"Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme?"

In the beginning, no. Now? Mostly yes. But there are a couple of differences and they're nicely stated by David Henderson:

There are two main differences between Ponzi’s original scam and the Social Security system. The first difference is that Social Security is run by government and, whatever its constitutionality and its questionable ethics, is legal. The second difference follows from the first: Whereas Ponzi had to rely on suckers, the government can and does use force.


"Authoritarianism: A Deal with the Devil"

Nice piece at Econlib:

Commenting on a recent post by Scott Sumner, Mactoul argued “Authoritarianism is useful when you are trying to downsize the federal bureaucracy.”  This sort of love affair with arbitrary power is common when the authoritarian does what you want.  It’s why authoritarianism is so seductive, even to those who abhor power.  Many days and nights I have spent dreaming of the utopia that would exist if only I, and I alone, wielded absolute power. Even Adam Smith discusses how certain evils, like slavery, are more likely to be abolished or mitigated under an arbitrary government as opposed to a more limited government . . . 

But lest we be seduced by this ability for authoritarianism to do good, we must remember that it is arbitrary.


"Should we defund academia?"

Sabine Hossenfelder doesn't argue we should close all the universities. She doesn't argue we should stop all funding of academic research. But she does argue that we should cut government funding of a lot of academic research and replace it, if the research is sufficiently valuable, with private funding. She also argues that the arguments often advanced for why government funding is "necessary" are weak. (20-minute YouTube.)

RELATED: As you might well imagine some folks were not happy with Ms. Hossenfelder's video. So she posted a tweet. It begins this way:

I'll tell you something about the psychology that is going on here.

The content of my video is taking the 5 most common arguments that people in academia make for tax-paid research and explain why they are bad arguments.

Everyone who has previously made these arguments is now embarrassed, so they lash out at me.


"Pulling the Goalie: Investment Lessons from Watching Hockey"

If you are interested in stock market investing a lot of what Clifford Asness writes (here he is the co-author) is worth reading. (If link doesn't work try this.)

There is one bright spot. Coaches slowly do come to adopt better strategies. It can take decades, but things ultimately move in a rational direction. When this happens, it proves that the stats geeks were right all along, but, more importantly, it also shows that it is possible over time to surmount the social and behavioral factors that too often sabotage the optimal strategy.

"The New ‘Crypto Fort Knox’ Is as Dumb as It Sounds"

Warning: if you don't like blunt talk, you really won't like Cliff Asness.

A sovereign wealth fund for the U.S., which President Trump has also begun planning, is inappropriate, unneeded, likely harmful, and potentially quite corrupt. But a strategic cryptocurrency reserve looks at a “normal” sovereign wealth fund and says, “Hold my beer,” as we are going to plaid.