Some Non-Covid Links

(Don Boudreaux)

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Wall Street Journal columnist Holman Jenkins decries the intellectual state of humanity these days. A slice:

Especially but not exclusively on the left, it seems bad form nowadays, and even evidence of some kind of guilt, to subject any passionately-made claim to cool examination. Consider a well-covered racial incident at Smith College where slandering any number of white people became the preferred alternative to a black person having to hear that she was wrong.

Distrust of the media, and the media’s own disavowal of the supposedly tired idol of “objectivity,” is another factor. If no disinterested authority exists who can be trusted to refute a lie without fear or favor, it begets lying. A lawyer for a voting machine company told the New York Times recently: “So many people out there, including people in positions of authority, are just willing to say anything, regardless of whether it has any relationship to the truth or not.’’

Arnold Kling explains why he’s more worried than are many other economists about the return of high inflation. (I largely agree with Arnold, and am putting my money behind my fear of higher inflation by moving more heavily into inflation-indexed bonds. [Understand, however, that I know next to nothing about finance – even personal finance. But I do fear that inflation is coming.])

Art Carden is not in favor of forgiving student loans.

Nick Gillespie talks with Thomas Sowell’s biographer, Jason Riley.

Juliette Sellgren talks with Lenore Skenazy about parenting.

Thomas Hogan looks at electricity prices in Texas.

George Leef weighs in on minimum wages. A slice:

Most politicians know perfectly well that some workers will be hurt, but to them (the politicians), that doesn’t much matter. Very few of those hapless workers will pin the blame on them for the loss of jobs and besides, the unemployed are the natural constituency for Democratic rhetoric about the need to “build an economy that works for everyone.” Therefore, there is little if any political downside.

Ben Zycher bemoans bureaucrats’ and politicians’ insistence on pushing electric cars on a public that doesn’t really want such vehicles.

Should conservatives favor child allowances? Tune in this afternoon from 2:30pm to 4:30pm, EST, for a discussion.

Here’s the 11th installment in George Selgin’s important series on the New Deal.