Niall Ferguson - How to take Moral Hazard out of Banking

Finally, slowly, the issue is coming to the fore. Pity it didn't happen in 1974. Be a greater pity if it doesn't happen now.
Taxpayers are entitled to ask for a radical reform of banking regulation to ensure they will never again have to foot huge bills for financial folly. So far, there is only one credible proposal.

In a recent speech in Edinburgh, Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, called for “utility banking”, which would limit banks to their legitimate purpose – financial intermediation and payment facilitation – as opposed to gambling with taxpayers’ money.
Niall Ferguson - How to take Moral hHzard out of Banking

Big Government's Big Shortfall

Blow the trumpet louder. They're not listening
Big Government's Big Shortfall

Honesty thru a lack of grammar

one of the candidates for Frank Wolf's seat in the 10th congressional district (of Virginia) drops a comma and creates a level of honesty that's probably not intended:
Julien Modica (D) - Brain Injury Survivor, Navy Veteran, Felon & '08 US Sen. Candidate
Now I'm willing to bet that Modica doesn't think that US Senatorial Candidates are all felons, but...

State of The Union Address/GOP Response Word Cloud

http://www.bermanpost.com/2010/01/obamas-state-of-union-address-word.html

GOP reply word cloud:
http://www.bermanpost.com/2010/01/gops-response-to-obamas-state-of-union.html

Why the U.S. is Ungovernable, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty

From Dr Arnold Kling: "The theory is that there is a discrepancy between trends in knowledge and power. Power in the United States is remarkably concentrated. We are creating increasingly specialized knowledge, which means that the information needed to make good decisions is located outside of Washington, D.C. And yet we have a central government attempting to do for 300 million people what governments in places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Denmark, and Switzerland do for many fewer people.

I do not wish to contend that government is better in those countries than in the U.S. But if there were scale efficiencies in government services beyond the level of 10 million people, then we would expect governments in small countries to be much, much worse than in the U.S. The fact that Singapore, Hong Kong, Denmark, and Switzerland function at all is proof that a 300-million scale polity is not necessary to run an effective social insurance system, an effective education system, etc."

Why the U.S. is Ungovernable, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty

change *I* can believe in!

Fishersville Mike: Best of the year - the Boob Czar

Sean Connaughton Chosen to be Virginia Transportation Secretary ::

There are a whole bunch of people who are expecting me to make a comment about Secretary-designate Connaughton's lamentable choice of undergraduate education. So I won't.
The Maritime Executive Magazine :: Sean Connaughton Chosen to be VA Transportation Secretary ::

Health Care Nation

Wisdom from Samuelson (no, not that Samuelson!): President Obama's critics sometimes say that he is engineering a government takeover of health care or even introducing "socialized medicine" into America. These allegations are wildly overblown. Government already dominates health care, one-sixth of the economy. It pays directly or indirectly for roughly half of all health costs. Medicine is pervasively regulated, from drug approvals to nursing home rules. There is no "free market" in health care. What's actually happening is just the reverse, which is more interesting and alarming: Health care is taking over government.
Health Care Nation

Why Computers Can't Mimic The Brain - Forbes.com

Why Computers Can't Mimic The Brain - Forbes.com

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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