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A marina filled with luxurious yachts, with an azure sea backdrop, epitomizing the maritime lifestyle of the wealthy
A marina filled with luxurious yachts, with an azure sea backdrop, epitomizing the maritime lifestyle of the wealthy

Who Is Creating More Value For Society? Jeff Bezos or Bernie Sanders?

Michael R. Strain of the American Enterprise Institute has noted: Billionaire innovators create enormous value for society. In a 2004 paper, the Nobel laureate economist William D. Nordhaus found “that only a minuscule fraction” – about 2.2% – “of the social returns from technological advances” accrued to innovators themselves. The rest of the benefits (which is to say, almost all of them) went to consumers. If Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is worth $170 billion, then according to Nordhaus, he’s created over $7.7 trillion in value for society. Bezos has made each American around $23,000 richer. But Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders thinks an innovator’s 2.2 percent is too much. Sanders tweeted “Billionaires should not exist.” Continue reading on Substack.

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George Gilder Joins Bill and Cole Smead Live on A Book with Legs Podcast

From A Book with Legs Podcast: Live from the 2024 Smead Investor Oasis, venture capitalist George Gilder joins Bill and Cole Smead to discuss his latest work, “Life after Capitalism,” in which he redefines capitalism as a knowledge-based system. Gilder presents a vision of the future in which technological advances disrupt traditional capitalist structures, emphasizing innovation and knowledge over wealth accumulation. Listen here:

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woman hand hold supermarket shopping cart with abstract blur organic fresh fruits and vegetable on shelves in grocery store defocused bokeh light background
woman hand hold supermarket shopping cart with abstract blur organic fresh fruits and vegetable on shelves in grocery store defocused bokeh light background

Time Pricing Mark Perry’s Chart of the Century

Time prices are a better way to measure standards of living. Read More ›
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A homeless encampment sits on a street in Downtown Los Angeles, California, USA.
A homeless encampment sits on a street in Downtown Los Angeles, California, USA.

Jonathan Choe on Humanize Podcast: The Crisis of Our City Streets

In this episode of Humanize, Choe will describes the horrors—and heroism—he encounters daily as he covers the homelessness beat. Read More ›
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Illustration of a 70s kitchen. Stove, microwave. 70s furniture. Classic retro refrigerator. 70s design
Illustration of a 70s kitchen. Stove, microwave. 70s furniture. Classic retro refrigerator. 70s design

From 1979 to 2019 Finished Goods Became 761 Percent More Abundant for Upskilling Workers

35 consumer goods take 54.4% to 94.9% less time to earn the money to buy. Most of us begin our work life as unskilled workers. But we learn new skills every day and this allows us to upgrade to higher-paying jobs. In a word, we enjoy career mobility. This is why it is important to follow a person’s path through their economic life.  We create categories to divide populations into groups. Categories can provide useful demographic snapshots. Categories don’t change but people move through categories throughout their lives. This is why in many cases it makes more sense to look at individuals instead of categories. We talk about this issue here. We looked at the time prices of 35 finished goods Read More ›

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Unique at Boston's Methadone Mile
Still from Jonathan Choe, © Discovery Institute

Struggling at Boston’s Methadone Mile

The Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors are in the middle of a hotly contested NBA Finals. The beauty and majesty of both cities are on full display.  As are their flaws.    Read More ›
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Congressman Tom Cotton of Arkansas speaking at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland.
Photo by Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Senator Cotton’s Stand

Today, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton introduced legislation to ban critical race theory trainings in the United States military. The bill is concise, and desperately needed. Read More ›
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Subversive Education

Last year, the Wake County Public School System, which serves the greater Raleigh, North Carolina area, held an equity-themed teachers’ conference with sessions on “whiteness,” “microaggressions,” “racial mapping,” and “disrupting texts,” encouraging educators to form “equity teams” in schools and push the new party line: “antiracism.” Read More ›