Steve Kelman on Politics, Culture, and Life, 6.21.2022
Steve Kelman, Harvard Kennedy School prof, moderate Dem, pro free speech/anti cancel culture, pro tax rich, pro-Israel. Research improving gov performance, China interest. Blog reprints Facebook posts
Energy prices blame game
I will confess that the partisan blame game for high energy prices is somewhat annoying to me. Republicans blame Biden not authorizing enough new production inside the US, Democrats blame oil company price gouging. My guess is that neither is true, it is mostly increased demand in a strong economy, perhaps mixed with supply reductions from Russia.
Crypto collapse
The Times has an article today on the collapse of crypto. The first line is, "No one wanted to miss out on the cryptocurrency mania." May I announce that from the very beginning I have been eager to "miss out" on this.
US soft power
A politician appearing on Swedish TV news tonight spoke of something being "the perfect storm" (den perfekta stormen). There are so many examples of American expressions -- this one originally from an American film -- used in Sweden, and in other languages as well. US soft power.
“Reverse reference checks” in China
There is an interesting article in the Beijing Review about "reverse reference checks" where young people on the job market check in various ways on potential employers, including whether they actually pay people as promised (something of a problem in China) as well as working conditions. Nice sign of growing willingness by Chinese people to show independence and willingness to assert themselves.
Poorest doing better
Due to a strong labor market and covid relief, the wealth share of the bottom 50% of households is now at its highest level in 20 years.
Human rights in Xinjiang
Interesting that Hong-Kong's South China morning post had an article on 47 nations in the UN human rights council criticizing China's policy in Xinjiang. Apparently, 70 nations closer to China issued a statement supporting supporting human rights there, the only statement on this covered in China's Global Times. Fascinating that although the South China morning post is owned by Jack Ma and comes out in Hong-Kong, it remains an excellent example of a free press.
Should gay conversion therapy be regulated as a deceptive consumer practice?
I am not enamored of a provision in a new executive order on LGBT rights, which includes a directive to the Federal Trade Commission to "determine whether conversion therapy amounts to a deceptive act that should merit warnings to consumers from the agency." From the little I know about it, I am no fan of "conversion therapy," but to use the Federal Trade Commission to stigmatize and sort of make illegal this practice seems to me very inappropriate, and bad for the reputation of this agency's (where I once worked a long time ago) important consumer protection mission.