tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post4126724140478187550..comments2024-03-28T03:16:14.104-04:00Comments on Noahpinion: Calm down, Will Wilkinson! Joe Stiglitz is not the problem.Noah Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09093917601641588575noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-91008447346867267232012-04-17T22:09:51.009-04:002012-04-17T22:09:51.009-04:00Thank you for an excellent weblog !! I discovered ...Thank you for an excellent weblog !! I discovered some useful information and will suggest your blog for all my buddies.jakarta hotelhttp://www.jakarta.intercontinental.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-38162199324209208762011-08-28T11:36:01.013-04:002011-08-28T11:36:01.013-04:00This is a very well-reasoned post, Noah. I'm g...This is a very well-reasoned post, Noah. I'm glad you are not reactionary.Corneliushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06782914097860066903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-33351219185849887912011-05-01T19:21:27.789-04:002011-05-01T19:21:27.789-04:00I second Bruce; the libertarian movement is very w...I second Bruce; the libertarian movement is very well aligned with the right on economic issues, and Will is merely a propagandist.Barry DeCiccohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04735814736387033844noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-15760755358469042122011-05-01T02:16:27.583-04:002011-05-01T02:16:27.583-04:00Scott,
I don't know Matt, actually. You might...Scott,<br /><br />I don't know Matt, actually. You might want to take this up with him...Noah Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09093917601641588575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-36106690460522357382011-04-16T11:42:19.435-04:002011-04-16T11:42:19.435-04:00Noah,
I'm Scott Winship. I'd point out t...Noah,<br /><br />I'm Scott Winship. I'd point out that Matt's claim that my "headline claim" was refuted by "a commenter" is a mischaracterization. The commenter--MIT economist Erik Brynjolffson--made a critique, I replied to his critique and indicated where there was some validity and where there was ambiguity, and then I updated the post to lay out my response. If you (or Matt or anyone) reads the post, I hope you'll agree that I've fairly characterized the issue. If you know Matt, I'd love for him to see this too and to consider changing his characterization.Scott Winshiphttp://www.scottwinship.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-50403666169352151492011-04-15T20:07:10.240-04:002011-04-15T20:07:10.240-04:00I would think that income inequality is heavily in...I would think that income inequality is heavily interconnected with the corruption of our political system. After all, money talks. Look at what the Kochtopus has been able to accomplish.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-36202453759894046952011-04-15T15:07:33.608-04:002011-04-15T15:07:33.608-04:00I'm perpetually confused about those who assum...I'm perpetually confused about those who assume that any sort of increase in health care spending represents an increase in benefits as opposed to simple inflated spending. It's certainly always the case that this is true, but it seems to be the case that the cost of health care benefits continues to go up while the benefits stay the same or get worse, at least for a lot of people. That is certainly the case for me. Aside from regular dental appointments, I haven't been to a doctor once in the past few years--except to get my eyes examined, and only once did I use an M.D. for that--since I never get sick and have been lucky not be injured, yet the cost of my insurance has increased. Granted, the provider did change, but then, how is it an increase in my compensation if I have to pay more for something that I never use?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-70654971251649671942011-04-14T13:17:21.223-04:002011-04-14T13:17:21.223-04:00Noah,
You merely posted and promoted a line of th...Noah,<br /><br />You merely posted and promoted a line of thinking about the intersection public and private that Will already criticized and explained. <br /><br />To have any value and be of any interest to further discussion, your response needed to actually address what Will is saying rather than post the poster boy ideas of what Will is criticizing and succeeding well at criticizing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-31645183899065895272011-04-14T11:46:35.906-04:002011-04-14T11:46:35.906-04:00@eRobin: There are three reasons I'm not too w...@eRobin: There are three reasons I'm not too worried about inequality per se:<br /><br />1) The "diminishing marginal utility of consumption". Being rich doesn't make you much happier than being middle-class. So I do worry about poverty, which does make people very unhappy. But someone who makes $10M/yr. isn't really doing much better than someone who makes $60k/yr., and only moderately better than someone who makes $40k/yr. Happiness is what counts in my book.<br /><br />2) Americans themselves don't seem too worried. Polls don't show that inequality is a big issue these days. What I care about is people being happy, so if inequality isn't making people upset, there;s less reason for me to get upset about it.<br /><br />3) I think that squashing inequality can often have big negative side effects. I lived in Japan, which uses things like lifetime employment, seniority pay, and govt. protection of existing firms to try to stamp out inequality. And they do succeed somewhat, but it comes at a cost, which is that people become kind of enslaved to corporations. Maybe Sweden or France has figured out a better way of fighting inequality, but I think I'd have to live there to find out.<br /><br />So to sum up, I don't personally like inequality, and I think it is often an indicator of an unfair or corrupt society. But I'm not that worries about it for its own sake, since I don't think it's the main thing holding back our happiness. Americans right now want a good job a lot more than they want the contents of Warren Buffet's bank account.Noah Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09093917601641588575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-53092846428402877942011-04-14T09:36:34.595-04:002011-04-14T09:36:34.595-04:00I think you need to reconsider this sentence as it...I think you need to reconsider this sentence as it seems to have a contradiction in it: To maintain this balance, one thing we need is a strong free-market ideology that prevents the government from overstepping its bounds. <br /><br />I'm new to this blog and happy to have found it. Can you point me to a post that explains why you aren't as concerned as Stiglitz with inequality? I am in the Stiglitz camp but will be happy to relax my thinking re: inequality if there's good reason to. <br /><br />Thanks :)eRobinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-6307480193105921582011-04-14T05:33:55.633-04:002011-04-14T05:33:55.633-04:00Ah, Stiglitz. The man who praises the economic po...Ah, Stiglitz. The man who praises the economic policies of Hugo Chavez (30% inflation, negative real growth) and helps the Greek government to destroy the country so French and German bankers can be bailed out. A true poverty pimp.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-36197711486819755882011-04-14T03:35:55.792-04:002011-04-14T03:35:55.792-04:00Will has spent much of his career explaining why i...Will has spent much of his career explaining why inequality is not a problem, and it really gets him mad when people feel differently. When Will gets mad, he gets sarcastic and dismissive and doesn't argue well, with the paradoxical effect that he's much better on subjects he doesn't care half as much about. <br /><br />You see the same thing when he talks about globalization and gets cranky with people who care more about American workers than the global workforce. He gets so mad he just denounces and doesn't engage.Danny Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07632244455766365141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-12832683031807627392011-04-14T02:18:29.851-04:002011-04-14T02:18:29.851-04:00Good point and well said, Noah. We need to hear t...Good point and well said, Noah. We need to hear this.<br /><br />I suspect it won't surprise you too much to hear that as a socialist, I largely agree with your thinking here. Not entirely, but I'd recommend this to anyone.<br /><br />Now, as a Buckeye PhD to a Wolverine doctoral student, go get it done, and best of luck to you. 8^)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-7993124336048823942011-04-14T01:41:15.171-04:002011-04-14T01:41:15.171-04:00Will Wilkinson (and most professional libertarians...Will Wilkinson (and most professional libertarians) work for the plutocrats. This shapes their views. Duh.Bruce Wilderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09631065564839959376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-79658573637646479862011-04-13T11:44:21.760-04:002011-04-13T11:44:21.760-04:00Stephan, that's because only government ever c...Stephan, that's because only government ever constrains liberty, and liberty can only ever be improved by removing government. Surprised you didn't know that. /snarkJolly Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09631364433925344569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-67771528276937408472011-04-13T03:26:03.544-04:002011-04-13T03:26:03.544-04:00I agree. It's kind of funny. If you dare to me...I agree. It's kind of funny. If you dare to mention that billionaire plutocrats spending shit loads of their money on politics <b>might</b> be a problem libertarians come to the rescue and elaborate over pages why this is not a problem at all. But once a Joe Stiglitz, who's only weapon is his brain and his notebook, writes an Op-Ed they cry wolf and fear a conspiracy of government and liberal technocrats to further oppress the free people.Stephanhttp://stephanewald.tumblr.com/noreply@blogger.com