Policy commentary from an econ, data science, and comparative politics perspective
Our current plurality voting system (aka First Past the Post) is one of the least fair voting systems in the world because it gives no voice at all to minority viewpoints. Indeed, even a majority viewpoint can be underrepresented if that side of the political spectrum simply runs more candidates, thus splitting the vote (i.e.,… Continue reading On the Fairness (or lack thereof) of our Plurality Voting System
For the past several years, I’ve looked far and wide for good ratings of media sources. Media Bias / Fact Check (MB/FC) is the best one I’ve been able to find. Indeed, every criticism of MB/FC that I have ever seen fails to mention a media assessment source that is better! That says it all… Continue reading How Trustworthy Is Media Bias / Fact Check?
Pardon the dust (it's a good thing you have that N95 face mask handy)! A lifetime ago, I had a blog named "fling93 loves fishies." I'd like to think that it was much better than the rather hastily-chosen name indicates, as I prided myself on my measured arguments backed with thoughtful reasoning and quality sources.… Continue reading Under Construction
image from ThriftBooks I found Peter Zeihan's The Accidental Superpower to be a very interesting, informative, and entertaining book. It seems to be a great introduction to geopolitics, especially with its awesome maps. The first half of the book is brilliant, describing the geographical advantages that led to America's rise. As he describes in the book,… Continue reading Review of The Accidental Superpower
(image via goodreads) Odd Arne Westad's The Cold War is simply a must-read for anyone who wants a better understanding of the world today. Despite having lived through the Cold War -- and as someone who probably pays closer attention to current events, world politics, and history than your average American -- there was a… Continue reading Review of The Cold War: A World History
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we-L7w1K5Zo "Boo! Different political party!" You may have noticed how political debates in the U.S. these days tend to be two sides shouting and hurling insults at each other. Do you want to do something about it? Well, the first step is to be able to understand what you believe and why. If your only… Continue reading How I define Conservativism and Liberalism
Posted on my Facebook on January 7th, 2021, links and image added August 23rd, 2021. Image via CNN. I'd moved most of my political content to Twitter mostly so y'all would have less politics to deal with when you just want to see how your friends and family are doing over the holidays. Plus, I… Continue reading The Capitol Riots
Image from goodreads.com I consider All the Devils Are Here to be the best book on the financial crisis I have read so far, edging out Nouriel Roubini's Crisis Economics and significantly better than Michael Lewis's excellent Big Short. Roubini excels more at explaining more of the economics in systemic big-picture terms and also laying… Continue reading Review of All the Devils Are Here
Hey all y'all, Well, life is strange. Five years ago, I was a software engineer in the Silicon Valley, taking economics classes to transition to a new career that, at the time, I thought would be public policy. A summer in D.C. and a couple of trips to Burning Man, and well, that plan went… Continue reading (Re)start Me Up
Things you have done during your lifetime: (X) Gone on a blind date( ) Gone on a date with someone who was blind(X) Gone on a date with someone who was blind and you stole food off their plate( ) Gone on a date blind because there was a bucket over your head(X) Had a… Continue reading The Bucket List Meme
Perfectly Good Ink 