Topic: Art and Culture

Doomed by Politics

– June 13, 2021

“How we prepare and what we do with the worldly events that face us matter: even catastrophes that stem from pathogens or poor harvests are man-made, a message for which Ferguson’s fidgitive book only narrowly succeeds.” ~ Joakim Book

Art and Culture, Economic Education, Government

What’s the Matter with Cambridge?

– June 11, 2021

“It is not just well-paid academics that exhibit this (presumably) counter-intuitive voting behavior. The top 300 wealthiest zip codes, those with the so-called ‘one-percenters,’ tend to favor Democrats over Republicans both in terms of financial contributions to campaigns, but also in ballots cast.” ~ Anthony Gill

Art and Culture, Government, Taxation

Go East, Young Man.

– June 10, 2021

“What matters now is whether California will do anything at all to make it a more palatable possibility for people who would be inclined to live there. If not, we’ll see continued erosion of the tax base, as it is only people who pay taxes who are inclined to leave, and a smaller congressional contingent with each passing census.” ~ James R. Harrigan

Art and Culture, Classical Liberalism, History

The Ancient Desire for Freedom

– June 8, 2021

“From the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh to the cutting-edge work of today’s scholars, liberty has shown itself to always be unfinished business. Every generation has stories of struggle and wisdom to share on the maintenance of a free and open society, humanity’s greatest innovation.” ~ Ethan Yang

Art and Culture, Authoritarianism, Education

Critical Race Theory Comes for the Legal Academy

– June 4, 2021

“The slow degradation of the American legal academy in this fashion should be especially concerning. That is not only because law students and faculty should already know full well the values of open debate and individual dignity, but because they are quite literally the vanguard of our legal order.” ~ Ethan Yang

Art and Culture, Books, Economic Education

Being Careful With Numbers, Words, and Visions: Review of Thomas Sowell, Discrimination and Disparities

– May 20, 2021

“Discrimination and Disparities is classic Sowell, and people who are already familiar with his work will find a lot of claims he has made elsewhere. However, these will likely be news to people who haven’t already read Intellectuals and Society, Intellectuals and Race, or Affirmative Action Around the World. Discrimination and Disparities is an important contribution with something to say to everyone who wants to understand the debate.” ~ Art Carden

Art and Culture, Economic Education

What Chess Can Teach Us About Economic Justice

– April 27, 2021

“Congrats to all the hard-working chess-producers out there: you deserve every cent you earn – even the ones that governments steal from you. In any counterfactual world, we’d want somebody’s skills and work and knowledge, in which case they would deserve that wealth. It had to be someone, and it happened to be you. Congrats!” ~ Joakim Book

Art and Culture, Economic Education, Environmentalism

The Ignorant World and What to Do About It

– April 25, 2021

“It’s a counterintuitive notion and a difficult thing to wrap one’s head around, that the world can both be better and is still in many respects bad. We do nobody any favors, least of all our children, by exaggerating one while forgetting how far we’ve come.” ~ Joakim Book

Art and Culture

Bill Maher’s Insightful and Funny Covid Monologue

– April 17, 2021

“Bill Maher has been a voice for sanity from the beginning of the lockdowns, raising plenty of questions along the way. His latest material is gold, however. He rightly decries the politicization of medicine and the manner in which the media has been a handmaiden of panic throughout. Let us hope that his monologue, transcript below, is a foreshadowing of what will soon emerge as the conventional wisdom.” ~ AIER

Art and Culture, Free Markets, History

Questioning Baseball’s Antitrust Curveball

– April 15, 2021

“Americans would be far better off if, instead of further eroding Justice Holmes’ ruling, we upheld his ‘originalist’ Commerce Clause logic, and the limit it imposed on federal power to do what it wants, whether it advances our joint interests or not. After all, as recent events have made blindingly obvious, it is not hard to see that much of what is emanating from the beltway fits in the ‘or not’ category.” ~ Gary M. Galles

Art and Culture, Free Markets, Science

Twitter Censors Famed Epidemiologist Martin Kulldorff

– March 29, 2021

“If there ever was a troubling sign of the power and arrogance of big tech, of which I’ve long been a defender, this new action is it. Dr. Kulldorff has been a brave proponent of traditional public health in the midst of an unprecedented and very obviously failed policy of lockdowns. He has been a voice of clarity, reason, calm, and science. That Twitter would choose to use its power over public debate to silence his insights should be of profound concern to everyone concerned about the use of science in the public interest.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Art and Culture, Authoritarianism, Technology

The Lego Movie Isn’t Really about Freedom

– March 11, 2021

“I might be wrong that The Lego Movie portends a future of one generation of planners replacing another. Maybe it is just a fun cartoon after all. Still, the idea of master builders battling each other over what to make out of the pieces is a chilling one. If you watch it again, just remember that we are the pieces and we are not in charge. Then the movie takes on a completely different caste.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker