Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic):
The Economy
The 2010 jobs outlook, by Keith B. Hennessey
Health Care Reform
Obama’s Health Rationer-in-Chief, by Betsy McCaughey WSJ: “White House health-care adviser Ezekiel Emanuel blames the Hippocratic Oath for the ‘overuse’ of medical care.”
Statistical Slumps, by Ian Ayres
Professor Ayres provides a very interesting essay about statistics in which he discusses a contraption called the Galton Box (which apparently is also known as the Quincunx) and how this relates to Pascal’s Triangle. From there, he derives “a statistical standard for determining when an athlete was having a ‘statistically significant slump.’” Good stuff!
Miscellaneous
Craigslist’s Business Model, by Donald Marron
Here’s a quote from this essay (taken from Wired magazine’s article which Dr. Marron summarizes): “craigslist is one of the strangest monopolies in history, where customers are locked in by fees set at zero and where the ambiance of neglect is not a way to extract more profit but the expression of a worldview.”
I highly recommend viewingEconomic Bloggers and the Renewal of Entrepreneurial Capitalism, a video from the Kaufman Foundation. According to the Kaufman Foundation,
“The video takes a behind-the-scenes look at economic bloggers offering the experts’ perspectives on the business of blogging, tracing the steps that lead to the economic meltdown, and giving their views on the role innovation and entrepreneurship will play to lift the global economy out of recession…the 20-minute video…highlights some of America’s top economics bloggers, including professional and academic Ph.D. economists and journalists who have built loyal Web audiences by offering in-depth economic analysis and provocative commentary.”
Here’s the video:
Math and Statistics
MPG Fits Awkwardly in Electric-Vehicle Landscape, by Carl Bialik
According to The Intrade Gazette (TIG), Obama’s Approval Ratings Slide Further TIG: “The fierce debate over health care reform continues to prove a drag on Barack Obama’s job approval ratings…The Intrade market shows a 85.0% chance his approval rating will be above 45.0%, a 55.5% probability it will remain above 50.0% and only 20% that it will be back over 55.0%. This may also indicate a victory on health care will not be forthcoming.”
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic):
Energy Economics
‘Peak Oil’ Is a Waste of Energy, by Micheal Lynch New York Times: “A careful examination of the facts shows that most arguments about the theory of peak oil are based on anecdotal information, vague references and ignorance of how the oil industry operates.”
Game Theory
Can a rational person believe in miracles?, by Presh Talwalkar Mr. Talwalkar applies Bayes Theorem to assess Francis Collins’ argument (put forth in his book The Language of God) that rational people can believe in miracles.
Health Care Reform
In Defense of the Public Option, by Alex Tabarrok Professor Tabarrok argues that “…health insurance reform will increase the market power of insurance firms and drive up prices. In this scenario, the public option at least has a raison d’etre, although whether it actually fulfills it’s purpose is an open question.”
Politics
Obama’s Summer of Discontent, by Fouad Ajami Professor Ajami’s historical references are quite apropos, and I even learned about an interesting French phrase from reading this article: lèse-majesté. According to Wikipedia, “…lèse-majesté is the crime of violating majesty, an offense against the dignity of a reigning sovereign or against a state.”
Saving the Obama Presidency, by William McGurn Mr. McGurn draws some interesting (although perhaps somewhat speculative) parallels between August 2009 and August 1994. August 1994 marked a major turning point for the Clinton presidency, in the sense that in the wake of the failure of the so-called “HillaryCare” initiative, President Clinton “freed” himself from his party’s left wing and returned to the centrist themes on which he had originally campaigned. McGurn’s question is whether President Obama will follow President Clinton’s example, thereby “saving” his presidency.
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic):
Economics and Public Policy
The High Cost of Liberalism, by Pete du Pont WSJ: “Taxes too high? You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Health Care Reform
Obamacare’s Inevitable Logic, by John Stossel
The Competition Cure WSJ: “A better idea to make health insurance affordable everywhere.”
Obama vs. Mathematics, by Jagadeesh Gokhale and Kent Smetters Cato Institute: “Even a popular president like Barack Obama cannot win arguments against two forces: God and mathematics. While the president has openly shared his reverence for the former, he has decided to take on the latter. It’s a fight that he will lose.”
Math and Statistics
Using Math to Keep Pint Glasses Full, by Carl Bialik
Miscellaneous
Ghostly Companions, by Micheal Ybarra WSJ: “Survivors of extreme situations—on Everest and elsewhere—credit the help of a ‘third man’ who is not there.”
In flight, from the Boston Globe’s “Big Picture” blogsite Boston Globe: “Collected here are recent photographs of various flying machines in action or on display around the world.”
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic):
Economics and Public Policy
A Better Way to Go Postal WSJ: “The justification for the Postal Service’s monopoly is long past.”
Finance and Risk
The Mistakes We Make—and Why We Make Them, by Meir Statman WSJ: “How investors think often gets in the way of their results. Meir Statman looks into our heads and tells us what we’re doing wrong.”
What You Should Know About Risk, by Daisy Maxey
Risk Management and Insurance
Insurance markets in everything, by Tyler Cowen “Pro teams have hedged against their largest contracts with insurance for years. Now owners of fake teams can now protect themselves against the injuries of real players with actual insurance policies.”
Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading today (organized by topic):
Economics and Public Policy
Big Government, Big Recession, by Alan Reynolds, Wall Street Journal WSJ: “There’s no evidence for the theory that state spending has shortened this or any other slowdown.”
The Bottom Line on Top-Speed Trains, by Eric A. Morris, Freakonomics According to Eric Morris, the bottom line of a hypothetical Dallas-Houston high speed rail (HSR) line is that “… the line would be a net cost to society of at least $375 million per year. This includes HSR’s potential environmental benefits as well as the direct gains to riders.”
Health Care Reform
Health Plan’s Other Name? Bait And Switch, by Thomas Sowell, Investors Business Daily IBD: “Amid all the controversies over medical care, no one seems to be asking a very basic question: Why does it take more than 1,000 pages of legislation to insure people who lack medical insurance?”
Behind Agenda Lies Mind-Set That Is Chilling, by Thomas Sowell, Investors Business Daily IBD: “The serious, and sometimes chilling, provisions of the medical care legislation that President Obama has been trying to rush through Congress are important enough for all of us to stop and think, even though his political strategy from the outset has been to prevent us from having time to stop and think about it.”
The Truth About Death Counseling, by Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post WP: “Let’s see if we can have a reasoned discussion about end-of-life counseling.”
Health ‘Co-ops’ Are Government Care, by Micheal Levitt, Wall Street JournalWSJ: “The Democrats’ latest proposal bears no resemblance to the voluntary organizations that are known as cooperatives.”
Pull the Plug on ObamaCare, by Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal WSJ: “It’s the best cure for what ails the Obama presidency.”
A Basis Is Seen for Some Health Plan Fears Among the Elderly, by Robert Pear, New York Times NYT: “The concerns of many older Americans as they look at the health overhaul bills in Congress focus on the savings intended to come from Medicare.”
Miscellaneous
Not So Fast, by John Freeman, Wall Street Journal WSJ: “Sending and receiving at breakneck speed can make life queasy; a manifesto for slow communication.”
Health Care Is Your Business, Not Everyone’s, by Thomas Sowell IBD: “When famed bank robber Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he said: “Because that’s where the money is.” For the same reason, it is as predictable as the sunrise that medical care for the elderly will be cut back under a government-controlled medical system. Because that’s where the money is.”
Whole-Grain Health Reform, by Kathleen Parker WP: “Whole Foods’ co-founder and CEO has a tough message for President Obama.”
Why AT&T Killed Google Voice, by Andy Kessler WSJ: “Telecom operators are yesterday’s business. It’s time for a national data policy that encourages innovation.”
Obama, In Rich Irony, Can’t Afford To Wage War On Nation’s Wealthy, by W. Michael Cox IBD: “Barack Obama’s political fate depends on a group of Americans he hasn’t done much to cultivate — the rich.”
Brokers Aren’t Responsible for Bad Bets, by Charles Schwab WSJ: “To take the risk out of investing you’ll have to take Americans out of the market.”
ObamaCare Is All About Rationing, by Martin Feldstein WSJ: “Overspending is far preferable to artificially limiting the availability of new procedures and technologies.”
The Death Book for Veterans, by Jim Twoey WSJ: “Ex-soldiers don’t need to be told they’re a burden to society.”
‘Death Panels’ Just A Rumor? Go Ask Ezekiel, by Thomas Sowell IBD: “There was a time when rushing a thousand-page bill through Congress so fast that no one has time to read it would have provoked public outrage….”
What Do the U.S. and Turkmenistan Have in Common?, by Freakonomics Freakonomics: “Foreign Policy came up with a list of “The World’s Worst Healthcare Reforms”. Keeping company with Russia, China, and Turkmenistan is the good old U.S. of A.”
We Don’t Spend Enough on Health Care, by Craig Karpel WSJ: “It’s crazy to adopt a bean-counting mentality amid revolutionary, albeit expensive, advances in medicine.”
How American Health Care Killed My Father, by David Goldhill The Atlantic: “After the needless death of his father, the author, a business executive, began a personal exploration of a health-care industry that for years has delivered poor service and irregular quality at astonishingly high cost. It is a system, he argues, that is not worth preserving in anything like its current form. And the health-care reform now being contemplated will not fix it. Here’s a radical solution to an agonizing problem.”
Public Policy
Why Government Can’t Run a Business, by John Steele Gordon WSJ: “Politicians need headlines. Executives need profits.”