I just finished reading “Two Paths to Prosperity: Culture and Institutions in Europe and China,” 1000-2000 by Avner Greif, Guido Tabellini, and Joel Mokyr. The book, as suggested by the title, is a study of comparative economic history. My reading of economic history is limited to reading biographies of Marx and Keynes. My reading of […]
It’s the guns. One of the many red herrings tossed out by the anti-vaxxers is that people who got the COVID jab still got COVID. That’s true. I’m one of them. But the promise of the COVID vaccine was never that it would keep you from getting infected. It was that the vaccine would likely […]
Every time Tesla stock declines, there’s another article saying the stock is collapsing. Like every stock, there are spikes in the long-term history, but if you plot a best-fit regression through Tesla stock prices since 2023, it’s been increasing. It is currently at an all-time high.* But some are questioning the relationship between current Tesla […]
Mark Twain famously said, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.” Among the many fleet-footed lies being told by the Trump Administration is that Lyme disease originated in a bioweapons facility. “During a November appearance on the “PBD Podcast,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH, […]
Data centers consume immense amounts of energy, much of which is given off as heat (see: 2nd law of thermodynamics). In much of the world, the heat just goes into the environment. In Finland and Sweden, efforts are underway to use that waste heat for home heating. “• Microsoft and other companies are building large-scale […]
I started taking Social Security in March, just after I turned 70. I was born in the mathematical middle of the baby boom. What does SS look like for my fellow boomers? “The average Social Security benefit for people at age 65 is $1,583 per month, according to the Social Security Administration. For men, the […]
If it hasn’t already been obvious for the past three decades, the stock market is dominated by gamblers, not investors. And gamblers don’t keep banker’s hours, peeps. “Nasdaq, one of the world’s largest exchanges that is home to tech companies Nvidia (NVDA), Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN), is planning to submit paperwork with the U.S. […]
For those who, like me, have eschewed cryptocurrency, you might have missed the recent Bitcoin crash. “Digital asset treasuries were flying high this year until bitcoin’s sudden October crash. Now many of those companies are sitting on unrealized losses.” “Over 180 public companies currently hold crypto on their balance sheets, with roughly 100 of that […]
In November 2025, Vinay Prasad, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the FDA claimed, “career staff have found that at least 10 children have died after and because of receiving COVID-19 vaccination.” This statement was false. What’s the truth of the matter? “The final Dec. 5 memo, according to FDA employees […]
I grew up in Tennessee, but since graduating from UT-Knoxpatch, I’ve only returned a few times for special occasions. A recent poll says that 61% rate the state’s economy as “very” or “fairly good,” and 53% feel things in Tennessee are going in the “right direction.” Which direction is the right direction? “According to the […]