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

Review & Outlook: Krueger vs. Obama

professional.wsj.com

I love it whenever empirical academic studies find evidence in support of common sense; this article notes that Princeton economics professor Alan Krueger’s labor economics research indicates, among other things, that “…paying people not to work increases the incentive not to work and thus tends to encourage longer periods of joblessness.” Professor Krueger is the incoming Chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors.  One can only hope that President Obama might take Dr. Krueger’s scholarly insights into consideration as he contemplates re-upping 99 week unemployment insurance benefits…

Mike Bloomberg and the End of Tolerance

professional.wsj.com

“William McGurn writes in The Wall Street Journal on liberal intolerance and why New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says there’s no room for religious leaders on 9/11.”

65% of All Adults Use Social Media

www.vogelitlawblog.com

“Only 5% of all adults used Social Media in 2005 when Pew Research first asked, and as ofAugust 2011 Pew now reports more than 65% of all adults use Social Media…”

Beware conflicts of interest

www.ted.com

“TED Talks In this short talk, psychologist Dan Ariely tells two personal stories that explore scientific conflict of interest: How the pursuit of knowledge and insight can be affected, consciously or not, by shortsighted personal goals.”

Beyond the Gold and Bond Bubbles

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, David Malpass asks why the Federal Reserve isn’t promoting sound money and fiscal restraint to improve incentives to invest in growing businesses.”

Steve Jobs and the Death of the Personal Computer

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Michael Malone writes that after the revolution wrought by the Apple impresario who resigned last week, even Hewlett-Packard is out of the game.”

Justice’s New War Against Lenders

online.wsj.com

“Mary Kissel writes in The Wall Street Journal that the Obama administration is repeating mistakes of the past by intimidating banks into lending to minority borrowers at below-market rates, all in the name of combatting discrimination.”

Bank of Political Works

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal on a Fannie Mae for ‘infrastructure.’”

Krueger and the Minimum Wage

economics21.org

“Since President Obama has chosen Alan Krueger as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, attention is focusing on his academic career. Jonathan Chait for instance highlights one of his seminal papers written with David Card, which argued that hiking the minimum wage did not lower employment…”

Alternative Energy: The Bloom Box – 60 Minutes

www.cbsnews.com

“Large corporations in California have been testing a new device that can generate power on the spot, without being connected to the electric grid. They’re saying it’s efficient, clean, and saves them money.”

John Steele Gordon: A Short Primer on the National Debt

online.wsj.com

“Writing about the national debt in The Wall Street Journal, John Steel Gordon says that with a return to 1990s growth rates, the debt-to-GDP ratio could drop to 56.7%, about where it was in 2000.”

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

Five Myths About Social Security and Medicare

www.advancingafreesociety.org

“The federal government’s largest two programs, Social Security and Medicare, are at the center of a vibrant national debate over our fiscal future. Each program faces a significant financial shortfall, the solution to which remains elusive.”

iowahawk: New Scandal at DoJ as Illegal Guitars End Up In Hands of Mexican Drug Lords

iowahawk.typepad.com

“Say ‘ello to my leetle fren’: axe confiscated in border rawk-out WASHINGTON – Today’s uncovering of secret multi-agency program for shipping illegal Gibson guitars to Mexican drug cartels left red-faced officials of the U.S. Department of Justice scrambling…”

Perry’s Popping-Off Problem

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Declarations columnist Peggy Noonan says GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry has appeal as a consistent leader but a quick-draw machismo that can scare voters away.”

How We Got the King James Bible

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Leland Ryken of Wheaton University notes that a request by persecuted Puritans led to the creation of the best-selling book of all time.”

Fiscal Hurricane Season

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that Florida’s state-run insurers can’t cover their liabilities, and all Americans may end up paying as a result.”

President Rick Perry?

www.nytimes.com

“The rise of the Republican presidential candidate reflects fundamental shifts in the electorate, and it’s time to take him seriously.”

The Importance of Jobs

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal on Apple’s former CEO, Say’s Law, and the sources of prosperity.”

The Fed vs. the Recovery

professional.wsj.com

“How is increasing the price of imported oil and industrial commodities supposed to make U.S. industry more competitive?”

Why the Labor Movement Moved Left

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Manhattan Institute fellow Steven Malanga says that unions weren’t so uniformly behind tax increases when most of their members worked for companies in the private economy.”

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

Religion and the Bad News Bearers

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Rodney Stark and Byron Johnson of Baylor University say that the widely reported declines in religiosity are utterly implausible.”

How Steve Jobs Changed The World

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Andy Kessler says that Steve Jobs’s attention to aesthetic design helped vault Apple to the top of the technology industry.”

What Austerity?

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that federal spending will hit a new record this year.”

Business Regulation vs. Growth—The View from Middle America

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Warren Stephens says that CEOs of midsize companies feel held back by growing regulatory burdens.”

Obama and the ‘Competency Crisis’

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Mortimer Zuckerman writes that like many Americans who supported him, I long for a triple-A president to run a triple-A country.”

Krugman Stimulus

cafehayek.com

“I have not found time to comment on the Onionesque argument by Paul Krugman (scroll down) that if we could only get people to believe that the world was about to be invaded by aliens from outer space, the spending.”

A Value-Added Tax Fuels Big Government

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Ernest S. Christian and Gary A. Robbins write that in Europe the VAT hasn’t substituted for income taxation—it’s merely added to the tax burden.”

Keynesian Economics vs. Regular Economics

professional.wsj.com

“Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Harvard economist Robert Barro says food stamps and other transfers aren’t necessarily bad ideas, but there’s no evidence they’re a stimulus for growth.”

Unready Shovels II

professional.wsj.com

“President Obama is ginning up a marketing push for new infrastructure spending, but the same factors preventing earlier projects from being ‘shovel-ready’ remain.”

How Democrats Hurt Job Creation

www.nytimes.com

“At a time when nothing matters more than job creation, the case between Boeing and the National Labor Relations Board over the assembly of the Dreamliner is doing the opposite.”

The Post Office: Neither snow nor rain

www.economist.com

“Not heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers. But the internet will…”

How Not to Grow an Economy

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal reports on a week of policies and headlines that illustrate how the federal government and Obama Administration are undermining the recovery.”

A Thrilling Spectacle in Tripoli

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Fouad Ajami writes that four decades of Libya’s life were squandered by the Gadhafi regime—surely the successor can do better.”

Did health law’s added burdens bring about economic doldrums?

Source: statesman.com

“Why did the recovery stall? President Barack Obama recently chalked it up to “bad luck.” Even in more searching discussions of why the economy remains flat, politicians and economists largely ignore the elephant in the room…”

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

Last Straw or Time to Buy?

online.wsj.com

“For many individual investors, the 419.63-point selloff by the Dow was a tipping point—many of them are finally throwing in the towel.”

Paul Krugman Is Still Wrong about Texas

www.nationalreview.com

“Kevin D. Williamson writes on NRO: Paul Krugman continues his campaign to discredit the economic success of Texas, and, as usual, he is none too particular about the facts.”

RealClearMarkets – Obama’s Jobs Policies Will Reduce Job Opportunities

www.realclearmarkets.com

“The White House announced that President Obama will deliver a major address on job creation early in September. Mr. Obama could address proposed Labor Department regulations that would hobble employers with paperwork, reducing hiring.”

Henninger: America’s Dog Days – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Wonder Land column, Daniel Henninger writes that the deeper some people get into politics, the more antipolitical it makes them.”

Report: State’s drought losses top $5 billion

www.statesman.com

“The Texas drought, lasting since fall 2010, has cost $5.2 billion to agriculture, a report said. This is now the most expensive year of drought, according to Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service economists.”

With a Math Proficiency Rate of 32 Percent, U.S. Ranks Number 32

www.advancingafreesociety.org

“Thirty-two percent of U.S. students in the class of 2011 were proficient in mathematics when they were in 8thgrade, according to the official U. S. report card on student achievement. Coincidentally, that places the United States in 32nd place among the 65 nations of the world that participated in PISA, the math test administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).”

Remembering the Berlin Wall

www.boston.com

“In 1961, East Germany erected a wall — initially barbed wire, eventually concrete — in the middle of Berlin to prevent its citizens from fleeing the communist country to West Germany during the height of the Cold War. It has been reported that 136 people died while trying to escape, but the total number is unknown. The wall finally came down at the beginning of November in 1989, part of the reunification of East and West Germany.”

Exceptions to Keynesian Theory

economix.blogs.nytimes.com

“An economist concludes that Keynesian economic theory has too many exceptions to be reliable for policy analysis.”

Paul Meier – Statistican who saved millions of lives

significancemagazine.org

“The Kaplan-Meier estimator may not sound as if it is terribly important to most people’s lives. But if you have had a successful treatment for, say, cancer, or for diabetes, or for HIV/AIDS, or for heart disease, or for any one of dozens of other diseases or medical conditions, at any time over roughly the last fifty years, it may be that you owe your life to it and to one of the men who devised it.”

Lessons From Cloud Nine

online.wsj.com

“Bryan Caplan reviews The Happiness Equation: The Most Surprising Economics of Our Most Valuable Asset.”

Lesson From Europe (Take 2)

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Global View columnist Bret Stephens writes that social democracy clearly doesn’t ‘work.’”

The Fall of the Midwest Economic Model

online.wsj.com

“Michael Barone writes in The Wall Street Journal that in 1970, the economic future of the U.S. seemed to belong to Michigan’s example of big companies and big unions. Not anymore.”

Religion and the Cult of Tolerance

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Main Street columnist Bill McGurn writes that freedom of religion isn’t just about thought and speech.”

Life as an Academic Can Be Tough on Family

professional.wsj.com

“Academia seems like an attractive fit for a working parent, with its long summer vacations, flexible hours and the possibility of tenure — but academia may not be as family-friendly as it appears.”

Obama: Worst. Approval. Rating. Ever.

reason.com

“Gallup reports that President Obama’s approval rating is at its lowest point yet, with just 39 percent saying hail to the chief these days.”

World-Wide Wealth

blogs.wsj.com

“Why estimates of global stock-market losses in a recent slumping week varied by trillions of dollars.”

The Arab World Condemns Syria’s ‘Killing Machine’

professional.wsj.com

“Fouad Ajami writes in The Wall Street Journal that the least President Obama can do is call for Bashar Assad, the orchestrator of the Syrian slaughter, to step down.”

Chris Christie’s Cue

www.nytimes.com

“Yes, Republicans can do better than a Romney-Perry slugfest (with Michelle Bachmann as spoiler).”

‘Steady As You Go’ Still Good Policy for Uncertain Times

www.advancingafreesociety.org

“Forty years ago this month, President Richard Nixon sharply shifted hiseconomic policy in an interventionist direction with deleterious economic results that continued for a decade and provide lessons for today.”

Perry, Prayer, and Politics

www.thepublicdiscourse.com

I found this to be an interesting and thought-provoking essay from the Witherspoon Institute concerning the dynamics of the interplay between politics and religion…

McKinsey: U.S. Job Market Won’t Rebound for Years

www.bnet.com

“Although the financial crisis caused unemployment to soar, the labor market was lagging even before the housing crash. Are jobless recoveries the “new normal?””

Internships: A foot in the door?

www.cbsnews.com

“CBS Sunday Morning: Internships: A foot in the door? – Is it something young people can take advantage of, or are they being taken advantage of?”

Lack Of Rigor Leaves College Students ‘Adrift’

www.npr.org

“According to one study, more than a third of college students don’t measurably improve in critical thinking skills through four years of education.”

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

The Debt Downgrade and Stock Prices

economix.blogs.nytimes.com

“The market gyrations go beyond events like the downgrade of United States debt and are being driven by the long-term outlook for the economy, an economist writes.”

Musicians Are Getting the Blues

blogs.the-american-interest.com

“In an interesting new piece in The Atlantic, Edward Tenner discusses the rapid increase in musical virtuosity over the past generation, to the point where bygone masters would have trouble simply gaining acceptance to Julliard today. There is a downside, however — the flowering of new talent has been accompanied by a contraction in job opportunities…”

‘Breathtaking in its Expansive Scope’

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that ObamaCare’s individual mandate loses again, this time in the 11th Circuit.”

Rick Perry’s Crony Capitalism Problem

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Cross Country column, Charles Dameron writes that the presidential candidate’s signature economic development initiative has raised questions among conservatives.”

Why Has College Tuition Risen so Much? Ask the Administrators, Whose Ranks Have Grown 84% Since 1989

reason.com

“Via Instapundit comes this Investors Business Daily report on the metastization of college and university administrators over the past 20 or so years.”

What Happened to Obama? Absolutely Nothing.

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Norman Podhoretz writes that Obama is still the same anti-American leftist he was before becoming our president.”

Tax Reform Is the Swiftest Path to Growth

professional.wsj.com

“Columbia University’s R. Glenn Hubbard writes in The Wall Street Journal that broadening the tax base would enable significant cuts in marginal tax rates, which is the surest path to economic growth.”

A New Strategy for Economic Growth

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Kevin Warsh and Jeb Bush write that to have real economic growth we need to stop the barrage of ad hoc, short-term policy initiatives, lower tax and regulatory burdens, and transform our flagging education system.”

The Folly of Economic Short-Termism

professional.wsj.com

“Allan Meltzer writes in The Wall Street Journal that easy money and more government spending won’t help the U.S. economy—we need policies that encourage long-term productivity growth.”

America as Less Than No. 1

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Wonder Land column, Daniel Hennniger writes that this is what being a shrinking superpower will feel like—enjoying it yet?”

But the President and Congress MEANT Well

cafehayek.com

“There’s a shortage today of low-priced, life-saving drugs for cancer patients. And the cause – surprise, surprise – is the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003. Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist teaching at the University of Pennsylvania, explains why…”

Satz on markets

cafehayek.com

“This week’s EconTalk is Stanford professor of philosophy Debra Satz talking about why she finds some markets noxious and what ought to be done about it.”

How to Get That AAA Rating Back

professional.wsj.com

“Writing in The Wall Street Journal about the rating downgrade, Harvard’s Robert Barro says that President Reagan inherited economic problems and fixed them, while President Obama’s strategy is to blame President Bush and Standard & Poors.”

Burton Malkiel: Don’t Panic About the Stock Market

online.wsj.com

Burton Malkiel writes in The Wall Street Journal that investors who resist the urge to get out of the stock market during rough times like this will be glad they did.

They Once Loved Jimmy, Too

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Main Street columnist William McGurn writes that Democratic intellectuals and journalists are increasingly comparing President Obama to to the feckless President Carter.”

Is Obama Smart?

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Global View columnist Bret Stephens write that Barack Obama’s presidency is a case study in stupid is as stupid does.”

Ex-Directors of Failed Firms Have Little to Fear

dealbook.nytimes.com

“A look at the career paths of onetime Enron directors indicates that the former directors of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers may not have much to worry about.”

Postrel: Obama Glamour Can’t Fix Charisma Deficit

www.bloomberg.com

“One thing is clear in the aftermath of the debt-limit debate: U.S. President Barack Obama has lost his glamour. The alluring icon of hope and change has become just another pol, derided by his supporters as well as his opponents.”

S&P Move Isn’t a Shock but Adds to Gloom

professional.wsj.com

“S&P’s downgrade could lead to some market tumult next week, investors and analysts said. But they said a ‘Lehman effect’ wasn’t likely; over time, the downgrade might do little more than mark a moment in the decline of U.S. economic strength.”

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

xkcd: Significant

xkcd.com

As xkcd clearly illustrates here, if you torture data long enough, you will eventually hit upon some (statistically significant) correlations.

Super-Economy: The Obama Hockey Stick

super-economy.blogspot.com

The Obama “Hockey Stick” graph is obtained from a time series chart showing Federal Nondefense Spending as a % of GDP; as this blog posting notes, “…President Obama decided to expand federal non-defense spending more than any President in recent history.” Thus the “Hockey Stick”…

Freakonomics » Why the Market Meltdown is Crazy

www.freakonomics.com

“After Thursday’s massive stock market sell-off, a lot of people are talking about how we may be experiencing another year like 2008. I’m going to get right to the point: that’s impossible. Here’s what was happening in 2008…”

Downgrading our politics

www.economist.com

“Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade America’s credit rating Friday is momentous, but not, I suspect, for the reasons most people will cite.”

Notable & Quotable – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“Blogger Ryan Young on Lemonade Freedom Day.”

The Heartless Lovers of Mankind

www.orthodoxytoday.org

In this classic 1987 article Paul Johnson warns to beware of those who love humanity but have problems with people.  I would further note that Peter Berkowitz’s recent Wall Street Journal essay (see http://on.wsj.com/papgJx) basically applies Johnson’s insights from his “Heartless Lovers of Humankind” essay to the politics of the (for now) concluded debt ceiling debate…

The Weekend Interview with Eric Cantor: Obama and the Narcissism of Big Differences

professional.wsj.com

Interesting quote about the (for now) concluded debt ceiling debate: “”Never was there ever an underlying economic argument” from Democrats. “It was all about social justice. Honestly, one of them said to me, ‘Some people just make too much money.'””

S&P Downgrades U.S. Debt Rating — Press Release

blogs.wsj.com

Standard & Poor’s took the unprecedented step of downgrading the U.S. government’s “AAA” sovereign credit rating Friday in a move that could send shock waves through global. The following is a press release from Standard & Poor’s.

More S&P Downgrades Expected

blogs.wsj.com

This article sets forth an hypothetical scenario (originally published by S&P on July 22, 2011, just as the debt ceiling political drama began to attract substantial media attention) of further possible downgrades of US debt ratings, over and above the AAA to AA+ downgrade which occurred yesterday.

S&P Downgrades U.S. Debt for First Time

professional.wsj.com

A US Treasury Department official is quoted in this article as saying “A judgment flawed by a $2 trillion error speaks for itself”. This is a case of shooting the messenger. S&P was very clear (see http://bit.ly/pDkdax) that in order to be credible, a $4 trillion cut was needed. The feds called S&P’s bluff with a $2 trillion cut, and S&P responded by following through on what they promised they would do…

The Invisible Hand Is Writing On Our Wall | Via Meadia

blogs.the-american-interest.com

“The invisible hand has been writing on our wall of late, and the message is scaring the markets.  The markets should be scared; there is real trouble afoot, and the world’s political and economic leaders are terrifyingly out of their depth.”

How Big Government Hurts the Average Joe

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Stanford University’s Edward Lazear writes that job growth is very closely linked to GDP growth—if the economy is not growing, then jobs aren’t being added.”

C.S. Lewis and the Devil

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Houses of Worship column, John A. Murray analyzes C.S. Lewis’s famous book, The Screwtape Letters, about faith, temptation and the devil.”

The Power of Bad Ideas

professional.wsj.com

“What we’ve got here is far worse than a failure to communicate, Peggy Noonan writes of President Obama’s predicament.”

Where’s Your Budget, Mr. President?

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Congressman Paul Ryan criticizes Barack Obama and the Senate Democrats for failing to produce a specific budget plan with numbers to deal with the expanding federal deficit.”

Public Employees Stand Alone in their Support for Government Management of the Economy

reason.com

“Likely Voters Overwhelmingly Favor Free Markets Over One Managed by Government, Yet 50% of Public Sector Employees Favor Government Management.”

Obama’s Deal With the Debt Devil

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Wonder Land columnist Daniel Henninger writes that cruel history turned against the president and the left’s long-term spending dreams.”

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

Two Joint Committee structures that could succeed

www.advancingafreesociety.org

“The Budget Control Act creates a Joint Committee whose goal is to recommend legislation that will reduce the deficit by $1.8 T over the next ten years.”

Why the Gender Gap Won’t Go Away. Ever. by Kay S. Hymowitz, City Journal Summer 2011

city-journal.org

“Women prefer the mommy track.”

Henry Kaufman: Excessive Optimism and Other Economic Biases

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Henry Kaufman says that we need new thinking to solve the problems plaguing the economy today.”

In Flood Zone, but Astonished by High Water

www.nytimes.com

“Residents of Dakota Dunes, S.D. question whether the programs designed to safeguard people from floods actually encourage them to take unnecessary chances.”

Hat tip to my friend and colleague, Jim Hilliard, for pointing this article out to me. This is a particularly interesting (as well as tragic) real-world example of the so-called Peltzman effect; quoting from http://on.fb.me/qoJz5f, “The Peltzman effect is the hypothesized tendency of people to react to a safety regulation by increasing other risky behavior, offsetting some or all of the benefit of the regulation.”

Why Canada Is Beating America

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Jason Clemens says the new Conservative majority government will tackle health reform and promises lower income taxes.”

Fouad Ajami: Barack Obama the Pessimist

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Fouad Ajami says Barack Obama’s lack of faith in American exceptionalism has dashed any hope of a transformational’ presidency.”

Gallup: US Conservatives Outnumber Liberals 2-1

blogs.the-american-interest.com

“The latest Gallup survey of US political ideologies is out, and anybody who wants to understand why Democrats kept ceding ground during the debt battle should take a look at these numbers.”

Regulatory burden is wrapped up in impenetrable red tape

statesman.com

“Whatever deal eventually is struck between the White House and Congress on raising the debt ceiling, our “hidden” taxes will continue to multiply.”

The Big Mac index: Fast food for thought

www.economist.com

“IT IS nearly 25 years since The Economist cooked up the Big Mac index.”

Risk and the government’s credit rating

keithhennessey.com

“Inspired by Michael McConnell’s post and a comment by Charles Krauthammer on Special Report with Bret Baier, I offer a different way of thinking about the current budget battle. Let’s consider it in terms of tradeoffs among different types of risks.”

Default, Dear Brutus, Is Not In Our Stars, But In Ourselves

iowahawk.typepad.com

“August 2 is but a few days away, and you know what that means: I need to buy mom a birthday card. Also THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE BUDGETARY MELTDOWN END DAYS WHERE WE FACE FINAL ARMAGEDDON UNLESS WASHINGTON GETS ITS BAR TAB RAISED ANOTHER TRILLION. Or something.”

George Melloan: The Budget Crisis and American Power – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, George Melloan writes that the U.S. can afford the strong military it needs—if it uses its forces more carefully.”

Review & Outlook: The Debt-Limit Hobbits – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal argues the GOP fantasy caucus is empowering Nancy Pelosi.”

Review & Outlook: The Obama Recovery – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal explains why there is a growth recession, and what to do about it.”

Noonan: They’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan writes that President Obama still has supporters, but theirs is a grim support.”

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

Apple Now Has More Cash Than The U.S. Government

finance.yahoo.com

Hat tip to my good friend Ebbesen Davis for pointing this fact out to me!

The Road to a Downgrade

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal gives a short history of the entitlement state.”

Warren Buffett Is Wrong on Taxes

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Stephen Moore writes that millionaires and billionaires already pay a higher share of their income in taxes than the middle class.”

The GOP’s Secret Weapon—Flower Power

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Karlyn Bowman and Andrew Rugg write that aging baby boomers increasingly identify as conservative.”

China’s Banned Churches Defy Regime

professional.wsj.com

The struggle between China’s underground Protestant churches and the government is shaping up as the tensest standoff over religious freedom in China since a brutal crackdown on Falun Gong in 1999.

Emergency Team Of 8th-Grade Civics Teachers Dispatched To Washington

theonion.com

“With lawmakers still at an impasse over increasing the debt ceiling, a special team of 40 eighth-grade civics teachers was air-dropped into Washington earlier today in a last-ditch effort to teach congressional leaders how the government’s legislative process works.”

Notable & Quotable

professional.wsj.com

“Robert Rector on quality of life and the American poor.”

The Antidote for Socialism

professional.wsj.com

“We’ll have to wait for 2012, because this administration won’t administer it, Pete du Pont writes.”

Amy Winehouse’s Killers

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Sally Satel writes that attributing the British pop star’s demise to addiction is a regrettable oversimplification of what went wrong.”

How to fix higher education

slate.com

“The journalist and writer Anya Kamenetz once said that graduate students are “really smart suckers,” and I—as a Ph.D. who teaches at a liberal arts college—couldn’t agree more. It’s my view that higher education in the humanities exists mainly to provide cheap, inexperienced teachers for undergraduates so that a shrinking percentage of tenured faculty members can meet an ever-escalating demand for specialized research.”

Robin Hood Can’t Lead Us Out of the Debt Hole

online.wsj.com

“Robert Barro of Harvard University writes in The Wall Street Journal that President Obama’s obsession with higher taxes on the rich isn’t helpful.”

Five Facts About the Debt

reason.com

“Setting the economic record straight.”

Chart of the Day: The Higher Education Bubble

blog.american.com

“AEI’s Michael Barone wrote recently about the higher education bubble, which could also described as a “low-interest education loan bubble” to reflect the government’s role in subsidizing higher education, similar to its role in subsidizing homeownership.”

Tim Groseclose’s New Book on Liberal Media Bias

freakonomics.com

“My good friend and co-author Tim Groseclose has a new book out entitled Left Turn: How Liberal Media Bias Distorts the American Mind. As the title suggests, it has a definite conservative slant. It is not, however, a right-wing rant by any means. Rather, it is a carefully researched and amusingly written book by a highly regarded academic.”

Health Is the Health of the State

www.american.com

“Between 1966 and 2007, the entire increase in the size of government relative to the economy resulted from growth in tax-financed health spending.”

Why the Fed Is Not Independent

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Gerald O’Driscoll writes that the Federal Reserve’s foray into fiscal policy makes for a volatile political mix that all but guarantees control from without.”

The Flight to the Exchanges

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that ObamaCare may cause small businesses to drop insurance coverage.”

The Debt Ceiling and the Pursuit of Happiness

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Arthur C. Brooks writes that a welfare state that led to permanent austerity would betray the principles that have made American culture exceptional.”

The Downside of Mandated Sick Leave

professional.wsj.com

“Nearly 30% of its lowest-wage earners reported reduced hours or layoffs after San Francisco passed a paid-leave ordinance.”

Toying With Default

professional.wsj.com

“The President isn’t serious about real spending cuts.”

Missing Milton Friedman

economist.com

“TIM LEE asks an important question: why are conservatives and libertarians so uniformly hawkish about inflation? Mr Lee (a friend and former colleague) notes that this regularity is far from inevitable.”

Greg Mankiw Recommends Reading These 18 Economics Books

farnamstreetblog.com

“If you’d like to read more about economics issues try these 18 books reccommended by Greg Mankiw, author of Principles of Economics.”

27 Club: Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain & Other Members

thedailybeast.com

“With her death this week, Grammy-winning retro-singer Amy Winehouse joined a tragically long list of iconic, often tortured artists who died at 27, including Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. Together, they are known as the “27 Club.” Read their stories.”

U.S. Default Insurance Has Quirks

professional.wsj.com

“Investors looking for protection against a U.S. debt default could be in for a surprise. In the market for credit default swaps, it is currently more expensive to buy one-year insurance on Treasurys than on junk-rated Indonesian bonds.”

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

Tim Harford: Trial, error and the God complex | Video on TED.com

www.ted.com

“TED Talks Economics writer Tim Harford studies complex systems — and finds a surprising link among the successful ones: they were built through trial and error. In this sparkling talk from TEDGlobal 2011, he asks us to embrace our randomness and start making better mistakes.”

McGurn: Are You Better Off? – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Main Street column, William McGurn writes that President Obama will have to answer the question Reagan asked in 1980.”

Peter Wallison: Government-Sponsored Meltdown – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Peter Wallison writes that Fannie Mae did not contribute ‘marginally’ to the financial crisis, but was the source of the declining mortgage underwriting standards that brought down the system.”

John H. Cochrane: The More Bank Capital, the Safer the Bank – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“John H. Cochrane writes in The Wall Street Journal that even under Dodd-Frank, banks need buffers of capital to protect taxpayers and the financial system.”

Can President Obama keep paying Social Security benefits even if the debt ceiling is reached?

www.washingtonpost.com

“President Obama says he may not be able to keep paying Social Security benefits if the debt ceiling is reached. There’s fierce debate about whether that is accurate.”

Review & Outlook: The Obama Downgrade – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal on the real reason the U.S. could lose its AAA rating.”

This Is No Time for Games – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“Ronald Reagan wouldn’t be playing ‘Targeted Catastrophe,’ Peggy Noonan argues.”

Anne Jolis: Greece—Where Profit Is Taboo – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Anne Jolis interviews Greek shipping magnate John Coustas about the fate of his country.”

Montreux fetes Miles Davis with “soundtrack” to his life

news.yahoo.com

“Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Marcus Miller paid tribute to their friend and mentor Miles Davis…”

Obamageddon Coming to a City Near You? | Via Meadia

the-american-interest.com

“The election of the first African-American president was widely hailed as a giant step forward for American racial politics. The future, however, may remember this administration asa giant step back for Black America during a period of deepening alienation, anger and despair in America’s inner cities.”

Kenneth C. Frazier: Will Washington Find the Cure for Cancer?

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Merck CEO Kenneth C. Frazier writes that government boards and drug price controls threaten to throw sand in the gears of medical progress.”

Best of the Web Today: Raise Taxes or Granny Gets It

online.wsj.com

“James Taranto on the liberal media’s idea of a grown-up.”

The President’s offer is left of Bowles-Simpson

keithhennessey.com

“Unlike the Bowles-Simpson package, the deal Republicans are being offered by the President is such a bad one that it’s not really a tough call.”

The Method to Their Madness

www.nytimes.com

“There are reasons why the Republican Party has its heels dug in on the debt ceiling.”

Nanny Steven Chu: “We Are Taking Away a Choice that Lets You Waste Your Own Money!”

www.advancingafreesociety.org

“Steven Chu was a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997. That he developed methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light does not mean he understands economics, consumer choice, or politics. A Nobel Prize does not even guarantee common sense. Often it guarantees the opposite.”

Economic Freedom & Quality of Life

www.youtube.com

“Economic Freedom and the Quality of Life is a short, informative video centered on the ideas of economic freedom and the societal benefits it produces. The video helps explain what economic freedom is and why it’s key to improving society.”

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

3D Printing Will Revive American Manufacturing

blogs.forbes.com

“The transformative technology of the 2015-2025 period could be 3D printing. This has the potential to remake the economics of manufacturing from a large-scale industry back to an artisan model of small design shops with access to 3D printers. In other words, making stuff, real stuff, could move from In other words, making stuff, real stuff, could move from being a capital intensive industry into something that looks more like art and software. This should favor the American skill set of creativity.”

A Tale of Two Job Markets: Today & ’83-’84

www.advancingafreesociety.org

“Today’s jobs report provides yet more evidence that this is a recovery in name only. The 9.2 percent unemployment rate is certainly a serious problem, but you can understand the problem a little better by looking at the percentage of working-age Americans who are actually working. This percentage declined again to 58.2 percent in June, and is well below what it was when the recovery officially began.”

Freakonomics » Hey Baby, Is That a Prius You’re Driving?

www.freakonomics.com

The authors of a study cited here find that consumers in Colorado and Washington are willing to pay $430 to $4,200 for the utility value of “conspicuous conservation” associated with purchasing a Toyota Prius. Interestingly, this effect is lacking for comparable hybrids such as the Honda Civic and Toyota Camry, cars which (unlike Prius) are manufactured as identically designed gas powered vehicles.

Freakonomics » The Wastefulness of New Jersey’s Gas Pumping Restrictions

www.freakonomics.com 

“Driving through New Jersey, we stop for gas and sit for a few minutes until the attendant comes to fill our tank. My son tells me that is because New Jersey has one of most wasteful restrictions in the Union: there is no self-service gasoline; all gas must be pumped by an attendant. This wastes drivers’ time — it’s almost always quicker to pump gas oneself.  The labor of the attendants is thus devoted to generating economic waste and could be spent productively elsewhere rather than in promoting economic inefficiency.”

Celebration: It’s Day 800 Since Senate Dems Passed a Budget

townhall.com

“Today marks the 800th day since the Senate Democrats passed a budget. For more than two years, democrats have ignored their legal obligation to pass a budget, while we’ve seen federal spending spiral out of control. Considering democrats have controlled the White House and the Senate for more than two years, with total democrat control between 2008 and 2010 in the House, Senate and White House, the failure lies with President Obama and democrat congressional leadership.”

The Divorce Generation

professional.wsj.com

“After surviving the wreckage of their own split families, Generation X parents are determined to keep their marriages together. It doesn’t always work out.”

iowahawk: Questions, So Many Questions

iowahawk.typepad.com

“President Obama graciously offered to take questions submitted via Twitter today, courtesy the #AskObama hashtag. Being an inquisitive sort, I decided to submit a few that have been nagging me.  Although he declined to answer any, I thought I’d warehouse them here in case he ever gets around to them.”

We Need a Ronald Reagan

professional.wsj.com

“Europeans pay tribute to a great American—and long for another. Peggy Noonan reports.”

Redefining “balance”

keithhennessey.com

“Over the next few weeks, you should be skeptical of anyone’s attempt to claim an objective measure of a particular deficit reduction package as balanced or unbalanced. You’re almost certainly being spun.”

The beautiful tricks of flowers

www.ted.com

“In this visually dazzling talk, Jonathan Drori shows the extraordinary ways flowering plants — over a quarter million species — have evolved to attract insects to spread their pollen: growing ‘landing-strips’ to guide the insects in, shining in ultraviolet, building elaborate traps, and even mimicking other insects in heat.”

Overcaffeinated CAFE

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Business World columnist Holman Jenkins writes that President Obama’s crusade to increase automobile fuel-economy standards makes little economic sense—and it won’t save the planet.”

A Debt-Limit Breakout

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that Republicans should agree to fewer business tax deductions in return for a lower corporate tax rate.”

The Moral Outrage of ‘Missing’ Girls – WSJ.com

professional.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Main Street columnist William McGurn writes about the debate between Maria Hvistendahl and New York Times columnist Ross Douthat about the morality of sex-selective abortion.”

Malpass and Moore: America’s Troubling Investment Gap

online.wsj.com

“David Malpass and Stephen Moore write in The Wall Street Journal that for the first time in decades, America is on net losing, not attracting, growth capital.”

John Steele Gordon: The Rise and Needless Decline of the Golden State

online.wsj.com

“John Steele Gordon writes in The Wall Street Journal that more Americans left California than arrived in the last decade. What caused this great migration? Politics.”