08
Sep
2018
Potpourri
==> Can’t remember if I already blogged this: The latest Contra Krugman picks apart Krugman’s mocking of Cato’s ranking of the states by “freedom.”
==> In the latest Lara-Murphy Show, we answer a Twitter question: Why is IBC better than just “paying cash” for big ticket items?
==> Rob Bradley has a new book on Enron.
==> Especially if you are a financial professional, you might check out some of these videos of Carlos Lara talks from the IBC Think Tank. (We recently made them publicly available.)
==> Nick Rowe is so cool, The Economist writes an article about his dream.
==> Not sure if I’ve mentioned this publicly: When I was younger, I told my (younger) brother that I would walk on the moon before I died. He thought I was nuts. Am I?
Space elevator is a great idea, but “If the experiment proves successful, it will serve as a step forward toward realizing cosmic elevators.”
Since the experiment is a 10m travel and the finished article will be 36,000 km, it is only a baby step for both cube and mankind.
The theory is fine- A. C Clarke famously wrote about it ages ago, moving Sri Lanka to the equator for convenience. The practical difficulties are immense. A cable strong enough to stretch 36,000 km into the sky and light enough to bear its own weight is a tall order. The system works by a platform in geostationary orbit with a counter weight beyond to provide tension in the cable. We do now have materials that have the right strength properties over short lengths, but produce-ig perfect fibres long enough is a challenge..
I think you are more likely to walk on the moon via rockets than the elevator, but I hope I am wrong.
That Enron book sounded very interesting to me… until I checked the price tag.
$95 for the Kindle edition? Yeesh! Come on, Bob – we aren’t all making freelance economist money…
Love your blog and podcast!
Any chance your thoughts on the new UC Berkeley minimum wage study, “The New Wave of Local Minimum Wage Policies: Evidence from Six Cities,” is coming soon?
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace/bernanke-geithner-and-paulson-encore
This is an interesting interview, tells you how deep the Keynesian mindset is still anchored in Washington. It’s pretty weird to hear these guys when you think about it from an Austrian perspective, but I guess the only game left in town now is “double guess the Fed” so this interview gives a bit of a window into the past.
Remember, this was the biggest stimulus and also slowest economic recovery in recent history, and these guys apparently believe it was because they didn’t interfere enough.