Russell Roberts's Blog, page 1530

Knowledge and Power

In the latest EconTalk, Arnold Kling makes the case that political power is growing more concentrated even as knowledge is getting more dispersed. He argues that this is an unhealthy trend and suggests some ways to make things better. Arnold, as always, has many interest insights.

Temper, Temper….

Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson says that Americans are now throwing a "temper tantrum."  The ungrateful imps are impatient: "They want somebody to make it all better.  Now."

Memo to Mr. Robinson: the popular uprising against Pres. Obama and his "Progressive" comrades has little to do with childish impatience.

Tea Partiers aren't upset because Obamacare hasn't worked its miracles yet; they're upset because they believe that Obamacare will create inordinately burdensome costs and...

Lose the "We"

Here's a letter to the Washington Post:

Bruce Katz and Jonathan Rothwell usefully expose dangerous myths about U.S. exports ("Five myths about U.S. exports," Sept. 5).  But these authors themselves swallow a larger myth about exports – namely, the claim that we Americans "should increase our exports" because "Our relatively low export levels represent a lost economic opportunity."

Suppose that in 2010 a firm in Buffalo produces $1 million worth of baseballs for sale to consumers in Toledo.  If...

Castrotopia

Here's a letter to the Boston Globe:

Blithely asserting that "Cuba's government operates successfully on a different set of principles than those of the United States," Klaus Kleinschmidt offers that "One could suspect that the US government fears that ordinary people traveling there might find themselves comparing the two societies and wondering who's better off" (Letters, Sept. 3).

Persons tempted to take seriously Mr. Kleinschmidt's suggestion that life in the U.S. is worse than life in...

Not Heaven Cent

Here's a letter to the Washington Post:

Arguing that "In God We Trust" should be displayed more prominently on the dollar coin, Michael Bridges says "The motto is something we should be proud of" (Letters, Sept. 2).  Perhaps.  But the history of that motto raises serious questions about just what sovereign Americans are being encouraged to trust: God or government?

As Benn Steil and Manuel Hinds point out on page 70 of  their remarkable book Money, Markets & Sovereignty, "to create a mystique...

Why Hoover is considered a do-nothing

In this excerpt from my interview with historian David Kennedy, I asked him to discuss the standard view that Hoover's ideology tied his hands and kept him from attacking the Great Depression while Roosevelt was an economic wizard. In his answer, Kennedy discusses how activist Hoover was, though ineffective.

Here, I ask Kennedy why Hoover has the reputation as a do-nothing guy, despite his attempts at intervention. Kennedy's answer is revealing.

If I Were A Shill for Industry….

Today's breathless discussion about wealthy people supporting free-market and classical-liberal causes reminds me that, if I've sold my soul or my intellect, I've yet to be paid.

I'm not alone in this matter.

Progress

In 1979, Sony introduced the Walkman, the first portable music player. It weighed 14 ounces and cost $200. It could play a cassette that could hold about 90 minutes of music. It was a little bigger than a cassette. It was pretty ugly.

A new nano from Apple was announced yesterday. It weighs less than an ounce. The 8GB model is $149. It holds about 60 hours of music. It is smaller than a matchbook. It is very beautiful.

So it is cheaper (even without accounting for inflation), weighs 1/15th as m...

Gladstone Was No Neocon

This essay by Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi reminds (my vanity speaking, I realize) of what I believe is the very first blog post that I ever wrote.

The sublime and the mundane

Here are two videos (one long–45 minutes, one vey short–under two minutes) that make me feel glad to be alive and inspire me. The first is the incredible documentary on the quest of Andrew Wiles to solve Fermat's Last Theorem (HT: Alex Tabarrok). I watched it last night (third time) with two of my sons, 10 and 12 who understand virtually none of the math in the video. (Of course that goes for me, too). But the beauty of the video is that you don't need to understand the math to find it...