20 Comments
Jan 17, 2019Liked by Roy Edroso

I haven't thought about Tyler Cowen in a couple of years.

Did you have to remind me of him, Roy?!?!?

To a tiny extent, you do have to pity poor Tyler. As you noted, his audience now contains people who are capable of seeing through high school-debate level "reasoning" that's been slathered over with a thin sauce of sophistry. When someone like Tyler wins his new perch based on such previous performance and his new audience calls "bullshit!" at every column, it's got to be a terrifying experience. Suffering from imposter syndrome is hard when you're marginally competent. Just think how bad it is when you're wildly incompetent and know that you're in over your head.

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Jan 17, 2019Liked by Roy Edroso

Given your last paragraph, you appear to be a much better human being than I. More forgiving and understanding. Oh well, I guess someone has to do it.

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Jan 17, 2019Liked by Roy Edroso

I realize this is becoming a trope for me, but what’s with his hair?

Thank you for reading Cowen, McArdle, et al. so we don’t have to.

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"The song is still played regularly on satellite radio, even though it is not a particularly distinguished piece of music."

I know I'm not alone in very much wanting to hear Tyler Cowen dilate on what, especially in pop, he considers to be a particularly distinguished piece of music. Right, guys...? Hey, where did everybody go?

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Jan 17, 2019Liked by Roy Edroso

Cowen is still digging; now he's defending payday lending. One of his latest tweets quotes an analysis of a CSFA survey: "Nearly all payday loan customers evaluated their own experience with their most recent payday loan positively and believed that payday loan companies provide a useful service to consumers."

Who's the CSFA? you may ask. From Wikipedia: "The Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA) is a trade association representing the payday lending industry."

Libertarians can sometimes be such caricatures of themselves. It's awesome in a blinkered, all-of-my-advanced-degrees-don't-mean-a-fucking-thing kind of way.

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Jan 17, 2019Liked by Roy Edroso

I've worked for the Bank several times as a consultant and I can guarantee you that Princess Ivanka would be very carefully walled off and given a few ceremonial tasks and that's about it if she put forward by Emperor Trumpkins. The Bank's president isn't like a hands-on CEO type job (the CEO is currently a Bulgarian woman, BTW; I knew her back in the day). The president can build a coalition for new policies and provide leadership but the job requires a real capacity for effective diplomacy and persuasion, i.e. attributes the Princess is not noted for. Ineffective presidents like the despicable Paul Wolfowitz typically don't last very long while really good ones like James Wolfensohn had a tenure of ten years. The Bank has a pretty large management staff quite aside from their country and regional offices. The president also has to preside over an international board of directors. Frankly, I cannot imagine why Ivanka would even be interested in the position. Oh and BTW, the Bank already had a woman's entrepreneurship initiative before Mohammed bin Bonesaw got involved.

Tyler Cowan also periodically does restaurant reviews. Why? Who knows and why anyone should pay any attention to them is a mystery. He's a Koch Brothers disciple, which is really all you need to know about him.

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Jan 17, 2019Liked by Roy Edroso

Ivanka doesn't pass the Paul Wolfowitz test: styling your hair with a spit-moistened comb while promoting death in the Middle East.

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Jan 17, 2019Liked by Roy Edroso

You should be more respectful of Dr. Cowen. Just because he is a bought and paid for shill of Koch Industries is no reason to discount his drivel. Making much money is the one sign of merit recognized throughout most of America, and Tyler is full of it.

I am glad he is an economics professor rather than besmirching my discipline

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