Homelessness, meritocracy, racism and other Yglesias

[mindstalk]

Catching up on a lot of RSS reading...

A longish article on residential hotels, flophouses, and microapartments, and how American homelessness is rooted in the banning of cheap small places to live. Banning which in turn is rooted more in racism (anti-Chinese and other) than in true safety or welfare concerns. Or in classism, or false ideas about disease spread, or in ubiquitous parking requirements (a lot of these homes are *smaller* than the space needed to park a car.)
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/07/sros_flophouses_microapartments_smart_cities_are_finally_allowing_the_right.html



Australia recession proof
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/09/05/australia_gdp_the_next_great_proving_ground_for_economic_theory.html

on Coase and the firm
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/09/03/ronald_coase_s_theory_of_the_firm.html
real Coase meaning
http://afinetheorem.wordpress.com/2013/09/03/on-coases-two-famous-theorems/
What you should take from Coase is that social efficiency can be
enhanced by institutions (including the firm!) which allow socially
efficient bargains to be reached by removing restrictive transaction
costs, and particularly that the assignment of property rights to
different parties can either help or hinder those institutions

Yglesias argument against Syria bombing
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2013/08/barack_obama_shouldn_t_bomb_syria_the_good_option_is_to_do_nothing.html

MLK and basic income
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/08/28/martin_luther_king_guaranteed_basic_income.html
or guaranteed income, which isn't quite the same.

sexist corporate boards show real priority
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/08/26/gender_diversity_on_corporate_boards_it_s_pathetic_and_there_s_no_good_reason.html

Republicans oppose cost-effective government
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/08/22/gop_won_t_like_obama_on_higher_education.html

tax all churches
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/08/22/churches_should_be_taxed_then_everyone_can_speak.html

odd aversion to the 1990s
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/08/21/_90s_aversion_americans_bizarre_and_inexplicable_aversion_to_the_best_decade.html

case for gas export restriction (or tax)
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/08/20/natural_gas_export_restrictions_a_decent_case.html

the coming food stamp cuts, because Republicans don't care
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/08/19/snap_cuts_food_stamps_are_getting_less_generous.html

meritocracy isn't fair: lead. Also links to a new Drum article on lead and black crime.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/08/16/meritocracy_isn_t_fair_lead_poisoned_children_are_genuinely_less_able_but.html
"the system rewards merit and possession of "merit" is largely driven by factors that are themselves totally beyond a person's individual control."

most news comes from TV, not newspapers; that's what Internet news is competing with
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/08/13/television_is_america_s_most_popular_source_of_news.html

changes in US energy use
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/08/13/energy_flow_charts_transformation_of_american_energy_in_charts.html



speaking of meritocracy and anti-Chinese racism, white Americans favor grade and test based college admission until told Asians do better under that
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/08/13/white_people_s_meritocracy_hypocrisy.html