Marketplace of Pretty Lies

Marketplace of Pretty Lies

Maybe not everyone is looking for the best ideas, and instead will buy the ones that make them feel good. I know I've covered this before [https://thelastredoubt.com/markets-ideas-and-democracy/], but it bears repeating. There are several assumptions inherent to capital "L" libertarianism that simply do not hold up under scrutiny and history, and inevitably result in its failure. If you've paid attention over at Eric Raymond's blog [http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=8342], you'll also see a display th…

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Efficiency and Money Are Not the Only Measures

Efficiency and Money Are Not the Only Measures

Tucker Carlson, debating Ben Shapiro, made the libertarian end of the sphere lose their shit [https://youtu.be/z3E1I4lu6u0]. > So would you, Tucker Carlson, be in favor of restrictions on the ability of trucking companies to use this sort of technology specifically to, you know, sort of artificially maintain the number of jobs that are available in the trucking energy? Are you joking? In a second. In a second! In other words, if I were president and ran the DOT, Department of Transportation,…

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Odds 'N' Ends

Odds 'N' Ends

Antifragility First - in an excellent article on Trump as the "leverage" president [http://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=15302], The Z Man makes the following observation: > That’s the thing with understanding Trump, something a brilliant observer pointed out three years ago. Trump operates like a famous real estate developer. He is always looking to leverage his assets in order to take advantage of whatever opportunities that may present themselves in the future. In the case of the Kavanaugh hearin…

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More Skin in the Game

So I’m still stepping through and digesting Taleb’s latest book, and I’m not sure what’s more surprising. On the one hand, I’m not into the deeper parts of the book yet and already, there are a lot of relationships he alludes to that are not obvious to most people. On the other hand, in several cases, the specific examples he brings up are ones that I had considered, and for much the same reason. For example – on citizenship, and specifically assuming the tax burdens and duties/obligations of wh…

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Anonymity, and "Bad" Views

Anonymity, and "Bad" Views

In a recent posting [https://voxday.blogspot.com/2017/01/social-media-and-threat-to-status-quo.html] Vox Day notes that the ability to dox effective opponents of the leftist narrative has reached a point that anonymity, even moderately strong steps, can no longer be considered effective to protect oneself from blowback if your lifestyle is not antifragile. In the comments he notes: > There is nothing veiled about it. The situation changes. 10 years ago, it was possible to remain anonymous. The…

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