22 May 2014

Potpourri

Potpourri 28 Comments

==> The President only says false things 27% of the time.

==> Apparently Axl Rose has the widest vocal range of famous musicians. I still think Karen Carpenter has a nicer voice.

==> More Piketty problems.

28 Responses to “Potpourri”

  1. Capt. J Parker says:

    Bummer – Bobby Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers wasn’t on the list. I’d take Unchained Melody over Sweet Child o’ Mine most of the time.

    Summers review of Piketty’s “Le Capital – Deux” is worth reading even if Larry muffs the income vs. wealth thing. He makes up for it with some very good contra Piketty points of his own. IMHO the only dumb (and insulting) thing Summers says is this:

    “Looking to the future, my guess is that the main story connecting capital accumulation and inequality will not be Piketty’s tale of amassing fortunes. It will be the devastating consequences of robots, 3-D printing, artificial intelligence, and the like for those who perform routine tasks.”

    I just don’t get “robot derangement syndrome.” Did Larry miss the day in history class when they covered the cotton gin or the power loom? Summers lack of imagination regarding the economic possibilities of new technology and his low regard for the skills and adaptability of real live people who he labels “those who perform routine tasks” was the articles low point.

    • Matt M -Dude Where's My Freedom- says:

      “I just don’t get “robot derangement syndrome.” Did Larry miss the day in history class when they covered the cotton gin or the power loom?”

      Yeah, I get into this with my friends all the time – they always accuse me committing a logical fallacy. “Just because it’s never happened before doesn’t mean it won’t happen this time!”

      • Capt. J Parker says:

        “Just because it’s never happened before doesn’t mean it won’t happen this time!”

        Matt, I dont engage that argument. I ask my friends what outcome would they like to see; a wealthier society where there might be redistribution issues to deal with or a poorer society where there might be less inequality. The “Robot Alarmists” are clearly arguing for the latter.

  2. guest says:

    Speaking of Piketty, if you use The Dialectizer on Tom Woods’ article, “Thomas Piketty Refuted”, to translate it into “Redneck”, this is what it says:

    Economist Billy Bob Murphy joined me last week t’take apart Thomas Piketty’s celebrated book Capital in th’ Twenty-Fust Century. It isn’t jest Aestrian economists who find fault wif th’ book, it turns out; quite a few economists haf noted thet Piketty makes basic, even embarrassin’ mistakes in treatin’ basic corncepps. ah reckanize it muss soun’ as eff’n ah’s makin’ this hyar up o’ bein’ unreasonable, but lissen fo’ yo’seff.

  3. skylien says:

    According to this site though, also Ron Paul says false things 32% if the time.. Though his sample rate is very small compated to Obama, so it could very well be a quite misleading figure in any direction.

    • laugh says:

      Misleading? 32% seems like an understatement. Ron Paul’s entire campaign was a fraud.

      • Andrew' says:

        Wrong.

        And most of the things Ron Paul is dinged for are “well, it depends on how you measure money supply”

        Whereas Obama says “FISA court is transparent” when it is created expressly to be not transparent. It is a secret, security court.

        This is why it is kind of important that it actually deals with security stuff, and actually provides safeguards.

        And that’s wny Obama’s web of lies about the other NSA stuff are fundamentally different than quibbles with Ron Paul.

        • guest says:

          Does anyone else remember “Doorgate”?

      • Major-Freedom says:

        Because if there is anything to remember about Paul, it would be his lack of sincerity and honesty. Always lying to get ahead…

        /s

      • skylien says:

        laugh,

        Reading comprehension problem? -> “any direction”!

        Did I post my opinion, or did I evaluate the statistics of this site about Ron Paul in a neutral way?

      • Gamble says:

        Hi Laugh,

        Ron Paul is as close to freedom as America has come. Sorry you, Democrats and most Republicans prefer slavery…

    • Harold says:

      Boehner gets 54%, McConnel 44%, Pelosi 38% and Ahmedinejad and the ACLU an unsurprising 100% (but only based on 3 comments). Obama’s looks pretty good for senior politicians – only slightly better than Jeb Bush on 28% (again on a much smaller sample).

      • Harold says:

        Al Gore gets 0% false – wow, is that guy honest or what? Only two items though.

  4. skylien says:

    *compared*

  5. Sam Geoghegan says:

    That’s because Rob Halford wasn’t on the list.

    • Andrew' says:

      The list illustrates that quality of singer and vocal range are not synonymous.

      Someone like Adele (or Karen Carpenter) is mid-pack but she gets a lot more out of her range than people with wider range.

      And then you have prince who goes from growling to falsetto, but is it really of the same quaility as those around him?

      • Andrew' says:

        In fact, hover the pointer and they show examples of the high and low notes.

        So, a good singer (and Halford is a good singer) who serves a song may even have a narrower range because they don’t over do it (cough cough Christina Aguilera cough cough).

  6. Major-Freedom says:

    Wow, I am surprised Axl Rose is being measured as being able to go lower than Barry White.

  7. Keshav Srinivasan says:

    Bob, Chris Giles has just done a critique of Piketty’s data analysis that lots of people are talking about:
    http://blogs.ft.com/money-supply/2014/05/23/data-problems-with-capital-in-the-21st-century/

    Piketty has responded here:
    http://blogs.ft.com/money-supply/2014/05/23/piketty-response-to-ft-data-concerns/

    Both are behind the Financial Times paywall, so I haven’t read either one, but Kevin Drum summarizes it here:
    http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/05/chris-giles-challenges-thomas-pikettys-data-analysis

    • Bob Murphy says:

      Thanks Keshav I just saw this stuff too. I broke down and registered for FT, I can’t believe it came to that…

  8. guest says:

    consultingbyrpm blog tag piketty

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