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The main good that determines whether you think the economy is good or bad is slack. How much headroom is there between what you are going to buy and what you can afford to spend? 1/
You can lose slack because your real purchasing power declines, or because your needs expand. “Needs” are largely a function of structural facts and social norms. 2/
If you model spending only as discretionary choice, treat anything beyond the most basic food and shelter as expendable, as gravy, something optional or superfluous, you will never make sense of what human beings actually experience, and the ructions of behavior that result. /fin
“If there is an inalienable right to life, it should follow that I have an obligation to take reasonable steps to minimize disease that could harm or kill my peers.” @zeblarson https://www.liberalcurrents.com/propaganda-rather-than-pandemic-policies-caused-the-war-on-public-health/
// this is general, a thing any serious liberalism must grapple with. the dual of any meaningful right is a burdensome obligation.
contemporary capitalism is the stench of desperation perfumed with chirpy pitches.
“National identities such as ‘French’ and ‘Italian’ were things that had to be invented, and they were often imposed through military or state power.” @resnikoff https://publiccomment.blog/p/the-great-retcon
social media is paradoxically both exhausting and insomnia-inducing at the same time.
social media is paradoxically both exhausting and insomnia-inducing at the same time.
@joXn yes. i think that’s a great way to think about it. industrial policy to maintain and develop critical capabilities is a great idea, but the world is quite different than Alexander Hamilton’s.
@elbowspeak @paul (proof-of-work crypto is kind of a too-on-the-nose illustration of the elaborate-order-to-accelerate-entropy thesis. ht Tim Swanson for inspiring the connection.)
@gunchleoc for a moderately exorbitant fee, i am glad to attach a certificate of authenticity to a shipment.
I just made some shit up. Its authenticity has been confirmed.
if demons can be emergent from social affairs, perhaps angels can too.
@joXn ( i've written a bit on this https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2024/08/13/china-as-a-model/index.html )
This was weird, though now I get it.
scala> 1 << 32
val res3: Int = 1
scala> (1 << 24) << 8
val res4: Int = 0
“That people move from representing the presidency to representing banks is so normal that we forget the costs: the private job done with the savvy to outfox one’s former public-sector colleagues, the public job done gently to keep open doors.” #AnandGiridharadas https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/opinion/meaning-epstein-emails.html
“There is no equivalent concept for ‘you are foreclosing the entire future option space of human civilization by accelerating past the point where exploration is possible.’ The externality has no name because the framework for naming it doesn’t exist in economics or policy.” @elbowspeak
// i can’t help but think about the automobile and the built environment that supports and depends upon it. https://mastodon.social/@elbowspeak/116071945170678690
suppose there were an elixir you could drink and become a giant, but if you did it would be inevitable you would, wittingly or not, step on some people like ants. would it be ethical to drink it?
“buildings are a bit like intellectual property, which also lasts longer than the economic horizon of the businesses that produce it. The economic argument for rent regulation is a bit like the argument for limiting patents and copyrights to a finite period.” @jwmason https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/after-the-rent-freeze/
// this is a very brilliant piece
come spring the ice will melt.
i woke up today and found i was unable to verify my identity.