Monthly Archives: November 2013

Take 2 (more)

Posted on November 15, 2013 by

First Illinois, and now Hawai’i, where the same-sex marriage debate began in earnest about a generation ago. That’s 16 states plus D.C. now, encompassing 98.5 million Americans, about 31% of the population. And in New Mexico, the only state that … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics in General | Tagged | 5 Comments

Obamacare: Why Better Isn’t Better

Posted on November 14, 2013 by

Obamacare supporters who are irritated by people complaining that their current insurance policies have been cancelled respond by pointing out that the people are getting “better” insurance. They’re wrong, because they don’t consider the issues of subjective value, risk tolerance, … Continue reading →

Posted in Economical Musings | 18 Comments

Shit Factory

Posted on November 12, 2013 by

I took my environmental politics class on a field trip to the wastewater treatment plant today in conjunction with learning about the Clean Water Act. When I was in college I spent one summer cutting weeds around the settling ponds … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics in General | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

Matt Zwolinski on Libertarianism

Posted on November 12, 2013 by

Matt Zwolinski makes an eloquent case for libertarianism from a non-Nozickean perspective. I emphatically agree (although I think his section on coercion does not effectively address liberals’ fundamental belief that the state is a different kind of beast, and hence … Continue reading →

Posted in Analyzing Libertarianism | Tagged , , , , , , ,

Chris Christie, Presidential Candidate

Posted on November 11, 2013 by

With a full two+ (we hope) years to go before the Republican presidential primaries, the media is anointing Chris Christie one of the front-runners for the presidential nomination because he . . . won election to an office he’d already … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics in General | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

What I’m Writing and Reading

Posted on November 11, 2013 by

Over at Ordinary Times, I’m proposing an anti-rent-seeking (or as it may be better said, and anti-rent-granting) amendment to the Constitution. The first part, defining and giving examples of rent-seeking and legalized economic privileges has received a good response, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Time to Find a New Doctor

Posted on November 7, 2013 by

I like my doctor. She listens well, doesn’t talk down to me, and is no nonsense. If something isn’t worth doing anything about, she’ll say so. If something needs doing, she does it. But I’m dumping her and looking for … Continue reading →

Posted in It's Just Business | 6 Comments

The Next Step Forward in Driverless Cars

Posted on November 6, 2013 by

Milton Keynes, a British town that is not actually named after warring economists, is implementing a system of driverless “pods” that will replace (or maybe just supplement, it’s not clear) their current bus system. The pods will hold two people, … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics in General | Tagged | 17 Comments

Is Walking Bad for the Environment?

Posted on November 6, 2013 by

Here’s the case. Derek Dunn-Rankin, a professor of engineering at the University of California, Irvine and an avid environmentalist, computes that a 180-pound person walking one mile to and from work at a pace of two miles per hour will … Continue reading →

Posted in Economical Musings | 7 Comments