Jobs Created or Saved…Again
It looks like the Obama Administration’s brilliant political jujutsu move of using “jobs saved or created” is making its way around some of the economics blogs again. First up is Brad DeLong’s attack on Allan Meltzer. Meltzer wrote the following, There is no greater recognition of the failure of the stimulus program to create jobs than the efforts to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 3, 2009 19:03
Political Control of Government Motors
Back when talks about bailing out General Motors started one potential issue was that GM would “encouraged” to make decisions based on political considerations vs. a sound business plan. Looks like there is evidence for such concerns with this story of how Montana’s Congressional Representative and two Senators are pushing to get a contract reinstated with a Montana palladium ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 2, 2009 15:01
White House Opaque Transparency
Yesterday afternoon, in a bit of faux transparency like you've never seen before, the administration released the names of everyone who has toured the White House from Obama's inauguration through the end of July. This, after various Freedom of Information Act requests to determine whether, say, William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright have stopped by. A lot of people visit the White ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 31, 2009 08:58
Multiple Choice: Economics
The New York Times has an interesting multiple choice question regarding how to spend money to help stimulate the economy, If you wanted to help the economy and you had $14 billion to bestow on any group of people, which group would you choose: a) Teenagers and young adults, who have an 18 percent unemployment rate. b) All the middle-age long-term jobless who, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 28, 2009 14:04
Obama Declares Swine Flu Emergency
President Obama has declared that the swine flu, which is much less prevalent and deadly than the ordinary influenza virus, is an "epidemic" and a "national emergency." Silly as it sounds, it was the right call. President Obama has declared H1N1 swine flu a national emergency, clearing the way for his health chief to give hospitals wider leeway in how they ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 25, 2009 08:48
The Great Green Jobs Claim
I periodically hear this during presidential campaigns and when various elected officials are trying to push a green policy, often in response to global warming. Because of [insert environmental problem here] we need to pursue a policies that will promote [insert one or more alternative fuel/energy sources here]. And not only will it address [the environmental problem noted above], but ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 20, 2009 13:21
UAW Negotiating with Itself
Mickey Kaus noted the other day that the UAW, which owns large stakes in both GM and Chrysler without paying a cent thanks to their support for the election of President Obama, is cutting their own companies a break and sticking it to Ford. I knew they'd find a way to punish Ford: The new UAW contract with Ford apparently does not give ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 16, 2009 10:07
Regulating Loud Commercials
Peter Suderman and Berin Szoka provide sane, libertarian arguments against the Nanny State regulating the volume of television commercials. While they both find the longstanding practice where the ads are several decibels higher than the surrounding programming annoying, they nonetheless argue that it's not a matter where government should intervene. Says Suderman, It's easy enough to turn your TV ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 13, 2009 15:29
Health Care Reform Tax on Low Income Earners
James Capretta does a back of the envelope calculation on the Baucus health care reform bill and concludes that it would be like having a 70% marginal tax rate on the low income. According to CBO, family coverage in 2016 is likely to cost about $14,400 under the so-called “silver option” in the health-care reform plan sponsored by Senate Finance Committee ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 13, 2009 13:07
Helmet Laws and Organ Donations
Tyler Cowen passes along a paper [PDF] which finds that "every death of a helmetless motorcyclist prevents or delays as many as 0.33 deaths among individuals on organ transplant waiting lists." The study is titled "Donorcycles: Do Motorcycle Helmet Laws Reduce Organ Donations?" On balance, I oppose helmet and seatbelt laws on the grounds that the negative externalities imposed ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 13, 2009 11:09
Obesity: Nanny State Solution
Ezra Klein enjoys cooking and endorses "Naked Chef" Jamie Oliver's notion that we'd be a healthier society if we cooked our meals at home rather than eating so much high calorie fare at chain restaurants. Still, he notes, The problem is that the evidence suggests meals aren't driving the rise in obesity -- snacks are. A 2003 paper by economists David ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 13, 2009 09:48
Bill Frist: Mandate Health Insurance
Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican and world renowned heart surgeon, argues that the federal government must require all Americans to purchase health insurance. In our reimbursement-driven, public-private health sector (which delivers the most robust health services on the globe), the only way affordable access can be achieved is for every citizen to have some type of insurance. [...] First, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 29, 2009 09:24
Census Worker Lynched in Kentucky
A census worker was found hanged in Kentucky in a bizarre and grisly case. When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former cop drew on years of experience for a warning: "Be careful." The 51-year-old Sparkman was found this month hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 24, 2009 09:34
Bring Heckling to the Colonies!
In a brief aside about the Joe Wilson "Liar!" comment, Matthew Yglesias writes:Personally, I sort of liked Rep Joe Wilson’s idea of introducing British-style heckling to the halls of congress; totally disrespectful and out of step with American tradition, true, but their tradition is better.I agree with this sentiment. I spent many a night in college staying up late ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 10, 2009 09:25
Fire Chief Shot in Court Over Tickets
Yes, that headline is not an exaggeration. The Chief of the Jericho Fire Department went to court and was shot by the police for disputing two tickets requiring two trips to the court house. JERICHO, Ark. – It was just too much, having to return to court twice on the same day to contest yet another traffic ticket, and Fire ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 4, 2009 14:11
