Earlier, I outlined the familiar game of capitalism whack-a-mole. In this game, proponents of capitalism shift constantly between the incompatible normative frameworks of voluntarism, desert, and utility. It’s funny because, during the whack-a-mole game, the underlying reasons that they claim to motivate them change dramatically, but their conclusions never do. Yesterday, I was host to… Continue reading Tradition-Aggression-Desert Whack-A-Mole
Is Social Security defensible on traditionalist grounds or not?
I wrote about the new hotness of mushy traditionalism (instead of conventional normative argument) being mobilized to somehow support libertarianism. I got this response from Adam Gurri, which am not satisfied with because it does not answer back my concerns, but rather rehashes an abstract explanation of what traditionalism means. To show I read it,… Continue reading Is Social Security defensible on traditionalist grounds or not?
Here is exactly how the Census supplemental poverty calculation is derived
Previously I wrote the smashing hit “Here is exactly how the Census poverty calculation is derived.” It explains in great detail how the Official Poverty Metric (OPM) works. Here, I do the same thing for the Supplemental Poverty Metric (SPM). Units All poverty metrics require some way of drawing lines around sets of people and… Continue reading Here is exactly how the Census supplemental poverty calculation is derived
Some problems with this traditionalist stuff
Adam Gurri has been pushing this line for a while that his “libertarianism” is derived from some kind of status quo deferentialism and deference to prevailing norms, traditions, and so on. He wrote a post today somewhat defending that view even though it would have had him arguing for slavery 150 years ago, for Jim… Continue reading Some problems with this traditionalist stuff
It isn’t your money
Greg Newburn brought to my attention this old piece from Will Wilkinson. In it Wilkinson argues against the Murphy-Nagel (and before them Hale, Proudhon, pieces of Hobbes, Rousseau, etc.) view that it is incoherent for someone to say some bit of money that is taxed is their money being taken. Before making his point, Wilkinson… Continue reading It isn’t your money