Judging from the more than 2,700 comments already received, a great many Americans are not happy with what’s happened to their dishwashers. “I had no idea that energy regulations were affecting my dishwasher. Now that I know I am absolutely furious” says one. Another writes that “when you have to re wash your dishes because they stink does not save water.” Still another pleads: “For the love of all that is holy, help us make dishwashers work right again.”
No fool he, Arnold Kling ponders libertarianism and the legitimacy crisis. A slice:
A legitimacy crisis is when people stop believing that the governing elite is competent and benevolent.
In theory, a libertarian might welcome a legitimacy crisis. If people lose faith in the government elite, then should that not make them more libertarian?
In practice, we are seeing something closer to the opposite. We are seeing a decline in legitimacy, although it probably does not qualify as a crisis. In any case, the rise of populism helps to promote demagogues, such as Donald Trump and Elizabeth Warren.
Here’s Alex Tabarrok on the newly minted Nobel laureates in economics: Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer. Congratulations to them!
Kai Weiss wisely recalls Lord Acton’s wisdom about nationality.
