10 Comments

Great interview. Expanding legal immigration is the closest we can get to an actual policy panacea (that and residential upzoning are the only policy decisions I would describe as purely good, with no real drawbacks), and every time I think about the gulf between the best policy and what's politically possible, I feel so much anger and despair.

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Great interview, but I am a little confused by him saying "I do not know which of these is right" when referring to the two views that Obama was overly or insufficiently ambitious when it came to the legislation he proposed. I have never seen any evidence, or even seen it argued anywhere, that Obama suffered from two much ambition from his first two years in office.

Using Biden as a counterfactual it seems pretty clear that his strategy of starting with an ambitious plan and then compromising has been a far more successful method of passing legislation than Obama's strategy of starting with a compromise given the respective size and scope of there stimulus packages.

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I have a suggestion Noah. I am a subscriber to Stratechery, and what was really beneficial was when Ben Thompson started to dictate his articles. By turning his written articles into a podcast, it pretty much made me a subscriber for life due to all the benefits.

Listening to podcasts is so much quicker, easier, and more convenient than having to slog through reading a long article. I am one of those guys that listens to podcasts at >2x so reading becomes really inefficient.

My bet is that if you were to turn your articles into podcasts, it would at least pay for itself, if not make you more money. Podcasts give you greater reach, will likely lower churn, and cause more people to sign up for your substack. Worst case scenario, no one finds an interest in it and you can discontinue doing it.

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Noah this was an exceptional interview. Both of you were well informed and your exchange was very informative. I want to some time discuss Superconducting Maglev System invented by Drs. James Powell and Gordon Danby formerly of Brookhaven National Lab. If this system were implemented it would create a new economic index for logistics and passengers travel. Essentially, if we can persuade the Biden administration to test this system and certify it as a public carrier, the national network can be built with earnings from the freight truck carrying service and also subsidize the 300 mph travel. For the National Maglev Network concept which was introduced by the late Senator Pat Moynihan of NY can be seen at www.maglev2000.net.

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My somewhat cynical take: we have no idea why productivity slowed and we have no idea how to raise it. As a result real wages have barely grown. So far, higher inflation appears to be hurting real wages, but maybe we should raise the inflation target because we can't think of anything else to do.

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Idea: how about eliminating payroll tax and funding SSI requirements with a carbon tax instead? Pro work, boosts real wages, immediate impact to most people in paychecks, hits all the right policy goals, and doesn’t disproportionately help the rich?

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Noah what is your email? I miss the bunnies. Please Inflate my bunny pictures reserves.

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author

Just join some FB groups! :-)

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Will do! Appreciate the articles, have a good day!

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Would you also add stock prices, bond yields, and other asset prices into the CPI? After all, these can also be big expenses.

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