March 17, 2021

Is China About To "Win" In The Battle For The Future?

March 17, 2021/ Francis Menton

David Goldman, who writes at PJ Media largely on issues of foreign affairs, has just weighed in with a new (March 12) piece called “Why China Is Winning.” Goldman’s article never states explicitly what exactly China is “winning,” but from the context it looks to be some combination of economic success and/or military hegemony.
And why is China “winning”? Goldman’s answer boils down to one word, “meritocracy”:
Meritocracy will win, because it always does, and all the more so in a high-tech, winner-take-all world.
In predicting China’s imminent “win,” Goldman joins a long list big-shot pundits. Is he on to something that we ought to worry about?
My short answer is no.

March 14, 2021

Is It Possible To Vote Left-Wing Government Out? The Case Of Argentina

March 14, 2021/ Francis Menton

As I have written many times at this site, the consequence of socialism, and of left-wing public policy more generally, is gradual relative economic decline. Take a prosperous country (or state or city), then put in place the progressive policy prescriptions, and wait twenty or thirty or forty years, and you will find a place that has been passed by by all the competition.
But why would the people give governing leftists twenty or more years if they are running the place into the ground? The answer is that great promises are made of infinite government resources to solve all human problems; and special favors are granted to strong interest groups like government workers and labor unions and subsidized corporations, who return the favors with votes. Economic decline continues, but slowly, and the only way to perceive it is to make comparisons with other countries.
The true archetype for long-term economic decline through left-wing policy is Argentina.

March 11, 2021

March 11, 2021/ Jane Menton

In a recent Manhattan Contrarian article, my dad pointed out that, by their own admission, the worst racists in our country are academics in our elite colleges and universities.
Even as they make more and more efforts to improve their “diversity and inclusion” with committees, trainings, seminars, course curriculums, and town halls — just to name a few — by their own assessment, this has only resulted in more “systemic racism,” “oppression,” and “white supremacy.”
Since that’s the case, it is time to question whether the model of elite-institutions-practicing-diversity-and-inclusion can ever bring society even one step closer to racial harmony — its stated intention — or if it’s only an exercise in punishment and disunion.
I’m going to take the next step and look at K-12 education. It’s there that we can see where cultural trends are headed over the next decade or so, and it is there that we might have an opportunity for disruption.

March 08, 2021

March 08, 2021/ Francis Menton

On Saturday, the legislation currently going by the name of the “Covid-19 Relief” passed the Senate on a straight party line vote of 50-49. Now it moves on to the House where, despite the small Democrat majority, the Republicans have few to no options to try to stop the train wreck. Meanwhile, congratulations to the Senate Republicans on sticking together and unanimously voting no.
This could be the very worst piece of legislation ever to get enacted.

I know that the contest for “worst legislation ever” has some extremely formidable competition. How about something truly abominable like Obamacare, or Dodd-Frank? Or, reaching back some years, how about the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970? (Read my thoughts on that one here.). You may have your own favorite.
But this one is a very, very strong contender.

March 06, 2021

March 06, 2021/ Francis Menton

Last summer, in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and of the resurgence of “black lives matter” movement, Corporate America came forth with a massive wave of pledges to hire more black employees, especially for leadership positions.
If you, as a major corporation, had fewer than 13% black employees in any category of job titles, the obvious inference would that your efforts at “diversity, equity and inclusion” had thus far been deficient, and indeed you were likely engaged in “systemic racism,” if not “white supremacy.” Time to redouble your efforts at affirmative action.
For just a small sample of the large companies stepping forward with pledges to increase black and other minority employment, here is a roundup from Reuters last August. Reuters called the new hiring efforts a “watershed moment.”

March 04, 2021

March 04, 2021/ Francis Menton

My February 22 post noted that the “deplatforming” of seemingly mainstream conservative voices by the Big Tech oligarchs was reaching ever greater levels of audacity.
That post covered some truly extreme instances of the phenomenon, including the total blocking by Twitter on January 8 of all accounts associated with then-sitting President Trump, and the removal on January 11 of Twitter’s biggest competitor Parler from its Amazon servers and then from the Google and Apple app stores. Those examples are rather hard to top.
But those apparent successes have only inspired the deplatformers on to new gambits. Clearly, this phenomenon is not going away any time soon.