The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. – F.A. Hayek
Posted in Corporatism, Environment, You Can't Have it Both Ways on May 24th, 2013
Did I say fracking? Sorry, I must be imbibing in too much of Wintercow’s Milk-Pail Ale. I meant … GREEK YOGURT. So let’s get this straight, tens of millions of gallons of acid whey being dumped (yes dumped) into the environment, without regulations, and allowed to do so before “careful study” of the impacts on [...]
Posted in Central Planning, Economic Illiteracy, Environment, Unintended Consequences, You Can't Have it Both Ways on May 23rd, 2013
A site I enjoy reading is John Hanger’s. Like many others, Mr. Hanger claims to be non-ideological, but no one really can adhere to that standard. I can’t. But I don’t pretend to and I do try my best to be honest about when I AM being that way and when I am trying NOT [...]
Posted in Central Planning, Education, You Can't Have it Both Ways on May 14th, 2013
I am a Lord Jeff of course: Yet Burgard is not alone in his concerns. Last month, when Amherst College turned down an invitation to join edX, it was by a faculty vote of more than sixty per cent. A lot of teachers, some of whom had been browsing Harvard moocs, worried that they threatened to [...]
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Government Gone Wild, Government Thuggery, Price System, You Can't Have it Both Ways on May 14th, 2013
We hate hospitals and medical care because “they” charge prices that are too high, especially for “important stuff.” We hate Walmart because “they” charge too little. And no, people do not have theories of positive and negative external costs to justify holding both positions. In other news, I just received a notice from New York [...]
Posted in Environment, You Can't Have it Both Ways on May 6th, 2013
I spend a decent amount of time reading Ezra Klein’s site, and I recommend it to all of you. But I’d be pleased if we were all just a little bit more honest about what we are doing here. Here is today’s post by their Environmental writer about Colony Collapse Disorder: It’s an interesting study [...]
Posted in Environment, Ultimate Resource, You Can't Have it Both Ways on May 2nd, 2013
Please allow me to get this straight. The average daily tidal height around New York City is about 6 feet per day. Around the world this tidal range is as little as a few inches, to a couple feet in the middle of the ocean and as high as 30+ feet in the Bay of [...]
Posted in Environment, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Apr 20th, 2013
Readers are probably aware of my affinity for Ithaca. I went to grad school there, met my wife there and very much love the land and water there. Heck, even some of the people there still like me too. But you may also know that Ithaca is home to perhaps the most anti-fracking sentiment on [...]
Posted in Classical Liberalism, Methodology, Welfare State, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Apr 16th, 2013
As I grow crankier, I am seeing myself disagreeing more with the thoughtful left. I am somewhat surprised by this as I had always assumed the opposite would happen. For today’s edition let me excerpt from a lefty website that I quite enjoy reading despite its regular ad-hominem bashing and mischaracterization of views different than [...]
Posted in Health Care, Politics, Taxation, Welfare State, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Apr 12th, 2013
The town and county portion of my property tax receipt came in the mail today. (This comprises about 1/3 of my total property tax bill – the government schools take the other 2/3). I found their new itemization of uses of tax funds to be interesting. Years ago I noticed that in my TOWN offices, [...]
Posted in ethical foundations, Government Gone Wild, Government Thuggery, Health Care, incentives, Price Controls, Socialism, Taxation, Unintended Consequences, Voluntary Society, Welfare State, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Apr 11th, 2013
I usually hate infographics and here is another one just littered with reasons to go crazy. But focus only on the very bottom: The changes Brill suggests would allow the US to provide better care at lower costs without substituting the kind of government-provider system typical in comparison countries. Holy smokes. This is the previous [...]
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