The New York case against Trump was one of those all too frequent examples of prosecutorial overreach. It was a bullshit charge based on a highly creative definition of election law. If I had been a juror, Trump would have gotten off due to a hung jury.Having said that, Trump is a criminal many times over, and deserves| TheMoneyIllusion
I've had very low expectations for the Fed's upcoming review of its operating regime. I had thought that the previous review (back in 2020) had hit the nail on the head, until I learned that| TheMoneyIllusion
For readers who don't already know this, my new blog is over at Substack:scottsumner.substack.comThis will be my final Money Illusion post. The blog began on February 2, 2009. But the events that led to the blog took place in late 2008. Indeed my life can be divided into two segments, before and after September 16, 2008. It was that specific| TheMoneyIllusion
The old TV sitcom Cheers began with a nostalgic song about a time and place| TheMoneyIllusion
Tyler Cowen directed me to a Greg Mankiw essay on inflation: And as a textbook author, I sometimes get the suggestion that the whole discussion of the Phillips curve be removed from my books on the grounds that the idea is hopelessly out-of-date. By contrast, my own thinking is closer to that of George Akerlof (2002), who in his Nobel prize| TheMoneyIllusion
During my recent trip to the Bay Area, I met lots of people who are involved in the field of AI. My general impression is that this region has more smart people than anywhere else, at least per capita. And not just fairly smart, I'm talking about extremely high IQ individuals. I don't claim to have met a representative cross| TheMoneyIllusion
I recently attended a blogging conference in Berkeley. From the perspective of interesting conversation, it was probably the best weekend of my life. Lots of super smart people. As I get older (I'm 68), I notice that most other people in the blogging/twitter world are one or even two generations younger than me. Most of the ones I follow| TheMoneyIllusion
Yesterday, I saw Dune 2 in a huge theater (with only one other patron.) Before the feature presentation, I was subjected to 35 minutes of torture. First a series of ads, then one preview after another full of loud explosions and ridiculous CGI monsters. (Remakes of Planet of the Apes, King Kong and Mad Max, among other| TheMoneyIllusion
There are times when the claims of bubble proponents becomes so far-fetched that you wonder if it's all just a spoof. Bloomberg provides a recent example: Nvidia Corp.’s rise is captivating the stock market and driving the S&P 500 Index to new highs. But it also raises cautionary reminders of another investor darling that soared on dreams of a technological transformation, only| TheMoneyIllusion
I don't mean that literally. Atheists have not started believing in God. But in one respect they have replaced Christians---they are now the group that views all humans as having equal worth. In contrast, universalist Christianity has largely been replaced with Christian nationalism (which of course is a sort of oxymoron.) Here's Matt Yglesias: George W. Bush took up| TheMoneyIllusion
Here's how I would describe Orange County, my home since 2017:1. The population is a bit over 3 million.2. It's one of the most affluent places in the entire world. There are many luxury car dealerships, marinas that are full of expensive boats, and elegant shopping malls full of the usual stores.3. It has a very| TheMoneyIllusion