November 2011
2 posts
October 2011
2 posts
September 2011
1 post
Rick Perry and HPV vaccine-maker have deep... →
Always, always follow the money.
“America is a scooter-bound glutton who, when its continuously increasing mass...”
– http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/08/fiscal-reform (posted by wilkes)
August 2011
2 posts
July 2011
1 post
“The U.S. Constitution mentions three federal crimes by citizens: treason, piracy...”
– WSJ: As Criminal Laws Proliferate, More Are Ensnared
June 2011
6 posts
The Billion Prices Project
The Billion Prices Project is an academic initiative that uses prices collected from hundreds of online retailers around the world on a daily basis to conduct economic research.
A project like this has the potential to provide high-frequency (daily?) inflation data as well as price transparency that formerly may have relied on nationally available information.
May 2011
9 posts
$90,000 fine for "unlicensed selling of rabbits." →
That’s especially so since the Dollarhites face no accusation they mistreated any animals. Instead, they committed what’s called in regulatory parlance a “paperwork violation” under the Animal Welfare Act, a 1966 law intended to prevent the abuse of animals.
The fine is part of a campaign to step up enforcement of the law that has included levying fines on magicians who use rabbits in magic...
Beware of the yogurt →
Alas, after three months of operating (for about $300 in revenues a week, and no profit at all), she encountered that other American tradition, red tape (after the red bands that used to hold bundles of bureaucratic papers together in the old days). For although she had spent a year getting the required permits from Orange County, she had, it turned out, yet to make the acquaintance of the “milk...
WatchThe Story of Economics
Freedom of exchange is our heritage, and our destiny.
Video via Marginal Revolution.
"Why Did Police Kill My Dad?" →
April 2011
15 posts
Police beating of Las Vegas man caught on tape -... →
via ni.hili.st
“[Healthcare] is virtually the only part of the economy where I can go out and...”
– Steven Levitt on the Freakonomics podcast. Good to know even a relatively “mainstream” economist understands this simple point.
A Thought Experiment
Michael Huemer asks his students to imagine being a neighborhood vigilante. Suppose, he says, you live in a crime-ridden neighborhood, and nothing’s being done about it. So you hunt down criminals and lock them in your basement.
After awhile, you bill your neighbors for keeping the neighborhood safe. You tell neighbors who balk that not paying means they’ll land in the basement brig...
Inflation is typically the symptom of an economy overheating. Workers can’t keep up with the demand for the vast array of things they make. Abundant dollars pursue scarce goods and services, forcing prices and wages up. The solution is simple enough: Central banks, such as the Federal Reserve, increase interest rates, applying brakes to the economy.
The Washington Post is either completely...
““There were scenes of policemen holding down men in their night robes...”
– NPR: How The ‘Pox’ Epidemic Changed Vaccination Rules
“The main gain of modern man has been the weakening of governments....”
– HL Mencken’s Notebooks, p. 17
Is it a criminal offense to irritate a U.S. attorney? Apparently so. If the case of Siobhan Reynolds is any indication, it’s a serious offense that can cost a person a lot of money as well as her freedom to speak in public — without ever being charged with a conventional crime.
— Freeman Online - Victim of the State, Part 2
Reynolds advocated legal self-medication for those with chronic...
March 2011
9 posts
“Government, also, is a collective. It differs from the mob in that it is...”
– Leonard E. Read - Conscience on the Battlefield (via truongbui)
“Economists are often asked to predict what the economy is going to do. But...”
– Both from Thomas Sowell, via CARPE DIEM
“Police officers responded to a family’s complaint that their diabetic son...”
– Courthouse News and The Salt Lake Tribune
Quoth the Krugman, “Spend some more.” →
“It seems to be difficult if not impossible for human beings to avoid thinking of...”
– HL Menken in Minority Report, via Don Boudreaux
“In his infamous “Babel Proclamation,” Governor William L. Harding of...”
– The fascinating “Last Call” by Daniel Okrent, page 101. This was during the run-up to ratification of the 18th Amendment and during World War 1.
Biden deeply critical of recent US policy. Not.
In a fantasy world, via Russ Roberts:
Vice President Joe Biden, in the centerpiece of his revised policy position, told a university audience that business and investment in the United States are being held back by corruption, lapses in the rule of law and impediments to true democracy.
In the area of corruption, Biden was referring to the...
January 2011
3 posts
Ohio: Lawsuit: Diabetic 'pummeled,' shocked by... →
At first we read:
A sheriff’s office investigation found excessive force was used, and four of the officers involved were punished.
This is followed shortly by:
For violating the sheriff’s office rules on use of excessive force, Haynes was suspended 10 days without pay. Wissel was suspended five days and Wolf for two days. Stuckey was suspended for 10 days for violations related to...