Up Against a Wall of Debt

Seems I was wrong when I told my classes that we can:
1. Raise Taxes; or,
2. Cut benefits; or,
3. Inflate the currency to get rid of debt.
There's another alternative, repudiate the debt: the US Govt defaults.
Quoth the maven:

"Governments of rich countries are borrowing so much that it's conceivable that one day the twin assumptions underlying their burgeoning debt (that lenders will continue to lend and that governments will continue to pay) might collapse. What happens then?"

read the rest:
Up Against a Wall of Debt

Every Time Congress Promises Future Savings, Its Nose Grows a Little Longer - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine

Every Time Congress Promises Future Savings, Its Nose Grows a Little Longer - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine

Nobel Economics Prizes

Ostrom & Williamson. Good choices
Cafe Hayek: where orders emerge

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Let's hear it for the 9th & 10th Amendments!

Here's the 10th!
Enumerated Powers of States�|�Tenth Amendment Center

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Instapundit � Blog Archive � WELL, AFTER ALL, BUSH ISN?T PRESIDENT ANY MORE: ?Code Pink? rethinks its call for Afghanistan pullo?

Instapundit � Blog Archive � WELL, AFTER ALL, BUSH ISN?T PRESIDENT ANY MORE: ?Code Pink? rethinks its call for Afghanistan pullo?

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Information Dissemination

Information Dissemination

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President Obama Fudges Truth on Medicare - WSJ.com

Includes one of the world's great analogies:
It's like a variation on the old Marx Brothers routine: "The soup is terrible and the portions are too small."

It sure as hell is!
President Obama Fudges Truth on Medicare - WSJ.com

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Memorial post: America Attacked 9 1 1

America Attacked 9 1 1

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Obama changes talking points on uninsured - Yahoo! News

Presto! The 40+ million w/o medical insurance is now 30 million. Because (drum roll, please) about one third of the uninsured are illegals.
What the article -- from the AP, naturalemente, doesn't say is the income breakdown of the uninsured. I'll give you pretty good odds over 20% are at an income level that allows them to buy insurance, but they choose not to.
Obama changes talking points on uninsured - Yahoo! News

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E-Bomb Doomsday Conference Starts Today | Danger Room | Wired.com

Money shot: "It'll fry pace makers, destroy iPhones, and turn laptops into useless paperweights. It's the scariest thing most people outside the Washington Beltway have never heard of: electromagnetic pulse weapons."
‘E-Bomb’ Doomsday Conference Starts Today | Danger Room | Wired.com

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Mitch Daniels: The Coming Reset in State Government - WSJ.com

Emphasis is mine. Would have been really great if Mr. Daniels had successfully put a choker-chain around Bush 43's spendthrift ways.
State government finances are a wreck. The drop in tax receipts is the worst in a half century. Fewer than 10 states ended the last fiscal year with significant reserves, and three-fourths have deficits exceeding 10% of their budgets. Only an emergency infusion of printed federal funny money is keeping most state boats afloat right now.
Mitch Daniels: The Coming Reset in State Government - WSJ.com

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Red Ensign Day

Ten years after it was introduced, Merchant Navy Day continues to celebrate the British shipping industry as well as providing an opportunity to remember the sacrifices made by merchant seamen over the years.News : NDS

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Pyrrhic victory on health reform? - Washington Times

Money shot:
If Republicans really want to stem the expansion of government, they should participate in the health care reform debate before the health care system reaches the crisis that is surely coming without intervention. But if the Republicans effectively kill health reform again, it'll become another third rail, like Social Security - deadly if touched.<\i>
BURMAN: Pyrrhic victory on health reform? - Washington Times

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MONEY! The Sir John M. Templeton Fellowships Essay Contest

Undergraduate winners get up to $2500.
The Sir John M. Templeton Fellowships Essay Contest encourages college students and young college professors around the world to study the meaning and significance of economic and personal liberty.

Co-sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation and the Independent Institute, the essay contest honors Sir John M. Templeton and is held annually with a different topic each year.
The Sir John M. Templeton Fellowships Essay Contest

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Exit, Voice, and Freedom: An Example, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty

Dr Kling, ponte quondam, ponte futurus:
Following up on this post and this one, let me try to offer a hypothetical example of freedom without democracy. Maybe Will Wilkinson can comment on the example in a way that sheds light on what he is thinking, because I am not following him.

Here's the deal: Suppose that a new non-territorial state is created. Call it Liberista! To become a citizen of Liberista!, you just pay an annual fee. You pay no taxes to the state. As a citizen of Liberista!, you can live anywhere that Liberista! has an embassy compound. Liberista! leases compounds in countries all over the world. Liberista! embassy compounds are as ubiquitous as Hiltons, but many of them have space for large sections of single-family homes, office parks, and so on.
Exit, Voice, and Freedom: An Example, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty

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The Dumbest Words I've Read Today, Health Care Reform Edition

Y'know, between Greg Mankiw and this young lady, I could get to really admire Harvard Econ!
And, yes, I agree. These are the dumbest words, even by the Daily Beast's standards. The fact that cell phones are ubiquitous in North America doesn't mean they're not restricted. Consider cell-phone usage of, say 15 years ago.
The Dumbest Words I’ve Read Today, Health Care Reform Edition…

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Lawyers on combatting antimicrobial resistance.

Cut to the chase: over 18,000 people per year die

Thomas Frank in the WSJ on the subject of gategate

Conservatives won this round in the culture wars, not merely because most of the facts broke their way, but because their grievance is one that a certain species of liberal never seems to grasp. Whether the issue is abortion, evolution or recycling, these liberal patricians are forever astonished to discover that the professions and institutions and attitudes that they revere are seen by others as arrogance and affectation.

Why Megan opposes coercive Health Care

One of the worlds greatest opening lines:
"In a nutshell, I hate the poor and want them to die so that all my rich friends can use their bodies as mulch for their diamond ranches."
A Long, Long Post About My Reasons For Opposing National Health Care - Megan McArdle

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Instapundit

Instapundit

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