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Hey, don’t laugh — we could do it (and another President reportedly thought about it too). So yes, we discuss that, a troubled Congressional trip to the Holy Land, the great Kevin Williamson on his new book The Smallest Minority: Independent Thinking in an Age of Mob Politics, and the WSJ’s Bill McGurn on the turmoil in Hong Kong (he knows the city well — he lived for ten years. Also, how did the name Ricochet come to land upon this blessed website? You’ll have to tune in for the answer to that one.
Music from this week’s show: Fight the Power by Public Enemy
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@jameslileks No, I think you might be perfect. If you knew too much, than others would not be able to listen and understand such interviews. Interview the local high school science teacher or community college lecturer or local inventor and move up from there until you feel you have gone too far up the IQ bell curve where you find people with whom you can’t have a normal conversation. I think one down side might be having to do a bit more research or a pre-interview to prevent an interview from being too difficult to understand. I’ve seen statistics that show that most of the people with college STEM degrees work in jobs that are different or completely different from what they obtained their degrees, but I think a lot of these folks have stories from when they worked in high-pressure science jobs just after graduating from college.
China’s Government is just a bunch of fascist mafia. They never ever should have been let into the WTO for that reason. The other thing is all of the aggressive central bank policy of the last 25 years has accelerated job loss and wage reductions due to China and globalize labor markets. So now we have to deal with socialism and populism.
I forget who that singer is at the end, but I really like one of his other tunes, too.
As much as I like the idea, I’d point out a) it’s not so much intelligence as the audience’s store of basic knowledge that would be the sticky part and b) relatedly, and just to be a wise-ass, the direction on the bell curve would be down (the peak of the curve is average intelligence; geniuses and morons are both at the low ends). Of course, I’m still trying to figure out whether the instructor’s comment on my entrance exam for “physics for people who might have to use it someday” of “not bad for someone who didn’t take high school physics” was a backhanded compliment or a flat-out insult.
Worth a try, though. Maybe, worst case, it would continue the pioneering work of Elliot and Goulding:
Balancing out Florida? You mean we have a dearth of English-language headlines that go “Baja Man Does Something Stupid?”
Now that you mention it, yes.
The US was the “protector” of Greenland after Denmark fell to the Germans in WW II. The US used the Monroe Doctrine as an argument for protecting Greenland from the Canadians or European powers.
If we bought it, it would require a massive road building project. I’ve driven the longest paved road in Greenland. It took about 20 minutes because we were going slow so the load didn’t fall off the truck.
Otherwise this is what the “road” system looked like.
It is Thomas Friedman who has fantasized about being China for one day. A distinction without difference between him and Krugman is that I can’t recall anyone even citing one of Krugman’s utterances as worth mentioning.
https://reason.com/2010/05/24/thomas-l-friedman-wants-us-to/
Here is what doesn’t work: too many non-public goods, positive rights, anything but a flat tax or a consumption tax. The Federal Reserve pushing the economy around. Education. Government actuarial systems. The media as defined by the idealism in their heads.
They just can’t believe it.
So we just need to try a little fascism.
With THEM in charge, of course.
One other thing, most of Greenland is below sea level. It’s shaped like a heaping bowl of ice. So as the ice melts and the seas rise (mostly due to thermal expansion) there will be less land. So, be careful on setting a per-acre price.
Yes, but the ice weighs a lot and is pushing down. As one removes the weight of the ice, the land will spring up.
How springy do you think that bedrock is?
I am sure that scientists can estimate it. I know I have read the same thing about Antarctica and also that the Midwestern United States is still recovering from the last Ice Age.
According to Hank Johnson the whole thing might capsize, then where would we be?
Iceless Greenland at current sea level would be much more interesting and useful than it is now. Plenty of uplands even with predicted sea level rise.
A humble but heartfelt request: can you guys PLEASE briefly recap whatever news story you’re reacting to before you start reacting to it? I have no idea why we’re talking about buying Greenland. I also don’t necessarily follow the news closely enough to know every stupid remark every politician has made in the last week. You need to do what we in the corporate world call a “level-set” before launching into the discussion.
Yes, I can Google these things. But that doesn’t help me as I’m listening to the podcast in my car, confused for minutes on end because I have no idea what you’re talking about…
Can do! Thanks for the suggestion.
Greenland is owned by Jeffrey Epstein. Most people don’t know that.
Well, now his long lost twin brother Geoffrey Epstein. That’s who he changed his will to a few weeks ago.