In political science* and economics, one of the earlier axioms that our current moment says no longer applies is that of the median voter theorem. Roughly speaking, in a two-party system, the candidate that gets closest to the true middle views of the electorate will get all the votes to the right or left of […]
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Have you ever noticed how every consumer group and politician always claims to be acting on behalf of the consumer? And yet every action either reduces consumer choice or leads to higher prices (and usually both)? As just one recent example, there is a big push amongst progressives to ban gas stoves in homes for […]
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Vivek Ramaswamy: Let Russia Eat Ukraine!
30 Aug 2023
In the recent Republican presidential debate, Vivek Ramaswamy boldly articulated several positions that I agree with, such as the nuclear family being the best governing unit in society. I believe he was also correct in asserting that we are in a kind of cultural cold war in America; I think Mike Pence’s response was off […]
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Debt Deal Done
02 Jun 2023
Watching the debt deal play out was not particularly good theater, as each step on the way was perfectly predictable. There was almost never a chance of actual default, and with divided government we were always going to end up with some lukewarm agreement that satisfied almost nobody. But that is the democratic process. Nevertheless, […]
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Federal Reserve credibility cratering. And where, oh where, are they taking the economy and your bank?
10 May 2023
Gallup polling this week showed that the credibility of the Federal Reserve is down to 36% (those that have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence)–the lowest level since Gallup begin tracking. To be sure, as Gallop notes, this tends to track overall economic performance. And most people are particularly pessimistic about the economy, […]
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ChiCom’s show who is the ultimate boss of TikTok
04 May 2023
One of my favorite external groups is the Acton Institute, which explores the intersection of faith and free markets. The faith part is broadly ecumenical, and intentionally international, so it has an interesting set of fellow travelers. I like (and occasionally publish) in their Journal of Markets and Morality. Each summer they host Acton University, […]
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Bragg Storms the Trump Tower
03 Apr 2023
Well, the Democratic District Attorney of Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, has convinced a majority of the grand jury pool he convened to bring an indictment of Donald Trump. Tomorrow Mr. Trump will be arraigned, with a spectacle that will take us to a new low in politics. You don’t need BATG to do analysis on this; […]
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What is the Conservative Approach to Ukraine?
22 Mar 2023
Last night the Russians bombed a dormitory, killing seven people in Ukraine. The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for Mr. Putin as a war criminal; thousands of civilians have been killed and wounded, Ukrainian children have been abducted into Russia, hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides, and there are over eight […]
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As we learn more and more about Silicon Valley Bank, the basic problems are not really in doubt, but political posturing makes understanding really difficult. Henry Hazlitt has a nice quote in the 1st paragraph of his Economics in One Lesson that is apropos. Obviously the interest group of the affected bankers and depositors quickly […]
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F.A. Hayek’s famous quote is: The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. While Hayek’s quote is most appropriately placed against government central economic planning of socialism, it applies against any government action that tries to manage the economy by going […]