Mike Munger ponders the manner in which the flaws of the human mind often lead us into error. A slice:
It’s easy to slide back though. And maybe it’s just my imagination, but we seem to be sliding backward pretty fast. After Hurricane Katrina, a few religious leaders went all “wrath of God” on us, claiming that New Orleans was a modern Gomorrah. After Hurricane Harvey this summer, and again after Hurricane Maria, we were told that Houston, and Puerto Rico, must have done something to deserve this terrible punishment.
Sometimes the “sin” is promoting “the homosexual agenda,” of course. Folks on the left tend to think that this kind of religious view is ridiculous, but they are happy to trot out their own “you deserved it!” line of pattern recognition. For the Left, the sin is often the use of fossil fuels. In fact, after Harvey happened to stop in place for 48 hours, immobilized by an utterly random high pressure area to the north, several clear “causes” emerged. One was global warming. Another (I love this one) was “lack of zoning.” Houston, thou has sinned in the eyes of the planners of urban sacredness, and thou willst now suffer the consequences!
Here’s the audio of my 18-minute-long radio interview yesterday with Ross Kaminsky.
Barry Brownstein understandably fears the tyranny of administrative power.
Brittany Hunter is correct: there is no such thing as a neutral intervention.
George Will asks if automakers dream of electric cars.
How much influence does a change in the dollar’s exchange rate against other currencies have on the U.S. balance of trade? Not much (at least as judged by this 22-year sample).
As usual, I agree with Arnold Kling.
The latest issue of Econ Journal Watch is a real gem.
