Category: Capitalism v Socialism
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Will Of The Voter
George Will has deserved plenty of flak over the past 40 years or so. And he’s caught some for this interview here. And I think the flakkers got it wrong: I think what he’s saying here is “let New York voters FA, so the whole nation can FO”. I mean, it’s going to happen anyway.
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The DFL At Work
The wages of DFL control are languishing as a backwater. Count the zeros: that’s 90 billion in Pennsylvania…: And 33 million in Minnesota: Other than the number of zeros, the big difference is that the big, Pennsylvania number comes from private investors. Ripe marks…er, taxpayers covered it in Minnesota. So yeah – while I’m…
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There Must Be A Surge Of Socialists Running For Office
Their supporters – real and automated – are rutting: We can test whether that’s true or not. Experiment: Put a group of cute girls in tank tops with order pads in the middle of an open field. If a “Hooters” magically springs up, you got yourself a theory.
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Groceries
Joe Doakes, formerly of Como Park, emails: Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office recently hosted an all-day continuing legal education program titled, “Price, Access, and Power: Exploring Grocery Costs, Food Access, and Competition.” Several speakers advocated for breaking up grocery retailers and establishing government grocery stores in areas that don’t have them, such as high crime…
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Battlespace Preparation IV
Joe Doakes formerly of Como Park emails: One of the upshots of Americans (induced) economic illiteracy is that if they’ve gotten any education in economics at all, it’s been in Keynesianism. As such, they think the natural, effective response to an economic downturn is to pour taxpayer money into the situation. Which merely stretches out…
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Hear Me Out
On the one hand, it’s amusing to see that suddenly “cultural appropriation” – in this case, a bunch of rhythmically-challenged Argentine leftist “Karens” But I think this is a good thing. Hear me out. Until the mid 1940s, Argentina was a wealthy first-world country, with a per capita GDP competitive with the US. Then, the…
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I Was Told There Would Be Pouncing
While this is good – and expected – news, I feel a little cheated. Companies are ditching DEI because it’s bad for the bottom line; they can practice equality without flogging “equity”. But notice how it’s framed: “under pressure from conservative activists”. I mean, if you’re going to “blame” companies’ rediscovering economic and social sanity…
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When A Plan Comes Together
So, the housing permit numbers for the Twin Cities are in. And if putting people in houses is your goal, they are…uh, not good: Saint Paul: And Minneapolis: Was it rent control? Bidenomics? Why choose?
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A Cold California
Bill Glahn at the Center of the American Experiment tracked energy usage in MInnesota for one hot ugly day, this past Monday: “Renewables” provide 8% of the energy. Somehow, though, they’ll be ready to take the entire load (and all those mandated EVs) by 2040? Reminds me of this classic discourse on solving difficult problems:…
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“Moderate”
Tim Walz loves him some Chinese Communism. Well, at the very least he loved it, back when he was teaching kids “social studies”: There appears to be precious little evidence that he changed anything but his surface decorations (during 12 years as a “moderate” while campaigning in the rural 1st CD).
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You Asked For Another Reason To Bash Hollywood…
…and Hollywood obliges. They’re apparently using North Korean animators.
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“Speaking To A Rally With 30,000 People About Hayek”
I always liked the idea of Argentina’s libertarian-conservative President, Javier Milei. But after seeing this interview, I am actively wondering a bunch of things: Does the US need to bottom out, as Argentina’s been doing for most of my life – before being ready to, as he says, “put on our long pants?” and embrace…
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Feeling So 1938
History doesn’t repeat – but it rhymes. The world’s major powers are rattling their sabers as they spar in secondary theaters. The economies are in the hands of people who love to tinker with the levers and buttons of the Big State. And young intellectually over-stimulated but underendowed bobbleheads are romping and playing: Everything old…
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Poorer Minnesota
Minnesota used to significantly outperform the rest of the US in germs of gross and per capita GDP growth. Today? [Since] 2019 — the last pre-COVID year — Minnesota’s real GDP growth has ranked 36th out of the fifty states, coming in at 4.0%, less than half the national rate of 8.1%. The gross GDP…
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Reality Always Wins
You may not win along with it, but that’s your fault for denying reality. Speaking of denying reality: we warned MInneapolis about the inevitable end results of rent control, high taxes and onerous regulations (aka “everything the Met Council does re housing and transit policy”). And yet every $%#$%$@# time their chickens come home to…
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Theory
A significant chunk of the far-left clacque that runs politics in the metro are Marxists, either overtly or under the hood. And an amazing number of them subscribe to the “Labor Theory of Value” – the idea that labor, as opposed to the other three factors (Capitol, Management and Land) is the dispositive factor of…
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A Cold Detroit
Hennepin County’s population – which is mostly Minneapolis – is down. And while that is not the only factor depressing home values for the first time since the 2008 recession. This is affecting the funding of (what we will still refer to as) public services in Minnesota’s largest county and city. In fact, the demographics…
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Where’s The Money?
The Minneapolis City Council’s vote on minimum wages for independent contractor drivers has driven Lyft out of Minneapolis, and Uber out of both cities. A friend of the blog emails with an initial reaction very close to my own: The Minneapolis City Council doesn’t actually understand a lot. They want affordable options, but they want…
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Bygone
A friend of the blog emails: [This advertiser] had it right. Oh, I completely agree. It was still morning in America.Notice, of course, thst it was 34 years ago. Reagan had barely left office. The Berlin Wall had yet to fall, but it was teetering. But this is a good time to remind d you…
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A Hell “We” Can Make Happen
I came across this tweet last week. At first blush, I thought it was parody, and not especially good. I moved from there to Assumption B – a chuckleheaded sophomore political science major from Austin, or Seattle, or maybe the University of Saint Thomas. It can be hard to tell parody from reality with them,…
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I’m Curious
Is there someone out there, anywhere, who read this: …and thought “Hmmm – government is clearly not working for my family, and the “Inflation Reduction Act is clearly a turd that will raise prices… …but he ended it with the word “Period”. Hmmm. He must be onto something”?
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Think “Walz Checks”, Only Gassy
Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: Modern Monetary Theory says the government can borrow and spend as much as it likes without consequences. If we can afford a gas tax holiday, why not an income tax holiday, a social security tax holiday, a liquor tax holiday? Or is MMT a lie and the gas tax…
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Resetting The Reset
Green, “sustainable” energy policies that make middle class live unsustainable. Transitioning from houses to apartments, from cars to mass transit. Moving from meat to vegetables, with maybe some insect thrown in as a treat. Hyperinflation, which serves mainly to make common savings and investment worthless, but does wonders for the wealth of the plutocrats, “futurists”…
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Sometimes Paranoia Is Just Perfect Awareness
I’m not sure that the Biden administration, like the Obama administration before it, is undertaking multigenerational effort to destroy this nations “red” heartland. But if they were, I wonder what they would be doing differently?
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Decisions
A friend of the blog emails: Neil Young’s Unknown Legend, one of my all time favorite songs, came up on my playlist. It’s been, geez, two or three weeks now. I’m not sure if I’m not supposed to listen to Neil or not. (Name Redacted) One of the greatest aphorisms about music Dash art, really…