J. Bradford DeLong's Blog, page 42

June 13, 2020

Cicero: Those White People in Britain���Too Stupid to Even Make Good Slaves...

Marcus Tullius Cicero (1 Oct. -54): Ad Atticum 4.17.6 : ���Scr. Romae K. Oct. a. 700 (54). Cicero Attico Sal.... Ex fratris litteris incredibilia de Caesaris in me amore cognovi, eaque sunt ipsius Caesaris uberrimis litteris confirmata. Britannici belli exitus exspectatur; constat enim aditus insulae esse muratos mirificis molibus. etiam illud iam cognitum est neque argenti scripulum esse ullum in illa insula neque ullam spem praedae nisi ex mancipiis; ex quibus nullos puto te litteris aut musicis eruditos exspectare���' ('From my brother's letter I gather surprising indications of Caesar's affection for me, and they have been confirmed by a very cordial letter from Caesar himself. The result of the British war is a source of anxiety. For it is ascertained that the approaches to the island are protected by astonishing masses of cliff. Moreover, it is now known that there isn't a pennyweight of silver in that island, nor any hope of booty except from slaves, among whom I don't suppose you can expect any instructed in literature or music...) #noted #2020-06-13

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Published on June 13, 2020 12:48

June 11, 2020

The Problem of George Stigler���Noted

George Stigler (1962): The Problem of the Negro https://www.bradford-delong.com/2019/05/weekend-reading-george-stigler-in-1962-on-the-problem-of-the-negro.html: ���The great disservice of the leaders of Negro opinion was to direct the discontent at the white population.... It was a terrible disservice to identify the white man as the main obstacle to the rise of the negro. It was a disservice because it must lead to hatred, and hatred to violence, and violence to the retardation of the mounting compassion and assistance of the white mean. Could the stream of demonstrations, growing in size and in insolence, approved or at least tolerated by the political, intellectual, and religious leaders of the nation, have any other message for a semi-literate Negro teenager in a slum, than that evil prejudice of the white man was the fundamental cause of his low estate?��� Consider employment. The Negro boy is excluded from many occupations by... prejudice.... But he is excluded from more occupations by his own inferiority as a worker.... Lacking education, lacking a tenacity of purpose, lacking a willingness to work hard, he will not be an object of employers' competition. What leader of Negro thought is fostering the ancient virtues of diligence and honesty and loyalty? It is so much easier to seek quotas.... It is not easy or popular to place the Negro's discontent upon himself. People will insist upon speaking of the previous or present faults of the white community, which numerous and deplorable���and now unimportant.... People will denounce any talk of the Negro's cultural and economic inferiority as racism... https://github.com/braddelong/public-files/blob/master/readings/article-stigler-negro-1962.pdf .#economicsgonewrong moralresponsibility #racism #2020-06-11



George stigler milton friedman Google Search

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Published on June 11, 2020 07:28

June 10, 2020

Kipling: The Gods of the Copybook Headings���Noted

Rudyard Kipling (1919): The Gods of the Copybook Headings http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poems_copybook.htm: ���AS I PASS through my incarnations, in every age and race,

I make my proper prostrations, to the Gods of the Market Place.

Peering through reverent fingers, I watch them flourish and fall,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all...




...We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn.

That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:

But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,

So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind....



With the Hopes that our World is built on, they were utterly out of touch,

They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;

They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;

So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things....



Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew.

And the hearts of the meanest were humbled, and began to believe it was true

That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.



As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man.

There are only four things certain, since Social Progress began.

That the Dog returns to his Vomit, and the Sow returns to her Mire,

And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;



And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins

When all men are paid for existing, and no man must pay for his sins,

As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,

The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!




.#books #noted #kipling #2020-06-10
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Published on June 10, 2020 09:31

June 9, 2020

Arizona Coronavirus Breakout...



This is... not good... #coronavirus #noted #publichealth #2020-06-09

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Published on June 09, 2020 21:06

Henry Farrell: End of Bleeding-Hearts Libertarians���Noted

Henry Farrell: Broken Hearts https://crookedtimber.org/2020/06/09/broken-hearts/: ���US libertarian intellectuals are increasingly divided.... Some are opting for a renewed commitment to democracy (where they are building arguments that are in some ways far more radical, and in other ways less radical than standard liberals)... pushing them towards... political commitments... rang[ing] from... NeverTrump Republicanism through to... Elizabeth Warren. Others are doubling down on the commitment to markets (and, tacitly, or explicitly, the Schumpeterian benefits of continued inequality), and a more opportunistic approach to politics where they are willing to strike tactical policy alliances.... This divide has surely been sharpened by the events of the last few weeks, and is likely to get sharper still over the next several months��� #noted #2020-06-09

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Published on June 09, 2020 08:18

June 8, 2020

Twitter: On Reading, and on Reading About Politics:

https://delong.typepad.com/files/twitter-delong-pseudocia-reading-2020-06-08.pdf



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Published on June 08, 2020 17:52

Peggy Noonan Says Trump's Base Are "Gross & Stupid People"

Occasionally���not often���and largely by accident, Peggy Noon writes something true: Peggy Noonan: On Some Things, Americans Can AgreeJ https://github.com/braddelong/public-files/blob/master/readings/article-noonan-deplorable.pdf: ���[Trump] explicitly patronized his own followers... as if he was saying: I���m going to show you how stupid I know you are. I���ll give you crude and gross imagery and you���ll love it because you���re crude and gross people. And some would love it. But... not most.... His base... his 40%... [he will] keep it.... He is proud of his many billionaire friends and think they love him. They don���t. Their support is utterly transactional. They���re embarrassed by him. When they begin to think he won���t be re-elected they will turn, and it will be bloody and on a dime.... He should give an Oval Office address announcing he���s leaving.... He won���t be outshone by his successor. Network producers will listen to Mike Pence once and say, ���Let���s do ���Shark Week.�������� But you know, America could use a shark week��� #journamalism #noted #2020-06-08

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Published on June 08, 2020 12:36

Duncan Black on James Bennet...

Duncan Black: You Expect Us To Read Our Own Opinion Page? https://www.eschatonblog.com/2020/06/you-expect-us-to-read-our-own-opinion.html: ���"Hi James, do you have anything to say?" "We published Cotton���s argument in part because we���ve committed to Times readers to provide a debate on important questions like this." "James, did you even read it?" "Uh, no." Society can only survive so many generations of elite failsons running everything. They're stupid and lazy and immoral and dishonest and they think they're smarter than you because of where they fucking went to high school (James went to St. Albans, you know)��� #journamalism #noted #tags #2020-06-08

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Published on June 08, 2020 11:48

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