The View from Right Field

Inequality, Social Mobility, and a “Fair Go”

A new post on the New Zealand idea of a “fair go” is up on my other blog, “A Different New Zealand.”  You can find it here.

The 2010s In Review: At Least There Was One Night in Cleveland

With the 2010s coming to an end, the media is full of decade-in-review articles.  (Normally, December brings year-in-review or best-of-the-year articles, but once every ten years, you get an entire decade.)  And the articles about the 2010s have been pretty grim:  Syria.  Climate Change (i.e., everybody talks about it, but nobody actually does anything about it¹).  Populism.  North Korea.  Ukraine (i.e., Putin’s invasion; not just Trump’s telephone conversation).  ISIS.  Trump.  China (i.e., worsening economy and increasing repression).  Impeachment (since January 20, 2017).  Trade Wars.  Racism/Wokeism.  And more.

But as even The Wall Street Journal has noted, there was one moment in the 2010s when everything was wonderful and nothing else mattered.²  A moment when one hundred and eight years of waiting was finally rewarded.³  A moment that will last a lifetime for anybody who was watching or listening – and caring.  Because it finally happened: THE CHICAGO CUBS WON THE WORLD SERIES!

What Christmas Is All About

Things have been a little hectic lately (and I hope to get back to posting next week), but I don't want to miss my annual Christmas Eve post:

Charlie Brown:  "Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"

Linus: "Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about.  Lights, please?

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them.  And they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you.  Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men.’

"That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

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PS: "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is also to be treasured because it is one of the few places today where you can hear the story of our Savior's birth in the King James Version, which has a magnificence in its language that is timeless. 

Things have been a little hectic lately (and I hope to get back to posting next week), but I don't want to miss my annual Christmas Eve post:

Charlie Brown:  "Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"

Linus: "Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about.  Lights, please?

Are the Cubs Really Going to Trade Kris Bryant?

The question around baseball, at least in the Chicago papers, has been whether the Cubs will trade Kris Bryant.  The idea, as I understand it, is that, with two years left before he becomes a free agent, trading Kris Bryant will get you a whole lot of prospects/up-and-coming players.  The current Cubs baseball management team wound up trading middle-range starting pitchers for prospects in 2012, 2013, and 2014.  And the results were great: Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arrieta, Pedro Strop, Addison Russell, and more.¹  Of course, there were also players you never heard of again.  But, given that we were going nowhere in those years, it was a good move.

The difference is, hopefully we are not going nowhere in 2020.  There is no reason why the Cubs can’t get to the postseason in 2020.  In fact, they ought to get to the postseason, especially if Kris Bryant is playing for them.  And who do they need playing for them in the postseason?  Kris Bryant. 

The Effect of “Exit” and “Voice” on Financial Irresponsibility and Corruption in Illinois

“Exit” and “voice” are the two main ways that people can react to problems they have with business or government – or pretty much anything.  With “exit,” you just leave.  If you don’t like one cell phone company, you go to another.  If a food store doesn’t have the products you want or if the fruits and vegetables aren’t fresh enough, you go someplace else.

When it comes to government, the same theory applies, though it isn’t quite as easy.  Still if things are bad enough, you leave.  As Tim Harford noted in FT Weekend,¹ “[a] citizen of the US can move to a different state; a citizen of the EU can move to a different country.”  Venezuela is the current champion in this category.  Literally millions of people have left Venezuela because conditions are so bad there.

Is This the Afghanistan Bug-Out I Have Been Worried About?

While he was in Afghanistan for Thanksgiving last week, Donald Trump said that peace talks would resume with the Taliban.  But, as normal for President Trump, things about the resumption of talks are a little unclear.  According to The Wall Street Journal, President Trump said:

“The Taliban wants to make a deal – we’ll see if they make a deal.  If they do they do, and if they don’t they don’t.  That’s fine.”

The Washington Post quoted the President as saying:

“The Taliban wants to make a deal and we’re meeting with them and we’re saying it has to be a cease-fire and they didn’t want to do a cease-fire, and now they do want to do a cease-fire.  I believe it’ll probably work out that way.”

Climate Change: Getting It Done Versus Merely Adopting Plans

With the world meeting in Madrid for the annual U.N. Climate Change Conference, it’s time repeat something I said back in July (and alluded to in October): If we want to cut emissions, the key is not what we do in the United States.  It’s both what the United States does and what we help the rest of the world do.

The discussions in Madrid are about how everybody needs to have a plan to substantially reduce carbon emissions, or even go net carbon-free, by 2050 or sooner.  But what we need aren’t plans.  (Ask President Emanuel Macron of France how his plan to cut carbon emissions by, inter alia, raising gasoline taxes went.)  We need realistic actions, actions that will actually happen, to get emissions down.  And not just in the United States and Europe.

If “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”, Then What’s the Matter with Me?

In 2004, Thomas Frank wrote a book entitled What’s the Matter with Kansas?¹  The main idea of the book was that Republicans had used issues like abortion, school prayer, etc., to get working class and other Kansans to vote Republican, against their economic interests.

I thought about this book over the weekend when I did the monthly review of our 401(k)s.  I am lousy at investing, so we just own index mutual funds (some in stocks and some in bonds).  The thing I noted was how high the stock market is.  It is amazing to me, but the stock market has seemed to take off since Donald Trump was elected.  I don’t understand it, and I don’t know why it keeps going up,² but it has.³