Shockingly poor thinking

Supreme Court Justices in need of remedial economic education.

Understanding the margin

It's key for all of economics, plus the post is about healthcare, which seems to be my thing now.

Helping the Mafia

Russ Nelson has a nice post on how Elliot Spitzer is helping the Mafia make money by going after people who charge high interest rates. Except that he makes a very common mistake and calls them interest rates. Conceptually/essentially the post is right on, but it is a basic error of language an economist should know.

However mortgage rates and Treasury rates [or other loan rates] are determined, neither of them are interest rates per se -- they are both nothing more than the yields of particular securities that reflect interest rates....Interest rates are an abstraction. They are, by definition, the opportunity cost of money across time -- and opportunity cost is a function, mostly, of expected growth rates and expected inflation.

Probably premature

There aren't any posts to link to yet, but I'm adding the Gary Becker/Richard Posner blog to my links list now. You know, to beat the rush which will inevitably occur. They are both quite brilliant, so I'm sure it will become a popular site soon.

Back to healthcare

Messed up incentives in New York.

Coincidence?

I just so happen to sit about 5 feet away from someone who fits the qualifications perfectly.

Two-fer

Deroy Murdock on the cost of drugs and on libertarian citizenship (second via Tom G).

WTF

It's long been a part of the libertarian/free-market...ethos (not sure if that's the right word, but anyway) that socialist economies can't make the calculations necessary to produce. Prices play a critical role in transmitting information to consumers and producers as to how they should use their resources. Apparently, it's not just economic thinking that gets messed up (via The Balko). I mean, really, did this really sound like a good idea on any level? Read the whole thing, and then tell me again about the goodness of socialism.

Funny 'cause they're true

Rating professors (via the Door)

Contrarianism

Jude on the Ukraine election. I can't really say whether it's a good analysis or not, but it is different from what you'll see in the MSM.

Mindset

Taking apart the insult/non-argument about pre-9/11 mindsets. For me, 9/11 reprioritized and clarified some things, but did not 'completely change the way I look at the world'. I already knew most of the things that the neocons and similar types in the administration are still messing up completely.

Ah, the 80's

It's Wham Rap!

Funny, in a sick way

but not safe for work, unless your boss ain't around (via Farm Accident Digest)

Thanksgivingonomics

From William Bradford.

Thank you, New Zealand

Nice going.

This doesn't look good

Possible/likely election fraud in the Ukraine.

Exactly

It's not that we don't care, it's that we understand this quote well. Well, maybe some of us don't care, but they're a minority.

Explosion...

of some economic mythology.

Pull out

For everyone who says we can't leave Iraq without creating a mess.

Market what?

The FDA knew about problems with the flu vaccine. Guess who gets the blame?

And now for something completely different

Turning bad vodka good (via Newmark)

Still more

on healthcare/the FDA.

More healthcare

McBride on Romney on healthcare reform.
More on the FDA.

Nicely done

Justi Raimondo curbs his enthusiasm/anger and writes a very nice piece on the struggle for freedom.

Black and white, or gray?

Is the world black and white, or is it gray? Well, of course it's all of the above. There are absolutes, and there are areas of uncertainty. Economics is almost all gray, that's why we need to abolish, or at least radically defang, institutions like the FDA. The FDA pretends that safety and effectiveness are absolutes, that either a drug is or isn't this things, when in fact they fall along spectrums. I need information to make decisions regarding which drugs are right for me, but no one can make the decision that's best for me, except for me.

FU FCC

Apparently the FCC is busy reinventing itself. If I understand correctly, their justification is switching from it's hard scarce to it's not scarce. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

MNF flap

By now I'm sure you've heard about the controversy about ABC's introduction to their Monday Night Football telecast. While I think the segment was kind of dumb and needless, so what? ABC should be allowed to be dumb and needless if they want to. Check out this post on it quoting a few different articles. Not really sure where Tony Dungy gets that it's racist. Just because a black man was involved in something dumb doesn't make the dumb thing racist. What really annoys me is Michael Powell.

While we get a lot of broadcasting companies complaining
about indecency enforcement, they seem to be continuing
to be willing to keep the issue at the forefront, keep it hot
and steamy in order to get financial gains and the free
advertising it provides.

Basically, doing something and then complaining about that thing being banned makes you a hypocrit. Nice.

He wuz robbed!

Or, not properly recognized anyway. I agree with Vlad winning, but Sheffield should have been fifth not second, Tejada third, and Manny barely second behind Guerrero. Manny was definitely better than Sheff.

Debunked

That IQs in blue states are higher than in red states. Or at least shown to not be shown.

An interesting take on abortion

Wanniski writes to Specter.

As The Agitator says...

Life and satire inch closer (via MR)

Electric Bugaloo

Just what you've always needed!
This kind of reminds of someone I like to call Mom. For me though it's the seven o'clock morning dove that is unmistakable.

Funny 'cause it's true

Getting down to the essentials.

UCR of about 93

It doesn't get much better than Ron Artest.

Limousine liberals

Tom Wolfe on the insularity of many liberals. (via Newmark's Door)

I guess this is the opposite of ass kissing

Interesting motivational technique. Hope my boss doesn't try it. (via The Master of None)

Dept of: Why I'm not a Republican

You don't have to be pro-choice to find this disgusting. Or you shouldn't anyway.

Best news I've heard in a while

Ashcroft resigns! Of course, we said whoever succeeded Reno couldn't be worse, and they apparently took that as a challenge, so let's just be optimistic that the new guy will be better.

Rules to live by

1. Never get less than 12 hours sleep
2. Never play cards with a guy with the same first name as a city
3. Never go near a lady with a tattoo of a dagger on her body

Everything else is cream cheese.

(What movie is it? And don't cheat)

Post election anger..... is spreading

and funny. This site struck me as particularly good as an expression of the anger some of us "liberal elitists" are feeling.

Devolving power

Reese on how we should think of ourselves and how to organize our government. I don't totally agree with it, but it has some good stuff. "It is both cheaper and more efficient to bribe one federal official than to have to bribe 50 state officials."

Ha

For any lawyers you know.

Superstition

Still a part of life (not so much the initial beliefs as the resistance to change after demonstration of their inaccuracy).

Good?

Atrios shows why I can't take him completely seriously. I know you get more votes with money than vinegar, but he states explicitly that he thinks it's a bad idea and that Democrats should probably use it in the next election. Maybe you, my reader, think it's a good idea, that's fine even though I disagree. But you can't really criticize the other party's inherit dishonesty or proclaim yourself a "proud member of the reality-based community" if you go about things in this way, Duncan.

Visual cues

Akst on business objects affecting mindsets and behavior.
Balko shows us a pretty cool map of the election, color-coded by strength of the Kerry or Bush victory in each county and sized according to population. It kind of looks like a heart to me, a warped heart, but a heart nonetheless.

Blame the victim? Moi?

I am sympathetic to many gay rights issues. For example, I think the state should treat gay and straight marriages equally. Many people think that gay people pushing their issues, particularly in ways that circumvent our established democratic procedures, caused a backlash and may have cost Democrats the election. While I think that's probably not what cost Kerry, it probably did hurt other Dems in their own elections. Am I blaming the victim? I don't think so. Yelling at people that they're wrong generally won't get good results. Even if they realize deep down that you're right, instead of admitting their error and moving on, most people will get their backs up, and I can't say I blame them (I know I can be guilty of both sides of this dynamic, and feel free to call me on it when applicable). There are a lot of people who are squimish about gay marriage, but also don't hate gay people. By all means try to convince them that you are right, but please do it without the condescension or by forcing the issue. Demographics are on your side, reason is on your side, compassion is on your side, don't put morality partly on theirs with bad tactics.

Scopes revisited

Some are apparently talking about the election as if they are the evolutionaries in the Scopes Trial. Perhaps, but you might want to read this first before making that analogy.

Good advice

For the Prez.

Just struck me

A couple of good quotes.

Stupidity

Nelson (sadly not Pedro's friend Nelson, just some economist) asks if poor people are stupid, then follows up on a comment he received.
Last night some chick said something like,"Some people are just so stupid that you have to tell them what to do to protect them from themselves," talking about government regulations. Her moral righteousness and complete contempt for people are what struck me as much as the comment itself. What makes you think that you are smarter than other people? Nothing you said the entire night made me think you were anything other than a mediocrity. What makes you think you have the right to tell others to live how you want them to? If I want to be an idiot and I'm not endangering others, fuck off.

Descent

I think we're about to see the birth of a new term for going crazy, something along the lines of Reiding, or pulling a Reid. Maybe something else a little more clever, but regardless, check out how far Tara Reid had fallen here, here and here.

Wow

Check out these maps of county-by-county voting in the 2000 and 2004 elections. It's amazing how spread out the Republican vote is and how concentrated the Democrats are. Not a huge surprise, but still, interesting. Not sure what the implications are going forward.

They really do tax everything

Interesting info on illegal income and the IRS (mostly in the comments section).

Btw

Impeach Bush.

4 more years

Well, Bush won, fair and square. At least, as fair and square as the other side. I reiterate my opinion that it won't matter a whole lot. Some areas he'll be worse than Kerry would have been, some better. People who think Roe v Wade will be overturned are way overreacting, people who thought Kerry wouldn't fight the terrorists were fear-mongering. I'm hopeful that many of the dumb things Bush did were because he thought (rightly or wrongly) that they'd help him win the election and so now he'll be a lot better, chiefly in controlling spending and actually fighting the wars he starts. I'm not naive enough to think he'll stop doing dumb things, like starting wars he shouldn't and holding grudges against people and organizations that want to help (see the IAEA primarily). And here's a hopeful thought.
As for my own voting, I came as close as possible to voting for Kerry without doing it. I fully intended to when I walked into my voting location. But when I was holding the pen in hand looking down at the circles, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I had to vote as close to my conscious as the choices allowed, and that meant Badnarik. I know he's nutty, even for a Libertarian, but he's not Kerry, he's not Bush, and he's an actual vote against the Iraq war, and that's the most important issue in the election (or should have been). I sometimes deride voting as a waste of time, but that doesn't mean I'm going to lie about what I want by voting for the douchebag or the turd sandwich.

Enunciate

Tom Palmer on how to give a talk.

Apparently evolutionists have been spreading their evil cult far and wide, but not to worry, Cassidy Turnbull can prove that her Uncle is no Monkey

I.... ummm...... well, you just have to read it for yourself. My favorite section, you ask?

"Jonathan Goode (grade 7) applied findings from many fields of science tosupport his conclusion that God designed women for homemaking: physics shows that women have a lower center of gravity than men, making them more suited to carrying groceries and laundry baskets; biology shows that women were designed to carry un-born babies in their wombs and to feed born babies milk, making them the natural choice for child rearing; social sciences show that the wages for women workers are lower than for normal workers, meaning that they are unable to work as well and thus earn equal pay; and exegetics shows that God created Eve as a companion for Adam, not as a co-worker."

In other news: VOTE FOR KERRY.

K-I-T, Keep it Together

Whatever happens today, remember, it doesn't really matter much. And here's my prediction: based on some fairly reliable data I won't disclose, there will be a clear winner. My guess is Kerry, but I'm less sure of that than that we will have a winner today.

Awesome

An alternative to voting (via Catallarchy)

An interesting idea

Help build a national exam for presidential candidates.

A line of thinking I don't understand

Favoring the development of nukes in Iran as a good thing for the US.

Racist!

More on IQ.

Want $100,000?

Register at voteornot.org. It seems legit, as it's part of hotornot.com.