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Monthly Archives: August 2009
Why Trampolines Aren’t Safe in Texas
My neighborhood is overrun with deer these days. It is not uncommon for me to come home and find extended deer families “chilling” in my front or back yard. A friend sent me this photograph of such a family enjoying the shade under her children’s trampoline. I can’t help but wonder whether trampoline manufacturers take the risk of deer antlers into consideration in the design of their products!
Assorted Links (8/13/2009)
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic):
Political Economy
- Latest Data on Transfers and Income, by Donald MarronDonald Marron documents in this as well as a series of recent posts the fact that Americans are getting an increasing portion of their income from the government.
- Tax Withholding Is Bad for Democracy, by Charles MurrayAEI’s Charles Murray argues that the incidence (and relative burden) of both income taxes (e.g., the top 1% of American households pay more in federal income taxes than the bottom 95% combined) and payroll taxes (the social security portion of which is regressive) is obscured by withholding at the workplace. He argues that ending withholding and replacing it with quarterly payments of estimated taxes would be good for democracy by promoting a common understanding that we all pay a share of the costs of government.
- Will They Still Love Him Tomorrow?, by Daniel HenningerWSJ: “President Everyman is starting to look like a salesman for the superstate.”
Finance and Economics
- Remembering the Reagan Bull Market, by Jason TrennertWSJ: “In 1982, interest rates, inflation and taxes were all heading down. That’s hardly the case now.”
Health Care
- Rationing By Any Other Name, by Megan McArdle
While the statement “we already ration health care; we just let the market do the rationing” is certainly true, it doesn’t logically support rationing by government fiat. Ms. McArdle notes that the same (self-evident) statement can be made about virtually any other good; e.g., “We already ration food; we just let the market do the rationing”, or “We already ration gasoline; we just let the market do the rationing”, or “We already ration cigarettes; we just let the market do the rationing.” Duh!
- Medicare For All Isn’t The Answer, by Allen B. Miller
WSJ: “My company ran a hospital in London. We don’t want to go the government route.”
Assorted Links (8/12/2009)
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic):
Catastrophes
- Nations Focus On Disaster Planning
WSJ: “Two major earthquakes in Asia refocused attention on incomplete efforts to improve emergency planning after a tsunami killed more than 200,000 people in 2004.”
Economics
- Wonky Talk about Carbon Taxes, by Greg Mankiw
My favorite econblogger provides a succinct explanation of the welfare economics of income taxes and carbon taxes.
Finance
- Obama Unveils Derivatives Plan
WSJ: “The Obama administration detailed a sweeping plan to more closely oversee the giant market for derivatives.” - Banking on a Rescue
James Freeman’s review of Lawrence G. McDonald’s new book entitled “A Colossal Failure of Common Sense,” which portrays Lehman Brothers in crisis as it headed toward collapse last fall.
Health Care Reform
- Consumer Driven Health Care Plans, by Alex Tabarrok
As the author notes, “It’s remarkable that in the current debate over how to control health care costs so little attention is being given to the important results of our 10-year experiment with consumer driven health plans.”
- The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare, by John Mackey
John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, outlines “Eight things we can do to improve health care without adding to the deficit.”
Assorted Links (8/11/2009)
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic):
Catastrophes
- Typhoon Morakot, from The Big Picture
Health Care
- A new paper on life expectancy, by Tyler Cowen
- Fishy statements about health care reform, by Keith Hennessey
- Prevention, Health Costs, and Value, by Donald Marron
Finance
- University of Chicago finance professor Eugene Fama on Market Efficiency in a Volatile Market
The Economy
- Are we pointed in the right direction yet?, by Keith Hennessey
Game Theory
- Pascal’s Wager inverted: all atheists go to heaven?, by Presh Talwalkar
Assorted Links (8/10/2009)
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic):
Climate Change
- A Missed Opportunity on Climate Change
Health Care
- Does Prevention Reduce Costs?
- Health Care Mythology
The Economy
- Corporate Earnings Are No Sign of Recovery
Political Economy
Miscellaneous
- History of Times New Roman
- How to Negotiate a Pay Raise With Game Theory
- How to work for a jerk: 4 tips
Man vs. Mutt
As Greg Mankiw notes, ” British healthcare is great…as long as you walk on four legs (see http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2009/08/british-healtcare-is-great.html). The author of the WSJ article, Theodore Dalrymple, concludes his article by noting,
“And what I want, at least for that part of my time that I spend in England, is to be a dog. I also want, wherever I am, the Americans to go on paying for the great majority of the world’s progress in medical research and technological innovation by the preposterous expense of their system: for it is a truth universally acknowledged that American clinical research has long reigned supreme, so overall, the American health-care system must have been doing something right. The rest of the world soon adopts the progress, without the pain of having had to pay for it.”
Health-Care Reform: Do Animals or People Get Better Care? – WSJ.com: Theodore Dalrymple on who gets the better treatment, and what this means for U.S. health-care reform.
France Fights Universal Care's High Cost – WSJ.com
Here’s a cautionary tale from the country that we are trying desperately to mimic in so many ways!
France Fights Universal Care’s High Cost – WSJ.com
Here’s a cautionary tale from a country that we seem to be trying to mimic in many other ways!
Here’s a cautionary tale from the country that we are trying desperately to mimic in so many ways!
Catcerto by Nora the Cat
I highly recommend the “Catcerto” by Nora the Cat!