Here’s a stunning example of how the Chinese government, in its drive (via central planning and “stimulus” spending) toward maintaining economic growth, is overinvesting in public infrastructure projects and creating a massive property bubble in the process (hat tip to Dave VanHoose)…
Month: April 2011
Ryan answers Obama
Assorted Links (4/13/2011)
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading lately:
Today’s Obama Speech: Nearly as deceitful as it was dull
blog.heartland.org
“Heartland’s Steve Stanek found President Obama’s speech less than inspiring.”
Understanding the President’s New Budget Proposal
KeithHennessey.com
Keith Hennessey breaks it all down for us!
Freakonomics » Clearing Out the “Rubber Rooms”
www.freakonomics.com
“Steven Brill’s excellent 2009 article on New York City’s “Rubber Rooms,” classrooms filled with teachers accused of misconduct or incompetence, provoked understandable outrage at New York’s beat-up school system. Now, two years later, it seems many of these teachers are being returned to the classroom…”
Little Girl Frisked By TSA
thedailybeast.com
“Thought those pesky TSA pat-downs were old news? This video of a six-year-old girl getting frisked has been making waves, rekindling the debate over airport security.”
professional.wsj.com
“In his first floor speech, Senator Ron Johnson reviews more than a century of bigger government.”
Chicago School Bans Homemade Lunch
thedailybeast.com
“Nobody likes being the kid whose mom packs the worst lunch, but isn’t this taking things a little too far?”
Perry ally pushed reforms at A&M, records show
statesman.com
“The architect of some of Gov. Rick Perry’s higher education reforms has worked closely with Texas A&M University System officials on implementing the controversial recommendations, records obtained under the Texas Public Information Act show.”
The Lessons of Fort Sumter
professional.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, Global View columnist Bret Stephens writes that there is no substitute for principled leadership in war.”
There Is No Male-Female Wage Gap
professional.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, Carrie Lukas of the Independent Women’s Forum writes that a study of single, childless urban workers between the ages of 22 and 30 found that women earned 8% more than men.”
The Constitution Doesn’t Mention Czars
professional.wsj.com
“George Shultz writes in The Wall Street Journal that unaccountable White House aides are a product of a broken cabinet-nomination process. This is not the form of government the Founders intended.”
We’re in a Bubble and It’s Not the Internet. It’s Higher Education.
techcrunch.com
“Fair warning: This article will piss off a lot of you. I can say that with confidence because it’s about Peter Thiel. And Thiel – the PayPal co-founder, hedge fund manager and venture capitalist – not only has a special talent for making money, he has a special talent for making people furious.”
nytimes.com
“Where’s the Democratic vision on the budget?” Even Paul Krugman of all people is unhappy about what’s going on these days with the POTUS!
frbsf.org
“To make financial conditions more supportive of economic growth, the Federal Reserve has purchased large amounts of longer-term securities in recent years. The Fed’s resulting securities portfolio has generated substantial income but may incur financial losses when market interest rates rise.”
April 11: The Most Boring Day in History
freakonomics.com
“Last year, the computer program True Knowledge concluded that the most boring day in human history occurred, 57 years ago today. Using algorithms that used weighted values for more than three million facts including historical events, birthdays of significant people, etc., it determined that April 11, 1954, was really, really uneventful.”
Drivers start to cut back on gas as prices rise
msnbc.com
See http://blog.garven.com/2008/07/10/cross-price-elasticity-of-demand for an interesting assortment of anecdotal evidence concerning the effect of high energy prices on all sorts of different transactions, all noted by Harvard’s Greg Mankiw the last time that we had an oil price shock (in July 2008)…
Fort Sumter: Undermanned, Outgunned, Low on Supplies
online.wsj.com
“When the election in 1860 of Abraham Lincoln, a Republican whose party advocated slavery’s abolition, sparked slave-holding states in the Deep South to secede from the union, many took the forts on their territories with them. By early 1861, rebel forces had seized almost all but two major federal installations: Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C., harbor and Fort Pickens outside Pensacola, Fla.”
PIMCO Officially Goes SHORT The US Treasury Market
businessinsider.com
PIMCO is betting that prices of US Treasuries will likely fall substantially, and yields rise…
The Auto Bailout and the Rule of Law
www.nationalaffairs.com
GMU Law Professor Todd Zywicki explains how the auto bailout undermined the rule of law and promoted crony capitalism…
Assorted Links (4-10-2011)
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading lately:
Why the Budget Agreement is a Game Changer
advancingafreesociety.org
“The budget agreement that emerged from last week’s negotiations literally changes the direction of federal spending. As the chart shows the Obama Administration’s proposed increase in discretionary spending for 2011 has been reversed in the course of the negotiations into an actual decrease in discretionary spending. A year ago the Administration’s budget called for an increase in discretionary spending of about $39 billion. Remarkably the agreement calls for a decrease of about the same amount. No one could have predicted such a turn around one year ago.”
Review & Outlook: The Internet Tax Mirage
professional.wsj.com
“The Wall Street Journal writes that politicians are trying to drive online commerce—and revenue—out of state.”
economist.com
“RISING debt and lost output are the common measures of the cost of the financial crisis. But a new global opinion poll shows another, perhaps more serious form of damage: falling public support for capitalism.”
How to Get a Real Education at College
online.wsj.com
“Forget art history and calculus. Most students need to learn how to run a business, says Dilbert creator Scott Adams.”
Incentives or grade-selling? Line blurred in Sacramento-area cases, critics say
sacbee.com
“Schools eager to show their smarts or raise money often give students incentives to do well on tests or participate in fundraisers. Many students can earn T-shirts or toys by raising money.”
Henninger: A Ronald Reagan Budget – WSJ.com
online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, Wonder Land columnist Dan Henninger writes that Paul Ryan’s budget offers much more than deficit-reduction brimstone.”
Would Ike Have Gone to Libya?
online.wsj.com
“American foreign policy has come to favor action over moderation, Peggy Noonan writes.”
Confessions of an Investor
creditwritedowns.com
“When models turn on, brains turn off.”
27% of communication by members of Congress is taunting, professor concludes
washingtonpost.com
“Here’s a statistic that may explain the budget impasse: A professor has concluded members spend 27 percent of their time just taunting one another.”
voxeu.org
“Over the last three decades the US financial sector has grown six times faster than nominal GDP. This column argues that there comes a point when the financial sector has a negative effect on growth – that is, when credit to the private sector exceeds 110% of GDP. It shows that, of the advanced countries currently suffering in the fallout of the global crisis were all above this threshold.”
Serious policy differences are not petty politics
keithhennessey.com
“The President is arguing that those who disagree with his policies are engaged in politics. They are, he argues, motivated not by a well-intentioned difference of opinion about how to improve America, but instead by selfish motives.”
Democrats Are Appalled By Paul Ryan’s Budget Plan — So Where’s Their Plan?
businessinsider.com
“Denial is not a strategy.”
Here’s an Unlike.ly Tale: Gadhafi Does Swimming.ly on the Internet
online.wsj.com
“Where have the U.N., NATO and U.S. Air Force directed Twitter followers to learn more about military action in Libya? To an Internet domain controlled by the regime of Col. Moammar Gadhafi.”
A Shovel Cuts Off Armenia’s Internet
online.wsj.com
“Georgia has arrested a 75-year-old woman who, with her shovel, left all of Armenia without access to the Internet for half a day, according to Georgian police.”
The Logic of Cutting Corporate Taxes
www.nytimes.com
“Lower corporate taxes would draw more investment, both domestic and foreign, and would help American workers, an economist writes.”
US Going Same Route as Greece, Portugal: Economist
cnbc.com
“The US is going down a similar road to that of Greece and Portugal with regards to its budgetary decisions, John E.Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo, on Wednesday.”
Freakonomics » FDIC Takes Aim at Bank Arbitrage Profits
freakonomics.com
“The Wall Street Journal reports that a recent rule change as part of the Dodd-Frank bill has led to a shortage of Treasurys available in the last few days. An FDIC rule that went into effect April 1 has made it more expensive for banks to participate in the overnight repo market, where they post Tre”
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.”
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.”
A new way to communicate – try Gmail motion! :-)
Go to http://mail.google.com/mail/help/motion.html if you would like to give Gmail motion a try!
Assorted Links (4/1/2011)
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading lately:
Public Unions–Is California Next?
online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal’s Wonder Land column, Daniel Henninger writes that serious Californians, on the right and the left, know how much fiscal trouble they’re in.”
We’ve Become a Nation of Takers, Not Makers
online.wsj.com
“Stephen Moore writes in The Wall Street Journal that more Americans work for the government than in manufacturing, farming, fishing, forestry, mining and utilities combined.”
A Requiem for Detroit
online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, Main Street columnist Williams McGurn writes that Detroit, a once-great American city, today repels people of talent and ambition.”
Medical Progress, Please
online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, Business World columnist Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. writes that if the FDA gets out of the way, devices like MelaFind will save many lives.”
What Happened to the American Declaration of War?
www.stratfor.com
“War is a serious matter, and presidents and particularly Congresses should be inconvenienced on the road to war.”
Princeton Professor Gains Cult Status With 3,200 Essays on Facebook
chronicle.com
“Elephant hunters head to Africa. Salmon fishers head to Alaska. Jeff Nunokawa, a professor of English at Princeton University, heads to Facebook.”
In Today’s Market, the Wisdom of Standing Pat
www.businessweek.com
“The market’s drop then gain after Japan’s triple crises shows the stock rally’s resilience and the futility of timing market hiccups.”
Cellphones Track Your Every Move, and You May Not Even Know
www.nytimes.com
“A German Green party politician went to court and found that his cellphone company had recorded and saved his longitude and latitude more than 35,000 times.”
Mike Munger Archives | EconTalk
www.econtalk.org
I highly recommend a series of “conversations” featuring Russ Roberts (economics professor at George Mason University) and Mike Munger (economics professor at Duke); see http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/mike_munger/. These guys are remarkably skilled at explaining how to “think” like an economist on a wide array of very interesting topics, most of which have important policy implications.
Progressive Gets Leg Up With On-Board Driving Monitor
online.wsj.com
“Progressive has introduced a new type of car insurance that offers a discount to policyholders based on real-time information about how and when they drive.”
Missing: Public Companies
www.cfo.com
“Why is the number of publicly traded companies in the U.S. declining?”
The Problem With Partners
www.nytimes.com
“As we enter Libya’s unknown, we should not react so strongly against unilateralism’s risks that we ignore multilateralism’s weaknesses.”
Reagan’s Legacy and the Current Malaise
online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, Steve Forbes writes that lower taxes and a strong dollar could spur growth once again.”
Whatever Happened to IPOs?
online.wsj.com
“The Wall Street Journal says you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure this one out.”
Michigan’s War on the Middle Class
online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, Main Street columnist William McGurn writes that high taxes and regulation have strangled Michigan’s economy and led to an exodus from the state.”
Uncle Sam and the Hostile Takeover
online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, Jonathan Macey of Yale Law School says that activist investors should have time to acquire significant stakes in companies they may want to take over and shouldn’t be blocked by incumbent managements.”
Raise Rates to Boost the Economy
online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, Andy Kessler says the Federal Reserve should raise short-term interest rates to reduce the escalating prices in food, gas and other commodities. This will constitute a de facto price cut for consumers.”
Charles Krauthammer – Et tu, Jack Lew?
www.washingtonpost.com
“The OMB director knows the Social Security trust fund is a fiction.”
Confronting Gadhafi Is Not Enough
online.wsj.com
“Former Prime Minister Tony Blair on a framework for shaping the democratic revolution in Libya and the Middle East.”
Mega-Banks and the Next Financial Crisis
online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, James Freeman interviews Paul Singer, the hedge-fund manager who recognized the risks of subprime mortgages and bet against them—and now warns that monetary policy could cripple American banks again.”
Eat the Rich
Filmmaker Michael Moore claims that “America is awash in cash”. Bill Whittle at Declaration Entertainment examines Mr. Moore’s claim and in the process provides some rather startling insights (hat tip to Iowahawk):