philg here... A reader pointed me to this response to my Weblog article. To answer Jellicle's question about "how much would it cost to take the three-day cou

philg here... A reader pointed me to this response to my Weblog article. To answer Jellicle's question about "how much would it cost to take the three-day course?" ... $0. The course was free, open to the public (no unemployed people chose to attend), and all of the teachers volunteered their time over a three-day holiday weekend. We did use an MIT classroom and wireless network, but no capital equipment other than a video projector. Let's look at the rest of Jellicle's assertions... Wanker? Perhaps. Libertarian? I voted for King Obama, though it might have been simply to make my December 2007 prediction come true... http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2007/12/12/election-2008-prediction-obama-wins-by-5-percent-we-will-all-be-dep/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2007/12/12/election-2008-... Rich? Since I don't work on Wall Street, by definition I am not rich. I have some money saved up, but the total is about what a successful hedge fund manager earns in a week. Home mortgage subsidy? I've never had a mortgage. I worked from 1978 until 1996 as a programmer, saving money each year, until I could afford to buy a two-bedroom condo with cash. I certainly do not advocate a continued tax deduction for home mortgages. I think the events of the last decade should have proven the folly of the government subsidizing an oversized housing sector. Prior to the Collapse of 2008, I wrote http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2008/04/05/why-do-we-want-to-maintain-the-worlds-highest-housing-prices/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2008/04/05/why-do-we-want... on the question of whether high housing prices are good for our economy overall.