Patterico's Pontifications

9/21/2015

Deflation Is Nothing to Fear

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:01 pm



We have had some discussions about deflation in a recent comment thread. I am too busy right now to finish the Robert Murphy/Mises series (I think I have 5 posts to go), but in the meantime, I thought it might be fun to let you hear the subject of deflation discussed by a couple of people who are much smarter than I am. The video is about 11 minutes and worth your time if you’re interested in the topic.

Woods discusses the topic in even more depth here, although I prefer Herbener to the guest on this podcast: Phillip Bagus. (No offense is intended to Bagus, but in my view Jeff Herbener is The Man when it comes to economic issues.)

UPDATE: Even more here!

Hillary Clinton: I Am A Real Person

Filed under: General — Dana @ 6:14 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Yikes. I’m guessing it will take way more than that to convince people.

–Dana

Scott Walker Out

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 5:58 pm



And then there were 15:

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, whose early glow as a Republican presidential contender was snuffed out with the rise of anti-establishment rivals, announced on Monday that he was quitting the race and urged some of his 15 rivals to do the same so the party could unite against the leading candidate, Donald J. Trump.

Mr. Walker’s pointed rebuke of Mr. Trump gave powerful voice to the private fears of many Republicans that the party risked alienating wide swaths of the American electorate – Hispanics, women, immigrants, veterans, and most recently Muslims – if Mr. Trump continued vilifying or mocking those groups as part of his overtures to angry and disaffected voters.

Still, Mr. Walker’s exit was not selfless: He was running low on campaign cash, sliding sharply in opinion polls, losing potential donors to rivals and unnerving supporters with a steady stream of gaffes, like saying he would consider building a barrier wall along the Canadian border.

Which he didn’t actually say, but history is (re)written by people who keep saying stuff again and again, whether it’s true or not.

I started to say that this is going to cause a lot of people to reconsider their choices. Then I considered the polls, and realized that I’m speaking about fewer than 1% of the people. It seems like it should be more, but that’s because the crowd I have in mind consists of the class of people who talk and write about this stuff all the time.

That’s not who answers polls. It’s not even who votes.

So long, Scott.

Ben Carson: Sharia Inconsistent with the Constitution

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:50 am



The Hill:

Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson is standing by his view that a Muslim should not be president of the United States, telling The Hill in an interview on Sunday that whoever takes the White House should be “sworn in on a stack of Bibles, not a Koran.”

Carson ignited a media firestorm in a Sunday morning interview with Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press,” in which he said he “would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation.”
“I absolutely would not agree with that,” Carson said.

In an interview with The Hill, Carson opened up about why he believes a Muslim would be unfit to serve as commander in chief.

“I do not believe Sharia is consistent with the Constitution of this country,” Carson said. “Muslims feel that their religion is very much a part of your public life and what you do as a public official, and that’s inconsistent with our principles and our Constitution.”

Carson said that the only exception he’d make would be if the Muslim running for office “publicly rejected all the tenants of Sharia and lived a life consistent with that.”



“Then I wouldn’t have any problem,” he said.

Why are we talking about this, exactly? No Muslim is running for President today. I don’t think we want someone in the White House who advocates the extreme fundamentalist view of sharia that might, for example, justify stoning women for the offense of being a rape victim while married. But what are the chances that such a person would be elected anyway?

Pediatric Cancer Patients And Their Parents Shut Out Of Park So President Could Attend Gala

Filed under: General — Dana @ 6:31 am



[guest post by Dana]

Eh, talk about optics being bad and a P.R. nightmare involving the White House. This time it was not the elderly being impacted, but rather very sick children and their families:

The U.S. Secret Service ordered hundreds of parents and their cancer-stricken children out of Lafayette Square on Saturday night, barricading the park for at least two hours and disrupting the group’s plans for a candlelight vigil to raise awareness and research funding for childhood cancer, participants said.

Some of the parents and children expressed hurt and disappointment that the Secret Service and Park Police, citing security precautions, virtually shut down part of a two-day event called CureFest for Childhood Cancer.

“We ended up waiting at the gates for two hours, and they never let us in,” said Natasha Gould, an 11-year-old Canadian girl who started a blog after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor this year. “And to be clear, the entire crowd was half kids. I cried last night in my hotel room because it was my first CureFest, and I couldn’t believe people were acting like they don’t care about children.”

But as the closure dragged on, some of the sick children, fatigued by the wait or the need to receive medication, had to return to their hotel rooms, organizers said. Others began crying, and some parents became enraged. Attendees said the group of at least 700 people were not allowed access to personal items they left behind, such as chairs and blankets.

The Truth 365 grass-roots child-cancer advocacy group had secured the necessary permits to hold “A Night of Golden Lights” candlelight vigil from 7 – 9 pm in the park.

Due to the park’s close proximity to the White House, it is regularly cleared out when security needs arise. And according to police officers and agents, President Obama exited the White House from an “entrance near the square” to attend the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Gala.

From a statement released by the Secret Service:

“The Secret Service would like to express its regret for not communicating more effectively with this group concerning the timeline for protectee movements in the vicinity of Lafayette Park.”

But seriously, two hours??

–Dana


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