Apparently the trendy thing for consumers to do now is to use cash or debit cards or checks instead of credit cards.  A recent NPR report says that for the first time in a long time, Visa Debit cards surpassed Visa Credit cards.  Supposedly, the rationale for using a debit versus a credit card is that if you don’t have a credit card, you won’t spend money you don’t have, because a debit card won’t let you.

I’ve got to admit I find that very silly.  The only benefit of using a debit card over a credit card is forced spending control.  This can easily be replaced with the slightest bit of willpower or a nagging significant other.

Greg Mankiw is looking for a new car for his teenage daugher.  He described the most recent findings of Consumer Reports:

Dead last was Chrysler. CU recommended zero percent of the Chrysler vehicles they tested. That’s right–zero. Second to last was General Motors. CU recommended 17 percent of GM models. By contrast, most other companies had half or more of their models get the thumbs up. Honda was the top ranked brand; CU recommended 95 percent of its models.

Is it any surprise that Chrysler and GM are now in the process of going out of business? From the perspective of the Consumer Reports advice, it looks like their business model was to count on the ignorance of the buying public about the quality of their products. Their bankruptcy should perhaps be viewed as a success of the market system. (emphasis added).

I was happy to see that, for the most part, President Obama was received with open arms at Notre Dame’s Commencement over the weekend.  However, the controversy surrounding Obama’s visit has prompted a number of questions, not only about abortion rights but about the value of speech and the value of tolerance.

Speech

Speech is extremely essential to any society.  The right to free speech is one of the most celebrated and long-lasting rights in America.  The First Amendment explicitly prevents the government from abridging our right to free speech.  Additionally, society generally shuns private individuals (who are not obligated to observe the 1st Amendment) who try to censor speech.

The purpose behind this celebrated right is that we recognize that humans are fallible, and that the government is not all-knowing.  We recognize that no single person or group of persons can always be right about everything.  Rather, we recognize that new, unpopular ideas may turn out to be correct.  See Galileo.  Simply because an overwhelming majority of scientists believe that climate change is man-made does not mean that we should censor the dissenters.  A belief of a large crowd can often be wrong, and if we refuse to believe that we could ever be wrong, then we risk severe harm to human civilization.

I don’t understand how someone could make Mr. Hinchey’s statement, below, with a straight face:

And Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey (D-N.Y.) vowed to force the White House to accept delivery of a new presidential helicopter Obama says he doesn’t need and doesn’t want. The helicopter program, which cost $835 million this year, supports 800 jobs in Hinchey’s district. “I do think there’s a good chance we can save it,” he said.

I guess “save it” means extract money from the federal government that serves no purpose.  Instead of employing 800 people to do something worthless, why not just pay those 800 people money for doing nothing?  That would be more efficient.

I dislike political parties so much.  One of the many reasons I think they are stupid is contradictions between parties.  One of the Democrats’ principle criticisms of Republicans is that they “don’t believe in science,” and therefore push to teach creationism in schools, ignore climate change, and want to restrict stem cell research.  The Democratic party believes this ignores science because almost all scientists believe differently than the Republican party.

However, the Democratic party is just as stupid.  When it comes to economics, all economists believe that free trade is a good thing.  However, the Democratic Party consistently stands for a variety of trade restrictions.

It’s incoherent for either party to criticize the other at not believing in science.  This is just one of the many ways that both major party platforms are incoherent.  I am glad not to call myself democrat or republican, and I never plan to do so.