Russell Roberts's Blog, page 1587

Renminbi ad absurdum

The U.S. government argues that China unjustly benefits itself by keeping the yuan undervalued.

If this argument is correct, why doesn't Beijing arrange for the yuan's value to be even lower – say, $0?  If the Chinese were simply to give yuan to Americans, Americans' demands for Chinese exports would soar even higher.  China's export industries would boom even more magnificently.  And presumably (according the logic of Uncle Sam's argument) the Chinese would prosper even more splendidly, if...

CSPAN video

My discussion with Sam Fleischaker on Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations is here.

For a sixth grader

Thomas Friedman writes in the New York Times:

Of the festivals of nonsense that periodically overtake American politics, surely the silliest is the argument that because Washington is having a particularly snowy winter it proves that climate change is a hoax and, therefore, we need not bother with all this girly-man stuff like renewable energy, solar panels and carbon taxes. Just drill, baby, drill.

He's right in principle. One observation doesn't make a trend. Of course Phil Jones has said...

We're Not Running Out Of – Or Even Low On – Sources of 'Nonrenewable' Energy

Rossputin's Ross Kaminsky e-mailed to me a few links that offer yet further evidence that "peak oil" is peak nonsense.  For example:

BP's reserve replacement ratio for the year was 129 per cent – making 2009 the seventeenth consecutive year of reserve replacement of at least 100 per cent.

And this:

Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY) announced today that at year-end 2009, the company's preliminary worldwide proved reserves totaled 3.23 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) compared...

Moon Shadows

Trevor Butterworth's most-recent Forbes column is an especially good read.  Here's a nice passage:

An idea or plan is useless if it can't be executed, reviewed and adjusted. Where government differs from a business is that Congress is not all working toward the same goal, which means that getting laws passed is often more important than getting laws that work passed. Maligned federal agencies are simply instructed to build out legislation as an architectural firm might be asked to build a...

Power of Ideas

Duke University's Bruce Caldwell explains, in today's Washington Post, why Hayek's The Road to Serfdom is again a best-seller.

He Should Read James Madison

In today's USA Today, DeWayne Wickham argues that the U.S. Senate should to do away with the filibuster – the procedure that allows 41 senators (two-fifths+1 of the Senate) to block votes on pending legislation.  He alleges that the filibuster "flouts the basic idea of a majority-rule democracy" and that it "is a Faustian bargain that undermines the will of voters."

Wickham ought to brush up on history and civics.  The "basic idea of a majority-rule democracy" in the U.S. has never meant the u...

If you're interested

Just a reminder that I'll be on CSPAN tonight between 8 and 9 pm ET talking about the Wealth of Nations. Peter Slen will host. It's live with call-in, email, and tweets. Sam Fleischacker will also be on.

UPDATE: It's on CSPAN2…