- Cafe Hayek - https://cafehayek.com -

Some Links

Tweet [1]

Phil Magness explains that Biden, in attempting to redefine “recession,” is stealing a page out of a corrupt playbook used by Nixon [2]. Here’s Phil’s conclusion:

There’s a lesson for the Biden administration in the Nixon episode, although it is different from the lesson they appear to have taken. The White House’s definitional wordsmithing could not overcome the onset of worsening economic realities in 1974, and its frequent appeals to the NBER determination could not run down the clock against a prolonged recession. Faced with similar risks today, Biden’s advisors may well be stumbling their way into a repeat of the 1970s economic malaise.

Pierre Lemieux exposes the inanity (to describe it mildly) of the phrase “people before profits.” [3]

Arnold Kling is pessimistic about the prospects of academic economics [4].

Eric Boehm is correct: The Orwellian-named “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022” will not reduce inflation [5]. A slice:

Meanwhile, other provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act would sit uncomfortably beside Congress’ other major initiatives this year. Just last week, the Senate voted to hand $66 billion in new subsidies to computer chip manufacturers as part of an overall effort to boost domestic manufacturing of high-end electronics. But the corporate tax increases included in the Inflation Reduction Act would fall most heavily [6] on the manufacturing sector, according to the JCT.

As a result, senator voting for both bills would effectively be voting to hike taxes on the very industries they just voted to subsidize. So much for improving American manufacturers’ competitiveness!

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, GMU Scalia Law School professor J.W. Verret offers sound advice to the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding cryptocurrencies [7]. A slice:

The SEC’s position—that most tokens are securities and must register or face enforcement—is obtuse. It’s also an approach that works to the benefit of the scammers and hucksters who have abused the crypto space.

Geoff Shullenberger tweets [8]: (HT Jay Bhattacharya [9])

The parents who are flying the Democratic coop because of school closures/mandates are one of the more interesting and potent organic political forces of our time, which is why the media is currently working overtime to defame them as dupes of “misinformation”/Koch brothers etc.

Scott Morefield decries Politifact’s attempt to rescue Deborah Birx from her misrepresentations about covid vaccines’ ability to prevent transmission [10].

Share [11] Tweet [12] Share [13] Email [14] Print [15]

Comments