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Monthly Archives: November 2013
Take 2 (more)
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
Obamacare: Why Better Isn’t Better
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
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 9/11, Chlorine Gas, Clean Water Act, Terrorism, Waste Treatment Plant
14 Comments
Matt Zwolinski on Libertarianism
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
Chris Christie, Presidential Candidate
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 2016 Presidential Election, Chris Christie, Governor, New Jersey
8 Comments
What I’m Writing and Reading
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 Beka Lamb, Good Soldier Svejk, Herman Melville, Jaroslav Hasek, Moby Dick, Rent-Seeking, Svejk, Zee Edgell
4 Comments
Time to Find a New Doctor
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
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
Is Walking Bad for the Environment?
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
