May 27, 2020

Greta Thunberg Or Naomi Seibt -- How They Enforce Official Orthodoxy

May 27, 2020/ Francis Menton

Almost certainly, you have heard of Greta Thunberg. Indeed, you undoubtedly know a lot about her.
She is the Swedish teenager who for more than a decade has suffered from various mental illnesses, including depression, Asperger’s syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and even something called “selective mutism.”
Apparently, in between bouts of mental illness, at some point she became interested in the issue of climate change. In late December 2018, at the age of 15, Greta suddenly sprang on the world stage, when she got invited to speak at a UN climate conference in New York. That’s when we first got to see her trademark anger — fury, even — about what she perceived to be the crisis of the climate.
In 2019 she spent the year playing hooky from school and leading climate “strikes” and demonstrations wherever she could get an audience.
On September 23, 2019 she was back at the UN in New York giving a barn-burning speech letting everyone know how deeply furious she is that anyone is enjoying their life. . . .
Then there’s Naomi Seibt. . . .

May 23, 2020

Europe Is Firmly Committed To Economic Suicide

May 23, 2020/ Francis Menton

In various posts over the years, I have argued that the long-term economic prospects for the likes of China and Russia are not very good. Among other reasons, the dictator-for-life governance model leads to inherent instability that undermines incentives for investment and growth. And then there’s the inevitability of state-directed capital allocation leading to massive investment in boondoggle projects that fail spectacularly. . . .
Therefore, Europe should have a huge leg up on these successors to Stalin and Mao. After all, the European countries basically have market economies, although overlain with bloated and unaccountable regulatory bureaucracies. They have a solid base of creative entrepreneurship. Really, how badly could they go wrong?
But the big problem for Europe is that most of their governments are firmly committed to economic suicide. . . .

May 20, 2020

May 20, 2020/ Francis Menton

When a collection of bad guys pulls off a big heist, or a murder, or another important crime, one of the critical problems they face is co-ordinating the cover story.
The cops may arrest one or more of them, and then question each suspect separately. Any cover stories must be completely consistent if they are to succeed. Inconsistencies in the cover story, even slight ones, will prompt focused questioning that could cause the whole house of cards to collapse.
But co-ordinating cover stories is not so easy. . . .
Now, assume you are attempting to pull off the most egregious abuse of government power in American political history. There must be a better way than Manafort’s to co-ordinate cover stories. Which brings me back to yesterday’s post comparing Obamagate to Watergate, and to the section of that post relating to the personal involvement of the President. . . .

May 19, 2020

May 19, 2020/ Francis Menton

The word “Obamagate” has recently become ubiquitous in the news, referring to spying by Obama administration officials on the campaign and then the transition and administration of President Trump.
The use of the “gate” suffix of course hearkens back to the scandal known as Watergate, the affair that drove President Nixon from office in 1974. Like Obamagate, the Watergate scandal was also about spying by those in power on opposition political actors.
Because of the close similarity of subject matter, it is appropriate to compare the facts of the two scandals.

May 16, 2020

May 16, 2020/ Francis Menton

One of the fallacies of progressivism that I frequently mock at this blog is the proposition that the government can operate without having to make meaningful tradeoffs of one goal or value versus another.
This fallacy appears, for example, in the illusion of infinite resources in the hands of the government. As individuals we all know that we face constrained budgets and limits on what we can do. Eat out too much, and you need to postpone getting the new TV or new car. Decide to become a lawyer, and you will need to forego becoming a doctor. Your money and your time only go so far.
But somehow it can appear that the government is so huge and has such vast resources at its command that there are no practical limits, and no need for tradeoffs. And thus we get monstrosities like the Bernie Sanders (and Joe Biden?) program for a federal government that eliminates all downsides of human life by passing out the infinite free money. Or see the latest “Heroes Act” out of the House of Representatives — $3 trillion to take care of everyone’s pain from the coronavirus response; Medicare for All, Free College, and Batteries not included (yet).
Another aspect of the no-tradeoffs-necessary fallacy is the idea that the right thing for political leaders to do in a crisis is to rely on the “experts.” . . .

May 14, 2020

May 14, 2020/ Francis Menton

As noted in my post a few days ago (“Republican Governors Are Kicking The Butts Of Democratic Governors On Covid-19 Response”), a clear dichotomy has opened up between left and right over whether and how quickly the economy should reopen, now that our pandemic is in decline.
Republicans advocate for a quicker reopening, and many Republican governors are well into implementing that. The President has also come down on the side of optimism and early reopening.
On the Democratic side, the response is something like “YOU WILL HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS!!!”
The upper right-hand corner of the front page of the New York Times is a place where in the old days you would look for the most important news of the day. These days the article occupying that spot generally has little to do with real news, but instead informs you of the official Democratic Party talking point of the day.