Ep. 386 Crossover: Arguing with Midwits
In another crossover episode, Adam Haman joins Bob to discuss the phenomenon of arguing with midwits on social media. They. beautifully illustrate the bell curve meme. Examples include the COBOL red herring regarding DOGE and Social Security, as well as Krugman’s handling of the claim that excessive debt “burdens future generations.”
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest:
- The YouTube version of this episode.
- Justin Wolfer’s tweet endorsing the COBOL theory.
- Bob’s EconLib article on government debt burdens.
- The Haman Nature page.
- Help support the Bob Murphy Show.
About the author, Robert
Christian and economist, Chief Economist at infineo, and Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute.
sh ee bob
don’t you know
…
Learn more at christogenea.org !
bob you’re the best public ecobnomist on the planet.
really
best. planet.
you get other stuff wrong.
I don’t really believe that intelligence is the key factor here. It’s more like a question of personal integrity and whether the other guy is acting in good faith persuit of a truthful outcome.
When you see someone seamlessly shift from one argument, to a different argument that is incompatible with the first … who then ignores any questions about what happened to the first argument … to me that suggests they are simply switching from one dishonest trick to another and the purpose is only to fool a few people. They never believed what they were saying to begin with … so there’s no cost abandoning one scam, if you have another lined up ready to go.