The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. – F.A. Hayek
Posted in Economic Illiteracy on Nov 30th, 2009
Thus said the Lord. Have many people stopped to consider exactly what that phrase means? What is the purpose of running a business? To generate profits for the owners. And we know the best way to do that over the long haul is to treat both your customers and your employees well. Even if the [...]
Posted in Fun Facts on Nov 29th, 2009
Henry Ford is evil. In 1904, there were 61,306 people employed in the wagon and carriage industry. Today, there are virtually zero. The wages of those workers in 1904 were about $31.2 million dollars — or about $700 million in today’s dollars. That is equivalent to destroying an asset of roughly $35 billion in value. [...]
Posted in Socialism on Nov 27th, 2009
As part of the Cap and Charade Trade CO2 emissions reduction program, the Administration plans on raising $300 billion between 2011 and 2019 from increasing the tax rates on those whose income exceeds $250,000 per year. As part of the Health Care Distortion Reform plan, according to the bill passed recently by the House of [...]
Posted in Taxation on Nov 25th, 2009
The way I view the world is that lots of us (most of us) spend a lot of effort and energy making the world a happier place (interpret that term broadly). The analogy is that we spend our time making balloons. We make tiny balloons that make balloon animals at parties; we make water balloons, [...]
Posted in Paternalism on Nov 24th, 2009
I had a friend who used to mix Mountain Dew (diet of course) with Coffee – maybe he is next on the F.D.A.’s “hit list”: Caffeine may lead people to underestimate how drunk they are, giving drinkers a false sense of confidence that they can perform tasks they are too impaired to undertake. While we’re [...]
Posted in Politics on Nov 24th, 2009
Bryan Caplan reminds us that the folks in Congress are not exactly like “us” poor slobs: 1. 54% of Congressmen are millionaires. 2. Consistent with the “limosine liberals” stereotype, eight out of the ten richest are Democrats. Of course, the Founders were not exactly like us either. Defenders of modern Democracy probably see this as [...]
Posted in Government Gone Wild, Macroeconomics on Nov 24th, 2009
From the Redwood forests of California: In a required state report to the federal government, the university system said the $268.5 million it received in stimulus funding through October allowed it to retain 26,156 employees. That total represents more than half of CSU’s statewide work force. However, university officials confirmed Thursday that half their workers [...]
Posted in Environment on Nov 23rd, 2009
So global warming causes tornedos, hurricanes, polar bear starvation, flooding, malaria spreading, the Jets being terrible at football … and now … global warming causes prostitution. HT to Warren Meyer, and no, that is not from the Onion.
Posted in Environment on Nov 23rd, 2009
More here. Just another isolated incident, I am sure.
Posted in Education on Nov 23rd, 2009
While I am not a fan of the legislation at all, early evidence seems to suggest that is has had some success: The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act compelled states to design school-accountability systems based on annual student assessments. The effect of this Federal legislation on the distribution of student achievement is a highly [...]
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