Today’s quotation of the day from The New York Times daily email:
“I’m a middle-of-the-road kind of guy. I want the Democrats out of my pocket and Republicans out of my bedroom. The one word I would use for what’s going on in Washington is embarrassing.”
RON VAUGHN, who provides health insurance to his 60 employees at Argonaut Wine and Liquor in Denver.
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Posted in Pith, Political Animals, The Partisan Mind
Tagged colorado, democrats, health insurance, new york times, partisans, partisanship, quotation, quotation of the day, quotes, republican, The Partisan Mind
“No college sophomore has ever turned in a paper denying the existence of free will without first choosing to do so.”
-Stephen Landsburg, The Big Questions, p. 68.
(Hat tip to my fiancée’s quick wit)
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Posted in Philosophy, Pith
Tagged determinism, free will, steven landsburg, the big questions
In light of the news about stimulus job creation statistics not being as advertised — complete with made-up Congressional districts — I offer another surprisingly relevant insight from Mises’ Human Action. Turns out there is a reason stimulus advocates are resorting to trickery:
“If government spending for public works is financed by taxing the citizens or borrowing from them, the citizens’ power to spend and invest is curtailed to the same extent as that of the public treasury expands. No additional jobs are created.”
-Ludwig von Mises, Human Action, 4th ed., (Irvington-on-Hudson New York: Foundation for Economic Education, 1996 [1949], p. 776.
Comments Off on The Economic Way of Thinking about Stimulus Packages, Part II
Posted in Economics, Great Thinkers, Pith, Stimulus
Tagged bush, bush-obama, economic stimulus package, human action, ludwig von mises, mises, obama, Stimulus, stimulus package
Classic reductio ad absurdum.
Modern technology could easily grow oranges and grapes in hothouses in the arctic and subarctic countries. Everybody would call such a venture lunacy. But it is essentially the same to preserve the growing of cereals in rocky mountain valleys by tariffs and other devices of protectionism while elsewhere there is plenty of fallow fertile land. The difference is merely one of degree.
Ludwig von Mises, Human Action, p. 395.
Posted in Economics, Great Thinkers, Pith, Trade
Tagged agriculture, human action, ludwig von mises, mises, protectionism, tariffs, Trade
“Public spending is always a substitute for private spending, and that consequently it may well support one worker in place of another, but adds nothing to the lot of the working class as a whole.”
-Frederic Bastiat, Selected Essays on Political Economy, p. 16 (emphasis in original)
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Posted in Economics, Great Thinkers, Pith, Stimulus
Tagged bastiat, broken window fallacy, economic way of thinking, Economics, frederic bastiat, opportunity costs
Transitionland had a thoughtful response to my cri de coeur on Afghanistan yesterday. Among her recommendations for improving things:(1) Stop the air strikes that are killing civilians,
(2) Crack down on corrupt contractors to USAID,
(3) Stop supporting Afghan warlords who are homicidal and/or corrupt.So, after years of experimentation, we can now start applying these subtle, complex lessons:
(1) Don’t kill,
(2) Don’t steal,
(3) Don’t give aid to those who do.
Comments Off on Seems Obvious, Doesn’t It?
Posted in Development Economics, International, Pith
Tagged afghanistan, bill easterly, usaid, william easterly
Bryan Caplan says there are only two ways for a monopoly to form: government protection, or being the best.
“If the firm has a monopoly because the government made competition illegal, the solution isn’t antitrust; it’s legalizing competition. If the firm has a monopoly because it’s the best, the solution isn’t antitrust; it’s a little freakin’ appreciation.”
“When I see those who espouse my cause, I begin to wonder about the validity of my position.”
-Joseph Schumpeter, in Thomas K. McCraw, Prophet of Innovation: Joseph schumpeter and Creative Destruction, p. 221.
Funny, but true. I feel much the same way every time I attend an event with a high “wacko” factor. I have to remind myself that every political movement, not just mine, contains some people who do nothing but make it look bad.
One’s opinions are best based on data and logic, and not on who else shares that opinion.
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Posted in Great Thinkers, Pith, Political Animals
The man
Of virtuous soul commands not, nor obeys.
Power, like a desolating pestilence,
Pollutes whate’er it touches.
-Percy Bysshe Shelley, Queen Mab
Comments Off on Power and Poetry
Posted in Great Thinkers, Pith
Tagged percy byshe shelley, power, queen mab, shelley queen mab
Will and Ariel Durant are two of my favorite writers. Perceptive, pithy, and always eloquent, they only rose in my esteem when they described democracy as merely “a count of noses after a contest of words.” (The Age of Napoleon, p. 286)
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
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Posted in Great Thinkers, Pith, Political Animals, The Partisan Mind
Tagged ariel durant, democracy, the age of napoleon, will durant
Inertia Wins! 