The Sting: How the Wind Industry Pulled Off the Greatest Con-Job in History
29 Jun 2017 2 Comments
in economics
OK, so we tell ’em it’s free and saves the planet, got it.
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The 1973 Paul Newman (Henry “Shaw” Gondorff) and Robert Redford (Johnny “Kelly” Hooker) classic, The Sting – set in the heart of the 1930s Depression – pitted the bright and brazen young con-men against one of Chicago’s toughest mobsters in an effort to relieve him of his ill-gotten gains.
The film reveals the protagonists’ tactics, highlighting the importance of “the mark” and “the play” on the ‘mark’; “pigeons” (particularly easy ‘marks’) get taken like snacks at a Sunday barbecue and the big-con, which involved deploying a scam known as “the wire”.
Double-crossing, greed, avarice, hubris and arrogance provide a heady mix in a high-stakes gamble (It’s a great film, by the way).
But, at the heart of it all, was the ‘bare-faced lie’.
Much like those calamitous warnings about imminent global incineration, used by renewables…
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The economist as an expert: a prince, a servant or a citizen?
29 Jun 2017 Leave a comment
in economics
Recently Esther Duflo’s Economist as a plumber speech made huge waves in economic circles. Earlier Keynes had suggested economists to be humble and competent like dentists and also added various qualities for an economist.
However, all these attributes put economists and their craft on a pedestal over other social sciences (0r studies?).
In this superb post written from the lens of history of economic thought, Alessandro Roncaglia explores this idea of economist as an expert.
The author says we can divide the role as three types:
- A prince who leads from the front say an economist as a Prime Minister/Finance Minister etc.
- A servant who makes policies on behalf of the government
- A citizen who engages with the public writing and debating actively on policy issues.
The author says increasingly economists are seen in the first two categories but they should try and remain in the third one:
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Being an economics rebel like Prof. Deirdre McCloskey…
29 Jun 2017 Leave a comment
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Superb interview of Prof McCloskey who has challenged most aspects of current economic teaching and research.
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Costa Rica Welcomes You! – Ultra Spiritual Life episode 62
29 Jun 2017 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture Tags: economics of tourism
Green Schism: Guardian Contributor Accuses Greenpeace of Misleading about Nuclear Power
29 Jun 2017 Leave a comment
in economics
Green Beret Acquitted In Shooting Of Thief Under Colorado’s “Make My Day” Law
29 Jun 2017 Leave a comment
in economics
There is a verdict in Colorado where Green Beret Michael Joseph Galvin shot and killed Robert Carrigan after Carrigan broke into his garage. Carrigan was shot three times in the back. The case raised a threshold question of whether the state’s “Make My Day” law applied to a shooting in a garage detached by the home of the shooter. A jury clearly believed that it did and acquitted Galvin from the charge of negligent homicide.
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The Islam apologists, including Reza Aslan, smear Sam Harris by misrepresenting his words
29 Jun 2017 Leave a comment
in economics
All too often my brother Sam Harris gets the short end of the stick, especially when people determined to take him down misuse or misrepresent his words to smear him. The “ticking time bomb torture scenario”, for instance, which Sam floated as a hypothetical scenario to inspire thought, was distorted to make it seem that he was strongly in favor of torture. I could give other examples, but this latest, reported by both Hemant at The Friendly Atheist and Clarion, is a doozy. In this case, on Sam’s podcast with Maajid Nawaz, Sam played the devil’s advocate, making a case against Muslim immigration he doesn’t believe, just to get Maajid’s response. Here’s the beginning of that bit of the conversation. Click on this video; the bit that got distorted begins about 1:10:50 (if this doesn’t start there, go to 1:10:50):
As Clarion reports:
Harris and Nawaz, who wrote a…
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The European Commission’s Regrettable June 27 Google Antitrust Decision – and Its Broader Implications
29 Jun 2017 Leave a comment
in economics
Top 10 Tallest People Still Alive
29 Jun 2017 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, health economics
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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