How Math Can Kill You

Math ruins some really enchanting ideas. Things like fossil-free energy and open borders, combined with generous social welfare. This week, governments that ignored the basics are seeing serious consequences for fantastical thinking. By the same token, however, properly applied math can dispel doomster thinking. Pollster Mark Penn presents a “math camp” this week. It’s a refreshing response to offset the hysteria about the economic disruption of Iran’s “global terror network.” We use 20 million barrels of oil a day. So if oil prices increased during the war to $110 a barrel that is an extra $1 billion a day in...