Disqus - Latest Comments for MikeWebkist

Re: Positive

MikeWebkist — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:33:44 -0000

I'm on the fence. Being an asshole is, obviously, not useful. And it's Not like the republicans have been shouting any of the rational, useful, serious arguments against the democrats dreams. But at the same time, the reason I don't ever watch political speeches is exactly BECAUSE they are an uninterrupted half-hour commercial for vague, probably-never-make-it-out-of-committee, pie-in-the-sky one-sided fantasy. A throw-down now and then might encourage me to pay attention.

Re: The Gender Politics of Mad Men

MikeWebkist — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:14:58 -0000

Your analysis of the show is good, but I think you overestimate its popularity among the men you suspect would like to live like Don. It's a show aimed at women and men who would never consider pinching a woman's ass.

The real example of what you were talking about is Gran Torino. And sbeath's gangster movie hypothesis.

Re: What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

MikeWebkist — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:11:59 -0000

I think they really need a Kindle version.

Re: 16-bit Intel 8088 chip

MikeWebkist — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:44:45 -0000

That's quite amazing. I've never seen it before. Here's a nice Philly connection from the late great Philadelphia Independent.

Re: Government, Civil Society, and the Utility of Cooperativeness

MikeWebkist — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:49:12 -0000

Sweden & Denmark seem to be good examples of this, at least in the common understanding of their politics, but it doesn't bode well for the EU in general. And is a reasonably satisfying explanation for the demise of the USSR, the British Empire, etc...

Re: Are We Flirting with Fascism?

MikeWebkist — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:00:27 -0000

Yet I think it’s clear that we are in fact seeing fascism in vitro, though I don’t think that’s anyone’s intention.

But that's the thing. To call this fascism or "in virto" fascism or whatever is about as useful and accurate as calling it socialism or communism or monarchism or anything else. Yes, the GM move could be the first step on the way to the great fascist state. But the first step out of my house in the morning could also be the first step toward me walking from here to Patagonia. But it's not. I'm just going to get the paper.

The problem is not that what you're arguing is definitely wrong. It's that what you're arguing is supremely unrealistic.

Re: The Passionate Politics of Paul Krugman’s Apolitical Economics

MikeWebkist — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:06:17 -0000

This is the new political reality. The Republican response to 9/11? EVERYONE PANIC! The Democratic response to Recession 2009? EVERYONE PANIC! If you can pull it off, you get to move the ball pretty far, but it's probably not in the right direction.

Re: O' Bedlam!!! - I’ve really begun to enjoy the camera on my...

MikeWebkist — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:46:28 -0000

In 20 years people will be buying old iPhones off eBay just for the camera. People'll be like, "I'm old school. I'm a 3.1 megapixel guy."

Re: On Conservatives Saving Capitalism From Itself

MikeWebkist — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:50:14 -0000

So free market advocates laugh at the French for having a 35 hour work week, and point to their lower productivity. But this assumes that productivity is the most desirable outcome of all work, and ignores the notion that perhaps the French merely value additional time over productivity.

Not to speak for Will or anything, but I imagine that's why he's so interested in happiness research: productivity is NOT a realistic way to measure the success of a society, but happiness is. If lower GDP & productivity and 35 hour work weeks and nationalized health care and all of that lead to more happiness, you're on to something. But if not, then...

Re: On Conservatives Saving Capitalism From Itself

MikeWebkist — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:50:05 -0000

There was an interesting review of a new biography of John Stuart Mill in a recent New Yorker. One of the key points seems to be, "...he doesn’t want us to ask, Can this odd thing people are doing be deduced from some ethical axiom that lets me call it “good,” and permits them to go on doing it? He wants us to ask something simpler: Is this practice causing me any real harm?"

That seems to me like the essential tension between liberal and conservative thought. Markets, which almost seem like they should be orthogonal to that question, have started to be seen more clearly as operating best in Mill's world. Obviously your appreciation of the market is not a conservative one, and how could it be? Adding "but here, but here, but here" to the market is conservative, but not free.

Re: What Books Would You Ban?

MikeWebkist — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:54:35 -0000

You're onto something. I'll add "The Secret", "Men are from Mars...", etc. The self-help genre can probably stay but anything based on some sort of ridiculous spirituality or reductionist sexuality is out.

Re: Oh, You Didn’t Want to Decrease Inequality That Way?

MikeWebkist — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:25:26 -0000

When I heard your commentary this morning I thought, "well played Mr. Wilkinson".

Re: I Am a Howleyite, or Osama bin Laden Is Right

MikeWebkist — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:03:19 -0000

"Relative decline" does not mean "absolute decline". If Poland's life expectancy is increasing faster than England's right now, it may just be that Poland had a lot of catching up to do.

If the rate of change of England's wealth and life expectancy turns negative, then you might have a point, but until then you're just falling into one of Will's other themes: relative change doesn't matter as much as absolute.

Re: CEO Pay and the Mechanisms of Inequality

MikeWebkist — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:11:01 -0000

If redistribution is justified, it has to be redistributed from somewhere. Most people look at income inequality and say, "hey -- these people make so much more than everyone else, how about them? They'll barely notice!" Combined with the vague suspicion (which you support 1/3 of) that there's something fishy going on, and the inequality/redistribution equation is pretty simple.

Inequality doesn't need to be bad for taxing the rich to be morally appealing.

Re: Optimal Carbon Tax

MikeWebkist — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:03:26 -0000

But if it’s too high, we’ll get too little and I think that’s likely the more worrying scenario, especially if it slows growth for poor countries.

The fear of a too-high carbon tax is about as realistic as the fear of worldwide catastrophe by 2025. Decades of panic have lead to absolutely no effective controls on greenhouse gasses. I can't imagine the political will being likely to change before Orlando's under water.

Re: Why Isn’t Caplan in the Kitchen?

MikeWebkist — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:10:08 -0000

As Heinlein said, "Specialization is for insects."

Any man who "can't clean, cook, or shop to save his life" has chosen to be an insect.