Today’s Poser

Who is our contemporary P.T. Barnum:

Elon Musk?

Rep. Chuck Schumer?

Sir Richard Branson?

President Donald J. Trump?

Rep. Adam Schiff?

Jeff Bezos?

Mayor Bill de Blasio?

President Barack Obama?

Kim Jong Un?

Headlines

WHO head warns worst of the virus is still ahead

Coronavirus updates: New York begins antibody testing, public anger grows in Spain over death counts

Fauci warns USA needs to TRIPLE testing ...

Thousands defy coronavirus isolation order to attend Muslim cleric’s funeral

Facebook shuts down anti-quarantine protests at states’ request

Cannabis companies pay federal taxes but are shut out of small business loans

Oil price lowest in history ... Plunges 70% in day ...

Dick Morris: Biden Dem nomination ‘like a suicide march’

Gunman kills at least 16, including officer, in Nova Scotia

After a crazy 12 months, the S&P 500 is about back to where it started

Billionaire Branson begs for bailout ...

Report: 450,000 illegal immigrants are getting college degrees

Cost-Benefit

Economists often believe that they have the answers when it comes to trade offs between what things cost and the benefits derived therefrom. Well, Mr. Adam Smith, please explain the following head-scratchiers when it comes to such cost-benefit analyses that some people make:

- A Jackson Pollack "dribble" painting

- A Malibu monster beach house

- Tickets in the nose-bleed section of a December Minnesota Vikings home game

- Shares of Tesla stock

- A pre-paid future ride on a Richard Branson or Elon Musk "spaceship"

- A $100 per shot drink of 40-year-old single-malt Scotch whisky

- An Apple-Watch

- A Honus Wagner baseball card

- A cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin

- An Aston-Martin One ($1.4M)

- A luxury condo in Hong Kong

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

McConnell: Gorsuch will be confirmed one way or another

McCain: Nunes killed 'bipartisan' Russian investigation

Branson: Galactic passengers in space next year ...

UK airports, nuclear plants on terror alert

Mexican illegal alien arrested after drunken crash kills Ohio family

Trudeau dismisses opposition to Muslim prayer in public schools

PETA says milk 'symbol of white supermency' ...

Moscow, Beijing to bypass US dollar

White House ponders reorganization after healthcare debacle

China bans veils and 'abnormal' beards ...

46% of Bay Area's millennial residents want to leave

Police arrests plummeting across California, fueling alarm and questions

Rats!

Sometimes I dislike being right ... see: Branson's Booby. The Virgin Galactic "spaceship" has crashed during a test flight in California killing the pilot and seriously injuring the copilot ... see: CNN Money Story.

Afterward: For someone thinking along the same lines as myself (albeit with a little less empathy for Branson) read: Time Magazine Story.