Tag Archives

Archive of posts published in the tag: The Wall Street Journal

The Middle Class Finally Wins

The data counters the false refrain of the Trump cuts only benefiting the rich.  While I have repeated this refrain for years, the actual tax rates matter more than the statutory rates. The difference is the Special Interest Spread- SIS- a term I coined in this article: Save the Swamp.

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Abandonment of Common Sense

Half of Trump supporters like his anti-elite, control the narrative, fearless and aggressive posture.  Half of his supporters have great problems with his style, lack of diplomacy, thoughtless tweets, and divisive rhetoric; but fear the radical ideas that are pouring from the barrel of Democratic candidates like liberal tourettes.

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Der Sturmer Times

If it had appeared in Breitbart or a similar political tilt, the airwaves would be jammed with condemnations and no apology would suffice. Its proximity in time to the recent shooting at the Chabad in Poway near San Diego would have made it unforgivable.  That is how the New York Times treated far less offensive remarks from Republicans;  Sarah Palin’s use of the word ‘cross hairs’ in a political speech was enough to blame her for the Gabby Giffords shooting.

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Handcuffing the Invisible Hand

Advocates of single payer and free benefits prove to be ignorant of the price system, profit, productivity and how they function.  While they claim to allocate resources better than the ‘greed’ of the market (a claim easy to totally refute), they are clueless on how the wealth is generated in the first place.

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How Human Rights Became a Veil of Anti-Semitism

“Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has pointed out that Jew-hatred is usually justified by appeals to a culture’s highest authority. During the Middle Ages, that was religion—so the Jews were charged with killing Jesus. During the Enlightenment it was science, so Jews were deemed an inferior race. Today’s highest source of authority is human rights—so Israel is portrayed as the worst violator.”

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The Problem with Capitalism

The danger of excess regulation or central planning is not frustrating the natural organic order, but undermining the institutions that control our baser instincts.

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Killing Art

“Political correctness is the enemy of art. Self-censorship is a killer of art. Censorship applied from outside, through organized pressure, is an assassination of art.”

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Corporatism is not Capitalism

Keynes suggested the use of government to make more efficient allocations of capital but was often critical of the incompetence of government officials.  He seems to unknowingly refute himself.  The weak accountability in government action is what distinguishes it from market solutions.  The worst solution is the pairing of select firms to partner with government actors.  When the results fail capitalism is faulted, bur corporatism is not capitalism.

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The Cost of Virtue Signaling

How much would you bet on the price of oil in 30 years?  Or the price of corn or computer chips?  Yet we are willing to make an enormously costly bet on the climate, which is subject to far more uncontrollable and unknowable elements?  Why? Because we are playing with other people’s money.  The cost of virtue signaling is zero.

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Why Was It Even Close?

His combative tone is welcomed by his supporters and hated by the opposition.  He is solidifying his base and turning his reluctant supporters into committed supporters, but Trump is less effective at getting new supporters.  

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Liberty vs Identity

“The left sees people primarily as members of groups defined by race, class, sex and sexual orientation. They are therefore confident that demographics are destiny.”

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Social Justice vs Truth

“In a reversal of traditional liberal values, the left now prioritizes social justice over free speech, respect for facts, and the marketplace of ideas. “

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Demonic

“Democratic leaders should stand up to the screamers. They haven’t, because they’re afraid of them. But things like this spread and deepen.”

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Emulating Robespierre

“There is much to fault in the Trump presidency, but the totalitarian tendencies appear to flow from our own party. Its present presidential aspirants appear to be emulating Robespierre in their over-the-top denunciations of Mr. Trump and all others they deem unworthy.”

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Passions Jeopardize Fairness

“We must always remember that it is when passions are most inflamed that fairness is most in jeopardy.”

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Kavanaugh Postscript

Both sides think the results will improve their turnout. Women who have experienced abuse are sympathetic to Ford’s testimony, but I believe that the Kavanaugh victory is moving more votes left to right than the other way. The mob is a greater threat than an imperfect judicial process to most voters.

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The Complex and the Difficult

College has largely become an over priced trade school.  Demonization has been substituted for understanding; virtue signaling has been substituted for humility.

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J’accuse Kavanaugh

“The accuser has to prove the allegation in a court of law or in some other venue where the accused can challenge the facts. Otherwise we have a Jacobin system of justice in which “J’accuse” becomes the standard and anyone can be ruined on a whim or a vendetta.”

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Natural and Positive Rights

Material rights to products and  service that must be provided and paid for by others is inevitably oppressive and usually counterproductive.  The secret to Hong Kong’s miraculous growth was the priority of economic growth over social spending. The economic growth provided the means for greater social spending. Over time if you give priority to growth over social spending you will end up with more of both, and a healthier and more sustainable economy.

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The Result of Sidelining Congress

Judge selection was a key reason many skeptics supported Trump over HRC. While we may have cheered many decisions made by the court that would never have made it through Congress, we have made that the focus of our voting. The result may be that liberals will become less activist on the court and more deferential to the states’ power.

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