Room temperature mailbag

Housing deadweight loss, new cities, and Blank Slate Jesus

Donald Trump getting indicted is obviously the big news this week, but I’m not sure I have much value-add commentary on this. I hope you won’t take my failure to write a column about it as slighting the significance of this event; I just don’t know what to say about it exactly.

In terms of positive vibes, I don’t know that I put enough stock in this LK-99 superconductor buzz for it to qualify as good news, but I do think it’s interesting that this hasn’t been knocked down yet. Other things I’m looking at include Martin O’Malley getting a Biden administration post and learning that the condition of America’s bridges has improved markedly over time. The life expectancy for people with cystic fibrosis has also gotten much better.

M Bartley: How likely do you think a Joe Manchin 3rd party presidential run is? If it were to happen, how big of an impact do you think it would have?

It seems very unlikely to me.