Author: smartistone

If the market is open, there’s a strong likelihood it will be positive – and indeed it was, with the S&P 500 up another seven points. That may not seem like much, but yesterday Janet dog-faced ‘Yeller’ Yellen, stepping aside from her assigned duties of regulating the money supply, suggested that social media and biotech… Continue reading Blogging and Value

Despite dysfunction in Washington, an empty suit in the Oval Office, and a political class that is tearing itself apart, people are still getting richer than ever in Silicon Valley and on Wall St. We’re still living in the greatest of times. As the market closes at record highs, more wealth was created in the… Continue reading The Greatest of Times?

Rick Santelli loses it on-air: Rick Santelli, like many other pundits, incorrectly predicted there would be hyperinflation as measured by bond prices, but to some extend he is right about inflation in the numerous services that aren’t tied to the treasury market such as healthcare, tuition, air travel, gasoline, food, TV & internet bundles, and… Continue reading Rick Santelli and the STEM Bailout

A year later, National Review Online is still going on about the IRS emails long after most people stopped caring, including republicans such as myself. Did bad stuff happen? Probably. Will there be a resolution that satisfies the republicans? Probably not. Does the outcome effect your life? Nope. There are two things in the world:… Continue reading Ignore the News

Silicon Valley is the center of the universe – a bastion of innovation, capital creation, risk taking, and an unassailable meritocracy where anyone, regardless of national origin, age, or professional status can become instantly rich through hard work and intellect. We’re witnessing a concentration of wealth for the top 1% of IQ, but stagnation for… Continue reading The Daily View: We’re All Becoming Weirdos

In the smartist era, to be a STEM major is to be among the most important and respected people in the world, especially online where such individuals tend to be elevated to deity status. College graduates, particularly STEM graduates, haven’t experienced a decline in inflation adjusted income levels, unlike everyone else: Notice how those who… Continue reading More Good News For College Grads

The most succinct, clear summary of the differences between neo/classical liberalism and welfare liberalism is not found on an academic webpage or a political blog, but on yahoo.com of all places. This is so good, I copied the whole thing in case it gets deleted. Emphasis added in bold. Welfare and neo-classical liberalism are the… Continue reading The Differences Between Neo/Classical Liberalism and Welfare Liberalism

From Taki’s magazine Activists for a Stupider Tomorrow Some of themes of this article are: 1. credentialism 2. college becoming too expensive 3. college failing to teach useful skills 4. America being in decline 5. bad job market for college grads Regarding #1, #2 & #3, a college degree ‘signals’ to employers that the applicant… Continue reading College, The Economy, and America Being in Decline

From a discussion on Marginal Revolution: iSteve writes: The fundamental problem with the human sciences at present is that what is most replicable is that which is most forbidden to acknowledge: that what consistently matters, time and again, are genetic differences represented by race and sex. Everybody kind of deep down knows that’s true because… Continue reading The Uselessness of Pop Social Psychology

An interesting article from Barry about the folly of predicting: As we have detailed far too many times, people are terrible at making predictions. You draw conclusions from a single data point. You don’t know what the economy is going to do, or where interest rates are going… Predicting stuff isn’t that hard. A good… Continue reading The Daily View: Making Predictions, Bubbles, and Post Labor Society