Various Curmudgeonly Notes

Today’s feeling like a curmudgeonly day, so here’s some Get Off My Lawn.

• Light rail is a money-loser.
• Mike Munger has his own version of Economics in One Lesson.  Welcome to how most of the world (including every government) operates.
• Richard Lugar has a primary opponent, one who has Club for Growth backing.  The best thing from the 2010 election wasn’t so much that Republicans in the Senate gained seats, but rather that they also swapped out a few of their worst candidates for better ones (examples include Charlie Crist and Bob Bennett).  Seeing Lugar be one of the 2012 dumpees would be a nice outcome.
• Jim Geraghty notes a Quinnipiac poll which indicates that most Ohioans favor right-to-work legislation.  I’d like to see that along with some of the less controversial pieces of Senate Bill 5, including the provision which made it so that years of longevity did not factor into layoffs, as well as more flexibility in pay ranges replacing a longevity-based step system.  Just because you wormed into the state bureaucracy and have stuck around for a couple of decades doesn’t mean you actually provide value.
• If small businesses aren’t hiring, there’s an economic problem.  It looks like, during pretty good times, the hiring number would be int he 20% range; right now, it’s at 13%.