NY Times Causes Head of Mungowitz to Explode

With thanks to Greg Barkimer, who saw this and knew it was gold. An actual headline, seriously, in the New York Times:

Bird Flu Sends Egg Prices Up, but Slowing Demand Prevents Shortages 

Um....yes.  How economically illiterate would you have to be to write that headline?  Answer:  illiterate enough to work for the New York Times.  

Because this is on the order of "Water:  Still Wet!" or "That Crazy Sun:  Rising in the East Again This Morning."

There can never, NEVER be a shortage if prices are free to adjust.  Because a shortage is insufficient supply at current prices.  Lagniappe:  This was in the "Science" section.  Yes, it was.

(updated to correct typos)

(Update 2:  Ya know.... I'm not so sure. Maybe it's a dumb headline. But maybe it was clever clickbait. The whole thing is a little too pat. If so, well played, NYTimes. You used me like an old toilet seat.)

WalMart Fight

I didn't even know that WalMart fights were a "thing."

Josh Hall, not surprisingly, was fully aware.  Not gonna say any more, just gonna give him credit for the find.

Problem:  Now I've seen the best one.  Even the after-story is excellent.

So I went from ignorant to done in 3 minutes.  The LMM says that that reminds her of me on our wedding night.  She's hilarious, that lady.

Goin' All Boudreaux: Paying Attention....

So, Gene Nichol (who I like, personally) wrote a piece about ID requirements.

I had to respond.  So I went all Boudreaux on him.

Text:


It appears my good friend Gene Nichol has done some field work and discovered (“An unforgivable quest for ID,” June 12 Point of View) that government agencies are inefficient and that state “service” workers are rude and indifferent to the public. 

 Until now, it seemed that he wanted the state to run nearly every aspect of our lives. But he has seen the light. 

Well, better late than never! Everyone becomes a Libertarian eventually, if they are paying attention. 

Michael Munger
Raleigh

Essential Hayek

A very interesting and useful new set of resources, from Don Boudreaux and the Fraser Institute.

The Essential Hayek.
(Doesn't come live until tomorrow...)

From the book, the Table of Contents:

Foreword, by Václav Klaus / 1
Introduction / 7
Selected Hayek passages explained
1. How we make sense of an incredibly complex world / 12
2. Knowledge and prices / 17
3. Individual flourishing and spontaneous order / 24
4. The rule of law, freedom, and prosperity / 28
5. Legislation is distinct from law / 32
6. False economic security and the road to serfdom / 39
7. Economic booms and busts / 46
8. The curse of inflation / 56
9. The challenge of living successfully in modern society / 62
10. Ideas have consequences / 71
Suggestions for further reading / 77

I'll be using it in class!

Lemonade Scofflaws Brought to Justice

I guess I just read the news differently from most folks.

When most people read this, they seem to think, "Those terrible police!"

Excerpt:


Television station KLTV reports that 8-year-old Andria Green and her 7-year-old sister, Zoey, will take only donations for lemonade Saturday in Overton, about 120 miles east of Dallas. 

A police officer on Monday approached the stand, which offered lemonade for 50 cents and "kettle korn" for $1. In patrol-car video, the officer can be heard asking the girls' mother, Sandi Evans, for a permit. She says she wasn't aware they needed one. 

A family friend went to City Hall to get one. Authorities waived the $150 fee, but said health department officials needed to inspect the stand. Overton's police chief says police must follow state health guidelines.


When I read it, I think, "Well, I don't fault the police.  The people that run 'em got 'em on a short leash."  (Yes, that's from Corporate Avenger.)  They have to enforce the law.  That's their job.  The law has specific meaning, and is made up of words selected by legislators, NOT the police.  These words, and not some other words, are THE law.  One law for everybody.  If it's a law, the police have to enforce it.  Not only is the police chief right, he is obviously right.

The THING.  The THING ITSELF, folks.  The law is an ass.  If you want less injustice, have fewer laws.  I don't fault the police.  And you shouldn't, either.

Framed! Philosophers are no better at this than the rest of us

Interesting that they found this result.  I guess I'm surprised, at least a little.  Although "Fiery Cushman" is an excellent name, I have to admit.

Philosophers’ biased judgments persist despite training, expertise and reflection 

Eric Schwitzgebel & Fiery Cushman
Cognition, August 2015, Pages 127–137

Abstract: We examined the effects of framing and order of presentation on professional philosophers’ judgments about a moral puzzle case (the “trolley problem”) and a version of the Tversky & Kahneman “Asian disease” scenario. Professional philosophers exhibited substantial framing effects and order effects, and were no less subject to such effects than was a comparison group of non-philosopher academic participants. Framing and order effects were not reduced by a forced delay during which participants were encouraged to consider “different variants of the scenario or different ways of describing the case”. Nor were framing and order effects lower among participants reporting familiarity with the trolley problem or with loss-aversion framing effects, nor among those reporting having had a stable opinion on the issues before participating in the experiment, nor among those reporting expertise on the very issues in question. Thus, for these scenario types, neither framing effects nor order effects appear to be reduced even by high levels of academic expertise.

lookin' for love (in all the wrong places)

Nicci Taylor wants love. So she came up with a plan:

1. Sell all your stuff
2. Buy a camper
3. Drive it around looking for your soulmate

So far so good. But people, SHE IS GOING TO DRIVE IT AROUND SCOTLAND!!!

Nononononononnoooooooo!

Look I understand she's in England, and when the mean is that low any variance can be welfare improving, but Scotland?

People, here is the best looking human ever to come from Scotland:

Nicci is doomed.

91 year old man: Here's what I want...

91 year old man had always wanted to smash his car backwards through the garage door, without opening it.

And now I want to do that.

Nod to LMM, who says I can't do it at our house.

An old lesson....

A shortage is when there is an insufficient amount to satisfy demand at the existing price.

I have lived during shortages.  I knew shortages.  Shortages are something I learned to deal with.  Egg supply shock, you're no shortage.  

Unless we make it one:

The desire to believe....

One has to feel sorry for this man.

But the thing reads like an "Onion" story.  I mean...reincarnated?  Pay me more, so when she is reincarnated you can marry her then?  An 80 mile bridge to nowhere?

On second thought, this sounds more like the Congressional Record than the Onion.