Favorite Rejects 2022-09-03

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

We ended up in a situation where “socialism” describes the economic systems of both Canada and Cuba and everything in between, while only America has capitalism.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Good read here from @IDoTheThinking on how the YIMBYs scored huge wins in California this summer. We have a lot to learn on the east coast from the multi-year path to victory here.

darrellowens.substack.comYIMBYs Triumph In CaliforniaWhat went down in the legislature this week.

Jonathan Chait @jonathanchait

The quiet hero of the democrats' climate bill? Mitch McConnell, whose hostage threat backfired: nytimes.com/2022/09/02/us/…

Dr. Jorge Caballero stands with 🇺🇦 @DataDrivenMD

Medicare Advantage is the student loan of healthcare— it's unnecessarily privatizing a social program using taxpayer funds. Instead of expanding services via Medicare directly, taxpayer money is used to grow revenue for a middleman (health plans) that over-promise & under-deliver

Axios @axios

As Medicare's open enrollment season approaches, it's possible a majority of seniors will choose a Medicare Advantage plan for next year rather than traditional Medicare, according to a KFF report. https://t.co/YdIQ4UbGzx

Shabazz Stuart @ShabazzStuart

This isn’t the “gotcha” that you think it is 🤭 If cyclists paid proportional tolls (weight and space) car tolls would be in the many thousands of dollars. If cyclists paid proportional registration fees on the basis of horsepower, car fees would be in the millions.

Carolwithane @carolwthne

It’s time to let bike riders pay their fair share of bike lanes that cost the tax yet billions of dollars. Plate and registration plus tolls! https://t.co/uehankHr2Z

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

Geographic mobility created by the Black Death improved working conditions for those who didn’t die. Conveniently in today’s world we could achieve the same effect without killing tons of people by changing land use rules.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

I don’t think this is correct. The infrastructure for a fossil fuel economy largely already exists so making new things hard to build disproportionately burdens cleaner alternatives.

Yonah Freemark @yfreemark

Problem with permitting reform for energy infrastructure—meaning less environmental review—is that it's not clear clean energy projects would benefit more than fossil infra & it ignores *ecological* consequences of projects. @A_W_Gordon's useful piece: https://t.co/FGlho7gkke https://t.co/QnSaleNWXN

Josiah Neeley 🇦🇶 @jneeley78

@mattyglesias It’s not correct. 42 percent of active DOE projects involving NEPA are clean energy related, vs 15 for fossil fuels. rstreet.org/2021/07/07/add… @RSI

rstreet.orgAddressing NEPA-Related Infrastructure Delays - R StreetExecutive Summary President Joseph Biden’s infrastructure negotiations with Congress have renewed interest in infrastructure investment policy proposals. Due to this interest, it is worth returning to the topic of the National Environmental Policy Act’s (NEPA) role in infrastructure deployment timel…

Ben Adler @badler

How Many Of 'Her Emails' Were Classified? Actually, Zero

nationalmemo.comHow Many Of ‘Her Emails’ Were Classified? Actually, ZeroNearly every day fresh revelations emerge in the federal investigation of the national security and presidential records that Donald Trump purloined from the White House.

wyatt dunkin @WyattDuncan

insane that late night TV was ever allowed to be this good

Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇦 @Noahpinion

Liberals talk nice. We give people money. We arrange peace talks. We march against racism. We appease the bad guys right up until the moment when appeasement is no longer an option. But liberalism has always been an iron fist in a velvet glove.

Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇦 @Noahpinion

Wow.

David Weiskopf @daveregrets

One more interesting dynamic here: the Governor has called for the state to work towards a net CO2 removal goal of 100M tons per year by 2045. I don't know if it is possible, but if so, the result would be that, thanks to AB1279, CA is about 9% net negative in 2045.

Danny Cullenward @dcullenward

AB 1279 does this in a way that diffuses tension between mitigation and carbon removal. It sets a floor on mitigation (i.e. achieve ≥ 85%), rather than a ceiling on carbon removal (i.e. no more than 15%). So both approaches can thrive, without one substituting for the other. https://t.co/LIEc5gngPZ

Noah Smith 🐇🇺🇦 @Noahpinion

Yes! The idea of "technological unemployment" is possibly the most pernicious idea of our time. It's how liberals convince themselves to be scared of technology, and how libertarians convince normies to be scared of unions. Down with Luddism!

James Medlock @jdcmedlock

I agree that sectoral bargaining may help push businesses to increase productivity (aka automation), but in my opinion, the combination of higher wages and more output requiring less labor is a good thing that leaves society better off https://t.co/kcqYbVRlOi