Saving Banks, Punishing Rewarding Bankers “In Sweden, if you ask a union leader, “Are you afraid of new technology?’ they will answer, “No, I’m afraid of old technology.” The jobs disappear, and then we train people for new jobs. We won’t protect jobs. But we will protect workers.” –Swedish minister for employment and integration, Ylva...Read More
Multi-Billon Dollar “Bug Bounty” “You know what a “bug bounty’ is? Someone says, “If you hack my system, I’ll give you a million dollars.’ So Bitcoin is now a nine-year-old multibillion-dollar bug bounty, and no one’s hacked it. It feels like pretty good proof.” –Chris Dixon, general partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz; “Beyond...Read More
Bret Stephens’ “Four Questions About American Greatness“ OK, so it’s barely Chanukah, let alone Passover (falls early this year, at the end of March). And, the four questions** at the center of the festive meal (“seder”) are supposed to be religious, not secular. But, it’s hard to read Bret Stephens’ piece in last week’s New...Read More
“Recent surveys suggest that . . . maybe 40 percent of Republicans are what you might call conservative white identitarians. White identitarians are conservative, but their white identity is quite important to them, sometimes even more important than their conservatism.” –David Brooks, “How Trump Kills the GOP” (The New York Times; 8/29/17). At his best,...Read More
Rising Rates Deter Home Buying & Selling, Right? Not Necessarily (and, who says they’re rising??) “Now that interest rates have begun to turn up from their historic lows, the housing market may face a problem called “the lock-in” effect, where homeowners are reluctant to move, since moving might entail taking out a new mortgage at...Read More
Publicly Financed, $1 Billion Buildings . . . in Use 4 Hours a Week, Less Than Half the Year Building football stadiums with public dollars is in fact a mug’s game. With eight regular-season games, pro football rarely if ever pays for itself, no matter how many fictional economic impact reports the league’s captive economists...Read More
