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.”

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.”

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.”

How Companies Track Corporate Reputation – The Numbers Guy – WSJ

blogs.wsj.com 

“How polling firms and other companies track corporate reputation, from monitoring social networks to surveying thousands of people daily.”

Medicare Actuary Questions Obamacare Savings | Foxnews.com

politics.blogs.foxnews.com

“The actuaries at Medicare are the nonpolitical guardians of government health care spending and are seen as stubbornly independent.And they are warning that the assumptions the administration is relying on to fund its health care policy may create enormous problems for Medicare — just as tens of millions of baby boomers start retiring.”

The World Drills On – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal editorial board writes on how the rest of the world continues to drill in deep water, ignoring the Obama moratorium.”

Thomas F. Siems: Government and the Uncertainty Trap – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com 

“In The Wall Street Journal, Thomas Siems of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank says that it is not a lack of liquidity that’s holding back our economy. Investors and business leaders are waiting to learn more about future taxes and regulations.”

Mr. Fairness – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com 

“In The Wall Street Journal, Kimberley Strassel interviews Ken Feinberg, the pay czar, BP claims administrator, and 9/11 victims fund manager.”

TaxVox: the Tax Policy Center blog :: In Defense of Congressman Paul Ryan

taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org

“Given that columnist Paul Krugman relied on Tax Policy Center estimates to level claims that Congressman Paul Ryan is a “flimflam man” and that Ryan’s plan to address our fiscal problems is a “fraud,” I think a defense of the Congressman is in order.”

When Labor Is Capital: The Limits of Keynesian Policy

www.american.com

“The economic mystery of 2010 is the persistence of high unemployment, in spite of stimulus that follows the prescription of the prevailing Keynesian orthodoxy. Here’s an alternative to that orthodoxy.”

Dana Mack: Now What for Marriage, After the Federal Ruling Against California’s Proposition 8 

online.wsj.com

“Dana Mack writes … about the implications of this week’s ruling by a federal judge that the same-sex marriage ban enshrined in California’s Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.” 

John Murray: The ‘C’ Should Stay in the YMCA 

online.wsj.com 

“John Murray writes … about the YMCA’s new branding strategy and name change, to the Y, and says neither effort will make the organization any more effective at service to the community than the original YMCA always was.”

Peggy Noonan: America Is at Risk of Boiling Over – WSJ.com 

online.wsj.com 

“And out-of-touch leaders don’t see the need to cool things off, Peggy Noonan writes in The Wall Street Journal.”

Charles Krauthammer – Annals of executive overreach

www.washingtonpost.com

“In a democracy, administrators administer the law; they don’t change it.”

Obama Declares Auto Bailout a Success – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The president said last year’s $60 billion rescue of GM and Chrysler saved an estimated one million jobs… Alan Blinder of Princeton University and Mark Zandi of Moody’s, estimated that the rescue of GM during by the Bush and Obama administrations ultimately will cost taxpayers about $29 billion. They said the ultimate cost of helping Chrysler will come to $8 billion.”

If the Blinder/Zandi estimates are reasonably accurate, and if we take President Obama at his word (notwithstanding my previous critiques concerning the administration’s “jobs created or saved” metric), this comes out to a cost per job “saved” of $37,000.  It is important and quite necessary here that we distinguish between the concepts of “direct” and “indirect” costs.  The Blinder/Zandi estimates represent direct costs associated with the bailouts; i.e., actual net cash flow provided by taxpayers which can be attributed to the GM and Chrysler bailouts.  Unfortunately, we’ll have to live with the much larger “indirect” costs for many years to come. As the late economist Milton Friedman was fond of pointing out, capitalism is a profit and loss system. Profits encourage risk taking, whereas losses encourage prudence. However, when taxpayers absorb losses instead of investors, this encourages investors to engage in reckless and imprudent risk taking. For more on the corrosive effects of bailouts and crony capitalism, be sure to read Russ Roberts’ succinct (and non-technical) essay entitled “How Little We Know: The Challenges of Financial Reform” (see http://bit.ly/7dvQhT).

Are Bonds Expensive? Stocks Cheap? Or Both? – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“After consistently lagging behind bond performance this year, stocks appear historically cheap compared to bonds, offering investors reason to favor stocks, particularly if they are optimistic about the economic outlook. But stocks may be cheap because the outlook is dim, meaning bonds—from Treasurys to corporate debt—could continue to outperform for the foreseeable future.”

Alternative Ways to Gather Census Data – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Census Bureau combines threats of penalties with painstaking follow-up to track down census evaders and gather a complete survey of the U.S. population. Some data experts say a European-style registration system would be more accurate and cheaper.”

The Democrats Have a Concentration Problem — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

www.american.com

“Will Republicans gain the net 40 seats they need for a majority in the House? Several factors will certainly help.”

Peak Water – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“The Wall Street Journal writes that solar power mandates can reduce water supply in Southwestern states.”

Ron Radosh: Oliver Stone’s ‘Empathy’ for Hitler – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

In The Wall Street Journal, Ron Radosh writes that Oliver Stone’s new documentary on America’s ‘secret history’ will be just another far left narrative.

Afghanistan, July, 2010 – The Big Picture – Boston.com

www.boston.com

Kim Strassel: A GOP Energy Alternative – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In The Wall Street Journal, Potomac Watch columnist Kimberley Strassel says Devin Nunes’s nuclear proposal would do more to reduce carbon emissions than any Democratic plan on the table.”

Peter Ferrara: Beware the Balanced Budget Deal – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Peter Ferrara of the Institute for Policy Innovation argues that Washington’s usual approach to balancing the federal budget never works. Instead, tax cuts and major entitlement reform are required.”

Joseph R. Mason: Congress’s Hugo Chavez Bailout Bill – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Joseph Mason writes that proposed changes to the tax code would cost U.S. jobs and strengthen foreign competitors like China and Venezuela.”

Peggy Noonan: Try a Little Tenderness – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“Peggy Noonan argues in The Wall Street Journal that Chris Christie, not the Tea Party, is the model for the Republicans.”

Newt Gingrich and David Merritt: Who Decides on Health Care Value? – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“In the Wall Street Journal, Newt Gingrich and David Merritt report that new rules to micromanage insurance companies could cost patients.”

Charitable Giving in a Recession – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com

nytimes.com

“A new report, based on the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy’s Individual Giving Model (IGM), estimates that individual charitable giving was down 4.9% percent in 2009.”

Faithless Lawmakers – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“James Taranto on why the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact should die.”

Doctors fleeing faster | medicare, doctors, patients – Opinion – The Orange County Register

www.ocregister.com

Quoting from this article’s conclusion: “The solution? Putting doctors and patients, not government bureaucrats, in charge of medical decisions. Congress must restructure Medicare to allow seniors more choice and control over their health spending, including allowing them to continue to join private plans with incentives for doctors to provide more efficient care, and to get paid enough to continue seeing patients.” The approach to reform outlined in this article is logically consistent with the approach that I outlined on my blog in August 2009 (see “My preferred approach for reforming health care…“).

David Cameron: A Staunch and Self-Confident Ally – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“British Prime Minister David Cameron writes in The Wall Street Journal that the U.S. and Britain have a clear common agenda: succeeding in Afghanistan, securing economic growth and fighting protectionism.”

You Don’t Have to Pay for Cable TV

www.moneytalksnews.com

“The average cable subscription costs $900 a year, but you can radically reduce that amount and still watch everything you want.”

Leeds: Chew on this: There is no surplus fairy for Social Security

www.statesman.com

Here’s the bottom line from Sandy Leeds’ editorial, published in today’s Austin American Statesman:

“The bottom line is that we’re in trouble. Social Security is woefully underfunded and Medicare is an even larger problem. This is going to increase the amount that we’re going to have to borrow from investors – and there’s no certainty that investors will always be willing to lend to us. Most importantly, we’re never going to solve these problems until the electorate understands the issues and starts to pressure our elected officials into making the hard (but right) decisions. We’re not doing anyone any favors by convincing them that we have “built up a big trust fund.”"

Economics One: New Data Show the Debt Problem Is Spending (not Taxes) and Obamacare Worsens the Problem

johnbtaylorsblog.blogspot.com

Quoting from Stanford Professor John Taylor’s Blog (Economics One): “Everyone now seems to agree that the exploding federal debt is a serious problem that must be addressed. But how? The following … charts provide some data to help answer that question.”

Review & Outlook: A Climate Absolution? – WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

“A Wall Street Journal editorial says the global warming alarmists still won’t separate science from politics.”

Firms cancel health coverage

www.boston.com

Here’s what we have to look forward to as Obamacare starts to come “on line” (Massachusetts passed so-called Romneycare in 2006, and Obamacare structurally closely resembles Romneycare, only on a national as opposed to individual state level)… “The relentlessly rising cost of health insurance is prompting some small Massachusetts companies to drop coverage for their workers and encourage them to sign up for state-subsidized care instead, a trend that, some analysts say, could eventually weigh heavily on the state’s already-stressed budgets”.

Studying a Suicide Cluster at Foxconn – The Numbers Guy – WSJ

blogs.wsj.com

“To analyze whether a recent spate of suicides at a set of Chinese manufacturing facilities represents an unusual outbreak, it helps to make the right comparisons.”

-Bertrand Russell