Interesting stuff

  1. Data != truth: 29 sets of academics, given the SAME data on gender and speaking in public, came up with disagreeing analyses. Related: 73 teams also disagree on how to interpret the SAME data on migration and support for social welfare.
  2. Read: America’s founders didn’t mean self-pleasure when they promoted  “pursuit of happiness” — they meant self-restraint.
  3. Listen to this really excellent discussion of how NYC’s 2019 regulation on “affordable” housing made housing less affordable. (The Dutch are doing more or less the same now.)
  4. Read how illegal drug producers pollute land and water in the Netherlands. Legalize and regulate drugs! Related: Farmers illegally dumping animal shit. Reduce industrial agriculture!
  5. Sad: Average world temperatures are now +1.7C over pre-industrial levels, with +2C in sight for 2030. Shit’s gettin’ real… Related: We need to think differently about how we describe the strength of hurricanes.
  6. Read this nice analysis of why democrats make housing more expensive than republicans.
  7. Read: Want less stress? Pay off your debt!
  8. Read this update on “lab diamonds,” which are chemically the same as “natural” (inhuman?) diamonds and thus pulling down prices by as much as 90%. Still, some people think they are too cheap (=not enough sacrifice for that ring?), which is why they need to raise the price — and attraction — by using my “eco-ring” idea 🙂
  9. Government failure in action: The Dutch government wants more affordable housing, so they’ve decided to expand supply limit prices, which has resulted in fewer and fewer new starts. What’s the challenge, says the city [in Dutch]? Builders can’t make enough money on new builds. Fail.
  10. Watch: If you believe in a “social license to operate”, then what explains McKinsey’s continued crimes against society?

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Author: David Zetland

I'm a political-economist from California who now lives in Amsterdam.

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