Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

Great to see how hard Republicans are fighting for our Military and Safety at the Border. The Dems just want illegal immigrants to pour into our nation unchecked. If stalemate continues, Republicans should go to 51% (Nuclear Option) and vote on real, long term budget, no C.R.’s!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 21, 2018

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Here are highlights from Stage 5 of the Tour Down Under.

The modern methods of propaganda and education offer a powerful tool for producing substantial changes in people's tastes at relatively low costs. For this reason, to-day the Economic Problem of a community—whether of a highly industrialised community or of an industrially backward one—does not consist merely in finding the best uses for its scarce resources so as to gratify people's actual wants to the highest possible degree. Rather, it includes also the question of how these scarce resources should be divided between productive operations for satisfying people's actual wants and measures for changing these wants. It must be decided again and again whether a given amount of resources benefits the consumers more if it is used for gratifying their present tastes in food, in housing, in music etc.—or if it is used for educating these consumer's [sic] tastes, for altering their irrational likes and dislikes (whether these result from primitive superstitions or from "civilised" prejudices), and for habituating them to new consumption goods.¹

¹ There is a particularly strong prima facie case for an attempt to change people's consumption habits and norms if these substantially hinder the utilisation of some of the country's basic economic resources, such as would be the case, for instance, if a primitive tribe had tabooed the consumption of the most plentiful food-stuff of its territory. (This conclusion, of course, would not apply if there were reasons to believe that this hypothetical tribe preferred the maintenance of its old ways of life to the economic advantages of such a change, in awareness of the costs entailed.)

But quite apart from such extreme cases, the standard of living in probably every country, including the most civilised, could be considerably raised by making people more familiar with, and less averse to, a few easily accessible refinements in consumption habits, in preparing food, in building and furnishing houses, etc., devised by other nations. It is astounding how ineffective, even to-day, the spread of advances in consumption habits is from country to country, in comparison with the diffusion of advances in production methods.

(John C. Harsanyi, "Welfare Economics of Variable Tastes," The Review of Economic Studies 21 [1953-1954]: 204-13, at 213 [italics in original; footnote renumbered])

Here.

Here.

Donald Trump was inaugurated as president a year ago today. What a year it has been! The stock market is soaring, which enriches everyone who is invested in it (which is most workers); the economy is growing by leaps and bounds; more workers than ever are gainfully employed, which, among other things, reduces their dependency on government; terrorists are being blown to smithereens; everyone's income taxes have been reduced; the media is getting its comeuppance; illegal immigration is waning and will come to a halt when the wall is built; and, most importantly, we have a president who loves the American people. Can anyone seriously say that Barack Obama loved the American people? He thought he was president of the world, and sometimes he seemed to delight in cutting the United States down to size. He should be known as the Arugula President.

I am pleased and proud beyond measure to have supported Donald Trump—and will continue to do so in the months and years to come. (I expect him to be president for seven more years.) As I have written in this blog many times, I wanted only two things from Trump: (1) I wanted him to defeat Hillary Clinton; and (2) I wanted him to replace at least two Supreme Court justices (so that I have a law-abiding Supreme Court for the rest of my life). The first of these has been realized, and the second is well on its way to being realized with the addition of Neil Gorsuch to the Court. That Trump has done so many other wonderful things makes me appreciate him all the more.

Make America Great Again!

Talk (1994).

To the editor:

On Inauguration Day in 2017, I wrote a letter to the editor that was published the next day in the Los Angeles Times.

In the letter, I recalled staying at a remote tent “resort” during President Obama’s inauguration in 2009, during which another guest from Denmark congratulated me and my country. In contrast, on Jan. 20, 2017, I felt afraid and anxious because of President Trump.

My fears when I wrote that letter were tremendous and my depression was quite serious. I could not, however, have imagined just how horrible this would turn out to be a year later. My greatest fears have been realized, as our status in the world has reached an all-time low and our democracy is in serious jeopardy.

I wish that I could write that I was wrong a year ago. Instead I fear for our country, our world and our precious children. We owed them so much better.

Barbara Sobin-Rosen, Fullerton

Note from KBJ: Poor Babs! She wanted Crooked Hillary and she got Debonair Don.

Beautiful weather all over our great country, a perfect day for all Women to March. Get out there now to celebrate the historic milestones and unprecedented economic success and wealth creation that has taken place over the last 12 months. Lowest female unemployment in 18 years!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2018

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Here are highlights from Stage 4 of the Tour Down Under.