Top all-time · #3020
Coyote Blog
Personal blog · coyoteblog.comeconomicspolitics
Coyote Blog is a personal blog at coyoteblog.com about economics and politics. Since 2009, 25 different Hacker News readers have linked it 33 times, most often “Denying the Climate Catastrophe”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-16, and you can follow it by feed.
Dispatches from District 48
Most-linked posts?
- Denying the Climate Catastrophe2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2016-06-09
- The Staggering Administrative Bloat of Universities2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-04-27
What Hacker News says?
http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2018/10/amazons-15-min... Summary: the raise in Amazon's wages isn't just something that happened. It's part of a lobbying push for a higher legal minimum wage. Amazon's outsized profits-per-employee, compared to other retailers, mean that raising the minimum wage will hammer competitors.
Comment linking /coyote_blog/2018/10/amazons-15-minimum-wage-proposal-is-a-brilliant-way-to-get-the-government-to-hammer-amazons-competition.html
on “Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees”Submitted The Staggering Administrative Bloat of Universities as a story · 45 points
HN discussionhttp://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2016/03/denying-the-cl...
Comment linking /coyote_blog/2016/03/denying-the-climate-catastrophe-1-introduction.html
on “Antarctic CO2 Hit 400 PPM for First Time in 4M Years”Submitted CA Labor Commission Has Just Killed Uber as a story · 18 points
HN discussionhave done so, and I like http://coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/tag/global-warming , recommended by Megan McArdle. In particular I'm interested agricultural and dense growth projections in the North (and South?). The above stuff covers this only in passing to my recollection.
Comment linking /coyote_blog/tag/global-warming
on “Nasa Happily Reports the Earth Is Greener”Submitted The Staggering Administrative Bloat of Universities as a story · 15 points
HN discussionWhat has happened before will happen again. California had similar issues with mild winters and the reduced water associated with them back in the 1930s. [1][2] The difference now of course is that there are a great many more people there and a great many more farms. The Bureau of Reclamation is pretty much at fault for the lack of water available for human consumption because of mismanagement and prices below the c…
Comment linking /coyote_blog/2015/01/california-drought-update-not-even-close-to-worst-drought-ever.html?doing_wp_cron=1426269408.9994280338287353515625
on “California has about one year of water left”Submitted Performance Measures and Incentives, Lessons from a Famous Corporate Implosion as a story · 10 points
HN discussionBetter link: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/08/the_everwideni... . And, of course, http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/joint_and_several_liability .
Comment linking /coyote_blog/2005/08/the_everwidenin.html
on “Tor Project Sued”Submitted 2020 Should Have Been the Year We Demanded FDA and CDC Reform, but We Didn't as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSadly, in the US it's common to sue everybody who has some relationship to a case. The idea is that somebody must have deep pockets, and will either settle or you might get lucky to have the court declare the liability "joint and several," i.e., the full responsibility of all of the people getting sued (see, for instance, http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/05/the-state-of-t... ).
Comment linking /coyote_blog/2009/05/the-state-of-tort-law.html
on “Tor Project Sued”Submitted Reddit Using Social Causes as Cover for Cutting Costs as a story · 3 points
HN discussionThe train networks in the US are more optimized for, and better at freight traffic, while Europe is more optimized for, and better at, passenger traffic http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2008/02/european-vs-am... That's probably exactly why freight trains are faster in Europe: http://www.economist.com/node/16636101
Comment linking /coyote_blog/2008/02/european-vs-ame.html
on “Musk Says Tesla Cars Will Go 620 Miles per Charge in 2 Years, Autonomous in 3”Submitted The Accumulation of Regulation as a story · 2 points
HN discussionI accept your point if you show me the evidence that supports your claim that we are eliminating jobs at a rate faster than before. To give an example for you to think about, the machine gun eliminated more jobs for infantry than we have for cashiers. As veterans came home from WW II and 'mustered out' we provided the GI bill to train them in skills other than soldering. This provided an economy that transitioned a…
Comment linking /coyote_blog/2005/08/great_moments_i-4.html
on “Guaranteed Minimum What?”Submitted The Regulation Singularity as a story · 2 points
HN discussionUber and Lyft will probably respond by directing the drivers more closely ( http://coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2019/09/why-california-for... ). They’re in a position to do so. You are correct that smaller companies probably couldn’t pull that off.
Comment linking /coyote_blog/2019/09/why-california-forcing-uber-drivers-to-become-employees-may-hurt-many-drivers.html
on “California Labor Bill, Near Passage, Is Blow to Uber and Lyft”Submitted Facebook Seeks to Leverage Its Own Failings to to Cement Its Monopoly Position as a story · 1 points
HN discussion> The guidelines around this are very straightforward And yet your quote doesn't even mention scheduling or the concept of time. > the IRS wouldn't allow that - that security guard would either need to be classified as an employee or provide services as a corporation This is not true. Please don't spread falsehoods in public like this. See https://coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2016/03/my-new-hero-and-h... and the link…
Comment linking /coyote_blog/2016/03/my-new-hero-and-how-the-department-of-labor-bought-me-drinks.html
on “What is the unique value proposition of selling honey?”Submitted Denying the Climate Catastrophe: 1. Introduction as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSome data that provides a different picture: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2016/08/us-is-doing-be...
Comment linking /coyote_blog/2016/08/us-is-doing-better-than-europe-on-poverty-an-economics-rorschach-test.html
on “It’s official: Venezuela is a dictatorship”Submitted Denying the Climate Catastrophe as a story · 1 points
HN discussionI assume they're all comparable in the relevant attribute which is: if you make labor more expensive, employers will tend to consume less labor. Do you have some reason to think they're not comparable in that way? Do we need to find evidence of a general economic principle in EVERY locality for you to accept that it is, in fact, a general economic principle? Or is it sufficient that we have a strong intuitive argume…
Comment linking /wp-content/uploads/2012/01/minwage.jpg
on “Is The Economist left- or right-wing?”Submitted A Fundamental Shift in the Economy for Entrepreneurs and Small Business as a story · 1 points
HN discussionA later study by (former IPCC) Dr Judith Curry has gone more into this [1]. And the report I referenced was even later. The comments on that page BTW make abundantly clear that scientists do not agree at all that the sea level rise is accelerating, and even if it is, if it's more than a minute amount. Most of the rise graphs focus around satellite measurement starting from 1993 which seem to show 3mm/year rise, and…
Comment linking /coyote_blog/2019/10/illustrating-the-corruption-in-climate-science.html
on “Antarctic ice cliffs may not contribute to sea-level rise as much as predicted”Submitted Scam Alert -- Fake US Telecom as a story · 1 points
HN discussion> 30 years and the numbers have not significantly changed. "How did you lose all the money?" "Slow at first, then very quickly." > Companies based here are some of the most profitable in the world. Cat's out of the bag. Most of the tools needed to form companies that are ridiculously profitable are online for anyone in the world to use (AWS). If they're not, the cloud providers are working tirelessly to put them the…
Comment linking /coyote_blog/2013/03/another-california-coastal-commission-horror-story.html
on “California Businesses Leave the State by the Thousands”This was actually a big deal a few years ago ( http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/12/your_cable_bil... ). The FCC thought it could create this requirement under its existing authority to regulate the airwaves, but the Supreme Court ruled that it would require a new law. The economics of cable (and satellite) aren't obvious: it really doesn't cost any more to offer 150 channels instead of 100. The signal for…
Comment linking /coyote_blog/2005/12/your_cable_bill.html
on “Dying in the E.R., and on TV Without His Family’s Consent”IKEA does not have to be "in the philanthropic business" to benefit the countries in which they have operations. The fact that they make a profit does not preclude other people (the landlords, contractors and employees in the post you replied to, among others) from benefiting. Economics is not a zero-sum game. Wealth can be created. More at http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2007/04/wealth_creatio...
Comment linking /coyote_blog/2007/04/wealth_creation.html
on “Why IKEA Is Fed Up with Russia”Rail isn't very efficient in the United States--except for maybe Manhattan (even then MTA loses money). Seattle should look at what's happening in other cities. For example, according to the LA Times, "The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the region's largest carrier, lost more than 10% of its boardings from 2006 to 2015, a decline that appears to be accelerating. Despite a $9-billion invest…
Comment linking /coyote_blog/2016/01/phoenix-light-rail-continued-fail.html
on “$50B transit proposal would boost light rail throughout Seattle region”
