PicoBusiness

Let’s add Daschle to the ranks of people who seem to be allowed to get away with tax errors that “common folk” aren’t.

*edit* – fixed the second link

Throughout my life, I have lived within my means. It was not easy, watching my friends get their fancy new cars, and their fancy houses and their fancy toys and their global vacations. It was not easy to watch them remodel their kitchens and pay for all sorts of neat things that I, in good conscience, could not justify because I could not afford them.

The house I bought, back in 97, appreciated some, but not a ton. The cars I bought, we paid off, and kept. It gave us some breathing room for handling unexpected expenses, for saving for college for the kids, for helping out our family as necessary. And even then, we still were careful about how we managed our expenses.

Then we moved to DC, rented a house, sold our home in Atlanta, and lived there for a year. And then we moved back to Atlanta. But before we could buy a house, Christy and I decided to divorce. I co-signed the mortgage, so she could get a house, and have a nice place for my kids.

I? I moved into an apartment. There was no way that I could justify trying to own a home, while I was already co-signer on her mortgage, and had a significant child-support obligation. It wasn’t the responsible thing to do. I have to wait, until circumstances change, before I can even consider buying a house.

And when I buy a house, I will be buying a house that I can afford. Because that’s the responsible, grown up thing to do.

Perhaps that will explain some of the mild fury I feel when I read these:

• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/27/AR2009012703428.html
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/27/AR2009012703501.html

These represent “reallocation”. Not from rich to poor, which, while sometimes frustrating, is also sometimes just. This is reallocation from financially responsible to financially irresponsible. And it really makes me wonder why I even bother to live within my means. As long as enough of my friends put themselves in a bad financial position, I can confidently assume that I can put myself in an equally bad position, and expect a government handout.

Cut taxes. Build high-speed rail corridors. Deploy wifi and WiMax in cities across the country. Bail out unemployment insurance coffers. Repave some highways. Build some schools. Increase NIH funding. Increase “deep theory” science research. These are all things which, at some level, make the future USA a better place.

But helping people wriggle out of the consequences of their bad financial decisions does not help anyone, especially the future USA.

People say that the fundamental product of the Chicago school of economics is helping rich old men stay rich.

My retort is that the fundamental product of the Keynsian school is giving the charismatic elite more power. Case in point.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/29/142258&from=rss

1. The Rangel Rule – I’m curious what arguments can be made that this is illegitimate.
2. Academic Ideals & Reality

*Extra Bonus Post* – a fascinating examination of bias, in all forms.

Krugman wrote an article in the NYT about the stimulus, and he says that anyone who opposed the stimulus on various grounds can be written off as a dishonest flack.

Specifically, he said:

Next, write off anyone who asserts that it’s always better to cut taxes than to increase government spending because taxpayers, not bureaucrats, are the best judges of how to spend their money.

Well, it turns out that Cato found 200 economists who believe that we should be cutting taxes instead of applying large amounts of stimulus. Specifically, they said:

To improve the economy, policy makers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth.

And yes, three of those who signed this Cato policy document are Nobel prize winners. Huh.

Paul Krugman is a very smart man. But ever since he won his Nobel, he seems to feel that this gives him the right to declare everyone who disagrees with him to be a moron. From my perspective, all it does is diminish Krugman. Ironically, by stooping to name-calling and ideological bullying, it makes him seem like the one who is a dishonest flack.

Compare and contrast with Greg Mankiw, prominent economics professor at Harvard, former head of the CEA, etc. He disagrees with Krugman about equilibrium business cycle (another example of Krugman’s invective). Unlike Krugman, however, he seems to be able to disagree politely.

I have known more people whose lives have been ruined by getting a PhD in physics than by drugs

I know more people who are miserably spending their days writing and working on computer software, than I know miserable lottery winners.

“People want to think there is some huge conspiracy run by evil geniuses. The reality is actually much more horrifying. The people running the show aren’t evil geniuses. They are just as stupid as the rest of us.”

Vaksel

Hat Tip: Overcoming Bias

Editorial note: And just as lacking in self-discipline, too

*snort*

Man who owns windshield glass company hires a thug to break the windshields of 70 school buses, and then the state pays him $134k to fix the windshields.

What I want to know:

• What’s the multiplier? He took the money to Vegas, so there’s clearly some sort of multiplier
• Is this fundamentally different from hiring people to dig ditches and then fill them in again?
• How many school-bus-window-breaking projects are shovel-ready (or, really, ‘rock ready’)?

What an interesting point. I think there’s some value in the simple games just because it introduces children step-by-step to various concepts of rule-following and logical deduction. But there are lots more games out there now, and many of them have various steps involving logical deduction, cause and effect, and opportunity cost. And the graphics are a lot better, and usually there’s a lot of fun adrenaline-pumping action in-between the lessons.

And then there’s Timez Attacks and The Typing of the Dead, which take the idea of learning and gaming to a whole new level.

Clip from Fanboys

Still, once you proceed down the nationalization path, you have to live with the nationalizations you will get, not the nationalizations as a professor might recommend they be done.

Tyler Cowen

Ah, Rumsfeld. I miss you and your wonderful mix of pragmatic philosophizing and bloodthirsty warmongering.