Category: Uncategorized

Trump is threatening to ‘“strongly regulate” or close down social media platforms’ for bias against conservatives, after Twitter appended special fact-checking notices to two of his tweets in regard to mail-in ballots, which is the first time Twitter has ever attempted to ‘correct’ a tweet by directly intervening. Usually Twitter will delete offending tweets or… Continue reading Trump takes on Twitter

I keep seeing stories about Only Fans, which has seen a surge in popularity attributable to the pandemic. The smart-left and smart-right are unified in opposing moralizing in regard to onylfans usage. Rather than moralizing , which implies imposing one’s values of how society ought to be, the emphasis is on understanding why society is… Continue reading The Only Fans Nation

As I have been saying on the blog for years, I don’t believe there will be any deterioration of US-China relations beyond the usual tariffs and hawkish rhetoric. The media, on either side of the aisle, is hoping for US-China relations to suddenly take a turn for worse, but that refuses to happen. It’s just… Continue reading China-US worse case scenario

Interesting finding Cognitive Capitalism: The Effect of Cognitive Ability on Wealth, as Mediated Through Scientific Achievement and Economic Freedom, by Heiner Rindermann and James Thompson, 2011. Average national IQ correlates well with GDP per capita and other measures of development. But is average national IQ really the right number to look at? “Smart fraction theory”… Continue reading The smart fraction/faction theory of economic growth and success

People talk a lot about government failures, but the private sector is no stranger to failure either, although, overall, in spite of such failures capitalism is superior to communism (again, assuming one much choose between either or, which is never the case anyway), but I will give some examples of capitalism failures anyway. For example,… Continue reading The capitalism vs. communism debate, part 2

Interesting video by Ramz Gates Paul, “Communism Sucks” The problem is, Ramz defaults to a false dichotomy that one must choose between capitalism or communism, when in reality most governments are a mix of social welfare and private enterprise, with varying amounts of regulation and public spending (the so-called mixed economy). Being critical of capitalism… Continue reading Capitalism and its dissident discontents

Cold War Now or Hot War Later I don’t believe China is a threat to the US, and I would be willing to put money on the line that China-US relations will not deteriorate over the next decade. For decades pundits have been predicting such a conflict–a clash of civilizations of the ‘east vs. west’–to… Continue reading China not a threat to US

Most of the arguments, on either side of the Covid debate, are petty bad, which is why I have criticized both sides, whether it’s criticizing RamzPaul, who is vehemently anti-quarantine, or Nassism Taleb on the other extreme. People get basic facts wrong, make reasoning errors, or make comments that contradict empirical reality. On the anti-quarantine… Continue reading Countering some wrong Covid arguments

The pandemic and ensuing market crash and joblessness has called into doubt the viability of the FIRE (financial independence, retire early) movement: Self-made millionaire says the concept of retiring early ‘will disappear’ due to the coronavirus pandemic However, such fears are unfounded, and adherents of the FIRE, as whole, have little to worry about, provided… Continue reading Pandemic not a threat to ‘FIRE’ movement

I agree with everything in the video except the false dichotomy Musk presents between spending vs. innovation. As the above Elon Musk clip shows, libertarian-leaning pundits create this false dichotomy that one much choose between social spending or the private sector–and or–that former comes at the cost of the later. But, in reality and practice,… Continue reading Innovation and economic stimulus can coexist