It’s interesting that most history books take it as self-evident that tariffs which protect industries from foreign competition are beneficial to the country enacting them, while nearly all economics textbooks take the opposite tack, and pretty vehemently.

I suspect neither is completely correct all the time, but I think history books have it mostly right because they have no agenda in this regard.

I like that car people notice my car (even if they don’t know what it is) but normal people just see a boring family sedan.

In the drive-through line of a fast food restaurant today, a guy walked by my car and then literally did a double take. It was comical. Then he motioned me to roll down the window.

“Oh my god this car is sweet! What is it?” he said.

Even a lot of car people don’t know what the SS is. It’s never had any advertising nor much press, as I mentioned before. He probably just noticed that it had big fat tires on the rear, huge brakes, and of course the unmistakable V8 growl and grumble.

So I told him that it was a Chevy SS, really just a re-badged Holden Commodore, and that it had a 415HP Corvette LS3 engine in it.

“Damn, man, this car is awesome,” he said as he walked away.

It’s almost like driving an exotic — car people know it’s something unusual but don’t know much about it since it’s so rare. If there are any SSes left on the lots, that dude might be a buyer now.

Stock markets are a terrible way to fund companies but they are a great way for me to fund me.

Dirty Medicine. How medical supply behemoths stick it to the little guy, making America’s health care system more dangerous and expensive.

But according to inane fuckwits like the ones found here, the reason American medical prices are so high is “more expensive technology” and “as people become richer, they demand more/better healthcare.”

Sure. Sounds likely.

Economics as a profession needs to be burned to the ground.