I don’t think Billy Joel had today’s example of cognitive dissonance in mind when he wrote his song. Whatever he meant, reality is now in the eye of the beholder, and it’s sliding in the most ironic way possible. Today, New York Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against Amazon, since “Throughout the historic pandemic, […]
Archives
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I’m in a New York state of mind
17 Feb 2021
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Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” Pilate’s question is still the […]
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Markets Matter (Apparently, So Do Minks)
13 Nov 2020
Early on in the lockdown, probably April, I read an article that pointed out the mob related issues created by the pandemic. Essentially, the Italian government is concerned that the mob will take advantage of the distressed businesses. Later on, the mob will come back and ask for favors that the business owner can no […]
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Covid-19 Economics: Case for Subsidies
21 Oct 2020
I have argued for a while that the US should just give $50B to the first company that can get a vaccine approved; even the 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finisher should get multiple billions. While I don’t like government spending generally, this is clearly a case where pinching pennies makes no sense: in the […]
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2+ weeks out, and is the election over?
15 Oct 2020
Since my erstwhile Berean colleague, Mark Caleb Smith, is absent without leave, we are thirsting for sound political commentary. But since I’m writing this post, it’s doubtful you’ll get it here. After all, economists understand tradeoffs and opportunity costs, but politics? Not so much. Nevertheless, I’ll share my current observations and see if any of […]
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Rejoice with our next President!
02 Oct 2020
First off, prayers to Donald and Melania Trump and their team that have tested positive for Covid-19. They will have the best of care, and I’m hopeful for a quick and complete recovery for all. You can sense the big Mo has definitely shifted towards Mr. Biden in the last few weeks. The NYT accomplished […]
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“It’s what you know that ain’t so.” Much misinformation was to be expected at the beginning of the pandemic, because we simply did not know. But now there is quite a bit of data available that ought to be informing our public response. Yet we have systematically wrong understanding of the problem, in large part […]
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“Churches Were Eager to Reopen. Now They Are a Major Source of Coronavirus Cases.” So says the headline of this NYT article. Now I think churches are a risky place for transmission of the virus,* especially through singing. So I’m interested in this argument. Major sounds like churches are a big part of the problem […]
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In continuing the discussion of the false dichotomy, I still see the inevitable question from media types (both regular and social) asking basically why doesn’t Mr. Trump edict to the red state yahoos that are not taking this seriously. After all, science must be the arbiter of this decision. I think its important to remind […]
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Is anybody else frustrated at the false dichotomy that is continually talked about of whether we reopen again and when? When the reality is that we must reopen and the question is how? Even in a shut down, which does have remarkably lower economic activity, we still eat, we still consume resources, and those resources […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach