Russell Roberts's Blog, page 1570

Commerical Hal

Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson is appalled that producers of branded consumer products help to fund – and, hence, get their products featured in – many Hollywood movies.

I wonder if he's equally appalled that the very same Internet pages on which his column appears today are funded in part by – and, hence, feature ads for – Open Skies Airlines, Ryan Homes, Sprint, Fidelity Investments, and (egads!) the American Petroleum Institute?  Should Post readers conclude that the quality and ...

Presidential Interns

Here's a letter sent to the Wall Street Journal:

So the Obama administration is rescuing exploited American youth from working as unpaid interns at for-profit companies ("War on Interns," April 7).

It's unclear, however, why the same young people whom the President judges to be unfit to choose for themselves whether or not to work as unpaid interns at for-profit firms are fit to choose for themselves whether or not to work as unpaid interns at not-for-profit organizations.  So I urge this...

Holy Moley!

Here's a letter sent today to WTOP, a DC-area news-radio station:

A talking-head interviewed this afternoon by Hillary Howard and Shawn Anderson expressed his "hope that Barack Obama may yet turn out to be another Franklin Roosevelt."

I hope not, in part because I know what Raymond Moley – organizer of F.D.R.'s original 'Brain Trust' and author of much of Roosevelt's first inaugural address – said of that President in 1936: "I was impressed as never before by the utter lack of logic of the...

Some Links

James Klein, in the Wall Street Journal, on the controversial 'controversy' stirred up by the White House and Waxman over recent corporate writedowns:

As for the government's assertion that companies are failing to adequately account for all the savings they will enjoy from health-care reform, isn't that exactly the kind of "creative" accounting that got Enron in trouble? Even assuming the administration is right that the various features of the new law will reduce future health costs, it...

Debating the Merits and Morality of Trade

The eloquent, wise, and well-informed Scott Lincicome debates free trade with Ian Fletcher of the US Business and Industry Council).  Very much worth the read.

Begin here.

Then go here.

And then here.

The Immorality of Protectionism

Here's a letter that I sent two years ago to the Wall Street Journal (HT to my buddy Kerry Dugas for digging it up and noting its relevance in light of my recent discussion with Lou Dobbs):

Carlos Gutierrez and Arnold Schwarzenegger justifiably point out many of the economic advantages of free trade ("Keep America Open to Trade," May 12). The case against protectionism is significantly strengthened by such consequentialist arguments – arguments that I and other economists routinely and...

Just the Facts

Here's an interesting clip of Pres. Obama starring in an episode of Dragnet.  (HT Frayda Levy)

Romance and Realism in Politics and Markets

In today's Washington Post, Robert Samuelson observes that

American politics caters to people's natural desire to think well of themselves.  But in so doing, it often sacrifices pragmatic goals and sows rancor….

He's correct.

Because no single vote determines an election's outcome – that outcome will be what it will be no matter how any individual votes – each voter can express his or her moral sensibilities free of charge.  No need to weigh carefully the costs and benefits of invading Iraq; no ...

Some Links

Glenn Reynolds reflects on the 'knowledge problem' and concludes that even a much smarter Henry Waxman would be dangerous.

Mary Anastasia O'Grady isn't very optimistic about Brazil's future.

Bart Hinkle wonders why the mainstream media threat Tea Party protestors differently than they treated anti-war and anti-globalization protestors.

Cato's Bob Levy discusses, in this podcast (with GMU student Caleb Brown), the constitutionality of Obamacare.

Dan Ikenson is the anti-Lou-Dobbs on matters...

Teddy Obama

Here's a letter sent today to the Washington Post:

Simon Johnson and James Kwak want Pres. Obama to channel Teddy Roosevelt ("To battle Wall Street, Obama should channel Teddy Roosevelt," April 4).  I don't; I want him to to not-channel T.R.

According to H.L. Mencken – a first-hand, careful, and clear-eyed observer of the now-sainted Rough Rider – "Roosevelt, for all his fluent mastery of democratic counter-words, democratic gestures and all the rest of the armamentarium of the mob-master, had...