27 Jun 2013

Potpourri

Potpourri 13 Comments

==> David R. Henderson shines a critical spotlight on Krugman’s recent thoughts on “unproductive finance.”

==> Gerry O’Driscoll discusses inflation on the Larry Elder show. (HT2 the insightful von Pepe)

==> Julian Sanchez of the Cato Institute takes his colleagues to task for their support of the NSA’s eavesdropping.

==> Roger Koppl thinks Congress “should grow a pair” (and stand up to unelected bureaucrats in the national security State apparatus).

==> Alex Tabarrok explains that we are all felons.

==> Why aren’t there more libertarian women? Because they moved to India.

13 Responses to “Potpourri”

  1. joe says:

    The inflation interview started off very badly. Core inflation is higher than headline inflation. So you get a higher rate of inflation if you exclude food and fuel, not lower. Core is 1.7%/year as of May. Headline is 1.4%.

    • Tel says:

      Food and fuel are volatile, which is the common justification for leaving them out. If you try hard you can always pick a short term where core inflation is higher than headline inflation. However, on the whole, over a decade or so, food, fuel, and electricity prices have risen much more than most other consumer goods.

      Recently of course, gas prices came down thanks to fracking.

  2. Yancey Ward says:

    I am sorry, but Koppl doesn’t understand that all Congressional testicles are stored at an NSA facility somewhere out west.

  3. Tel says:

    Why aren’t there more libertarian women? Because they moved to India.

    I dunno, they claim to be against both domestic violence and desertion. So a man in a failed relationship can’t get angry about it, but he can’t leave either. Doesn’t sound very Libertarian, hardly a voluntary win-win situation.

    They are also opposed to children working. On what basis? If economic exchange is good for adults, why is it bad for children?

  4. Collin says:

    This whole discussion about “do we have inflation” is ridiculous. you can always find some stuff that went up and some stuff that went down. If your favourite purchases are on the rise then you notice inflation. If your favoured products have been going down in price you can argue that the inflation is not a problem. This is just an argument about what products certain economists like to buy. It has nothing to do with economics. The monetary monopoly organization has been adding to the supply of currency. Warping the function of prices, with the intention of showering benefits on their buddy’s. So we have inflation, some are happy about it ’cause they believe they are winning in the system.

    • Matt M. (Dude Where's My Freedom) says:

      True. You also have to consider the creditor/debtor situation, too. It seems to me that most “average Americans” are larger debtors than creditors, so (assuming that wages rise in response to inflation) inflation would actually benefit the “average person” in the sense that their debt becomes easier to repay, and they have no considerable savings to speak of.

      Inflation is basically a subsidy, transferring wealth from the savers to the debtors.

  5. Bob Roddis says:

    Glenn Greenwald bothers me in a really deep, genuine way…

    …and I’m always a little shocked that a lot of people don’t see it that way.

    Daniel Kuehn

    http://factsandotherstubbornthings.blogspot.com/2012/04/glenn-greenwald-bothers-me-in-really.html

  6. Major_Freedom says:

    “Julian Sanchez of the Cato Institute takes his colleagues to task for their support of the NSA’s eavesdropping.

    I know very well why I am not at all surprised by that.

  7. Steve says:

    This is sheer brilliance: “Why aren’t there more libertarian women? Because they moved to India.”

    I seriously want to know the answer to this question.

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