Assorted Links (10/26/2011)

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

Democracy is SO inconvenient

www.advancingafreesociety.org

“Democracy is so inconvenient when your party controls the Presidency and the opposition can block your legislative agenda.”

David Malpass: How the Euro Zone Can Restore Confidence – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, David Malpass writes that investors are looking for a home for trillions in idle Federal Reserve-generated dollars, and a little reform in Europe might attract them.”

Vatican Calls for Global Oversight of the Economy

www.nytimes.com

“Citing the need for democratic and ethical principles in the marketplace, Roman Catholic Church officials suggestion the creation of a supranational economic authority.”

Time Use During Recessions

papers.nber.org

The NBER working paper “Time Use during Recessions” …” investigate(s) what activities occupy household members’ time when they are unable to find work as a result of an economic downturn …roughly 30 to 40 percent of the “extra” nonworking hours associated with unemployment go to working in the home, … 30 percent – goes to sleeping longer and to watching television …searching for another job …takes up only about 1 percent of the extra hours.”

Occupy Wall Street and Washington’s History of Financial Bailouts

www.advancingafreesociety.org

“Occupy Wall Street reminds me of a doctor who sees a patient with a broken arm, decides that both arms are broken, and proceeds to amputate them: The diagnosis is half right, and the cure may be worse than the disease.”

The Fighter Fallacy

www.nytimes.com

“President Obama’s current campaign strategy totally misreads the country.”

Martin Feldstein: The Tax Reform Evidence From 1986

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Harvard economist Martin Feldstein writes that experience implies that the combination of tax-base broadening and tax-rate reduction would raise revenue equal to about 4% of existing tax revenue.”

Notable & Quotable – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“Steve Malanga writing at the Manhattan Institute’s PublicSectorInc.org, Oct. 21, on why public-sector workers report such higher level of work-place injury than their private-sector counterparts.”

How much can the 99 percent squeeze out of the 1 percent?

“Allow me to introduce some real data into a popular sound bite: the bottom 99 percent versus the top 1 percent. Everyone likes a tax paid by someone else…”

The Wild Ride of the Wealthiest 1% – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“The once-stable incomes of America’s biggest earners now fluctuate dramatically from year to year. And as go the rich, so goes much of the economy. Adapted from Robert Frank’s The High-Beta Rich: How the Manic Wealthy Will Take Us to the Next Boom, Bubble and Bust.”

Andy Kessler: In San Francisco, There Are Many Ways to Occupy Wall Street

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Cross Country column, Andy Kessler writes that not all Occupy Wall Street protesters are alike in the Bay Area: One guy says he’s taken the ‘best of social networking and high-frequency trading and built a system that beats those Wall Street thieves at their own game.'”