Happy Freedom Day

Celebrate freedom.

Rent-Seeking Made Easy

How can you sell a dollar for more than a dollar? Trick people into paying for all bids in an auction.  That way, because people don’t understand the notion of sunk costs, they keep bidding to try to minimize their losses, but that generally just compounds them.

Bending The Cost Curve By Confusion

If you look at what will become our new federal health bureaucracy (in the event that Obamacare gets through the Senate), you wouldn’t think that a vast expansion of the federal bureaucracy would lead to lower costs (especially when people don’t care how they spend other peoples’ money), but that’s just a trick of the imagination.  You see, lots of federal bureaucracies “bend the cost curve” significantly when they take over purchasing.  For example, when the military spends $600 on a toilet seat, just think how much more it would cost if it didn’t have negotiating power!

The Latest In Divining Rod Technology

For just $16,500 to $60,000 a pop, you can buy the same divining rods the Iraqi government is using to find all kinds of bad (and good!) things. I’d be willing to sell them for just $8000 apiece, personally, but mine aren’t as fancy—they don’t have plastic-coated cardboard cards, unfortunately.

An Open Letter to George Kokinis… er… Ernie Accorsi… er… Eric Manigini?

I thought I’d try this since it worked so well for Kevin.

Dear Sir, Madam, or Vegetable, whoever is running the Browns these days,

I am a loyal Browns fan. I actually went to a Browns game at Municipal Stadium, thus making me hardcore even if I was an infant at the time and don’t remember it.

I feel that the Browns organization is lacking direction at the moment. After a fairly successful draft, in which we acquired an awesome lineman, two capable wide receivers, and some quality linebackers (albeit projects), this season has gone to hell, not in a hand-basket, mind you, but more of a fireman’s pole. A fireman’s pole that has been greased with lard. The lard, needless to say, has been greased with more lard.

Now, I am a realist, and fully expected we would win less than half of our games this year. I would have been pleased with 7-9. Instead, we are 1-8, and are spared from another loss solely by the bye week. Now, 7-9 is still feasible, but unlikely.

Ultimately, benching Brady Quinn was a phenomenally stupid decision. Yes, I know that we would have paid him more money if we let him play, but seriously, where did you come up with that one? Our sole win of the season came in spite of Derek Anderson, not because of him. Brady Quinn cures malaria!! It’s on a blog, and therefore is now fact.

Anderson has exactly one noticeable skill – throwing deep passes. It’s all he can do. In fact, I’m fairly sure while passing the salt at the dinner table, he chucks it 60 yards, out of anyone’s reach, rather than simply passing it. When you have a brilliant receiver corps — like he did in his Pro Bowl year — you can make that work. Instead of recognizing this liability, you have chosen to embrace it, for in your infinite wisdom, a 60 yard incompletion is better than a five yard completion.

Now, in order to make your phenomenally stupid decision even more phenomenally stupid, you then trade the sole deep threat on your team to the Jets. Now, the draft day deals got us quality players, so I backed you on that. When you traded Edwards, I thought you did it for chemistry and that it impended the return of Quinn. And yet, I was wrong. You continue to insist, beyond any reasonable expectation of loyalty, that Derek Anderson gives us a better chance to win games. He doesn’t!

I understand that the former regime, particularly Romeo Crennell, was passive. Indeed, Crennell was a fatter, even more comatose Art Shell. However, there are other alternatives to doing nothing than doing everything. Phil Savage, while an excellent builder of teams, should have traded Derek Anderson after his improbable Pro Bowl season. Then, you would not have had an alternative apart from Quinn and Ratliff, who even Mangini admits sucks.

The team is in such dire straits that Jamal Lewis, the least sucky running back in Browns 2.0 history, has announced his retirement. Twice. In mid season! Thus, you have alienated your possible QB of the future, who should be the QB of the past, and you will also have no running back.

If the subtle subtext of my letter has not gotten to you, let me spell it out. PLAY BRADY QUINN. I don’t care what you do with Derek Anderson: trade him, cut him, sell him on the white slave market (there could be demand for people with a tremendous throwing arm and no accuracy in Dubai or something), or simply (my personal choice) decapitate him and spike his head on a pole as a warning to others. I’m not sure what the warning is, other than don’t be Derek Anderson, but that, my friend, is warning enough.

Also, if you reply, please tell me who is in charge of the Browns. If it turns out it’s me, let me know, because I’ve got changes to make and a pike to sharpen.

Sincerely,

The Penguatroll

36 Chambers – The Legendary Journeys

Geeking Out On Thursday

After reading Lachmann, this article on the status of the N vs NP problem should be pretty easy.

Lachmann Wednesday

I don’t have time for a real post, so when in doubt, go with Lachmann.

Next Steps…

Megan McArdle asks what the next step will be for California after forced withholding increases. There’s always the simple answer of raising taxes but offering “rebates” at the end of the year.  All you have to do is fill out a form (which you can find in the basement filing cabinet of your local ministry of taxation planning.  It’s the one behind the pillar back in the corner, and if you can’t find it, it’s your own fault), make sure that the form you fill out is entirely correct (or else your rebate request is null and void) and sent in by August 30.  Please allow 6-8 years for processing and shipping, and make sure to photocopy all of your documentation—otherwise, your rebate cannot be processed.

Other than that, they can go with the old monarchy stand-by:  “requests” for funding from banks and wealthy individuals.  When that money is spent, the ruling class can then pretend that the money was a “donation” and that the other people did not understand the “deal” in place.

Finally, California already tried the IOU thing but maybe they can go the next step:  state scrip.  Force all employees to be paid in that and that all institutions accept it as legal tender.  Yeah, sure, it’s not constitutional, but who cares about that old parchment anymore?  Certainly not the far-sighted individuals in that great state.

They Say You Do What You’re Good At

For Raiders receivers, it’s falling down.

Bicycles Must Be A Public Good

In Paris, rent-controlled bicycles are, shall we say, not depreciating at a friendly rate. Clearly, even though these are government-funded and -controlled, the market for rental bicycles has failed and the only way to make things better is for the government to take, by force, all bicycles in France.  And other vehicles, given the proclivity of carbecues.