The first prediction came true👍 Still waiting for the second. . . . . .

The next Lebanese presidential election will take place 8.5 years from today😎

"I pledge to consecrate the state's monopoly on having arms." Everyone: [APPLAUSE] Me: But what if the state turns tyrannical? Everyone: That's impossible. Me: You mean as impossible as the central bank turning into a massive Ponzi scheme? Everyone:🤔 #becarefulwhatyouwishfor

Basically Makhzoumi secured almost twice as many initial votes as Salam. But instead of withdrawing their candidate and uniting behind the front runner, Salam’s supporters decided to play chicken! And won! (ie. Makhzoumi’s supporters became terrified of a Mikati win and swerved)

BDL: “FATF has accepted Lebanon’s cash economy.” Good. So now could Lebanon’s pseudo-economists please stop demonizing the cash economy and find themselves another perfectly normal human behavior to complain about?

I read the PM's book to understand his economics. But book is mainly about Leb's political history and sectarianism, which he thinks is a "problem" that the state can "solve." A debated idea but still very mainstream. Basically I saw no "outside the box" ideas re/ Leb's problems.

If you are Lebanese and into politics, make sure you’re not afflicted with “institutionalism”👇

Lebanon insists on learning the hard way the most obvious measure to deter crime: allow every citizen to be armed and defend himself. The rational is this: non-criminals outnumber criminals 1000 to 1, so if everybody is armed the criminals won’t even dare to try.

The Lebanese police arrested nine people playing poker in a chalet🤦‍♂️ We kindly ask the police to fight real crimes, not fake crimes. Okay?

"Only cars with 4WD or snow chains are allowed" is what the ignorant public service announcements in Lebanon keep parroting. Hey people! When it comes to stopping ability 4WD and 2WD are THE SAME! Without winter tires or snow chains you WILL slide on ice!

Same as the outgoing economy minister, the new minister is also clueless about how prices work.

Lebanon is rushing to replicate the one government program that has wreaked the budgets of EVERY. GOVERNMENT. IN. THE. WORLD! Smart!🤦‍♂️

This analysis simply doesn’t get bank runs. Foreign lending and customer withdrawals had already stopped years and months before the default respectively. All outflows should have stopped immediately, not just to Eurobonds. Any significant outflow during a bank run is a crime.

Dear candidate for Banque du Liban governorship, I have humbly written these 14 test questions to see whether, in my opinion, you’re qualified. If you can’t answer them, then, as far as I’m concerned, and with all due respect, you’re unqualified for the job. Question 1: Explain

Is building an island in the middle of the sea really this easy?!

Lebanon should immediately and unilaterally eliminate ALL trade tariffs on EVERYONE, regardless of reciprocity. This isn’t a political statement, but one based on good economics.

If Lebanon kills all import tariffs, you’d no longer have to stuff your travel bags with items every time you return from a trip abroad. All would be cheaply available in Lebanese stores. It’d be the opposite: Foreign visitors to Lebanon would stuff their bags before leaving.

Corruption is ubiquitous in any gov't. But its worst manifestation lies in tariff enforcement. Trade tariffs are highly complex, subjective, easily gamed, and subject to myriad exemptions and conditions. If corruption were a live organism, its beating heart would be tariffs.

I'm not comfortable with nonresidents voting in elections, because they don't immediately suffer the consequences of voting for bad people. They have less skin in the game than residents.

Question: If you raise the input price what happens to the output price? Min. of industry Joe W. Issa-El-Khoury: It goes up because of natural economic forces. Min. of economy Amer Bisat: Nothing unless the sellers exploit it, in which case the government should discipline them.