Wed 15 Apr 2009
A Ten Million Dollar Budget Surplus
Posted by Charles Clarkson under Economics, Government, Politics, The Good Fight
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Wed 15 Apr 2009
Posted by Charles Clarkson under Economics, Government, Politics, The Good Fight
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Mon 23 Mar 2009
Posted by Charles Clarkson under Economics, Government, Politics, The Good Fight
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Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.— Milton Friedman I think all too often we forget that people in power are ambitious and the person who reins in power to do some good now also reins in power for so many others to do so much bad tomorrow.
Fri 20 Mar 2009
Posted by Charles Clarkson under Economics, Government, Politics, The Good Fight
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There is more to fear than fear itself. There’s government and its dim-witted attempts to fix the economy.The article articulates a pet peeve of mine. Lawyers, like President Obama, do not have the training needed to make economic decisions about a whole country. Heck, economists do not have the training to make economics decisions for a whole nation. IMO, we need a system of government which strips government of the power to affect the economy. Swearing a person into office does not magically imbue that person with a means to predict the future or to understand an economy. Relying on any government official to “fix” the economy reveals at least one major flaw in our system of governance. As long as we rely on a flawed system of government we do ourselves and our descendants a huge disservice.
Tue 24 Feb 2009
Posted by Charles Clarkson under Economics, Words
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Tue 10 Feb 2009
Posted by Charles Clarkson under Economics, Government, Politics, Rants, The Good Fight
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Sun 8 Feb 2009
Posted by Charles Clarkson under Economics, Politics, Rants, The Good Fight
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Sun 8 Feb 2009
Posted by Charles Clarkson under Economics, Government, Science, The Good Fight
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Thu 5 Feb 2009
Posted by Charles Clarkson under Economics, Erath County, Government, Politics, Texas, The Good Fight
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If we treat drug addiction as a disease, yet legalize drugs, are we not offering up the disease to even more weak-willed persons?Yes. But protecting weak-willed persons from their own self-destructive behaviors is not a legitimate use of government. I’m addicted to those Little Debbie Swiss Rolls. I know I shouldn’t eat them. They’re little rolls of sugary goodness, but they are detrimental to my health. I don’t think anyone would seriously make the case that making them illegal is a legitimate use of government. BTW, I just ate a whole box of HEB Swiss Rolls while I was writing this reply. [Don't say it. Don't say it.] (more…)
Wed 4 Feb 2009
Posted by Charles Clarkson under Economics, The Good Fight
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However, this is a good time to remind everyone that there are always “companies” that rush in after a disaster to take advantage of the victims of that disaster. It is sad but true. After Hurricane Andrew struck southern Florida, trucks crammed with jugs of tap water pulled into town, charging exhorbitant [sic] prices for something that, a day or so before, was not even considered valuable. After the ice storm struck Quebec, Canada in January, 1998, the same kind of thing happened. We heard of one person buying a whole truck-load of generators, then trying to peddle them to power-less Canadians at twice the price. There are companies that have products that can be “turned into” storm shelters. They have jumped into the shelter business, adapting these products somewhat. So go by the old adage, “Let the buyer beware!” If you have already decided that you are going to buy a shelter, ask the hard questions before you invest–because it really IS an investment.The little amateur economist in me keeps pestering me about another old adage. People who excel in one field of study or research do not necessarily have more or better insight in another field which they have not studied or researched well. In this case, these storm shelter experts do not have any better insight into economics, which they have obviously not studied well. The owners of those “trucks crammed with jugs of tap water [that] pulled into town, charging [exorbitant] prices” were well compensated for their risk of negotiating washed out roads, looters and other disaster related dangers. Had they not pulled into town with their high priced water, the town would have had many truckloads less of much needed potable water. The incentive to provide cheaper water to survivors was not lessened by their arrival. The incentive to do better future disaster planning was instilled in the buyers of that high-priced water. The “person buying a whole truck-load of generators, then trying to peddle them to power-less Canadians at twice the price” provided a whole truckload of generators which might never had arrived at the site of the disaster had that person been forced to sell the generators for a more “reasonable” price. The incentive to provide cheaper power to survivors was not lessened by the arrival of that one truckload of generators. The incentive to do better future disaster planning was instilled in the buyers of that high-priced power. Note to self: Avoid supplying extra information about the reasons you are providing information on a web site. Stick to the subjects you know best.
Thu 29 Jan 2009
Posted by Charles Clarkson under Economics, Government, The Good Fight
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Mr. Zandi’s current estimates have government employment growing by 330,400 over two years as a result of the House bill (compared with 244,000 in Bernstein-Romer paper). Yet even that updated figure still amounts to only 8.3% of total jobs added, even though state and local governments are to receive 39% of the funds ($214.5 billion). Spending $214.5 billion to create or save 330,400 government jobs implies that taxpayers are being asked to spend $646,214 per job.