I was talking to my girlfriend last night, in my usual service as assistant for the “International Debate” class she’s currently taking and the subject of kleptocracy came up, I believe in the context of a larger discussion about the IMF and World Bank. I don’t rightly recall, actually, but it was something like […]
Via TheBlogfather comes news about 435 Blogs in 435 Districts. Now, I’m a big fan of the Porkbuster’s project, although I do think it is doomed to the sort of failure and mainstream irrelevance that one can ususally only count on from the leftosphere. That said, I think this is a worthwhile endevour.
I […]
I’ve been thinking a lot the past few weeks about College. Not so much the drunken memories of bad ideas from yesteryear, but rather about the sort of violence problems inherent in the system. There’s a lot sort of wrong with higher education in this country, but having a rather small sample I […]
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and […]
A few days after posting her personal bleg, JMPP posted an explanation about her no-religion policy. Now, as I said in comments over there, I think she’s painting with far too wide a brush: because not all religionists are weird nutters who’ll try to convert you. Full disclosure: my girlfriend is a believer, […]
There is no question that Don Boudreaux, chair of George Mason Universitie’s Economics Department, is smarter than I am. Absolutely none, and this piece about the horrors of Chavez’s Venezuela, and the general child-like mentality of dictators, is a must-read. I think, in general, he nails it:
What is government, especially of the sort […]
Mark Thoma suggests that setting a “really bad default” would likely make people start paying much more attention to their retirement planning in the form of employer-sponsored 401(k) plans. He links to this NYT piece that suggests perhaps a default contribution rate of 15% pre-tax salary would be enough to get people involved. […]
Sullivan gives a virus update, and has this to say about “BigPharma” (as it is known, in accordance with prophesy):
I guess I should add that these not atypical results show that although basic scientific research must be funded by government, the “evil” pharmaceutical companies are, in fact, among the most beneficent organizations in the history […]
Or that’s mostly the point, anyway. Hattip to Mark Thoma, whose post pointed me to the article, but Professor Thoma misunderstands part of Boaz’s point. The libertarian argument against too much economic intervention is that economic liberty is inextricably tied to personal liberty. If we allow the government to intervene beyond what […]
“Mindles H. Dreck” makes a point that I’ve made before. His graphics are better than mine, so you might want to take a look. Also, the comment section quickly demonstrates exactly why I don’t have them. The sixth comment in, and Kevin Drum proves exactly why I never bother paying attention to […]
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