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06/10/2023
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May 30, 2009
Oil On the Rise: Here Comes Obama's UndoingVoters are extraordinarily sensitive to hikes in gas prices. Ask George Bush. Add in the coming general inflation, rising interest rates, etc., and Obama's determination to raise taxes still further and his true-believer zealotry in refusing to expand conventional (i.e., "real") energy production, and you can see the thunderheads sweeping towards the White House. Crude oil rose, capping its biggest monthly gain in a decade, as the dollar weakened against the euro, bolstering the appeal of commodities. Prognostication: Depending on when the bad economic news hits, Obama's approval ratings will drop precipitously, beginning in six months to a year. He'll drop from his ~55% rating to ~40% in just a couple of months. People are giving him a chance, and they do, of course, want him to succeed. This isn't ideological but practical: They just don't want to suffer through years of economic stagnation and misery. But they will. They also don't want to think of themselves as not giving the first black president a fair chance. And especially they don't want others to think of them that way. These changes can be lightning-quick and deadly-deep-- when there is a lot of "preference falsification" going on. Kuran begins his book with an illustration of a man at his employer's dinner party. Though the man dislikes the homes décor and the meal served, the man feels compelled to offer false compliments. At the end of the evening, the man kindly says he enjoyed the evening, though he is really happy to be leaving. The fictional person is constrained from being honest by societal pressure and personal fears. Whenever people choose to lie about their true beliefs, Kuran calls that "preference falsification." When the trigger eventually comes, people begin feeling comfortable about publicly expressing long-denied beliefs. Which in turn impels others to feel comfortable about doing likewise, which encourages still more of it, etc. Preference falsification is intensified and reinforced by social pressure; but so too is the revelation of true preferences, after the triggering event occurs. For Obama, that trigger is going to be rising prices, rising taxes, rising interest rates, and almost certainly a second recessionary dip. When that happens, there will be a "preference cascade" as the new socially-acceptable and socially-privileged sentiment is anti-Obama rather than pro-Obama. This happened in America before, of course. For years, from the 40's through the 70's, liberalism advanced -- even under Richard Nixon -- because opposition to it was deemed "crazy," etc. There was a false consensus in favor of liberalism. Until, of course, Jimmy Carter's incompetence triggered a massive preference cascade. And the heresies of the "crazy" Ronald Regan quickly became the new orthodoxy. Falsified preferences are like a bloated soap-bubble. It's a fragile, unstable construction and takes very little to burst. Hat tip to Instapundit for having introduced me to this idea, which I'm now a zealous believer in. | Recent Comments
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Why Are Conservatives Happier, Better Adjusted, and Healthier Than Leftwingers?
Alvin Bragg Hid Exculpatory Evidence From Donald Trump; Knew That Michael Cohen Was Directly Contradicting His Previous Claims Made to Prosecutors, But Presented His New, Improved Testimony While Hiding His Orginal Testimony Boy Transitioned to a "Girl" By His Stage Mom: "I Don't Feel Like Myself [Anymore] Ever" Wednesday Morning Rant [Joe Mannix] Mid-Morning Art Thread The Morning Report — 3/22/23 Daily Tech News 22 March 2023 Tuesday Overnight Open Thread (3/21/23) Shooting Star Cafe Rolling Stone Lied to Readers, Claiming a Journalist's Home Was Raided Because He Was Hot on the Trail of a National Security Story. That Wasn't Why He Was Raided. Search
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