There have been a few posts I've read lately involving people scaling down their future work expectations based on planned Obama tax increases. Starting with this hypothetical example, you can quickly go from Jonah Goldberg's desire not to be one of the suckers having to foot the deficit spending orgy to working fewer hours, or,…
A Sign That Government Is Too Powerful
When the blatherings of an abject moron can cause the Dow to tank, that's a bad thing. And I wasn't even talking about Joe Biden there. Unfortunately, it seems that the one thing that Obama, his charges, and Democrats in congress are good at is scaring investors.
Steven Horwitz On Responses To Natural Disasters
Via The Austrian Economists, which includes some good comments. Steven Horwitz was interviewed regarding the differences in responses to natural disasters in different organizations. It's a very interesting discussion in which he notes that Wal-Mart, with a rather decentralized organization structure and profit-oriented mission, did a great job, and notes cases in which store managers…
Notes Of Curmudgeonliness
Government != Taxpayer. Government ownership != taxpayer ownership. Just because you show up to class and do homework doesn't mean you should get a good grade. People nowadays seem to be indelible whiners. Back in my grad school days, there was a lot of complaining about actually having to do general equilibrium models and how…
When Will It End?
$410 billion more down the drain, at least until "moderates" in the Senate wither it down to a bare-bones $409 billion and then Congress tacks on another $100 billion in committee. Surprisingly (at least to me), Heath Shuler voted yes on this. Sadly, part of this bill involves de-funding the Washington DC school choice program. …
Various Economic Notes
"You've all won tax liability!" The Taxpayers Clearinghouse is so absurd that it could only happen in reality. Throwing the money at Tim Geithner---"You're going to take it from us anyways"---was inspired. Brazil is challenging the "Buy American" provisions in the "stimulus" bill. In other words, a stupid provision has the potential to go Smoot-Hawley…
It’s Never As Put Together As It Seems
Political conspiracy theories fail because politicians are clueless. This is not meant in a pejorative sense (for once); rather, the fact that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing is a great summation of Hayek's information problem. For Hayek, decentralized decision-making via certain institutions (such as markets) allows individuals to make…
Bailout Mania Continues
Want to give welfare to millionaires? Yes we can! Alan Reynolds is concerned about inflation. He's not nearly concerned enough---I can see it spiking within the next year and plan not to keep much cash or non-interesting bearing account funds. I'm still looking at getting a Euro-denominated account. Roger Congleton has a paper on the…
Sebelius At HHS?
Kathleen Sebelius may be Obama's choice for Secretary of Health and Human Services. After putting the state of Kansas into fiscal trouble (in part by screwing up their Medicaid system) and trying to get their legislature to violate the state constitution, I guess it's time for her to move up. The only thing stopping her…
The World Of Today
As sung by Spinal Tap.
36 Chambers - The Legendary Journeys: Execution to the max! 