: Automation, Jobs, Wealth Inequality, Basic Income, Post Scarcity
Billionaire Cartier Boss Warns of Imminent Uprising, ‘Envy, Hatred’ of Poor People There is also an accompanying video: The 65-year-old Rupert, who has an estimated net worth of about $7.5 billion, seemed deeply perturbed about the impending disappearance of the middle class due to robotics and artificial intelligence, which he said would “put hundreds of… Continue reading The Great Debate: Automation, Jobs, Wealth Inequality, Basic Income, Post Scarcity
The Left Still Whining About Tech Bubbles & Silicon Valley
In an ideal world, all the smart people – the scientists and engineers, the physicists and mathematicians, the coders and quants – would get all the good jobs and make all or most of the money. The good news is we’re in that world right now, especially since 2008 with the unending web 2.0, real… Continue reading The Left Still Whining About Tech Bubbles & Silicon Valley