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	<id>https://theportal.wiki/index.php?action=history&amp;feed=atom&amp;title=Conspiracy_Theory</id>
	<title>Conspiracy Theory - Revision history</title>
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	<updated>2026-05-25T00:49:51Z</updated>
	<subtitle>Revision history for this page on the wiki</subtitle>
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	<entry>
		<id>https://theportal.wiki/index.php?title=Conspiracy_Theory&amp;diff=23415&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Pyrope at 03:42, 28 October 2025</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://theportal.wiki/index.php?title=Conspiracy_Theory&amp;diff=23415&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2025-10-28T03:42:41Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
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				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 03:42, 28 October 2025&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l6&quot;&gt;Line 6:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 6:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;So the first thing I want is to be relatively clear: I’m somebody who believes that there is a fair amount of organization behind the scenes-usually of a relatively low level of organization-that is unknown to the people who are watching TV or listening to, let’s say, NPR on the radio. And at various times I’ve dug more deeply into various stories, and so I want you to have some idea of my history in the space.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;So the first thing I want is to be relatively clear: I’m somebody who believes that there is a fair amount of organization behind the scenes-usually of a relatively low level of organization-that is unknown to the people who are watching TV or listening to, let’s say, NPR on the radio. And at various times I’ve dug more deeply into various stories, and so I want you to have some idea of my history in the space.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;In the 1980s and 1990s, I became very active in believing that the so called STEM shortage of scientists and engineers that was claimed by the policy research and analysis division of the [[National Science Foundation (NSF)|National Science Foundation]], was in fact a conspiracy in order to make life easier for employers who would be facing American scientists with an ability to bargain, and make higher wage demands; and that the National Academy of Sciences and National Science Foundation interceded on the behalf of employers, which was tampering in the labor market in an absolutely vital sector-resulting in the [[IMMACT90|Immigration Act of 1990, or &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;IMACT90&lt;/del&gt;]], as it was called.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;In the 1980s and 1990s, I became very active in believing that the so called STEM shortage of scientists and engineers that was claimed by the policy research and analysis division of the [[National Science Foundation (NSF)|National Science Foundation]], was in fact a conspiracy in order to make life easier for employers who would be facing American scientists with an ability to bargain, and make higher wage demands; and that the National Academy of Sciences and National Science Foundation interceded on the behalf of employers, which was tampering in the labor market in an absolutely vital sector-resulting in the [[IMMACT90|Immigration Act of 1990, or &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;IMMACT90&lt;/ins&gt;]], as it was called.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;At that point, I also became aware of what I have termed the [[Borjas Rectangle Theory]]: that is that employers generally, in free market economies, when they’re complaining about labor shortages, are actually trying to transfer wealth from labor to capital-complaining instead that there is a small inefficiency that needs to be rectified, which we might [in turn] call the Harberger Triangle. So that is, employers claim that there’s a small inefficiency, but in [point of] fact they’re seeking large transfer payments from the vulnerable to the well-heeled. I also believe that NAFTA and the Free Trade Agreement from the 1990s, was a kind of conspiracy supported by the economics establishment of the United States; that they knew that in fact free trade was not a freebie. It was not in fact a rising tide that lifted all boats, but was in fact, again, a transfer, which was claimed to be a pure good for everyone. This is the difference between something called the Kaldor-Hicks objective function and the Pareto objective function.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;At that point, I also became aware of what I have termed the [[Borjas Rectangle Theory]]: that is that employers generally, in free market economies, when they’re complaining about labor shortages, are actually trying to transfer wealth from labor to capital-complaining instead that there is a small inefficiency that needs to be rectified, which we might [in turn] call the Harberger Triangle. So that is, employers claim that there’s a small inefficiency, but in [point of] fact they’re seeking large transfer payments from the vulnerable to the well-heeled. I also believe that NAFTA and the Free Trade Agreement from the 1990s, was a kind of conspiracy supported by the economics establishment of the United States; that they knew that in fact free trade was not a freebie. It was not in fact a rising tide that lifted all boats, but was in fact, again, a transfer, which was claimed to be a pure good for everyone. This is the difference between something called the Kaldor-Hicks objective function and the Pareto objective function.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Pyrope</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://theportal.wiki/index.php?title=Conspiracy_Theory&amp;diff=23412&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Pyrope at 03:40, 28 October 2025</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://theportal.wiki/index.php?title=Conspiracy_Theory&amp;diff=23412&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2025-10-28T03:40:47Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 03:40, 28 October 2025&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l10&quot;&gt;Line 10:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 10:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;At that point, I also became aware of what I have termed the [[Borjas Rectangle Theory]]: that is that employers generally, in free market economies, when they’re complaining about labor shortages, are actually trying to transfer wealth from labor to capital-complaining instead that there is a small inefficiency that needs to be rectified, which we might [in turn] call the Harberger Triangle. So that is, employers claim that there’s a small inefficiency, but in [point of] fact they’re seeking large transfer payments from the vulnerable to the well-heeled. I also believe that NAFTA and the Free Trade Agreement from the 1990s, was a kind of conspiracy supported by the economics establishment of the United States; that they knew that in fact free trade was not a freebie. It was not in fact a rising tide that lifted all boats, but was in fact, again, a transfer, which was claimed to be a pure good for everyone. This is the difference between something called the Kaldor-Hicks objective function and the Pareto objective function.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;At that point, I also became aware of what I have termed the [[Borjas Rectangle Theory]]: that is that employers generally, in free market economies, when they’re complaining about labor shortages, are actually trying to transfer wealth from labor to capital-complaining instead that there is a small inefficiency that needs to be rectified, which we might [in turn] call the Harberger Triangle. So that is, employers claim that there’s a small inefficiency, but in [point of] fact they’re seeking large transfer payments from the vulnerable to the well-heeled. I also believe that NAFTA and the Free Trade Agreement from the 1990s, was a kind of conspiracy supported by the economics establishment of the United States; that they knew that in fact free trade was not a freebie. It was not in fact a rising tide that lifted all boats, but was in fact, again, a transfer, which was claimed to be a pure good for everyone. This is the difference between something called the Kaldor-Hicks objective function and the Pareto objective function.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;I also believed that [[String Theory]] was largely a desperation measure in physics that was sold to the world to buy time, when in fact the field of theoretical physics was failing. I also claimed that the [[Boskin Commission]], formed by Packwood and Moynihan in the mid-1990s, was a kind of conspiracy to transfer&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;-&lt;/del&gt;actually&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;-&lt;/del&gt;a trillion dollars, by using the fact that Social Security payments are indexed to inflation, as well as tax brackets being indexed to inflation; so that if you could show that the CPI was overstated and you could reduce the [[CPI]], you could transfer millions without having to touch the so called “third rail” of American politics.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;I also believed that [[String Theory]] was largely a desperation measure in physics that was sold to the world to buy time, when in fact the field of theoretical physics was failing. I also claimed that the [[Boskin Commission]], formed by Packwood and Moynihan in the mid-1990s, was a kind of conspiracy to transfer&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;, &lt;/ins&gt;actually&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;, &lt;/ins&gt;a trillion dollars, by using the fact that Social Security payments are indexed to inflation, as well as tax brackets being indexed to inflation; so that if you could show that the CPI was overstated and you could reduce the [[CPI]], you could transfer millions without having to touch the so called “third rail” of American politics.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;This brings us to the two trading fortunes in New York City that, during the first decade of the new millennium, made no sense to me. And those were Bernie Madoff, then referred to as the “Jewish T-Bill”, and [[Jeffrey Epstein]]. In the case of Madoff, I made a wrong guess. I believed that Bernie Madoff was frontrunning a traditional business that he held using actual orders that he knew were being placed, and in his hedge fund [he] was effectively cheating-based on the inside information he had from a legitimate business, in an illegitimate business. I goofed, and I was wrong. In fact, he was operating a pyramid scheme. It didn’t occur to me.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;This brings us to the two trading fortunes in New York City that, during the first decade of the new millennium, made no sense to me. And those were Bernie Madoff, then referred to as the “Jewish T-Bill”, and [[Jeffrey Epstein]]. In the case of Madoff, I made a wrong guess. I believed that Bernie Madoff was frontrunning a traditional business that he held using actual orders that he knew were being placed, and in his hedge fund [he] was effectively cheating-based on the inside information he had from a legitimate business, in an illegitimate business. I goofed, and I was wrong. In fact, he was operating a pyramid scheme. It didn’t occur to me.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Pyrope</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://theportal.wiki/index.php?title=Conspiracy_Theory&amp;diff=23411&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Pyrope at 03:40, 28 October 2025</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://theportal.wiki/index.php?title=Conspiracy_Theory&amp;diff=23411&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2025-10-28T03:40:11Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 03:40, 28 October 2025&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l1&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;
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&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;lt;blockquote&amp;gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;lt;blockquote&amp;gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;I did want to talk to people about [[Responsible Conspiracy Theorizing|responsible conspiracy theorizing]]. That is, in the minds of many, people believe that conspiracy theorists are people like Alex Jones, people who are spouting all sorts of crazy ideas-some of which might have some grain of truth in them, but in general it feels like an exercise in talking to the tin foil hat crowd.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Now I want to say, first of all, that I have absolutely no special inside knowledge of the situation. I know people who knew him and I met him once, but it is not like I have any particular line on information from any particularly interesting source about the situation. Furthermore, I don’t think that I’m going to be using any special kind of analysis that is known only to me, but &lt;/ins&gt;I did want to talk to people about [[Responsible Conspiracy Theorizing|responsible conspiracy theorizing]]. That is, in the minds of many, people believe that conspiracy theorists are people like Alex Jones, people who are spouting all sorts of crazy ideas-some of which might have some grain of truth in them, but in general it feels like an exercise in talking to the tin foil hat crowd.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;Now, I don’t know much about Alex Jones; perhaps he’s better than I think he is, but what I want to talk about is a different kind of conspiracy theorizing.&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;..&lt;/del&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;Now, I don’t know much about Alex Jones; perhaps he’s better than I think he is, but what I want to talk about is a different kind of conspiracy theorizing. &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;So, without further ado, welcome to this episode of The Portal on the subject of Jeffrey Epstein&lt;/ins&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;So the first thing I want is to be relatively clear: I’m somebody who believes that there is a fair amount of organization behind the scenes-usually of a relatively low level of organization-that is unknown to the people who are watching TV or listening to, let’s say, NPR on the radio. And at various times I’ve dug more deeply into various stories, and so I want you to have some idea of my history in the space.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;So the first thing I want is to be relatively clear: I’m somebody who believes that there is a fair amount of organization behind the scenes-usually of a relatively low level of organization-that is unknown to the people who are watching TV or listening to, let’s say, NPR on the radio. And at various times I’ve dug more deeply into various stories, and so I want you to have some idea of my history in the space.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l14&quot;&gt;Line 14:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 14:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;This brings us to the two trading fortunes in New York City that, during the first decade of the new millennium, made no sense to me. And those were Bernie Madoff, then referred to as the “Jewish T-Bill”, and [[Jeffrey Epstein]]. In the case of Madoff, I made a wrong guess. I believed that Bernie Madoff was frontrunning a traditional business that he held using actual orders that he knew were being placed, and in his hedge fund [he] was effectively cheating-based on the inside information he had from a legitimate business, in an illegitimate business. I goofed, and I was wrong. In fact, he was operating a pyramid scheme. It didn’t occur to me.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;This brings us to the two trading fortunes in New York City that, during the first decade of the new millennium, made no sense to me. And those were Bernie Madoff, then referred to as the “Jewish T-Bill”, and [[Jeffrey Epstein]]. In the case of Madoff, I made a wrong guess. I believed that Bernie Madoff was frontrunning a traditional business that he held using actual orders that he knew were being placed, and in his hedge fund [he] was effectively cheating-based on the inside information he had from a legitimate business, in an illegitimate business. I goofed, and I was wrong. In fact, he was operating a pyramid scheme. It didn’t occur to me.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;Eric Weinstein&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039; on [[25: The Construct: Jeffrey Epstein|The Portal Ep #25]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;Eric Weinstein&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;, March 7, 2020, &lt;/ins&gt;on [[25: The Construct: Jeffrey Epstein|The Portal Ep #25]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-side-added&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;lt;/blockquote&amp;gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;lt;/blockquote&amp;gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Pyrope</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://theportal.wiki/index.php?title=Conspiracy_Theory&amp;diff=23409&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Pyrope at 03:35, 28 October 2025</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://theportal.wiki/index.php?title=Conspiracy_Theory&amp;diff=23409&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2025-10-28T03:35:46Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 03:35, 28 October 2025&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l1&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;lt;blockquote&amp;gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;lt;blockquote&amp;gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-side-deleted&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;&#039;&#039;I did want to talk to people about [[Responsible Conspiracy Theorizing|responsible conspiracy theorizing]]. That is, in the minds of many, people believe that conspiracy theorists are people like Alex Jones, people who are spouting all sorts of crazy ideas-some of which might have some grain of truth in them, but in general it feels like an exercise in talking to the tin foil hat crowd.&lt;/ins&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;I &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;did &lt;/del&gt;want to talk &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;to people &lt;/del&gt;about &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;responsible &lt;/del&gt;conspiracy theorizing. &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;That is, in the minds of many, people believe that conspiracy theorists are people like Alex Jones, people who are spouting all sorts of crazy ideas-some of which might have some grain of truth in them, but in general it feels like an exercise in talking to the tin foil hat crowd&lt;/del&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;Now, I don’t know much about Alex Jones; perhaps he’s better than I think he is, but what &lt;/ins&gt;I want to talk about &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;is a different kind of &lt;/ins&gt;conspiracy theorizing.&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;..&lt;/ins&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Now, &lt;/del&gt;I &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;don’t know much about Alex Jones; perhaps he’s better than I think he &lt;/del&gt;is, &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;but what &lt;/del&gt;I want to &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;talk about is a different kind &lt;/del&gt;of &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;conspiracy theorizing...&lt;/del&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;So the first thing &lt;/ins&gt;I &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;want is to be relatively clear: I’m somebody who believes that there is a fair amount of organization behind the scenes-usually of a relatively low level of organization-that &lt;/ins&gt;is &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;unknown to the people who are watching TV or listening to, let’s say, NPR on the radio. And at various times I’ve dug more deeply into various stories&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;and so &lt;/ins&gt;I want &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;you &lt;/ins&gt;to &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;have some idea &lt;/ins&gt;of &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;my history in the space&lt;/ins&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;So &lt;/del&gt;the &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;first thing &lt;/del&gt;I &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;want is to be relatively clear: I’m somebody who believes &lt;/del&gt;that &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;there is a fair amount &lt;/del&gt;of &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;organization behind &lt;/del&gt;the &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;scenes-usually &lt;/del&gt;of a &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;relatively low level of organization-that is unknown &lt;/del&gt;to &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;the people &lt;/del&gt;who &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;are watching TV or listening &lt;/del&gt;to, &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;let’s say, NPR &lt;/del&gt;on the &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;radio. And at various times I’ve dug more deeply into various stories&lt;/del&gt;, &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;and so I want you to have some idea of my history &lt;/del&gt;in the &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;space&lt;/del&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;In &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;1980s and 1990s, &lt;/ins&gt;I &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;became very active in believing &lt;/ins&gt;that &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;the so called STEM shortage &lt;/ins&gt;of &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;scientists and engineers that was claimed by &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;policy research and analysis division &lt;/ins&gt;of &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;the [[National Science Foundation (NSF)|National Science Foundation]], was in fact &lt;/ins&gt;a &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;conspiracy in order &lt;/ins&gt;to &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;make life easier for employers &lt;/ins&gt;who &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;would be facing American scientists with an ability &lt;/ins&gt;to &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;bargain&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;and make higher wage demands; and that the National Academy of Sciences and National Science Foundation interceded &lt;/ins&gt;on the &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;behalf of employers&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;which was tampering in the labor market in an absolutely vital sector-resulting &lt;/ins&gt;in the &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;[[IMMACT90|Immigration Act of 1990, or IMACT90]], as it was called&lt;/ins&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;In the 1980s and 1990s&lt;/del&gt;, I became &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;very active &lt;/del&gt;in &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;believing &lt;/del&gt;that the &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;so called STEM shortage &lt;/del&gt;of &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;scientists &lt;/del&gt;and &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;engineers that &lt;/del&gt;was &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;claimed &lt;/del&gt;by the &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;policy research and analysis division &lt;/del&gt;of the &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;National Science Foundation, &lt;/del&gt;was in fact a &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;conspiracy &lt;/del&gt;in &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;order to make life easier for employers who would be facing American scientists with an ability to bargain&lt;/del&gt;, &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;and make higher wage demands; and that the National Academy of Sciences and National Science Foundation interceded on the behalf of employers&lt;/del&gt;, which was &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;tampering in &lt;/del&gt;the &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;labor market in an absolutely vital sector&lt;/del&gt;-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;resulting in &lt;/del&gt;the &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Immigration Act of 1990, or IMACT90, as it was called&lt;/del&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;At that point&lt;/ins&gt;, I &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;also &lt;/ins&gt;became &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;aware of what I have termed the [[Borjas Rectangle Theory]]: that is that employers generally, &lt;/ins&gt;in &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;free market economies, when they’re complaining about labor shortages, are actually trying to transfer wealth from labor to capital-complaining instead that there is a small inefficiency &lt;/ins&gt;that &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;needs to be rectified, which we might [in turn] call &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Harberger Triangle. So that is, employers claim that there’s a small inefficiency, but in [point &lt;/ins&gt;of&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;] fact they’re seeking large transfer payments from the vulnerable to the well-heeled. I also believe that NAFTA &lt;/ins&gt;and &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;the Free Trade Agreement from the 1990s, &lt;/ins&gt;was &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;a kind of conspiracy supported &lt;/ins&gt;by the &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;economics establishment &lt;/ins&gt;of the &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;United States; that they knew that in fact free trade was not a freebie. It &lt;/ins&gt;was &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;not &lt;/ins&gt;in fact a &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;rising tide that lifted all boats, but was &lt;/ins&gt;in &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;fact, again&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;a transfer&lt;/ins&gt;, which was &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;claimed to be a pure good for everyone. This is the difference between something called &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Kaldor&lt;/ins&gt;-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Hicks objective function and &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Pareto objective function&lt;/ins&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;At that point, &lt;/del&gt;I also &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;became aware of what I have termed the Borjas Rectangle &lt;/del&gt;Theory&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;: that is that employers generally, &lt;/del&gt;in &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;free market economies, when they’re complaining about labor shortages, are actually trying to transfer wealth from labor to capital-complaining instead &lt;/del&gt;that &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;there is a small inefficiency that needs &lt;/del&gt;to &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;be rectified, which we might [in turn] call &lt;/del&gt;the &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Harberger Triangle. So that is&lt;/del&gt;, &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;employers claim that there’s a small inefficiency, but &lt;/del&gt;in &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;[point of] &lt;/del&gt;fact &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;they’re seeking large transfer payments from &lt;/del&gt;the &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;vulnerable to the well-heeled&lt;/del&gt;. I also &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;believe &lt;/del&gt;that &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;NAFTA &lt;/del&gt;and the &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Free Trade Agreement from the &lt;/del&gt;1990s, was a kind of conspiracy &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;supported &lt;/del&gt;by the &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;economics establishment of the United States&lt;/del&gt;; that &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;they knew &lt;/del&gt;that &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;in fact free trade &lt;/del&gt;was &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;not a freebie. It was not in fact a rising tide that lifted all boats&lt;/del&gt;, &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;but was in fact, again, a &lt;/del&gt;transfer&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;, which was claimed &lt;/del&gt;to &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;be a pure good for everyone. This is &lt;/del&gt;the &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;difference between something &lt;/del&gt;called &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;the Kaldor-Hicks objective function and the Pareto objective function&lt;/del&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&lt;/ins&gt;I also &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;believed that [[String &lt;/ins&gt;Theory&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;]] was largely a desperation measure &lt;/ins&gt;in &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;physics &lt;/ins&gt;that &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;was sold &lt;/ins&gt;to the &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;world to buy time&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;when &lt;/ins&gt;in fact the &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;field of theoretical physics was failing&lt;/ins&gt;. I also &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;claimed &lt;/ins&gt;that &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;the [[Boskin Commission]], formed by Packwood &lt;/ins&gt;and &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Moynihan in &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;mid-&lt;/ins&gt;1990s, was a kind of conspiracy &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;to transfer-actually-a trillion dollars, &lt;/ins&gt;by &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;using &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;fact that Social Security payments are indexed to inflation, as well as tax brackets being indexed to inflation&lt;/ins&gt;; &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;so &lt;/ins&gt;that &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;if you could show &lt;/ins&gt;that &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;the CPI &lt;/ins&gt;was &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;overstated and you could reduce the [[CPI]]&lt;/ins&gt;, &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;you could &lt;/ins&gt;transfer &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;millions without having &lt;/ins&gt;to &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;touch &lt;/ins&gt;the &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;so &lt;/ins&gt;called &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;“third rail” of American politics&lt;/ins&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;I also believed that String Theory was largely a desperation measure in physics that was sold to the world to buy time, when in fact the field of theoretical physics was failing. I also claimed that the [[Boskin Commission]], formed by Packwood and Moynihan in the mid-1990s, was a kind of conspiracy to transfer-actually-a trillion dollars, by using the fact that Social Security payments are indexed to inflation, as well as tax brackets being indexed to inflation; so that if you could show that the CPI was overstated and you could reduce the CPI, you could transfer millions without having to touch the so called “third rail” of American politics.&lt;/del&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&lt;/ins&gt;This brings us to the two trading fortunes in New York City that, during the first decade of the new millennium, made no sense to me. And those were Bernie Madoff, then referred to as the “Jewish T-Bill”, and &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;[[&lt;/ins&gt;Jeffrey Epstein&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;]]&lt;/ins&gt;. In the case of Madoff, I made a wrong guess. I believed that Bernie Madoff was frontrunning a traditional business that he held using actual orders that he knew were being placed, and in his hedge fund [he] was effectively cheating-based on the inside information he had from a legitimate business, in an illegitimate business. I goofed, and I was wrong. In fact, he was operating a pyramid scheme. It didn’t occur to me.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-side-added&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;This brings us to the two trading fortunes in New York City that, during the first decade of the new millennium, made no sense to me. And those were Bernie Madoff, then referred to as the “Jewish T-Bill”, and Jeffrey Epstein. In the case of Madoff, I made a wrong guess. I believed that Bernie Madoff was frontrunning a traditional business that he held using actual orders that he knew were being placed, and in his hedge fund [he] was effectively cheating-based on the inside information he had from a legitimate business, in an illegitimate business. I goofed, and I was wrong. In fact, he was operating a pyramid scheme. It didn’t occur to me.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-side-added&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;Eric Weinstein&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039; on [[25: The Construct: Jeffrey Epstein|The Portal Ep #25]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;Eric Weinstein&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039; on [[25: The Construct: Jeffrey Epstein|The Portal Ep #25]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Pyrope</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://theportal.wiki/index.php?title=Conspiracy_Theory&amp;diff=21443&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Pyrope at 17:42, 15 April 2025</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://theportal.wiki/index.php?title=Conspiracy_Theory&amp;diff=21443&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2025-04-15T17:42:27Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 17:42, 15 April 2025&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l34&quot;&gt;Line 34:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 34:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;* [[25: The Construct: Jeffrey Epstein|The Portal Ep. 25]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;* [[25: The Construct: Jeffrey Epstein|The Portal Ep. 25]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;* [[Responsible Conspiracy Theorizing]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;* [[Responsible Conspiracy Theorizing]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-side-deleted&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;&lt;/ins&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-side-deleted&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;[[Category:Conspiracies]]&lt;/ins&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Pyrope</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://theportal.wiki/index.php?title=Conspiracy_Theory&amp;diff=21442&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Pyrope at 17:41, 15 April 2025</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://theportal.wiki/index.php?title=Conspiracy_Theory&amp;diff=21442&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2025-04-15T17:41:02Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 17:41, 15 April 2025&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l11&quot;&gt;Line 11:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 11:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;At that point, I also became aware of what I have termed the Borjas Rectangle Theory: that is that employers generally, in free market economies, when they’re complaining about labor shortages, are actually trying to transfer wealth from labor to capital-complaining instead that there is a small inefficiency that needs to be rectified, which we might [in turn] call the Harberger Triangle. So that is, employers claim that there’s a small inefficiency, but in [point of] fact they’re seeking large transfer payments from the vulnerable to the well-heeled. I also believe that NAFTA and the Free Trade Agreement from the 1990s, was a kind of conspiracy supported by the economics establishment of the United States; that they knew that in fact free trade was not a freebie. It was not in fact a rising tide that lifted all boats, but was in fact, again, a transfer, which was claimed to be a pure good for everyone. This is the difference between something called the Kaldor-Hicks objective function and the Pareto objective function.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;At that point, I also became aware of what I have termed the Borjas Rectangle Theory: that is that employers generally, in free market economies, when they’re complaining about labor shortages, are actually trying to transfer wealth from labor to capital-complaining instead that there is a small inefficiency that needs to be rectified, which we might [in turn] call the Harberger Triangle. So that is, employers claim that there’s a small inefficiency, but in [point of] fact they’re seeking large transfer payments from the vulnerable to the well-heeled. I also believe that NAFTA and the Free Trade Agreement from the 1990s, was a kind of conspiracy supported by the economics establishment of the United States; that they knew that in fact free trade was not a freebie. It was not in fact a rising tide that lifted all boats, but was in fact, again, a transfer, which was claimed to be a pure good for everyone. This is the difference between something called the Kaldor-Hicks objective function and the Pareto objective function.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;I also believed that String Theory was largely a desperation measure in physics that was sold to the world to buy time, when in fact the field of theoretical physics was failing. I also claimed that the Boskin Commission, formed by Packwood and Moynihan in the mid-1990s, was a kind of conspiracy to transfer-actually-a trillion dollars, by using the fact that Social Security payments are indexed to inflation, as well as tax brackets being indexed to inflation; so that if you could show that the CPI was overstated and you could reduce the CPI, you could transfer millions without having to touch the so called “third rail” of American politics.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;I also believed that String Theory was largely a desperation measure in physics that was sold to the world to buy time, when in fact the field of theoretical physics was failing. I also claimed that the &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;[[&lt;/ins&gt;Boskin Commission&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;]]&lt;/ins&gt;, formed by Packwood and Moynihan in the mid-1990s, was a kind of conspiracy to transfer-actually-a trillion dollars, by using the fact that Social Security payments are indexed to inflation, as well as tax brackets being indexed to inflation; so that if you could show that the CPI was overstated and you could reduce the CPI, you could transfer millions without having to touch the so called “third rail” of American politics.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;This brings us to the two trading fortunes in New York City that, during the first decade of the new millennium, made no sense to me. And those were Bernie Madoff, then referred to as the “Jewish T-Bill”, and Jeffrey Epstein. In the case of Madoff, I made a wrong guess. I believed that Bernie Madoff was frontrunning a traditional business that he held using actual orders that he knew were being placed, and in his hedge fund [he] was effectively cheating-based on the inside information he had from a legitimate business, in an illegitimate business. I goofed, and I was wrong. In fact, he was operating a pyramid scheme. It didn’t occur to me.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;This brings us to the two trading fortunes in New York City that, during the first decade of the new millennium, made no sense to me. And those were Bernie Madoff, then referred to as the “Jewish T-Bill”, and Jeffrey Epstein. In the case of Madoff, I made a wrong guess. I believed that Bernie Madoff was frontrunning a traditional business that he held using actual orders that he knew were being placed, and in his hedge fund [he] was effectively cheating-based on the inside information he had from a legitimate business, in an illegitimate business. I goofed, and I was wrong. In fact, he was operating a pyramid scheme. It didn’t occur to me.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Pyrope</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://theportal.wiki/index.php?title=Conspiracy_Theory&amp;diff=20128&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Pyrope: Created page with &quot;&lt;blockquote&gt;  I did want to talk to people about responsible conspiracy theorizing. That is, in the minds of many, people believe that conspiracy theorists are people like Alex Jones, people who are spouting all sorts of crazy ideas-some of which might have some grain of truth in them, but in general it feels like an exercise in talking to the tin foil hat crowd.  Now, I don’t know much about Alex Jones; perhaps he’s better than I think he is, but what I want to talk...&quot;</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://theportal.wiki/index.php?title=Conspiracy_Theory&amp;diff=20128&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2024-06-29T06:33:54Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;Created page with &amp;quot;&amp;lt;blockquote&amp;gt;  I did want to talk to people about responsible conspiracy theorizing. That is, in the minds of many, people believe that conspiracy theorists are people like Alex Jones, people who are spouting all sorts of crazy ideas-some of which might have some grain of truth in them, but in general it feels like an exercise in talking to the tin foil hat crowd.  Now, I don’t know much about Alex Jones; perhaps he’s better than I think he is, but what I want to talk...&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;New page&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;lt;blockquote&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I did want to talk to people about responsible conspiracy theorizing. That is, in the minds of many, people believe that conspiracy theorists are people like Alex Jones, people who are spouting all sorts of crazy ideas-some of which might have some grain of truth in them, but in general it feels like an exercise in talking to the tin foil hat crowd.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Now, I don’t know much about Alex Jones; perhaps he’s better than I think he is, but what I want to talk about is a different kind of conspiracy theorizing....&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
So the first thing I want is to be relatively clear: I’m somebody who believes that there is a fair amount of organization behind the scenes-usually of a relatively low level of organization-that is unknown to the people who are watching TV or listening to, let’s say, NPR on the radio. And at various times I’ve dug more deeply into various stories, and so I want you to have some idea of my history in the space.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In the 1980s and 1990s, I became very active in believing that the so called STEM shortage of scientists and engineers that was claimed by the policy research and analysis division of the National Science Foundation, was in fact a conspiracy in order to make life easier for employers who would be facing American scientists with an ability to bargain, and make higher wage demands; and that the National Academy of Sciences and National Science Foundation interceded on the behalf of employers, which was tampering in the labor market in an absolutely vital sector-resulting in the Immigration Act of 1990, or IMACT90, as it was called.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
At that point, I also became aware of what I have termed the Borjas Rectangle Theory: that is that employers generally, in free market economies, when they’re complaining about labor shortages, are actually trying to transfer wealth from labor to capital-complaining instead that there is a small inefficiency that needs to be rectified, which we might [in turn] call the Harberger Triangle. So that is, employers claim that there’s a small inefficiency, but in [point of] fact they’re seeking large transfer payments from the vulnerable to the well-heeled. I also believe that NAFTA and the Free Trade Agreement from the 1990s, was a kind of conspiracy supported by the economics establishment of the United States; that they knew that in fact free trade was not a freebie. It was not in fact a rising tide that lifted all boats, but was in fact, again, a transfer, which was claimed to be a pure good for everyone. This is the difference between something called the Kaldor-Hicks objective function and the Pareto objective function.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I also believed that String Theory was largely a desperation measure in physics that was sold to the world to buy time, when in fact the field of theoretical physics was failing. I also claimed that the Boskin Commission, formed by Packwood and Moynihan in the mid-1990s, was a kind of conspiracy to transfer-actually-a trillion dollars, by using the fact that Social Security payments are indexed to inflation, as well as tax brackets being indexed to inflation; so that if you could show that the CPI was overstated and you could reduce the CPI, you could transfer millions without having to touch the so called “third rail” of American politics.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
This brings us to the two trading fortunes in New York City that, during the first decade of the new millennium, made no sense to me. And those were Bernie Madoff, then referred to as the “Jewish T-Bill”, and Jeffrey Epstein. In the case of Madoff, I made a wrong guess. I believed that Bernie Madoff was frontrunning a traditional business that he held using actual orders that he knew were being placed, and in his hedge fund [he] was effectively cheating-based on the inside information he had from a legitimate business, in an illegitimate business. I goofed, and I was wrong. In fact, he was operating a pyramid scheme. It didn’t occur to me.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;Eric Weinstein&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039; on [[25: The Construct: Jeffrey Epstein|The Portal Ep #25]]&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;lt;/blockquote&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
== On X==&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
{{#widget:Tweet|id=1111322128979099648}}&lt;br /&gt;
{{#widget:Tweet|id=1124208985114963969}}&lt;br /&gt;
{{#widget:Tweet|id=1124208990580142080}}&lt;br /&gt;
{{#widget:Tweet|id=1594733388090331136}}&lt;br /&gt;
{{#widget:Tweet|id=1409965638710292480}}&lt;br /&gt;
{{#widget:Tweet|id=1580951724008710144}}&lt;br /&gt;
{{#widget:Tweet|id=1775963113407598622}}&lt;br /&gt;
{{#widget:Tweet|id=1806854942118084725}}&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
== See Also ==&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
* [[25: The Construct: Jeffrey Epstein|The Portal Ep. 25]]&lt;br /&gt;
* [[Responsible Conspiracy Theorizing]]&lt;/div&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Pyrope</name></author>
	</entry>
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