Favorite Rejects 2022-01-01

Shitpost Munitions and the Teachings of Buddha @_Rewhan

Everybody loves unregulated markets until their imaginary wallet full of monkey jpegs gets stolen.

Branko Milanovic @BrankoMilan

Of all great powers Russia surely has historically had the worst foreign policy. It combines incredible naivete --Stalin who trusts Hitler not to invade --Gorbachev who trusts NATO not to expand with threatening moves that backfire --mobilization in 14 that leads to DEU response

James Medlock @jdcmedlock

Shutting down existing nuclear reactors is insane. Nuclear may not be a panacea going forward, but removing it from the mix is actively harmful and will result in more CO2

Alex @alex_avoigt

Today, on the last day of 2021, 3 more nuclear reactors will be shut down in 🇩🇪 Germany & in 12 months the last 3 Nuclear energy is expensive, causes CO2 & pollution (e.g. uranium mining), severe accidents & there is not a single repository to store the waste for 1 million years https://t.co/l1MsChnmrw

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

And half of them are in my Twitter mentions

Bloomberg @business

More American males aged 25-34 are living in a parent’s home, and fewer are participating in the labor force https://t.co/7G3E1mTXhZ via @BW

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

I think they’d enjoy “Hamilton” https://t.co/KwrQdcGIPT

Madison Cawthorn @CawthornforNC

Our Founding Fathers wouldn't recognize the America we live in today. They would be horrified, and rightfully so.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

The good news: The small country you guys founded is now the richest and most powerful nation in human history, we traveled to the Moon and have cured many diseases. The bad news: Racial equality and young people use singular “they.”

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

I really feel like progressives should lean into conservatives’ professed distaste for contemporary America — we have problems like anywhere but fundamentally what bothers them is the open, dynamic culture that’s made us so successful over time.

slowboring.comHungarian nationalism is not the answerKeep America great

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Obviously anyone from the late-18th century would find contemporary life astonishing, but I think the founders were mostly smart people who would not have expected society to stay static across centuries of time. The 2250s are gonna be pretty weird.

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

I guess the better question is: What would horrify the Founders more than it would horrify the average person from the 1700s? Because most people from then would probably be horrified by sprawl, industrialization, air pollution, porn, and social media.

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

The more I think about this, the more I'm certain that the answer to this question is "a Supreme Court dominated by Catholics".

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Learned among other things that NYC spends 6x the big city average on a per prisoner basis thanks to what seems like massive featherbedding in the Corrections union.

Nick Confessore @nickconfessore

How city officials handed control of Rikers to the corrections union, which handed it over to gangs. A stunning and enraging investigation by @Jan_Ransom for @NYTMetro https://t.co/4P6Caz55D5

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

This whole thread is the Scott Pill in reverse, says grain is good because (in contrast to farming tubers or legumes) you can confiscate it easily which allows for the construction of states which eventually leads to the industrial revolution. https://t.co/su8KVThghp

Omer Moav @Omer_Moav

The Origin of the State: Land Productivity or Appropriability? My JPE with @PascaliLuigi and Joram Mayshar. I consider this my most significant work in 25 years of research. https://t.co/e8L4cQr0n1

Timothy B. Lee @binarybits

I think most Americans underestimate how much more dysfunctional our constitutional/political system could become.

Noah Smith 🐇 @Noahpinion

Called it called it called it