FASB’s Tort Bar Gift – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal editorial board on the accounting group’s proposal to require companies disclose the potential costs of litigation.”

Alex Epstein: Obama Follows Nixon on Oil Spill – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Alex Epstein writes that when it comes to handling oil spills, Barack Obama most resembles Richard Nixon.”

The Avastin Mugging – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that the FDA rigs the verdict against the breast cancer drug Avastin. ”

Jeremy Siegel and Jeremy Schwartz: The Great American Bond Bubble – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Jeremy Siegel and Jeremy Schwartz write in The Wall Street Journal that today’s bond bubble resemble the tech bubble a decade ago. If 10-year interest rates, which are now 2.8%, rise to 4% as they did last spring, bondholders will suffer a capital loss more than three times the current yield. ”

Dogs for Everyone? – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com

freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com

“New research shows that, in addition to being man’s best friend, dogs improve productivity in the office.”

The Government Mortgage Subsidy, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty

econlog.econlib.org

“ABC News quotes PIMCO’s Bill Gross. ‘Without government guarantees, mortgage rates would be hundreds — hundreds of basis points higher, resulting in a moribund housing market for years.’… What Gross is saying might be true if you are an unqualified borrower buying a house with little or no money down. But once upon a time we had a mortgage market in which borrowers with documented income and assets took out loans for 90 percent or less of the price of the house they were buying…”

Boaz on Media Bias, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty

econlog.econlib.org

“[M]ainstream (liberal) media regularly put an ideological label on conservative and libertarian organizations and interviewees, but not on liberal and leftist groups…”

Jeffrey Miron » Blog Archive » A Government Role in the Mortgage Market?

jeffreymiron.com

“Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, kicking off a half-day conference on housing finance, said Tuesday that it was important for the federal government to continue guaranteeing mortgage loans.”

Mike Huckabee on politics, Christianity, Israel : The New Yorker

www.newyorker.com

Interesting New Yorker article about former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee…

Will the U.S. Hand Chavez a License to Kill?

www.american.com

“Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez’s record of providing money, arms, political support, and, yes, safe haven to groups waging a murderous war against a sovereign state openly violates international law.”

The Government’s Role in the Housing Bubble – National – The Atlantic

www.theatlantic.com

“I never would have guessed that years in, we’d still be debating the role of the government in the housing bubble.”

New Blood for Social Security

www.american.com

“Should public-sector pensions shift their workers to Social Security?”

Are We Naturally Lazy?

freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com

“We’re happier when busy, but inclined to laziness.”

Crisis Economics

nationalaffairs.com

This is the clearest “plain English” explanation that I have seen anywhere which explains the conditions under which fiscal policy instruments such as government spending and tax cuts may or may not have particularly “stimulative” effects on the economy. The author (Harvard Professor N. Gregory Mankiw) also provides some interesting anecdotes concerning the absurdity of the Obama Administration’s famous “jobs created or saved” metric (also see Three Million Imaginary Jobs II); e.g., how some employers have counted federal government stimulus money which was used to provide pay raises to existing employees as “creating” jobs, and the story about a shoe-store owner in Kentucky who sold boots to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (for work on a project made possible by stimulus funds) who claimed to have created nine jobs with $889 (“…after all, a soldier could not go to work… without a pair of boots”).

Stormy skies – The Big Picture – Boston.com

www.boston.com

Robert McDowell: The U.N. Threat to Internet Freedom – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Robert McDowell writes that the FCC’s move to treat broadband providers like phone company monopolies could spur international efforts to regulate the Web.”

Kim Strassel: Obama’s Other Chicago Problem – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Kim Strassel writes in The Wall Street Journal that the president’s support for Illinois senatorial hopeful Alexi Giannoulias is an unwanted reminder of the Windy City’s unsavory politics.”

Review & Outlook: Liberal Tax Revolt – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that even many Democrats don’t want the Bush cuts to expire.”

Charles Krauthammer – Beware the lame duck

www.washingtonpost.com

“To pass major legislation in a lame-duck session would be a violation of democratic norms.”

Taking apart the federal budget

www.washingtonpost.com

“(Graphically) Explore the various facets of the government’s budget and see how revenues and spending have changed over time.” Basically, this is a lesson in real world public finance in only 5 slides!

Michael Boskin: Obama’s Economic Fish Stories – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Michael Boskin writes in The Wall Street Journal that when it comes to unemployment, the president claims that the stimulus bill was several times more potent than his chief economic adviser estimates. Such statements hurt his credibility.”

Beware Greedy Relatives If You Hope to See 2011

www.businessweek.com

Thanks to a quirk in the federal tax law, the estate tax this year is zero, but starting on Jan. 1 all taxable estates exceeding $1 million will be taxed at the rate of 55 percent. The author of this article notes that the perverse incentives may mean that “Plugs get unplugged, do-not-resuscitate orders are placed. Maybe worse.” Furthermore, there is an empirical literature which shows that monetary incentives influence death rates; specifically, “…a 2003 paper in the Review of Statistics and Economics by Joel Slemrod of the University of Michigan and Wojciech Kopczuk of the University of British Columbia…examined the number of estate-tax returns immediately following changes in the law since 1916 and found that death rates change with the estate tax.”

Economics One: Government Policy and the Slowdown

johnbtaylorsblog.blogspot.com

Professor Taylor on the causes of (and the cure for) the slowing economy: “Like many economists, I am concerned about the slowdown in the economy which prolongs the high unemployment rate. I think uncertainty about the growing federal debt and the increased government interventions-from health care to financial markets…-is the cause of the slowdown. In my view the best stimulus right now would be a clear and credible plan to reduce the deficit and bring down the growing debt.”

Labor Pains — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

www.american.com

“Europe’s taxes punish working outside the home, so Europeans don’t work as much as they would otherwise.”

Martin Feldstein: The ‘Tax Expenditure’ Solution for Our National Debt – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Harvard economist Martin Feldstein says that the credits and subsidies that make the tax code so complicated cost big bucks. Reduce them by third and the debt will be 72% of GDP in 2020 instead of 90%.”

Bret Stephens: Why Hasn’t Israel Bombed Iran (Yet)? – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Global View columnist Bret Stephens says the military risks of a raid on Iran are large, but the political risks could be even bigger.”

Notable & Quotable – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Reuel Marc Gerecht discusses how conversations about Islam in the U.S. have become boring, lightweight, and sometimes inane under the Obama administration.”

Michio Kaku: What We’ve Learned from the Gulf Spill – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Michio Kaku writes that in the future, relief wells should be drilled simultaneously with the main well.”

Jenkins: Blowouts Will Not Always Be Prevented – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Business World columnist Holman Jenkins says Americans are curiously unwilling to acknowledge known risks.”

A Moratorium, Drilled – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes on a federal judge’s decision to block the Obama Administration’s ban on deepwater drilling.”

Robert C. Pozen: $100,000 is Plenty for Deposit Insurance – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Robert C. Pozen writes that raising the cap will enhance the ability of weak banks to expand their deposit base and cause trouble for the FDIC.”

BP Spill May Be Less Than Doomsayers Think: Tadeusz W. Patzek – BusinessWeek

www.businessweek.com

“Two months have passed since the blowout of the BP Plc exploratory Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. Much more is now known about a string of fateful decisions taken in the course of drilling this well.”

The Runaway General | Rolling Stone Politics

www.rollingstone.com

“Here’s the link to the controversial Rolling Stone article that is making lots of news today!”

Op-Ed Columnist – Faustus Makes a Deal – NYTimes.com

nytimes.com

“From the confluence of recent events, one might think the Democrats had made a deal with the Devil — and still managed to lose.”

Le Monde on The Brink | Monday Note

www.mondaynote.com

Hat tip to Tyler Cowen for the pointer to this article. Of particular interest is the following excerpt: “In France, firing a printing plant employee is hugely expensive. The gent is paid €50,000 per year, works 32 hours per week and 164 days per year. Firing him costs about €466,000 – that’s a French government estimate…”

The Gulf Spill and Compensation for Disaster Victims | Psychology Today

www.psychologytoday.com

“When man-made or natural disasters strike, do the victims deserve compensation? Most people assume the answer is yes, but the case for compensation is not always clear.”

Faith, Doubt, and U.S. Foreign Policy — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

www.american.com

“To the degree that Obama believes in promoting democracy, his efforts will flounder if they continue to lack moral realism: a deep sense of religion’s corruptibility.”

Financial Reform Is Disaster For Banks, Consumers: Bove – CNBC

www.cnbc.com

“New financial services regulations will be so disastrous that Congress will need to repeal them to undo the damage they will cause, banking analyst Dick Bove said Monday.”

Paul H. Rubin: A Tale of Two Disasters – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Paul Rubin writes that former President Bush was blamed for local failures after Katrina. Meanwhile, President Obama got a free ride for weeks as federal failures mounted during the Gulf spill.”

William McGurn: Obama Should Publicly Criticize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the Oval Office – WS

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, William McGurn says the president needs to call attention to the role of Fannie and Freddie in the housing bust and the financial crisis.”

Bret Stephens: The Man Who Would Be King – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Global View columnist Bret Stephens explains what Rudyard Kipling tells us about Barack Obama.”

Oil in the Gulf, two months later – The Big Picture – Boston.com

www.boston.com

“62 days have passed since the initial explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, and the crude oil and natural gas continue to gush from the seafloor.”

Op-Ed Columnist – Trim the ‘Experts,’ Trust the Locals – NYTimes.com

nytimes.com

“The chaotic organization of the federal oil spill cleanup effort highlights the need for increased local control.”

ObamaCare and the Independent Vote – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, David Brady, Daniel Kessler and Douglas Rivers write that independents opposed to ObamaCare could swing the November election.”

Think Globally, Sue Locally – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Jonathan Drimmer writes that plaintiffs lawyers mount PR campaigns against corporations to trash their image and extort a settlement.”

Review & Outlook: The ‘Paralyzing Principle’ – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal says in an editorial that the Gulf oil spill is reviving a discredited environmental theory known as the precautionary principle.”

Douglas E. Schoen and Patrick H. Caddell: The United States of Throw the Bums Out – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Douglas Schoen and Patrick Caddell write that the best thing Republicans have going for them among voters is that they’re not Democrats.”

Daniel Henninger: The President’s Animosities – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Wonder Land columnist Daniel Henninger says that BP isn’t the only business President Obama has been beating up on.”

Map: Where Americans Are Moving – Forbes.com

www.forbes.com

“More than 10 million Americans moved from one county to another during 2008. The map below visualizes those moves. Click on any county to see comings and goings: black lines indicate net inward movement, red lines net outward movement.”

‘I Will Not Settle for Inaction’ – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Is Obama really doing everything in his power to fight the spill?”

How Much Will BP Really Pay? – Room for Debate Blog – NYTimes.com

nytimes.com

“How does the public ensure that it doesn’t end up paying for costs of the spill 20 or 30 years out?

European flooding – The Big Picture – Boston.com

boston.com

“Over the past month, heavy rainfall from different storms across parts of Europe has caused massive amounts of flooding – some water moving slowly across river plains and farmland, some moving swiftly through cities and villages.”

Oil Talk – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that President Obama is trying to link the Gulf gusher to his moribund green agenda.”

Oil spill crisis as opportunity|KeithHennessey.com

KeithHennessey.com

“The President’s Oval Office address last night suggests an implementation of this principle, as he tries to reconfigure the climate change / cap-and-trade debate into a new War on Fossil Fuels.”

The Economics of Libertarianism, Revealed – Economix Blog – NYTimes.com

nytimes.com

“When government action is required, libertarian solutions can be hard to discern clearly, an economist writes.”

Migration: Texas, here we come | The Economist

Economist.com

“IN THE ten years I’ve lived in New York I forgot how to drive. Lately I’ve been spending lots of time in Austin, Texas. Enough so that I’ve had to start driving again. When you go many years without driving, it becomes terrifying.”

Burying the Incumbent Protection Racket — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

american.com

“Although only 14 percent of the public approves of Congress, in an ordinary year 95 percent of all incumbents are re-elected. How is this possible?”

Richard A. Epstein: BP Doesn’t Deserve a Liability Cap – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Richard Epstein writes in The Wall Street Journal that solid insurance underwriting is likely to do a better job in pricing risk than any program of direct government oversight.”

Creating the Next Crisis – Project Syndicate

project-syndicate.org

“With the Obama administration rejecting what it once supported – the breakup of megabanks that are too big to fail – we are setting ourselves up for another boom based on excessive and reckless risk-taking at the heart of the world’s financial system. This can end only one way: badly.”

Why Relaxing Is Hard Work – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Some people are so addicted to the adrenaline rush of stress that they gravitate to high-pressure jobs, take on too much or leave projects to the last minute.Put them on a beach for a week, and it’s no wonder they can’t relax.”

Op-Ed Columnist – The Larger Struggle – NYTimes.com

nytimes.com

“A rivalry is growing between democratic capitalist and state capitalist systems.”

Stephen A. Blumenthal: It’s Time to Nationalize Fannie and Freddie – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Stephen A. Blumenthal writes that any solution that allows private companies to have a special relationship to government is destined to fail.”

Think Smarter About Risk – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Moshe A. Milevsky says in The Wall Street Journal that when gauging risk, too many investors don’t consider the most important asset: their human capital.”

Opening weekend – 2010 World Cup – The Big Picture – Boston.com

boston.com

“The 2010 FIFA World Cup opened last Friday in South Africa, after years of preparation, with an Opening Ceremony at Soccer City Stadium – the first matches taking place over the weekend.”

Foreign Tax Bill Likely, But ‘A Bad Idea,’ Validus CEO Says

highlinedata.com

“NEW YORK-Proposed legislation denying tax deductions for reinsurance premiums paid to offshore affiliates will likely pass through Congress, a Bermuda executive predicted here yesterday, but he criticized the measure as a restriction of free trade.”

The Dark Side of Stimulus

“‘Regulating Wall Street’ Co-Editor and NYU economics professor Thomas Cooley breaks down the pros and cons of stimulus spending…”

Gerald O’Driscoll: The Gulf Spill, the Financial Crisis and the Failure of Big Government – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Gerald P. O’Driscoll notes that Republicans and Democrats fail to see the limits of centralized regulation in a modern market economy.”

Dynamic Dr. Krugman|KeithHennessey.com

KeithHennessey.com

“In his column today Dr. Paul Krugman argues that the deficit impact of a large ($1 trillion) stimulus would be mitigated by the effects of higher GDP growth.”

Women Prefer Men Holding State Bonds, Japan Ad Says (Update1) – Bloomberg.co.jp

Bloomberg.co.jp

“June 9 (Bloomberg) — Japanese women are seeking men who invest in government bonds, according to an advertisement being run by the Ministry of Finance.”

The Road to Price Controls — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

www.american.com

“Conventional wisdom is that U.S. pharmaceutical companies made out well under the Obama health plan by bargaining with the White House. That wisdom is wrong.”

Just How Risky Are Nuclear Industry, NASA Missions? – The Numbers Guy – WSJ

online.wsj.com

“Scientists in some risky pursuits attempt to quantify risks, which helps identify trouble spots. That might be in the future of the deep-sea oil-drilling business.”

Scenes from the Gulf of Mexico – The Big Picture – Boston.com

boston.com

“Based on recently revised estimates, BP’s ruptured oil well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico continues to leak 25,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil a day. The new figures suggest that an amount of oil equivalent to the Exxon Valdez disaster could still be flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every 8 to 10 days.”

Lawrence M. Krauss: Science and the Gulf Spill – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, scientist Lawrence M. Krauss says that TV has fueled unrealistic expectations of a quick fix to the oil spill.”

Fouad Ajami: Iran and the ‘Freedom Recession’ – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Fouad Ajami writes in The Wall Street Journal about the anniversary of the Iranian crackdown on pro-democracy protests that Facebook had no answer to the pro-regime vigilantes who ruled the streets. And the U.S. president, who might have helped, stood aside.”

Andy Kessler: The iPhone, Net Neutrality and the FCC – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Andy Kessler writes in The Wall Street Journal that the FCC should make it easier for more companies to enter wireless data and cable broadband markets.”

Peggy Noonan: ‘We Are Totally Unprepared’ – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Peggy Noonan writes in The Wall Street Journal that nine years after 9/11, there is a chilling complacency about WMD attacks.”

Charles Krauthammer – The myth of Iran’s ‘isolation’

washingtonpost.com

“Obama’s strategy against Tehran hasn’t worked.”

Don’t Believe the Double-Dippers

online.wsj.com

“Alan Reynolds writes in The Wall Street Journal that while liberals issue dire warnings to argue for more stimulus spending, Republicans embrace gloom as evidence stimulus hasn’t worked. Truth is the economy isn’t that bad.”

Obama Meets Toto

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Dan Henninger writes that with the Gulf oil spill, faith in the omnipotence of government has put us in the land of Oz.”

Europe’s Determination to Decline

www.project-syndicate.org

“At a time when their economies are sputtering, European leaders have embraced the bizarre idea of further reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions. There is a strong correlation between carbon emissions and GDP growth, so, in the absence of alternatives to fossil fuels, Europeans are, in effect, calling for an even deeper recession.”

Rory Sutherland: Sweat the small stuff | Video on TED.com
www.ted.com
“It may seem that big problems require big solutions, but ad man Rory Sutherland says many flashy, expensive fixes are just obscuring better, simpler answers. To illustrate, he uses behavioral economics and hilarious examples.”

If Morgan Stanley Caused The Oil Spill – Forbes.com
www.forbes.com
“In time we’ll learn how to prevent another Deepwater Horizon oil spill. What about another financial crisis?”

Preparing for the World Cup – The Big Picture – Boston.com
boston.com
“Next Friday, June 11th, South Africa will step onto the world stage as host nation of the 2010 FIFA World Cup as the international soccer tournament begins – welcoming 32 teams from around the world.”

Are Government Workers Underpaid? No — The American, A Magazine of Ideas
american.com
“Once all promised benefits are included, government employees at all levels—local, state, and federal—receive significantly greater total compensation than private-sector workers.”

Charles E.F. Millard: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Is Billions in Deficit – WSJ.com
online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, Charles E.F. Millard says the PBGC, which guarantees private pensions, is deeply underfunded and may not be able to meet its obligations to retirees.”

Dorothy Rabinowitz: The Alien in the White House – WSJ.com
online.wsj.com
“Dorothy Rabinowitz writes in The Wall Street Journal that the distance between the president and the people is beginning to be revealed.”

Scott Gottlieb: Two Steps Forward in the War Against Cancer – WSJ.com
online.wsj.com
“Scott Gottlieb writes in The Wall Street Journal that the time from lab to market for new drugs keeps getting shorter, but bad government policies threaten to reverse this trend.”

Feel the Rage – WSJ.com
online.wsj.com
“The Wall Street Journal writes that liberals who are assaulting President Obama and government over the Gulf oil spill have discovered conservatives’ critique of the regulatory state.”

A Self-Appointed Teacher Runs a One-Man ‘Academy’ on YouTube – Technology – The Chronicle of Higher Education
chronicle.com
“Salman Khan, a former financial analyst, has created 1,400 educational videos and posted them to YouTube. “My single biggest goal is to try to deliver things the way I wish they were delivered to me,” he says.”

The new Democratic claim about job creation
keithhennessey.com
“A new claim about job creation appears to be bubbling up through the Democratic ranks. Here is the clearest statement of that claim, from Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) on Stuart Varney’s show:”

Responding to the President’s Carnegie Mellon economic speech|KeithHennessey.com
keithhennessey.com
“Yesterday I tried to neutrally summarize the President’s 5,000+ words economic speech delivered last week at Carnegie Mellon University. Today I’ll give my views on the substance.”

Okrent on Prohibition and His Book, Last Call
www.econtalk.org
“Daniel Okent, author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, talks about the book with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. They discuss how the 18th Amendment banning the manufacture, sale, and transport of intoxicating beverages came to pass in 1920, what life was like while it was in force, and how the Amendment cam…e to be repealed in 1934. Okrent discusses how Prohibition became entangled with the suffrage movement, the establishment of the income tax, and anti-immigration sentiment. They also discuss the political economy of prohibition, enforcement, and repeal–the quintessential example of bootleggers and baptists.”

Burton G. Malkiel: Entitlement Reform and the Global Budget Crisis – WSJ.com
Source: online.wsj.com
“Burton G. Malkiel writes in The Wall Street Journal that putting Social Security on a sustainable path isn’t nearly enough to end our entitlement shortfall. But it would do a lot to convince markets that Washington can be serious.”

Report: Majority Of Government Doesn’t Trust Citizens Either
Source: www.theonion.com
“According to the poll – which surveyed members of the judicial, legislative, and executive branches – 9 out of 10 government officials reported feeling “disillusioned” by the populace and claimed to have “completely lost confidence” in the citizenry’s ability to act in the nation’s best interests.”
From The Onion…

A Pessimistic View of the Health Care System
Source: jeffreymiron.com
“Regarding the changes taking place in health care, from a physician’s perspective I think that our pay will be cut, the patient loads will be much higher, we will continue to face frivolous lawsuits, the …”

Public Pensions Headed for Disaster – Business – The Atlantic

Source: www.theatlantic.com
“The New York Times has a practically libertarian-sounding article on public pensions.”

Edward Jay Epstein: Goldman and Washington’s Wall Street Takeover – WSJ.com
Source: online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, Edward Jay Epstein says that the SEC case that Goldman Sachs defrauded investors in its Abacus 2007-AC1 fund is weak, but it has helped the government justify sweeping new powers over the financial industry.”

Peter J. Wallison: Republicans and Obama’s New Deal – WSJ.com

Source: online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, AEI senior fellow Peter J. Wallison says that the GOP should have filibustered and never allowed the Dodd bill to reach the Senate floor.”

John C. Goodman: Goodbye, Employer-Sponsored Insurance – WSJ.com
Source: online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, John C. Goodman writes that companies are discovering that it’s cheaper to pay fines to the government than to cover workers.”

Mortimer Zuckerman: The Bankrupting of America – WSJ.com
Source: online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, Mortimer Zuckerman writes that we have a ruinous collaboration of elected officials and unionized public workers.”

Can you tell the difference between real and “fake” stock prices? New study says that most people can

Source: mindyourdecisions.com

“There’s a neat online video game that tests whether you can identify real stock data from randomized, generated data. The game is called ARORA, an abbreviation for “a random or real array” of prices.”

The Reduced Credit Act – WSJ.com
Source: online.wsj.com
“The Wall Street Journal writes that an amendment to the financial reform bill in the Senate would give banks another reason not to lend.”

Bruised but Not Out: A Bullish View on the Future of Financial Innovation
Source: knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu
“The Great Recession has given a black eye to the tools of financial innovation. Collateralized debt obligations, synthetic derivatives and other once-arcane investment vehicles are now the poster boys …”

Making the Simple Complicated – Economix Blog – NYTimes.com

Source: economix.blogs.nytimes.com

“Domestic legislation to tax the economic damage wrought by greenhouse gases is problematic, an economist says.”

Management: Pithy questions | The Economist
Source: www.economist.com
“This paper presents a market equilibrium model of CEO assignment, pay and incentives under risk aversion and heterogeneous moral hazard. Each of the three outcomes can be summarized by a single closed-form equation.”

An Enduring Culture of Free Enterprise – The American, A Magazine of Ideas

Source: www.american.com
“Despite the bruising it has taken, support for free enterprise and the capitalist system remains robust.”

The Clearinghouse Rescue Plan
Source: online.wsj.com
“As miracle cures go, clearinghouses for derivatives seem to be everyone’s favorite. By requiring that most swap contracts be settled daily through institutions that collect and spread financial risk, Congress and Treasury claim that we can all sleep better at night without fear of more AIGs.  Sorry to break this reverie, but if this is true, why does Senator Chris Dodd’s financial bill give clearinghouses access to the Federal Reserve’s discount window? That’s the special Fed lending facility that is typically available only to banks that can’t get the funding they need elsewhere. Does the Senator know something most Americans do not?”

Obama and the ‘Special Relationship’
Source: online.wsj.com
“In stark contrast to the stratospheric hopes that Mr. Obama would dramatically improve America’s relations with the world in general and the U.K. in particular, a full 74% of the British people now think that their relationship with the U.S. has stayed the same or even worsened since Mr. Obama’s election.”

The IRS Cracks Down on Small Charities
Source: online.wsj.com
“For many small charities in the United States, May 17 may be remembered as the day their tax exemptions died. This was the deadline for charities with annual revenues of less than $25,000 to file Form 990 with the IRS.”

Vanguard’s Bailout Warning
Source: online.wsj.com
“Speaking of too big to fail (see above), Senate Democrats continue to claim that their pending financial reform bill will end bailouts. But when even a potential beneficiary is warning about the financial favoritism that will result, taxpayers have every right to demand that Senators scrap their “resolution process” for too-big-to-fail banks.”

Politicians As Plutocrats

Source: online.wsj.com

“As ‘state capitalism’ grows abroad, state intervention in the economy grows at home.”

Micro-Managing Again!

Source: w4.stern.nyu.edu

Quoting from this article, written by finance professor Robert Whitelaw at NYU, “You might think that the Senate has enough to do attempting to save the country from another financial crisis. Measuring and regulating systemic risk, orderly liquidation of failing financial institutions, Freddie and Fannie, rating agencies–the list of critical issues is long and the problems are complex. However, significant regulatory reform is apparently not enough to keep our diligent Senators busy. A couple of weeks ago Senator Tom Harkin took the time out to propose capping ATM fees, and this past week the Senate approved an amendment put forward by Senator Richard Durbin to reduce the “swipe fees” that banks and other companies charge on credit and debit card transactions.”

Mount St. Helens, 30 years ago – The Big Picture – Boston.com
Source: www.boston.com
“On May 18th, 1980, thirty years ago today, at 8:32 a.m., the ground shook beneath Mount St. Helens in Washington state as a magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck, setting off one of the largest landslides in recorded history – the entire north slope of the volcano slid away.”

Massachusetts Insurers Post Big Losses – Business – The Atlantic

Source: www.theatlantic.com
“When MassCare passed, it was supposed to lower the average cost of healthcare by getting relatively cheap young people into the system, and ending the inefficiencies of caring for the uninsured.  Unfortunately, it hasn’t quite worked out that way.”

Scott Gottlieb: No, You Can’t Keep Your Health Plan – WSJ.com
Source: online.wsj.com
“In the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Scott Gottlieb writes that insurers and doctors are already consolidating their businesses in response to Obamacare.”

Moheb Zaki: Egypt’s Persecuted Christians – WSJ.com

Source: online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Moheb Zaki of the Ibn Khaldun Center in Cairo notes that violence against Copts is on the rise, yet all but ignored by the state.”

John H. Cochrane: Greek Myths and the Euro Tragedy – WSJ.com

Source: online.wsj.com

“John H. Cochrane writes in The Wall Street Journal that the Greek bail-out won’t work. Germany and France simply cannot borrow or tax enough to cover Europe’s debts and looming deficits.”

Why Does Academia Treat Its Workforce So Badly? – Business – The Atlantic
Source: www.theatlantic.com
“A piece on adjuncts in Inside Higher Ed has been attracting a lot of attention among academics of my acquaintance.”