The Dismal Scientists Of Microeconomics Are ALSO Struggling To Do Science

Critique, Economy, Intelligence, Pseudoscience, Science

Almost every bit of research cited in support of some or another ridiculous claim in the popular press seems abysmally designed. At least to this former student of research methodology.

Samples are too minuscule to claim generalizeability of findings beyond the sample, to the broader, targeted population. Likewise, you just know sample selection is poor, too. Variables are not often operationalized in an intelligent way. The actual hypothesis frequently sounds wacky. On and on.

It transpires that the same methodological flaws that “bedevil most social sciences, and some hard sciences, too,” have infected the dismal scientists of microeconomics.

“Many results in microeconomics are shaky.” From the a series “on the shortcomings of the economics profession” in the Economist:

A recent examination in the Economic Journal, of almost 7,000 empirical economics studies, found that in half of the areas of research, nearly 90% of those studies were underpowered, ie, that they used samples too small to judge whether a particular effect was really there. Of the studies that avoided this pitfall, 80% were found to have exaggerated the reported results. Another study, published in Science, which attempted to replicate 18 economics experiments, failed for seven of them.

Speaking About WMD In Iran: Did You Know About The WMD-Filled Swimming Pools Of Brazil? It’s True.

Foreign Policy, Iran, Military, War, WMD

BY Myron Pauli

Iran is a very weak nation and there are far less Shiites than Sunnis yet America’s warmongers act as if there are five million Iranians poised to blitzkrieg into Columbus, OH, and Denver CO on a moment’s notice.

If there is a “worldwide aggressor” – I will give you a few hints:

[1] I wonder which COUNTRY spends as much on its military as the rest of the world combined.

[2] I wonder which COUNTRY stations forces in every continent, in over 140 countries.

[3] I wonder which COUNTRY is the only nation to have ever dropped atomic weapons on civilians. (A subtle hint is in “White Light, Black Rain: The Destruction Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki.”)

[4] I wonder which COUNTRY is currently fighting wars in N countries, many of which are clandestine wars.

[5] I wonder which COUNTRY was called “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world” by the revered Martin Luther King Jr.

But this paranoia is nothing new:

We have seen Mexican land invasions, galleons of Spain off the Atlantic coast, numerous aggressive attacks by the Austro-Hungarian Empire on American civilians, destroyers attacked by North Vietnamese radar blips, civilian airliners attacking Vincennes “supersonically,” “nuclear tipped cruise missiles from Iran,” Yugoslavian genocide, Qaddafi “genocide,” 18 consecutive years of Taliban attacks on America ….

Hell – let’s start MORE WARS. And while we are at it, did you know that there are swimming Pools in Sao Paulo, Brazil – which means they have chlorine which was the first chemical weapon and, given that WMDs are WMDs – it is time we got ahead of this and dropped some nukes on Brazil before it is too late (Munich! Munich! Munich!).

Here’s an idea: Why don’t these damn warmongers put their tushes where their mouth is, and go over to Iran by themselves and start a guerrilla movement?

Pictorial proof (aerial) that Spanish galleon are speeding toward—could it be?—the USA.

*****

Myron Pauli grew up in Sunnyside Queens, went off to college in Cleveland and then spent time in a mental institution in Cambridge MA (MIT) with Benjamin Netanyahu (did not know him), and others until he was released with the “hostages” and Jimmy Carter on January 20, 1981, having defended his dissertation in nuclear physics. Most of the time since, he has worked on infrared sensors, mainly at Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC. He was NOT named after Ron Paul but is distantly related to physicist Wolftgang Pauli; unfortunately, only the “good looks” were handed down and not the brains. He writes assorted song lyrics and essays reflecting his cynicism and classical liberalism. Click on the “BAB’s A List” category to access the Pauli archive.

It’s Hard To Believe It, But The French STILL Educate Their School Kids

Education, Europe, Intelligence, Kids, Political Philosophy

Still on the topic of education (previous post is “St. John’s: The Most Rigorous College In America & What Every Young Mind Needs”):

What’s of interest in the Economist article, “The End of the French Intellectual: From Zola to Houllebecq,” are these tidbits:

Attendance rose this year at the annual Paris book fair. Regional literary festivals are thriving. Philosophy is still a compulsory part of the school curriculum.
And last year the French elected a president who has a degree in philosophy and can cite Molière by heart. France may have lost its great intellectuals, but it has certainly not lost its intellectualism.

So French kids must still study philosophy. I wonder if it’s a rigorous course? And President Macaroni knows some good stuff, aside globalism and multilateralism. Molière is brilliant. So funny.

While there is pressure to dumb down, the French have not yet replaced history with social studies agitprop.

I’ll leave you with this hint at how good French schooling may be: “France is one of the countries where a pupil’s social background is one of the strongest predictors of his or her subsequent achievement.”

The French have not yet done the educational leveling we in America do to ensure that 43% of marks handed out in university are As.

Other than the educational information, the writer of “The End of the French Intellectual: From Zola to Houllebecq” disdains France’s few “reactionary essayists” and thinkers (namely right-leaning thinkers).

So much so that, having mentioned his disappointment at the rise the likes of “Éric Zemmour, a reactionary essayist, and Alain Finkielkraut, a formerly left-wing philosopher turned critic of multiculturalism”—the writer concludes that “France may have lost its great intellectuals.”

Better good schools for the kids, than the likes of that lefty degenerate, Mr. Sartre.

Alan Dershowitz Vs. The Fanatic Richard Painter

Democrats, Donald Trump, Ethics, History, Law, Morality, Neoconservatism, Republicans

He’s a sharp mind that has stood up for The Law throughout, and remained above the filthy political fray we’re in: He’s Alan Dershowitz.

Dershowitz has stood up to the shill, Sean Hannity, too.

Now, Professor Dershowitz goes up against Richard Painter, whom I’ve described as the quintessential Yankee, in a 2017 post titled “The Face of a Fanatic, Or A Modern-Day Radical Republican”:

Richard Painter, a modern-day Radical Republican by any other name, has the same crazed look worn by the original Radical Republican, the fanatic Thaddeus Stevens.

The context (as in who the Radical Republicans were) is in my column, “The Radical Republicans: The Antifa of 1865.”