Victor V. Claar's Blog, page 6

The Debt Limit Made Simple: An Animation

This short video explains how democracies full of people with mostly marvelous intentions can nevertheless let debt overtake them--regardless of whether those democracies are large or small.

I don't think you'll find it more simply explained.

AP's STIMULUS WATCH Says, "Unemployment Unchanged by Projects"

Todd Steen, a colleague of mine from Hope College, recently did an analysis for the Associated Press that was used in a study they reported on yesterday. The article got picked up by a number of outlets, including ABC News, the Washington Post and the Seattle Post Intelligencer:

A federal spending surge of more than $20 billion for roads and bridges in President Barack Obama's first stimulus has had no effect on local unemployment rates, raising questions about his argument for billions...

Howard Zinn, the Powerlessness of the Consumer, and the 25 Biggest Product Flops of All Time

In an essay titled, "How Democratic Is America?," found in the edited volume, Points of View, historian Howard Zinn writes about

" . . . the powerlessness of the American people to participate in economic decision-making, which affects his life at every moment. As a consumer, that is, as the person for whom the economy is presumably intended to serve, he has virtually nothing to say about what is produced for him. The corporations make what is profitable; the advertising industry persuades...

UK Government Seeks Price Floors on Booze

Because drinking is bad for you it needs to cost you more. That's the government's latest push in the UK, the Economist reports.

And the pubs don't mind, because it would mean higher alcohol prices at the supermarkets, thereby raising the price of drinking at home:

"LIGHT, golden and refreshing", proclaims the label on a plastic bottle of cider in Sainsbury's supermarket. It is also fantastically cheap. Two litres of the sickly yellow tipple costs just £1.21 ($1.94), equivalent to 34p a pint...

Fair Trade Coffee: How Much of the Premium Price Gets to the Growers?

I'm currently reading Tim Harford's excellent The Undercover Economist. I particularly enjoyed the second chapter--the one dealing with price discrimination as well as product differentiation.

He begins the chapter with a wonderful anecdote--one that makes you wonder how much of the premium price you might be paying for a cup of Fair Trade coffee is actually getting to the poor coffee grower you hope you are helping. In one case, Mr. Harford estimates that over 90 percent of the Fair Trade p...

MIT's Jonathan Gruber on Federal Payroll for $300K While Defending Health Care Reform

MIT economist Jonathan Gruber has frequently been cited as a "go to" academic defender of health care reform.

But today Megan McArdle, writing for the Atlantic, reports that Gruber has been receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the current administration:

MIT economist Jonathan Gruber has become the go-to economist for fans of the health care reform wending its way through congress. He regularly produces analyses showing how great reform is going to be for people buying insurance in...

"2010: Living in the Future" (the book)

A project by Daniel Sinker:

Back when I was a boy, I bought a children's book at my town's library book sale called "2010: Living in the Future" by Geoffrey Hoyle. Written in 1972, it had been withdrawn from the library's collection by the mid-80s, when I picked it up. I've somehow managed to hang onto it for 25 years and now, suddenly, here we are: 2010. I'm reproducing this long out-of-print book here to see how we're doing. Are we really living in the future?

(Hat tip: Josh Fosburg, who has ...

Otteson Writing in Forbes: "Get Rid Of Government Experts"

James R. Otteson, Joint Professor of Philosophy and Economics at Yeshiva University in New York, and the Charles G. Koch Senior Fellow at The Fund for American Studies in Washington, D.C., has a new commentary in Forbes. Its main thesis is that regardless of the benevolent intentions of government experts, they simply do not have the particular knowledge required to get outcomes right in a nation of over 300 million unique individuals.

. . . experts, however smart, cannot know . . . all the m...

Free Sample of Dunkin' Donuts Coffee

There's no kickback to me from this--trust me. Just passing it along to keep your new year humming.

Hmmm . . . but I guess there's no reason you couldn't read a good book with it!

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(Hat Tip: Ruth Arevalo)

Rent-Controlled Apartments: Nice If You Can Get One

From July 2008:

In this video from New York's WCBS-TV, US Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) defends his occupancy of multiple rent-controlled apartments intended to help the needy.