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

Wolfram Alpha Turns 2: ‘People Just Need What We Are Doing’

wired.com

“Steven Wolfram, the man behind computing-application Mathematica and the search engine Wolfram Alpha, has a short attention span that’s married to a long-term outlook.” I am a big fan of Wolfram Alpha – I use it regularly in my teaching and research, particularly for its symbolic math capabilities!

Texas and the Lesser 49

jaypgreene.com

“Yes it has been an unusual decade with lots of private sector job destruction, and you could come up with a few other caveats, but this is looking like the 1970s all over again: the rest of the country is in the tank while Texas booms.”

Not So Cool Rules

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that the regulatory tax on Americans is now larger than the income tax.”

What’s Stopping Job Creation at Medium-Sized Firms? It’s Washington’s “Climate of Uncertainty”

mjperry.blogspot.com

“Consider that the main point… is not about uncertainty. It is about the hubris of academics and organizers ‘governing’ society who have never actually run anything.”

SCOTUS Makes It Official: California A Failed State

blogs.the-american-interest.com

“The controversial US Supreme Court decision that could ultimately force California to release tens of thousands of prison inmates is more than a shockingly broad exercise of judicial power.  It is also an official declaration by the highest constitutional authority in the land that California meets the strict test of state failure: it can no longer enforce the law within its frontiers.”

The Gates Farewell Warning

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal argues America can be a superpower or a welfare state, but not both.”

David Mamet’s Coming Out Party

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Weekend Interview, Bari Weiss interviews Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet. The newly minted conservative shares his views on liberalism, higher education, diversity, theater, the Toyota Prius, NPR and more.”

Mark Helprin: Memorial Day Beyond Stone and Steel

professional.wsj.com

“Mark Helprin writes in The Wall Street Journal that the best tribute to those who have died in the service of their country is probity and preparation, shared sacrifice, continuing resolve, and clarity in regard to how, where and when to go to war.”

When Kennedy Blinked

online.wsj.com

“Charles McCarry reviews Frederick Kempe’s Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev, And The Most Dangerous Place on Earth.”

Friday Fun: Net Neutrality

townhall.com

Stephen Crowder provides an entertaining yet insightful analysis concerning “net neutrality”, linking it (by analogy) to the classic tragedy of the commons problem!

The Numbers Game: Is College Worth The Cost?

www.freakonomics.com

“According to a new report from the Pew Research Center, 57 percent of Americans say “the higher education system in the United States fails to provide students with good value for the money they and their families spend.””

The running out of resources myth

opinion.financialpost.com

“The premise behind the question “Are we running out of natural resources?” is terribly mistaken. There is indeed a finite quantity of fossil fuels and other resources in the Earth’s crust. But that does not mean that we will ever run out…”

Google Correlate: Linking the Fed to Nausea Remedies

blogs.wsj.com

Harvard Business Review editor Justin Lahart provides a classic example (using Google Correlate) of how meaningless correlation can be…

Mediscare—The Surprising Truth

professional.wsj.com

“Thomas R. Saving and John C. Goodman write in The Wall Street Journal that Republicans are being portrayed as Medicare Grinches, but ObamaCare already has seniors’ health care slated for draconian cuts.”

Noonan: Word of the Decade: ‘Unsustainable’

wsj.com

“The American establishment has finally come around, in unison, to admitting that America is in crisis, that our debt actually threatens our ability to endure, that if we don’t make progress on this, we are going to near our endpoint as a nation.”

So You Have a College Diploma

iowahawk.typepad.com

A bit over the top perhaps, but nevertheless a good comedic contribution to the ongoing debate about the so-called higher education “bubble”.

The Problems with Precaution: A Principle without Principle — The American Magazine

www.american.com

“‘Better safe than sorry’ isn’t always safer. In fact, when it comes to policies to protect public health and the environment, this type of thinking could harm us.”

Henninger: The Building Blocks of a GOP Agenda

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Wonder Land column, Daniel Henninger writes that leading governors and members of Congress know them: entitlement reform, fiscal restoration and lightly taxed long-term economic growth.”

Professors to Koch Brothers: Take Your Green Back

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Donald Luskin writes about the controversy over a $1.5 million gift given to Florida State University by David and Charles Koch.”

Shelby Steele: Obama’s Unspoken Re-Election Edge

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Shelby Steele writes that the Obama presidency flatters America to a degree that no white Republican can hope to match.”

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

On path to riches, no sign of fluffy majors

www.washingtonpost.com

“Over a lifetime, the earnings of workers who have majored in engineering, computer science or business are as much as 50 percent higher than the earnings of those who major in the humanities, the arts, education and psychology.”

Aaron Koblin: Artfully visualizing our humanity

www.ted.com

“TED Talks Artist Aaron Koblin takes vast amounts of data — and at times vast numbers of people — and weaves them into stunning visualizations.”

Ronald McKinnon: The Return of Stagflation

online.wsj.com

“Stanford economist Ronald McKinnon writes in The Wall Street Journal that the U.S. economy enters the summer of 2011 facing an ugly combination of inflation and high unemployment. Blame the Federal Reserve and its near zero interest-rate policy.”

Religious Alternatives to the Public Sector — The American Magazine

www.american.com

“As fiscal pressures mean the public sector must contract, organized religious groups are stepping into the void.”

Obama’s Regulators Are Now Punishing Thought Crime

www.advancingafreesociety.org

“The law allows companies to shift production for economic reasons, but not to retaliate for past strikes or other worker actions. For us, it’s a motive analysis.”

Federal Reserve Posters (1920′s)

ritholtz.com

“These cool posters below come from the San Francisco Fed archive, courtesy of NY Fed’s blog Liberty Street Economics.”

Stephens: An Anti-Israel President

online.wsj.com

“The president’s peace proposal is a formula for war.”

Analysis finds small number of UT faculty teach most students

statesman.com

“Twenty percent of University of Texas at Austin professors instruct most of the school’s students, while the least-productive fifth of the faculty carry only 2 percent of the university’s teaching load…”

The Economic Part of Our Brains

freakonomics.com

“Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have conclusively identified a part of the brain that’s necessary for making everyday decisions about value. Previous magnetic imaging studies suggested that the ventromedial frontal… cortex, or VMF, plays an evaluative role during decision-making.”

On Green Energy

american.com

“I recently studied the question of whether or not the whole “green energy leads to green jobs” paradigm has any merit to it, by studying how things have worked out in Europe, where it has been tested extensively. In this article, I focus on Spain (I’ve previously covered Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom).”

The Debt Limit Smackdown: Chicken Versus Rope-a-Dope

realclearmarkets.com

“If you were heading into a complex and lengthy negotiation would you put your key lieutenants on national television to declare how totally screwed you would be if the other side didn’t give you exactly what you wanted right now with no strings attached?”

The Lost Decade for the S&P 500

dshort.com

“Here is a new update of a chart that illustrates the total return performance of the S&P 500 since the Tech Bubble closing high on March 24, 2000. The chart shows the value of $1000 invested in the index, including dividends, but excluding any taxes or fees, as of May 20th. I’ve also included the real value using the Consumer Price Index for the inflation adjustment.”

High Taxes and Slow Growth Strangle California

realclearmarkets.com

“In 1967, five years after California became the most populous state, novelist Wallace Stegner said that California – energetic, innovative, hedonistic – was America, “only more so.” Today, this state’s budget crisis is like the nation’s, only more so. Bob Dutton is an island of calm in the eye of the storm – which should agitate Gov. Jerry Brown.”

The End of the Book? — The American Magazine

american.com

“Amazon, by far the largest bookseller in the country, reported on May 19 that it is now selling more books in its electronic Kindle format than in the old paper-and-ink format. That is remarkable, considering that the Kindle has only been around for four years. E-books now account for 14 percent of all book sales in this country and are increasing far faster than overall book sales. E-book sales are up 146 percent over last year, while hardback sales increased 6 percent …”

Alligators, Moats, and Other Such Nonsense

www.advancingafreesociety.org

“President Obama gave what was billed as an important speech on immigration last week near the border in El Paso, Texas. Unfortunately, it was one of the most demagogic moments in recent presidential history. Nearly everything Obama said was either factually incorrect or deliberately misleading.”

It’s the End of the World As We Know It. Wait. No It Isn’t.

forbes.com

“We’re still here.”

Much Ado About Nothing

shadow.foreignpolicy.com

“The president laid claim to “a new chapter in American diplomacy,” which he described as “shifting our foreign policy after a decade of war.” But the vision he now endorses for the universality of American values has actually been the basis for our foreign policy in the Middle East for several administrations…”

NOVA | Wright Brothers’ Flying Machine

www.pbs.org

This program chronicles how a team of aviation experts replicated various accomplishments of Orville and Wilbur Wright, ranging from constructing a copy of their original glider to building a replica of their propeller-driven 1911 Model B. I was surprised to learn that the Wright brothers initially “monetized” their invention by charging admission to air shows staged by their company!

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

THE END OF DAYS

If I had taken the time to write my own essay about the 89-year-old religious-broadcaster Harold Camping’s calculation of a May 21 “Rapture”, it would have closely mirrored the essay provided by Mr. Wheeler (cf. http://ldwheeler.livejournal.com/222070.html). Hat tip to my colleague Jim Hilliard for pointing this out…

The 1967 Line of Fire

“Obama creates a needless furor over Israel’s borders.”

Democratic Governors (Heart) Taxes

“The trend is unmistakable. Taxes are rising in blue states and falling in the red states this year, contributing to a widening disparity in tax burdens across the country.”

Dore Gold: Israel’s 1967 Borders Aren’t Defensible

“Fair observers have never considered the old armistice line as a non-negotiable starting point for peace talks.”

Linking the Debt Limit Hike To Spending Cuts Is Good Economics

“For months now top economic officials in Washington have been arguing that the Congress should vote to increase the debt limit without any reductions in the growth of spending—in other words a “clean debt limit hike… But these arguments do not take account of important economic advantages of linking the debt limit to spending reductions. Such a link is good economics in theory and in practice. It is essential to a credible return to sound fiscal policy and an end to the ongoing debt explosion.”

Your Results May Vary

“Search engines, social-working sites and online retailers are constantly tailoring information to reflect our interests. It’s a welcome kind of streamlining for some, but Eli Pariser, in “The Filter Bubble,” worries about the implications for democracy of customized information. Paul Boutin reviews.”

A Bachelor’s Degree in Atheism

“California’s Pitzer College decides to investigate the phenomenon of unbelief.”

Krauthammer: Obama speech shows he ‘has sympathies everywhere except Israel’

“On Thursday, President Barack Obama gave a speech at the State Department in Washington, D.C. which was supposed to offer an indication of what American policy would be in the Middle East as the region was going through great transition. However, coming out of the speech many are questioning the president’s suggestion that Israel should withdrawal to pre-1967 boundaries.”

Heresy of life insurance

Hat tip to my brother, John Garven, for showcasing this article on his blog (http://johngarven.com/)…

Partisan Grading: Democratic Professors Are More Likely to Redistribute Grades Than Republicans

“From a very interesting forthcoming paper in the American Economic Journal titled “Partisan Grading” by economists Talia Bar (Cornell) and Asaf Zussman (Hebrew University)…”

Are Oil Futures Markets Being Manipulated?

“Obama’s newly formed Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force is an exercise in futility.”

Stimulus Killed 1 Million Jobs

“An extensive new study conducted by Timothy Conley from the University of Western Ontario, Canada Economics Department and Bill Dupor of Ohio State University Economics Department, shows the trillion dollar … stimulus bill, which President Obama has credited over and over again for “saving and/or creating” thousands of jobs, actually killed 1 million private sector jobs.”

Stephen Colbert’s Free Speech Problem

“The comedian runs up against campaign-finance law in an attempt to lampoon the Supreme Court.”

Meredith Whitney: The Hidden State Financial Crisis

Meredith Whitney’s “…latest research into opaque state financial statements suggests taxpayers will be surprised by how much pensions are underfunded.”

Somali Pirates’ Rich Returns

Piracy is “… a manageable risk, just one line in a complex matrix of calculations that shipping companies must make every day,” and “… 18 vessels have been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden this year, 45 vessels have been boarded, and another 45 ships have been fired on. That’s a significant number, but it’s still less than 1 percent of the total shipping traffic. That means piracy remains a decent insurance bet.”

Governments Are The Primary Creators Of Systemic Risk

“The greatest lesson of the still young 21st century is proving to be that governments are the primary source of systemic risk to the economy, our standard of living, and our liberty.”

Some Of Us Aren’t Grossed Out By Profits

“Some of us, believe it or not, aren’t completely grossed out by the notion of profit — even a lot of profit. Strong earnings are good news not only for those dastardly Oil Barons, but for the millions of people who depend on the industry for their employment, as well as the vast number of Americans who rely on investments in oil to bolster their pension funds, retirement funds, college funds, etc.”

Sit Down, Mitt, You’re Not Helping

“Mitt Romney’s reversals on abortion, gay marriage, gun control, campaign finance and immigration leave one with the impression that when Mitt Romney is with you, he’s with you. At least until he leaves the room.”

The Coming Postal Bailout

“The Wall Street Journal on Congress’s bid for taxpayers to save mail worker pensions.”

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

Why the Job Market Feels So Dismal

“In The Wall Street Journal, Stanford’s Edward P. Lazear writes that the number of hires is the same today as it was when we were shedding jobs at record rates.”

Two Texas professors on why academic research matters

This article, which appeared in Sunday’s Austin American Statesman, is an important reading for those of us who have been watching the ongoing debate in Texas questioning the value and usefulness of academic research!

Dave Ramsey’s 12% Solution

“Dave Ramsey has helped thousands get out of debt, but his investment advice is sometimes questionable.”

The Greatest Real-Estate Idea Never Sold

“With home prices in what seems like an endless fall, why is it so fiendishly difficult to protect yourself against the risk of a further drop?”

What If the U.S. Treasury Defaults?

“In The Wall Street Journal, legendary investor Stanley Druckenmiller says that ‘People aren’t going to wonder whether 20 years ago we delayed an interest payment for six days. They’re going to wonder whether we got our house in order.’”

Freakonomics » The Way We Think About Risk is Risky

“From the Soapbox Science blog on Nature.com, here’s an interesting piece by risk consultant David Ropiek on the ways in which we perceive and react to risk. His basic thesis is that our interpretation of risk is almost always subjective rather than fact-based, which gets us into trouble.”

Laffer and Moore: Boeing and the Union Berlin Wall

“Between 2000 and 2008, 4.8 million Americans moved from forced union states to right-to-work states—that’s one person every minute of every day.”

President Obama, Completely Wrong on Reason for High Unemployment

“President Obama blames high unemployment rate on ‘huge layoffs of government workers’ at federal, state and local levels.” This is completely wrong.”

CARPE DIEM: Oil Industry Profit Margin Ranks #114 out 215

“The table below shows industry rankings for net profit margin (profits / sales) of the top 114 industries out of 215 total industries during the most recent quarter, from Yahoo!Finance.”

Henninger: Killing bin Laden

“Barack Obama just got his post-doctoral degree in fighting the war on terror.”

The Millionaire Retirees Next Door

“Typical retired couples will collect $1 million or more in Social Security and Medicare. This is more than they paid in, and the cost will fall on today’s workers.”

Grade Massaging 

Here’s some interesting end-of semester commentary on the widespread academic practice of “grade massaging”…

How to Turn 100 Trillion Dollars Into Five and Feel Good About It

“A 100-trillion-dollar bill, it turns out, is worth about $5. That’s the going rate for Zimbabwe’s highest denomination note, the biggest ever produced for legal tender.”

Protecting Your Personal Information » Insurance Industry Blog

“Last week it was a hacker attack at Sony that left the personal data of 100 million customers exposed, today it’s an accidental leak at Facebook that may have given third parties, in particular advertisers, access to user profiles.”

From Chomsky to bin Laden

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Global View column, Bret Stephens writes that the professor dons the militant’s cap—and it fits.”

Internet Data Caps Cometh

Holman Jenkins provides one of the better explanations that I have seen concerning the unsound economics of net neutrality and business models based upon this principle. A generation ago, Milton Friedman published a book by the title “There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch”; the principle of “TINSTAAFL” is important because it reminds us that it isn’t possible in the real world to get “something for nothing”.

Mississippi River flooding

Here’s an amazing photo essay from the Boston Globe’s “The Big Picture” concerning the Great Flood of 2011…

Dirty Little Secrets

“What exactly is an “A”?” At the end of every semester, I (as well as many, if not most of my colleagues) find myself wrestling with many of the same questions asked by the author of this posting.

How the $8,000 Tax Credit Cost Home Buyers $15,000

Interesting article on the “unintended” consequences of the now expired $8,000 first-time home buyers federal tax credit…

J.A. Gould World: Rob Arnott on GDP

A tip of the hat to my former student, Jason Gould, for pointing to Rob Arnot’s essay explaining how debt-driven “improvement” in GDP is not only unsustainable in the long run; it also does not necessarily imply “improvement” in social welfare or prosperity.

PIMCO raises bet against U.S. government debt

“NEW YORK (Reuters) – PIMCO’s Bill Gross, the manager of the world’s largest bond fund, raised his bet against U.S. government-related debt in April to 4 percent from 3 percent…”

Yes, the Earth Will Have Ample Resources for 10 Billion People

“World population grew by almost 300% during the twentieth century; over the same time period, world per capita incomes grew by about 400%. This association of sizable increases in world population with large increases in per capita incomes should continue to the end of this century.”

 

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

Carpe Diem’s Mark Perry Further Exposes the Absurdity of Energy Independence

blogs.forbes.com

“The oil industry’s pedestrian profit margins reveal how economically crippling it would be to devote resources to “energy independence.””

U.S. Faces Doctor Shortage

online.wsj.com

“Experts warn there won’t be enough doctors to treat the millions of people newly insured under health-care law, with a projected shortage of as many as 150,000 doctors in the next 15 years.”

Three Questions for America’s Financial Future – Economic View

nytimes.com

“Three puzzling questions are at the heart of today’s economic uncertainty, N. Gregory Mankiw says.”

DNA and Bin Laden’s Positive ID

blogs.wsj.com

“The math behind confirming someone’s identity through genetic testing is tricky and depends on the strength of other evidence.”

Number of the Week: Class of 2011, Most Indebted Ever

blogs.wsj.com

“The Class of 2011 will graduate this spring from Americas colleges and universities with a dubious distinction: the most indebted ever.”

Streetwise Professor » Control Freaks?

streetwiseprofessor.com

“The administration is floating–re-floating, actually–a proposal to levy a tax based on mileage driven. From an economic perspective, this is a puzzler. If the objective is to reduce CO2 emissions or pollution, it would be far preferable to do so via fuel taxes because (a) pollution is a function of fuel consumption, and (b) fuel consumption depends not just on mileage driven, but on vehicle size, age, maintenance, etc.”

Calculated Risk: No Surprise: Gasoline prices expected to fall sharply

calculatedriskblog.com

“A brief comment: If oil prices stay at the current level, gasoline prices will probably fall 30 cents per gallon or more over the next few weeks. This AP article says some analysts expect a “drop of nearly 50 cents” by June.”

An Inside Look at the SEAL Sensibility

professional.wsj.com

“Navy SEAL Eric Greitens, a member of the elite force, gives an inside look at the brutal training and secret work of the commandos who got Osama bin Laden.”

Debate Rages Over Fate of bin Laden Compound

professional.wsj.com

“Pakistan’s leaders, already battling to control the diplomatic, political and military fallout from the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, face one particularly divisive question: What should they do with the house where he lived?”

That bin Laden Letdown

professional.wsj.com

“The news of the killing of Osama Bin Laden generated euphoria….for a New York minute.”

Talk Radio Rides to the Rescue in Tuscaloosa

“How Clear Channel stations promoted a remarkable network of volunteers for tornado relief.”

We’re Still Seven Million Jobs In The Hole

www.npr.org

“Yes, the economy is adding jobs. But it hasn’t come close to making up for what’s been lost. Here’s a look at health care, construction, manufacturing and other key sectors.”

Obama floats plan to tax cars by the mile

thehill.com

“A draft transportation authorization bill includes a proposal to tax automobile drivers based on their mileage. The Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive.”

The cost of bin Laden: $3 trillion over 15 years

news.yahoo.com

“The most expensive public enemy in American history died Sunday from two bullets. As we mark Osama bin Laden’s death, what’s striking is how much he cost our nation—and how little we’ve gained from our fight against him.”

Obama’s ‘Gangster Politics’

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Potomac Watch columnist Kimberley Strassel says the president is about to force companies that bid for federal contracts to disclose their political donations.”

Barney Frank’s Latest Bad Idea

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Gerald P. O’Driscoll criticizes Barney Frank’s bill to remove the regional Fed bank presidents from the Federal Open Market Committee. He says that these bank presidents are an important counterweight to Washington politicos and the influence of Wall Street in setting monetary policy.”

The Tax-Me-More Lobby Doesn’t Pay More

professional.wsj.com

“Stephen Moore writes in The Wall Journal that the same people who say they want to pay higher taxes—wealthy liberals—don’t bother to contribute more voluntarily.”

Show the Proof, Mr. President

professional.wsj.com

“Americans don’t want to ‘spike the ball,’ Peggy Noonan argues. They want to show they crossed the goal line.”

Failing Grades on Civics Exam a ‘Crisis’

www.nytimes.com

“Fewer than half of America’s eighth graders knew the purpose of the Bill of Rights, according to test results.” This article also documents, among other things, that “…only one in 10 demonstrated acceptable knowledge of the checks and balances among the legislative, executive and judicial branches”, and that American students’ worst subject is history (loud gulp!)…

Eric Holder’s bin Laden Moment.

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Daniel Henninger writes that the moment has come for the attorney general to end his investigation of the CIA’s interrogators of terrorist detainees.”

If Supermarkets Were Like Public Schools

professional.wsj.com

“George Mason University economist Don Boudreaux offers a very interesting thought experiment: “What if groceries were paid for by taxes, and you were assigned a store based on where you live?””

Killing Terror Leaders: Israel’s Experience

professional.wsj.com

“The elimination of an organization’s leader tends to paralyze the group in the short term, but it sometimes results in the rise of an even more dangerous successor.”

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

Is the ebook killing off its traditional paper based alternative?

www.bbc.co.uk

“Is the ebook killing off its traditional paper based alternative?… The Publishers Association have released new figures which explain how much damage ebooks are doing to their paper based alternatives.”

Ten Thousand Commandments: How Much Regulation Is Enough?

blogs.forbes.com

“President Barack Obama’s recent federal budget proposal for fiscal year 2012 sought $3.729 trillion in discretionary, entitlement and interest spending.”

The Higher Education Bubble

Hat tip to Mark Perry (see http://bit.ly/aq4Dwb) – a time series graph comparing the College Tuition Consumer Price Index (CPI) vs. US Home Prices vs. the overall CPI 1978-2010 – this really puts the so-called higher education bubble into perspective!

The Business School Tuition Bubble – Harvard Business Review

blogs.hbr.org

This article describes the dynamics of an academic “race to the bottom” in which “…the low end of the student distribution gets fatter as less qualified students are admitted… professors of required courses struggle to get everyone through by adjusting the material downward, everyone learns less, and over time the knowledge value of the MBA is significantly diminished.”

The Evidence Is In—School Vouchers Work

professional.wsj.com

In The Wall Street Journal, Jason L. Riley writes that President Obama’s opposition to school vouchers has to do with Democratic politics, not the available evidence on whether they improve outcomes for disadvantaged kids.

Notable & Quotable

professional.wsj.com

“Daniel Henninger on watching the twin towers fall to the ground.

Osama Bin Laden, Weak Horse

professional.wsj.com

“Expelled from Afghanistan, rejected in Iraq, he died as a new Arab order that has nothing to do with jihad is struggling to be born.”

School Choice Will Increase Urban Diversity

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, John Norquist, the former Democratic mayor of Milwaukee, says that school choice will lead to many middle-class parents raising their families in big cities.”

25 Best Things to do in Austin, Texas

365thingsaustin.com

“The 25 best things to do in Austin, Texas! There’s plenty of things to do in Austin, Texas, but these are the 25 best!”

Osama bin Laden killed

www.boston.com

“Osama bin Laden is dead. He was 54. The leader of the Al Qaeda terrorist network had eluded capture for a decade since the attacks on September 11, 2001. U.S. forces and CIA operatives killed him in a firefight in his hideout compound in the city of Abbotabad, Pakistan. He was buried at sea.”

OK, Let’s Decline

pajamasmedia.com

“A recent report in the New Yorker magazine suggested that the Obama’s administration’s weird sort of/sort of not foreign policy is now gleefully self-described as “leading from behind”.”

California Prison Academy—Better Than a Harvard Degree

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Allysia Finley writes that if you want to earn big bucks and retire young, you’re better off becoming a prison guard in California than going to the Ivy League.”

Obama’s lax dollar is to blame for oil’s spike, not bankers

telegraph.co.uk

“If President Obama is to be believed, “speculators” are responsible for the rise in oil prices that threatens the global recovery. However, for the real drivers of the oil price, the President needs to look closer to home.”

The Unbroken Window » Blog Archive » Workers of the World Seemed to Have United!

theunbrokenwindow.com

In commemoration of May day, a fascinating essay by Milton Friedman (with updates by J.P. Arendt (http://bit.ly/jwe86e) and Michael Rizzo (http://bit.ly/kDFXaJ)) showing how “every single piece of (the Socialist Party) 1928 Presidential Political Platform has been enacted…” in the United States.

How Much Did Royal Wedding of Kate and William Cost Britain?

blogs.wsj.com

“Estimates in the media range as high as $50 billion, but the real impact is likely to be far lower, economists say.”

Ten Hayekian Insights for Trying Economic Times

www.heritage.org

“The economist Friedrich Hayek attempted in his writings to spotlight the interlocking set of ideas—constructivist rationalism, scientism, socialism, “the engineering mentality”—that was leading the West down what he famously called the road to serfdom and to propose in its place a return to a revitalized form of classical liberalism.”

The Budget Battle: WWHD? (What Would Hayek Do?) AK? (And Keynes?)

www.pbs.org

“The Budget Battle: WWHD? (What Would Hayek Do?) AK? (And Keynes?)”

A Tale Of Two Recessions And Two Presidents

www.investors.com

“Growth: It’s been nearly two full years since the recession officially ended, and the economy is still struggling to get off the ground.”

Why the 2025 Budget Matters Today

professional.wsj.com

University of Chicago finance professor John Cochrane writes that “Governments with no plausible plan to meet their obligations risk a run by investors. It’s happened abroad, and it can happen here.”  This article provides an important framework for understanding the interplay between global financial markets and political economy!

Time to Choose – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“America needs to act fast to get spending and debt under control, Pete du Pont argues.”

Review & Outlook: The Keynesian Growth Discount – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal says the results of our three-year economic experiment are in.”

Make Him a Saint – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“How the Polish pope worked a political miracle.”

The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century

www.amazon.com

Hat tip to my Baylor colleague, Allen Seward, for pointing this remarkable book out to me!

The Gas Price Freakout

“Ready-made energy incoherence as a gallon climbs towards $4.”

Obama’s Awful ’70s Show on Gas Prices Echoes Jimmy Carter

www.thedailybeast.com

“Gas prices are heading toward $5, single-family home sales are at a low—and with President Obama ignoring his base like Jimmy Carter did, he could end up being another one-term president, Eric Alterman writes.”

I recall that during the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama warned that a John McCain presidency would be a 3rd Bush term. In response, Sen. McCain replied that an Obama presidency would be a 2nd Carter term. I also remember thinking at the time that McCain’s Carter analogy was in all likelihood completely lost on nearly all voters below the age of 35…

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