Category Archives: Economics

This is how these things happen

Posted on Wednesday 2 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

NYT’s M. Gessen on how the police state has arrived; A WaPo reporter goes looking for the “corrosive ideology” Trump thinks is in the Smithsonian; The next Project 2025 goal is to restore the ideal heterosexual family, and diminish everyone … Continue reading →

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A Post-Pandemic Malaise?

Posted on Tuesday 1 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Thoughts about whether the pandemic has led to autocracy around the world; How that, and inequality, have left Americans in a sour economic mood; A graphic illustrating how those who want to privatize everything think everything is about making money; … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Human Nature, Politics | Comments Off on A Post-Pandemic Malaise?

Immigration, Economic Growth, and the Limits of the Planet

Posted on Saturday 18 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

NYT has ideas about regulating immigration, given the assumption that America needs more people; Paul Krugman looks at economic growth (and Scott Bessent); But neither of them addresses the impact of continued economic growth, or expansion of the population, on … Continue reading →

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Lakoff on “Privateering,” and the Consequences of Shrinking the Government

Posted on Friday 17 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

More things are fitting together. Conservatives, be careful what you wish for. Chapter 7 of the Lakoff book, THE POLITICAL MIND, which I passed over in my review, is about what he calls “privateering.”

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Human Rights, and Those Who Would Restrict Them

Posted on Wednesday 11 December 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s been 76 years since the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in America, conservatives prevent or keep trying to reverse many of those rights; Example of their latest bugaboo: transgenders; How Trump’s cabinet picks would please Putin, whose … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Economics, progress | Comments Off on Human Rights, and Those Who Would Restrict Them

Economics vs. Intuition and Common Sense

Posted on Saturday 7 December 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

I missed posting yesterday because there was a Locus Foundation meeting (via Zoom) that began at 3pm my time and ran until 5:30pm, right through my blogging hour. At 5:30 it was time to get ready for dinner with my … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Politics | Comments Off on Economics vs. Intuition and Common Sense

The Anticipation of Unintended Consequences

Posted on Friday 22 November 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Many are predicting that the new administration’s plans, especially concerning deportations and tariffs, will backfire and wreck the economy, or at least raise prices in ways they apparently cannot anticipate. But one guesses that the Republicans will not admit it … Continue reading →

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Other Shoes Falling

Posted on Monday 11 November 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

The pundits (and the Democrats) have been warning people about the potential consequences of Trump’s planned policies for months, if not years. Most people see higher grocery prices and don’t care about all those theoretical consequences. Paul Krugman explains why … Continue reading →

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Lessons and Narratives

Posted on Friday 8 November 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Everyone has theories and lessons to be drawn from the election results; Robert Reich rejects several and offers his own; The focus on the current economy is just another example of short-term thinking, at the expense of bigger issues; Disinformation … Continue reading →

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César Hidalgo, WHY INFORMATION GROWS

Posted on Monday 4 November 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies” (Basic Books, 2015, xxi + 232 pp, including 51pp of acknowledgements, notes, and index) A few weeks ago I sat down to read the new Yuval Noah Harari book, NEXUS, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Cosmology, Economics, Evolution | Comments Off on César Hidalgo, WHY INFORMATION GROWS