The Liberal Order

One of Stephen Colbert's best episodes of "Better Know a District"

  

 

Bill Clinton Is Following Eight On Twitter . . .

. . . and Stephen Colbert is the only one of the eight that is neither a foundation or the former president's daughter Chelsea. 

That's definitely going to get to his head.

What about the jobs?

Stephen Colbert interviews libertarian and Reason.com's editor-in-chief Nick Gillespie on efforts to legalize marijuana use. At about the 3:50 mark Colbert comments (yes, in jest):

If we stop making it illegal, what happens to our private prison industry? Because those prisons are filled with pot users and those are good incarceration jobs.

Enough to make a good Keynesian proud.

The Colbert Report
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And who ever thought of this?

For those days when just a cookie doesn't seem to be enough, there's this to satisfy your double cookie craving.

Is diversity at (most) elite schools contrived?

Having a child currently looking at colleges, the following two articles have a lot of relevancy. Both articles expose the inanity of the college admissions process, especially at the elite colleges, as well as ridicule the faux diversity rhetoric such colleges profess to uphold.

In today's New York Times, Claire Vaye Watkins discusses the inequities for high school students in rural areas looking to attend college, especially the elite colleges.

I never saw a college rep at Pahrump Valley High, but the military made sure that a stream of alumni flooded back to our school in their uniforms and fresh flattops, urging their old chums to enlist. Those students who did even reasonably well on the Asvab (theArmed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, for readers who went to schools where this test was not so exhaustively administered) were thoroughly hounded by recruiters.

My school did its part, too: it devoted half a day’s class time to making sure every junior took the Asvab. The test was also free, unlike the ACT and SAT, which I had to choose between because I could afford only one registration fee. I chose the ACT and crossed off those colleges that asked for the SAT.

- - - -

Granted, there’s a good reason top colleges aren’t sending recruiters around the country to woo kids like me and Ryan (who, incidentally, got his B.S. at U.N.R. before going on to earn his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Purdue and now holds a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship with the National Research Council). The Army needs every qualified candidate it can get, while competitive colleges have far more applicants than they can handle. But if these colleges are truly committed to diversity, they have to start paying attention to the rural poor.

And in today's Wall Street Journal, high school senior Suzy Lee Weiss, who was rejected admission by many elite colleges, explains (very humorously) the inequity and insanity of the admissions process. I just wish she had left out that last paragraph.

Colleges tell you, "Just be yourself." That is great advice, as long as yourself has nine extracurriculars, six leadership positions, three varsity sports, killer SAT scores and two moms. Then by all means, be yourself! If you work at a local pizza shop and are the slowest person on the cross-country team, consider taking your business elsewhere.

 

 

The Whitey Award

I didn't even know there was a "Whitey Award," but if you have to give one, nine middle class golf management majors probably deserve it. 

Best Week Ever
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"House of Cards": A Tribute to James M. Buchanan and Gordon Tullock?

I have heard how good is Netflix's "House of Cards," and I plan on watching it this weekend. But if this article explaining the beauty of this show is even remotely accurate, it seems like this show pays respect to James M. Buchanan and Gordon Tullock.

In discussing the typical story of politics in Washington as told by Hollywood, Ari Melber refers to them as "anti-politics" since they purport to show the political process as corrupted by a few, which thwarts the good intentions of the noble who go to Washington to serve the public interest, much like Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." 

This anti-politics matches a delusion that many political novices share with entitled elites—the indulgent notion that one's personal values transcend "ideology," and instead, reflect a universal "common sense."

So "House of Cards" "takes the romance out of politics." 

And it also reveals what Hayek argued in "Why the Worst Get On Top."

David Fincher's new political thriller, released in 13 episodes on Netflix, takes a different and much darker path. His tale begins with a clear take on Washington: It is the source of evil. Not a place reduced to evil, because of political infighting or external financial pressure.

No, this is a story about the Beltway as a magnet for bad actors.

This show goes after the false belief in democracy as somehow above the greed and selfish interests of human nature that Hollywood typcially reserves for corrupt and evil businessmen.

Washington is deeply frustrating because so many of the positions that politicians hold are a product of ephemeral self-interest. They reverse themselves, for themselves, all the time.

Let's hope this message is spread wide and far.

Best movie review snippet I've read in a while.

From today's News & Observer about the movie Not Fade Away.

“Not Fade Away” is about an Italian kid named Doug who ages from 17 to 21 through the middle of the 1960s, drums in a rock band in northern New Jersey, has an overbearing father who disrespects him and a drama-queen mother, drops out of college because he’s depressed and then enrolls in film school.

Writer-director Chase was an Italian kid who aged from 17 to 21 through the middle of the 1960s, drummed in a rock band in northern New Jersey, had an overbearing father who disrespected him and a drama-queen mother, dropped out of college (Wake Forest University) because he was depressed and enrolled in film school. I hope his life was less dull than the movie he’s made from it.

Emphasis mine.

"These go to 11."

Understanding the difference between real and nominal variables can present a challenge to some. It's not uncommon to hear someone complain about the price of some good or service and how it was much less twenty years ago than it is today. But it's not the absolute price—the nominal amount—that matters; it's the price of that good or service relative to the price of all other goods and services that matters, including and especially the median wage. (Don Boudreaux does a fantastic job of explaining this here and here and here and here.)

I like to use this great scene from This Is Spinal Tap to further exemplify the difference between real and nominal variables. Marty understands, Nigel doesn't.

 

Let's hear the chant: "80 . . 80 . . 80 . . 80 . . . ."

This is just blatant discrimination against men.

Of the 53,364 Americans age 100 and older, more than 80 percent are women, a U.S. Census Bureau report released on Monday showed.

I hope NOW takes on this cause and fights for justice.