Broback's Blog

Paul Krugman used to be an economist. Today he writes for the NYTimes as “The Conscience of a Liberal”, which has his editorial commentaries generally aligning with popular folk economic beliefs. As one would expect, examples abound of apparent contradictions with what economist Krugman advocated 20 years ago, and what folk economist Krugman advocates today. […]

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“Perspective is worth 80 IQ points.” – Alan Kay There has been a lot of ink (pixels?) spilled over the years regarding the phenomenon where (presumably) high IQ academics and/or intellectuals appear to be prone to profound and surprising errors in judgement. Clever sillies: why high IQ people tend to be deficient in common sense […]

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I am hosting three panels and a Dent/Tweethouse reception this year, hope to see you in sunny San Diego! Here are my sessions: Thursday, July 9 • 2:00pm – 3:00pm Building the Holodeck Friday, July 10 • 3:00pm – 4:00pm Rise of Aqua(wo)man Saturday, July 11 • 5:00pm – 6:00pm Future Toys: How AI, Robotics, […]

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Headlines today include “Gas drops below $2 in Oklahoma, prompting price war.” and WTI Crude closed at $66.46 a gallon. Inflation adjusted, that equates to $54.67 in 2005 dollars. 2005 is when The Oil Drum launched, and according to their own earliest writings, $55.00 a barrel was the going rate. Bottom line, the price of […]

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In a stunning victory over the Republican incumbent House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Economics professor(!) Dr. Dave Brat will face off against Sociology professor Democrat Dr. Jack Trammell in November. While the 7th district in Virginia certainly leans Republican, Brat may have a tough go of it. Why? The language problem. The language of sociology […]

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Note: This article refers to Professor Krugman, the economist and textbook author. Apparently there is a non-economist columnist with the same name. I apologize for the confusion. Four days ago, the LA Times posted an article with the headline: “VA investigation turns up widespread problems with wait times.” In the piece, the VA is quoted […]

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Did someone say “Days of Future Past”? The newest X-Men movie follows a story arc that I followed closely during the Reagan administration. Confident that this was an enduring story line that would stand apart as a classic, I started buying multiple issues way back when. See my three copies below. A 50 cent investment […]

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I was able to grab many of the posts surrounding the trip that I and a group of bloggers took on the USS Carl Vinson a few months back. Here they are. Analisa Farias (@analisafarias): Aboard the USS Carl Vinson Blogger Embark 2014 Bill Wohl (@billwohl61): The US Navy and Social Media / PR Best […]

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OK, a quick clarification — Virginia Postrel corrected me on this a few weeks back. Econ 101 is typically a Macro Econ class (or “Voodoo” as I like to call Macro…) It’s Econ 201 (Intro to Microeconomics) that really matters here. Flashback to Jan 6, 2014: “UAW sets up organizing committee at Tesla’s Fremont factory” […]

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In anticipation of our March 2014 Dent Conference, we made the drive from Seattle to Sun Valley Idaho. This year we had the luxury of being able to take our time and make lots of fun stops along the way. Also we were fortunate to be driving a shiny new Buick Enclave, which turned out […]

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