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

What to Do with Super-Achievers?

www.american.com

“Society is better off when super-achievers do their striving within the private sector rather than in government.”

No Lehman on the Aegean

www.american.com

“Can we be spared a Lehman-style crisis when Greece’s hard default occurs?”

Student Loans for Dummies

www.american.com

“Accumulated student loan debt now totals $1 trillion. The Super Committee should fix the student loan program by requiring evidence of ability to repay guaranteed loans.”

Obama’s Weakness in Historical Context

www.american.com

“On a variety of indicators, President Obama has far more in common with incumbent presidents who lost their bid for reelection than with those who won.”

Obama’s Biggest Problem: Europe, Not GOP

blogs.the-american-interest.com

“The more one sees of the Republican field, the more it seems clear that President Obama’s biggest problems do not come from his domestic opponents.  The more voters, even Republican voters, learn about the candidates jostling for the party’s nod, the less they like them. The more the President’s opponents campaign, the stronger the White House becomes. The primaries and caucuses that really worry the White House are happening in Europe.  Elections in Greece and caucuses in Brussels at this point will do more to determine the President’s fate in 2012 than anything that happens in Iowa or New Hampshire.”

Why We Can’t Escape the Eurocrisis

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Gerald P. O’Driscoll Jr. writes that the overwhelming debt problems on either side of the Atlantic are interlinked through the banking system.”

Cooking the Books on Grandma’s Health Care

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Betsy McCaughey writes that Medicare patients who get less care have a higher risk of dying—so don’t believe the hype that implies otherwise.”

A Slow-Growth America Can’t Lead the World

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Stanford University economist John B. Taylor writes that after World War II, the U.S. promoted international economic growth through reliance on the market and the incentives it provides. Times have changed.”

JoePa gets record in 10-7 win against Illinois

www.deseretnews.com

“Joe Paterno broke Eddie Robinson’s record for victories by a Division I coach with No. 409 in Penn State’s sloppy 10-7 win against Illinois.” Joe Paterno is a class act – when asked how he felt about eclipsing (Grambling coach) Eddie Robinson’s record previous NCAA Division 1 lifetime record of 408 wins (the win over Illinois this weekend is his 409th), here’s what JoePa said: “It really is something I’ve very proud of, to be associated with Eddie Robinson.”

Luck Is Just the Spark for Business Giants

www.nytimes.com

“Bill Gates and other hugely successful entrepreneurs may have had good fortune in their lives, but they knew how to turn those lucky breaks into life-changing events.”

Euro Crisis — Doubting the ‘Domino’ Effect

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Stanford University’s Edward P. Lazear writes that preventing a Greek default will not reverse the lackluster growth that has plagued the other vulnerable euro-zone countries for many years now.”

What Business Wants from Washington

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Boeing CEO Jim McNerney discusses the super committee’s deliberations and the need to restore confidence in the business community that Washington can lead.”

Steve Jobs’s Advice for Obama

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Information Age columnist Gordon Crovitz notes that Steve Jobs’s ideas on how to bring manufacturing jobs to America were ignored by President Obama.”

What Tax Dollars Can’t Buy

www.nytimes.com

“Soaking the rich can’t fix a broken government.”

The Divider vs. the Thinker

online.wsj.com

“While Obama readies an ugly campaign, Paul Ryan gives a serious account of what ails America, Peggy Noonan writes.”

The Inversion of America’s Dominant Ideology

blog.independent.org

“According to an ABC News report last week, At a million-dollar San Francisco fundraiser, …President Obama warned his recession-battered supporters that if he loses the 2012 election it could herald a new, painful era of self-reliance in America.” Sounds good to me!

Economist Kevin Murphy Talks NBA Lockout Negotiations

www.freakonomics.com

“We’ve written a lot about University of Chicago economist Kevin Murphy. He teaches at the Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory, where Steve Levitt is the director. Murphy was a MacArthur Genius Fellow back in 2005, and Levitt readily admits that Murphy is the smartest person he knows.”

Can you be a little less specific?

timharford.com

“Can you be a little less specific? …Game theorists are beginning to produce rational models of deliberate vagueness.”

How the Death Tax Hurts the Poor

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, economist Steven E. Landsburg says the death tax encourages the rich to pick extra fruit, leaving the trees a little barer for the rest of us.”

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

World on Wi-Fire – Niall Ferguson

www.niallferguson.com

Hat tip to my friend Ken Coffel for pointing out this excellent article written by Harvard historian Niall Ferguson…

My challenge to Paul Krugman

cafehayek.com

Wonderful essay by George Mason University economist Russ Roberts on the differences between being a truth-seeker and an ideologue. The primary application pertains to economics, but Professor Roberts’ ideas are applicable to a wide range of topics which encompass our worldviews…

Does U.S. Economic Inequality Have a Good Side?

video.pbs.org

This PBS interview of NYU law professor Richard Epstein on the economics of income inequality is superb and well worth the 9 minutes you’ll spend watching it…

Are Firms Responsible for Creating Jobs?

online.wsj.com

This is an intriguing essay which addresses the concept of “corporate social responsibility” through a number of different lenses. The referenced Friedman 1970 New York Times Magazine article is available at http://bit.ly/112BM, and the 2005 Reason Magazine debate between Friedman and Whole Foods CEO John Mackey is available at http://bit.ly/bruk9T.

Review & Outlook

professional.wsj.com

“European deal has something for everyone, except the real problem, The Wall Street Journal writes in an editorial.”

Allan H. Meltzer: Four Reasons Keynesians Keep Getting It Wrong

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Allan Meltzer writes that concern over future tax rates is one of the main reasons for reduced investor confidence.”

Facebook Popularity Tied to Brain Size – Video

www.bloomberg.com

“Bloomberg’s Shannon Pettypiece reports on the effect the amount of Facebook friends has on the brain.” Really??? I can’t help but wonder how much grant money this academic research received, and what the sources of funding are…

Does Government Spending Stimulate Private Activity

weber.ucsd.edu

In her working paper entitled “Does Government Spending Stimulate Private Activity” (see http://bit.ly/uHS9m6), UCSD economist Valerie Ramey finds that “…in most cases private spending falls significantly in response to an increase in government spending …increases in government spending do lower unemployment …virtually all of the effect is through an increase in government employment, not private employment. See http://bit.ly/owGd8C for an hourlong interview of this and other related research.

Charles Calomiris: The Mortgage Crisis—Some Inside Views

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Charles Calomiris writes that insider emails show that risk managers at Freddie Mac warned about lower underwriting standards—in vain, and with lessons for today.”

Henninger: Our Un-Presidential Debates

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Wonder Land columnist Daniel Henninger writes that Michael Vick went to prison for staging dogfights, but for presidential debates, it’s legal.”

Crony Capitalism Comes Homes

www.nytimes.com

I don’t often agree with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, but I think he may be onto something here…

Robert A. Sirico: The Vatican’s Monetary Wisdom

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Father Robert A. Sirico writes that the Vatican understands that more than just ‘greed,’ fiat money and central-bank policies caused the financial crisis.” Excellent critique of the Vatican’s recently released report entitled “Toward Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of a Global Public Authority”…

Wendy Huanjie Wang: Employment and the Captaincy of Your Soul

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Wendy Huanjie Wang writes that it’s a dog’s life for job seekers these days.”

Review & Outlook: Remedial Economics

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal says the ‘Occupy’ folks learn the limits of wealth redistribution.”

Malcolm Gladwell: The strange tale of the Norden bombsight

www.ted.com

“TED Talks Master storyteller Malcolm Gladwell tells the tale of the Norden bombsight, a groundbreaking piece of World War II technology with a deeply unexpected result.”

Why we need more capitalism, not less

globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com

“The economist Milton Friedman liked to point out that capitalism is a profit-and-loss system. Profits encourage risk-taking. Losses encourage prudence, which is just as important. Over the last 25 years, however, government policy has been laissez-faire when it comes to profits, and socialist when it comes to creditor losses. That is a very destructive cocktail. It has encouraged imprudent risk-taking financed with large amounts of borrowed money. When you subsidize recklessness, you unsurprisingly get a lot more of it.”

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.'”

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

How Steve Jobs Saved the Music Industry

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Ed Nash writes that before Apple’s iTunes, the stealing of MP3 files was rampant and seemingly unstoppable.”

The GOP Wins by Bruising

professional.wsj.com

“The debates have been an unexpected success, Peggy Noonan writes.”

No More Years

professional.wsj.com

“Obama looks increasingly likely to lose, Pete du Pont observes. What then?”

Gadhafi and the Swindle of Dictatorship

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Fouad Ajami writes that we needn’t dispatch our forces to all lands of trouble, but our burden of celebrating liberty on foreign shores endures.”

Who You Are

www.nytimes.com

“As Daniel Kahneman’s next book comes out, let’s reflect on the pioneers who explored and authenticated the flawed terrain of our cognitive faculties.”

The Second Great Contraction: Kenneth Rogoff interview

www.mckinseyquarterly.com

“The economist and coauthor of This Time Is Different explains what history can teach us about the global downturn and why climbing out of it is still rife with risks.”

The GOP and RomneyCare

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal says the Republican front-runner’s principles should be tested.”

Blame the Fed for the Financial Crisis

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Ron Paul writes that the Federal Reserve prolongs the financial crisis because it fails to grasp that manipulating interest rates is as destructive as any price control.”

Stricter Regulation Driving Expected Increase In Litigation

www.iii.org

“Despite facing slightly less litigation in 2011 than in 2010, businesses in the United States and United Kingdom are seeing more regulatory actions and internal investigations, according to the Eighth Annual Litigation Trends Survey from international law firm Fulbright & Jaworski.”

EU Leak Shows Wind, Solar Energy to Double Power Bills

blogs.the-american-interest.com

“According to a leaked European Commission report on the future of energy in Europe, the slow switch to greener sources of energy is going to push the cost of electricity through the roof.”

Are Employers Requiring People to Work Longer Hours?

economix.blogs.nytimes.com

“With fewer people working and those employed working fewer hours, it’s not surprising at all that the nation’s total hours worked dropped significantly, an economist writes.”

Those Cheating Teachers! A New Freakonomics Marketplace Podcast

www.freakonomics.com

“This year alone has seen teacher-cheating scandals in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Atlanta, and elsewhere; in this week’s Times, Sharon Otterman reports how New York State is trying to curtail cheating and offers some specific instances of past cheating.”

‘Too Big to Fail’ Is Simply Too Big

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Jon Huntsman writes that Dodd-Frank needs to be reformed in order to remove the government’s implicit promise to bail out financial institutions that are deemed too big to fail.”

Cain’s Stimulating ‘9-9-9’ Tax Reform

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Arthur B. Laffer writes that the new sales tax in Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain’s ‘9-9-9’ tax plan could be raised in the future—but so could any other tax, and Cain’s proposal would jump-start the economy.”

Your Cash for Their Clunkers

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal says another White House energy favorite hits financial trouble.”

Wi-Fi and the Mobile Meltdown

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Business World columnist Holman Jenkins says that wireless hotspots may be the solution to the problem of a spectrum ‘shortage.'”

Lessons From and For the Class Struggle on Wall Street

www.forbes.com

“There is much to be learned from the Occupiers—and the Occupiers have much to learn …blaming “greed” for economic malaise is like blaming gravity for plane crashes”.

Two Signs that K-12 Education Monopoly is Crumbling

reason.com

“Via Reason Foundation education policy analyst Lisa Snell comes news of two great developments in the liberation of kids (and their parents) trapped in public schools.”

The Great Restoration

www.nytimes.com

“Behind the noise of our activist protest movements hums a quiet engine of determined Americans trying to repair our economic values.”

Obama’s Big Green Mess

www.thedailybeast.com

“How the White House lost its eco-mojo.”

Unions To Wall Street: Die Yuppie Scum, But Do My Homework First

blogs.the-american-interest.com

“Will Wall Street save public sector unions? The U.S. Post Office certainly hopes so. While union representatives were standing at the front door of America’s major banks, shouting about corporate greed and holding signs and blowing horns, the National Association of Letter Carriers chiefs were slipping through the back entrance for advice on restructuring their organization.”

Notable & Quotable

professional.wsj.com

“French economist Frederic Bastiat writing in 1850 on governments justifying spending only based on ‘that which is seen,’ while ignoring ‘that which is not seen.'”

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

What’s an $800 Billion Stimulus Worth?

www.bepress.com

“What’s an $800 billion stimulus worth? Negative $475 billion, according to Burton A. Abrams of the University of Delaware.”

A New Spending Record

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal says that Washington had its best year ever in fiscal 2011.”

The Euro Crisis—Lessons From Bear Stearns

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, David Skeel writes that Europe can’t afford to bail out Italy, so it might as well send the right message now by forcing Greece to restructure its debt.”

From Tehran to Tijuana

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Global View column, Bret Stephens writes that it’s time to notice Iran’s decades-old infiltration of Latin America.”

The Contradictions of Harold Koh

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Main Street columnist William McGurn writes that the former Yale Law dean who hounded the Bush administration over its interrogation policies is now justifying drone strikes.”

Polling the Occupy Wall Street Crowd

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, pollster Douglas Schoen writes that in interviews, protesters show that they are leftists out of step with most American voters—yet Democrats are embracing them anyway.”

Tim Harford — Innovation works in mysterious ways

timharford.com

“Innovation works in mysterious ways.”

Streetwise Professor » Occupy This

streetwiseprofessor.com

“The Occupy [Insert Location Here] has to be the most inarticulate, inchoate, and incoherent protest movement in history. A decidedly motley collection of progressive types, heavily laden with aging Boomers pining for their Glory Days of the ’60s protests and younger clueless wannabes.”

Notable – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“Mark Steyn writing in the Orange County Register, Oct. 14, on middle-class decline and what Occupy Wall Street protesters expect as their birthright.”

Why block health screening that can raise red flags for cancer, save lives?

Source: statesman.com

“Forty years ago, my mother-in-law learned from a mammogram at age 57 that she had breast cancer. We immediately sought the best available treatment.”

Obama’s latest re-election strategy: Find villains to blame

Source: statesman.com

“Charles Krauthammer hits the nail on the head…”What do you do if you can’t run on your record on 9 percent unemployment, stagnant growth and ruinous deficits as far as the eye can see?””

Occupy Wall Street’s Crony Capitalism

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Information Age columnist Gordon Crovitz explains that political extortion by New York City politicians created Zuccotti Park, and it now allows the protesters to remain there despite the noise, filth and stink.”

Three Policies That Gave Us the Jobs Economy

professional.wsj.com

“Amity Shlaes writes in The Wall Street Journal that over 25 years, Apple and other innovators yielded employment for a whole region, improved our standard of living, and led a national economic boom.”

ObamaCare Starts to Unravel

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal reports on the real story behind the Class program failure, and what to do now.”

The Exasperation of the Democratic Billionaire

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, James Freeman interviews Mortimer Zuckerman, the real-estate and newspaper mogul who voted for Obama but began seeing trouble as soon as the 2009 stimulus went into the pockets of municipal unions.”

Gas against wind…

www.rationaloptimist.com

Compelling essay by Matt Ridley which makes the case for natural gas versus wind as an energy source. Hat tip to my Baylor colleague, Dave VanHoose, for pointing this article out to me…

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

“But Economics is Not an Experimental Science,” C. Sims (2010)

afinetheorem.wordpress.com

“Christopher Sims, a winner of yesterday’s Nobel, wrote this great little comment in the Journal of Economic Perspectives last year that has been making the blog rounds recently.”

Free market groups: Federal earthquake insurance is a bad idea

outofthestormnews.com

“Should the federal government bail out state run disaster insurance programs? New legislation creating such a bailout is developing in Congress to strengthen earthquake insurance along the west coast.”

Peter Wallison: Wall Street’s Gullible Occupiers

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Peter Wallison says the Occupy Wall Street protesters have been sold a bill of goods—reckless government policies, not private greed, brought about the housing bubble and resulting financial crisis.”

EU: 16 Steps Forward, One Giant Leap Back?

blogs.the-american-interest.com

“We are down to the final 12 speakers of the final parliamentary session before the (hopefully) final and (probably second to the last) vote in the last parliament on the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), the €440 billion bailout fund to hold the eurozone together.”

Racist Republicans Flocking to Cain

blogs.the-american-interest.com

“Either a lot of Democrats have been slandering millions of American voters as racist, or the Tea Party hasn’t gotten the word that Herman Cain is African American.  That is the only conclusion that can be drawn after a slew of recent polls shows that Cain is picking up the ‘teavangelical’ vote…”

The Milquetoast Radicals

www.nytimes.com

“The Occupy Wall Street movement is playing small ball with false equivalencies.”

Occupied by Government

mises.org

“Many demands are being made, but sadly, if these were ever implemented, they would make problems worse by lowering the standard of living for all — especially for the poor! I will proceed to address some of the demands in plain English, hoping to reach out to them.” (Also see my blog posting “On the Optimality of Inequality” at http://wp.me/pBo4U-sq for a thought experiment which shows that inequality is inevitable in a free society.)

Notable & Quotable – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“President John F. Kennedy on tax cuts in his 1963 State of the Union address.”

David R. Henderson: A Nobel for Non-Keynesians

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, David R. Henderson describes the work of Thomas J. Sargent and Christopher A. Sims, who this week won the Nobel Prize in Economics after careers that demonstrated how people’s expectations about government policy make it difficult for officials to affect the economy…”

Review & Outlook: The Return of Rational Expectations

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that Nobel Prize economics winners Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims are out of step with the Keynesian vogue.”

Nobel for Sargent and Sims — Marginal Revolution

marginalrevolution.com

“The Nobel in Economics goes to Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims, for empirical macroeconomics.”

The federal family is faltering

www.timesunion.com

“In societies governed by persuasion, politics is mostly talk, so liberals’ impoverishment of their vocabulary matters. Having made federal spending suspect, they advocate “investments” — for “job creation,” a euphemism for stimulus, another word they have made toxic.”

How TV Debates Have Changed the Race

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Fred Barnes notes that televised debates have dominated the GOP primary campaign, giving free publicity to marginal candidates, pitting all candidates against each other, and giving President Obama a pass.”

The Corporate Exec: Hollywood Demon

online.wsj.com

“Edward Jay Epstein writes in The Wall Street Journal that it’s no surprise protesters want to ‘occupy Wall Street,’ as Hollywood’s ubiquitous villains these days aren’t Nazis or Communists but businessmen.”

The Solyndra Economy

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that Administration emails regarding the federal loan guarantee for the failed solar-panel company reveal the reality of politicized investing.”

Crovitz: Steve Jobs and the Future of Newspapers

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Information Age columnist Gordon Crovitz recalls a conversation with Steve Jobs about newspapers, which he said would soon all be online.”

Wall Street Disgruntled Utopians

www.advancingafreesociety.org

“The Occupy Wall Street protestors are looking more and more like the shock troops of the Democratic Party’s electoral tactic of class warfare.”

Report: Millions of Jobs Heading Home from China

blogs.the-american-interest.com

“Time to pop the champagne? The return of manufacturing jobs from China to the US could generate as many as three million new jobs in the US by 2020, according to a new study by the well-regarded Boston Consulting Group.”

Putin Sees His Moment

blogs.the-american-interest.com

“For the past year, the debt crisis has monopolized Europe’s attention to the extent that many forgot the EU did anything besides argue about debt levels. Apparently many in Europe feel the same way, as efforts to bolster its relationships along its Eastern periphery — once a central focus of EU policy…”

Richard Green on the Mortgage Interest Deduction

econlog.econlib.org

Quoting from Professor Green’s congressional testimony on the mortgage interest deduction, “…the Mortgage Interest Deduction is a residual of the 1913 tax code, accomplishes little that its supporters claim for it, pushes capital away from plant and equipment toward housing, and benefits high income (although perhaps not very high income) households more than the remainder of the country.”

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

Incomes are Created, Not “Distributed”

cafehayek.com

“Regarding the recent rash of the anti-social sentiment called “envy,” one point to keep in mind is that the common use of the term “income distribution” (or “wealth distribution”) stacks the deck in favor of those people who are prone…”

A Tribute to Steve Jobs

www.wired.com

“A tribute to Steve Jobs and the legacy he has left the world.”

The Top 1%

cafehayek.com

“Robert Lieberman, a political scientist at Columbia University writes in Foreign Affairs: The U.S. economy appears to be coming apart at the seams. Unemployment remains at nearly ten percent, the highest level in almost 30 years; foreclosures have forced millions…”

Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition

www.boston.com

“The Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition lets us see beyond the capabilities of our unaided eyes. Almost 2000 entries from 70 countries vied for recognition in the 37th annual contest, which celebrates photography through a microscope.”

The Future Is Getting Better All The Time

blogs.the-american-interest.com

“W. Brian Arthur, in a report for McKinsey, writes that we are witnessing enormous fundamental changes to the global economy: “in fact”, he writes, “it may well be the biggest change ever in the economy.” This change is due to what Arthur calls “the second economy” or a “digital economy” that exists …”

Twenty-First Century Excommunication

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Houses of Worship column, Mollie Ziegler Hemingway writes that the Episcopal Church is now insisting that any congregation that breaks away over Episcopalianism’s liberal doctrinal and political stances must disaffiliate from Anglicanism entirely.”

Steve Jobs and the Coolest Show on Earth

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, David Gelernter writes that like everyone who counts most in the world, Jobs made himself up as he went along, occupying a job category whose total size was always one.”

The Wire and Elasticity

“(The Wired’s) …drug kingpin Stinger Bell learns about elasticity of demand and then applies it to his business.”

Cain’s Post-Racial Promise

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Jason Riley writes that black individuals who don’t see themselves primarily as victims are a threat to the political left.”

Occupy Wall Street Protest Presents Democrats With a Populist Puzzle

professional.wsj.com

“The Democratic Party is grappling with the promise and peril of the anticorporate populism of the Occupy Wall Street movement, seeking to tap its energy without opening the party to charges of class warfare.”

Why the Stimulus Tanked: Untimely, Untargeted, Untemporary

reason.com

“Over at U.S. News & World Report, Reason columnist and Mercatus Center economist Veronique de Rugy explains why the stimulus failed to stimulate.”

Warren Buffett, the Keystone Pipeline, and Crony Capitalism

www.americanthinker.com

“A decades-long crusade by the environmental left to convince us that oil is evil, unsustainable, and destroying our planet has yet to accomplish its goal of eliminating oil as a fuel, but it has succeeded in making oil damned expensive.”

5 Facts About Climate Change

online.wsj.com

“Robert Bryce on why global warming alarmists are losing their crusade.”

Why geezers give the best investment advice Jonathan Burton’s Life Savings

www.marketwatch.com

“Don’t trust anyone over 30. That was a rallying cry for the counterculture 1960s. But nowadays, people seeking investment advice probably should be suspicious of anyone under 50.”

Occupy Wall Street: A Sucker’s Game

www.thedailybeast.com

“Ill-informed protestors should be demonstrating outside the White House.”

Book Review: The Price of Civilization

professional.wsj.com

Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan provides a stellar critique of Columbia economist Jeffrey Sachs’ (gloomy) new book entitled “The Price of Civilization”…

What if the NFL Played by Teachers’ Rules?

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, former NFL quarterback Fran Tarkenton images how pro football would look if players who made it through three seasons could never be cut from the roster.”

Stimulus Has Been a Washington Job Killer

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, economists John F. Cogan and John B. Taylor write that the political graveyards are full of politicians who thought that temporary, targeted economic policies would get them re-elected.”

Ward Connerly: What Happened to Post-Racial America?

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Ward Connerly writes that affirmative action is flourishing today, undermining the color-blind vision of Kennedy and King.”

Stephens: The President of Contempt

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Global View column, Bret Stephens writes that to Barack Obama, America is lovable in proportion to the love it gives him in return.”

Elizabeth Warren and the Blessings of Government

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Russ Roberts of George Mason University writes that if the state stuck to public goods like roads, police and education, we might feel better about paying our taxes.”

Last Chance to Save the Euro

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, John Cochrane writes that a Greek default won’t destroy Europe’s currency—bailouts will.”

Obama’s Jobs Bill: Read It and Weep

www.hoover.org

“The dim news about the current economic situation has prompted the Obama administration to put forward its latest, desperate effort to reverse the tide by urging passage of The American Jobs Act (AJA), a turgid 155-page bill. The AJA’s only certain effect is to make everything worse than it already is…”

The Myth of Common Sense: Why The Social World Is Less Obvious Than It Seems

www.freakonomics.com

“This is a guest post by Duncan Watts, a principal research scientist at Yahoo! Labs, and the author of Everything is Obvious: Once You Know The Answer.”

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

Christian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani faces potential execution

www.washingtonpost.com

“Just days after Iran released two Americans accused of spying in Iran, an Iranian court has upheld the apostasy conviction and execution sentence of Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani.”

Jessy Dixon, Gospel Legend, Dead at 73

www.spinner.com

This morning, I was saddened to hear of Jessy Dixon’s passing. I had the privilege of touring with Jesse as a member of the Jessy Dixon Singers (I didn’t sing, rather, I played sax and flute) from 1978-1980. Jessy was a wonderful Christian man, and I have many fond memories of playing in concerts with him and the likes of the Thompson Community Singers, Andre Crouch and the Disciples, Billy Preston, the Hawkins Family, the Mighty Clouds of Joy and others. Rest in peace, Jessy! (be sure to watch his performance of “I am Redeemed” (at http://bit.ly/ozEcqZ) on the steps of the US Capital!)…

The Heresies of Chris Christie

www.theatlantic.com

“In his speech at the Reagan Library, the outspoken New Jersey governor challenged his fellow conservatives on four vital points.”

The President’s third goal for tax reform: raise taxes

keithhennessey.com

“The President’s goal of raising taxes undermines his goal of increasing investment and growth.”

John Steele Gordon: A Short History of the Income Tax

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, John Steele Gordon writes that one original sin was the separation of the corporate and personal tax, giving lawyers, accountants and the wealthy a chance to game the system.”

McGurn: Granholm’s Perfect Bad Example – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Main Street columnist William McGurn writes about former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm’s failures—and what they tell us about the Obama administration.”

Matt Ridley: From Phoenecia to Hayek to the ‘Cloud’ – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Matt Ridley writes that human progress has always depended on spontaneous collaboration to harness dispersed knowledge.”

Merrill Matthews: Perry Is Right—There Is a Texas Model for Fixing Social Security – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Cross Country column, Merrill Matthews writes that public employees in three Texas counties have benefited from an ‘Alternate Plan’ for 30 years.”

Susan Collins: The Economy Needs a Regulation Time-Out – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Maine Senator Susan Collins says that creating more rules for American business will drive jobs overseas.”

Harold Cole and Lee Ohanian: Stimulus and the Depression—The Untold Story – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Harold Cole and Lee Ohanian say that government manipulation of aggregate demand did not rescue the country from the Great Depression. Increased productivity led the recovery.”

Sally Pipes: The Census, ObamaCare and the Uninsured – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Pacific Research Institute President Sally Pipes writes that the percentage of Americans lacking health insurance will not decline until the economy recovers, but ObamaCare’s taxes and regulations will retard economic recovery.”

Sunni Brown: Doodlers, unite! | Video on TED.com

www.ted.com

“TED Talks Studies show that sketching and doodling improve our comprehension — and our creative thinking. So why do we still feel embarrassed when we’re caught doodling in a meeting? Sunni Brown says: Doodlers, unite! She makes the case for unlocking your brain via pad and pen.”

Good CEOs plan ahead

KeithHennessey.com

“The problem with the President’s tax increase argument is that good CEOs plan ahead.”

Amateur Hour at the White House – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“But at the U.N., Obama stands tall, while Perry makes himself small, Peggy Noonan writes.”

Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme?

mises.org

“Ever since Rick Perry derided Social Security as a Ponzi scheme, economists and other pundits have jumped into the fray. Progressive blogger Matt Yglesias says it’s “nuts” for anyone to talk like this, because Social Security merely relies on future economic growth — just like a private pension plan. Free-market economist Alex Tabarrok responded to Yglesias with links to arch-Keynesians (and Nobel laureates) Paul Samuelson and Paul Krugman, both comparing Social Security to a “Ponzi game.””

Bing West: The Afghan Rescue Mission Behind Today’s Medal of Honor

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Bing West tells the heroic story of Marine Corporal Dakota Meyer, writing that inside a village on the Pakistan border in September 2009, America’s defining values were on display.”

Nicolas Lecaussin: The Trouble With French Banks – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

This article helps to explain (in part) why global stock markets have been selling off at such a torrid pace. Incidentally, economic historians such as Dartmouth University professor Doug Irwin also blame the French for “causing” the Great Depression by hoarding gold – see http://reason.com/blog/2011/03/23/great-depression-a-fistful-of. The main difference now is that the French are effectively “hoarding” sovereign debt of various financially profligate countries like Greece, Italy and Spain…

Jack Bogle: Why Mark Cuban Is Wrong on Investing

online.wsj.com

“Buying and holding stocks and bonds for the long term and maintaining a diversified portfolio are still the smartest strategies for the average investor, says Vanguard founder Jack Bogle.”

Judith Miller: How the NYPD Foiled the Post-9/11 Terror Plots – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Judith Miller writes that New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly allocates some $330 million of his annual budget and 1,200 of his staff to counterterrorism, at home and abroad.”

The Weekend Interview with Michael Mukasey: Two Decades of Pursuing al Qaeda – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, James Taranto interviews Michael Mukasey, the former attorney general who as a federal judge in New York City on 9/11 already knew all about a free society’s vulnerabilities to mass terrorism.”

Michael J. Boskin: The Obama Presidency by the Numbers

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Michael J. Boskin writes that President Obama constantly reminds the American people that he was dealt a difficult hand when it comes to the economy—but the evidence is overwhelming that he played it poorly.”

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

In Government We Mistrust

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal: Obama said he’d be Reagan in reverse. He was right.”

A Tale of Two Vermont Floods, 84 Years Apart

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Cross Country column, Amity Shlaes writes that President Coolidge didn’t believe the federal government should be an ‘insurer of its citizens against the hazards of the elements.'”

Washington’s Antitrust Timewarp

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, George L. Priest writes that blocking the AT&T-T-Mobile merger won’t protect jobs.”

Ten Years Without an Attack

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, John Yoo writes that the decision to treat the 9/11 attacks as acts of war rather than crimes was crucial.”

The 2012 Election Will Come Down to Seven States

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Larry J. Sabato of the University of Virginia writes that national polls are nice, but Electoral College math is what matters.”

In Trouble Once Again: What do About the US Post Office?

www.advancingafreesociety.org

The ever thoughtful Nobel laureate Gary Becker opines about what to do about the USPS…

One and Done?

www.nytimes.com

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times is quite unhappy about the POTUS these days… One and done!

The President’s Speech Impediment

online.wsj.com

“William McGurn writes in his Wall Street Journal column that President Obama’s speeches no longer inspire.”

How the Index Fund Was Born

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, John C. Bogle writes that the Vanguard 500 Index, once derided as ‘Bogle’s Folly,’ now totals $200 billion.”

PJ O’Rourke endorses Libertarianism – Exclusive

www.youtube.com

“Check out this exclusive video where political writer/comedian PJ O’Rourke delivers a powerful speech at the CATO Institute.”

Postal Service on verge of going broke, shutting down

www.msnbc.msn.com

“The U.S. Postal Service is so low on cash that it will not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely this winter unless Congress acts to stabilize its finances.”

Angst for the educated

www.economist.com

“MILLIONS of school-leavers in the rich world are about to bid a tearful goodbye to their parents and start a new life at university. Some are inspired by a pure love of learning.”

Barack Obama, investor-in-chief

www.washingtontimes.com

“Would you buy a used car from Barack Obama? Or would you want him managing your 401(k) investment retirement plan at work?”

Finally: A Garden Hose to the Sky

freakonomics.com

“Well, it’s actually happening. An idea reported extensively in SuperFreakonomics has come to fruition, and some mad scientists are getting their way (and a little government funding) to build a garden hose to the sky — and potentially save the world by cooling it down.”

The Great Recession and Government Failure

professional.wsj.com

This succinct essay by 1992 Nobel Economics Laureate and University of Chicago professor Gary Becker clearly explains how misguided public policy has made the economy even worse than it was already was and how such policy presently impedes its recovery.

Solar Flare-out

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that another green government favorite goes belly up.”

Did Libya Vindicate ‘Leading From Behind’?

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Max Boot of the Council on Foreign Relations assesses what Tripoli’s fall tells us about the Obama doctrine.”

Obama and the Burden of Exceptionalism

professional.wsj.com

“Shelby Steele writes in The Wall Street Journal that post-1960s liberals, with the president as their standard bearer, seek to make a virtue of decline.”

T-Immobile

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that Justice’s antitrust lawyers find a dynamic industry and yell, ‘Stop.'”