Partial List of Things I'm Very Tired Of
Yes, this will be a rant.
Nitwits and midwits recycling long-discredited theories against free trade and free migration.
Innumerate fools with money engaging in backward reasoning to justify investments in absurd ideas from an investment standpoint (e.g., meme stocks, meme coins, NFTs, etc.).
Bad actors who stand to continue profiting from expensive investments that offer AT BEST similar returns for AT BEST different combinations of risk (e.g., variable annuities, liquid alts marketed to retail investors, any insurance product sold as an investment, etc.)
Adjacent to the prior, truly sophisticated investment professionals who have parlayed that advantage for ridiculous personal gain by deceiving (including to the extent of self deception) those whose money they invest investing it in ways that AT BEST deliver the same risk-adjusted returns found in simpler and more straightforward options (e.g., hedge funds, private equity and credit, alternatives galore, etc. as opposed to public markets including especially index funds).
There-goes-the-neighborhood mindsets that can't see the forests for the trees when it comes to real estate development.
Adjacent to the prior, NIMBY (which really should be NIYBY) that has no respect for property rights, tolerance for other's preferences, or understanding that they might not have all the answers regarding what progress looks like.
Greed and envy-based motivations for tax policies that are counterproductive and deeply unfair—these include very high marginal rates on the wealthy and high income earners and importantly VERY high marginal rates on the poor and low income earners.
Those who have the gall to decry welfare for the poor (regardless of its many serious flaws) without bringing the same energy to bear against cronyism (corporate welfare in dollars and in kind) and excessive entitlement program spending (wealthy senior welfare in Social Security and Medicare).
Simplistic and tribalistic thinking that refuses to engage with ideas but instead retreats to emotional positions poisoned by social-desirability bias and cultish (personality and otherwise) groupthink. From woke to MAGA, this disease afflicts "both sides".1
The crazy insanity of yet again and again thinking that price controls can work. The latest headline version of this is capping consumer interest rates, but at the same time we see rent control and price gouging laws being promoted. And in the midst of all of this is widespread support for minimum wages.
See Horseshoe Theory to understand why I used scare quotes.
Good rant!