Unlike most people in my line of work (and I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit this fact), I cannot bear to watch politicians speak – and I especially cannot tolerate watching any President of the United States deliver the so-called “State of the Union” address. That address is invariably a series of statements that are often downright false and always insulting to the intelligence of people with I.Q.s higher than that of sea slugs. And beyond all that, all State of the Union addresses grate like fingernails on a chalkboard to anyone who has no desire to be a happy cog in the Great Collective as it is portrayed and lauded by our Leaders. Fortunately, my friends at the Cato Institute have stomachs stronger than mine; they watched Mr. Obama’s address last night and corrected the record in the most important cases. (HT Caleb Brown)
And here’s Greg Mankiw’s helpful response to Mr. Obama’s talk. (Unlike Mankiw, though, I’m not in the least surprised by Mr. Obama’s xenophobia-laced trade-policy pronouncements: the President thinks that such will win him votes by energizing his economically uninformed “Progressive” base while also pleasing a good number of conservatives. Case closed.)
Peter Suderman also responds to Mr. Obama’s speech. (I especially like the title of Suderman’s post.)
In my most recent column in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, I continue to press Jim Buchanan’s case that public debt that ‘we owe to ourselves’ is not an insignificant burden on us.
The Independent Institute just announced its line-up of summer 2012 student seminars.
Bryan Caplan spies two blind spots in Charles Murray’s new book.
Here’s Walter Olson on some stupid notions that too many smart people have about job creation.
