Here ‘s a list of articles that I have been reading lately:
Revolt of the Accountants
online.wsj.com
“Washington is turning America into Paperwork Nation, writes Peggy Noonan in The Wall Street Journal.”
The End of Free Trade?
online.wsj.com
“High tariffs and currency wars cost us big in the 1930s. We can avoid making the same mistakes again, writes Douglas A. Irwin.”
Bad Policies Push U.S. in Wrong Direction
www.cato.org
“Policies that lead to higher taxes, more debt, socialized health care, costly regulations, protectionism, and unstable money undermine U.S. economic strength and frustrate the natural equilibrating function that characterizes a dynamic market system based on freely determined prices, the rule of law, and sound money.”
The Battle for the Future
www.creators.com
“For most of the life of America, and when it grew fastest, government spent just a few hundred dollars per person. Today, the federal government alone spends $10,000.”
Sex, and Studying It, Is Complicated – The Numbers Guy – WSJ
blogs.wsj.com
“A new study offers fascinating glimpses into the sexual life of Americans, and also raises some statistical conundrums.”
The Economic Way of Thinking: Jobs Report Friday
wot.typepad.com
“With it being another jobs report Friday this morning, it seems like as good a time as any to remind readers of where we are with respect to unemployment compared to where Team Obama said we would be by now.”
The Facebook Searchers
www.nytimes.com
“”The Social Network” is spot on with its parsing of who wins and loses in our information economy and hypercompetitive meritocracy.”
Charles Krauthammer – The Colbert Democrats
www.washingtonpost.com
“His comedy in Washington marked the end for the 111th Congress.”
The Protectionist Instinct
online.wsj.com
In the Wall Street Journal, Emory Professor Paul Rubin writes that political support for free trade is a remarkable achievement of civic education—one threatened by our weak economy.
Obama Pulls Down His Party
online.wsj.com
“In the Wall Street Journal, Wonder Land columnist Daniel Henninger writes that the president’s approval ratings, like George W. Bush’s, are sinking his party’s congressional candidates.”
Toward a New American Century
online.wsj.com
“Michael Milken writes in The Wall Street Journal that immigration reform, investments in human capital, and better housing policy can help restore U.S. economic leadership.”
Austerity or prosperity?
cafehayek.com
“When you ask Keynesians for empirical evidence of how government spending creates prosperity, their best and most frequently cited answer is how World War II ended the Depression–a massive, increase in deficit-financed government spending. But as Robert Higgs has pointed out, the sharp decrease in unemployment that resulted was not due to the magic of some Keynesian multiplier but rather from conscription—forcing Americans into the Army.”
Elitism and Judicial Supremacy
www.thepublicdiscourse.com
“For years, I have been working on the problem of judicial supremacy—the idea that the courts have ultimate control of the Constitution. Judicial supremacy is a problem because the explanations offered by those who wish to justify it really don’t work. The Constitution certainly doesn’t justify it.”
Taxes and Presidential Math
www.american.com
“Let’s compare the size of the tax cuts to the total amount of spending over the next ten years and see how ‘drastically’ it would expand the deficit.”
So Maybe Sexy Media Doesn’t Lead to Teen Sex?
freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com
“A new study (summarized here) casts doubt on the popular notion that exposure to sex in the media is linked to earlier sexual activity.”
www.project-syndicate.org
“Now that gold has crossed the magic $1,000 barrier, some investors evidently believe that, like the stock market when the Dow Jones index hit 1,000, the price can increase ten-fold. What was true for the alchemists of yore remains true today: gold and reason are often difficult to reconcile.”
Gallup Delivers a Stunner – WSJ.com
online.wsj.com
“John Fund writes in The Wall Street Journal that the real historical parallel may be 1894 when Republicans took 100 seats.”
Green Supremacists
online.wsj.com
“James Taranto on an environmentalist fantasy of violent totalitarianism.”
Europe’s Choice on Conscience Protection « Public Discourse
www.thepublicdiscourse.com
“This Thursday the Council of Europe, a transnational body created in 1949 to promote democracy and human rights, will vote on a resolution and series of recommendations on conscience protection. Americans, who faced similar issues during the debate over the health care overhaul, will find much of interest in the resolution.”
Review & Outlook: Of Scoundrels and Speech
online.wsj.com
“The Wall Street Journal writes that the First Amendment protects even jerks.”
Fouad Ajami: Pax Americana and the New Iraq – WSJ.com
online.wsj.com
“In the Wall Street Journal, Fouad Ajami writes that Iraq’s Shiites, especially, have a healthy fear of Iran and a desire to keep Persian power at bay.”
President Obama’s ‘Rap Palate’
online.wsj.com
“In the Wall Street Journal, Thomas Chatterton Williams asks why President Obama praises violent, misogynistic hip-hop stars.”
Obama Administration Has Been An ‘Academic Exercise’
blog.investors.com
“A day after President Obama declared that his administration is not “some academic exercise,” Lawrence Summers announced plans to step down as director of the president’s National Economic Council and return to Harvard University. Christina Romer just left her post as head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers to go back to the University of California, Berkeley. The current administration has suffered from a historic lack of private-sector experience, from Obama on down. There’s almost no one on the White House payroll who’s actually ever had to meet a payroll.”