Assorted Links (4/6/2011)

Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading lately:

A New Path

www.american.com

From an American Enterprise Institute speech given by Representative Paul Ryan (R, Wisconsin): “Here’s a budget that affirms our cherished ideals of individual liberty, equal opportunity, entrepreneurship, and self-reliance. These are the ideals that have cultivated the exceptional American character.:

Jenkins, Jr.: The Inflation Solution?

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Business World columnist Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. wonders if the government will actually honor its promises to holders of Treasury inflation-protected securities.”

Paul Ryan: How he used his budget plan to become the most courageous man in Washington.

www.slate.com

“Two products made their debuts in Congress on Tuesday. The first was ” The Path to Prosperity,” House Republicans’ budget resolution for the next fiscal year. The second was the budget’s author: Honest Paul.”

Rembrandt’s Face of Jesus in Philadelphia – artnet Magazine

www.artnet.com

“Rembrandt van Rijn “FACE OF JESUS” IN PHILADELPHIA. Apr. 5, 2011. Portraits of Jesus by Rembrandt van Rijn at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.”

Number of the Week: PCs Make Americans $500 Billion Richer

blogs.wsj.com

“Despite all the wrenching change the computer age has brought, humanity is probably better off than it would have been if the PC had never been invented. Now, economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta have taken a stab at figuring out exactly how much better off we are.”

Intrade – Muammar al-Gaddafi to no longer be leader of Libya before midnight ET 31 Dec 2011 is 77.4%

www.intrade.com

Intrade is “THE Leading Prediction Market. Trade political futures and tap into the wisdom of crowds.”

Fed’s Kocherlakota: Housing’s Reliance on Government Isn’t Sound Strategy

blogs.wsj.com

“A resurgence of private capital is needed to extricate the U.S. housing market from its reliance on government guarantees, a top Fed official said.”

10 Questions for 9/11 Truthers

townhall.com

“You can’t reason someone out of something that he didn’t get into by using reason in the first place. That’s why it’s so difficult to refute conspiracy theories with logic. Take the 9/11 Truthers conspiracy.”

Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn … then lead | Video on TED.com

www.ted.com

“Four-star general Stanley McChrystal shares what he learned about leadership over his decades in the military. How can you build a sense of shared purpose among people of many ages and skill sets? By listening and learning — and addressing the possibility of failure.”

Paul Ryan: The GOP Path to Prosperity

online.wsj.com

“Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, writes in The Wall Street Journal that the House Republican’s proposed budget cuts $6.2 trillion in spending from the president’s budget over the next 10 years and puts the nation on track to pay off our national debt.”

McGurn: After the Welfare State

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Main Street columnist William McGurn says that Paul Ryan’s new proposals for entitlement reform are a step towards ending middle-class dependence on government programs.”

End It, Don’t Mend It

www.american.com

“Evidence against the Dodd-Frank Act continues to pile up. Now 18 Republican Senators have introduced legislation to repeal the act.”

Moment of Truth

www.nytimes.com

“Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, has his budget. Where’s yours?”

Why Sit on All that Cash? Firms Uncertain on Cost of Capital (Harvard Business Review Blog)

blogs.hbr.org

Facebook Is the Largest News Organization Ever (Harvard Business Review Blog)

blogs.hbr.org

The G.O.P.’s Empty Stage

www.nytimes.com

“The party’s biggest names are mainly competing to offer excuses for why they aren’t running in 2012.”

Supreme Court Makes a Math Case

online.wsj.com

“The Supreme Court said companies can’t only rely on statistical significance when deciding what they need to disclose to investors, helping a group of mathematicians make their long-held case.”