The incoherence of looking at the world through the lens of privilege

I think too many social commentators overestimate the role or weight of parental wealth/intervention at explaining exceptional individual success; except for the crust of the crust or maybe extreme outliers like Tiger Woods, it does not matter as much as conventional wisdom would seem to suggest. As I argue in the post The Limitations of… Continue reading The incoherence of looking at the world through the lens of privilege

“Balloongate” is not the start of another Cold War

An errant Chinese high-altitude balloon wandered into US airspace and was shot down a couple days ago. The internet, especially Twitter, is collectively losing its mind over this. The right-wing punditry, predicably, is calling this a precursor to war. Somehow Biden is enabling China in regard to this balloon, yet just four months ago, in… Continue reading “Balloongate” is not the start of another Cold War

Right again about Russia-Ukraine

I saw this going viral pic.twitter.com/iYSoDtVgg8 — Ruth Baader-Meinhof (@VenturCommunist) February 2, 2023 This is exactly what I predicted would happen a year ago, right after the conflict broke out. All the esteemed experts were predicting either a full-on world war, nuclear war, escalation (other countries getting involved but short of a world war), or… Continue reading Right again about Russia-Ukraine

Memo to media: stop citing numbers without indexing them

I saw this article from QZ.com: Big Pharma spent an additional $9.8 billion on marketing in the past 20 years. It worked In 1997, drug companies spent roughly $17.1 billion on marketing for prescription drugs and any health conditions that may be associated with them. (A relatively paltry $600 million was spent to market condition… Continue reading Memo to media: stop citing numbers without indexing them

The ‘rational consumer’ explanation for obesity

My second explanation for the obesity epidemic, especially in the US, is the ‘rational consumer’ hypothesis. The idea is people are voluntarily making a choice to overeat, fully aware of the consequences and weighing the pros and cons, similar to people who continue to smoke despite the warning labels. There are no shortage of articles… Continue reading The ‘rational consumer’ explanation for obesity

The student loan debt problem will continue until the alternatives improve

The biggest problem with the college tuition debate is that it does not sufficiently address the root of the problem. My argument has always been that the student loan debt ‘problem’ won’t be fixed until either the alternatives to college improve–and or–the returns to college worsen. But I don’t see any hope of either of… Continue reading The student loan debt problem will continue until the alternatives improve