Links to Consider 11/29
Scott Locklin on Michael Lewis and SBF; Brink Lindsey: do we all need reality therapy?; Samuel Hammond learns from LDS welfare; Matt Goodwin on British politics
If [Michael] Lewis were an actual investigative journalist rather than a submarine marketer, he might have looked for someone who had an unkind word or two about SBF and Alameda. In my experience, the set of people with negative opinions and the set of people who have had any business dealings with them is a dense set. The set of people who have done actual diligence on Alameda or FTX also seem to have no problems smelling a rat.
The link goes to a video of Marc Cohodes giving an expletive-filled take-down of SBF as of October 11. Cohodes says that no one can explain how FTX makes money. He says, “Nothing of this story fits. . .Everything reads like this is a complete scam. . . .bigger than Enron. None of these people could run a lemonade stand, much less an exchange.”
The last 30 minutes of that video are. . .Just Wow. That’s all I can say.
Pointer from
, who also includes a chart showing SBF as cozy with Gary Gensler, who is head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who was formerly a colleague of MIT Professor Glenn Ellison, who is the father of Caroline Ellison, who is a major figure in SBF’s business and personal life.Oy. I have not seen this much bait for conspiracy theorists since the assassination of President Kennedy.
draws some lessons for welfare policy from the approach of the Latter Day Saints includingHere’s a way to think about capitalism’s transition to mass affluence and what it has meant for the subsequent course of economic and social development: we have gone from a society organized around solving problems in the physical world to a society organized around solving problems inside our own heads.
Poorer states need proportionately larger grants to equalize their fiscal capacity and provide comparable services to the poor. Right now, TANF, Medicaid, and most other major federal grant programs do the opposite, exacerbating the inequities between rich and poor states.
Periodic reminder that I recommend reading the whole thing when I link.
writes,today, for the first time in fifteen years, the Conservatives have lost ownership of the economy. Despite saying little at all about their long-term strategy, Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Party are now seen as the best party on the economy. In my own polling, when we ask people who they think would be best to manage the economy, 30% say “a Labour government led by Sir Keir Starmer” while only 17% say “a Conservative government led by Rishi Sunak” (though note a very large number now say “none of them”). Remarkably, only a minority of Conservative voters back their own party to manage the national economy, while large numbers now say “I don’t know who to back”.
In Hammond's lessons of welfare policy, there is good emphasis on Federalism and decentralization, plus more discretion at the local level, as well as noting the thick non-gov't civil social support for a culture of work. The local LDS person can suggest what jobs the poor worker might do - the gov't Job Center person is supposed to be more completely neutral.
The silly Fed matching which sends more Fed money to rich states who spend more, per person, than the poorer states who spend less, is clearly sub-optimal.
My suggested trial program would include a specific life-style coach who IS, specifically, suggesting just what jobs the person should apply to, as well as other lifestyle changes to become more employable.
No mention of drug use, or alcoholism, which are often problems among those able to work but without jobs.
It didn't seem like any of the 11 work programs discussed included an automatic offer of employment, and having a gov't temp agency where the able-bodied line up daily for work doesn't seem to have been tried - and it should be.
A key issue is to learn from multiple trial programs what seems to work better, in practice, and do more of that. This is another big reason job programs are better than UBI.
Jobs for low IQ healthy young men is the biggest social need in America, and most of the OECD countries.
"we have gone from a society organized around solving problems in the physical world to a society organized around solving problems inside our own heads."
That is correct, as far as it goes, but the deeper truth is that we gone from a society organized around solving problems in the physical world to a society organized around the reintroduction of those old problems. In short, we are beginning the process of devolving our civilization.