tragedy of the commons
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On trust and money.
In economics textbooks, the origin of money is often described as a replacement for barter. Silly examples are given: if you raise cows and need a hammer, you have to find someone who has an extra hammer and specifically wants cows. You might travel all across town with a cow in tow, searching for someone…
addiction, barter, Braiding Sweetgrass, Buterin, community, consumption, cryptocurrency, currency, Ethereum, Frank Bidard, gift economics, Hernan Diaz, hoarding, late fees, Magic the Gathering, monetary exchange, money, money versus barter, non-disclosure agreement, origin of money, overconsumption, Price of Crypto, promise, reparations, resource transfer, Robin Wall Kimmerer, social contract, social network, Third Hour of the Night, tragedy of the commons, Trevor Jackson, trust, Trust novel, vampire bats, wealth, Windigo, Windigo economics
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On taxing robots.
Automation is making the world worse, but the real problem is financial inequality, not robots.
a tax on wealth, automation, charity, cost of pollution, dishwashers, economic proposal, economic recovery, economic stimulus, Eduardo Porter, Eduardo Porter editorial, employer cartel, end of Great Depression, inequality, intentional inefficiency, low salary, low unemployment, negative externalities, New York Times editorial, parenting, politics, recession, robot tax, robotics, robots, robots taking jobs, shared costs, small town recovery plan, stagnant wages, tax wealth, taxing automation, taxing robots, the economics of automation, the politics of automation, tragedy of the commons, unemployment, wealth begets wealth, wealth tax, welfare, which jobs can be replaced by machines, why aren’t wages rising, work requirements, World War II
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On food and willing sacrifice.
Perhaps nothing really wants to be eaten, but in our world, nothing can survive without sacrifice from its parts.
Agni, apoptosis, autotrophs, cancer, consumption, David Shulman, ejaculate, ejaculation, Fire, food, fruit, Ganges, Genesis, gestation, gift, gift economics, God, heterotrophs, Hindu mythology, Hinduism, immolation, King James, libertarian, libertarianism, masturbation, mythology, Onan, Onanism, paterogenesis, reproduction, Robert Goldman, sacrifice, Sally Sutherland Goldman, Sati, semen, sexuality, Shiva, Sita, suicide, tragedy of the commons, unilateral reproduction, Valmiki, Vedic mythology
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On free-market capitalism, political spending, and Jane Mayer’s ‘Dark Money.’
Everybody knew that politicians could be bought… well, academics can be, too.
campaign finance, climate change, Dark Money, David Koch, economic policy, environmental regulations, Evicted, fiscal policy, free markets, global warming, government intervention, Jane Mayer, Koch brothers, libertarianism, Matthew Desmond, negative externalities, political spending, progressive taxation, Robert Reich, Saving Capitalism, subsidies for the rich, tax, tragedy of the commons
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On free-market economics & the actual meaning of words.
Despite being rather politically liberal, I consider myself a free market economist. (Maybe it’s unfair to self-describe as an economist, though? I did the coursework for a master’s degree in economics… but couldn’t get a degree because I didn’t complete the residency requirement. I was enrolled as an undergraduate at the time, and apparently would’ve…
basic research, beekeeping, CAFOs, cap and trade versus carbon tax, capital gains tax, carbon tax, Collapse, definition of fortuitous, definition of peruse, do taxes make people work less, Easter Island, economics, education spending, fortuitous, free market, free market distortions, free market economist, free-market fundamentalist, government subsidies, health spending, infrastructure, infrastructure spending, James Surowiecki, Jared Diamond, Joseph Stiglitz, market solutions, market solutions versus government solutions, mis-used words, misused words, New York Review of Books, patent protections, peruse, politicians misusing words, politics, pollution, positive externalities, pro-life, progressive taxation, right-wing economist, Stiglitz, subsidies, tax on high earners, taxation, taxing negative externalities, Thomas Friedman, tragedy of the commons, why does Easter Island have no trees, Why I Am Pro-Life, Why the Rich Are So Much Richer
Frank Brown Cloud 