Welcome to another edition of The Mueller Report!
You may have noticed that I’ve taken a few weeks off. That wasn’t exactly intentional, things have been busy! At the end of October, we got over a foot of snow. Besides traveling for work, we have been working on several large projects around The Abbey; replacing more windows and an exterior door, tearing out a shower and putting in a soaking tub, refinishing counters, adding new lights and outlets, and more. We also started an intense new exercise routine about a month ago.
Maybe things will be calmer as we enter the holiday season….One can always hope!
News
Although this is somewhat dated now, I was in the news briefly a few weeks ago. I had a short recording that played on Fox News a couple times on October 31. Then I was part of a longer panel interview for Fox’s streaming service on November 1. I had a brief appearance on Newsmax the following week (my colleague speaks around 37:30, I speak around 38:45).
In addition to that, I have written several columns for AIER. One was about the recent executive order on Artificial Intelligence. Two others are part of my series exploring the landscape of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria being used in investment and business decisions. The Introduction and Terms columns have already appeared. My next column on the History of ESG should be published Sunday and I just finished the fourth column about ESG Advocates which will appear after Thanksgiving.
I also had a longer philosophical piece come out at Law and Liberty on November 6th about the importance of a rule-based order (rather than a discretionary or “will to power” kind of order).
Reflection
I have finished several books recently and am well behind in discussing them! Today I’ll talk about Tim Carney’s Alienated in America. In many ways, it is a companion or follow-up book to Charles Murray’s Coming Apart. If you haven’t read Murray’s book, there are few I would recommend more highly for understanding some of the cultural, geographic, and socio-economic divides in the U. S. today.
But Carney’s book is also very good and tells a compelling story about why some places see social disintegration while others have significant social cohesion and integrity. He argues persuasively that the level of a community’s cohesion or flourishing was strongly negatively correlated with whether people in that community supported Trump in the primaries.
For example, much hay has been made over the fact that so many evangelicals were willing to vote for Trump, despite his many character flaws and sordid past. But that neglects the comparison with Clinton and everything she represented – something that outweighed most people’s objections to Trump the man.
If you look at voting when they had other alternatives, however, you find that the most religious people and communities (as measured by church attendance) were the least likely to vote for Trump; while those who did not attend church at all were the most likely to vote for him.
Carney unravels another riddle about the Trump phenomenon: was it about poverty and economic deterioration or about racism and white nationalism? The problem various commentators raise about the first point is that much of the survey data about Trump voters show them to have incomes higher than the median, rather than lower than the median. So how can we say it was economic disenfranchisement driving the Trump vote?
Carney acknowledges the issue but offers an interesting twist: Trump performed best in the poorest counties, especially across the Midwest. Yes, wealthier individuals made up a lot of Trump support, but they lived disproportionately in poor communities – or rather communities with a great deal of social disintegration. Rather than Trump support being about personal poverty, it was more about people living in impoverished or decaying places who wanted to Make America Great Again.
I left the book feeling rather discouraged. The tales of decline Carney tells have no easy solution – least of all blunt policy instruments like tariffs, union representation on company boards, or massive subsidies. What can revitalize these decaying communities? How do you put Humpty Dumpty back together again?
Although I haven’t read the book, Yuval Levin’s title, A Time to Build, resonates with me. It’s part of why we left a large metro area for a small mountain town. I’m not sure how to impact a big city, or relate to a very different segment of society. But I hope we’ll be able to have a deep and lasting impact in this smaller community.
I ought to report that I did not win the city council election. The winner had about 50% of the vote. I had just over 25% and the third candidate had just under 25%. Overall, though, it was a positive experience. I got to meet and talk with lots of folks. It was refreshing to talk with people with R or D labels about our town and our priorities. And I have several ideas for how I could run a more compelling campaign in the future.
Writing
I’ve been doing so much writing for AIER, I’ll simply pull some excerpts here. I will mention that I am working on two academic articles: The Political Economy of ESG and Adam Smith and Economic Nationalism, as well as a long form piece about labor unions.
The murky precepts of Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) criteria wield growing influence in investing and in regulation. Those who want to understand the reshaping of our financial landscape, especially as a means to resist it, should be familiar with ESG’s terms, goals, vocabulary, and advocates. Below, I sketch out several dimensions.
ESG advocates want to reshape the world in profound ways — from how we travel and heat our homes to what businesses must prioritize and whom global supply chains should benefit. They want to move the world to a “low-carbon” economy built on renewable energy. They also favor dramatic redistribution of wealth and power from the “haves” to the “have nots.” Increasingly, they make business their ally (willingly or unwillingly) in carrying out their plans.
To address these concerns with nuance and thoughtfulness, rather than simply reacting, we must raise awareness of ESG criteria, how they are being used, and what kinds of problems they will create. ESG will likely be around for a long time, so it’s worth taking some time to understand it thoroughly.
Here are some areas we’ll explore:
Terms
History
Goals
Advocates
Finance
Legislation
Problems
For more details on each of those categories, see the piece on AIER’s website. I conclude with the following:
ESG rules will make markets less competitive and more concentrated, because smaller firms will have more difficulty complying and staying in business. More time, money, and energy will be spent lobbying public officials for favorable rules and treatment, rather than improving products or customer experiences. Extensive top-down requirements can create systemic risk by encouraging companies to embark on new, untested behaviors en masse — such as putting everything on the electric grid (heating, cooling, transportation, and so on).
But what many find most troubling is how much social control will be exerted by undemocratic and anti-market forces with little accountability.
Game Corner
A couple weeks ago I played a game with my three oldest kids called King of Tokyo. It’s really a pretty fun game that plays relatively quickly and is accessible for younger children. The premise is that each player has a monster attempting to be the “King” of Tokyo. Each monster starts with no victory points and ten health points. The game is played with dice that can score you victory points, cause damage to your opponents, or give you purchasing power for cards that offer various bonuses or special abilities.
One character gets to be in Tokyo (or two if you have five or six players) and scores extra bonus points while being located there. However, the attacks of all the players who are not in Tokyo affect the one who is. And the attacks of the Tokyo incumbent apply to everyone else.
You win the game by either getting 20 victory points or being the last monster standing. I don’t think I have played a game yet where the winner got 20 victory points…
Have a great weekend!
Thank you for the Report and the effort that goes into it.
Your comments and thoughts on ESG are spot on.
This is the first I had heard about Charles Murray’s Coming Apart and looking forward to reading it based on your recommendation.
I will contact you offline about your interview appearances and future piece on unions.
Shalom.