Jim Garven's Blog » Economics

Assorted Links (9/4/2010)

Jim Garven — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 19:33:52 +0000

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

Amity Shlaes: How Government Unions Became So Powerful – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Amity Shlaes of the Council on Foreign Relations explains how the American workforce became divided between vulnerable private-sector workers and protected public-sector workers.”

Review & Outlook: Postcard From the NHS – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal on Dr. Berwick’s health-care model at work.”

Is Your University Complying With the New Textbook Law? – NYTimes.com

freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com

“University students are returning to campuses throughout the country. It is a migration that raises my spirits – seeing the energetic, eager faces tackling another course in contracts or intellectual property. But this year something is different. For the first time, a federal law has taken effect which requires “institution[s] of higher education receiving Federal financial assistance” to provide students with information on textbook pricing.”

‘Clunkers,’ a classic government folly

www.boston.com

From the Department of Unintended Consequences: This article from the Boston Globe documents the effect of last fall’s “Cash for Clunkers” program on prices in the used car market today. Apparently used car prices are now higher because “…your Uncle Sam decided last year to destroy hundreds of thousands of perfectly good automobiles as part of its hare-brained Car Allowance Rebate System …or, as most of us called it, Cash for Clunkers. That was the program under which the government paid consumers up to $4,500 when they traded in an old car and bought a new one with better gas mileage. The traded-in cars – which had to be in drivable condition to qualify for the rebate – were then demolished: Dealers were required to chemically wreck each car’s engine, and send the car to be crushed or shredded…In short, Washington spent nearly $3 billion to raise the price of mobility for drivers on a budget.”

What Kinds of Tax Cuts are Best?

jeffreymiron.com

“With just two months until the November elections, the White House is seriously weighing a package of business tax breaks – potentially worth hundreds of billions of dollars – to spur hiring and combat Republican charges that Democratic tax policies hurt small businesses, according to people with knowledge of the deliberations.”

Interest rates and the US housing boom: A call for more research

www.voxeu.org

“The debate over the cause of the US housing boom and bust is far from concluded. This column questions the explanation that low interest rates were a critical factor, arguing that it sits uneasily alongside theories of household behaviour and historical evidence. With the causes remaining uncertain, the authors call for more research in this area.”

A Lifetime of Career Changes – The Numbers Guy – WSJ

blogs.wsj.com

“Though it’s often said that the average American will have seven careers in a lifetime, there is no statistical support for that figure.”

Elaine Chao: Another Unhappy Labor Day – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, former U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao writes that Americans are aware of the folly of Washington’s economic policies.”

Michael Boskin: Summer of Economic Discontent – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Stanford University’s Michael Boskin writes in The Wall Street Journal that the Obama administration’s ‘summer of recovery’ has fizzled in almost every way imaginable. The growth rate is less than half what it was at this stage after the 1974-75 and 1981-82 recessions.”

Joe Queenan: Goodbye to the Clichés of Summer – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, satirist Joe Queenan writes that somewhere among Julius Caesar, Edgar Degas, Lady Godiva and Lady Gaga, the word ‘legacy’ got hijacked.”

Where Columbia Beats Harvard: On the Battlefield of Curricula – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“James Piereson writes on The Wall Street Journal’s Taste page that away from the sports arena, Columbia beats Harvard on the battlefield of curricula. Excerpted from a longer version of his original article in the September issue of The New Criterion.”

Scott Brown: Want Middle East Peace? Deny Iran Nukes – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts writes that Israeli-Palestinian talks are good, but Tehran’s nuclear drive continues.”

The Small Business Tax Hike and the 97% Fallacy

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Kevin A. Hassett and Alan D. Viard of the American Enterprise Institute write that the president’s plan to raise top marginal rates is holding back the very people who should be leading the economic recovery.”

Charles Krauthammer – Our distracted commander in chief

www.washingtonpost.com

“Obama sees the war in Afghanistan as an unwanted interference with his true vocation.”

The Mosque’s Lesson on Loyalty

www.thepublicdiscourse.com

“Liberal charges of xenophobia reveal more about those making them than about those at whom they are aimed. This is not to say that those charges are merely cynical, that they are used only as weapons against the left’s political enemies. These charges, though misplaced, are sincerely made. And precisely because of their sincerity they shed light on contemporary liberalism, which is powerfully inclined to see xenophobia where it does not exist—or at least to regard as xenophobic thoughts and actions that most non-liberals regard as normal and just.”

The Generation That Can’t Move On Up: The Growing Gap Between Young Working-Clas

online.wsj.com

“Andrew Cherlin and W. Bradford Wilcox write on the Wall Street Journal Taste page about new statics and surveys that show a widening gap, both economic and social, between young people from working-class families, and the middle class.”

Bret Stephens: The Paula Abdul Theory of Foreign Policy – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Global View columnist Bret Stephens writes that self-esteem does not make for good policy (or singers).”

The Costs of War, Continued – NYTimes.com

economix.blogs.nytimes.com

“As the Afghanistan conflict drags on, the costs of expected veterans’ benefits become a smaller fraction of the total cost of the conflict, an economist writes.”

Incentives Work for Pigeons. Can They Motivate American College Students? — The Amer

www.american.com

“How to improve the academic atmosphere of contemporary high schools and colleges.”

How to Tell When a CEO Is Lying – NYTimes.com

freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com

“In a nifty piece of forensic analysis, two researchers claim to have figured out how to tell when executives are lying. David Larcker and Anastasia Zakolyukina analyzed 30,000 conference calls between 2003 and 2007 to see if certain “tells” during the call were associated with earnings that were later “materially restated.”

Build America Bonds

www.nber.org

Here’s an interesting research paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research which provides a detailed assessment of the extent and nature of the federal subsidy given to state and local governments in the form “Build America Bonds” that were offered as part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: “In 2009, BABs offered an average yield of 3.69 percent. The federal subsidy brought down the cost of borrowing for states and local governments to 2.32 percent.”

Will the Bush tax cuts be allowed to expire?

Jim Garven — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 19:30:33 +0000

An Associated Press article that appeared in yesterday’s Austin American Statesman entitled “More Democrats buck plan to let taxes rise” makes for very interesting reading. The online article omitted what I thought was the most important information (source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/02/business/main6830083.shtml):

“The most sweeping tax cuts in a generation are due to expire at the end of the year. Congress is set to take up the issue this month. If Congress does nothing, families at every income level face tax increases next year”:

2011 Income	Number of tax returns	Average tax increase (if Congress does nothing)
Less than $10,000	28,681,000	$70
$10,000 to $20,000	24,383,000	$410
$20,000 to $30,000	18,523,000	$756
$30,000 to $40,000	15,679,000	$893
$40,000 to $50,000	13,001,000	$923
$50,000 to $75,000	23,972,000	$1,126
$75,000 to $100,000	15,245,000	$1,837
$100,000 to $200,000	16,885,000	$3,672
$200,000 to $500,000	3,757,000	$7,187
$500,000 to $1 million	608,000	$18,092
$1 million and over	315,000	$101,587

Source: Joint Committee on Taxation

P.S.: My inner geek also found it interesting that the Joint Committee on Taxation counts a total of 161,049,000 individual tax returns filed in the United States for tax year 2009…

Assorted Links (8/30/2010)

Jim Garven — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:29:52 +0000

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

How Dismal is the Fiscal Future For America and Europe? Becker – The Becker-Posner Blog

www.becker-posner-blog.com

Here’s Nobel Laureate Gary Becker’s views on the possibility of a (developed economies) debt crisis: “Posner lays out clearly many of the present and future solvency and default risks to the United States federal government. He bases some of the analysis on a valuable recent Morgan Stanley report with the provocative title “Ask Not Whether Governments Will Default, but How”.”

O’Grady: Kirchner’s Assault on the Press – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Americas columnist Mary Anastasia O’Grady writes about the Argentine president’s campaign to silence the country’s two most influential daily newspapers.”

Mark Helprin: The World Trade Center Mosque and the Constitution – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Mark Helprin of the Claremont Institute writes that proponents have a right to build the mosque, but no American can be forced to pour concrete or cross a picket line of grieving families.”

Robert Barro: The Folly of Subsidizing Unemployment – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, the economist Robert Barro of Harvard writes that his calculations suggest the jobless rate could be as low as 6.8%, instead of 9.5%, if the Obama administration hadn’t extended jobless benefits to 99 weeks.”

Paul Rubin: Ten Fallacies About Web Privacy – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Paul Rubin of Emory University writes that we are not used to the Internet reality that something can be known and at the same time no person knows it.”

Life-Insurance Coverage Wanes for U.S. Households – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Nearly a third have no policies, a combination of the financial pressures on middle-income families and a reticence to purchase insurance due to the high cost of some policies and the hardball tactics used by some agents.”

ABREAST OF THE MARKET: The Decline of the P/E Ratio – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“As investors fixate on the global forces whipsawing the markets, one fundamental measure of stock-market value, the price-to-earnings ratio, is quietly shrinking, both in size and importance.”

Assorted Links (8/28/2010)

Jim Garven — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:05:00 +0000

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

The Emerging Markets’ Century — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

www.american.com

“Whereas public debt levels in many major industrialized countries will soon exceed 100 percent of GDP, those in the major emerging market economies generally range between 40 to 50 percent of GDP.”

Catholics and the Cosmos: Thinking About Souls and Human Origins, and What Pius XII Said About Evolution

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal’s Houses of Worship column, John Farrell writes about the 60th anniversary of Pope Pius XII’s 1950 encyclical on Christianity and the theory of evolution and asks whether advances in science call for more discussion in the church.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Public Pensions and Our Fiscal Future – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger challenges the State Assembly in Sacramento to bring rising pension costs under control.”

The $31 Billion Revenue Fantasy – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that those who make $200,000 a year are 3% of all taxpayers but pay 52% of all income taxes.”

Spreading Hayek, Spurning Keynes – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Peter J. Boettke is emerging as the intellectual standard-bearer for a revival of the Austrian school of economics.”

We Just Don’t Understand – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Americans look at the president and see a stranger, writes Peggy Noonan.”

Fiscal policy: Is economics a right-wing conspiracy? | The Economist

www.economist.com

“I’LL admit it, I am ambivalent about whether we need more fiscal stimulus and still think it’s too early to tell how effective the last one was. I dare to voice my concerns and I get labelled “a conservative economist”. But my worries are based on my professional training—my fields were public finance and macro—more than any political agenda.”

An Updated Guide to the EconoTwitterverse – Real Time Economics – WSJ

blogs.wsj.com

” An updated and expanded list of econ-related tweeps, from journalists to economists.”

Peter Berkowitz: The Death of Conservatism Was Greatly Exaggerated – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Peter Berkowitz says that liberals completely misread the election of Obama as the death knell of conservatism. Instead, the president’s progressive agenda has led to a revival of conservatism.”

Charles Krauthammer – The last refuge of a liberal

www.washingtonpost.com

“The only hope for liberals is to play the race card.”

Obama’s Illegal Stem-Cell Policy « Public Discourse

www.thepublicdiscourse.com

“A year and a half ago, when President Obama signed his executive order funding embryo-destructive stem-cell research, I argued in The Weekly Standard that he was perpetuating a needless stem-cell war, that his decision was “bad ethics, bad science, and bad politics.” Add “bad law” to the list.”

Gone 20 years, Stevie Ray Vaughan stands forever tall in Austin

www.austin360.com

“The Austin music community woke up on Aug. 27, 1990 20 years ago today with a piece of its soul gone.”

Assorted Links (8/26/2010)

Jim Garven — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:20:22 +0000

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

Biden’s Prediction: Inside Information or Pure Bluster? – NYTimes.com

freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com

Stephen Dubner provides the latest from the prediction markets on the midterm elections – 75% likelihood of a Republican House, while the Dems will most likely retain Senate control (however, with a substantially diminished majority).

Dismal Tidings for Congressional Democrats – Politics – The Atlantic

www.theatlantic.com

Here’s the latest handicapping effort (on the upcoming midterm election) from the Atlantic’s Megan McArdle…

Putting Teachers to the Test: The Debate Over Value-Added – The Numbers Guy – WSJ

blogs.wsj.com

“Value-added measures have many problems, but some researchers and advocates say these teacher-evaluation tools based on student test scores, may be better than the alternative.”

Labor Laws Make Finding Work More Laborious — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

www.american.com

“Policies designed to protect workers reduce the incentive to become better-educated.”

When Economic Policy Became Social Policy — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

www.american.com

“The recent Treasury Department conference is further proof we will never get out of this housing mess until we are ready to face facts.”

Why Small Businesses Aren’t Hiring — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

www.american.com

“In the recoveries from the previous two recessions, small businesses led job creation. This time, however, small businesses aren’t hiring. Here’s why.”

George Melloan: The Fed Can Create Money, Not Confidence – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, George Melloan writes that inflation—or stagflation—remains the more serious danger than deflation.

Grace-Marie Turner: Putting the Brakes on ObamaCare – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Grace-Marie Turner writes in The Wall Street Journal that a Republican Congress can help tee up the eventual repeal of President Obama’s unpopular health-care reform law.”

The financial crisis seen through free-market eyes

www.dallasnews.com

“How long will it take this time before governments understand that overreacting to the crisis and imposing disproved Keynesian remedies will dampen and delay economic recovery? The answer depends on the ability of free-market economists and commentators to communicate their narrative of the crisis.”

Who’s ObamaCare’s Daddy? – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that now even liberals are denying paternity.”

Assorted Links (8/17/2010)

Jim Garven — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:52:22 +0000

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

Bam’s lousy economic record: Let’s just look at the facts, shall we?

www.nydailynews.com

“On the campaign trail, President Obama is talking about everything except his own economic record. He attacks his predecessor – a man for whom I worked – as his advisers promise a return to Clinton-era economics.”

Op-Ed Columnist – Islam and the Two Americas – NYTimes.com

www.nytimes.com

“Two Americas, one based on religious liberty and the other on cultural assimilation, are in tension again in the debate over a mosque near ground zero.”

Gordon Crovitz: The Railroad Precedent and the Web – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Information Age columnist Gordon Crovitz notes that in its quest to impose net neutrality on the Web, the FCC bids to become the ICC of the Internet.”

The End of American Optimism – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Mortimer Zuckerman says that with a historically weak recovery and high unemployment rate, we hear people beginning to question the long-held assumption that their children will have it better than they.”

The Fed Can’t Solve Our Economic Woes – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Gerald P. O’Driscoll says liquidity isn’t in short supply, but savings are. Tax cuts to encourage investment, not easy money to encourage consumption, is the correct policy.”

Book review: Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“James K. Glassman reviews Thomas Geoghegan’s Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? How the European Model Can Help You Get a Life.”

Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe: A Tea Party Manifesto – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, former House majority leader Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe of FreedomWorks write that the tea party movement is not seeking a junior partnership with the Republican Party. It is aiming for a hostile takeover.”

Review & Outlook: The Next Pension Bailout – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal editorial board says there’s growing momentum in Congress to dump union retirement burdens on taxpayers.”

Why It’s Hard to Find U.S. Population by Religion – The Numbers Guy – WSJ

blogs.wsj.com

“The Census Bureau doesn’t ask about religion, unlike other countries’ censuses, opening the door to controversies about the number of Muslims and other U.S. religious groups.”

Robert Costa: Can Charlie Rangel Hold On? – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Robert Costa of National Review writes that after 40 years in power, New York Rep. Charlie Rangel faces threats from the left (Adam Clayton Powell IV) and the right (Rev. Michel Faulkner).”

Peggy Noonan: We Pay Them to Be Rude to Us – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the service economy, all of us want to take the chute, Peggy Noonan writes in The Wall Street Journal.”

The Perils of Hipster Christianity and Why Young Evangelicals Reject Churches That Try To Be Cool -.

online.wsj.com

“Brett McCracken writes in The Wall Street Journal’s Houses of Worship column about the perils of Hipster Christianity, and why he and other young evangelicals are being driven away by churches that try to be cool.”

Economists Want Policy Makers to Back Off – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Economists are getting more pessimistic about the strength of the recovery, but they don’t think policy makers should do anything more to support it, according to the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey.”

Charles Krauthammer – Sacrilege at Ground Zero

www.washingtonpost.com

“America is a free country where you can build whatever you want — but not anywhere.”

Duke/CFO Business Outlook Survey

Jim Garven — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 23:55:56 +0000

I received an email invitation today from CFO (Chief Financial Officer) Magazine to register for an upcoming webcast on the “Recent Findings from the Duke/CFO Magazine Global Outlook Survey” (see below). According to the Duke/CFO Business Outlook Survey website located at http://www.cfosurvey.org/, the survey is conducted quarterly, and it “…polls CFOs of both public and private companies around the globe”.

In view of all of the discussion in the media concerning how firms are flush with cash these days, it is interesting to read the summary below, which notes that according to the most recent survey, “CFOs … are concerned about the availability of credit” (italics added for emphasis). Furthermore, I can’t help but wonder whether these cash holdings also correspond to chief financial officers having deflationary expectations; in a world with falling prices, it actually does make quite a bit of sense to horde cash. Anyway, I am looking forward to “tuning in” to this webcast to learn more!

Assorted Links (8/12/2010)

Jim Garven — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:04:24 +0000

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

U.S. Is Bankrupt and We Don’t Even Know It: Laurence Kotlikoff

www.bloomberg.com

Great read – hat tip to (my former student) Jason Gould: “Let’s get real. The U.S. is bankrupt. Neither spending more nor taxing less will help the country pay its bills.”

Timothy J. Muris: Antitrust in a High-Tech World – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Former Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, Timothy J. Muris, writes in The Wall Street Journal Europe that innovation suffers when regulators penalize businesses for their success in the marketplace.”

Allan H. Meltzer: Europe Jumps Off the Keynesian Bus – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, economist Allan Meltzer notes that the economy is looking bright in Britain and Germany after those governments announced plans to reduce spending.”

Dan Henninger: Tolerance at Ground Zero – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Wonder Land columnist Dan Henninger writes that to reciprocate for the space his mosque is getting close to Ground Zero, Iman Rauf should defend Christian minorities in the Middle East.”

Unemployed Homeowners to Get $3 Billion in Aid – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Obama administration plans to add $2 billion to its Hardest Hit Fund and said HUD would launch a new $1 billion program to provide bridge loans to homeowners at risk for foreclosure. ”

Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.: End of the Net Neut Fetish – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Business World columnist Holman Jenkins explains what the Google-Verizon deal really means for the wireless future…? Historians, if any are interested, will conclude that the unraveling of the net neutrality movement began when the iPhone appeared, instigating a tsunami of demand for mobile Web access.”

U.S. Study Indicates Driver Error in Many Toyota Crashes – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

I can’t help but wonder what the implications of this study are for the civil litigation which is currently going on concerning “sudden acceleration incidents”, or SAI’s involving Toyota vehicles: “A government safety examination of Toyota vehicles involved in crashes attributed to sudden acceleration so far has not yielded evidence of flaws in Toyotas while pointing instead to driver error.”

Green Protectionism — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

www.american.com

“European policy makers and environmental groups want to restrict imports—but not in order to save the planet.”

Fouad Ajami: The Obsolescence of Barack Obama – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Fouad Ajami writes that Barack Obama’s will not be known as a transformative presidency.”

Ezra Klein – Where does the Laffer curve bend?

voices.washingtonpost.com

Interesting assortment of opinions about the relationship between marginal tax rates, government revenue, and GDP growth from leading economists and various other “experts”…

The New-Car Mating Dance – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com

freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com

Interesting “case study” by Freakonomics author Steven Levitt concerning the impact of the Internet on the market for new cars: “Our minivan is ten years old, so we went out to buy a new one this weekend. In Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics, we write a lot about how the Internet has changed markets in which there are information asymmetries. Buying a new car gave me the chance to see first-hand these forces at work…”

Assorted Links (8/10/2010)

Jim Garven — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:51:23 +0000

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

William McGurn: Are Americans Bigots? – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Main Street columnist William McGurn says elites have become far too ready to attack the motives of those who disagree with them.”

Henry Olsen: Unemployment: What Would Reagan Do? – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Henry Olsen of the American Enterprise Institute says no other recession in the last 60 years saw such rapid job destruction.”

Student-Loan Debt Surpasses Credit Cards – Real Time Economics – WSJ

blogs.wsj.com

“Consumers now owe more on their student loans than their credit cards. Americans owe some $826.5 billion in revolving credit, while student loans outstanding today total some $829.785 billion.”

From Gutenberg to Zoobert – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Information Age columnist Gordon Crovitz discusses the fate of the printed book in the age of the Kindle and the iPad.” Imagine this: the market capitalization of “Barnes & Noble, whose more than 700 stores make it the largest bricks-and-mortar book chain, … is less than $1 billion, compared with Amazon’s $55 billion.”

In silhouette – The Big Picture – Boston.com

www.boston.com

Fairness and the Capital Tax Fetish – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Columbia University’s business school dean Glenn Hubbard says the Bush dividend, capital gains and marginal income tax rates should be preserved. These tax cuts spurred economic growth, and letting them expire would have a dampening effect on the economy.”

When Congress Is Away, the Market Will Play – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com

freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com

“Anxious investors can take heart: Congress’s August recess begins at the end of this week, which has historically been a good thing for the markets. Michael Ferguson and Hugh Douglas Witte found that “about 90% of the capital gains over the life of the Dow Jones Industrial Average have come on days when Congress is out of session.”

Assorted Links (8/8/2010)

Jim Garven — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 04:53:03 +0000

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

Michael P. Fleischer: Why I’m Not Hiring – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Michael P. Fleischer writes that punishing tax rates discourage job creation by businesses.”

Book review: The Five-Year Party – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Melanie Kirkpatrick reviews The Five-Year Party: How Colleges Have Given Up on Educating Your Child and What You Can Do About It.”

Economics One: The Ryan Roadmap versus the Road to Ruin

johnbtaylorsblog.blogspot.com

“There are alternative plans of course, but at the very least the facts shown in these charts demonstrate that the Ryan Roadmap is a big improvement over the road we are on now.”

Review & Outlook: The Taliban Method and the Brutal Murder of Aid Workers – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“A Wall Street Journal editorial says that the murder of 10 aid workers in Afghanistan reveals the brutal nature of our enemy.”

Canada, the Land of Smaller Government – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Jason Clemens says that Canada’s government for the last 20 years has cut taxes and spending. It is emerging out of the recession faster than the U.S.”

Gary Hubbell: The Redneck tree hugger | AspenTimes.com

www.aspentimes.com

“Barack Obama is the best thing that has happened to America in the last 100 years. Truly, he is the savior of America’s future. He is the best thing (read more)…”

Treasury Lover Bets on Disinflation – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The investment thesis of loyal Treasury-debt buyer Van Hoisington of Hoisington Investment Management cuts to the heart of an important question facing the global economy: Is inflation about to rise or will a chilling deflation take hold?”