Pun Salad

Our Eye Candy du Jour is from Sabine Hossenfelder, presenting The 10 Biggest Physics Paradoxes and Problems.

She's an actual physicist, so you can take her befuddlement to the bank.

[Headline reference? I'm pretty sure it's here.]

Also of note:

• Lesson unlearned? The WSJ editorialists warn us of the Return of the Housing Monsters. (WSJ gifted link)

  America in the 21st century sometimes seems destined to repeat all of the mistakes of the 20th. The latest is President Trump’s desire to release Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from government captivity—along with a government guarantee. Didn’t we learn this was a bad idea the first time?

  The President teased on social media recently that “I am working on TAKING THESE AMAZING COMPANIES PUBLIC,” referring to Fannie and Freddie. “I want to be clear, the U.S. Government will keep its implicit GUARANTEES, and I will stay strong in my position on overseeing them as President.” Their share prices surged.

  Investors are elated that Mr. Trump plans to re-privatize these firms—especially because he has now made their government backstop explicit. The President may think the feds can keep the housing monsters on a regulatory leash, but the political and financial incentives mean they will invariably revert to their reckless ways.

  Back in 2008, I quoted Iowahawk's take:

  It's useful to think of our current economic situation as a spirited game of nude Twister, with Fannie Mae as an extremely fat drunk chick.

  Reader, in the intervening 17 years, neither Fannie nor Freddie have gotten any younger, thinner, wiser, or less fond of cheap tequila.

• "Shooting the messenger" is probably overused. So I won't say that, and neither does Megan McArdle. She simply points out: Firing the statistician won’t change the job numbers. (WaPo gifted link)

  Here’s a life hack for readers who are trying to lose weight and are discouraged by the numbers on the scale: Take a hammer to the thing. If that seems too destructive, donate it to the Salvation Army and, if you must keep a scale in the house, buy a new model that tops out at 150 pounds.

  The secret behind this hack is psychology. It’s hard to eat less than your body wants, which is why people who try to lose weight often fail and feel miserable. But if no working scale is available, you can’t fail: Eat as much as you like; the numbers will never climb.

  Sound crazy? It is. But the president has just used a version of this trick to deal with a sagging American jobs market.

  Specifically: Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

  Maybe the next BLS commissioner will be Chico Marx: "Well, who you gonna believe? Me or your own eyes?" .

• 

  Mister, we could use a man like… Matthew Continetti remembers How P.J. O’Rourke Skewered the Swamp. Specifically, in his classic Parliament of Whores. (Amazon link at your right.)

  We need more of O’Rourke’s philosophy, too. In his final decade the “Republican Party Reptile” found himself, like a lot of people, politically homeless. Donald Trump, MAGA populism, and economic nationalism didn’t appeal to him. Bernie Sanders, socialism, and wokeism didn’t either.

  O’Rourke remained an advocate for freedom:

  Conservatism is, at least in its American form, a philosophy that relies upon personal responsibility and promotes private liberty. It is an ideology of individuals. Everyone with any sense and experience in life would rather take his fellows one by one than in a crowd. Crowds are noisy, unreasonable, and impatient. They can trample you easier than a single person can. And a crowd will never buy you lunch.

  This emphasis on dignity, freedom, and responsibility may seem archaic to the critics of so-called “Zombie Reaganism.” But it is fundamental to humane conservative politics. An American conservatism that has no place for freedom neither inspires nor connects to the wellsprings of the American political tradition: constitutional rule of law and a limited government that makes room for family, church, civil society, and individual choice.

  Matthew didn't mention Peej's probably most famous quote:

  Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.

  Ain't it the truth?