Piotr’s Amazing Impressions
My brother made me aware of this guy. Some of these are amazing, especially his Adam West (starting around 3:58):
“Yes, Give In to Your Annoyance, and Your Conversion to the DeLong Side Will Be Complete”
OK kids, I just zapped a total troll comment left on a recent post that had absolutely nothing to do with the post, and involved merely a familiar jab at another economist on a position that I have never endorsed. Am I going down the slippery slope of total fascism in the comment moderation? Let’s hope not.
But in general, I am going to be more active in policing the discussion threads. Nobody wants to see a certain three of you discuss economic calculation and flex pricing again, particularly in a post about kittens karaoking. Etc.
Truth Is Stranger Than Bryan Caplan’s Fiction
From my new post at Mises Canada:
Caplan then goes on in his post to lament the odd fact that people do not respond to this potential of trillions of dollars in global wealth (via labor mobility) the way Caplan claims they would respond to the discovery of trillions of dollars of Leonium buried under the Empire State Building.
Whether one agrees with Caplan’s position on immigration or not, there’s a major problem with his argument: People in the U.S. (and Canada) currently are sitting on trillions of dollars of wealth buried under the ground, which their governments won’t let them access. It’s not a mythical substance called Leonium, but very real substances called oil and natural gas.
In case it’s not clear, this isn’t a hit piece on Bryan. Rather, I’m pointing out that “people” (really government policies) are as wealth-destroying when it comes to other assets too. It’s not just about immigration policy.
The Policeman Is Your…
This is making the rounds. Just watch the first full 1:05. You can see that yes, sometimes the police must use violence in order to maintain Law & Order, but that it bitterly grieves them to do so.
MK Lords and Tatiana Moroz Talk Music, the Fed, and Bitcoin
Meghan and Tatiana were two of the stars of Porcfest 2013. In this interview they cover a range of topics. Tatiana explains that she used to be liberal until she learned economics from a certain Republican politician–and it wasn’t Newt Gingrich.
Not that you asked, but this is my favorite of Tatiana’s original songs:
This Lady Could Be an Econ Blogger
I just had this conversation with a customer service rep from a garbage removal company:
RPM: Hi, I just moved out of my house, and you guys had been picking up from my house, so I want to make sure you know there’s a new owner there.
LADY: Well did you call us to switch the service over?
RPM: No, I just moved. I’m calling you now to make sure it got switched.
LADY: Well no, only you could do that, the new owner can’t. If you didn’t call it wouldn’t have been switched. What’s the address?
RPM: [Tells address and name.]
LADY: Okay…yeah…I’m looking at this, it looks like the new owner called and switched service. You’re all set.
RPM: OK thanks.
Not even a flicker of self-doubt on her part.
Unit Humor
I just tweeted this:
Guy walks into a bar in Minnesota: “Damn it’s minus 40 degrees out there!” The bartender says “Celsius or Fahrenheit?” Guy answers, “Both.”
Follow me @BobMurphyEcon…and let your life begin.
Pile-On On Krugman
Alex Tabarrok has delivered the most crushing blows regarding Krugman’s major flip-flop on whether 2013 has any relevance for the Keynesian commentary, by bringing in Krugman’s commentary from April 2013 on why austerity in the US is just a tad less than in Europe. (This totally Kontradicts Krugman’s recent excuse that US austerity wasn’t anywhere near as bad as in Europe, and hence the decent growth of 2013 has no bearing on the effectiveness of fiscal policy.) If I had to pick just a single post to summarize one of the most open-and-shut Krugman Kontradictions of all time, it would be Alex’s.
However, for those who are true econ geeks, don’t miss David Beckworth’s contribution. He uses Krugman’s own recommended metric of austerity to show that in 2013, the US had more than double the Eurozone’s.
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