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 Welfare State on Aug 27th, 2011
From Nothing to Envy via Alex Tabarrok: North Korean propaganda has also been very effective because unlike leaders in Eastern Europe, Kim Il-sung “wasn’t merely the father of their country, their George Washington, their Mao, he was their God.” Here is Nothing to Envy: Broadcasters would speak of Kim Il-sung or Kim Jong-il breathlessly, in the [...]
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Welfare State on Aug 4th, 2011
Is this one. And that’s an achievement. Rather than rant, here’s just a few of the goodies: Recent estimates show 49 million Americans make food decisions based on cost, she added. Right, so the other 261 million Americans have food handed to them. And there is no reason to believe that these 49 million are [...]
Posted in Welfare State on Jul 29th, 2011
When I started here in Rochester, a prime stretch of real estate on the east shore of the Genesee River, walking distance from downtown (where the Blue Cross Arena is, the HQ of the library, the HQ of Blue Cross, Dinosaur BBQ, etc.), this monstrosity (which ran something like 2 or 3 city blocks) was [...]
Posted in Welfare State on Jun 21st, 2011
Maybe we should call it Oopsbamacare? WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s health care law would let several million middle-class people get nearly free insurance meant for the poor, a twist government number crunchers say they discovered only after the complex bill was signed. The change would affect early retirees: A married couple could have [...]
Posted in Welfare State on Apr 30th, 2011
There are exactly as many families that have incomes below the federal poverty level as there are families who receive federal disability benefits (about 7.5 million).
Posted in Regulation, Welfare State on Apr 4th, 2011
An 1919 Illinois Health Commission Report showed that 81.9% of wage earning families in the City of Chicago had at least one member with a life insurance policy. Even among the poorest residents, 73% purchased life insurance. Further 9 in 10 blacks held some life insurance, a share larger than ANY other native group, including [...]
Posted in Environment, Taxation, Welfare State on Mar 14th, 2011
According to this paper: Our simulations cover the period from 2015 to 2105, and assume stable energy demand elasticities and energy efficiency improvement factors. Using an elasticity carbon pricing method, we calculate implied revenues of roughly 6% of Gross World Product (GWP) on average across the whole time period. Allow me to translate. These guys [...]
Posted in Politics, Voluntary Society, Welfare State, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Mar 14th, 2011
It would be very difficult to make a convincing case that the world of 2011 is horrible by any reasonable standard. We are richer, healthier, and wiser. Beyond that, there are a lot more people who get to enjoy living today than at any time in the past. This must count for something. With that [...]
Posted in Welfare State, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Feb 25th, 2011
If instead of the Wisconsin Senators leaving the state to avoid voting on Governor Walker’s bill, everybody else (aside from the teachers’ unions of course) left Wisconsin permanently, would the public employees still have a right to their salaries and retirement benefits?
Posted in Voluntary Society, Welfare State on Jan 15th, 2011
David Beito in his excellent book, From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State, tells us that it is very difficult to estimate just how many people were affiliated with franternal and mutual aid societies back in their heyday – especially since large segments of the black and immigrant population would have been undercounted. Nonetheless, by [...]
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