Homines libenter quod volunt credunt
Posted in Central Planning, Extended Order, Knowledge, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Dec 5th, 2017
I frame the analytic discussions about markets versus socialism as a knowledge problem. The key to the success in any “economic system” is to figure out a way to have valuable knowledge and information produced, transmitted and acted upon – even by actors who do not know that they are part of the solution. The standard discussion […]
Posted in Classical Liberalism, Economics Problems, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Nov 11th, 2017
I’m getting too used to Twitter, so the idea of a full-length blog post is less attractive today than in the past. On the other hand, a solid blog post probably has a lot more influence today than it did at the height of blogging before social media really kicked into gear. I wanted to […]
Posted in ethical foundations, Government Gone Wild, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Nov 8th, 2017
I am definitely not getting invited to dinner parties after asking this question. When people illustrate the absolutely brutal record of socialism and communism as implemented in human history, we get the usual, “well, if only MY GUY was in charge” or if “only REAL and TRUE socialism were tried” then it would have worked, […]
Posted in Environment, Food and Ag, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Nov 3rd, 2017
If the entire world not only turned vegetarian, but also vegan, and ALSO wanted to do so under the seal of “organic” … would it be possible? Ignore for the time being any difference in yields that such practices would imply and ask only the following: where would the fertilizer come from? If we went […]
Posted in You Can't Have it Both Ways on Oct 25th, 2017
Heads nod vigorously when it is argued that Americans (and others) “overconsume.” Assume we even know what that means (for example, do I overconsume time playing my guitar? Do I overconsume time on ice with the kids?), I wonder what exactly would be included in such a claim. Do folks who argue that “markets” tend […]
Posted in Voluntary Society on Oct 22nd, 2017
Before I put together the lengthy version of the post, consider how you would react to someone who told you, “I do not give a single penny to charity.” Now, let’s imagine that this person did not ask it, but this is how they answered the question when posed to them. But it should be […]
Posted in Competition, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Oct 16th, 2017
It seems to me that most anti-market voices actually DO understand and appreciate the “virtues” of competition. My sense is that they only see the force of competition working in some places and not others. Think of the fears that some people have from open immigration. Think of the fears people have with the “deskilling” […]
Posted in Disingenuous, If I Really Hated the Poor ..., Taxation, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Sep 21st, 2017
Were I to run for a serious elected office, among my policy positions would include: (1) Eliminate all favorable employer tax treatments for health insurance. In other words, raise the taxes employees and employers pay on the income they pay their workers. The obvious reason to do this, and even the hated GWB proposed it […]
Posted in Disingenuous, Environment, labor markets, Tribalism, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Sep 20th, 2017
My eyes tend to gravitate toward climate and labor market issues, so I encounter the following two “arguments” all of the time. (1) There are those who present global temperature data in the following way: “if you look at global temperature records, the rate of temperature increase around the planet has either slowed or paused […]
Posted in Environment, Macroeconomics, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Aug 30th, 2017
Many of you are well aware of the Keynesian push for boosting aggregate demand when an economy is slumping. Indeed, we rarely are told when the economy is doing well enough to not need a shot in the arm. That suits many of our political biases. So, I ask this question in all seriousness. Don’t […]
