October 2009
48 posts
Memories of UC Davis...
Jim walked by the a zillion times… The egg-head status!!! Edge of the American West posted on them. Posted via email from Jim Nichols | Comment »
Memories of UC Davis...
Jim walked by the a zillion times… The egg-head status!!! Edge of the American West posted on them. Posted via email from Jim Nichols | Comment »
Quote for the day...
“Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.” - Saint Augustine Posted via email from Jim Nichols...
One proposal for a Republican resurgence... act...
The impacts of 8 years of Bush, as well as watching conservative ideologues take control of the Republican party got people like me involved with the lesser of two evils. Obama got elected because of a distrust of conservative ideology. The Sarah Palins of the party, the flat-eartherr’ birthers, the party opposition to the stimulus bill, and being the party of no isn’t helping. ...
Israel's hamas blunder...
Israel’s support for Hamas as a counterbalance to Fatah was probably a bad move, no? Posted via email from Jim Nichols | Comment »
Market Structures: Perfect Competition
Our microecon class is working on different forms of market structures. The first one we started with is Perfect Competition. Perfect Competition Fundamental stipulations In a perfectly competitive market, participants, both consumes and producers are price-takers. Price-taking means that they can’t influence the market price—they must “take” the market price. This...
Delong on Milton Friedman...
Came across an old piece by Berkeley Economics Professor Brad Delong on Milton Friedman. A man who hated government… His worldview began with a bedrock belief in people and their ability to make judgments for themselves, and thus an imperative to maximize individual freedom. On top of that was layered a trust in free markets as almost always the best and most magical way of coordinating...
on campus conversations...
So I hit on the the stimulus this morning before school. And then on campus I walked up on a discussion on the stimulus that then moved on to another hobgoblin of conservative ideologues as well—global warming. A few people were talking about unemployment. One of the guys stated confidently that that the unemployment numbers proved that the stimulus plan didn’t work. A friend of...
I'll skip the... why was the first round so small...
and just ask when is round two of the stimulus coming? Our economy is still facing a large output gap (Via the San Francisco Fed:) A weak recovery is in the works/happening now. Unemployment is going to be over 10%. A substantial amount of unemployed or underutilized labor and capital is just sitting around. We’re going to be watching a lot more small and medium size banks...
Jobs won't return...
…until firms start increasing the hours of current workforce. I saw some talking head on tv talking asked about when jobs will come back. He hemmed and hawed(??) and couldn’t give an answer. Here’s a simple metric… There has been a huge increase in the number of workers who have had their hours cutback. You won’t see firms hiring new workers until you see...
America Spends A Lot on Defense...
Matthew Yglesias: Yesterday, congress appropriated a $680 billion for the Department of Defense in FY 2010. Chris Preble observes that, shockingly enough, this $680 billion isn’t even the whole bill: The defense bill represents only part of our military spending. The appropriations bill moving through Congress governing veterans affairs, military construction and other agencies totals $133...
China growth underlines rapid rebound
Financial Times China’s recovery accelerated in the third quarter as a result of the government’s massive lending programme with the economy growing at 8.9 per cent compared with the same period last year. The National Statistics Bureau on Thursday said that the increase in investment and retail sales had also accelerated in September, underlining the rapid rebound in the economy that has...
Hayek on Deflation and the Great Depression
Steve Horwitz: Greg Ransom has found a new book with an interview done with Hayek in 1979. In it, Hayek says the following: “I agree with Milton Friedman that once the Crash had occurred, the Federal Reserve System pursued a silly deflationary policy. I am not only against inflation but I am also against deflation. So, once again, a badly programmed monetary policy prolonged the depression.”...
Freak or not... bad science is bad science..
Scientists have jumped on the Economists who wrote Freakanomics because of their chapter on Global Warming in there follow up book SuperFreakonomics. Here is a pretty good wrap up via The Economist Expertise, and “expertise”: STEVEN LEVITT and Stephen Dubner have reprised their Freakonomics roles in “SuperFreakonomics”, which is due out in just a few days. As it happens,...
Obama is a socialist... right?
Nader on Obama’s socialist agenda [sic] His early months in office have been “very disappointing.” Obama is “a frightened man,” who won’t take on corporate power. Obama is “conflict averse” - and a “harmony ideology type,” who’s being taken advantage of by the sharks in Congress, of both parties. He’s “Bush-Cheney...
When is it okay for the media to back a political...
Should the media be doing these kinds of things? Posted via email from Jim Nichols | Comment »
My hunch is this will be oveturned...yeah for...
Ideology outside of reality and the relations of human beings an systemic forces is destructive to the society at large—just look at Marxism and the Soviet Union for one example… Another example of this is about to be implemented by the Supreme Court— Campaign finance laws face a reset A series of court decisions expected this fall could put the nation on track to return to...
Expendable People?: A Human Rights Perspective on...
I’m headed to a conference hosted by Emory Law School this morning — Expendable People?: A Human Rights Perspective on the Impact of Global Economic Migration on Georgia Here is some info on the event: The sixth annual Emory Public Interest Committee (EPIC) conference, Expendable People?: A Human Rights Perspective on the Impact of Global Economic Migration on Georgia, will be held...
Rush Limbaugh and the culture wars...
Um… people. I’m sorry but I don’t care if Rush Limbaugh is a part owner of the Rams. He’s been dropped from the group trying to buy the Rams because he “has complicated the deal.” Score one for the culture wars… Posted via email from Jim Nichols | Comment »
Ahh... the south....
This is sad… and a reminder of some of the challenges Obama faces as a black man in getting his agenda and message out to people…. Interracial couple denied marriage license La. justice of the peace cites concerns about any children couple might have HAMMOND, La. - A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern...
One of the impacts of the ideological fringe...
The stimulus is working—we should have had more of it! And here’s hoping we can get another boost soon. Only problem we have to overcome is a broken ideology keeping good policy from getting passed…. Christina Romer vs Political Reality I’ve seen a fair amount of commentary on the part of Ryan Lizza’s profile of the Obama economic team where Christina Romer recommends a $1.2...
Celebracion at White House!
Cool. Posted via email from Jim Nichols | Comment »
White House: Fox News Is 'A Wing Of The Republican...
This just in…. White House is stating the obvious… Posted via email from Jim Nichols | Comment »
@JimN2010 Cognitive Science will lead to better...
David Brooks was on the ball yesterday… The Young and the Neuro When you go to an academic conference you expect to see some geeks, gravitas and graying professors giving lectures. But the people who showed up at the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society’s conference in Lower Manhattan last weekend were so damned young, hip and attractive. The leading figures at this conference were...
Amen...
Bob Herbert: Whether it’s Newark, Detroit, parts of Chicago, South-Central Los Angeles, Camden, N.J. — take your pick — we’ve looked the other way for decades as the residents of hard-core inner-city neighborhoods struggled with overwhelming, life-threatening problems and a chronic shortage of resources, financial and otherwise. We’re having an intense national debate over whether to move ahead...
Jonathan Weiler on authoritarianism in American...
Great interview… go listen to it now! Posted via email from Jim Nichols | Comment »
good point...
“Gay” offensive, “lame” just fine? Given the (South Park inspired?) upswing in the general pejorative use of the term “gay” over the last decade, it is perhaps not surprising that you would hear people noting that using “gay” when you mean “lame” is offensive. Question: Why isn’t it offensive to use “lame” as a generic insult or to indicate that someone is “out of touch with modern fads or...
Brian Chi-ang Lin on Mill, impacts of industrial...
Brian Chi-ang Lin. Journal of Economic Issues. Lincoln: Sep 2008. Vol. 42, Iss. 3: To take up the challenges of sustainable development of human societies, it is necessary to achieve a more equitable distribution of wealth. In this regard, John Stuart Mill’s concept of the stationary state outlined in his Principles of Political Economy is conceptually in line with the modern exposition of...
The Philippines are having a rough go of it...
The typoons have brough flooding and now it appears landslides… Deluge in rain-soaked Philippines buries 160 Latest landslides, back-to-back storms push death toll to nearly 500 And from my Dad… Nick in Manila Massive mudslides and flooding in central Luzon. The damage to infrastructure, lives, crops from multiple events over the past ten days will have tremendous macroeconomic...
Should you vote? Not if you are going to vote...
Polluting the Polls: When Citizens Should Not Vote Posted via email from Jim Nichols | Comment »
Most important point about why government has to...
In Debate on Health, It’s Coverage vs. Cost The chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, said he was trying to “strike a balance between affordability and proper coverage.” If the government does not set minimum coverage levels, he said, insurers will continue to offer low-value policies that leave consumers exposed to exorbitant costs and the risk of...
Mark Thoma with a rundown of Multipliers debate...
Government Spending Multipliers Once Again Since the WSJ is, essentially, rerunning op-eds: Stimulus Spending Doesn’t Work, by Robert Barro and Charles Redlick May as well rerun a few of the responses: War and non-remembrance, by Paul Krugman Spending in wartime, by Paul Krugman Paul Krugman on Robert Barro, by Brad DeLong Fiscal Policy and Economic Recovery, by Christina D. Romer [See...
David Poythress to address Henry group
Henry Herald: Henry County will be the venue for a visit next week by a well-known gubernatorial candidate. David Poythress, a Democratic candidate for governor, will be the guest speaker for the Oct. 14 meeting of the Henry Council for Quality Growth. The meeting will be held at Eagle’s Landing Country Club in Stockbridge. According to officials with the group, networking will begin at 11...
We need a 2nd stimulus now... actually we needed...
The first one should have been bigger, and without the tax cuts—which don’t work… Paul Krugman: while not having another depression is a good thing, all indications are that unless the government does much more than is currently planned to help the economy recover, the job market - a market in which there are currently six times as many people seeking work as there are jobs on...
UN warns against immigration clampdown
Financial Times: States that host large numbers of immigrants should resist popular pressure to erect barriers to newcomers in the economic downturn and highlight the economic benefits of migration, according to United Nations development experts. In a study published on Monday, the UN Development Programme acknowledges that “the tendency to blame outsiders for society’s ills is accentuated...
Honduras’ de facto regime repeals decree
Financial Times: Honduras’ de facto government on Monday is set to repeal a decree passed just over a week ago to curb civil liberties – a sign that it may be relaxing its hitherto authoritarian style. The decree, passed in response to the surprise return of Manuel Zelaya, the country’s ousted president, and to his subsequent calls for a nationwide protest, had led to the closure of two media...
Iceland criticises IMF, UK and Dutch
Financial Times: Iceland’s prime minister has hit out against the International Monetary Fund and the British and Dutch governments for holding up recovery efforts a year after the country’s banking sector collapsed. Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir, the prime minister, said that it was “not acceptable” that the IMF had delayed a review for months. This review is needed before Iceland can access more of...
The cause of the credit crunch?
Adam Smiths Lost Legacy: Unambiguously and without doubt, it was caused by the people who taught and believed the nonsense of an actual “invisible hand” that magically ensured that “the free market coordinates the behavior of self-seeking individuals to the benefit of all” (and all variations to that affect). It most certainly was “ideology”, as John Cassidy says, but it was never anything that...
Winning the right to carry a gun could turn out to...
Gun Case Could Broaden Legal Basis for Wide Range of Rights Posted via email from Jim Nichols | Comment »
The light touch for terrorists...
U.S. Prison Conditions Far Worse Than Guantanamo’s By refusing to allow Guantanamo detainees to be transferred anywhere in the United States, including its supermax prisons, those representatives in Congress eagerly fighting to keep the prison in Cuba open may unintentionally be easing the lives of terror suspects. Last Thursday, the House of Representatives voted 258-163 to refuse to allow...
Government waste from Bush years...
Of Course That Pakistan Aid Got Diverted Two Pakistani Army generals confess a painful truth about the Bush administration’s years of giving billions to Pakistan: Between 2002 and 2008, while al-Qaida regrouped, only $500 million of the $6.6 billion in American aid actually made it to the Pakistani military, two army generals tell The Associated Press. Why, who could have forseen that? After...
Upcoming Supreme Court cases... could undermine...
The Progress Report: A NEW BALANCE OF POWER: Two cases this term could also completely rework American election law, handing powerful conservative interests unprecedented power to manipulate elections. The first is Citizens United v. FEC, in which the conservative bloc appears poised to overrule a century-old rule permitting laws limiting the influence of corporate money in politics. Should the...
Progressives Prepare to Pressure Reid to Include...
Brian Beutler: “If Harry Reid does not have the leadership skills to get 60 votes for cloture and give a Democratic president an up-or-down vote on health care, progressives will help defeat him in 2010, even if that means Republicans take that seat,” said the head of one progressive organization, who’s still working out the detail of the campaign. “There is no use for...
Former McCain Campaign Manager: Nominating Palin...
TPM: That famous infighting of the core McCain campaign versus Sarah Palin is still continuing, with former McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt openly saying at the Atlantic’s “First Draft of History” symposium that it would be “catastrophic” if Palin were to win the Republican nomination in 2012. Schmidt said: “I think that she has talents, but you know, my...
US 'Silent on Israeli Nuclear Arms'
Al Jazeera English via Common Dreams Barack Obama, the US president, has agreed to abide by a 40-year policy of allowing Israel to keep nuclear weapons without opening them to international inspection, according to a US newspaper. In a report on Saturday, The Washington Times quoted three unnamed sources as saying Obama had confirmed to Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, that...
Breaking news from the change we can believe in...
Doug Henwood: Breaking news from the change we can believe in front! The Obama administration is opposing Congressional legislation to protect reporters from being jailed for refusing to reveal who disclosed confidential information to them. For national security reasons, of course. As Charlie Savage put it in a story in the New York Times the other day, “The bill includes safeguards that...
The trucks won't load themselves... the for my dad...
Headed to work… Rather than your morning quots… here’s some Epictetus for my Dad who had waist deep water in his apartment in Manila after the recent typhoon… Your will is always within your power Nothing truly stops you. Nothing truly holds you back. For your own will is always within your control. Sickness may challenge your body. But are you merely your...
can somebody tell Michael Moore...
That not every industrialized nation has single payer… they all have some form of universal care. But they aren’t all single payer. I’m glad to see he’s vowing to help run Democrats in primaries of folks who don’t vote for the public option. The movie on Friday should be interesting. Posted via email from Jim Nichols | Comment »
