"Deutsch Explains"

From a Twitter account that is "A Compendium of [prize-winning physicist David Deutsch's] explanations". This post, arguing what we should do about global warming is, in my opinion, really excellent. A key excerpt:

Hence, we need a stance of problem fixing, not just problem avoidance. It's true that an ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure, but that's only if we know what to prevent. If you've been punched on the nose, then the science of medicine does not consist of teaching you how to avoid punches.

If medical science stopped seeking cures and concentrated on prevention only, then it would achieve very little of either.


"How to Cut $2 Trillion of Fat from the Federal Budget"

By David Stockman former OMB director under Reagan who more than 40 years ago warned about $200 billion deficits "as far as the eye can see". (Oh, the naivete!) The numbers are truly staggering:

On paper, the public debt would power upward unabated to $150 trillion by mid-century under the CBO’s latest projection. Yet even the latter is based on a Rosy Scenario budget model that assumes Congress never again adopts a single new tax cut or spending program and that the US economy steams along without a recession, inflation recurrence, interest flare-up, or other economic crisis during the entirety of the next quarter-century!

Related: "Debt Politics" (interview with Mitch Daniels) and Francis Fukuyama, "A Letter to Elon Musk" (on the mechanics of actually cutting the budget).


"A 'monstrous problem' created 7 years ago haunts California's weed industry"

"Farmers see a trail of broken promises and betrayal from the state government."

As Ed Driscoll writes, extending P. J. O'Rourke's famous comment, ". . . you can’t get good Chinese takeout in China and Cuban cigars are rationed in Cuba. And you can’t survive as a pot grower in California. That’s all you need to know about communism."


"Inflation vs. Prices"

John Cochrane:

Did “supply shocks” or “relative demand shocks” cause the recent inflation? Will tariffs raise inflation? Will deregulation and AI, by lowering costs, lower inflation? No.

Don’t confuse the price level with the inflation rate. Don’t confuse relative prices with the price level. These ought to be the first lessons of macroeconomics. But many economists, and most politicians and commenters get them wrong.