Curt Doolittle

Category: Economics, Finance, and Political Economy

  • I frame the increase in housing costs differently. Our expected ‘minimums’ in ev

    I frame the increase in housing costs differently.
    Our expected ‘minimums’ in every walk of life have vastly increased – particularly in housing. We don’t produce three bedroom ‘1000 square feet of house as we did postwar or even 1200 square feet we did in teh 60s. By 2000 we’d doubled to 2200 square feet.
    And amenities? we’ve about quadrupled the amenities we’ve included in the houses.
    In retrospect we’re getting what we pay for at a discount.
    I focus instead on outsourcing the productive economy and financialization of the economy that has left the bottom half out of most gains since the seventies.
    I do try to remind the bottom half that the reason that they’re in this position was their embracement of the democratic socialist program during those periods and how they forced business, industry, and finance to seek global markets rather than be ‘blackmailed’ by the combination of unions and the democratic socialist movement among the democrats.
    Democratic socialism destroyed european economies. It just took until now to see that it’s irreversible. By the seventies we knew the end of socialism. By the sixties the end of communism. It’s taken us a long time to ‘get over’ the false promises of the marxist(class) -neomarxist(cultural marxism) – Postmodern(truth marxism) -feminist(sex marxism) -woke(race marxist) revolution – all lies and stupidity of silly people who were captured by false premises and magical thinking.

    It’s exasperating how much harm believable lies were to humanity. It’s almost as damaging as the spread of abrahamic religions and the false promises they promoted but caused the dark ages in europe the middle east, central asia, and are still threatening us today.

    Source date (UTC): 2026-01-02 06:29:13 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2006976054196617595

  • Signaling Goods and Services (~30–40% of budget; real costs up 200–1,000% since

    Signaling Goods and Services (~30–40% of budget; real costs up 200–1,000% since 1960): These involve status competition, where “more” signals investment in a child’s future success (e.g., elite credentials). The “parenting arms race” has normalized extras, raising fertility barriers and inequality—e.g., extracurriculars now cost $3,000+/year on average, up from negligible in 1960. Much of the child care/education surge (from 2% to 16–18%) is signaling-driven.
    Advanced Child Care/Education (core driver): Private preschools, tutors, test prep, elite colleges—+1,175%; e.g., SAT coaching ($1,000+) or travel sports ($5,000/year) signal “ambitious parenting.” Public basics are sufficient; extras are positional.
    Enrichment/Extracurriculars (in Misc): Music lessons, camps, gadgets—+20% overall, but signaling subset up 300%+; e.g., competitive robotics vs. free playground time.
    Premium Housing: Homes in top school districts—part of housing’s stability, but signaling adds 20–50% premium ($50k+ over 18 years) for “good zip codes.”
    Specialty Health/Wellness: Elective therapies, orthodontics for aesthetics—subset of health’s +155%; signals health-conscious status.

    This split explains why costs feel “out of control” despite modest totals: signaling inflates via social norms, not just needs. For instance, fertility drops in high-inequality areas correlate more with relative costs (e.g., affording Ivy signals) than absolutes. To mitigate, policies like universal pre-K could compress the arms race. For personalized breakdowns, USDA’s tool at
    http://
    CNPP.usda.gov is useful.

    Source date (UTC): 2025-12-24 21:24:55 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2003939970470567952

  • Russia has already drained it’s stockpiles, is trying to rebuild it’s industry,

    Russia has already drained it’s stockpiles, is trying to rebuild it’s industry, but has a tiny economy to do it with.

    Source date (UTC): 2025-12-21 00:22:13 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2002535039066865831

  • Political will cannot overcome inescapable incentives

    Political will cannot overcome inescapable incentives.

    Source date (UTC): 2025-12-12 14:13:17 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1999482692564582850

  • All decisions are a matter of supply and demand fully accounted across all causa

    All decisions are a matter of supply and demand fully accounted across all causal dimensions. This one is between regulatory, time, and production costs one does not control vs those one does. Heat dissipation is not impossible in space. We are experts at it. That is why every major producer is investing in it.

    Source date (UTC): 2025-12-12 01:30:34 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1999290749880558074

  • Is it? or is it a bureaucratic one, an energy transportation problem, a time to

    Is it? or is it a bureaucratic one, an energy transportation problem, a time to completion problem, and a financing problem? I mean its relatively fast and cheap to launch satellites. Look at Starlink. Why deal with all the other problems?

    Source date (UTC): 2025-12-11 19:37:54 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1999201997971681308

  • None of these statements are anything other than painfully obvious. The only que

    None of these statements are anything other than painfully obvious. The only questionable one is bitcoin, because if the fed takes a position on it as a stabilization vehicle then he’ll be wrong.

    The BTC tech is weak for reasons we all understand. But a non-dilutable share in the economy that is also spendable is a pretty useful utility.

    Source date (UTC): 2025-12-03 20:11:18 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1996311302164357408

  • You are largely correct. There hasn’t been a reason for existence of insurance c

    You are largely correct. There hasn’t been a reason for existence of insurance companies since we developed big data and competent actuarials. Now teeir exisence is irrelevant. The principle problem is ‘blame’ (or responsibility). Thats law. Law wont disappear, costs will collapse and volume increase to the limit of judicial and lawyer cognitive carrying capacity. (You should see what we are doing to get a case before the supreme court with a tiny staff replacing dozens of lawyers.)
    Accounting will collapse into data entry. Finance and banking will collapse into extensions of the treasury. It will take almost twenty years but it will happen. But worse, how many clerical white collar jobs dominated by women will disappear? All of them.

    Source date (UTC): 2025-12-02 05:53:36 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1995733066166480921

  • Failure since 2000 to expand into computation. Lower capital availability due to

    Failure since 2000 to expand into computation.
    Lower capital availability due to distributed markets.
    Safety over opportunity.
    Certainty over risk.
    Legal prior restraint (regulation).
    Bureaucratic load.

    Source date (UTC): 2025-11-27 22:29:33 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1994171767007359412

  • Agreed. They are trying to stay in the game until a company that’s the real winn

    Agreed. They are trying to stay in the game until a company that’s the real winner is determined by the market. Essentially it means they’re surrendering because they don’t feel competent to compete.

    Source date (UTC): 2025-11-24 18:14:09 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1993020329409888614