Bob Zimmerman notes the ongoing (and increasing) absurdity of the program.
Category Archives: Political Commentary
The Cloud People
I totally get the anger that has created Trump. I share it. But I will never understand why they don’t see that he’s a false vessel for it.
Also, this is funny but sad, about Whole Foods customers.
[Update a while later]
This seems related: The new WASPs are Asians in Silicon Valley.
Five Problematic Events
…that could sway the election.
I think they’re more than five. And his fifth one is more of an ongoing process than an “event.”
Gary Kasparov
“Hey, Bernie, don’t lecture me on socialism; I lived through it.”
LysisTrumpa
The problem with this idea is that we have secret ballots. So the men will just lie to get nookie, and vote for him anyway.
Vulcan And AR1
Boeing and Lockmart still seem on board with the new rocket development, despite Congressional idiocy. Of course, they know that the only way to survive against SpaceX is to build a new rocket.
Great Moments In Socialism
[Late-morning update]
Related: Five economic myths that will not die.
A lot of economics is counterintuitive to many.
Luxurious College Apartments
When people ask why college tuition is so high, defenders of the higher-education system point to things like “Baumol’s cost disease” (costs in industries without much productivity growth tend to rise, because they have to compete for labor with more productive industries) and declining state contributions to public colleges. No doubt these play a part. But this cannot explain the vast upgrades in college residential amenities that have taken place in the 20 years since I graduated from college, when a student union and some ivy on the walls was about the best you could expect.
But of course, our parents were paying for it, and they didn’t care whether we had a swimming pool. A certain Spartan element was supposed to be part of the ritual of college attendance, just as it had been when they were in college. What changed? I suspect the answer is that rising tuition, and the increasing reliance on student loans, has placed more of the financial responsibility into the hands of students. And the students shop for colleges based on … well, about what you’d expect when you give tens of thousands of dollars to 18-year-olds and ask where they’d like to spend the next four years.
This is policy insanity.
The Space-Policy White Paper
Keith Cowing has some thoughts, with which I largely agree. This was clearly a compromise, in which the SLS/Orion supporters and Commercial Crew supporters agreed to come together to support each others’ programs, and present a united front. Unfortunately for the former, one program makes sense, and the other doesn’t. At some point, it will die, but not before billions more are wasted on it.
On The Radio
I did a show this morning with Jim Muncy and Paul Sutter at the NPR affiliate in Columbus, OH. I thought it went pretty well.