Potpourri
* I take on my buddy Brad DeLong at Mises.org. DeLong had tried to use Wicksell to defend Greenspan, and I cracked that Knut. (OK that was awful, sorry.)
* Jeffrey Rogers Hummel says that the U.S. government will default on its debt.
* David Friedman has a very interesting post on responding to climate change. Unfortunately, his numbers were off and it became clear in the comments that he was shooting from the hip (he didn’t even realize there had been a 4th report of the IPCC). Nonetheless, his central point remains: Right now there are successful human societies spanning a large range of average temperature. If the entire globe were to move upward over the course of a century within this range, then adaptation seems rather doable. And his point about our houses etc. already being calibrated to the current temperature distribution is great: Friedman points out that most buildings will be replaced or seriously modified anyway, within the next 100 years, so it’s not that much of a marginal cost to have to install more AC or whatever.
* A young and dynamic pastor here in Nashville has just released a new book on Jesus. I haven’t read it yet but the pastor, Jared Wilson, is a great combination of punk young guy and serious Christian.
* Scott Sumner can’t stop thinking about me.
* Tom Woods gave a really funny talk [.mp3] about his experience in marketing the bestselling Meltdown. This was an especially impressive talk, since the poor guy gave it on Tuesday night at Mises U, following my performance the night before. (I’m still waiting for them to post my talk on LRC’s podcast, because their interface is so much easier than having to download an mp3. As the internet becomes ever cooler, my laziness increases pari passu.)
