We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Seth Klarman, billionaire investor and promoter of risk-averse value investing, is concerned. Seth thinks the U.S. should actually try capitalism. He's right, considering the current status of Detroit, with many other cities and states to follow. Living within your means is a good idea. Competition and the market are more effective tools than policies promoting 'fairness' and picking winners.
I tend to agree with Alan Greenspan, that bubbles can't be predicted. I'd go so far as to say they can't even be defined. You 'know them when you see them'. Didier Sornette would disagree and has some basis for his view. However, Sornette's model isn't necessarily predictive of bubbles, and rather charts obsessive investing behaviors. Not all obsessive behaviors lead to bubbles, though his model is still informative. Regardless of how much you trust Sornette's models (and I do), the question is less one of 'what do you do' and rather 'what don't you do'.
It's worth noting if you do something right, it usually appears that you did nothing at all.
I haven't believed the employment figures the BLS puts out. Not for about 12 years. They've been poked, prodded and altered in so many ways, they barely pass as reliable. But now the former head of the BLS is stepping up and confirming what most of us, including Jack Welch and Donald Trump, have known for some time. The numbers aren't what they seem, the non-recovery isn't adding jobs significantly, and the employment rate is probably closer to the ShadowStats figure.
Keith Hall believes the US economy is a lot sicker than the 7.6 percent unemployment rate would lead you to believe. And he should know. Hall was, from 2008 until last year, the guy in charge of Washington’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the agency that compiles that rate. “Right now [it’s] misleadingly low,” says Hall, who believes a truer reading of those now wanting a job but without one to be more than 10 percent.
"... in late June, Arizona senator John McCain penned a letter to the Justice Department, co-sponsor of the blueprint, along with the Education Departments's Office of Civil Rights. It asked--wholly reasonably--under what authority either the DOJ or the OCR interpreted Title IX as giving them the right to create a "blueprint" to impose campus speech codes. (Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, which the OCR apparently doesn't consider a binding precedent any longer, stated that sexual harassment must be "so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively bars the victim's access to an educational opportunity or benefit.") McCain quoted from a letter critiquing the "blueprint" penned by the AAUP's Committee on Women in the Academic Profession (not exactly a right-wing group) before posing a series of questions of his own.For instance, he wondered to what extent "the broad nature of the new and judicially untested 'unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature' standard [might] increase the risk of a wrongful conviction."
That an influential U.S. senator expressed concern about the OCR's efforts--a rare event, indeed--might have led to more robust public condemnation of the administration's years-long assault on campus due process. Instead, if anything, the reverse has occurred..."
"To champion the nation's founding principles is to commit to a downsizing of government the likes of which can barely be imagined, in today's climate. Who in America is prepared to handle the whole truth and nothing but . . . or commit to so radical a cause? Who on talk radio would dare hint of mounting a righteous crusade of abolition against the welfare principle, as such? Which Tea Party candidate will run for office pledging to slash his constituents' benefits and put the civil servants in his district or state out to pasture?"
Related: Seventy-one percent of Americans think the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be disappointed by the way the United States has turned out, a Gallup survey released Thursday shows.
As you can see, our bridge was washed out during the winter storms. Not entirely washed out, but undermined on the far end. The I-beams no longer reach the far bank. There is a 3-foot gap which the Ford tractor can not jump.
I got a consult from a local contractor who said it was a straightforward repair. He thought we could just jack it back up, add two I-beams to reach the far bank, and put in some cement blocks at low water in August to support the necessary extension. Around a $7000 job that he could do in two days.
But...he felt uncomfortable repairing it without a wetlands permit and an engineering OK. I explained that this bridge had been there for 60 years, and another bridge there for over 100 years before that, and that we had fixed it in the past without permits. He said I needed to consult an engineering firm to do the permitting and to ok his plan.
That has to be wrong, but instead of finding somebody else to consider the job, I did consult with a reputable local engineering firm. They inspected, and came back with an estimate of $27,000 for permitting and design, not including the actual repair. They said the permitting could take as much as two years, starting with the Army Corps of Engineers and ending with the Massachusetts Wetland Authority and the State and local DEP. Many hearings to be attended, apparently, by certified engineers. No guarantee, he said, that we could get a bridge repair permit in the end because the State wants "wild rivers." Mind you, this stream is in no way "navigable" except on barefoot, and is only as "wild" as a stream can be which winds through cow pastures and corn fields.
We do not have that kind of spare money in the farm's budget.
Meanwhile, one mile down the road, the state is widening a 1936 one-lane WPA cement bridge, about 20' long, over the same small river - a trout stream, really. Bulldozers, cement mixers, portapotties, portable office, road grinders, asphalt rollers, trucks, etc. Stimulus money. Modern infrastructure for a town of 600 permanent residents and more dairy cows than people. They have been working on it for four months, and it seems nowhere near done.
One problem is that we are required by our agreement with the local land trust to maintain the upper meadow with an annual mowing. We want to do that anyway. We can't get there now. There is no other way to get across the stream with a tractor because at least one side of the riverbank is always fairly high.
No wonder people get pissed off at government. However, I never consulted any government on this.
It's just a simple, ordinary repair. Property maintenance. I am sorely tempted to ask some illegal Mexicans to just come in with two 6' I-beams, a jack, a welder, and some cinder blocks to fix it. Nobody would notice - or care. No, you can't see it from the road. I'll find someone who wants to help me fix it the old-fashioned Yankee way: patch it and make it last.
One of my problems with economic analyses of society is that they tend view society, naturally, through an economic lens. Although almost everybody could find some good application of more cash, in my experience most people do not make the pursuit of cash their only goal in life, or even their primary goal, beyond providing decent living conditions for one's family. One must assume that people construct the life they want, or do their best to attempt to.
If people want more money, they can find a second job, or start a business. That's the American Way.
One thing large economic inequality can breed, however is envy and resentment. Envy is bred from an ignorant view of wealth as a zero-sum game. It also happens to be a Deadly Sin.
The problem is this: You create your Marxist materialistically-egalitarian utopia or dystopia or whatever, with only your Dear Leaders getting the limos and caviar and palaces, and then a Steve Jobs or Lebron James or Picasso or Steven King or Spielberg or Bob Dylan or Bill Gross appears, and everybody wants to buy their work. What then? Their work is not a commodity because they have a talent and make the effort to produce unique creations that people want to spend money on, and they expect to be compensated for it.
I want all Americans to be wealthy and Americans are, compared to the rest of the world. I am not in the .01%, or even in the 1%. I am in the 5-10% I suspect, and, while I believe I am especially good at the work I produce, it's basically a commodity. We have a comfortable life, but not so cushioned that I could stop working even if I wanted to. Which I do not.
Niall Ferguson: Tocqueville saw a nation of individuals who were defiant of authority. Today? Welcome to Planet Government:
Tocqueville would not recognize America today. Indeed, so completely has associational life collapsed, and so enormously has the state grown, that he would be forced to conclude that, at some point between 1833 and 2013, France must have conquered the United States.
Today, Congress exercises police powers never granted by the Constitution. Conservatives who favor federal “wars” on drugs, gambling and other behaviors should understand the damage they have done to the constitutional underpinnings of limited government.
Several aspects of modern life seem to have been very accurately predicted by both Orwell and Huxley. Orwell’s idea of “New Speak,” for example, the deliberate remoulding and distortion of the English language by Big Brother, has been rightly compared to the politically correct manipulation of language that has become all too familiar in western societies over the past twenty to thirty years. The political purpose of “New Speak” is to control the thinking of the populace – not too different in aim from the new terms and words coined by political correctness. Huxley does not go into the language issue in the same way as Orwell, though we note too that in the Brave New World certain “offensive” words – such as “cross” – have been eliminated from public use. Thus for example Charing Cross Station in London has been renamed “Charing T Station” – after Henry Ford’s Model T automobile.
Sugar in soda pop is no more fattening than any other carb, eg fruit, bread, milk, fruit juices like apple juice and orange juice. Nevertheless, it's not a "public health" issue, it's an individual choice issue. I like that light brown granulated sugar in my coffee.
Three weekends ago, my wife's company ran a volunteer day. They have one every year, and we will sign up to clean beaches, parks, or do a variety of things which benefit the community. I feel if I use the beach or the park, I should help keep it clean.
This year we signed up to help clean a shore town in New Jersey that was afflicted by Sandy. We were assigned to clean streets and lend a hand to any homeowners who requested assistance in removing trash. Others in our group were assigned to paint the Ambulance Hall. We cleaned a 2 square block area, and our team 'captain' was a local man who not only gave us guidance on what we would be doing, but also filled us in on what transpired in the town.
He pointed out that May 1st would be the 6 month anniversary of Sandy, and requests for FEMA funds would have to be in by then. He said most residents had already applied, but the funds were limited. In addition the payment wasn't enough to help those with any substantial damage. His home had filled with water up to the ceiling of the first floor and his foundation had cracked, so he was renting the house next door in order to keep his kids in the school district. FEMA was a drop in the bucket for him. Charities were few and far between in this section of NJ. He was getting by on his pension and couldn't afford to get work done on his home.
He took some of us on a brief walk around town to point out the damage. The water level had reached 4-18 feet in this 1 square mile town. 7 of the 21 bars and restaurants were open. The police were still operating out of a trailer.
Readers know that we do not approve of using mental health terms as ad hominems against those with whom we have honest disagreements on political, or other, topics. I have been guilty of sometimes opining that "big, benign government types" are indulging in infantile fantasies of ideal parents, and I should not do that.
World-views differ, as do views of human nature. It makes life interesting and interestingly-contentious.`
At some point, one needs to grow up. The fact is, the human quest for salvation, whether personal or social, cannot be left to the reckoning of children. Given the perilous condition to which progressivist utopianism is taking our country, its pubescent psychology deserves to be even more carefully scrutinized. The soft-focus, Pollyanna attitude of the left, which has come to be known as the therapeutic perspective on the world, is often accompanied by unmitigated savagery. Even if the assault on culture is not physical but legislative, its effects are almost universally devastating. The historical register shows that the effort to improve the world by revolutionary violence or by comprehensive and indiscriminate cultural revisionism — therapy gone wild — is practically guaranteed to cause far more misery than it attempts to alleviate.
Addressing the tough realities of the real world, and the depressing limits of one's own self, are the best vitamins.
I am sure that the energetic and ridiculously-productive (blog, books, newspaper opinion pieces - plus a day job teaching) Prof. Glenn Reynolds would enjoy having a law named after him.
A reader reminded us of Reynold's Law. Good comments there, too.
On reading the article, one might be left with the impression that California higher ed is afflicted with a crisis-sized epidemic of destructive racism and sexism. I would doubt that. From what I have seen and read, the U of C is mainly afflicted with a crisis of poorly-educated and ignorant kids whose four years of Fun 'n Indoctrination is largely thanks to the abused California taxpayer.
"I had been brought up to believe the Left stood for altruism rather than selfishness, community rather than individualism, self- discipline rather than the law of the jungle and the survival of the fittest.
Instead, society was worshipping at the shrine of the self, and this was causing a rising tide of juvenile distress, crime, emotional disturbance, educational and relationship failure.
The fact that I continued to write along these lines regardless of all the abuse hurled to shut me up seemed to drive the Left nuts.
Yes, they espoused a doctrine of being tolerant and non-judgmental, but not when it came to me. I was branded a ‘moraliser’, which appeared to be a term of abuse.
Most of the time, those hurling insults provided no contrary evidence or even arguments, just blanket denials and gratuitous abuse..."
She imagined she was on the side of the angels until she began thinking for herself. It's a good story, along the lines of David Horowitz' excellent Radical Son and David Gelernter's Drawing Life.If a person's view of the world does not change between age 20 and age 50, they haven't been thinking or challenging their assumptions very much.
Most of us here have changed our views on things many times. It's called growth, accumulation of information, experience, and, one hopes, wisdom.
Do not miss this speech - it is fascinating video: The State of White America. It's 60+ info-packed minutes. Murray is like a statistically-armed de Toqueville for our time. I needed to hear it twice. The guy is delightful to listen to.
It's not really about politics, but he does mention American principles, American Exceptionalism, and what is required for a self-governing citizenry. "Self-governing," of course, has a dual meaning.
A lot of it is about class and "social capital" in America.
One quote from him: "The upper middle class seems to be keeping all the good stuff to itself: religion, marriage, morality, civic and social engagement, industriousness, and long work hours..."
Another: "The federal government can be accused of confusing itself with the rooster who believes that his crowing is what makes the sun rise..."
Another: "Marriage civilizes men." (Yes, the gals do try, don't they? And we guys fight back, pathetically, by not shaving on Saturday morning.)
Another useful phrase: "The people who makes things more difficult for their fellow citizens..."
All very interesting and relevant. I don't care much about class, college degrees, or elitism, but I do care about integrity, responsibility, curiosity, industriousness, and a number of other character traits. And of course I do care about traditional American culture and the work ethic. Like Murray, I do not buy into the European "relaxation" ethic and the aspiration for a stress-free life: humans are not cattle, and cannot have dignity or pride without being productive or constructive in whatever ways they can find. Anybody can make themselves useful if they want to.
...dangerously, schools of education impose “political litmus tests” on those who want to become public teachers. They vet students’ “dispositions,” especially their commitment to the left-wing notion of “social justice.” One of the most prestigious education schools in the country, Columbia University’s Teachers College, tells its students that teaching is a “political act.” Aspiring teachers are expected to be “participants in a larger struggle for social justice” and “to change the system and make schools and societies more equitable.”
Lukianoff points out the problem with such politicized pedagogy: “Vague, subjective, and politicized evaluation standards are dangerous. They invite administrators and faculty members to substitute their own opinions and political beliefs for fair, professional criteria to evaluate students’ demonstrated skills as members of a profession.” Competence, then, takes a backseat to political correctness, a problem rife in K-12 teaching credential programs, where knowledge of subject matter is less important than political ideology.
Government interventions over the past four decades have yielded a cascade of perverse incentives, bureaucratic diktats, and economic pressures that together are forcing doctors to sacrifice their independent professional medical judgment, and their integrity. The consequence is clear: Many doctors from my generation are exiting the field. Others are seeing their private practices threatened with bankruptcy, or are giving up their autonomy for the life of a shift-working hospital employee. Governments and hospital administrators hold all the power, while doctors—and worse still, patients—hold none.
I've been an admirer of Heather MacDonald for years and we have linked her essays many times, but it was not until last week when I read her review of the 2013 new productions at the Metropolitan Opera that I felt motivated to find out who she really is. She is versatile. I admire/envy her brain and her fearlessness.
She is a Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a frequent researcher/reporter/pundit at City Journal and many other places. She lives in NYC. I guess she qualifies as a "public intellectual." I've never heard her speaking on TV, but we don't watch TV here.
Were she a Leftie, she'd be a star at The NYT, the WaPo, TNR, or anywhere.
I hope to have the chance to meet her sometime. If I had the spare $, I'd be a significant donor to the Manhattan Institute and meet some of the folks I admire like Rudy Giuliani, Heather MacDonald, Roger Kimball, John Leo, Kay Hymowitz, et al.
Before you travel with a gun, you must be sure: 1. You have all the proper licenses to possess the gun in the state in which you reside; 2. You have all the proper licenses to possess the gun in the state of your final destination. Plan ahead. Make sure you know the law and comply with it. Not only do you need to know the laws on possessing guns, but you also need to know how guns have to be transported or stored. Some states require certain guns be carried unloaded and cased. Some require trigger locks.
A number of years ago, the NRA was successful in getting federal legislation that gives some protection to interstate travelers. The law is a "defense" to state prosecution. That means you have to bring the federal law to the attention of state officials. It will not prevent you from being arrested. When you go to court, you have the burden of proving you are entitled to the federal law exemption.
The federal law states that if it is lawful for you to have a gun where your trip begins and where it ends, you may transport the gun interstate so long as it is unloaded and locked in the trunk of your car. If you do not have a trunk in your car, the gun must be inaccessible to the driver and/or passengers in the car. This is not a blanket waiver for people who claim they are traveling interstate. It is very specific.
Unless you are legal in both states, proving to a judge what the is in two different states may be more difficult than you think. You also have the problem of proving where your trip began and where you intended to end the journey. Just because you say that you started in Maine and were going to Florida does not mean anyone has to believe you. The burden of proof is on you, not on the police. Some people play fast and loose with this provision. They are taking a big risk. If you get into trouble, your lawyer will argue the fine line of the law. She may be successful. It will be expensive. It will be stressful. It is much better to stay well behind the fine line of the law.
Our True Founding Principle:
We discussed salt last week. Here's 
I've been an admirer of Heather MacDonald for years and we have linked her essays many times, but it was not until last week when I read her review of