Anarchy and Liberalism
Commenter Peter Munchen asks: Oh trying or anarchy now, eh ED? What, your flirtation with liberalism hasn’t worked out? Worked out ok to get you a gig at Forbes after all. I’ve been fascinated...
Author: Erik Kain
Bloody Madness
Updated below. Over at The Dish, Zack Beauchamp writes: It’s better to think of the U.S. as the global police chief rather than sole policeman. We may be the strongest of our allies, but...
Big Beer
Mike Konczal points out that the market share for the big beer producers has actually grown since deregulation, with craft brews making up only about 4% of total market share, and the top four...
What John Cole Said
John asks if the fall of Gaddafi means he should change his initial opposition to the war: Does that change my opinion about the ludicrous notion that providing air cover, using smart bombs and...
Tripoli and the hawks
I’m concerned that any perceived “success” in Libya (i.e. the fall of Gaddafi as rebels even now storm the city, arrest his sons, and topple the regime – though this was never the stated goal of the mission)...
Beer, neoliberalism, and unions
Matt Yglesias returns to the subject of beer and the deregulation of the beer industry during the Carter industry. I’m going to take a bit of credit for the debate that was sparked around...
Hawks to the left of me, hawks to the right…here I am…
Kevin Drum writes: But Will [Wilkinson]— along with Jon Stewart and all the others who think the media is being unfair toward Ron Paul — is missing the single biggest difference between Paul and...
Scott Sumner on Past Mistakes
I wish more people in government would read Scott Sumner’s blog: I once read all the New York Times from the 1930s (on microfilm.) You can’t even imagine how frustrating it was. They knew...
Individualism & Society
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with...
Elsewhere, Yonder and Hereabouts
At Forbes I have three posts for your consideration: First, a meditation on the Civil War, tragedy, and justice with a tie-in to the war on drugs riffing off of a post by Ta-Nehisi...
A Good Man is Hard to Find Because the Media Ignores Him
Via Jesse Walker: The Daily ShowGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook So, so true.
Elsewhere, Hither and Thither
My second piece is live at The Atlantic. This time around I offer up some reading recommendations for those of us on George R. R. Martin withdrawals. I’m sure that I will learn that...
Who says politics can’t be good for business?
Not Rick Perry’s political donors, anyways. So much for small government: Texas Gov. Rick Perry has powered his political career on the largesse of donors like Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons, who gave the governor...
A Good Man is Hard to Find
Tim Carney has a very good piece up on the media’s continued efforts to ignore, at every turn, presidential hopeful Ron Paul. So, again, why doesn’t Paul get the attention he seems to deserve?...
Gay Muppets
I misread Julian Sanchez’s post and unfortunately mischaracterized his argument because of it. I still think we disagree, on some level, about what ought to be done regarding the representation of gays on Sesame...
On Sesame Street and Gay Marriage
My take, contra Julian Sanchez, is that Bert and Ernie should not get married A) because the show’s creators say they’re not gay, and B) because Sesame Street doesn’t really deal with sexuality because...
Riots, left and right
The critique of the riots and neoliberalism that Elias links to below reminds me quite a bit of Theodore Dalyrmple’s piece in City Journal, and this piece in The Australian. Perhaps individualism cannot really...
Meanwhile at Forbes…
I resurrect an old post about video games and crime and how the two might be linked. I talk about the riots in London, and link them to the war on drugs, and point...
Hayekian Stimulus
If you watch this Hayek vs. Keynes rap again, you’ll notice that very rarely throughout are the two men actually disagreeing with one another. They’re largely talking past one another, with Keynes speaking directly to...
