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 Government Gone Wild on Oct 17th, 2011
I finished the book the Hockey Stick Illusion recently but have decided not to blog it. It’s worth a read, particularly if you are interested in the very nitty gritty details of how temperature reconstructions are done, and the shenanigans that took place within the research community over the last 15 years. Now I wake [...]
Posted in Government Gone Wild, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Oct 4th, 2011
I am positive the Take Over Wall Street People have large signs about that, right? Here is Coyote, pay attention to his last sentence: I simply cannot believe that the President of the US just ordered an American citizen killed, without trial or due process, and the country just yawns. And in some cases, cheered. [...]
Posted in Entrepreneurs, Government Gone Wild on Sep 24th, 2011
Just remember what happens in a market when a product is a failure, it disappears, often spectacularly, and with much pain to the entrepreneurs. However, it’s a lesson learned. You don’t get the good stuff (like Cherry Coke) without having the intense trial and error that produces and weeds out the bad, like New Coke. [...]
Posted in Classical Liberalism, Government Gone Wild on Sep 13th, 2011
In which I tick off some friends, but this is a freaking atrocity, a horror show, an embarrassment. I thought by the way that the President was going to change all of this garbage – it would have been a reason for me to vote for him. In the aftermath of my events on Sept. 11, [...]
Posted in Government Gone Wild, Macroeconomics, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Sep 5th, 2011
In the second quarter of this year, US nominal GDP crossed the $15 trillion mark. According to Recovery.gov, the individuals who work for the federal government have spent 93% of the dedicated stimulus funds from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This means $731.9 billion has been spent. According to the macroeconomists at the [...]
Posted in Government Gone Wild, Regulation on Aug 24th, 2011
I just learned, courtesy of Mark Perry, that in Chicago, now you need a license to be able to help people … get licenses. The rise in occupational licensing is on my top 5 reasons I am seriously depressed for serious reasons. For the uninitiated, the rise of the share of jobs that require a [...]
Posted in Government Gone Wild on Aug 3rd, 2011
And then her mom is hit with a $535 fine and a threat of a one-year prison sentence for doing the good deed. And the USFWS claims it was a “clerical error.” Sure, a clerical error – strange that the friendly USFWS happened to show up at her doorstep to deliver the notice … along [...]
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Economics Problems, Government Gone Wild on Aug 2nd, 2011
Here was Krugman on the pending Fiscal Train Wreck, it is sure to be a crowd pleaser: Now it projects a 10-year deficit of $1.8 trillion. And that’s way too optimistic. The Congressional Budget Office operates under ground rules that force it to wear rose-colored lenses. If you take into account — as the C.B.O. cannot [...]
Posted in Government Gone Wild on Jul 27th, 2011
This from a few years ago that I am surprised I missed. New Washington, DC zoning rules require businesses to provide showers so that people can bike to work and be clean. What’s next? Businesses ought to supply craft-matic adjustable beds so workers can be refreshed midday? Businesses installing a gym? Oh, I know, businesses [...]
Posted in Government Gone Wild, Politics on Jul 15th, 2011
The following bar chart demonstrates the spending levels of the various federal agencies between 2006 and last year. Over that time, federal expenditures increased from $2.66 trillion to $3.72 trillion, an increase of over 40%. During this time period, prices rose by about 8% and population rose by about 3.5%, so in real per capita [...]
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